Down the Frozen River

Tag: Game of the Day

October 29 – Day 23 – Back to his Beginnings

I don’t know about you, but yesterday’s Game of the Day did not end as I expected, as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 at the Verizon Center. Phil Kessel, assisted by Evgeni Malkin and David Perron, notched the game winner at the 3:49 mark of the third period.

Washington waited to open the scoring until the 1:28 mark of the final period. Karl Alzner assisted Evgeny Kuznetsov to his fourth goal of the season to give the Caps a one-goal lead, but it was short lived – only 24 seconds, in fact, as Nick Bonino and Olli Maatta assisted Beau Bennett to the game-tying goal. Bonino also scored an empty netter with under two minutes remaining in the game.

Marc-Andre Fleury earned his fifth win of the season by stopping 33 of 34 shots (97.1%) to set his record at 5-4-0, while Braden Holtby takes the loss, his second of the season, after allowing two of 24 shots faced (91.7%).

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 13-6-3, favoring the home team by nine points.

Tonight’s schedule is another full one, with a total of eight games on the night. The action gets started at 7 p.m. eastern when three games get started (Carolina at the New York Islanders, New Jersey at Philadelphia and Buffalo at Pittsburgh [Bell TV]), followed half an hour later by Colorado at Tampa Bay. Beginning at 8 p.m. eastern are two games (Anaheim at St. Louis and Chicago at Winnipeg), followed half an hour later by Vancouver at Dallas. Finally, the night begins to see its end at 9 p.m. eastern when Montréal visits Edmonton (SN, SN360, RDS).

Of tonight’s matchups, three are divisional rivalries (Carolina at the Isles, New Jersey at Philadelphia and Chicago at Winnipeg) and only one game featuring two teams currently in playoff position (Vancouver at Dallas).

Those games being noted, there is another matchup that strikes my fancy, as it is the first return of an ex-coach to play against his ex-team. That man is none other than Dan Bylsma, who is featured in the Buffalo–Pittsburgh matchup.

I know, we watched Pittsburgh yesterday, but this is a significant return. Although under slightly bizarre circumstances, Bylsma is the last coach to lead the Pens to the Stanley Cup. Plus, it’s Game of the Day’s first opportunity to see Jack Eichel in action, so I shouldn’t hear any complainers.

Coach Bylsma returns to the home arena of the team he led to the 2009 Stanley Cup with only 25 regular season games coached after replacing Michel Therrien mid-season. Winner of the 2010-’11 Jack Adams Award, Bylsma is the winningest coach in team history (252 wins, 20 more than Eddie Johnston), as well as the coach with the highest win percentage (67%).

As we all know, the reason for Bylsma’s departure from the Triangle was not his regular season success, but his post-season letdowns. Under his direction, the Penguins improved every regular season until the 2013-’14 season, beginning in his first full season with a .616 point percentage that grew to .75 by the time of his release. However, his postseason win-loss percentage is a different story. During his tenure the team won the Cup, then fell in the conference semifinals, followed by falling in the conference quarterfinals twice in a row, improving to the conference finals, then finally the semifinals. While some teams would love to make the playoffs on a consistent basis and make it past the first round most of the time, the Pittsburgh teams he coached were built to win, and only one cup did not satisfy ownership.

The Buffalo Sabres are currently 3-6-0 coming off a 4-3 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday. While folks in Upstate New York may be excited to usher in the Eichel Era, there have been some growing pains so far this season. The team has scored four goals less and given up five over the league average. The offensive production may be more due to bad luck though, as the Sabres have put 283 shots on goal so far this season, 21 over the league average, but only 6.7% of those attempts are finding the back of the net.

Probably the most exciting part about this Sabres team is their power play. The special teams have accounted for nine goals so far this season (three over the league average) on 36 opportunities, giving them a 25% success rate that exceeds the league average by 6.39%.

Sadly, this positive comes with its own negative, as the penalty kill is vastly inferior to the rest of the NHL. Buffalo has given up seven power play goals so far on only 23 opportunities (seven under the league average), giving them an atrocious penalty kill percentage of 69.57%, 11.82% under the league average. Fortunately for the Sabres, they have been limiting penalties to a minimum to avoid man-down situations as much as possible, but penalties do happen and this statistic may be a monkey that hangs on the squad’s back for the entire season.

As explained yesterday, Bylsma’s old team is leaning heavily on Fleury and the defense, and there has been no indication that Jeff Zatkoff will see his first playing time tonight, although I don’t think anyone would be surprised if he did, given that Fleury has played every minute of all nine games this season.

