Nick and Colby resurrect the show to discuss trades from the last two months and preview the 2021 NHL trade deadline. In the wise words of Michael Jordan “[we’re] back”.
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Tag: National Hockey League
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Analysis: Montour bolsters Panthers depth on defense
The Florida Panthers acquired defender, Brandon Montour, from the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in exchange for a 2021 3rd round pick.
After Bill Zito cleared Brett Connolly’s cap hit from the books in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, the Panthers General Manager went to work on solidifying his defense in the wake of Aaron Ekblad’s season-ending injury.
It’s not that Florida is done adding by any means, but they’ll have to continue to get crafty in saving cap space in order to finagle any larger moves.
Montour at least gives them some comfort in the event of a further tattered lineup potentially interfering with what’s shaping up to be their best chance at a deep playoff run in a generation.
Meanwhile, Sabres General Manager, Kevyn Adams, kicked off what’s expected to be a bit of a fire sale for the organization by Monday’s trade deadline.
Montour, 27, had 5-9–14 totals in 38 games with Buffalo this season at the time of the trade on Saturday. He was originally drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2nd round (55th overall) of the 2014 Draft and made his league debut with Anaheim in the 2016-17 season.
He set career highs in goals (9), assists (23) and points (32) in 80 games with the Ducks in 2017-18, and has 29-76–105 totals in 281 career NHL games with Anaheim and Buffalo.
The 6-foot, 194-pound native of Brantford, Ontario has eight points in 21 career Stanley Cup Playoff games (all with Anaheim) and spent parts of his first three seasons with the Ducks until he was traded to the Sabres in the 2018-19 season, where he spent parts of the last three seasons until being traded to the Panthers on Saturday.
Montour carries a $3.850 million cap hit and is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
For Buffalo, the 2021 3rd round pick will come in handy either in July at the draft or as part of a package for a bigger and better trade acquisition before then.
Adams now must shift his attention to pieces of his roster like Taylor Hall– a pending-unrestricted free agent with a manageable $8.000 million cap hit that the Sabres could retain 50% of in a deal and try to maximize the hell out of his 2010 1st overall pick value.
Oh and Hall’s a 2017-18 Hart Memorial Trophy winner, despite his 2-17–19 totals in 37 games with Buffalo this season.
The Sabres are terrible all around. That’s not his fault.
But asking for top-notch material in exchange for Hall’s talents based on this season alone is a hard bargain to market for Adams.
Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen is soldiering on in the upstate New York tundra that is Buffalo these days.
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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.
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Analysis: Getting back together isn’t always bad (for the Avs, anyway)
The Colorado Avalanche reunited with an old friend on Friday when they acquired defender, Patrik Nemeth, from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a 2022 4th round pick.
Detroit retained 50% of Nemeth’s cap hit in the deal as Avs General Manager, Joe Sakic, bolstered his blue line depth ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.
Colorado already has a tremendous roster on paper, but likely could use a solid backup goaltender and whatever added depth they can find for the stretch run in the event of injury.
The Avalanche are in “win now” mode as 2021 Stanley Cup contenders, especially as free agency looms for key components of their roster.
Meanwhile, the Red Wings are looking to move expendable pieces as the team is bound to miss the postseason for the fifth consecutive year.
Nemeth, 29, enters his second stint with Colorado, having recently played with the Avalanche from 2017-19, after the Avs claimed him off waivers ahead of the 2017-18 season from the Dallas Stars.
The 6-foot-3, 228-pound native of Stockholm, Sweden was originally drafted by the Stars in the 2nd round (41st overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft and had 2-6–8 totals in 39 games with the Red Wings this season.
He has 7-49–56 totals in 353 career NHL games with the Stars, Avalanche and Red Wings, as well as one assist in 18 career Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Nemeth most recently contributed a plus-4 rating from Colorado’s blue line in seven games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With Detroit retaining 50% of his cap hit, Nemeth carries a $1.500 million cap hit through season’s end and is a pending-unrestricted free agent.
