Down the Frozen River

Tag: 2016 Stanley Cup

  • November 5 – Day 24 – Rematch, Vol. II

    Exactly what Elton John said. So good for fighting, in fact, that we’ll have 13 of them, starting with a matinee featuring Minnesota at Colorado (SN) at 3 p.m. The usual starting time of 7 p.m. brings eight puck drops (Columbus at St. Louis, New Jersey at Tampa Bay, the New York Rangers at Boston [NHLN], Philadelphia at Montréal [CITY/TVAS], Buffalo at Ottawa [SN1/SN360], Florida at Washington, Edmonton at the New York Islanders [SN] and Vancouver at Toronto [CBC]), followed an hour later by two more (Carolina at Nashville and Chicago at Dallas). The west coast gets involved at 10 p.m. with Calgary visiting Los Angeles (CBC/SN1), followed half an hour later by our nightcap: Pittsburgh at San Jose. All times eastern.

    Short List:

    • New York at Boston: It’s an Original Six rivalry as well as hockey’s iteration of the USA’s most famous sports rivalry.
    • Buffalo at Ottawa: Another rivalry for the Sabres this week.
    • Philadelphia at Montréal: Dale Weise returns to the Bell Centre wearing white after spending three seasons with the Canadiens.
    • Calgary at Los Angeles: Kris Versteeg is also making a return to his home arena of a year ago, but he only played for the Kings one season.
    • Pittsburgh at San Jose: It’s the second and final Stanley Cup Finals rematch this year, this one taking place on the surface where hardware was distributed.

    The Penguins and Sharks won’t run into each other again this calendar year, so we’re off to the Tank!

    tIMcw8ylStanley Cup Final LogoUnknown

    Game 8 of the Stanley Cup Finals goes down tonight!

    …Wait…

    Well, it is the eighth and final meeting between the Pens and Sharks in 2016, and Pittsburgh has certainly had the advantage in that time-span. Not only do they have the Stanley Cup in their possession due to beating the Sharks four times in early June, but the Penguins already won the first rematch in Pittsburgh 3-2.

    San Jose enters the night with a 6-5-0 record, even if they are riding a two-game losing skid. So far this season, they’ve found success in their defense and goaltending, allowing only 27 goals against.

    Martin Jones has started all but one game this season, and has a 5-5-0 record to show for a .909 save percentage and 2.34 GAA. Those are both decent statistics, but I would contest that they’re due in part to the help he is getting from his blue line (and sometimes even forwards!), as three skaters (Justin Braun, Brent Burns and Paul Martin) have 20 or more blocks to their credit and three more have over 10 (Joe Pavelski, David Schlemko and Marc-Edouard Vlasic).

    In the other corner, the 7-2-2 Penguins enter the Tank on a five-game point streak. While the Sharks are a defensive-minded club, the Penguins prefer to score with 31 goals already to their credit.

    Leading the way for Pittsburgh as been Evgeni Malkin, who has 11 points to his credit to average a point-per-game. That being said, Sidney Crosby is hot on his tail with eight points on six goals. He’s appeared on the score sheet in each of the five games he’s played since returning from his concussion and has been a force to be reckoned with.

    The Pens have been exceptionally potent on the power play so far this season. For every four extra-man opportunities, Pittsburgh has found the back of the net once – the fifth-best rate in the league. Michael Haley will need to keep himself contained if the Sharks want to earn a victory.

    That being said, part of the reason the Sharks have been so strong has been their ability to negate penalties. Their 86.7% kill rate ranks sixth-best in the league, a good match for Pittsburgh‘s attack.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Pittsburgh‘s Marc-Andre Fleury (six wins [tied for second-most in the NHL]) and Malkin (six goals [tied for fourth-most in the league]) & San Jose‘s Pavelski (eight assists [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]).