Some players to watch in this one include Buffalo‘s Jake McCabe (two even strength goals [leads team] and 40% shot percentage [leads team]), Ryan O’Reilly (eight points [leads team], five assists [leads team], four power play assists [leads team]) & Sam Reinhart (+2 Corsi rating [leads team] and three even-strength assists [leads team]) and Pittsburgh‘s Malkin (seven points [leads team], four assists [leads team], three even-strength assists [leads team], two game-winners [leads team] and 13.6% shot percentage [leads team]) and, should he play, Fleury (five wins [tied for third in league], one shutout [tied for sixth in the league], 1.9 GAA [eighth in the league] and .936 save percentage [ninth in the league]).

Conventional wisdom points to the Penguins being favored in this one, but I think Pittsburgh‘s poor power play provides the Sabres a way to keep this one closer than expected.

October 29, 2015
October 28 – Day 22 – More capitals than you think…

Yesterday’s Game of the Day, contested between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the St. Louis Blues, was our second straight shutout victory for the home squad, as the Notes beat the Bolts 2-0.

Scott Gomez’ goal, assisted by Colton Parayko and Troy Brouwer at the 15:59 mark of the first period, was his first with St. Louis and the eventual game-winner. The lone insurance goal was an empty netter scored by Brouwer, assisted by Alex Pietrangelo, with only 41 seconds remaining in the game.

First star of the game Jake Allen earned the win by stopping all 26 Lightning shots, while Ben Bishop lost his yearly homecoming game by allowing only one goal on 23 shots (95.7%).

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 13-5-3, still favoring the home squad by 11 points.

After a busy 10 game schedule yesterday, the writers at Down the Frozen River invite you to sit back, crack open your beverage of choice and relax this evening, as there are only three games on the schedule tonight. Instead of frantically checking your phone every five minutes to check scores, you can chill out, knowing that all three games will be on national TV in their home nation. The evening begins at 7:30 p.m. eastern when the Calgary Flames visit the Canadian capital to take on the Senators (TVAS, SN1). The capital theme continues half an hour later, when Pittsburgh visits the American capital to play division rival Washington (NBCSN). Finally, at 10:30 p.m. eastern, the squad representing the capital of Tennessee, the Nashville Predators, will visit the county seat of Santa Clara County (So, like, the capital of Santa Clara County? YES, THE CAPITAL OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY!) to play the San Jose Sharks (NBCSN).

Of these three, one is a divisional rivalry (Pittsburgh at Washington), and none that features two teams that are currently qualifying for the playoffs (San Jose fell out of position last night with Vancouver‘s win over Montréal). Therefore, I expect the Pittsburgh–Washington game to be the best game of the night.

The rivalry between these two squads is well documented. In fact, this season is the tenth anniversary of the rebirth of the rivalry, as both teams’ captains began playing for their respective teams during the 2005-’06 season. In their history, the Penguins own the all-time series at 131-110-16 but, as should be expected, the Capitals own a better record when playing in front of their home crowd (63-58-9).

We first take a look at the visiting team. While offense is usually the first thing to come to mind when thinking of a squad with both Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins have strongly relied on their defense (especially Ian Cole, who has 25 blocks so far) and Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to achieve their 4-4-0 record. The only goalie to put on the pads for Pittsburgh so far this season, he’s given up 16 goals so far this season, six under the league average. Even when a man or more down, the Penguins have still found a way to keep the opposition off the board, as they’ve only given up four power play goals (one less than the league average) to maintain an 84.62% penalty kill rate, exceeding the league average of 81.43%. Fleury’s .932 save percentage also exceeds the league average by 1.7%.

In comparison to both their defense and Penguins teams in the past, the offense has been fairly lackluster. The club has only tickled the twine 13 times, nine goals below the league average. Part of the problem has been the poor results on the power play. In 28 attempts, the Penguins have only scored two goals (three below average), for a 7.14% power play. What’s most frustrating for the team is their lack of offensive success hasn’t entirely been their fault. Pittsburgh has shot the puck 261 times in eight games, 16 more times than the league average, but has only scored on 5% of their shots.

Turning our attention to the home side, we find a 6-1-0 Capitals side that we at Down the Frozen River think has the potential to represent the Eastern Conference in this year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Washington is a well rounded team that is a threat to score on one end of the ice, and has full capabilities to stop the opposition on the other end.

Beginning with the offense, the Capitals have scored 29 tallies so far this season, seven goals above league average (Ovi leads the way with five goals this season). Seven of those goals have been on the power play. What’s most remarkable is they’ve had extra-man success (two more goals than league average) on significantly fewer opportunities (six less, to be exact). What the kids that can do quick math have figured out before I tell you is that Washington‘s power play percentage is much better than the rest of the NHL’s. We’re talking so good, that the Caps score on almost a third of their man-advantages (31.82%, to be exact). The league averages only 18.57%… for sake of argument, we can almost claim that Washington scores two power play goals for every one scored by the average hockey team. Or, in other words, the Penguins would be very wise to not commit any penalties.

The biggest fallback of this offense? They don’t put as many shots on goal. They’ve only fired 207 pucks so far this season, 38 under the league average. But, they score seemingly all the time, which has given them a 14% shot percentage, 5% over the league average.