Red Wings General Manager, Steve Yzerman, kicked off his approach to the 2021 trade deadline by shipping Nemeth to the Avalanche for a 2022 4th round pick on Friday.
Detroit also announced on Friday that forward, Bobby Ryan, would miss the rest of the season with an upper body injury, likely taking the 34-year-old winger off the trade market as a potential depth addition for any playoff contender.
Yzerman has all the incentive in the world to make whatever trade he sees fit to improve his team as an overwhelming majority of Red Wings players are pending free agents at season’s end– 15 players to be exact, at least on the active roster according to CapFriendly.
Colorado and Detroit might not be done as potential trading partners before Monday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline, as former Avs goaltender turned current Red Wing, Jonathan Bernier, would be an excellent solution to the backup role behind Philipp Grubauer in the Avalanche’s quest for the Cup.
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Analysis: Leafs add depth and vital cap space in Nash
The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired center, Riley Nash, from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a conditional 2022 7th round pick on Friday. If Nash appears in 25% of Toronto’s 2021 postseason games, then the 2022 7th round pick is upgraded to the Maple Leafs’ own 2022 6th round pick.
Nash, in the meantime, was placed on the long-term injured reserve on Tuesday (ahead of Friday’s deal) with a lower body injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for six weeks at most.
While Columbus continues to fall out of the playoff picture, Maple Leafs General Manager, Kyle Dubas, got some much needed depth in the event of injury and relief in salary cap spending as the trade deadline approaches on Monday, April 12th at 3 p.m. ET.
Toronto won’t have to worry about working Nash into the lineup or his salary for the time being, while Dubas is free to work the phones for potential additions without subtraction as the Leafs look to win their first Stanley Cup ring since 1967.
Nash, 31, had seven points (two goals, five assists) in 37 games with Columbus this season at the time of the trade on Friday.
A Consort, Alberta native, he has 63-109–172 totals in 578 career NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins and Blue Jackets and was originally drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1st round (21st overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft.
The 6-foot-2, 188-pound center made his league debut with the Hurricanes in 2011-12, and has 2-6–8 totals in 32 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, including one goal and one assist in 10 postseason games in 2020 with Columbus.
He set career-highs in goals (15), assists (26) and points (41) in 76 games with the Bruins in 2017-18, and has made a career out of being one of the better penalty killing forwards in today’s game.
Nash carries a $2.750 million cap hit and is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
The 2022 7th round pick that the Blue Jackets acquired in the Nash trade is Toronto’s own, which likely won’t pan out to be much unless Columbus General Manager, Jarmo Kekäläinen, has other ideas in mind, such as utilizing his scouting staff to the utmost of their ability and finding a diamond in the rough or flipping the pick as part of a deal at a later date.
In the meantime, Kekäläinen has bigger fish to fry with head coach, John Tortorella’s, contract expiring at season’s end and virtually no reason to keep Tortorella in the dressing room if the Blue Jackets are indeed to miss 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs action.
Columbus could fire Tortorella now and try to save face when it comes time to re-sign valuable free agents like pending restricted free agent, Patrik Laine, or they could let Tortorella go without renewing his current deal (and thus owing nothing in severance packages or whatever) and face whatever consequences that has on their roster.
Additionally, Kekäläinen will have to assess whether it’s worth selling off further expendable parts to gear up for the 2021 Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, as well as the 2021-22 season.
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Analysis: Connolly move opens door for more
The Florida Panthers dealt forward, Brett Connolly, defender Riley Stillman, the signing rights to forward, Henrik Borgström, and a 2021 7th round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday in exchange for forward, Lucas Wallmark, and defender, Lucas Carlsson.
Thursday’s move comes as the Panthers are in the midst of their best season in about 25 years and prime for further addition by next Monday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
From Taylor Hall speculations to strengthening their blue line due to the loss of Aaron Ekblad to injury, Florida freed up cap space by moving Connolly’s $2.425 million cap hit off the books as a result of moving him to the taxi squad prior to the trade with Chicago.
