Down the Frozen River

Tag: Curtis Joseph

  • Talbot earns shutout in, 1-0, OT victory for Wild

    Talbot earns shutout in, 1-0, OT victory for Wild

    Cam Talbot stopped all 42 shots that he faced as Joel Eriksson Ek scored the game’s only goal early in overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild over the Vegas Golden Knights, 1-0, in Game 1 of their 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

    With the win, the Wild jumped out to a 1-0 series lead on the road as the Golden Knights are the higher seed in the series.

    Talbot (1-0, 0.00 goals-against average, 1.000 save percentage in one game) picked up his fifth career postseason shutout– his first with Minnesota– and is tied with six goaltenders behind Curtis Joseph for the most shutouts among different franchises in Stanley Cup Playoff history.

    Joseph had at least one shutout in his playoff tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings, while Talbot has now recorded at least one shutout in the postseason with the Oilers, Calgary Flames and Wild.

    At the other end of the rink, Marc-Andre Fleury (0-1, 0.95 goals-against average, .967 save percentage in one game) had 29 saves on 30 shots against in the loss for Vegas.

    As a result of starting the game, Fleury became the first goaltender in National Hockey League history to play in 15 consecutive postseasons.

    Fleury made his NHL debut in the 2003-04 regular season with the Pittsburgh Penguins before appearing in a playoff game with the club in 2007, as the team made the postseason for the first time since 2001.

    He’s amassed 15 shutouts in 147 career Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Penguins (10) and Golden Knights (5), which leads all active netminders in the postseason.

    The Golden Knights and Wild are meeting for the first time in a Stanley Cup Playoff series as the two teams have never met before the 2021 First Round.

    Vegas has never missed the postseason– making their 4th consecutive appearance in the playoffs since joining the league as an expansion team for the 2017-18 season.

    Minnesota is making their 11th appearance in franchise history in the postseason, dating back to their founding as an expansion club in the 2000-01 season.

    Max Pacioretty (undisclosed) wasn’t available for Game 1, so the Golden Knights clearly missed having one of their prolific scorers in the low-scoring matchup.

    Matt Dumba sent the puck over the glass and out of play, yielding an automatic minor infraction for delay of game and presenting the Golden Knights with the first power play of the afternoon at 2:55 of the first period.

    Vegas couldn’t convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however.

    Late in the opening frame, Kevin Fiala caught Alex Pietrangelo with a slash and was assessed a minor penalty– cutting a rut to the sin bin at 18:38.

    Though the resulting power play for Vegas would spill over into the middle frame, the Golden Knights weren’t able to beat Minnesota’s penalty kill.

    After one period of play on Sunday afternoon, the score remained even at, 0-0.

    The Golden Knights led in shots on goal, 19-5, while also holding the advantage in takeaways (5-1) and faceoff win percentage (65-35).

    The Wild held the lead in blocked shots (11-1) and hits (25-23), while both teams had yet to record a giveaway and only Vegas (0/2) had seen action on the power play.

    There were no goals in the second period as Fleury turned aside all 18 shots that he faced through 40 minutes and Talbot stopped 30 out of 30 shots against heading into the second intermission.

    Late in the middle frame, however, Pietrangelo tripped Nico Sturm, presenting the Wild with their first power play of the game at 19:33 of the second period.

    Minnesota’s skater advantage would yield some remaining time with 5-on-4 action to kick off the final frame of regulation.

    Though the score was tied, 0-0, the Golden Knights led in shots on goal, 30-18, despite the Wild outshooting Vegas, 13-11, in the second period alone.

    Minnesota held the advantage in blocked shots (17-7) and hits (53-40), while Vegas led in takeaways (9-5), giveaways (6-1) and faceoff win% (66-34) after two periods.

    The Golden Knights were 0/2 and the Wild were 0/1 on the power play in that span.

    Midway through the third period, Dumba hooked Mark Stone and presented the Golden Knights with another power play at 8:36, though Vegas was not able to capitalize on the skater advantage.

    After 60 minutes of action, the score remained tied, 0-0, despite Vegas leading in shots on goal, 40-27, including a, 10-9, advantage in the third period alone.

    Minnesota dominated in blocked shots (23-12) and hits 69-57), while the Golden Knights led in takeaways (12-10), giveaways (10-4) and faceoff win% (61-39).