So, if the offense is so good, opposing teams should just get into a barn-burner with the Caps and hope for the best, right? Bad idea, mostly because Washington doesn’t share very well: the Caps are the only ones allowed to score. In addition to their successful offense, the Capitals have only given up 18 goals this season, which is four under the league average. Specifically on the penalty kill, the Caps have given up one fewer goal (four) than the league average, and on fewer opportunities too. Their 83.33% penalty kill rate exceeds the league average by 1.9%. And its not just Goaltender Braden Holtby, either. The defense has also held their opposition to only 167 shots, 76 under the league average. Karl Alzner has led the charge in blocks, with 18 to his credit.

Tonight was also supposed to be the return of RW Eric Fehr to the Verizon Center, but he is still in the final stages of recovery from elbow surgery and does not expect to return until this weekend. He played nine of his 10 seasons with the Caps (spent the 2011-’12 season in Winnipeg), and signed as a free agent with the Pens this offseason. His return will be postponed to January 24. In replacement, we get to celebrate Kris Letang’s 500th game of his career.

Last season, the Caps won the season series 3-1-0 after shutting out the Penguins twice. The Pens‘ lone win was a 4-3 thriller in Washington, with Chris Kunitz scoring the winning goal.

Some players to watch in this one include Pittsburgh‘s Fleury (one shutout [tied for sixth in the league] and four wins [tied for eighth in the league]) and Washington‘s John Carlson (eight assists [tied for seventh in the league]), Holtby (five wins [tied for second in the league]) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (11 points [tied for fifth in the league] and eight assists [tied for seventh in the league]).

Although the Penguins may have won their last game in this arena, I fully expect Washington to beat the Penguins easily, as the Pittsburgh offense will not be able to keep up with Ovechkin and the Capitals.

October 28, 2015
October 27 – Day 21 – Return home to Mound City

For the second game in the row, Jonathan Toews (assisted by Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook) scored the overtime winner, this one at the :51 mark, to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 1-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Corey Crawford took the win after stopping all 39 shots the Ducks sent his way to elevate his record to 5-2-0, while Frederik Andersen’s record falls to 0-3-2 after giving up the lone goal on 24 shots (95.8%).

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 12-5-3 for the home team, nine points ahead of the roadies.

After a couple days straight of only three games on the schedule, it’s a busy Tuesday in the NHL with 10 games to be contested. The first three games will get their start at 7 p.m. eastern (Arizona at Boston, Columbus at New Jersey and Buffalo at Philadelphia [TVAS/BELL TV]), followed half an hour later by two more matchups (Carolina at Detroit and Colorado at Florida). Another triplet of games drop the opening puck at 8 p.m. eastern (Tampa Bay at St. Louis [NBCSN/SN1], Edmonton at Minnesota and Los Angeles at Winnipeg [TSN3]) with an Anaheim at Dallas chaser 30 minutes later. Finally, the evening’s nightcap gets started at 10 p.m. eastern when Mighty Montréal visits Vancouver (RDS).

Columbus at New Jersey is the only divisional rivalry being played tonight, but has the competition of two games between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Tampa Bay at St. Louis and Los Angeles at Winnipeg). Of these three, only one is being broadcast nationally in both nations, plus Ben Bishop will return home to play before his hometown fans, so the game at the Scottrade Center will be our Game of the Day.

Starting with the road side, we find a Tampa Bay team coming off an overtime shutout loss to the Blues‘ archrivals (bad pun intended) that has found early success this season. Currently, the Bolts and their potent offense have 12 points to their name with a 5-2-2 record, which is good enough for second in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference (of course, second is as good as first in that division since Montréal doesn’t look like they’ll ever lose). That offense has scored 27 goals this season, exceeding the league average by five tallies. They’ve put 243 shots on net so far (exceeding the league average by four), and scored on 11.1% of those attempts (dwarfing the league average by 2.1%). One player responsible for this success is Captain Steven Stamkos, who leads the team in total goals (five) and power play goals (two), and is tied for the lead in both even strength goals (with Vladislav Namestnikov, three) and game-winners (with Jason Garrison, Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat, one).

Netminder Bishop (5-2-1) has also had a solid start to his season, as the Lightning have only given up 24 goals so far (two over the league average). The team’s collective save percentage of .915 is exactly on par with the rest of the league.

Probably the worst aspect of this Tampa Bay team has been their penalty kill. They’ve given up two more power play goals than the league average (seven and five, respectively) on two fewer opportunities. As you can expect, their penalty kill percentage is showing it: their 72% kill rate is 9.41% below average. If the special teams cannot figure out how to kill penalties better, Nikita Nesterov may find himself riding the bench, being scratched, or even worse, sent back to Syracuse if he cannot get his team leading 17 PIM down (he leads the second highest by nine minutes with only three games played).