Nothing is imminent, but Panthers General Manager, Bill Zito, has ushered in an era of proactivity that we’re all just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Meanwhile, the Panthers reunited with a familiar face in Wallmark as he was previously acquired by the team in a transaction with the Carolina Hurricanes as part of a larger package in exchange for Vincent Trocheck on Feb. 24, 2020.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, bolstered their bottom six depth and taxi squad members as a result of the deal in the wake of their surprise contention for a playoff berth this season.
Most experts agreed entering 2020-21, that this season would be one in which Chicago General Manager, Stan Bowman, would have to navigate an impending rebuild, but that might not be the case as the Blackhawks have had pleasant surprises in production and NHL readiness in Pius Suter, Kevin Lankinen and others.
Connolly, 28, had four points (two goals, two assists) in 21 games with the Panthers this season at the time of the trade on Thursday. He has 100-92–192 totals in 517 career NHL games for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals and Panthers since being drafted in the 1st round (6th overall) by Tampa in 2010, and making his league debut with the Lightning in 2011-12.
A native of Campbell River, British Columbia, the 6-foot-3, 198-pound right wing carries a $2.425 million cap hit this season, as well as a $2.375 million cap hit from 2021-22 through 2022-23, when he will then be an unrestricted free agent.
While Connolly is on pace for three goals this season, he experienced a career resurgence with Washington, tallying career-highs in goals (22), assists (24) and points (46) in 81 games with the Capitals in 2018-19.
He recorded 19-14–33 totals in 69 games with Florida last season prior to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic shortening the regular season.
In 42 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Connolly has 8-3–11 totals, including nine points (six goals, three assists) in 24 games with the Caps en route to their 2018 Stanley Cup championship.
Stillman, 23, had no points and 14 penalty minutes in eight games this season with Florida to go along with his plus-2 rating.
The 6-foot-1, 196-pound native of Peterborough, Ontario and son of two-time Stanley Cup winner, Cory Stillman, has five assists in 43 career NHL games since making his league debut with the Panthers in the 2018-19 season after being drafted by Florida in the 4th round (114th overall) in 2016.
Stillman has appeared in three career postseason games, has no points and was a minus-3 in Florida’s 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifier series loss to the New York Islanders.
As he went from the taxi squad on the Panthers to the taxi squad on the Blackhawks, he currently does not count against Chicago’s salary cap and is a pending-restricted free agent at season’s end.
Borgström, 23, has 11-8–19 totals in 28 games with HIFK in Liiga over in Finland this season. The 6-foot-3, 199-pound Helsinki native was originally drafted by the Panthers in the 1st round (23rd overall) in 2016, and made his league debut in the 2017-18 season.
In 58 career NHL games with Florida, Borgström had 9-10–19 totals and has yet to appear in a Stanley Cup Playoff game.
Wallmark, 25, had three assists in 16 games with Chicago this season at the time of the trade on Thursday and has 23-36–59 totals in 183 career NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Panthers and Blackhawks.
Originally drafted by Carolina in the 4th round (97th overall) in 2014, the 6-foot, 178-pound native of Umea, Sweden is in his second stint with the Panthers organization.
He had a career-high 12 goals with the Hurricanes and Panthers in 67 games last season and set career-highs in assists (18) and points (28) in 81 games with Carolina in 2018-19, recording five points (one goal, four assists) in 15 playoff games with the Hurricanes en route to their 2019 Eastern Conference Final appearance.
He had no points in two postseason games with Florida in 2020 and is a pending-restricted free agent at season’s end with a $950,000 cap hit if he weren’t already on the taxi squad.
Carlsson, 23, had one assist in 12 games with Chicago this season at the time of the trade and has two points (two assists) in 18 career games since making his league debut last season with the Blackhawks.
A native of Gävle, Sweden, the 6-foot, 189-pound defender was originally drafted by Chicago in the 4th round (110th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft and has appeared in one career postseason game in 2020.
Carlsson had 5-21–26 totals with the Rockford IceHogs (AHL) in 48 games last season, as well as three points (one goal, two assists) in seven games with Rockford in 2020-21.