    Vegas was 0/3 and the Wild were 0/1 on the power play heading into the extra frame.

    For the first time in NHL history, the league’s first three games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs all required overtime as the extra frame got underway at T-Mobile Arena Sunday afternoon.

    Jonathan Marchessault hooked Ryan Hartman as the Wild forward had a opportunity in the attacking zone, presenting Minnesota with a power play in sudden death overtime at 1:11 of the extra frame.

    Though the power play went unresolved, the Wild caught Vegas in the vulnerable minute after special teams action as Pietrangelo had a clearing attempt from behind his own goal line broken up.

    Minnesota jumped on the loose puck off the boards and cycled it down to the goal line before working it around to Eriksson Ek (1) in the slot for the game-winning goal off of Golden Knights defender, Alec Martinez, and in behind Fleury on the change in direction.

    Marcus Foligno (1) and Jordan Greenway (1) had the only assists on the goal at 3:20 of the overtime period.

    Vegas finished the afternoon leading in shots on goal, 42-30, though Minnesota held the advantage in overtime alone, 3-2.

    The Wild also wrapped up the afternoon leading in blocked shots (23-13) and hits (71-57), while the Golden Knights exited with the advantage in giveaways (10-5) and faceoff win% (62-38).

    Vegas finished 0/3 and Minnesota went 0/2 on the power play in Game 1.

    The Wild lead the series 1-0 with Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday night in Vegas. Puck drop is expected to be a little after 10 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can catch national coverage on NBCSN, while fans in Canada can tune to SN360 or TVAS for the action from T-Mobile Arena.

  • DTFR Podcast #180- Turning Over A New Leaf

    DTFR Podcast #180- Turning Over A New Leaf

    The Toronto Maple Leafs finally did the thing! Congrats to the 2019 Hockey Hall of Fame Class and taking a look at who might join them in 2020.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

  • DTFR Podcast #155- The One Where They’re Divided

    DTFR Podcast #155- The One Where They’re Divided

    Nick, Cap’n and Pete assess the Detroit Red Wings hiring of Steve Yzerman as General Manager and Executive Vice President, as well as recap the trio of Game 7s in the First Round and preview the Second Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

  • DTFR Podcast #126- Participation Trophies After One Game (Part III)

    DTFR Podcast #126- Participation Trophies After One Game (Part III)

    The 2018-19 regular season has started, so let’s overreact and hand out the regular season awards already! It’s our 3rd Annual Participation Trophies After One Game presented by Nick and Connor.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

  • Down the Frozen River Podcast #110- Re-Recordings

    Down the Frozen River Podcast #110- Re-Recordings

    For the first time in show history, Nick and Connor had to re-record an entire episode because GarageBand deleted the original recording seconds after the duo finished recording. In this edition, more movie madness, top-10 goaltenders in our lifetime and Ilya Kovalchuk.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and/or on Stitcher.

  • Merkle’s Weekly Bumblings: Week 5

    Player of the Week: Nikita Kucherov

    Tampa is kind of making these choices too easy every week.

    The hottest team in the league continued to roll, and the hottest line in the league followed suit. Linemates Vladislav Namestnikov (4 goals, 1 assist) and Steven Stamkos (1 goal, 5 assists) were certainly no slouches, but Kucherov’s 2 goals and 7 points in 3 games were easily the most impressive output of the week, especially considering both goals and 6 of those points were in the first 2 games of the week.

    Kucherov is even being talked about as having a shot at 50 goals in 50 games. While it’s certainly still quite a ways away, it will definitely be interesting to see if he can reach the fabled mark.

    Team of the Week: Toronto Maple Leafs

    Fans of Steve Dangle’s LFR series will know that this was a week chock full of victory puppies.

    After a very shaky stretch that saw the Leafs nearly fall all the way back to a .500 record after a scorching start, things looked increasingly bleak as they learned they’d be without superstar Auston Matthews heading into this week’s 4-game schedule. But the loss of #34 seemed to light a spark under his teammates’ collective tails.

    Toronto opened the week hosting the Golden Knights and whoever they could find willing to throw on some goalie pads (we love ya, Max) and the two squads treated us to an extremely fun night that ended in a 4-3 Leafs victory on the strength of a silky shootout goal from Mitch Marner. They would follow that effort up with a 4-2 victory over Minnesota, heading into a back-to-back home-and-home with arch rival Boston.