Turning our attention to the 5-2-1 home squad, we find another team coming off another overtime loss, this one a 3-2 final against the Isles, but the Notes did manage to score two goals in the second period to earn a point in the standings. They currently own the fourth position in both the competitive Central Division and Western Conference table.

While the Bolts may be more offensively-minded, the Blues have utilized a more balanced approach and relied on their defense and goaltending for success this season. St. Louis has scored only one goal over the 22-goal league average, but have kept two more goals off the board than the rest of the NHL this season. Tonight’s starter Jake Allen (Brian Elliott is recovering from illness) owns a 1-2-0 record with a .899 save percentage and 3.02 GAA.

Luckily for Tampa Bay, the Blues‘ major shortcoming so far this season has been the power play, as they only have four goals to show for 29 opportunities (13.79%, 4.8% below league average).

Inversely, the Blues have done very well on the penalty kill this season. Although their kill percentage trails the league average by .16%, they’ve had to defend against five more than the typical team. Should that stat continue, the Blues will be able to physically impose their will on a consistent basis to earn some man-advantages for themselves.

The Blues beat the Bolts in both games played last season, led by RW Vladimir Tarasenko’s two goals and Alexander Steen’s goal and two assists.

Some players to watch in tonight’s game include St. Louis‘ Tarasenko (leads squad in shots [36], points [nine]and goals [five]; tied for squad lead in even-strength goals [four], even-strength assists [four], power play goals [one] and game-winners [one]) and Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (five wins [tied for second in the league]).

This will be a tight game and one worth watching. I’m inclined to give the advantage to the Notes in this one, simply because they’re playing at home.

October 27, 2015
October 26 – Day 20 – Are the Ducks quacks?

Yesterday’s Game of the Day between the Calgary Flames and the New York Rangers ended in a 4-1 victory for the Blueshirts. Although the Flames had a great start to the evening by posting a goal at the 3:06 mark of the first period, the Rangers were able to take the lead during second and never look back.

Jiri Hudler was responsible for the Flames‘ lone goal. He scored his third of the season following assists from Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.

New York tied the game at the 12:03 mark of the second. Oscar Lindberg was responsible for the tally, assisted by Kevin Hayes and Marc Staal. They took the lead only 4:54 later, compliments of of Dan Girardi’s game winner, assisted by Emerson Etem and Jarret Stoll. The 2-1 score held into the second intermission.

During the third, Kevin Klein scored his second goal of the year at the 8:38 mark, followed by the final goal only 1:48 later by Derick Brassard, assisted by Jesper Fast and Ryan McDonagh.

Antti Raanta earned his second win in as many starts by stopping 22 of 23 (95.7%), while Jonas Hiller took the loss after stopping only 17 of 21 (81%). He was pulled at the 12:01 mark of the final period and replaced with Joni Ortio, who stopped all five shots he faced.

The DtFR Game of the Day series still favors the home team by eight points, currently standing at 11-5-3.

Today is the second straight of only three games on the schedule. First up at 7 p.m. eastern, the Flames hop on the B Train a day after playing the Rangers to face their opponent’s in-town rivals, the New York Islanders, at the Barclays Center. Half an hour after that game gets underway, Arizona visits the Air Canada Centre to face Toronto. Finally, Anaheim and Chicago round the night out in the United Center, with the opening puck dropping at 8:30 p.m. eastern (NHL Network).

It’s been a trip down memory lane this weekend for Chicago, as they hosted the Stanley Cup runners-up Saturday. The throwback to last season continues tonight when the Western Conference’s runners-up come a-calling.

Although the Ducks were only a victory away from earning the right to face the Lightning in last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, they have looked nowhere near being considered contenders early this season. The Ducks may literally waddle into the United Center tonight, having only a 1-5-1 record to show for their efforts. Unlike division rival Calgary, whose plight was documented yesterday, the Ducks are right on par with the rest of the league in regards to goals against, as they’ve given up one less than the league average. As I’m sure you’ve now assumed, the Ducks‘ concerns are with their forwards. Anaheim has scored a grand total of six goals this season. Yes, six goals over seven games. What’s worse, they scored four of those goals in one game (10/18 against Minnesota). Do the math, and that’s four times they’ve been shutout in seven games (they’re coming off one Saturday night at Minnesota). In other words, not good.

One of the issues here is an ineffective power play. In 19 opportunities, the Ducks have only scored a lone power play goal. Their 5.26% power play percentage trails the league average by 13.28%. Another issue is the number of shots the Ducks are putting on goal. Anaheim‘s 193 shots are 40 below the league average. You’d think that would help their shot percentage… think again. Anaheim trails the league in that category too, as their 3.1% trails the NHL average by 5.9%.

Compare this to the team that rocked The Pond a season ago. During the regular season, that squad scored 12 more goals than the league average, and allowed only two more than the average. While the power play still was not on par with the rest of the NHL last season, it still exceeds this year’s effort as the special teams scored 15.68% of the time. Luckily, this year’s defense and goaltending is comparable, if not slightly surpassing last year’s excellent squad.

