Thursday, April 12, 2018

Hockey Night in Las Vegas





This is it! The first night of the NHL playoffs. All 16 teams still think they are going to be the Stanley Cup Champs. Here are a few notes from around the league before we get started on the three game slate.

Joe Thornton, who suffered a knee injury and subsequent surgery on January 23, is hoping to return at some point in the first round. The Sharks could really use him in the post-season…Jay Beagle and Travis Boyd are doubtful for Washington Thursday…The Devils’ coach John Hynes will announce his starting goalie on Thursday and Keith Kinkaid should get the nod over Cory Schneider as he outplayed him down the stretch…Steven Stamkos will play on Thursday after missing the last three games of the regular season with a lower body injury. He will center Nikita Kucherov and J.T. MillerRick Nash is likely to return to the Bruins lineup for Game 1 with Ryan Donato likely to be the odd-man out of the lineup.






PITTSBURGH 7 PHILADELPHIA 0

Sidney Crosby had the natural hat trick and Matt Murray put aside a weak regular season as the Pittsburgh Penguins shutout the Philadelphia Flyers 7-0 to win Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

The battle of Pennsylvania was over pretty early as the Penguins scored three times in the first and two in each of the last two periods while completely shutting down the Flyers.

Jake Guentzel was the offensive leader for the Penguins as he had a goal and three assists. You have to be happy if you picked him in your playoff pool.

Bryan Rust became the first player to score in the post-season and it would be the game-winner as he found the back of the net only 2:38 into the first period.  Carl Hagelin made it 2-0 and then set up Evgeni Malkin as the Penguins took a 3-0 lead into the dressing room.

Murray made 24 saves for the shutout. He must be a playoff goalie as he currently has a 206:26 shutout streak going in the playoffs dating back to last season. He had a good record in the regular season at 27-16-3 but his peripherals were mediocre with a 2.92 GAA and a .907 save percentage. He probably cost more than a few poolies a chance to win their leagues.

Despite getting only one point, Rust was a plus-five on the night as was Crosby. Guentzel, Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang were all plus-four.

Dumoulin had a pair of assists for the winners. Phil Kessel, likely a high draft choice in so many pools, was held pointless.

It was a horrible night all-round for the Flyers and it started in goal as Brian Elliott got the start for only the third time since February 11 when he suffered a lower body injury. While he won the Flyers last two games of the regular season, he did not have it Wednesday as he gave up five goals on 19 shots before getting the hook at the 9:01 mark of the second period. Petr Mrazek played the rest of the way, giving up two goals to Crosby as the Penguins fired 14 shots his way. Look for the Flyers to go back to Elliott for the Game 2 start.

Derick Brassard returned to action after missing the last games with a lower body injury and picked up an assist.

Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Shayne Gostisbehere were all minus-four for Philly.

Despite the loss, don’t count out the Flyers. It is only one game and it’s a lot better to lose like that rather than a double-overtime loss. Game 2 is Friday in Pittsburgh.





WINNIPEG 3 MINNESOTA 2

The Winnipeg Jets made a big trade and a small trade at the deadline as they picked up Paul Stastny from the Blues in the big deal and defenseman Joe Morrow from Montreal to give them some depth on the blueline.

Well, it was Morrow who became the star of Game 1 as he scored the game-winner as the Winnipeg Jets won their first ever playoff game including their time as the Atlanta Thrashers by getting past the Minnesota Wild 3-2. Morrow

It was a hard-fought affair as the Wild took a 2-1 lead 3:58 into the third period as Matt Cullen and Zach Parise scored early in the third to counter the second period goal by the Jets Mark Scheifele.

But Rocket Richard runner up Patrik Laine tied the game at 2 early in the third on a setup by former St. Louis Blues center Paul Stastny, setting the stage for Morrow’s heroics.

Connor Hellebuyck gave up two goals on only 20 shots while Devan Dubnyk had to be sharp to keep the Jets off the scoreboard as he faced 40 shots.