Though he technically carries a $792,500 cap hit, the Blackhawks won’t be charged anything against their cap as long as he is on the taxi squad. He is a pending-restricted free agent at season’s end.
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Marchand, Swayman, lead Bruins over Capitals, 4-2
Brad Marchand scored his 30th career shorthanded goal, while Jeremy Swayman picked up his second career National Hockey League win in as many consecutive games played in the Boston Bruins’, 4-2, victory over the Washington Capitals Thursday night at Capital One Arena.
Swayman (2-0-0, 2.02 goals-against average, .947 save percentage in two games played) made 31 saves on 33 shots faced in the win for Boston.
Washington netminder, Ilya Samsonov (9-3-1, 2.97 goals-against average, .894 save percentage in 14 games played), stopped 28 out of 32 shots on goal in the loss.
The Bruins improved to 21-10-6 (48 points) on the season and remain in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division– four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for 3rd place.
Meanwhile, the Capitals fell to 25-11-4 (54 points) overall and fell to 2nd place in the same division as a result of the New York Islanders’, 3-2, shootout victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Boston is now 3-0-2 against Washington this season.
The B’s were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Charlie McAvoy (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Thursday.
McAvoy is out until Sunday at least, according to Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, as told to reporters via Zoom ahead of Thursday night’s action in Washington, D.C.
Rask is still day-to-day and traveled with the team for their three-game road trip.
With Frederic out due to an illness, Anton Blidh took over his role on the fourth line left wing. Cassidy made no other changes to his lineup, despite Jack Ahcan and Callum Booth rejoining Boston’s taxi squad.
Anders Bjork was scratched for his third consecutive game, while Frederic, Zach Senyshyn, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, Ahcan, Booth, McAvoy and Jarred Tinordi rounded out the list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and/or injured players against the Capitals.
Less than a minute into the action, Jeremy Lauzon (1) fired a shot from the point that had eyes and worked its way through Samsonov’s five-hole before trickling over the goal line to give Boston a, 1-0, lead 37 seconds into the first period.
Marchand (28) and Craig Smith (12) tallied the assists on Lauzon’s first goal of the season and the Bruins were off to a fast start at Capital One Arena.
Moments later, Tom Wilson tripped Jakub Zboril and was sent to the penalty box, presenting the B’s with the night’s first power play.
Boston’s special teams could not convert on their first skater advantage of the night, however.
Midway through the opening frame, Brenden Dillon cross checked Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, and cut a rut to the sin bin at 13:27.
The B’s capitalized on the vulnerable minute after a power play when Capitals defender, Justin Schultz, tried to bounce the puck off the endboards behind the net to his teammate, Zdeno Chara, except the rubber biscuit took an odd bounce and rebounded to the side of the Washington net– right where Blidh was standing.
Blidh (1) tapped in the gift from The Hockey Gods on the short side while Samsonov was caught not expecting the unexpected (but then again, who was?) and the Bruins had a two-goal lead as a result at 16:02.
About 30 seconds later, Charlie Coyle, hooked Washington forward, Daniel Carr, at 16:31, but the Caps didn’t score on the resulting power play.
In the dying minute of the first period, Nick Ritchie and Garnet Hathaway exchanged pleasantries– leading to the exchange of fisticuffs at 19:01.
Both players received a five-minute major for fighting, while Ritchie picked up an extra minor for slashing that was served by Karson Kuhlman and would carry over into the middle frame.
It was the ninth fight of the season for Boston and Ritchie’s second of the season– the first fight for Boston since Tinordi fought Wilson on March 5th in Boston’s, 5-1, win against Washington and the first fight for Ritchie since he fought then New York Rangers forward, Brendan Lemieux, in Boston’s, 4-1, win at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 28th.
Through 20 minutes of play on Thursday night, the Bruins led the Capitals, 2-0, on the scoreboard at Capital One Arena.
The B’s also held the advantage in shots on goal (17-9), blocked shots (5-4), takeaways (2-1), hits (10-7) and faceoff win percentage (64-36), while the Caps led in giveaways (5-0).