So, what gives? I think the loss of LW Matt Beleskey to Boston during free agency has a big part to do with it. He scored 22 goals last season for the Ducks, third best on the team. 18 of those goals were during 5-on-5 play, where he also ranked third. His four remaining goals were all on the power play, which tied for fourth on the team with Corey Perry. Eight of his goals were game-winners, which led the team by two goals. A goal scorer also brings with him shots, as he put 145 pucks on goal last season, placing him at fifth-best on the squad. With those shots, though, came the second-best shot percentage (15.2%), trailing only Perry’s 17.1%.

Additionally, the power play might also be struggling due to RW Kyle Palmieri being traded to the Devils during the offseason. He accounted for five power play goals last season, which tied for second on the team.

Turning our attention to the Stanley Cup Champions, we find a team that is settling into their groove and beginning to climb the ranks of the Western Conference. Currently, the Hawks have a 5-3-0 record, giving them the second wild card position and fifth place in the conference. Chicago enters the game on a three-game win streak, most recently shutting out the Lightning at home in overtime with a quick goal by Jonathan Toews.

Similar to Anaheim, Chicago‘s offense hasn’t been glitzy, but they’ve been winning by keeping opposing offenses off the board. They’ve given up only 16 goals so far this season, five goals under the league average. Where they’ve really shined offensively is on the power play. In 33 opportunities, they’ve converted six for goals (18.18%), which have accounted for a third of their total tallies this season. Probably what is most frightening about the Hawks in light of their win streak is their number of shots (249, 16 over the league average) compared to their shooting percentage (7.2%). If and when they get that percentage up, even if its just to the 9% league average, their offense will be a significant threat to any goalie.

Some players to watch in tonight’s game include Anaheim‘s Frederik Andersen (.938 save percentage [tenth in the league]) and Chicago‘s Corey Crawford (one shutout [tied for fourth in the league], four wins [tied for seventh in the league] and 1.84 GA average [tied for ninth in the league]) & Patrick Kane (11 points [tied for fourth in the league] and five goals [tied for eighth in the league]).

I expect a defensive, competitive matchup tonight that will end positively for Chicago, probably 1-0 or 2-1.

October 26, 2015
October 25 – Day 19 – Not Quite a Hot Start

Yesterday’s Game of the Day between Tampa Bay and Chicago was a defensive thriller, as neither team was able to break through the opposing defense in regulation. The Blackhawks finally scored at the 17 second mark of the 3-on-3 overtime when Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook assisted Jonathan Toews to his first goal of the season (cover of NHL ’16 curse, anyone? IT TOOK HIM EIGHT GAMES TO SCORE!). His goal earned him second star of the game honors.

Obviously, both goalies were phenomenal in this one, as first star of the game Corey Crawford stopped all 21 shots he faced to improve his record to 4-2-0, while Kristers Gudlevskis stopped all but one of his 32 shots faced (96.9%), earning the remaining third star.

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 10-5-3, still favoring the home team by six points.

Today is a much lighter schedule compared to yesterday, as there is only three games on the schedule. The evening begins at 6 p.m. eastern when Minnesota visits Winnipeg, followed an hour later by Calgary at the New York Rangers (NHL Network, SN, SN1). The final game of the night gets started at 9:30 p.m. eastern when Los Angeles visits Edmonton (SN, SN360, SN1).

Two of these three games are divisional rivalries (Minnesota at Winnipeg and Los Angeles at Edmonton), and the other features a team that many hockey fans (or, at least us at Down the Frozen River) are just waiting to turn it on and play like they did a season ago.

Since the Calgary Flames at the New York Rangers game will be broadcast throughout both nations, we’ll turn our attention towards Madison Square Garden.

Let’s begin with the 2-5-0 road team. This young squad, with the exciting way they played last season and getting their first experience in the playoffs in six years, including beating Vancouver in the first round, was expected to turn some heads this year and try to improve on their third place-finish in the Pacific Division. So far this season, they’ve only accounted for two wins so far against the lackluster Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings (both of those victories required overtime to earn the bonus point). They have four goals less than the league average (part of that problem is the number of shots the Flames have taken [189] is 18 less than the league average, and their shot percentage is even worse [7.9%, 1.2% less than average]), which doesn’t tell the complete story until paired with giving up eight more goals than the league average (the Flames have a save percentage of only 88.1%, 3.4% under the league average). The Flames‘ penalty kill is also not on par, as they have only killed 78.26% of opponents’ power plays.

On the other side, they face a 5-2-2 team that is currently firing on all cylinders and well on their way to another successful season. The Rangers are both scoring (three over average, in spite of the power play not finding early success (only scoring on 15%, 3.9% below average) and stopping (allowed three less goals than the average team, especially on the penalty kill, where they’ve killed 86.21% of opponents’ opportunities, 5.11% over league average) the puck to earn themselves second place in the competitive Metropolitan Division. As is expected, Henrik Lundqvist is staking his claim as one of, if not the best goalie in the league, as he is leading his team to a 94.3% save rate, 2.8% better than the rest of the league.

