Down the Frozen River

Tag: Jakub Voracek

  • DeBrusk scores pair in overtime victory on the road for Boston

    DeBrusk scores pair in overtime victory on the road for Boston

    Jake DeBrusk continued his hot streak Monday night at Nationwide Arena as the Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2, in overtime thanks to a game-winner from No. 74 in black and gold himself– which also happened to be his second goal of the game.

    DeBrusk has six goals in his last five games as the Bruins are now 7-1-0 in their last eight games, while Linus Ullmark (22-9-2, 2.63 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 35 games played) made 20 saves on 22 shots against in the win for Boston.

    Columbus goaltender, Elvis Merzlikins (22-18-6, 3.40 goals-against average, .903 save percentage in 48 games played), stopped 34 out of 37 shots faced in the overtime loss.

    The B’s improved to 44-20-5 (93 points) overall and moved into 3rd place in the Atlantic Division as the Bruins hold the regulation wins tiebreaker with the Tampa Bay Lightning (Boston has 35 regulation wins to Tampa’s 33).

    The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, fell to 32-32-6 (70 points) on the season and remain in 6th place in the Metropolitan Division.

    Boston swept Columbus in their regular season series 3-0-0 for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

    Jakub Zboril (right ACL) was the only Bruin out due to injury on Monday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made one change to his lineup– scratching Derek Forbort and replacing him with Josh Brown (while switching Mike Reilly back to his regular role as a left shot defender to Brown’s right shot on the third pairing, O.K. so technically two changes).

    Forbort joined Jack Studnicka, Marc McLaughlin, Connor Clifton and Anton Blidh on Boston’s list of healthy scratches in Columbus.

    Blue Jackets head coach, Brad Larsen, was back from the league’s COVID-19 protocol and returned to his regular job behind the bench after assistant coach, Pascal Vincent, filled in for Larsen.

    Emil Bemström (5) sped through the neutral zone on a breakout, got around Brandon Carlo and shot the puck past Ullmark high on the short side– giving Columbus the first lead of the night, 1-0, at 4:31 of the first period.

    Jakub Voracek (45) had the only assist on Bemström’s goal.

    A minute later, Carson Meyer tripped up Charlie McAvoy for his first career minor penalty in his first career National Hockey League game at 5:32.

    Boston did not convert on the ensuing power play, however, and cut their time on the advantage short as a result of McAvoy’s ensuing holding infraction at 6:13.

    After 1:19 of 4-on-4 action, the Blue Jackets had an abbreviated power play go by the wayside.

    Late in the period, Voracek and Trent Frederic received roughing minors at 14:45 and yielded some more 4-on-4 action that only lasted for a couple of seconds on the ensuing faceoff as Bruins forward, Brad Marchand, interfered with Justin Danforth at 14:47.

    Columbus had a rare 4-on-3 power play as a result for 1:58.

    The Blue Jackets did not score on the skater advantage with all that extra open ice.

    Shortly after he was freed from the penalty box, Marchand made a big hit along the wall as he checked Andrew Peeke hard into the boards– leading with his shoulder first, despite a violent end result in which Peeke was left visibly dazed after laying face down on the ice.

    Meanwhile, instead of stopping the play (as Columbus did not have possession, nor did the on-ice officials determine that there was the potential for a severe enough or significant injury to have just occurred), McAvoy retrieved a loose puck and setup DeBrusk on a breakaway before DeBrusk (20) shot the puck off of Merzlikins’ blocker and into the twine– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

    McAvoy (40) had the only assist on DeBrusk’s goal at 18:32 of the first period while the ensuing celebration was subdued while the Blue Jackets’ athletic trainer tended to Peeke at the other end of the rink.

    DeBrusk, meanwhile, reached the 20-goal plateau for the second time in his career (five seasons) and first time since he had 27 goals in 68 games in 2018-19.

    The 25-year-old forward also extended his goal scoring streak to five games as a result and would finish the night with six goals in the last five games (another first for DeBrusk since Feb. 2019– a five-game goal scoring streak, that is).

    Voracek had a few choice words for the on-ice officials after allowing play to continue while Peeke laid face down on the ice and ended up receiving a misconduct as a result at 18:32.

    Less than a minute later, Nick Foligno tripped Oliver Bjorkstrand and cut a rut to the sin bin at 19:24 as a result.

    Columbus didn’t convert on the ensuing power play, however.

    As the first period came to a close, Bjorkstrand and Patrice Bergeron exchanged pleasantries– rendering roughing infractions for each of them at 20:00 of the opening frame.

    Entering the first intermission, the Bruins and Blue Jackets were tied, 1-1, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 10-9.

    The B’s also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-2), takeaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (70-30), while Columbus led in giveaways (2-1) and hits (9-8).

    The Blue Jackets went 0/3 on the power play, while Boston was 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    Vladislav Gavrikov caught Taylor Hall with a high stick and drew blood at 2:25 of the second period– resulting in a four-minute double minor infraction as a result.

    Boston’s extended power play was cut short, however, as Hampus Lindholm was penalized for interference at 4:00 of the second period.

    After 2:00 of 4-on-4 action, the Bruins would go back on the power play for 25 seconds, but couldn’t convert on the abbreviated skater advantage.

    Shortly thereafter, Frederic kept the puck in the attacking zone as the Blue Jackets failed to clear it and Boston worked the rubber biscuit around the horn before Charlie Coyle spun away from his opponent and sent a pass to Craig Smith (16) for a wrist shot goal from the high slot under Merzlikins’ blocker.

    Coyle (25) and McAvoy (41) tallied the assists on Smith’s goal as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead at 7:52 of the second period.

    After a stoppage midway through the middle frame, Peeke tried getting a few extra jabs at Marchand while DeBrusk stepped in as a scrum encircled the two initial skaters exchanging pleasantries.

    While DeBrusk should have gone to the box with Peeke for roughing, the on-ice officials instead assessed minors to Peeke and Marchand at 13:53– yielding more 4-on-4 action for what would be a pair of minutes until Sean Kuraly hooked David Pastrnak at 14:22.

    Boston’s abbreviated 4-on-3 power play went by without issue for Columbus’ penalty kill, however.

    Jake Christiansen then checked Frederic along the boards right around where Marchand and Peeke collided in the first period and Frederic skated off the ice and headed down the tunnel.

    The Bruins later tweeted during the final frame of regulation that Frederic would not return to the night’s action with an upper body injury.

    Boston struggled to get out of their own zone in the dying minute of the second period as Columbus miraculously kept the puck from exiting the attacking zone at the blue line with a quick reach into the sky to bat the puck back down to the ice.

    After sending it around the zone, Voracek fed Zach Werenski through the slot as Werenski (11) pinched in from the point and one-timed the puck past Ullmark’s glove side– tying the game, 2-2, in the process.

    Voracek (46) and Patrik Laine (27) had the assists while Cassidy used his coach’s challenge to review if the Blue Jackets had technically entered the zone offside as a result of their effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone seconds prior.

    The ensuing video review was inconclusive, which mean that the call on the ice would stand.

    Columbus had tied the game, 2-2, at 19:44 of the second period and the B’s were assessed a bench minor for delay of game as Smith skated over to the box to serve the infraction.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the score was tied, 2-2, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 21-14, including an, 11-5, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins also led in blocked shots (7-6), takeaways (4-2) and faceoff win% (63-37), while the Blue Jackets led in hits (18-10).

    Both teams had two giveaways each and were 0/4 on the power play heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Peeke shoved Marchand to the ice with an open palm while the Boston forward entered the attacking zone and presented the Bruins with an early power play at 3:52 of the third period.

    Boston’s time on the skater advantage was cut short again, however, as the night’s trend continued with Bergeron hooking Gustav Nyquist to prevent a shorthanded scoring opportunity at 4:39 of the third period.

    As a result, the two teams were back to 4-on-4 play, while Pastrnak shortly made an exit from the game with what might have been a core injury after he got tangled up with Gavrikov and fell awkwardly about midway through the final frame of regulation.

    After 60 minutes, the Bruins and Blue Jackets remained tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding a, 34-22, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 13-8, advantage in the third period alone.

    Columbus attained the advantage in takeaways (7-4) and hits (24-15), while the B’s led in blocked shots (12-7), giveaways (3-2) and faceoff win% (64-37).

    As no penalties were called in overtime, both teams finished the night 0/5 on the power play on Monday.

    Cassidy started Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy in overtime, while Larsen countered with Voracek, Laine and Werenski.

    It wasn’t long before the two teams made one change and Lindholm made a timely interception before giving the puck to DeBrusk (21) for a pump fake catch and release game-winning overtime goal on the blocker side at 1:03 of the extra frame.

    Lindholm (21) had the only assist on DeBrusk’s second goal of the game as a result and the Bruins won, 3-2.

    Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 37-22– including a, 3-0, advantage in overtime alone.

    The Bruins left Nationwide Arena leading in blocked shots (12-7) and faceoff win% (64-36), while the Blue Jackets exited their own building with the advantage in giveaways (4-3) and hits (24-15).

    With the win, the B’s improved to 17-3-1 in their last 21 games– including a 7-1-0 record in their last eight games.

    Boston is now 7-3 in overtime (9-5 past regulation overall) this season, while Columbus fell to 6-4 in the extra frame (10-6 past regulation overall).

    The Bruins also improved to 12-13-3 (5-6-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 14-5-2 (8-2-1 on the road) when tied after the first period and 12-4-0 (5-3-0 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Blue Jackets fell to 17-10-2 (11-6-2 at home) when scoring first, 17-11-3 (10-6-3 at home) when tied after one and 6-6-2 (4-2-2 at home) when tied after two periods in 2021-22.

    Boston continues their four-game road trip (1-0-0) Tuesday night in Detroit before heading to Tampa on Friday and Washington D.C. on Sunday.

    The Bruins return to TD Garden for a three-game homestand starting April 12th.

  • Bruins outlast Blue Jackets in shootout victory on the road, 5-4

    Bruins outlast Blue Jackets in shootout victory on the road, 5-4

    Four different goal scorers for each team kept things close Saturday night at Nationwide Arena, while David Pastrnak scored the only goal in the, 5-4, shootout win for the Boston Bruins against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

    Jeremy Swayman (15-7-3, 2.03 goals-against average, .927 save percentage in 26 games played) made 20 saves on 24 shots against in the win for Boston, while spoiling the night’s festivities after the Blue Jackets held a jersey retirement ceremony for Rick Nash prior to the game.

    Columbus goaltender, Elvis Merzlikins (19-14-3, 3.42 goals-against average, .903 save percentage in 36 games played), stopped 28 out of 32 shots faced in the shootout loss.

    The Bruins improved to 34-18-4 (72 points) on the season, while remaining in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    The Blue Jackets fell to 28-25-2 (58 points) overall and remained 5th in the Metropolitan Division.

    Saturday night marked the first time the two teams met in the regular season since Jan. 14, 2020, before the pandemic shortened the 2019-20 regular season and led to temporary divisional realignment for a condensed 56-game regular season schedule in 2020-21.

    Columbus won, 3-0, at Nationwide Arena in their last game against Boston prior to Saturday’s, 5-4, shootout loss.

    Curtis Lazar returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with an upper body injury.

    As a result, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made one change to his lineup from Thursday night’s, 5-2, victory in Las Vegas to Saturday night’s action in Columbus.

    Lazar returned to his usual role on the fourth line right wing, while Jesper Frödén joined Anton Blidh and Jack Achan in the press box as Boston’s trio of healthy scratches against the Blue Jackets.

    Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) remained out due to injury, though Vaakanainen has resumed skating back in Boston.

    Prior to the game Saturday night, the Blue Jackets retired Nash’s No. 61– marking the first time in franchise history that the club retired a players’ jersey number.

