Last week was a short week with no games on Sunday ahead of the NHL’s Christmas break. Let’s take a quick look at some of the highlights of the week.
On Monday, the Minnesota Wild’s coach pulled a hero move by not starting future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury against Pittsburgh in what could very well be his last game against his old team in Pittsburgh.
I call it a hero move as this game was the first of two games on back-to-back nights with the second game in Boston. He could have easily started Fleury in the 1st game rather than the second game. Minnesota split the B2B games, losing against Crosby et al. and coming out ahead with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Bruins.
John Hynes escapes the full grasp of Karma with the split. I still say it was a classic case of the coach trying to draw attention to himself by saying ” look at me, I am genius ”
The Montreal Canadiens have been a pleasant surprise for its fans this season. This week was no different, getting 5 of 6 points with 2 wins and an overtime loss on the road to start a 7-game road trip with a break for Christmas. There is no doubt that the Habs are an exciting team to watch. This is what happens with a fast talented team and a young defense that makes tons of mistakes.
Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau appear to be emerging as the team’s goaltending tandem of the future with reports that Jake Allen is on the trading block. That’s right, Les Canadiens are one of a few teams that are carrying 3 goalies on their NHL roster.
Goaltending duos are still the norm, however, more and more teams have a true partnership in goal rather than a clear number 1 and 2. Very few teams this season have had one goaltender play more than 70% of their games so far this season.
Ottawa started the week by firing their coach D.J. Smith and bringing back into the fold a blast from the past, Jacques Martin. He once coached the team for 9 seasons from 1995 until 2004 amassing 341 wins and a .562 winning %. Even the coaching change could not turn around the disastrous road trip, with the Senators blowing 2 goal leads against both the Coyotes and Colorado.
Saturday night at home they tried once again to blow a lead but won in overtime with a Tim Stutzle goal to give Jacques his first win the 2nd time around. Truly, the more things change the more they stay the same with the Senators.
Vegas had a tough week, and both of their goalies are injured. Aden Hill is battling a re-occurring lower body injury and Logan Thompson is out with an upper-body injury. Time for their “forest” like defensemen to step it up a notch.
Maybe, just maybe Patrick Kane is starting to find his groove with the Detroit Red Wings scoring 4 goals and adding 4 assists last week. Hopefully, the team can find their mojo again as they still lost 3 of 4 despite the ” Showtimes” scoring outburst.
I can’t remember such a weird NHL season like the one we are having this season. Goalies all over the league are struggling. Teams are widely inconsistent.
Take Buffalo for example. On Tuesday they lost to the high scoring Blue Jackets 9-4 with chants in the crowd to fire the coach. On Thursday they jumped all over the Maple Leafs for 9-3 blowout win with chants of (after the 7th goal) “We want 8, we want 8” What an emotional rollercoaster for the fans of Western New York’s NHL team.
I mentioned Vegas’ goaltending issue earlier. They are not the only team with goalie problems. Carolina placed Antti Raanta on waivers and sent him down to the minors only to recall him days later.
Ilya Samsonov of the Toronto Maple Leafs is a mess right now with absolutely zero confidence. Joseph Woll, their outstanding rookie tender is out with a high ankle sprain.
It appears they are left with Martin Jones to hold down the fort for the foreseeable future. Luckily they were smart enough to structure his contract with a lump sum bonus to be paid on opening day to act as a so-called poison pill to prevent him from being claimed on waivers when they originally sent him to the AHL.
Connor Bedard was at it again, scoring another unbelievable goal. This time scoring Chicago’s first goal in a 7-5 loss to St. Louis on Saturday night. He scooped up the puck with the blade of his stick, circled the net, and slung it past the blues’ goaltender into the top lefthand corner scoring the so-called “lacrosse type” goal.
He was quoted after the game as saying, “There was just no one there, and just thought it was a good play, and yeah, kind of went for it,” As I have said before, just wait, this kid is going to be some kind of player.
The surprise of the week still has to be the Washington Capitals. With 3 wins and 1 loss, they go into the Christmas break holding down the 1st wildcard playoff spot in the east. Hands up if you thought they would be in this position at the beginning of the season. I certainly did not.
They are the exception to the rule this season, winning low scoring games with great defense. Oh, and by the way, the most gifted goal scorer in NHL history, Alex Ovechkin has only scored 6 goals to date.
My three stars of the week is actually only one this week. In my books, Patrick “Showtime” Kane, gets all three of them hands down. To have hip resurfacing surgery and come back the way he has is unbelievable. Here is hoping he continues his success except of course when he is playing my Montreal Canadiens.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are only 3 and a half months away. As of now, in no particular order, the Canucks, Vegas, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Avalanche, Rangers, Boston and Florida would be my top 8 contenders.
All of these teams have two things in common – trees for defensemen which makes it difficult to get high danger scoring chances and above average to outstanding goaltending. This is what wins in the playoffs.
Well folks, that’s it for another week. I hope you had a great holiday with your family and friends.
As always, let me know what you think at @JeffStanzel1 or @WeLikeSpotzPC
Jeff Stanzel
photo credit – NHL.com
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