I am pleased to note the Ottawa Senators are still technically an NHL team, and are scheduled to play an additional 74 NHL games this year against a variety of opponents.
If you include the loss to the Canucks last night, that would be five they’ve dropped. Surprised to see Howard let in an innocuous five-holer, from significant distance, on the fourth goal.
The Red Wings have been outshot 16-7 in the third period so far this season - no wonder their late-frame implosion last night. I’d doubt if that trend continues, though.
Unfortunate for the Wings that they passed on Quinn Hughes in the 2018 draft - he’ll definitely become a franchise D for the Canucks.
Detroit should be happy, though, with Evgeny Svechnikov debuting for them last night - I’ll bet he’ll eventually be quite formidable, offensively.
Nice hat-trick, Bo!
Tim Peel is a fucking moron. That is all. :mad:
Just heard that the Canucks’ goaltending have the lowest team goals against average in the NHL. (Markstrom and Demko)
Figured I’d have to post that right away before that stat vanishes by, oh, the end of the night, forever but lost, a nanosecond glory, gone to the mists, in the annals of the game, time, and the origin of the universe itself.
Weird Caps/Canucks game tonight. The Caps looked pretty awful in the first 2 periods, and with 1 second left in the 2nd period, were losing 5-1. In that last second of the 2nd, Kuzy scored. And then in the third, they started playing with urgency, and completed the comeback, then won it in the shootout. Fun game (for a Caps fan).
The Flames/Jets outdoor game is tomorrow. Should be fun.
Heh I was gonna come back later and say, well, ‘so much’ for the Canucks team goals against average still being the best in the league. Not the 'tender’s fault.
Second game in a row Van’s blown good leads. Bumdogs.
Well, the Oilers are off to a spectacular start. And we all know what that means… The inevitable mid-season slump that takes them out of playoff contention will be even more spectacular this year.
As much as Sam Stone is just voicing an Edmontonian’s natural inclination to pessimism… honestly, he’s likely right. The Oilers’ record is probably a fluke, and many of the teams below them are better than they are. I base this not just on their history but
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They are only plus-4 in goal differential, which isn’t consistent with an 8-3-1 record. It’s not even top three in their division.
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Their goals for is inflated by a 33.3% success rate on the power play, which absolutely is not sustainable.
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Their penalty kill rate is also unusually good, which may be sustainable to some extent but it ain’t getting better.
While I was looking those things up I noticed that Ottawa has a pwer play rate of 5.91%. That is… extraordinary. The Senators are likelier to score a goal when they AREN’T on the power play than when they are.
That facts about the hapless Sens is funny, but it’s indicative of why you shouldn’t trust a team’s results, or lack thereof, based on small power play/penalty killing sample sizes. Obviously, Ottawa will not continue to only score on two out of every 37 power plays; a PP rate twice that high would be dreadful. By sheer chance they’ll get it up to at least 12-15%. Similarly, Edmonton’s 33.33% rate can’t continue. it cannot be done. Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers couldn’t do that.
Ericsson down to GRR after clearing waivers, and Abdelkader on IR. sounds like Stevie Y is signaling to these over-paid veterans that instead of over-paying them to not produce on the ice, he might as well pay them to not produce and sit instead of taking ice time from younger prospects.
7-1, Pens. It’s always fun to beat the Flyers, especially when you crush them like we did tonight.
And Geno should be back on Saturday! happy dance Life is sweet.
New Canes beat the Ex Canes 2-1, with a PP goal and as our PA announcer said “the filthiest goal you’ll ever see in person.”
After laying a turd for half the game and spotting the Wild a three goal lead the Stars turned it on. 6 straight goals including a hattrick from Radulov…
They have issues to deal with for sure, but I think a lot of them go away with consistent scoring.
Well, I wasted my evening watching the Astros lose at home again and missed the comeback of the Stars. Ugh. So glad for Radulov! Go Stars!
The Blackhawks (as well as the Bulls for that matter) stink and the Bears appear to be already out of it. Hey, spring baseball is only 4 months away.
So, is it time for the Hawks to trade Kane and Toews while they are still valuable, get some young players and/or draft picks, and finally go about the serious business of rebuilding from scratch?
The Flames comeback was amazing. The OT winner by Matthew Tkachuk is just insane.
Tkachuks’ game winner.
Trade them to the Isles. We’re literally running out of forwards, with Komorov and Martin out indefinitely, Eberle out, Andrew Ladd always being injured, and now Beauvillier likely out sick as well. They’ve called up Otto Koivula (who?). Even their AHL team is running out of forwards, and Josh Ho-Sang isn’t playing at all.
Thanks for posting that; what a beauty.