    Nash was drafted by Columbus with the 1st overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and spent the first nine seasons of his career in a Blue Jackets uniform before he was traded to the New York Rangers on July 23, 2012.

    He left Columbus as the franchise leader in games played (674), goals (289), assists (258) and points (547).

    After parts of six seasons in New York, he was traded to Boston ahead of the 2018 trade deadline, where he finished the season and playoffs despite missing some time that March with what ultimately became a career-ending concussion and ensuing post-concussion symptoms since then.

    In 1,060 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets, Rangers and Bruins, Nash amassed 437-368–805 totals, appeared in 89 career Stanley Cup Playoff games (18-28–46 career playoff totals)– including the 2014 Stanley Cup Final– and shared Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winning honors with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk in the 2003-04 season as the league’s leader in goals scored with 41.

    He formally announced his retirement on Jan. 11, 2019, and was named Director of Player Development for the Blue Jackets in June 2021.

    A franchise record 19,434 fans were in attendance for Nash’s Jersey Retirement Night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus as announced by the team on Saturday.

    Midway through the opening frame, Brad Marchand spun and threw the puck to the slot where Jake DeBrusk (15) deflected the rubber biscuit past Merzlikins to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 10:39 of the first period.

    Marchand (32) and Charlie McAvoy (28) tallied the assists as the Bruins recorded the first goal of the game.

    The B’s didn’t hold the lead for too long, however, as the Blue Jackets roared back with a goal of their own– tying the game, 1-1, at 16:57, courtesy of Gustav Nyquist’s (14), cool, calm and collected reception of a drop pass from Boone Jenner and shot over Swayman’s left shoulder while Boston’s defenders were split like the Red Sea.

    Jenner (21) and Patrik Laine (19) notched the assists on Nyquist’s goal as Columbus surged in momentum.

    A couple minutes later, Vladislav Gavrikov (3) was in the right place in the right time to bury a loose puck as Swayman couldn’t get a paddle on it in desperation– giving the Blue Jackets their first lead of the night, 2-1, in the process at 19:00 of the first period.

    Gavrikov’s goal was unassisted as Columbus recorded a pair of goals in a span of 2:03.

    Entering the first intermission, the Blue Jackets carried a, 2-1, lead into the dressing room, despite being outshot by the Bruins, 12-6, in the first period.

    Columbus held the advantage in faceoff win percentage, 64-36, while neither team had seen any action on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    Marchand took a hit in the neutral zone while Erik Haula (8) scooped up the puck and rushed into the attacking zone before wiring shot through Merzlikins’ five-hole– tying the game, 2-2, in the process at 1:51 of the second period.

    Marchand (33) had the only assist on Haula’s goal in the process.

    Less than a couple minutes later, Dean Kukan cut a rut to the penalty box for holding and presented Boston with the first power play of the night at 3:26 of the second period.

    The Bruins’ power play went by the wayside, however, as the Blue Jackets made the kill and went on their first power play shortly thereafter as Craig Smith tripped up former Bruin, Sean Kuraly, at 5:33.

    Columbus didn’t convert on their first skater advantage, but the Blue Jackets got another crack at special teams play when Charlie Coyle slashed Oliver Bjorkstrand at 13:13 of the second period.

    About a minute later, Zach Werenski (9) pinched in from the point at the top of the faceoff circle and sent a shot inadvertently off of Bruins defender, Charlie McAvoy’s knee and over Swayman’s glove side to give Columbus a, 3-2, lead at 14:28.

    Jakub Voracek (39) and Bjorkstrand (20) had the assists on Werenski’s power-play goal and the Blue Jackets took a, 3-2, lead at 14:28 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of action, Columbus led, 3-2, on the scoreboard despite trailing in shots on goal, 19-14. The Blue Jackets, however, held the advantage in shots on net in the middle frame alone, 8-7, and controlled faceoff win% (58-42).

    Boston was 0/1 on the power play, while Columbus was 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Smith (10) buried a one-timer off of Merzlikins’ blocker and into the twine while crashing the net– tying the game, 3-3, at 4:40 of the third period in the process.

    Connor Clifton (2) and Nick Foligno (8) tallied the assists as the latter sent a pass to the former prior to Clifton setting up Smith for the goal– marking four goals in his last two games and nine points (four goals, five assists) in Smith’s last 10 games.

    Late in the period, Bjorkstrand caught Pastrnak with a high stick at 14:23 of the third period, yielding another power play to Boston in the process.

    It didn’t take the Bruins long to go ahead, 4-3, on the scoreboard as Patrice Bergeron (16) nudged a goal on the forehand as the puck sat in the crease after ringing the iron twice and Taylor Hall flubbed an attempt while Merzlikins was sprawled out in desperation.

    Hall (29) and Pastrnak (26) had the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal at 14:58 of the third period.

    With 1:18 remaining in the action, Brad Larsen pulled his netminder for an extra attacker.

    Foligno hooked Nyuquist at 19:29 and yielded another power play to the Blue Jackets as a result.

    Larsen used the extra few seconds before the ensuing faceoff on the skater advantage to rally his skaters with 30.7 seconds remaining in the action.

    Columbus worked the puck around the attacking zone before Voracek (3) winded up on a half speed slap shot and scored under the blocker– clipping Swayman’s jersey in the process and tying the game, 4-4, with 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation.

    Laine (20) and Kuraly (13) had the assists on Voracek’s power-play goal at 19:57 as the Blue Jackets forced overtime despite trailing Boston in shots on goal, 31-23, including a, 12-9, advantage for the Bruins in the third period alone.

    As there were no penalties called in overtime, Columbus finished the night 2/3 on the power play while Boston went 0/2 on the skater advantage.

    Neither team scored in overtime as both squads recorded one shot on goal each in the extra frame.

    The Bruins finished the night leading in shots on goal, 32-24, as well as in blocked shots (16-12), while the Blue Jackets wrapped up 65 minutes of action leading in hits (28-20) and faceoff win% (51-49).

    Both teams had two giveaways aside.

    Boston shot first in the shootout as Coyle waltzed into the zone from the right side before cutting right at Merzlikins and being denied by a left pad save.

    Laine countered for Columbus with a medium speed effort and a pump fake before pulling the puck to his backhand, but Swayman made the save.

    DeBrusk entered with speed before trying an offspeed shot that Merzlikins cast aside with his blocker.

    Larsen sent out Nyquist to try to get things going as his second shooter, but despite cutting in from wide left to the middle of the ice, Swayman made a routine save on Nyquist’s five-hole shot attempt.

    Finally, Pastrnak skated in wide left before cutting to the middle with speed and coming to a stop prior to elevating the puck into the upper-90 on Merzlikins’ glove side– giving Boston a, 1-0, advantage in the third round of the shootout.

    Voracek had to score on the following attempt or the Bruins would win the game.

    The Blue Jackets forward carried speed towards the net before Swayman made a blocker save to seal the deal on the shootout victory as the B’s were awarded the shootout goal in the final score, 5-4, Saturday night at Nationwide Arena– securing 10 out of 12 possible points in their six-game road trip in the process.

    Boston improved to 2-2 in shootouts this season, while Columbus fell to 3-2 in the best-of-three skills competition.

    The Bruins also improved to 24-7-1 (14-3-1 on the road) when scoring first, 5-11-2 (1-5-1 on the road) when trailing after one and 4-14-2 (1-6-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Blue Jackets dropped to 14-17-2 (7-6-2 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 10-4-1 (4-1-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 15-4-2 (7-2-2 at home) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins went 5-1-0 on their six-game road trip through the Pacific Division and Columbus and will return home to begin a three-game homestand on Monday.

    Boston will host Los Angeles (March 7th), Chicago (March 10th)  and Arizona (March 12th) before hitting the road again on March 15th.

  • Philadelphia Flyers 2021-22 Season Preview

    Philadelphia Flyers 2021-22 Season Preview

    2020-21 record 25-23-8, 55 points

    6th in the MassMutual NHL East Division

    Missed the postseason for the first time since 2020

    Additions: F Cam Atkinson (acquired from CBJ), F Derick Brassard, F Ryan Fitzgerald, F Gerry Mayhew, F Nate Thompson, D Adam Clendening, D Ryan Ellis (acquired from NSH), D Rasmus Ristolainen (acquired from BUF), D Nick Seeler, D Keith Yandle, D Cooper Zech, G Martin Jones

    Subtractions: F David Kase (ELH), F Pascal Laberge (signed with Maine Mariners, ECHL), F Nolan Patrick (traded to NSH, flipped to VGK), F Carsen Twarynski (expansion, SEA), F Jakub Voracek (traded to CBJ), D Chris Bigras (signed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, AHL), D Shayne Gostisbehere (traded to ARI), D Robert Hagg (traded to BUF), D Philippe Myers (traded to NSH), D Matt Niskanen (retired prior to 2020-21, contract officially expired), D Derrick Pouliot (signed with Henderson Silver Knights, AHL), G Brian Elliott (signed with TBL), G Alex Lyon (signed with CAR)

    Still Unsigned: F Andy Andreoff, D Nate Prosser, D Tyler Wotherspoon

    Re-signed: F Connor Bunnaman, F German Rubstov, F Linus Sandin, D Samuel Morin, D Travis Sanheim, G Carter Hart, G Felix Sandström

    Offseason Analysis: Not satisfied with their disappointing 2020-21 performance, Flyers General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, knew something would have to change.

    Jakub Voracek broke into the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2008-09 season after the Blue Jackets drafted him in the 1st round (7th overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft and spent three seasons in Columbus before being packaged with a 2011 1st round pick and a 2011 3rd round pick in a trade with Philadelphia for Jeff Carter on June 23, 2011.

    In 968 career NHL games, Voracek has 214-520–734 totals, including 601 points (176 goals and 425 assists) in 727 games with the Flyers from 2011-21.

    That 2011 1st round pick became Sean Couturier and the 3rd round pick was used to select Nick Cousins as Philadelphia was one-year removed from making the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

    Adding Voracek was to provide a spark for a player in need of a change of scenery and provide Philly’s top-six forward group with a better fit.

    After serving primarily as a playmaker for a decade of waffling in and out of the playoffs, the Flyers dealt Voracek back to Columbus for Cam Atkinson, who proudly wore his wife’s Gritty t-shirt in his introductory Zoom with media members after the trade on July 24th.

    Atkinson joins Philadelphia after amassing 213-189–402 totals in 627 games with the Blue Jackets since the 2011-12 season after Columbus drafted him in the 6th round (157th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft.

    But that’s not the only trade that Fletcher made to supplment his new-age core as Couturier, Travis Konecny, Claude Giroux, Joel Farabee, Kevin Hayes, Ivan Provorov and their teammates seek the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship since 1975.

    Fletcher kicked the summer off by trading Philippe Myers and Nolan Patrick to the Nashville Predators for defender, Ryan Ellis, on July 17th.

    Nashville flipped Patrick after the deal in a separate trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, while Philadelphia added Ellis to bolster their top-four defenders.

    For the first time in his career this October, Ellis will don a uniform that isn’t Predators marigold, but rather Flyers orange.

    After being drafted in the 1st round (11th overall) in 2009, by Nashville, Ellis emerged in the 2011-12 season, putting up 3-8–11 totals in 32 games as he broke into the league. Since then, he’s produced 270 points (75 goals, 195 assists) in 562 games from parts of the 2011-12 season through 2020-21.

    Due to an upper body injury, Ellis was limited to 35 games last season and only had 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) from the blue line, but his ability to move the puck out of his own zone and start a rush is important as the Flyers try to balance out Provorov’s prowess with someone that can keep up on his pairing.

    Five days after acquiring Ellis, Fletcher dumped Shayne Gostisbehere’s $4.500 million cap hit in the Arizona desert with a 2022 2nd round pick and a 2022 7th round pick also going to the Coyotes for future considerations to make room for Ellis’ $6.250 million cap hit through the 2026-27 season.