Although the team write-ups may imply differently, it is in fact only Calgary that enters the matchup on a winning streak after beating Detroit on Friday. The Rangers lost yesterday’s game against Philadelphia in a shootout. In last year’s meetings, New York took both games by a combined score of 6-2, including a one-goal shutout via now-Oiler Cam Talbot.

My players to watch in tonight’s game are Calgary‘s Johnny Gaudreau (eight assists [tied for fifth in the league]) and, should he play, New York‘s Lundqvist (four wins [tied for sixth in the league] and .941 save percentage [eighth in the league])

I expect the Rangers to hold home ice in tonight’s matchup, but would not be surprised if the Flames try to build off recent momentum to try to jump-start their so far mediocre season.

October 25, 2015
October 21 – Day 15 – Hey, hockey on TV is hockey on TV

Last night’s Game of the Day contested between St. Louis and Montréal ended with the Habs claiming their seventh straight victory, this one a three-goal shutout.

Max Pacioretty accounted for the game-winner with under 90 seconds remaining in the first period. Assisted by Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher, he redirected a shot past Jake Allen to set the score at 1-0, which would hold into the intermission. Alexander Semin and Torrey Mitchell accounted for the insurance tallies in the second and third periods, respectively.

Carey Price stopped all 38 shots he faced to earn another shutout, while Allen takes the loss after stopping only 33 of 36 shots faced (91.7%).

The Game of the Day series now stands at 8-5-1 for the homers, leading the roadies by five points.

Tonight’s schedule is relatively light, with only four games being played. The evening begins at 7 p.m. eastern when Toronto visits Buffalo, followed an hour later by Philadelphia at Boston (NBCSN). At 9:30 p.m. eastern, the opening puck is dropped in Alberta when Detroit visits Edmonton, followed half an hour later by the final fixture of the evening: Carolina at Colorado.

Tonight’s Game of the Day, you ask? We’ll keep it simple tonight and go with Philly at the B’s.

Just in case you’re wondering: Yes, I did choose this one because it’s on national TV in the US. Deal with it.

Philadelphia‘s last game was against the Dallas Stars, who beat them 2-1 in the Wells Fargo Center. After giving up a goal in each of the first two periods, the Flyers could only manage to narrow the margin to one at the 8:57 mark in the final third. Wayne Simmonds and Matt Read assisted Sean Couturier to his first goal of the season, earning him third star of the night honors.

Boston returns home to the TD Garden on a two-game winning streak after beating the Coyotes 5-3 in Arizona on Saturday in a thrilling third period. Shane Doan scored the first goal of the game after only two minutes of play to set the score at a one-goal advantage for the Yotes, which held into the second period. Boston tied it up at the 8:42 mark with a Tyler Randell goal, assisted by David Krejci and Torey Krug. The second and final goal of the period belonged to Krejci in the 16th minute, assisted by Krug and Loui Eriksson on the power play. The fireworks in the final period began at the 4:44 mark when Brad Marchand, assisted by Tommy Cross and Patrice Bergeron, scored a shorty to set the score at 3-1. Boston‘s good fortunes were short-lived though, as Tobias Rieder, assisted by Doan and Michael Stone, narrowed the margin to one only 13 seconds later. 2:24 later, Arizona tied the game at three-all with a goal from Kyle Chipchura, assisted by Doan and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The B’s winner came 1:49 later on the power play when Ryan Spooner and Krejci assisted Bergeron to his second goal of the season. Bergeron also accounted for the lone insurance goal (he wanted to make sure he got the winner, I guess) on another power play, this time assisted by Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller at the 18:54 mark.

Some players to watch in this one include Boston‘s Krejci (nine points [tied for third in the league] and five assists [tied for eighth in the league]) & Krug (six assists [tied for fourth in the league]) and Philadelphia‘s Michal Neuvirth (two shutouts [tied for league lead], .964 save percentage [fifth in the league] and 1.04 GA average [seventh in the league]).

Boston has a -141 advantage in this one, so I’ll go with the home team earning their third straight game in our series.

October 21, 2015
October 19 – Day 13 – Out of Necessity, Vol. 2

Yesterday’s Game of the Day between New Jersey and the New York Rangers finally gave the series its first overtime game, as the Devils won on a Lee Stempniak goal to grab the bonus point.

The Blueshirts struck first with a goal only 3:12 into the game, when Oscar Lindberg assisted Derek Stepan to his third goal of the season. The one-goal advantage held into the second period.

Assisted by Mike Cammalleri and Damon Severson at the 1:52 mark of the second, Adam Henrique leveled the score at one-all, the score that held until Stempniak, first star of the game, fired his game winner at the 3:07 mark of three-on-three overtime.