    The Sharks desperately want to defend the Tank and earn a win this evening given what happened the last time the Penguins came to town. Vegas has them marked to win with a -125. I don’t feel quite that confident, but that may be partially my bias. Whichever team is able to win the special teams battle, especially when Pittsburgh has the man-advantage, should walk away with tonight’s victory.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Cooney Weiland (1904-1985) – A center from Ontario, Weiland played 11 NHL seasons, 71.7% of which were with the Bruins.
    • Sergei Berezin (1971-) – A left winger from Russia that played seven NHL seasons. He started his career in Toronto, where he played 357 games and scored 220 points.
    • Alexei Yashin (1973-) – Another Russian, but Yashin played center. He was drafted second overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by Ottawa and played 850 games over a dozen seasons.
    • Toby Enstrom (1984-) – This Swedish defenseman is working on his 10th season in the NHL, all of which have been spent with the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise.
    • Nikolai Zherdev (1984-) – The fourth overall of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, this right wing has played six seasons in the best league in the world so far. Currently playing in the KHL, he’s most remembered for his four seasons in Columbus.

    On a night where 24 goals were scored among five teams (Montréal was shutout by Columbus), a 5-1 Anaheim victory seemed par for the course in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    The Ducks struck first, waiting 9:05 before Kevin Bieksa (Third Star of the Game Corey Perry and Second Star Rickard Rakell) scored his first goal of the season on a power play slap shot. The eventual game-winner was struck 3:06 later when Rakell (Perry and Michael Sgarbossa) found Anaheim gold with a slap shot of his own. The third and final tally of the frame also belonged to the Ducks, this time a Jakob Silfverberg (First Star Antoine Vermette and Andrew Cogliano) backhander to set the score at 3-0 45 seconds before the first intermission.

    With 6:37 remaining in the second period Vermette (Ondrej Kase and Josh Manson) scored a slap shot to give the Ducks a 4-0 lead. Arizona finally stopped the bleeding with a goal from Jamie McGinn (Radim Vrbata and Christian Dvorak) 3:09 later, but was unable to find another with the remaining time.

    Rakell (Ryan Kesler) scored another insurance goal in the third period to put the final nail in the Coyotes‘ coffin.

    John Gibson earns the victory after saving 21-of-22 shots faced (95.5%), while Louis Domingue saved 18-of-21 (85.7%) in the loss. He was replaced after 20 minutes of play by Justin Peters, who saved 10-of-12 (83.3%) for no decision.

    With the Ducks‘ victory, the DtFR Game of the Day series stands at 14-9-3, favoring the home squads by four points.

  • October 20 – Day Nine – Rematch, Vol. I

    Get ready for a wild ride tonight, because there’s going to be a lot of hockey action tonight. Pucks start dropping at 7 p.m. eastern (New Jersey at Boston, Anaheim at Philadelphia and San Jose at Pittsburgh), followed half an hour later by another trio of games (Arizona at Montréal [RDS/SN360], Colorado at Tampa Bay and Washington at Florida). Toronto visits Minnesota at 8 p.m., followed 30 minutes later by Los Angeles at Dallas. 9 p.m. marks the beginning of two games (Carolina at Calgary and St. Louis at Edmonton) followed by this evening’s nightcap an hour later: Buffalo at Vancouver (SN360). All times eastern.

    Short list:

    • Anaheim at Philadelphia: With the Flyers‘ first home game of the season, it’s the first time they’re sporting their new threads honoring their 50th anniversary.
    • San Jose at Pittsburgh: You know, it’s just a Stanley Cup rematch. No big deal (or, as the kids put it, NBD).
    • St. Louis at Edmonton – Traded only five days before the season, Nail Yakupov returns to Edmonton, where he spent his first four seasons.

    Let’s get real. There’s only two Stanley Cup rematches a year. This being the first one, we have to give it our attention. Sorry Philly and Yakupov.

    UnknowntIMcw8ylThe San Jose Sharks enter the night with a 3-1-0 record, with their lone loss occurring three days ago in Madison Square Garden, falling 7-4 to the Rangers.