    Then Fletcher did something unprompted and– depending if you’re a Flyers fan or not– unhinged as he made a deal with the Buffalo Sabres, though not for Jack Eichel as Philly fans can only dream of to compete with Couturier for the first line center job, while Hayes would likely be demoted to the third line.

    Rather, the Flyers traded Robert Hagg’s $1.600 million cap hit, a 2021 1st round pick (14th overall, Isak Rosén) and a 2023 2nd round pick to the Sabres for Rasmus Ristolainen and his $5.400 million cap hit on July 23rd.

    Hagg managed 2-3–5 totals and was a minus-3 in 34 games last season with Philadelphia, while Ristolainen had 4-14–18 totals in 49 games and, uh, was a minus-18 to match Buffalo’s 18-game losing streak at one point last season.

    Some would argue the points are an upgrade, but at what cost when it seems to be live by the sword, die by the sword.

    Then Fletcher acquired Atkinson and free agency began on July 28th.

    Seeking veteran experience to aid the younger players in making a long run, Fletcher signed Keith Yandle, Derick Brassard and took a chance on Martin Jones, while also brining back Nate Thompson for another stint with the Flyers in the bottom-six.

    Yandle was bought out by the Florida Panthers and can command a power-play unit while not having missed a game since the 2008-09 season.

    He had 3-24–27 totals with the Panthers after Joel Quenneville utilized him as an afterthought and nearly scratched the 35-year-old defender.

    Brassard earned a one-year, $825,000 contract late in the summer on Aug. 25th as a low-risk, high-reward move as a recent league-journeyman that had 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 53 games with Arizona last season after a career-resurgence with the New York Islanders (32 points in 66 games) in 2019-20.

    At the very least, he’ll give Philadelphia depth down the middle in the top-nine.

    Jones, meanwhile, was bought out by the San Jose Sharks and is looking to salvage whatever’s left of his career as the presumptive backup to Carter Hart on a one-year, $2.000 million contract.

    The 31-year-old Canadian goaltender went 15-13-4 in 34 games last season and had a 3.28 goals-against average, as well as an .896 save percentage and one shutout in that span.

    Meanwhile, Brian Elliott departed for the Tampa Bay Lightning– replacing Curtis McElhinney as the Bolts’ backup.

    McElhinney went 4-6-2 in 12 games last season for Tampa and had a 3.09 goals-against average as well as an .875 save percentage and one shutout.

    Elliott had a 15-9-2 record in 30 games last season and sustained a 3.06 goals-against average, an .889 save percentage and two shutouts in that span with the Flyers.

    Hart, meanwhile, had a disastrous run.

    In 27 games played, the 23-year-old netminder went 9-11-5, had one shutout and amassed a 3.67 goals-against average, as well as an .877 save percentage– one season removed from going 24-13-3 in 43 games with a 2.42 goals-against average, a .914 save percentage and one shutout in 2019-20.

    He earned a three-year extension worth $3.979 per season as a bridge contract with a lot to prove to get back to his once promising form.

    Finally, Fletcher locked down Couturier and Farabee with long-term extensions that won’t begin until the 2022-23 season.

    Couturier’s earned an eight-year deal worth $7.750 million per season, while Farabee’s nailed a six-year contract with a $5.000 million cap hit– presenting the Flyers with their greatest challenge yet– being tight against the cap and having high expectations.

    Offseason Grade: B

    It kind of feels like a “make or break” year for Philadelphia, even though there’s no way of really knowing what’s in store for the Flyers.

    Fletcher made some admirable moves signing veterans that Philly could use in top-nine or specialty roles, but it’s also a risk to take on Jones while Hart is already on shaky ground heading into the 2021-22 season.

    If the ghost of the revolving door of goaltenders in a Flyers uniform is to be kept out of Wells Fargo Center, then Philadelphia’s going to need to hope their goaltending coach is ready with a plan that’s different from whatever happened last season.

    Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, can bring immediate success to an organization and make them hard to play against, but he tends to carry a time limit in the modern NHL as the game continues to evolve.

    With about $381,500 left in cap space entering this season, Philadelphia had to move out at least one big contract in favor of something smaller– though they’ve taken on Ellis with term and Giroux is due for an extension unless he decides to walk in unrestricted free agency next summer.

    The Flyers may have almost $15.6 million to spend next offseason, but they need to show forward progress, if not win now.

  • Columbus Blue Jackets 2021-22 Season Preview

    Columbus Blue Jackets 2021-22 Season Preview

    2020-21 record 18-26-12, 48 points

    8th in the Discover NHL Central Division

    Missed the postseason for the first time since 2016

    Additions: F Sean Kuraly, F Zac Rinaldo, F Jakub Voracek (acquired from PHI), D Jake Bean (acquired from CAR), D Adam Boqvist (acquired from CHI)

    Subtractions: F Cam Atkinson (traded to PHI), F Zac Dalpe (signed with FLA), F Mikhail Grigorenko (KHL), F Mikko Koivu (retired), F Ryan MacInnis (signed with BUF), F Stefan Matteau (signed with COL), F Cliff Pu (ICEHL), F Kole Sherwood (signed with OTT), F Daniel Zaar (KHL), D Adam Clendening (signed with PHI), D Michael Del Zotto (signed with OTT), D Seth Jones (traded to CHI)

    Still Unsigned: F Brandon Dubinsky, F Calvin Thürkauf (NL, CBJ reserve list)

    Re-signed: F Patrik Laine, F Alexandre Texier, D Gavin Bayreuther (expansion, SEA, then signed as UFA with CBJ), D Mikko Lehtonen

    Offseason Analysis: First off, where do we even start with how hard this offseason has been for the Blue Jackets organization?

    The loss of Matiss Kivlenieks is paramount in how Columbus approaches the season– honoring their fallen teammate along the way– as well as where they go from here with respect to future decisions in the crease.

    Kivlenieks had potential to be selected by the Seattle Kraken at the expansion draft. He had potential to become the Blue Jackets’ backup in the near future if the team had moved Joonas Korpisalo or Elvis Merzlikins prior to choosing one or the other next July anyway as both Korpisalo and Merzlikins are pending-unrestricted free agents.

    In what’s become an all too familiar reminder lately, tragedy, as with death, is part of life.

    He was a kind soul that was taken from us too soon.

    Columbus welcomed home Dublin, Ohio native, Sean Kuraly on a four-year contract worth $2.500 million per season as the 28-year-old departed his bottom-six role with the Boston Bruins for more money and a change of scenery as his production dropped from 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) in 69 games in 2019-20 to nine points (four goals, five assists) in 47 games last season.

    The Blue Jackets are hoping Kuraly’s arrival will feature a resurgence unlike when Riley Nash left Boston on a high-note and faltered in his Columbus tenure before being traded at last season’s trade deadline to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

    Whereas Mikko Koivu joined Columbus for the 2020-21 season prior to retiring from the NHL after seven games in a Blue Jackets uniform, Blue Jackets General Manager, Jarmo Kekäläinen, can count on Kuraly to patch up the bottom-six– especially the fourth line– without the prospect of sudden retirement.

    There’s a familiar face in town this season as Jakub Voracek is back in a Blue Jackets jersey for the first time since the 2010-11 season after Kekäläinen dealt Cam Atkinson to the Philadelphia Flyers in a one-for-one trade as the Flyers looked to save some salary for other important areas.

    Voracek, like Kuraly, could use a bit of a resurgence as of late after his numbers dropped from 66 points in 78 games with Philadelphia in 2018-19 to 56 points in 69 games with Philly in 2019-20 and, most recently, 9-34–43 totals in 53 games with the Flyers last season.

    Interestingly enough, the 32-year-old forward has never scored more than 23 goals in a season (set back in 82 games in 2013-14 with Philadelphia) and had three consecutive seasons of 20 or more goals from 2012-13 through 2014-15 and again from 2016-17 through 2018-19.

    Columbus also grabbed the rights to Jake Bean in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes and signed Bean to a three-year extension– incorporating the 23-year-old defender as part of the Blue Jackets’ blue line reform in the aftermath of one of the biggest trades this offseason.

    After stating that he wouldn’t sign an extension with Columbus, Seth Jones was dealt to Chicago with a 2021 1st round pick (32nd overall, Nolan Allan) and a 2022 6th round pick for Adam Boqvist, a 2021 1st round pick (12th overall, Cole Sillinger), a 2021 2nd round pick that was when flipped to Carolina for Bean and a conditional 2022 1st round pick.

    If Chicago wins one of the 2022 draft lotteries, then the 2022 1st round pick becomes a 2023 1st round pick and in any case, the Blue Jackets aren’t paying Jones $9.500 million per season when his new extension kicks in next season.

    Except Columbus then turned around and gave Zach Werenski a six-year extension worth $9.583 million that goes into effect starting with the 2022-23 season through 2027-28.

    At the very least, it shows that the Blue Jackets are willing to commit dollars and term to a player in their organization, though with the steep prices paid by teams for defensive talent via free agency, trades and in extensions this offseason, only time will tell if it was truly worth it.

    Werenski is 24-years-old and will be turning 31 shortly after this extension expires.

    The good news is that it’ll cover his defensive prime, as long as he can stay healthy and at that high level of competition.

    The bad news is that Columbus could be playing with fire if their ongoing overhaul doesn’t pan out soon enough.

    Speaking of the changing of seasons, Brad Larsen went from being an assistant coach with the team to being named the 10th head coach in franchise history after John Tortorella was told his contract would not be renewed.

    Larsen’s been around in the Blue Jackets organization since the 2010-11 season when he was named as an assistant coach with the Springfield Falcons (AHL). He spent two seasons in that role before becoming the Falcons’ head coach from 2012-14, prior to being called up to being behind the bench in Columbus as an assistant coach from the 2014-15 season through 2020-21.

    Perhaps Patrik Laine can get a chance to relax and play his game his way– as with the rest of the young Blue Jackets players– growing and developing in accordance with their preferred styles instead of being told to conform to a universal 200-foot style game.

    That’s not to say that Tortorella’s tenure with Columbus wasn’t worth it, but rather to point out that it takes the right kind of players to perform under a certain structure and the Blue Jackets shifted away from that over the years.

    Offseason Grade: C

    Columbus didn’t do anything irrational and avoided the potential salary cap hell that might come with Jones’ extension in Chicago given his recent decline.

    That said, they also then willingly gave Werenski what Jones was asking for and then some because surely they weren’t afraid of history repeating itself or anything.

    Regardless, Kekäläinen still has about $10.4 million in cap space for 2021-22, which means they won’t necessarily be good enough for playoff contention, but that’s the point.

    Either Columbus will get lucky and strike it rich with what they’ve got, the systems Larsen develops and the new additions here and there or they’ll fall further in the standings and get lucky in the 2022 Draft Lottery.

  • Let’s pretend to be the Seattle Kraken

    Let’s pretend to be the Seattle Kraken

    The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft welcomes the Seattle Kraken to the league as its 32nd member club Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada.

    Because of a lot going on right now, this mock expansion draft got delayed until the day of the actual draft and ultimately is arbitrary. If there’s even one prediction right here, then Kraken General Manager, Ron Francis, apparently reads DTFR.

    We’ll make that assumption, thank you very much.

    Seattle has run numerous mock drafts at this point and gone through many scenarios, but who would’ve imagined that players like Alex Ovechkin, Ondrej Palat and more would be available?

    Of course, keep in mind that the Kraken have to spend between 60-100% of the previous season’s salary cap ($81.500 million).

    For the sake of keeping things simple here, we’ve provided some built-in scenarios that would allow Seattle to be cap compliant as a result of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.