Mathieu Perreault suffered an upper body injury in the second period and did not return.

Jared Spurgeon 20:19 in his return to action as he last played on March 13 after suffering a hamstring injury.

There were only three minors called in the game as the Wild could not score on their only attempt while the Jets were 1-2 as Scheifele’s first period goal was with the man-advantage.

Game 2 is Friday in Winnipeg.

VEGAS 1 LOS ANGELES 0

The first ever playoff game in Las Vegas was a hard-hitting one in front of a wild Vegas crowd as the Golden Knights joined the Jets in winning their first ever playoff game as they shut out the Los Angeles Kings 1-0.

Marc-Andre Fleury was stellar in the Golden Knights cage as he stopped all 30 shots the Kings threw at him to record his 11th career playoff shutout. It seems strange that both Murray and Fleury picked up shutouts on the same night.

Shea Theodore scored the only goal of the game 3:23 into the first period and that goal held up the entire contest as Jonathan Quick was outstanding in the Los Angeles net stopping 27-of-28 shots.

There were 127 hits in the game with William Carrier leading the way with 10 in only 8:49 of action. He was injured when he took a hit from Drew Doughty in the third. Don’t be surprised if Doughty is suspended by the NHL for a game as it looked to be a hit to the head.

As a comparison there was only 66 hits in the Pittsburgh game and 70 hits in the Jets contest.



Monday, April 2, 2018

The Leafs in action




Who do you suppose is the Toronto Maple Leafs’ offensive leader this season?  You probably know it’s not Auston Matthews given that he missed a decent chunk of the campaign, but if you’ve only been paying a little attention to the Maple Leafs then you might be surprised to learn that Mitchell Marner leads Toronto’s scoring race – and it’s not even close.  He has 22 goals and 69 points in 78 games, putting him a full 13 points over William Nylander and Matthews, who are tied for second place.

That marks quite the turnaround for Marner, given his somewhat quiet start to the season.  From the start of the campaign through Dec. 6, Marner had two goals and 16 points in 28 games, which put him in seventh place among the Maple Leafs’ scoring race at the time.  He’s turned around substantially since then, but he’s found another level lately with five goals and 16 points through his current 11-game point streak.

It’s made this summer’s contract situation all the more interesting for the Maple Leafs.  Nylander will become a restricted free agent so he absolutely needs to be re-signed, but this summer Toronto will also have its first opportunity to lock up Matthews and Marner.  Among the trio, there was a time when it would have been fair to assume that Marner would be the cheapest or perhaps the one that was most expendable if it came to that.  Now that’s far less clear.  Just how much will Nylander, Marner, and Matthews be costing the Maple Leafs in a couple years?



TORONTO 5 NY ISLANDERS 4

Auston Matthews scored the game-winning goal and registered an assist.  He’s up to 31 goals and 56 points in 58 games this season.

Mitchell Marner also had a goal and an assist for Toronto.  That gives him 22 goals and 69 points in 78 contests.

Brock Nelson found the back of the net and registered an assist for the Islanders.  He has 19 goals and 33 points in 78 games.

Christopher Gibson stopped 27 of 32 Maple Leafs shots.  He has a 2-3-2 record, 3.65 GAA, and .908 save percentage in eight starts this season.

At the other end of the ice, Frederik Andersen turned aside 29 of 33 shots.  He’s 37-20-5 with a 2.83 GAA and .917 save percentage in 64 starts.

TAMPA BAY 7 NY RANGERS 3

Dan Girardi found the back of the net for Tampa Bay.  It was the blueliners first game back in Madison Square Garden since he was bought out by the Rangers and signed by Tampa Bay over the summer.

Cedric Paquette scored two goals, including the game-winner, and registered an assist.  He has five goals and nine points in 52 games.

Brayden Point netted a pair of goals for Tampa Bay.  That gives him 30 goals and 64 points in 78 contests.