    Other than that lone blemish, the Sharks have picked up right where they left off a few months ago. San Jose has scored exactly as many goals as they’ve given up (12), but excluding the score-fest in New York, the Sharks are +3, which would tie them for the third best mark in the league. Defenseman Brent Burns has led the Sharks‘ scoring, notching three goals and five assists for eight points.

    Their opposition also only has only one regulation loss on their record, due in part to playing goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury two times in as many days and three times in four days. That’s far from the only reason though. They failed to find the back of the net once against Montréal Tuesday 4-0.

    Similar to San Jose, if you exclude their lone debacle of the season, the Penguins would have a +1 goal differential on the season. Matt Cullen, Evgeni Malkin and Conor Sheary have all scored one goal and two assists for three points on the young season, but Sheary is currently questionable after sustaining a bruise around his eye in Montréal.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s contest include Pittsburgh‘s Fleury (two wins [tied for seventh-most in the league] on a .914 save percentage [ninth-best in the NHL]) and San Jose‘s Burns (eight points [leads the NHL] on five assists [tied for the league-lead] and three goals [tied for sixth-most in the NHL]), Martin Jones (two wins [tied for third-most in the league]), Joe Pavelski (four assists [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]) and Joe Thornton (five assists [tied for the league-lead]).

    Bets look to be off with most books in Vegas, which should only prove the expected quality of this game. The only reason I give the Penguins the edge in this contest is due to them having home ice. Then again, seeing that banner might give San Jose just the motivation they need. We’ll have to watch and see.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Mikhail Shtalenkov (1965-) – The Russian goaltender spent seven seasons in the NHL, most of which were spent with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  He had a career save percentage of 89.8%.
    • Colin Wilson (1989-) – This marks Wilson’s eighth professional season, all of which spent with the Nashville Predators. Last season, the center scored his 200th NHL point on March 24 against the Canucks.

    Yesterday’s Game of the Day was our second 5-4 overtime thriller of the season. Go figure that one included Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs too, and just like last time, it was the home squad – the Winnipeg Jets in this case- that rose to the occasion in sudden death.

    Mike Babcock and the Leafs will be kicking themselves after this one. They scored both goals in the first frame, starting with Connor Carrick‘s (James van Riemsdyk and Mitchell Marner) 6:46 after dropping the puck. Third Star of the Game Nazem Kadri (Morgan Rielly and Milan Michalek) takes credit for the second tally with 3:48 remaining in the frame.

    Three more goals were scored in the second period, and two belonged to Toronto. William Nylander‘s (Matthews and Nikita Zaitsev) wrister found the back of Michael Hutchinson‘s net 6:47 after resuming play, followed eight seconds later by a goal from Kadri (Nylander and Leo Komarov) to set the score at 4-0. Tyler Myers (Second Star Mark Scheifele and Shawn Matthias) scored the Jets’ first goal with 6:56 remaining in the frame before the squads returned to their dressing rooms.

    As good as the Maple Leafs‘ first period was, Winnipeg’s third was better. Only a minute after returning to the ice, First Star Patrik Laine (Dustin Byfuglien and Scheifele) pulled the score to 4-2 with a wrister. Scheifele (Josh Morrissey and Drew Stafford) followed that 5:05 later with his third score of the season to pull the Jets within one.  55 seconds before what could have been the final horn, Laine (Nikolaj Ehlers) struck again with a snap shot to force three-on-three overtime.

    Overtime lasted only 2:40 before Laine (Byfuglien) completed the first hat trick of his career with a wrister past Frederik Andersen to secure the victory.

    Hutchinson earns the victory after saving 36-of-40 (90%), while Andersen takes the overtime loss, saving 29-of-34 (85.3%).

    With that victory, Winnipeg improves the home team’s record to 7-3-1 in the DtFR Game of the Day series, leading the roadies by four points.