    The Kraken will be selecting one player from 30 NHL clubs as the Vegas Golden Knights are exempt from this round of expansion. The 30 other teams had the option to protect seven forwards, three defenders and one goaltender or any combination of eight skaters and one goaltender.

    For more on the protection and exposure requirements, check out the protected lists and 2021 NHL Expansion Draft rules.

    The majority of this was written before the leaked selections were revealed, so let’s just pretend we’re all in an alternate universe for a bit longer.

    ANAHEIM DUCKS

    LD/RD Haydn Fleury

    25-years-old, 1 year left, $1.300 million cap hit

    Fleury was dealt to Anaheim at the trade deadline as the Carolina Hurricanes feared they would probably lose him anyway to former Canes GM Ron Francis at the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.

    Turns out their fears were based in reality as the Ducks experience déjà vu that harkens back to when they lost Shea Theodore to the Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

    Fleury had 3-1–4 totals in 47 games for Anaheim and Carolina in 2020-21.

    ARIZONA COYOTES

    RW/LW Christian Fischer

    24, 1 year left, $1.000 million cap hit

    Fischer (3-8–11 totals in 52 games) is a safe bet for Seattle as he’s entering his prime and carries a low-risk, high-reward type of contract with the expectation that he could blossom into an attractive bottom-six forward.

    It’s either that, or he’ll be a sweetener in another transaction as the deadline approaches if there’s a team looking to bolster their depth.

    BOSTON BRUINS

    LD/RD Connor Clifton

    26, 2 years left, $1.000 million cap hit

    Boston is more than likely going to lose a defender– whether it’s Clifton, Jeremy Lauzon or Jakub Zboril– rather than a forward, like Nick Ritchie, for example. Between Clifton and Lauzon, the Kraken can’t go wrong.

    If they’d prefer the younger of the two, then Lauzon is your choice. Of course, if Seattle is looking for an NHL ready bottom-pairing and/or seventh defender, then look no further than the hard-hitting Clifton (1-6–7 totals in 44 games) despite his 5-foot-11, 175-pound frame.

    BUFFALO SABRES

    LD Jake McCabe

    27, pending-unrestricted free agent, $2.850 million cap hit in 2020-21

    Like more than a few players in Buffalo this offseason, McCabe could benefit from a change of scenery and can be best utilized as a bottom-pairing or depth defender.

    Perhaps the Kraken can’t come to an agreement on a new contract or they find a way to flip him at the Expansion Draft– ether way, Seattle’s looking to get more out of his 1-2–3 totals in 13 games in 2020-21.

    CALGARY FLAMES

    LD Mark Giordano

    37, 1 year remaining, $6.750 million cap hit

    Though Seattle wouldn’t go wrong with either Milan Lucic or Giordano in terms of drafting leadership out of the Flames’ dressing room, it turns out the Kraken liked the Golden Knights’ model enough and pried a veteran defender out of Calgary to lead the first generation Kraken roster.

    With 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 56 games in 2020-21, a Mark Messier Leadership Award and a James Norris Memorial Trophy under his belt in 2019-20 and 2018-19, respectively, Giordano’s had a late career resurgence and could prove to be an effective piece on Seattle’s blue line.

    CAROLINA HURRICANES

    RD Dougie Hamilton

    28, pending-UFA, $5.750 million cap hit in 2020-21

    Hamilton arrived to Carolina after Francis left the organization, but that doesn’t rule out the six degrees of Kevin Bacon factor here, which allows the Kraken to select the right-shot defender that had 10-32–42 totals in 55 games this season.

    Though he’s a pending-UFA, Seattle has the space to get creative with either a new contract or the ability to trade his negotiating rights for more assets before free agency begins on July 28th.

    CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

    LD/RD Calvin de Haan

    30, 1 year left, $4.550 million cap hit

    de Haan’s (1-9–10 totals in 44 games) been a journeyman for three out of the last four seasons having gone from the New York Islanders in 2017-18, to the Hurricanes in 2018-19, then Chicago from 2019-present.

    He’d either play a bigger role with Seattle or would continue wracking up the airline rewards points by being used as trade bait for another club in the offseason similar to how the Golden Knights used Marc Methot and David Schlemko in their Expansion Draft year.

    COLORADO AVALANCHE

    LW/C Gabriel Landeskog

    28, pending-UFA, $5.571 million cap hit in 2020-21

    Vegas was wheeling and dealing at the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and Seattle will likely be doing the same in this year’s 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, so why not take a chance on Landeskog and see what happens?

    At best, he sticks around. At worst, you trade his negotiating rights before July 28th or play it safe and claim Joonas Donskoi instead to provide yourself with some quality top-nine forward depth.

    Landeskog, however, brings his 20-32–52 totals in 54 games this season, as well as his leadership qualities as the current captain in Colorado to Seattle if he were to sign a long-term extension to guide the Kraken through their formative years. He’d be the surefire captain for the new club, no doubt.

    COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

    C/LW Max Domi

    26, 1 year left, $5.300 million cap hit

    Columbus took a gamble and it didn’t pay off as Domi’s 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists) in 71 games with the Montréal Canadiens in 2019-20, faltered to 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 54 games with the Blue Jackets in 2020-21.

    As such, Domi was exposed to the elements and that’s where the Kraken come in to take a flyer on a top-six forward looking for the right system and something to be built around. If all else fails, it’s only one season to get Seattle off the ground and provide a spark.

    DALLAS STARS

    LD/RD Andrej Sekera

    35, 1 year left, $1.500 million cap hit

    Sekera’s five points (three goals, two assists) in 46 games won’t be attracting any buyers for his offensive capabilities from the point, but if it’s a shutdown defender that can play throughout the lineup you need, then he’ll come in handy as a Swiss Army knife of sorts.

    If the Kraken trade from the rest of their plethora of defenders and Sekera remains, it’s not the end of the world. If Seattle sends him packing after claiming him from Dallas, then the Stars won’t have lost that much for nothing with bigger fish to fry.

    Either that or the Kraken could just snag Jamie Oleksiak and call it a day.

    DETROIT RED WINGS

    RW/LW/C Vladislav Namestnikov

    28, 1 year left, $2.000 million cap hit

    Remember when Namestnikov was a household name in a Tampa Bay Lightning uniform? Or when he was a New York Ranger? These days, it seems like he’s been everywhere– especially since he’s suited up for the Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avlanche and Red Wings in the last two seasons.

    His best season came in 2017-18, when he amassed 48 points between the Lightning and Rangers in 81 games played, but Namestnikov only managed 8-9–17 totals in 53 games with Detroit this season.

    At $2.000 million for one season, he’s a suitable asset in your bottom-six forward group with a low-cost, high-reward 30-40 point potential at best or easy to move at the deadline at worst.

    EDMONTON OILERS

    RD Adam Larsson

    28, pending-UFA, $4.167 million cap hit in 2020-21

    Larsson (4-6–10 totals in 56 games) is sure to hit the open market on July 28th, but if the Kraken find themselves in position to stake their claim to his negotiating rights and sign him before anyone else can even submit an offer it wouldn’t be unwise.

    At best, Seattle lands a top-four defender. At worst, they avoid having to take something else from the Oilers. James Neal likely isn’t getting another call from an expansion team this time around and Kyle Turris might be the only decent cheap contract if he can find his game again.

    FLORIDA PANTHERS

    G Chris Driedger

    27, pending-UFA, $850,000 cap hit in 2020-21

    Seattle was enchanted by his emergence in the last couple of seasons and with Spencer Knight coming out of the shadows behind Sergei Bobrovksy’s contract in Florida, Driedger finds himself hitting the open waters of Puget Sound and/or free agency.

    Whether or not Driedger’s 14-6-3 record, 2.07 goals-against average and .9217 save percentage in 23 games (23 starts, three shutouts) is a promising sign of things to come or simply a solid mark of defensive work in front of him remains to be seen.

    That said, Driedger is one of the better goaltenders on the open market– if he even makes it there first.

    LOS ANGELES KINGS 

    RW/LW Austin Wagner

    24, 2 years left, $1.133 million cap hit

    Despite having one of the best prospect pools in the league right now, the Kings don’t have too much to offer via expansion, so the Kraken will have to settle for a fourth-liner that has yet to reveal whether or not this is really all that there is to his game.

    Wagner had 4-4–8 totals in 44 games with Los Angeles in 2020-21.

    MINNESOTA WILD

    G Kaapo Kähkönen

    24, 1 year left, $725,000

    The Wild chose to protect Cam Talbot over their future potential starting goaltender in Kähkönen which is good news for Kraken fans and bad news for Minnesota fans.

    Unless Seattle has a deal in place to acquire assets from the Wild to not select Kähkönen, this is a dangerous game for Minnesota GM, Bill Guerin, to play– but then again, he’s put an emphasis on change at the forefront of his tenure in Minnesota’s front office.

    Meanwhile, Kähkönen went 16-8-0 in 24 games (23 starts, two shutouts) and had a 2.88 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage in that span in 2020-21.

    MONTRÉAL CANADIENS

    G Carey Price

    33, 5 years left, $10.500 million cap hit

    Whether or not Price is even being considered by the Kraken hinges upon two things 1) his health and 2) if Seattle and Montréal have already worked out some sort of trade.

    The league has already informed the clubs that they would be circumventing the salary cap if the Kraken select Price, retain 50% of his salary and deal him back to Montréal.

    But, Seattle could take the 2021 Stanley Cup Final runner-up goaltender that amassed a 12-7-5 record in 25 games (25 starts, one shutout) in the regular season and had a 2.64 goals-against average, as well as a .901 save percentage in that span and play him, place him on long-term injured reserve or eat some salary and trade him elsewhere.

    In any case, Price to Seattle would be as big a deal as Marc-Andre Fleury to Vegas in 2017.

    NASHVILLE PREDATORS

    LD Mark Borowiecki

    32, 1 year left, $2.000 million cap hit

    Borowiecki’s 2020-21 campaign was cut short and limited to 22 games due to injury, but don’t let his one assist fool you– he’s a physical defender that will do anything to make a hit, block a shot and lead in the dressing room when he’s not on the ice.

    If he’s healthy, he’d be effective in Seattle as the Kraken look to establish their workplace culture and team identity.

    NEW JERSEY DEVILS

    LW/RW Andreas Johnsson

    26, 2 years left, $3.400 million cap hit

    Johnsson had 43 points in 73 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in his first full season at the NHL level in 2018-19. He then had just 21 points in 43 games with the Leafs in 2019-20 and 5-6–11 totals in 50 games with the Devils this season.

    In the right situation, he could bounce back. In New Jersey, it doesn’t look like that’d be happening anytime soon– regardless of Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes’ emergence with Ty Smith and Yegor Sharangovich playing a part in the club’s turnaround.

    Some, however, have Mackenzie Blackwood pegged as being selected by the Kraken as they certainly have plenty of goaltenders to choose from and trade thereafter.

    NEW YORK ISLANDERS

    RW/LW Josh Bailey

    31, 3 years left, $5.000 million cap hit

    Bailey had 8-27–35 totals in 54 games with the Islanders this season and would provide some meat in the middle of our hypothetical Kraken roster.

    Between Bailey and Jordan Eberle, however, Seattle can’t go wrong. The former tends to score clutch goals in the playoffs and has a cap hit that’s $500,000 less than the latter, though that’s not much to worry about.

    NEW YORK RANGERS

    RW Julien Gauthier

    23, 1 year left, $775,000 cap hit

    It’s not always about size, but having the option to use a 6-foot-4, 227-pound winger in your lineup certainly will help the Kraken in the physical elements of the game– especially against their rivals in the Pacific Division.

    Gauthier had 2-6–8 totals in 30 games with the Rangers in 2020-21.