Steven Stamkos accumulated 19 penalty minutes, which is a career-high for him.  The Lightning forward took exception to a hit Pavel Buchnevich dished out on Nikita Kucherov.  Stamkos got five minutes for fighting Buchnevich, two minutes as the instigator, and a 10-minute misconduct.  He had also picked up a two-minute boarding penalty earlier in the first period.  At the end of the day, Stamkos now has 72 penalty minutes this season to go along with his 27 goals and 86 points.

Louis Domingue turned aside 28 of 31 Rangers shots.  He has a 7-9-0 record, 3.44 GAA, and .892 save percentage in 18 contests.

Filip Chytil scored a goal for the Rangers.  It was his first career goal and second point in five games.

Ondrej Pavelec surrendered six goals on a staggering 49 shots.  He faced at least 13 shots in each period.

CAROLINA 4 WASHINGTON 1

Michal Kempny netted the Hurricanes’ lone goal.  It was his second marker and eighth point in 49 games.

Derek Ryan found the back of the net and recorded an assist.  That gives him 14 goals and 35 points in 76 contests.

Justin Faulk scored the game-winning goal.  He’s up to eight goals and 31 points in 75 games.

Scott Darling kicked out 20 of 21 Capitals shots.  That ended his run of four straight starts where he surrendered at least three goals.

Meanwhile, Braden Holtby was charged with three goals over 29 shots.  He has a 32-16-4 record, 3.01 GAA, and .907 save percentage in 52 starts.

COLORADO 5 CHICAGO 0

There was a dark cloud over this decisive win for the Avalanche.  Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves, but he had to leave the contest at 13:31 of the third period after Chicago’s Tomas Jurco crashed into him.  Varlamov appeared to hurt his leg and he needed to be helped off the ice.  Jonathan Bernier took over and stopped three shots to complete the shutout.

Artem Anisimov tied for Chicago’s team-high with four shots.  He has 20 goals on 126 shots this season, which is good for a 15.9% success rate.

Sven Andrighetto scored two goals, including the game-winner.  That gives him eight markers and 21 points in 46 games.

Tyson Barrie scored a goal and registered two assists.  He has 13 goals and 55 points in 64 games in 2017-18.

Collin Delia stopped 31 of 36 Avalanche shots.  The 23-year-old rookie has a 1-1-0 record, 3.96 GAA, and .889 save percentage in two starts.

ANAHEIM 2 LOS ANGELES 1 (OT)

Drew Doughty netted the Kings’ lone goal.  It was his 10th marker and 58th point in 79 games.

Rickard Rakell accounted for the overtime winner.  He has 32 goals and 66 points in 73 games.

Ondrej Kase assisted on both of Anaheim’s goals.  He has 18 goals and 36 points in 62 contests in 2017-18.

John Gibson kicked out 28 of 29 Kings shots.  He’s 31-18-7 record with a 2.43 GAA and .926 save percentage in 59 starts.

Jonathan Quick kicked out 31 of 33 shots Friday night.  He has a 31-27-3 record, 2.37 GAA, and .923 save percentage in 61 contests.

VEGAS 4 ST. LOUIS 3 (OT)

The Blues wouldn’t have gotten a point if not for Chris Thorburn, who scored the game-tying goal at 6:14 of the third frame.  It was his first goal and seventh point in 45 games this season.

Jonathan Marchessault ended up scoring the overtime winner just 22 seconds into bonus time though.  It was his second goal of the game, giving him 27 markers and 75 points in 75 games.

William Karlsson found the back of the net and registered two assists for Vegas.  He has 41 goals and 73 points in 78 games.

Malcolm Subban turned aside 21 of 24 Blues shots.  This was his first victory since Jan. 5, though he only had three starts between his wins.

At the other end of the ice, Jake Allen allowed four goals on 26 shots.  He has a 27-21-3 record, 2.69 GAA, and .907 save percentage in 55 games.