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at ~~a six-all draw.~~ a 6-5-1 advantage for the home team. *Sorry guys, first OT game of the season caught my “standings-counting” skills off-guard)

5oday is the second day of the season in which the league only has one game on the schedule, and the puck is dropped at 7 p.m. eastern (NHL Network). Hope you enjoyed watching the Blueshirts yesterday, ‘cuz…

…The World’s Most Famous Arena is hosting the Sharks tonight.

The Blueshirts won both games last season by a combined score of 7-1 after being swept by the Sharks the season before. So far this season, both teams have found early success as San Jose is 4-1-0 and New York is 3-2-1.

Some players to watch in this matchup include Sharks goaltender Martin Jones (two shutouts [tied for lead in league], averaging 0.33 goals against per game [second best in the league], stopping .987 percent of shots faced [second best in league] and owning three wins [tied for second in league]) and Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (owns three wins [tied for second best in league]).

As stated before, the Sharks enter the game with the better record and on better rest. It will be interesting to see if Martin Jones can continue his early success against a proven Rangers side.

Heck, why not… I’ll pick Sharks in this one!

October 19, 2015
October 18 – Day 12 – Moore afternoon hockey

Yesterday’s Game of the Day between Columbus and Chicago ended in a 4-1 loss for the Jackets, making their record 0-6-0.

Chicago waited to score until half the game was over, with Artem Anisimov firing his second of the year after an assist from Artemi Panarin at the 15:35 mark of the second. A little over a minute later, Teuvo Teravainen scored the game-winner, setting the score at 2-0 going into the third. Marian Hossa began the third period scoring at the 7:48 mark, followed almost 10 minutes later by Jack Johnson, his first of the season

No, not that Jack Johnson.

The final goal of the game was an empty-netter, scored at the 18:33 mark by Patrick Kane.

Corey Crawford earns a win to set his record at 2-2 by stopping 22 of 23 shots faced (95.7%), while Curtis McElhinney earns his first loss on the season after blocking only 26 of 29 (89.7%).

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at a 6-5 advantage for the home squad.

Today’s schedule includes five games, spaced throughout the day. The first puck is dropped at 1 p.m. eastern in Madison Square Garden when the Rangers host New Jersey. The other afternoon game begins at 3 p.m. eastern with St. Louis visiting Winnipeg. The evening games begin at 8 p.m. eastern when Minnesota visits Anaheim, followed an hour later by Edmonton at Vancouver. The final game of the night begins at 10 p.m. eastern when Colorado visits Los Angeles.

60% of the games today involve division rivals, of which today’s Game of the Day is one, but that is not my main incentive for choosing this fixture – more special is the return of John Moore to Manhattan.

Bonus points and a shout-out on the next podcast for anyone who can figure out why this is included. Send us a tweet or post your answers in the comments. Consider it my challenge to you. Thanks to YouTube user JUSTASITTINANDAROCK for supplying the piece.

The defender played 125 games of his 233 game career with the Blueshirts (53.6%), the most of any of the four teams he’s played for. He showed up at the Garden after being traded to the Rangers from Columbus at the 2012-’13 trade deadline, scoring a goal in his first game. After arriving, he notched five assists and that goal before the end of the season, earning a +9 Corsi rating.

During his entire tenure in the Big Apple, he claimed 21 assists and six goals (all even-strength, and two of which were game-winners) and earned a +23 Corsi rating during the regular season.

His last appearance for the Blueshirts in the Stanley Cup playoffs occurred during the 2013-’14 season as he was traded to Arizona before the deadline in the 2014-’15 season. In those playoffs, he earned a +2 Corsi rating (seventh on team) with two assists (tied for 17th on team).

So far, Moore nor the 0-3-0 Devils have had quite the start they would have hoped for, as he has a -2 Corsi rating in two games played, due in part to an arm injury sustained in the second game of the season.

Count on the Rangers spoiling Moore’s return with a victory at the Garden.

October 18, 2015
October 17 – Day 11 – Chicago’s so Saad he’s gone

Yesterday’s Game of the Day between the Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks ended poorly for the home squad, as the Avs earned the three-goal shutout victory.

Nathan MacKinnon, 2013’s first round pick, scored the opening and winning goal of the game before a full minute was off the clock with a slapshot to beat Frederik Andersen. The two insurance goals were scored by Jack Skille and John Mitchell (an empty netter), in the second and third periods respectively.

Reto Berra stopped all 35 shots he faced to earn his first victory of the year, while Andersen’s record falls to 0-2-1 after stopping 22 of 24 (91.7%).

This was the fourth straight shutout victory in the DtFR Game of the Day series, which now stands at a five-all tie.