    OTTAWA SENATORS

    G Joey Daccord

    24, 2 years left, $750,000 cap hit

    Daccord appeared in eight games (six games) this season as the Senators struggled to stay healthy in the crease and went on to amass a 1-3-1 record in the process with a 3.27 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage in that span– revealing two things 1) he’s a young goaltender and 2) the Sens really need a better roster in front of any and all of their goaltenders.

    But choosing Daccord is O.K. for Seattle since he’ll develop in due time and it takes care of having to pick something else from Ottawa’s scraps.

    PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

    RW/LW Jakub Voracek

    31, 3 years left, $8.250 million cap hit

    Want to get messy? Let’s have the Kraken select Voracek from the Flyers and see what happens!

    No, this isn’t about postgame press conference outbursts or anything (though Voracek was in the right in that regard), but rather, there’s a lot of teams that would take Voracek at a reduced rate and Seattle could make bank off trading him.

    Or they could keep the guy that had 9-34–43 totals in 53 games in 2020-21 and see what happens in 2021-22, but Francis isn’t likely going to take on that big of a contract unless it’s a free agent signing.

    PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

    RW/LW Brandon Tanev

    29, 4 years left, $3.500 million cap hit

    Tanev can skate, hit and compete, so… …in other words, he’s a hockey player. He’s also got the long hair to go with it.

    In 2020-21, he had 7-9–16 totals in 32 games in his second season with the Penguins. Though he was on the cusp of the 30-point plateau with the Winnipeg Jets in 2018-19, Tanev’s career-high 29 points is about the most Seattle could get out of him, but that’s fine for the meat of their lineup.

    SAN JOSE SHARKS

    C Dylan Gambrell

    24, 1 year left, $1.100 million cap hit

    Be honest, did you really want to have to take anything from the Sharks?

    Gambrell matched his career-high in goals (five) and set career-highs in assists (seven) and points (12) in 49 games with San Jose this season, but aside from being young, he’s still very much a fourth liner in the NHL, so the Kraken have that going for them, at least.

    ST. LOUIS BLUES

    RW Vladimir Tarasenko

    29, 2 years left, $7.500 million cap hit

    Name brand power. Seattle would assure themselves of having some top jersey sales if they’d just take Tarasenko and keep him on the roster.

    Then again, he’s missed significant portions of the last two seasons and already wants out of St. Louis, so what’s not to say he won’t be disgruntled about going to a completely new franchise and any growing pains?

    With 4-10–14 totals in 24 games in 2020-21, and 442 points in 531 career NHL games, it’s probably worth at least being in control of his next destination– whether that’s the Kraken or elsewhere.

    TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

    C/LW/RW Yanni Gourde

    29, 4 years left, $5.167 million cap hit

    Gourde is an affordable player to build a brand new roster around, but just how far up the lineup can he play? Will Seattle try to make him like William Karlsson in Vegas’ first year and demand first line minutes or are they comfortable with taking a more conservative approach and, say, making him a second liner at best?

    In any case, 17-19–36 totals in 56 games en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup rings with the Lightning brings the right amount of depth scoring and valuable playoff experience to the Kraken’s roster.

    TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

    LW/C Jared McCann

    25, 1 year left, $2.940 million cap hit

    There was a reason why the Maple Leafs went out and got McCann in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the expansion draft, but it clearly wasn’t as an insurance plan in the event that Seattle took Alexander Kerfoot and Toronto needed a new third line center or something.

    Instead, the Leafs left both available and the Kraken took the guy with the better offensive production in 2020-21, as McCann had 14-18–32 totals in 43 games with Pittsburgh, while Kerfoot had 8-15–23 totals in 56 games with Toronto.

    VANCOUVER CANUCKS

    C/RW Zack MacEwen

    25, 1 year left, $825,000

    All of Vancouver’s bad contracts are coming to bite them just as everyone expected. Sure, some attractive salary cap hits were available if the Kraken needed a boost, but for the point scoring output, none of them would’ve made sense in a million years– even as a favor to the Canucks, you know, the closest geographical rival to Seattle.

    Thus, MacEwen’s taking his talents and 1-1–2 totals in 34 games with the Canucks this season to the Kraken, where he’ll become intertwined with some semblance of depth.

    WASHINGTON CAPITALS

    G Vitek Vanecek

    25, 1 year left, $716,667

    Yeah, there’s no way around it, really, but this is the worst thing that could happen for the Capitals short of the Kraken getting bold and taking Alex Ovechkin.

    Vanecek (21-10-4 in 37 games, 36 starts, 2.69 goals-against average, .908 save percentage, two shutouts) provides a great 1A/1B punch with Ilya Samsonov as both goaltenders develop, but since Washington couldn’t get a deal done with the team that plays in Washington (state, that is), then it’s a solid grab for Seattle.

    Whether or not they keep Vanecek in the mix with all the other goaltenders (or any of the other goaltenders, for that matter) remains to be seen.

    WINNIPEG JETS

    RD Dylan DeMelo

    28, 3 years left, $3.000 million

    It’s simple, draft DeMelo from Winnipeg and either end up with a decent top-4 defender or use him as trade bait a la the Vegas way in 2017.

    Nine assists in 52 games won’t get you much offense from the point when DeMelo is on the ice, but his shutdown style and decent cap hit is attractive around the league.

    Total Cap Hit (excluding players already on SEA roster): $80,681,666

    Average age: 27.7 years old

    Seattle won’t actually be spending to the cap from the expansion draft alone kind of like how the Golden Knights did in 2017, but in this mock draft, let’s get crazy.

    Spend every penny and sell high, why not!?!

    Yes, Price carries a hefty price tag, but that doesn’t have to be your problem if you find a team desperate enough for goaltending. Imagine trading Price to the Maple Leafs and watching all of Québec sit through the uneasiness of another Toronto-Montréal matchup in the postseason by the time his contract expires.

    Or just imagine all of the possible side deals from taking a team that’s loaded with talent and stripping it down to the essentials, plus a foundation for the future.

    Ron Francis is kind of good at that.

  • Couturier, Flyers beat Bruins, 3-2

    Couturier, Flyers beat Bruins, 3-2

    Sean Couturier scored the game-winning goal early in the third period Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center as the Philadelphia Flyers topped the Boston Bruins, 3-2.

    Brian Elliott (11-5-1, 2.87 goals-against average, .894 save percentage in 21 games played) stopped 30 out of 32 shots faced in the win for the Flyers.

    Bruins goaltender, Jeremy Swayman (2-1-0, 2.35 goals-against average, .929 save percentage in three games played) made 20 saves on 23 shots against in the loss.

    Boston fell to 21-11-6 (48 points) on the season, but remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Philadelphia improved to 19-15-6 (44 points) and reclaimed 5th place in the division before the rest of the night’s action took place.

    The Bruins finished their regular season series 6-1-1 against the Flyers.

    Ondrej Kase (upper body) missed his 36th game this season due to an injury sustained on Jan. 16th in New Jersey, while John Moore (hip) remains out for the rest of the season after undergoing a hip arthroscopy and labral repair on March 22nd and is expected to recover in five to six months.

    Meanwhile, Tuukka Rask (upper body) missed his 16th game this season due to an injury that he sustained against the New York Islanders on March 25th and is expected to return sometime next week.

    Charlie McAvoy (upper body) missed his 3rd game due to an injury sustained on April 5th against the Flyers and may return to game action on Tuesday, while Brandon Carlo (upper body) missed his 15th game due to an injury sustained against Pittsburgh on April 1st.

    Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness) missed his 2nd game of the season on Saturday, while Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) missed his 4th game due to being in league protocol.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Thursday night’s, 4-2, win in Washington, D.C. and informed reporters ahead of Saturday’s action that Kevan Miller would not play back-to-back games on Sunday.

    Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players included Anders Bjork, Frederic, Zach Senyshyn, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, Jack Ahcan, Callum Booth, McAvoy and Jarred Tinordi on Saturday afternoon.

    Early in the action, Patrice Bergeron (16) scored from his usual spot in the bumper after catching a pass with his left skate and releasing the ensuing shot past Elliott on the stick side to give Boston a, 1-0, lead.

    Craig Smith (13) and Brad Marchand (29) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s goal at 5:38 of the first period.

    It was the only time the Bruins would lead all afternoon as midway through the first period, Travis Konecny (9) hit the back of the twine on an initial shot from the point by Robert Hagg that rebounded off of Swayman’s pad to the slot.

    Hagg (2) and Travis Sanheim (10) had the assists on Konecny’s goal as the Flyers tied it, 1-1, at 11:51.

    Late in the period, Jeremy Lauzon cut a rut to the penalty box for roughing, presenting Philly with their first power play of the afternoon at 17:31.

    Philadelphia made quick work of the resulting skater advantage as Konecny fed Shayne Gostisbehere (7) for the redirection goal past Swayman’s blocker side while crashing the net to give the Flyers their first lead of the afternoon, 2-1.

    Konecny (19) and James van Riemsdyk (19) had the assists on Gostisbehere’s power-play goal at 17:46 as the Flyers tallied two goals in a 5:55 span.

    Entering the first intermission, Philadelphia led Boston, 2-1, on the scoreboard, despite the Bruins holding an, 11-7, advantage in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (5-1), takeaways (2-1), hits (13-10) and faceoff win percentage (52-48) after one period of play, while both teams had two giveaways each through 20 minutes.

    Philadelphia was 1/1 on the power play and Boston had yet to see time on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    Matt Grzelcyk was not on the bench for the Bruins as the teams returned to the ice for the second period. Boston later tweeted that Grzelcyk sustained an upper body injury and would not return to the day’s action.

    Cassidy told informers after the game that Grzelcyk is “day-to-day” in regards to whether or not he will suit up on Sunday night against the Washington Capitals.

    Connor Clifton was sent to the sin bin for a holding infraction 52 seconds into the second period and this time– to the delight of Boston’s penalty kill– the Flyers weren’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Especially since Nolan Patrick tripped Lauzon with 22 seconds remaining on Philadelphia’s skater advantage at 2:30.

    The two clubs skated at 4-on-4 for about 22 seconds before the Bruins had an abbreviated 5-on-4 advantage.

    Boston did not capitalize on their first power play of the afternoon, however.

    Midway through the afternoon’s action, Sanheim was sent to the box for holding the stick of Bruins forward, Jake DeBrusk, at 9:06.

    After generating momentum in the waning seconds of the ensuing power play, Boston caught Philly in the vulnerable minute after special teams action as defender, Steven Kampfer, pinched into the attacking zone along the boards, where he worked the puck to the high slot for Charlie Coyle to setup Smith at the goal line for a “tic-toc-goal” one-timer by DeBrusk (4) from the slot.

    Smith (14) and Coyle (8) had the assists on DeBrusk’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 2-2, at 11:45 of the second period.

    It was DeBrusk’s first goal since March 18th, though the young B’s winger missed a couple of weeks of action due to a bout with COVID.

    Through two periods, the game was tied, 2-2, though the Bruins held the advantage in shots on goal, 22-14, including an, 11-7, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston led in blocked shots (10-7) and takeaways (4-2), while Philadelphia held the advantage in hits (17-16) and faceoff win% (57-43) after 40 minutes of action.

    Both teams had six giveaways, while the Flyers were 1/2 and the Bruins were 0/2 on the power play heading into the final frame of the game.

    Philadelphia moved the rubber biscuit around the attacking zone with ease early in the final frame, leading to Boston’s defenders being out of position and Swayman playing aggressively in the crease to try to makeup for the defensive shortfalls.

    Couturier (12) capitalized on Swayman having to dive across the crease on an ensuing play and slid the puck under the Bruins goaltender’s glove as a result to the Flyers a, 3-2, lead at 6:59 of the third period.

    Joel Farabee (14) and van Riemsdyk (20) had the assists on what would become Couturier’s game-winning goal by the final horn.