    Now, the Bruins are more Providence than Boston right now as they deal with a slew of injuries, particularly in the forward group, but credit them for putting up one heck of a fight at the ACC on Friday night as they came just 60 seconds from victory before James van Hockey (who notably had 4 points in the 2 games against the Bruins) tied the game and sent it to overtime. In overtime, Patrick Marleau touched the ice, so the team he played for won the game. (If you’re not familiar with Marleau’s ridiculous GWG stats, go have a look. Legitimately about 1/5th of his career goals have won a game.)

    Saturday night the Leafs would wrap up a Matthews-less week 4-0 after a 4-1 victory over the Bruins in Boston, with backup goalie Curtis McElhinney shining in net. The Leafs now get 4 days of rest, riding a boatload of momentum, and likely will see the return of Matthews the next time they hit the ice. Maybe hope your team doesn’t play them anytime soon.

    Game of the Week: Los Angeles Kings 4 @ Anaheim Ducks 3 (OT), Tuesday November 7th

    The NHL likes to think of Wednesday as rivalry night, but boy were they a day late this week.

    What was easily the most entertaining game of the year to this point (in this humble writer’s opinion) saw some fantastic stat lines. 7 goals, 79 shots, 54 hits, 51 penalty minutes, and 12 power plays should tell you what sort of game you missed if you didn’t happen to catch this barn-burner.

    To put the insanity of this game into simple terms, Jared Boll opened the scoring. Yeah, that Jared Boll! Isn’t that spectacular?! Like, okay, Brandon Montour did 99% of the work and just had his wrap-around attempt bounce onto Boll’s stick so he could hack it into an open net, but who really cares? Somebody get that man a cookie.

    Sami Vatanen would send the Ducks up 2-0 later in the 1st just as their power play opportunity expired, and for most of the 1st period the Ducks looked like they had the game by the throat. If not for some simply spectacular goaltending (see also: strategical flailing) by Jonathan Quick, this game could have gotten out of hand early. But after watching their goaltender perform miracles for most of the opening frame, the Kings decided maybe they should help him or something, so Anze Kopitar figured he’d go ahead and score a goal with just over 3 minutes remaining to send the teams to the locker rooms with Anaheim leading 2-1.

    The second period saw less offense and more punches in the face. Jonathan Quick attempted to help Derek Forbort ruin Corey Perry‘s day, but the referees felt that someone with a full cage getting into fisticuffs with someone who isn’t wearing a full cage isn’t decidedly fair, so Andy Andreoff (great name, btw) had to go to the penalty box and feel Quick’s shame for him. Jared Boll would later fight Andreoff, I would assume feeling that Andy should earn his own time in the penalty box and not just bum it off of others. Oh, also Rickard Rakell and Adrian Kempe scored goals, so that was kinda neat.

    The Kings absolutely mugged the Ducks in the 3rd, racking up 17 shots on John Gibson to just 6 mustered against them, but only Dustin Brown managed to get one past the Anaheim netminder, so off to bonus hockey we would go, knotted at 3. It would take nearly 4 minutes of 4-on-4 madness to decide the game, but finally Nick Shore would complete the Kings’ comeback and end a terrific night of hockey and shenanigans.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    Jarome Iginla is still unsigned (podcast listeners will appreciate that), but he says he’s not ready to retire. I think he should play on a line with Jagr in Calgary, and we can nickname the line the Geri-hat-tricks or something like that.

    Roberto Luongo picked up career win number 455 this week, passing Curtis Joseph for 4th all-time in that category. I’m pretty sure nobody above him is better at self-deprecating Twitter humor, though, so really he’s probably the greatest of all time.

    Brian Boyle scored his first goal since returning to the Devils lineup, and his celebration was pretty much the most sincere display of happiness that doesn’t include a dog that you’ll ever see.

    The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee class of Danielle Goyette, Clare Drake, Jeremy Jacobs, Dave Andreychuk, Mark Recchi, Teemu Selanne, and Paul Kariya was one for the ages, and if you need a solid laugh, check out the back-and-forth between longtime friends Selanne and Kariya, some of the finest chirping you will ever find.