Welcome to my weekly review of the happenings in the NHL for the week of December 11 -17, 2023. I hope you enjoy it.
Monday
With a light Monday night schedule, the highlight of the evening was John Tavares with a goal and an assist reaching the 1000-point plateau against his former team.
The magical point came on a primary assist with JT winning the faceoff, eventually making his way to the front of the net and deflecting a shot from the point before Mogan Rielly scored.
With a delayed reaction the players poured off the bench to congratulate their beloved captain.
True story, the leadership group had received permission from the league for the team celebration on the ice but forgot to tell the other players. With them being on the ice when the goal was scored, Mitch Marner had to waive everyone onto the ice.
A curious reaction from the Islanders faithful with a lot of boos from the crowd. Just my opinion, Islander fans need to get over Tavares leaving, its been 5 1/2 years. Like Tavares or not, he deserves kudos as 1000 points in the NHL is a big deal with only 98 players reaching the plateau in it’s 106 seasons.
Winners Monday night were Buffalo, Islanders, Dallas and Colorado in high scoring games.
Tuesday
With a packed 10 game schedule, the battle of the Connors was the game of the night to be sure. That’s McDavid and Bedard in case you didn’t know. Bedard had a goal on a gorgeous play.
Getting a pass at the Oilers blueline, accelerating and splitting Edmonton’s defensemen. with one of them closing in on him, he pulled the puck close to a tight space before going roof daddy on the Oilers’ goalie with a little bit of this and a lot of that. Definitely a highlight reel goal. His second in just over a couple of weeks.
This kid is already really good, and he has only played 30 games in the NHL. He is still figuring things out. He is going to be spectacular. I can’t wait to see him with McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon and Makar among others in the next Winter Olympics.
I think everyone came out a winner as McDavid had 2 assists and the Oilers won 4-1 to extend their win streak to 8 games. Are the Oilers going to qualify for the playoffs? I say yes, however, only time will tell.
Other teams coming out ahead Tuesday night were, Vancouver, Carolina, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Nashville, Seattle, Vegas and believe it or not San Jose.
Wednesday
Sydney Crosby is still playing like Syd the Kid leading the Penguins to a 4-3 shoot-out victory against Montreal with two goals and one assist over his childhood favorite team. He typically plays well in Montreal. Fitting that he climbed up the all-time leader board on this night, tying his former teammate and Montreal Canadien Mark Recchi for 13th in NHL all-time scoring with 1,533 points.
I am not typically a fan of the shoot-out, but every now and then one happens that is intense…so it was in Montreal with Pittsburgh finally winning it in the 12th round.
Four other games were played with New Jersey, New York Islanders, Colorado and Winnipeg coming out on top.
Thursday
There was a shoot-out in the O.K. Corral, with the corral being the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Columbus jumped out to a 5 goal lead only to see the Maple Leafs storm back with 5 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to tie the game on Austin Matthews 2nd goal of the game with 45 seconds left in the third period. I guess a five goal lead is the “new” worst lead in hockey.
The Blue Jackets ended up winning it in overtime. My oh my, what has happened to the goaltending this season? I recently had a conversation with my father about this and we both agree that the increase in the number of power plays and the skill of the players going bar down are the main contributors. Maybe the butterfly style of goaltending needs to be revisited.
In addition to Columbus, Philadelphia, Carolina, Minnesota, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Seattle and Vancouver all were winners on this night.
Friday
The straw that broke the camel’s back for Anti Raanta! With a another horrendous night in goal allowing 6 goals on 30 shots in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators, Carolina placed him on waivers.
Looks like this is possibly the end for him in the NHL. Carolina’s woes this season are not all on him though. Their defensive structure and break out strategies are not the best.
On a personal note, this sucks for me as I had him as one of my tenders in my keeper fantasy league. Not my best draft pick, oh well!! Onward and upward as the saying goes.
In other games on Friday, the Rangers, Bruins, Stars , Coyotes and Sabres were all victorious.
Saturday
Arizona beats the Sabres 2-0. It was their second straight shut out on back to back nights. The Coyotes are a fast, exciting young team, holding down the final wild card playoff spot in the Western Conference as of this writing.
A plea to the NHL…please figure out their arena situation or relocate them. It’s embarrassing having them play in a 5000-seat college arena.
Other surprising winners on this night where we saw 26 of the 32 teams play, included Minnesota beating Vancouver 2-1 in a shoot-out, the Habs hanging on over the Islanders 5-3 and the Maple Leafs blowing out Pittsburgh 7-0 in Kyle Dubas’ return to Toronto.
Sunday
Nice to see the NHL finally scheduling a half decent number of games on a Sunday.
Anaheim with 28 shots on goal opened the scoring at 1 minute and 46 seconds into the game and never looked back for a surprisingly convincing 5-1 victory over the enigma that is known as the New Jersey Devils.
Although the Devils are only one point out of a playoff spot, I still consider them to be a disappointment so far this season. They were definitely expected to be in a better spot considering what they did last season. Just goes to show you that the goaltender position in the NHL is the most important position in pro sports.
In other games, Vancouver got back on the winning band wagon with a 4-3 win over the pesky Blackhawks. Washington, and juggernauts Colorado and Vegas also won.
Three Stars
I will go in reverse order and as a Montreal Canadien fan since birth, I will pretend I am the announcer at the Centre Bell.
La trosieme etoile, the 3rd star – John Tavares. Like I mentioned earlier, reaching 1000 points in the NHL is special. I am not a JT fan, however, we need to tip our cap to him. 1000 points is a testament to consistency and longevity in the NHL.
La deuxieme etoile, the 2nd star – Nikolaj Ehlers. With his teammate and leading goal scorer Kyle Connor being lost to a knee injury, he stepped up with 3 goals and 3 assists leading them to two wins. Even though Ehlers has tremendous talent and was already one of the leaders on the team, replacing ” the star” of your team is not easy and he has done it so far.
And finally….. La premiere etoile, the 1st star is Nathan MacKinnon. The Springhill, Nova Scotia native had quite the week with three goals and seven assists for 10 points to lead the league in points and helping the Avalanche win 3 of their 4 games. He is now 2nd in overall points in the NHL with 47, only 5 behind Nikita Kucherov.
So, those are my three stars of the week. What do you think? Agree or disagree?
Fun Fact
Last, but not least, did you know that Sydney Crosby’s father was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens. Yes, it’s true… Troy was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1984 with the 242nd overall pick in the 12th round. Ever hear of Patrick Roy, Shayne Corson, Stephan Richer and Petr Svoboda? They all were drafted by Montreal in the same draft.
Well, that’s it for now. Let me know what you think by posting on either @JeffStanzel1 or @WelikeSportzPC
Until next time…..
Jeff Stanzel
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