    Kevin Hayes cross checked David Pastrnak at 8:10 of the third period and presented Boston with a power play, but the Bruins could not convert on the skater advantage.

    The B’s failed to score on yet another power play when Ivan Provorov tripped Pastrnak moments later at 11:45.

    Gostisbehere thought he sent a puck off of Swayman’s glove and into the net for an insurance goal, but Boston used a coach’s challenge on the grounds that they believed Jakub Voracek had made incidental contact with their goaltender and therefore rendered the call on the ice obsolete.

    Upon review, it was determined that, in fact, Voracek had clipped Swayman while skating through the crease and impeded on the B’s goaltender’s ability to make a save.

    The call on the ice was reversed and there was no goal on the play.

    The Flyers still led, 3-2, however and the Bruins couldn’t muster anything else past Elliott.

    Boston pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker with less than a minute to go and Cassidy used his timeout after a stoppage in play with nine seconds left on the game clock.

    At the final, the Flyers had won, 3-2, despite finishing the afternoon trailing in shots on goal, 32-23.

    Boston held the advantage in shots in the third period alone (10-9), blocked shots (17-15) and faceoff win% (51-49), while Philadelphia finished the afternoon leading in giveaways (11-7) and hits (24-20).

    The Flyers went 1/2 and the Bruins went 0/4 on the power play on Saturday.

    The B’s dropped to 14-4-3 (8-4-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal, 5-7-2 (2-5-2 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 5-5-3 (5-4-2 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    Philly improved to 7-11-3 (3-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 9-1-1 (6-1-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 7-3-3 (3-2-2 at home) when tied after two periods in 2020-21.

    The Bruins went 2-1-0 on their three-game road trip and venture back home to host the Washington Capitals on Sunday night– kicking off a five-game homestand in the process.

  • Bergeron’s hat trick in Swayman’s 40-save NHL debut lead Bruins over Flyers, 4-2

    Bergeron’s hat trick in Swayman’s 40-save NHL debut lead Bruins over Flyers, 4-2

    Jeremy Swayman (1-0-0, 2.01 goals-against average, .952 save percentage in one game played) made 40 saves on 42 shots against in his National Hockey League debut, while Patrice Bergeron surpassed 900 career points with a hat trick in a, 4-2, victory for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.

    Swayman went 8-1-0 in nine games played for the Providence Bruins (AHL) this season with a 1.89 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage in that span prior to being called up on Monday due to Boston’s starting and backup goaltenders being out of the lineup.

    He made his NHL debut nine games after Dan Vladar made his NHL debut in net for Boston in a, 2-1, win at Pittsburgh on March 16th.

    The last time the Bruins had two rookie goaltenders play at least one game was in 2016-17, when Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre suited up in one and eight games, respectively, that season.

    The last two Bruins goalies to make their NHL debut in the same season was back in 2005-06, when Hannu Toivonen and Jordan Sigalet did just that.

    Bergeron, in the meantime, became the fourth Bruin in franchise history to record at least 900 points with the club, joining Ray Bourque (1,506 points with Boston), Johnny Bucyk (1,339) and Phil Esposito (1,012) as the only players to do so in the spoked-B.

    Philadelphia goaltender, Carter Hart (8-10-4, 3.88 goals-against average, .871 save percentage in 24 games played) stopped 22 out of 25 shots faced for an .880 save percentage in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 20-10-6 (46 points) overall and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual East Division, while separating themselves a bit from the now 18-15-5 Flyers (41 points) who remain 5th in the division.

    Boston also improved to 6-0-1 against Philadelphia this season.

    The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Charlie McAvoy (upper body) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, Kevan Miller returned after missing his 20th game this season due to a nagging lower body injury that he re-aggravated on Feb. 18th against the New Jersey Devils.

    With Miller back and McAvoy out of the lineup as a late scratch due to injury, B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, jumbled his lineup a bit.

    Karson Kuhlman moved up to the right side of the third line, while Chris Wagner rejoined the lineup in his usual role as the fourth line right wing as Zach Senyshyn served as a healthy scratch.

    On defense, Matt Grzelcyk suited up alongside Miller on the first pairing, while Jeremy Lauzon and Connor Clifton rounded out the top-four.

    Jakub Zboril was partnered with Steven Kampfer on the third defensive pairing.

    With Rask and Halak out, Vladar served as Swayman’s backup goaltender, while Anders Bjork, Senyshyn, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, McAvoy, Anton Blidh and Jarred Tinordi made up Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players.

    Almost midway through the opening frame, Bergeron (13) corralled a rebound and wrapped the puck around Hart’s outstretched leg to give the Bruins the game’s first goal.

    Craig Smith (11) and Brad Marchand (25) tallied the assists and the B’s led, 1-0, at 7:09 of the first period.

    With his first goal of the night, Bergeron reached the 900-point plateau in his career. By the end of the night, he had 367-535–902 totals in 1,125 career games (all with Boston).

    Midway through the first period, Grzelcyk was penalized for hooking James van Riemsdyk, but Philly wasn’t able to muster anything on their first power play of the night at 10:15.

    Moments later, the Bruins went on the power play after Nicolas Aube-Kubel was called for holding against David Krejci at 16:38.

    The Bruins made quick work of their first skater advantage of the game, working the puck around the zone from Marchand to David Pastrnak to Bergeron (14) for one of his standard catch and release power-play goals from the bumper– giving Boston a two-goal lead in the process.

    Pastrnak (16) and Marchand (26) had the assists on Bergeron’s second goal of the night at 17:31 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, Boston led, 2-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Philadelphia, 13-11, in shots on goal.

    The B’s held the advantage in blocked shots (7-5) and hits (11-7), while Philly led in takeaways (2-0), giveaways (4-3) and faceoff win percentage (52-48) after one period of play.

    The Flyers were 0/1 and the Bruins were 1/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Jakub Voracek (6) redirected a shot pass from Travis Konecny past Swayman from the edge of the crease to cut Boston’s lead in half and put Philadelphia on the scoreboard, 2-1.

    Konecny (17) had the only assist in the goal at 1:33 of the second period.

    Philly tied things up, 2-2, with a pair of goals in a span of 2:30 thanks to Shayne Gostisbehere’s (6) catch and release shot over Swayman at 4:03.

    Voracek (25) and Ivan Provorov (15) tallied the assists on Gostisbehere’s goal.

    Midway through the middle frame, Trent Frederic cut a rut to the penalty box for roughing at 11:14, but the Flyers weren’t able to take advantage of the ensuing skater advantage.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Tuesday night, the Bruins and Flyers were tied, 2-2, despite Philadelphia outshooting Boston, 38-18, in shots on goal, including a, 25-7, advantage in the second period alone.

    Philly also held the advantage in giveaways (9-5) and faceoff win% (57-44), while the B’s led in hits (17-15) after two periods.

    Both teams had 14 blocked shots and four takeaways each, while Philadelphia was 0/2 and Boston was 1/1 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Miller tripped Nolan Patrick at 7:25 of the third period and presented the Flyers with another power play.

    This time, however, Boston’s penalty kill turned the tables on Philadelphia when Lauzon sprung out of his own zone with the puck, generated a 2-on-1 in the attacking zone and sent a pass to Marchand (18) for the extra drag before sliding the puck through Hart’s five-hole.

    It was the sixth shorthanded goal for the Bruins this season and the 29th of Marchand’s career, while Lauzon (4) and Clifton (5) tabbed the assists as Boston pulled ahead, 3-2, at 8:21.

    It was also Marchand’s 48th career shorthanded point, which broke a tie with Eddie Westfall and Bobby Orr for the most in Bruins history.

    About a minute later, Konecny slashed Miller, who delivered a swift cross check in return and the two players drew minor infractions at 9:59.

    The two teams skated 4-on-4 for two minutes before returning to regular even strength action.

    Moments later, Samuel Morin roughed Frederic along the wall and was sent to the sin bin at 13:12, but Boston’s power play unit was unable to convert on the skater advanatage.

    With 1:57 remaining in the game, Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, pulled Hart for an extra attacker and used his only timeout to draw up a strategy for Philadelphia to tie the game once more.

    Instead, Bergeron (15) scored an empty net goal– completing the hat trick with his third goal of the game in the process.

    Marchand (27) and Wagner (3) had the assists as the Bruins extended their lead, 4-2, at 19:37 on Bergeron’s sixth career hat trick and first since a, 7-4, victory at the New York Rangers on Oct. 27, 2019.

    Bergeron tied Adam Oates, Herb Cain, Dit Clapper, Wayne Cashman and Barry Pederson for the ninth most hat tricks while in a Bruins uniform in franchise history.

    At the final horn, Swayman made the most saves (40) by a B’s netminder in his first start since Bernie Parent had 44 saves in his NHL debut with Boston in 1965, as he and the Bruins downed the Flyers, 4-2.

    Boston finished the night with the advantage in blocked shots (19-16) and hits (31-19), though they trailed Philadelphia in shots on goal (42-26), giveaways (11-8) and faceoff win% (57-44).

    The Flyers finished Tuesday’s action 0/3 on the power play, while the Bruins went 1/2.

    Boston improved to 13-3-3 (7-3-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, as well as 10-0-2 (5-0-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 5-4-3 (5-3-2 on the road) when tied after two periods in 2020-21.

    Philadelphia, in the meantime, fell to 6-11-2 (2-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, 8-2-1 (5-2-1 at home) when trailing after the first period and 6-3-2 (2-2-2 at home) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Bruins continue their three-game road trip (1-0-0) with a stop in Washington, D.C. against the Capitals on Thursday prior to returning to Philadelphia for a matchup with the Flyers on Saturday afternoon. Boston returns home next Sunday to host the Capitals to kick off a five-game homestand on April 11th.

  • Bruins shred Flyers, 7-3, at Lake Tahoe

    Bruins shred Flyers, 7-3, at Lake Tahoe

    Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty, and Boston Bruins mascot, Blades the Bruin, might have shared the slopes on Saturday, but their two teams weren’t in much of a sharing mood on Sunday when Boston defeated Philadelphia in a lopsided, 7-3, victory outdoors by the 18th hole of the Edgewood Tahoe Resort.

    David Pastrnak had a hat trick in the win for the Bruins, while Tuukka Rask (7-2-1, 2.56 goals against average, .901 save percentage in 10 games played) made 16 saves on 19 shots against (.842 SV%) for the win on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

    Flyers goaltender, Carter Hart (5-3-3, 3.68 GAA, .891 SV% in 11 games played) stopped 17 out of 23 shots faced for a .739 SV% before being replaced after two periods by Brian Elliott (3-1-0, 2.25 GAA, .928 SV% in six games played) in the loss.

    Boston improved to 11-3-2 (24 points) on the season and remained in command of 1st place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Philadelphia fell to 8-4-3 (19 points) overall, but stable in the division in 3rd place.

    The B’s also improved to 5-1-0 on home ice this season– yes, they were designated as the home team despite playing at a neutral rink in Stateline, Nevada.

    The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, on Saturday night after an eight-hour sunny weather delay melted sections of the ice– deeming the playing surface too unsafe for both players and on-ice officials after the first period ended around midday on Saturday.

    The Avs and Golden Knights resumed play around midnight on the East Coast (9 p.m. local time Saturday) and finished the remaining 40 minutes of action unscathed.

    It was the first outdoor win for Colorado (1-2-0) and the very first outdoor appearance for Vegas (0-1-0) in the first of two games as part of the National Hockey League’s 2021 Outdoors at Lake Tahoe weekend.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), Jakub Zboril (upper body), David Krejci (lower body) and Kevan Miller (lower body) on Sunday.

    As a result, Boston recalled Urho Vaakanainen and Jack Studnicka from the taxi squad and head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several adjustments to his lineup.