Both teams were 0/2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.
Zboril tripped Conor Sheary to kick off the second period with a power play for the Capitals at 2:44.
The Bruins’ penalty kill, however, dominated the ensuing special teams action, featuring Marchand’s toe drag around Schultz while the Caps defender dove– sliding backwards toward the boards before Marchand (19) performed another quick move with the puck to his backhand for a shot over Samsonov’s glove and his second shorthanded goal of the season.
Marchand’s individual effort was unassisted and the Bruins led, 3-0, at 4:09 of the second period.
Moments later, Blidh was penalized for slashing and roughing against Lars Eller at 8:39, yielding an extended 5-on-4 advantage for Washington in the process.
The Capitals went on a 5-on-3 advantage for two minutes when Zboril interfered with Sheary at 10:04.
This time, however, Washington made quick work of their skater advantage.
Alex Ovechkin (20) blasted a one-timer from his usual spot above the faceoff dot for his 266th career power-play goal– surpassing Brett Hull for sole possession of the second-most power-play goals in NHL history in the process.
John Carlson (23) and T.J. Oshie (17) had the assists on Ovechkin’s goal and the Capitals trailed, 3-1, at 10:08.
Less than 20 seconds later, Oshie (12) rocketed another power-play goal past Swayman to cut Boston’s lead to one-goal.
Carlson (24) and Nicklas Backstrom (27) tabbed the assists on Oshie’s goal at 10:27 and the Capitals trailed, 3-2.
Moments later, Oshie bumped Matt Grzelcyk with a borderline cross check, which resulted in Grzelcyk catching Eller with a stick up high.
Eller fell to the ice and drew blood– stopping play while the puck was in Boston’s attacking zone at the other end of the rink– however no penalty was called on the play as Grzelcyk’s stick catching Eller’s face had been a result of Oshie’s initial shove.
Moments after Eller spilled blood on the ice, Bruins defender, Steven Kampfer, leaked his own red bodily fluids in about the same area when he and Carl Hagelin went awkwardly into the boards.
This time, however, despite Kampfer losing an edge, Hagelin had gone a step too far in remaining in contact with the Boston skater and drove him into the boards, yielding a boarding infraction at 14:45.
Washington killed off Hagelin’s minor penalty, however, and despite bleeding, Kampfer was fine to continue the rest of the night (as was Eller).
After two periods of play, the B’s led the Caps, 3-2, on the scoreboard, as well as in shots on goal, 24-23, despite trailing Washington, 14-7, in shots on goal in the second period alone.
Boston had the advantage in blocked shots (10-6), takeaways (8-4) and faceoff win% (57-43), while Washington led in giveaways (5-1) and hits (21-17).
The Capitals were 2/6 on the power play, while the Bruins were 0/3 heading into the final frame.
Hathaway and Marchand drew matching unsportsmanlike minors at 6:43 of the third period, yielding two minutes of 4-on-4 play, but both clubs escaped without issue as 5-on-5 full strength resumed afterward.
Late in the third period, Carr hooked Sean Kuraly at 15:20.
About 90 seconds into resulting the power play, Smith (7) picked up a loose puck that had deflected off of Chara’s skate and sent a shot over Samsonov’s blocker side to give Boston a two-goal lead once again at 16:55.
Coyle (7) and Zboril (8) tallied the assists on Smith’s power-play goal and the Bruins led, 4-2.
With about 2:15 remaining in the game, Capitals head coach, Peter Laviolette, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail, even after Washington used their timeout with 1:45 left in the action to drum up a game-tying, if not game-winning plan.
Despite Marchand’s tripping minor at 19:55, the Capitals were empty handed as the Bruins emerged victorious at the final horn.
Boston defeated Washington, 4-2, on the final scoreboard, despite trailing the Caps in total shots on goal, 33-32, including a, 10-8, advantage for Washington in the third period alone.