Tonight’s schedule features a full 10 games, meaning a third of the league is dormant tonight. As usual, the evening gets started at 7 p.m. eastern with six fixtures (Detroit at Montréal [NHL Network], Nashville at Ottawa, Buffalo at Tampa Bay, Dallas at Florida, Toronto at Pittsburgh and Carolina at Washington). At 7:30 eastern, San Jose and the Islanders drop the puck in the Barclays Center, followed an hour later by Columbus at Chicago. Finally, at 10 p.m. eastern, the final two matchups get started when Edmonton visits Calgary and Boston plays Arizona.

While there are four divisional rivalries being played tonight, there’s one game that sticks out because of the return of a player to the franchise that drafted him. This skater won two Stanley Cups in three years and scored 52 regular season goals and 74 regular seasons assists, much less 15 goals and 19 assists in the playoffs, while playing for the team.

That man is none other than Brandon Saad, which is why Columbus at Chicago is today’s Game of the Day.

During his time with Chicago, he never had a Corsi rating poorer than the +7 he earned last season (with the exception of the two games he played with the Hawks in 2011-’12), and increased his scoring contributions each year. He scored 27 points in the 2012-’13 season, 47 in 2013-’14, and 52 last season.

During last season’s Stanley Cup run, he scored eight goals (third on the team) (seven of them at even-strength, a stat he placed second best in), a +5 Corsi rating (tied for sixth best on team), 11 points (tied for eighth on team) and three assists (tied for 13th on team).

The left winger has scored three goals so far this season (12th best in the league) for the 0-4-0 Jackets, all of them on the power play (he’s best in the league in that category). He is also the proud owner of the 53rd best shot percentage in the NHL after cashing in on three of his 11 shots (27.3%).

The spread currently reads -190 for the Hawks. I’ve said it before this season and been wrong, but it should be two points for the Chicago.

October 17, 2015
October 16 – Day 10 – Beach u to it (yeah, that was super lame)

Last night’s Game of the Day between the Blueshirts and Habs ended in a three-goal shutout for Montréal, earning them their best start (5-0-0) in their illustrious franchise history.

The Habs earned their first goal after almost 29 minutes of scoreless play when Tomas Fleischmann scored his second goal of the year, the eventual game winner, off an assist from David Desharnais. Both were involved in the first insurance goal of the game, assisting Dale Weise to his first season of the season with little more than two minutes remaining in the game. The final goal was fired by Tomas Plekanec into an empty net in the final minute of action.

Carey Price earned the shutout victory by stopping all 25 Rangers shots, while Henrik Lundqvist only stopped 29 of 31 (93.5%).

Don’t let the Canadiens (or Maple Leafs fans!) know now, but in addition to having the best start ever, they also have a little bit of history on their side. The franchise has begun their season at 4-0-0 three times before, and all three of those seasons ended with the Stanley Cup living in The City of Saints for the year.

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at a 5-4 advantage for the home squad after the third straight shutout.

Tonight, there’s seven games on the schedule. The evening gets started at 7 p.m. eastern when San Jose visits New Jersey and Toronto visits Columbus. Half an hour later, the Canes visit the Wings. At 8 p.m. eastern, Calgary visits Winnipeg. Starting at 10 p.m. eastern are St. Louis at Vancouver and Colorado at Anaheim. Finally, Minnesota and Los Angeles drop the puck at 10:30 p.m. eastern.

There are a few significant returns tonight, including Calgary‘s Michael Frolik to Winnipeg and San Jose coach Peter DeBoer to New Jersey. That being said, there is one that stands out even more: Francois Beauchemin, current defenseman for the Colorado Avalanche, is returning to the Pond, a place he has called home twice for a combined 9 seasons (approximately) of his 14+ year career. Because of this, Colorado at Anaheim is today’s Game of the Day.

How funny that the first game he’s played against Anaheim since January 20, 2011 (when he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs) is with the very team he made his Ducks debut against (of course, they were then the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)! It was on November 18, 2005 that Beauchemin played his first game for the Ducks, against the Colorado Avalanche.

Beauchemin was a part of Anaheim‘s lone Stanley Cup squad in the 2006-’07 season. During those playoffs, he scored four goals (seventh on team) (all of them were power play goals, a stat in which he was second best on the team), eight points (tied for 10th on team), a +2 Corsi rating (tied for 10th on team) and four assists (tied for 11th on team).

Beauchemin still owns a few records on the Ducks‘ books, including being tied for the most playoff game appearances (97) with Ryan Getzlaf, the fourth most playoff points (39) and playoff assists (29), the seventh most playoff goals (10) and the 10th most regular season assists (126).

So far this season with the Avs, Beauchemin has had positive effects on his new club. He has brought his penchant for assists to Colorado, already notching five in only three games played, which is best on the team and third best in the league (10th best in league in points).

The line currently reads -176 for Anaheim, but both teams have lost two of their three games to start the season and will try to use this matchup to restart their seasons. That being said, I expect the Ducks to hold their own and earn their first win of the season in what should be a great game.

October 16, 2015