    Pastrnak was returned to his usual role on the first line right wing, having spent last Thursday’s, 3-2, loss at home to the New Jersey Devils on the second line with Krejci at center.

    Craig Smith and Charlie Coyle moved up to the second line with Krejci out due to injury and Jake DeBrusk demoted to the third line comprised of Anders Bjork at left wing, Studnicka at center and DeBrusk on the right side.

    Meanwhile, Nick Ritchie retained his role on the second line left wing.

    Trent Frederic, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner were reunited on the fourth line.

    On defense, Vaakanainen slid in on the left side of the second defensive pairing with Brandon Carlo as his partner and wearing an “A” as an alternate captain while Krejci is out of the lineup.

    John Moore and Connor Clifton were paired on the third pairing, while Jeremy Lauzon and Charlie McAvoy remained as the top blue liners.

    Kase, Krejci, Grzelcyk, Zboril, Karson Kuhlman, Miller, Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer and Callum Booth were out of the lineup due to injury, being a healthy scratch and/or members of the taxi squad.

    All injured Bruins, in fact, did not travel with the team for Sunday’s matchup with the Flyers at Lake Tahoe.

    Several Flyers were also not in attendance, though the majority of them were in the league’s COVID protocol, including Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux and Justin Braun. Meanwhile, Morgan Frost was already on the injured reserve.

    Pastrnak (7) opened the scoring 34 seconds into the first period after Patrice Bergeron blocked a shot in his own zone before sending Brad Marchand through the neutral zone with a pass that led to the two-on-one, one-timer opportunity for Pastrnak to rocket a shot past Hart.

    Marchand (10) and Bergeron (12) tallied the assists on the game’s first goal as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead less than a minute into Sunday’s action.

    With the secondary assist on Pastrnak’s first goal of the game, Bergeron tied Bobby Orr for 5th place on Boston’s all time scoring list with 888 points in a Bruins uniform.

    Meanwhile, Lauzon left the rink after just 34 seconds and later was ruled out for the rest of the night with an upper body injury as the Bruins would later confirm in a tweet during the first intermission.

    Nearly six minutes into the opening frame, Joel Farabee (8) pounced on a puck that took a wild bounce off the endboards with enough juice to make it back into the slot while falling and fired it past Rask to tie the game, 1-1.

    Sean Couturier (4) and James van Riemsdyk (12) notched the assists on Farabee’s goal at 6:41 of the first period.

    In fact, van Riemsdyk’s secondary assist marked the 500th career NHL point for the 31-year-old New Jersey native.

    By the end of the night, he had 502 career points– 208 in 343 games with the Flyers and 294 in 413 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs– as a result of his 1-2–3 totals in the loss.

    Midway through the opening frame, Couturier tripped Marchand and was sent to the box with a minor infraction at 12:34.

    Boston’s first chance on the power play did not go as well as they had hoped and resulted in a goal against in the vulnerable minute after special teams play.

    Fresh out of the sin bin, Couturier (3) buried a loose puck from the low slot after McAvoy shattered his stick in the other end, then played catchup without a blade in his hands.

    Kevin Hayes worked the puck to van Riemsdyk, but Rask made the initial save.

    Hayes (8) and van Riemsdyk (13) still ended up grabbing the assists on Couturier’s goal as Philadelphia took their first lead of the night, 2-1, at 14:48.

    Boston answered back in a hurry, however, when McAvoy (2) sent a blast from the point while Bergeron screened Hart in front of the net.

    Marchand (11) and Clifton (1) tallied the assists on McAvoy’s goal at 15:27, as the Bruins tied the game, 2-2.

    Entering the first intermission, the score was tied, 2-2, despite the Flyers holding an, 11-8, advantage in shots on goal.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (6-1), giveaways (1-0) and faceoff win percentage (58-42), while Philadelphia led in hits (13-8) after one period of action in Lake Tahoe.

    Neither team had a takeaway, while the B’s were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame (Philly had yet to see time on the skater advantage).

    Less than a minute into the second period, Pastrnak (8) added his second goal of the night after ripping a shot high over Hart’s glove on short side under the bar.

    Ritchie (7) and Vaakanainen (1) picked up the assists as Boston took a, 3-2, lead 46 seconds into the second period.

    Vaakanainen’s secondary assist marked the first point of his NHL career in just his eighth game.

    Meanwhile, the Flyers were penalized for too many skaters on the ice at 6:17, but the B’s weren’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Late in the second period, Boston kicked off a flurry of goals when Coyle (3) unleashed a shot off the post, off the back of Hart and into the net to give the Bruins a two-goal lead at 16:14.

    Smith (3) had the only assist on Coyle’s goal as the B’s led, 4-2, for less than a minute before Frederic (1) sniped a shot high-side side from about the faceoff circle to the left of the Philadelphia netminder to make it a three-goal lead.

    Moore (1) and Clifton (2) tallied the assists on Frederic’s first career NHL goal and the Bruins led, 5-2, at 16:47.

    After serving the bench minor for too many skaters, Andy Andreoff took out his frustrations after two quick goals against by delivering his stick to Kuraly’s face.

    The Flyers forward spent two more minutes in the penalty box– this time with a roughing infraction at 16:47.

    About a minute into the resulting power play, Ritchie (5) tipped in a shot from the point by Moore to give Boston a power-play goal and a, 6-2, lead on the scoreboard.

    Moore (2) and Smith (4) notched the assists at 17:53 of the second period as Boston riffled three goals in about 90 seconds.

    Less than a minute later, Bjork was penalized for holding and gave Philly a power play at 18:16 of the second period.

    After 40 minutes of play lakeside, the Bruins led, 6-2, on the scoreboard and, 23-14, in shots on goal, including a, 15-3, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston also held the lead in blocked shots (13-6), takeaways (3-2), giveaways (5-3) and faceoff win% (59-41), while Philadelphia led in hits (22-13).

    The Flyers were 0/1 on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/3 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, swapped goaltenders in the second intermission, replacing Hart with Elliott for the final period at Lake Tahoe.

    Hart finished his night with six goals allowed on 23 shots, but in the process became the youngest goaltender to play in an outdoor NHL game at 22 years and 192 days old.

    He beat Semyon Varlamov’s previous record of 22 years and 249 days back when Varlamov was the netminder for the Washington Capitals in the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

    Meanwhile, Bjork cut another rut to the penalty box for hooking Flyers defender, Shayne Gostisbehere at 9:31 of the third period– presenting another power play opportunity for Philadelphia.

    Philly didn’t have any luck on their second skater advantage of the evening, but as the saying goes “the third time’s a charm” as Carlo was assessed an interference minor when colliding with Travis Sanheim in front of the Boston net at 12:37.

    This time the Flyers won the ensuing faceoff, worked the puck around the attacking zone before Hayes found van Riemsdyk in front of the net in the low slot whereby van Riemsdyk (8) inadvertently sent the puck off Vaakanainen and into the twine behind Rask while trying to make a no-look between the legs pass.

    Hayes (9) and Ivan Provorov (6) picked up the assists on van Riemsdyk’s power-play goal and the Flyers trailed, 6-3, at 12:45 of the third period.

    Late in the game, Pastrnak (9) completed his hat trick thanks to a one-timer goal from one knee on a pass from Studnicka at 17:04.

    Studnicka (1) had the only assist on Pastrnak’s third goal of the game and the Bruins took a four-goal lead, 7-3, while Pastrnak picked up his 10th career hat trick, as well as his 2nd hat trick of the season and just the 2nd hat trick in an outdoor NHL game in league history.

    Tyler Toffoli scored a hat trick for the Los Angeles Kings in their, 3-1, win over the Avalanche at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the first outdoor NHL hat trick in the 2020 Stadium Series game.

    Pastrnak’s hat trick, meanwhile, was the first outdoor hat trick in Bruins franchise history and gave Boston an outdoor record tying seven goals as the B’s matched the same outcome of the New York Rangers’, 7-3, victory against the New Jersey Devils in a 2014 Stadium Series game at Yankee Stadium.

    The Rangers (four wins outside) are the only team with more outdoor wins than Boston (three) and Washington (three) as the Bruins picked up another outdoor victory over the Flyers at the final sound of the horn.

    The Bruins finished the evening with a, 7-3, win on the scoreboard and a, 35-19, advantage in shots on goal.

    Boston also wrapped up Sunday’s effort leading in blocked shots (16-8) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Philadelphia maintained the advantage in giveaways (6-5) and hits (31-23).

    Both teams went 1/3 on the power play in the 60-minute effort.

    The B’s improved to 7-1-0 (4-0-0 at home) when scoring first this season, while the Flyers fell to 3-3-1 (2-2-0 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

    Boston also improved to 4-2-0 (2-1-0 at home) when tied after the first period and 6-0-0 (4-0-0 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    Meanwhile, Philadelphia fell to 2-2-1 (1-1-1 on the road) when tied after the first period, as well as 0-3-0 (0-2-0 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Bruins improved to 3-1-0 all time in outdoor NHL games, while the Flyers fell to 1-3-1 all time outside.

    Boston and Philadelphia became the third pair of teams to face each other in an outdoor rematch (previous, Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh– 2017 Stadium Series and 2019 Stadium Series, as well as Detroit vs. Toronto– 2014 Winter Classic and 2017 Centennial Classic).

    The B’s begin a three-game road trip on Long Island and in Manhattan with a meeting against the New York Islanders on Feb. 25th, as well as a pair of games against the New York Rangers to close out the month of February on the 26th and 28th.

  • Kuraly caps another Bruins comeback, 2-1, over Flyers

    Kuraly caps another Bruins comeback, 2-1, over Flyers

    For the fourth consecutive game, the Boston Bruins mounted a comeback in the third period and for the third game in-a-row, they won– defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center.

    Tuukka Rask (5-1-1, 2.36 goals against average, .898 save percentage in seven games played) made 23 saves on 24 shots against for a .958 SV% in the win for Boston.

    Philadelphia netminder, Brian Elliott (3-1-0, 2.20 GAA, .929 SV% in five games played) stopped 21 out of 23 shots faced for a .913 SV% in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 8-1-2 (18 points) on the season and remained in command of the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Flyers fell to 7-3-2 (16 points) on the season and stuck in 2nd place in the division.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Wednesday night’s, 4-3, overtime win against the Flyers.

    Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) remained out of the lineup for their 9th, 6th and 5th games, respectively, due to injury.

    Meanwhile, Greg McKegg, Jack Studnicka, Par Lindholm, John Moore, Dan Vladar and Karson Kuhlman remained as members of the taxi squad or were healthy scratches on Friday night.

    Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, took part in his 1,100th career National Hockey League game (all with Boston).

    Early in the opening frame, Brandon Carlo was penalized for holding and yielded the first power play of the night to the Flyers at 3:26 of the first period.

    Philadelphia’s initial skater advantage didn’t pan out as planned.

    Moments later, Scott Laughton slashed Chris Wagner and presented Boston with their first power play of the night at 8:38.

    The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing advantage.

    Moments later, Connor Clifton and Nicolas Aube-Kubel exchanged fisticuffs in just the third fight of the season for Boston at 13:50.

    Less than a minute later, Wagner roughed up Travis Sanheim after a stoppage in play, while Travis Konecny interfered with Wagner.

    Wagner and Konecny each received minor infractions at 14:22, but Philly was gifted a 4-on-3 advantage after Charlie McAvoy caught Joel Farabee with a high stick at 14:28 of the first period.

    Less than a couple minutes later, Carlo hooked Jakub Voracek and cut a rut to the sin bin at 16:03.

    Nevertheless, Philadelphia’s power play was unsuccessful as the two teams entered the first intermission tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard, despite the Flyers leading in shots on goal, 7-5.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (7-4), takeaways (2-1), giveaways (2-0), hits (8-7) and faceoff win percentage (61-39) after one period of play.

    The Flyers were 0/3, while the B’s were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Late in the middle period, Farabee tripped Jakub Zboril and presented Boston with a power play at 14:16 of the second period.

    Farabee got a breakaway as he exited the box after Philly killed his minor and was promptly tripped by Zboril, yielding a penalty shot at 16:25.

    Rask denied Farabee’s five-hole attempt on the ensuing penalty shot attempt and the game remained tied, 0-0.

    With two seconds left in the second period, Wagner received a roughing minor and gave the Flyers a power play that would extend into the final frame at 19:58 of the middle period.

    Philadelphia pulled their goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage to finish off the second period, but it was to no avail as the two clubs entered the second intermission scoreless.

    Boston held the lead in shots on goal, 13-11, including an, 8-4, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins also held the advantage in takeaways (6-1), giveaways (8-3), hits (18-12) and faceoff win% (67-33), while the Flyers led in blocked shots (13-10).

    Philadelphia was 0/4 and Boston was 0/2 on the power play after two periods.

    James van Riemsdyk (6) deflected a shot from the point by Erik Gustafsson past Rask to give the Flyers a, 1-0, lead 27 seconds into the third period.

    Gustafsson (6) and Claude Giroux (10) tallied the assists on van Riemsdyk’s power-play goal.

    Midway through the third period, Brad Marchand (7) tapped a loose puck into the twine on a rebound after a flurry of activity and tied the game, 1-1.

    David Pastrnak (3) and McAvoy (9) notched the assists on Marchand’s goal at 12:01 of the third period.

    Shortly thereafter, Anders Bjork sent a pass to Sean Kuraly while the two entered zone before Kuraly (2) one-timed a shot past Elliott to make it, 2-1, Boston 27 seconds after the Bruins tied the game.

    Bjork (2) and David Krejci (9) tallied the assists on Kuraly’s goal as the B’s took the lead at 12:28 of the third period.

    Moments later, Craig Smith tripped Voracek and presented Philly with one more chance on the power play at 16:03, but this time the Flyers were unsuccessful on the skater advantage.

    Alain Vigneault pulled Elliott for an extra attacker with 1:52 remaining and used his timeout after a stoppage with 1:29 left in the game, but Philadelphia couldn’t force overtime.

    At the sound of the final horn, the Bruins had won, 2-1, despite Philadelphia finishing the night leading in shots on goal, 24-23, including a, 13-10, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (15-14), giveaways (11-6), hits (28-22) and faceoff win% (58-42).

    The Flyers finished Friday night 1/5 on the power play, while the B’s went 0/2 on the skater advantage.

    The Bruins improved to 2-1-0 when tied after the first period, 2-1-1 when tied after the second period and 3-1-2 when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston was scheduled to return home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and Monday (Feb. 8th), but at least four Sabres players and their head coach, Ralph Krueger, tested positive for COVID-19– rendering all Buffalo games to be postponed through Feb. 8th.

    The B’s will continue on a now extended road trip until Feb. 15th, with stops in Manhattan on Feb. 10th and 12th against the New York Rangers, as well as Long Island on Feb. 13th against the New York Islanders.

  • Pastrnak nets hat trick in Boston’s, 4-3, OT win against Flyers

    Pastrnak nets hat trick in Boston’s, 4-3, OT win against Flyers

    Patrice Bergeron (1-3–4 totals) scored the game-winning goal in overtime, but David Pastrnak (3-1–4) had a hat trick in the Boston Bruins’, 4-3, overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night.

    Tuukka Rask (4-1-1, 2.57 goals against average, .888 save percentage in six games played) stopped 22 out of 25 shots faced (.880 SV%) en route to the overtime win for Boston.

    Philadelphia goaltender, Carter Hart (4-2-2, 3.42 GAA, .898 SV% in eight games played) made 31 saves on 35 shots against in the overtime loss.

    The Bruins improved to 7-1-2 (16 points) on the season and moved into 1st place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Flyers fell to 7-2-2 (16 points) and dropped to 2nd place in the division.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made two changes to his lineup from Monday night’s, 5-3, win in Washington, D.C. to Wednesday’s matchup in Philadelphia– scratching Karson Kuhlman and replacing him with Anton Blidh on the fourth line while moving Anders Bjork to the right side of Sean Kuraly on that same line.

    Everything else was left intact as Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) remain out of the lineup due to injury.

    Greg McKegg, Jack Studnicka, Par Lindholm, John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, Callum Booth and Dan Vladar all remained as healthy scratches and/or taxi squad members while Kuhlman joined the list Wednesday night as a healthy scratch.

    Boston General Manager, Don Sweeney, was named as an Assistant General Manager for Team Canada at the 2022 Winter Games earlier on Wednesday.

    He’ll be joined by the likes of Doug Armstrong (General Manager), Ken Holland (Associate GM), Ron Francis (Assistant GM), Roberto Luongo (Assistant GM) and Scott Salmond (Assistant GM) in Beijing, China next February.

    The Bruins worked their way into the zone from the initial puck drop as Pastrnak (3) drove to the net, slipped the puck between his own legs and around Flyers defender, Shayne Ghostisbehere, before flipping the rubber biscuit off of Ivan Provorov’s stick and into the twine to give Boston the game’s first goal.

    Charlie McAvoy (8) and Bergeron (7) had the assists on Pastrnak’s goal and the B’s led, 1-0, 12 seconds into the first period.

    It was the only event on the event sheet in the opening frame as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead into the first intermission, despite both teams earning eight shots on goal aside.

    Boston led in takeaways (3-2), hits (14-10) and faceoff win percentage (53-47), while Philadelphia led in giveaways (7-1) through 20 minutes.

    Both teams had four blocked shots each and had yet to see time on the skater advantage entering the middle frame.

    Blidh was penalized for holding just past the midpoint of the second period at 10:10 and presented the Flyers with the first power play of the night.

    Philadelphia’s power play was powerless, however.

    Moments later, after McAvoy had his stick slashed out of his hand and was using Charlie Coyle’s– rendering Boston effectively short of a skater– Travis Sanheim setup Kevin Hayes (6) through the slot for a one-timer goal that tied the game, 1-1.

    Sanheim (3) and Philippe Myers (2) tallied the assists on Hayes’ goal at 15:29 of the second period.

    Nearly three minutes later, James van Riemsdyk cut a rut to the penalty box for Philly after slashing Kevan Miller at 18:25.

    Boston couldn’t convert on the ensuing power play, however.

    Through 40 minutes of action Wednesday night in Philadelphia, the score was tied, 1-1, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 21-19, including a, 13-11, advantage in second period shots alone.

    The Bruins also held the advantage in takeaways (6-5), while the Flyers led in giveaways (8-2), hits (22-19) and faceoff win% (55-46).

    Both teams had 10 blocked shots each and were 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Early in the third period, Jakub Voracek (3) gave Philly their first lead of the night, 2-1, when his teammates pounced on a costly turnover by Jakub Zboril in his own defensive zone.

    Sanheim (4) and van Riemsdyk (9) notched the primary and secondary assists, respectively, on Voracek’s goal at 1:03 of the third period.

    Almost midway through the third, Joel Farabee (6) received a pass from Scott Laughton and buried a one-timer while Zboril was left trying to block the passing lane with an outstretched stick on an odd-skater rush after van Riemsdyk won a battle along the boards.

    Laughton (5) and van Riemsdyk (10) had the assists on Farabee’s goal and the Flyers took a, 3-1, lead at 8:41 of the third period.

    Nicolas Aube-Kubel closed his hand on the puck a few minutes later and received a minor infraction at 11:55.

    It didn’t take the B’s long to turn Aube-Kubel’s minor into a costly penalty.

    Just 10 seconds into the power play, Pastrnak (4) rocketed his second goal of the night over Hart’s blocker side into the opposite corner of the net– bringing Boston to within one.

    Bergeron (8) and Nick Ritchie (5) had the assists on Pastrnak’s power-play goal at 12:05 and the Bruins trailed, 3-2.

    Jeremy Lauzon presented the Flyers with another power play after he received a holding minor at 14:17, but Boston’s penalty kill successfully killed the infraction.

    Late in the period, Hayes hooked Brad Marchand at 17:59 and provided Boston with one another chance on the skater advantage, while trailing by a goal.

    With 1:10 remaining in regulation, Cassidy pulled Rask for an extra attacker, but despite a couple of zone entries, the Bruins were unsuccessful through a stoppage of play with 38.4 seconds left on the clock.

    Boston used their timeout to draw up a plan and in the dying seconds, the Bruins just about threw the kitchen sink at Hart before Pastrnak (5) pocket a rebound into the twine to tie the game, 3-3, with a hat trick goal.

    Pastrnak’s ninth career regular season hat trick came in his 393rd career game (all with Boston)– good enough for the fourth most in Bruins franchise history behind Phil Esposito (26 in 625 games played), Cam Neely (14 in 525 GP) and Johnny Bucyk (12 in 1,436 GP).

    Wednesday night also marked the fourth time that No. 88 in black and gold scored multiple goals in consecutive games in his career (Feb. 1-3, 2021, Oct. 14-17, 2019, Feb. 4-9, 2017 and Jan. 10-13 2015).

    Marchand (10) and Bergeron (9) collected the helpers on Pastrnak’s power-play goal at 19:45 and the Bruins had forced overtime, but not before Laughton interfered with Kuraly at 19:52 of the third period.

    That’s right, the Flyers took another penalty with 7.3 seconds left on the clock in regulation and would be going into overtime shorthanded.

    At the conclusion of regulation, the score was tied, 3-3, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 33-25, including a, 12-6, advantage in the third period alone.

    The Bruins led in takeaways (13-8), while the Flyers led in blocked shots (16-13), giveaways (10-5), hits (26-25) and faceoff win% (56-44) heading into the extra frame.

    Philadelphia was 0/2 and Boston was 1/3 on the power play entering overtime.

    Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, started Hayes, Provorov and Justin Braun, while Cassidy countered with Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak and David Krejci– four forwards on a leftover 4-on-3 skater advantage.

    Just 31 seconds into the overtime period, Pastrnak fired a shot pass in Bergeron’s direction, whereby the Bruins captain redirected the puck into Hart’s pads– generating a rebound.

    Bergeron (6) gathered his own garbage and buried the bouncing puck into the back of the net for the game-winning goal.

    Pastrnak (2) and Krejci (6) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s goal and the Bruins won, 4-3, in overtime.

    Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 35-25, including a, 2-0, advantage in overtime alone.

    Philadelphia finished Wednesday night’s action with the advantage in blocked shots (18-13), giveaways (10-5), hits (26-25) and faceoff win% (54-46).

    The Flyers wrapped up the overtime loss 0/2 on the power play, while the B’s finished 3/4 on the skater advantage in their overtime win.

    Boston improved to 2-2 in overtime (4-2 past regulation) this season, while Philadelphia fell to 2-1 in overtime (2-2 past regulation) overall.

    With the win in the books, Bergeron, 35, became the second oldest player in Bruins history to amass 15 or more points through the team’s first 10 games of a season, trailing Bucyk (17 points in 1972-73 at age 37) for the franchise record.

    Boston also improved to 5-0-0 when leading after the first period, 1-1-1 when tied after the second period and 5-0-0 when scoring the game’s first goal this season in Wednesday’s win against Philly.

    The Bruins were scheduled to wrap up their road trip (2-0-1) on Friday with another matchup against the Flyers before returning home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (Feb. 6th) and Monday (Feb. 8th). 

    At least four Sabres players, however, have tested positive for COVID-19 and rendered all Buffalo games postponed through Feb. 8th, which means Boston will continue to be on the road until Feb. 15th, with stops in Manhattan on Feb. 10th and 12th against the New York Rangers, as well as Long Island on Feb. 13th against the New York Islanders.