The Bruins finished the night leading in blocked shots (18-9) and faceoff win% (58-42), while the Capitals wrapped up Thursday’s action leading in giveaways (6-2) and hits (26-19).
The Caps went 2/7 and the B’s went 1/4 on the power play on Thursday as Boston picked up back-to-back wins for the second time in their last 24 games.
The Bruins also improved to 14-3-3 (8-3-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal, 11-0-2 (6-0-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 12-0-2 (5-0-0 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.
Washington, meanwhile, fell to 9-6-2 (5-3-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-7-1 (3-3-1 at home) when trailing after the first period and 2-7-0 (2-3-0 at home) when trailing after two periods in 2020-21.
Boston finishes their three-game road trip (2-0-0) with a return to Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon to take on the Flyers before heading home to begin a five-game homestand and host the Capitals on Sunday.
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Analysis: Isles are all-in on deep run with Palmieri, Zajac trade
Wednesday night, the New York Islanders dealt forwards, AJ Greer and Mason Jobst, a 2021 1st round pick and a conditional 2022 4th round pick to the New Jersey Devils for forwards, Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac.
Zajac had been on the radar of Islanders General Manager, Lou Lamoriello, since last season when New York nearly brought in Zajac from the Devils and Zach Parise from the Minnesota Wild at the 2020 trade deadline.
This year, Zajac waived his no-trade clause to go to the Islanders.
Palmieri, meanwhile, adds a significant component to New York’s scoring prowess with captain, Anders Lee, out for the rest of the regular season (at least) due to injury.
New Jersey retained 50% of both Palmieri and Zajac’s salary in the transaction.
If the Islanders advance to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, the 4th round pick becomes a 3rd round pick in either 2022 or 2023, with New York having the choice between the two to send to the Devils.
New Jersey General Manager, Tom Fitzgerald, in the meantime, hopes both now former Devils players (Palmieri and Zajac) will go on to win Stanley Cup rings with the Islanders in 2021, and that he’ll receive the 32nd overall pick in this year’s first round in the process.
New York is in “win-now” mode, while New Jersey is looking to sell expendable parts and build around their youth in Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Ty Smith and Mackenzie Blackwood.
Palmieri, 30, had 8-9–17 totals in 34 games for the Devils this season prior to being traded on Wednesday and has 183-172–355 totals in 595 career NHL games for the Anaheim Ducks and Devils since being drafted in the 1st round (26th overall) by Anaheim in 2009, and making his league debut in 2010-11.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound, Smithtown, New York native carries a $2.325 million cap hit for the Islanders and is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
He set career-highs in goals, assists and points in 2015-16 with the Devils with 30-27–57 totals in 82 games and had a career-high tying 27 assists the following season in 80 games with New Jersey.
Since reaching the 30-goal plateau, Palmieri has had four consecutive seasons with at least 20 goals (five if you include the 30-goal season) entering 2020-21.
In 38 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Palmieri has 8-7–15 totals, including three points (one goal, two assists) in five games with New Jersey in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Zajac, 35, had 7-11–18 totals in 33 games with the Devils this season prior to being traded to the Islanders and has 202-348–550 totals in 1,024 career NHL games since making his debut in the 2006-07 season.
A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Zajac was drafted by the Devils in the 1st round (20th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound center has reached the 20-goal plateau twice in his career, establishing career-highs in goals (25), assists (42) and points (67) in 82 games with the Devils in 2009-10, and had 19 goals in 80 games in 2018-19, including 12 points on the power play.
Zajac carries a $2.875 million cap hit through season’s end for New York and has 11-17–28 totals in 57 career postseason games, including 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 24 games en route to New Jersey’s 2012 Stanley Cup Final appearance.
He most recently had a goal and an assist (two points) in five games in the 2018 First Round with the Devils in their 4-1 series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Greer, 24, has not played in the NHL since the 2018-19 season with the Colorado Avalanche, in which he had 1-1–2 totals in 15 games.
Drafted in the 2nd round (39th overall) by the Avs in 2015, Greer made his league debut with Colorado in 2016-17, and has 1-5–6 totals in 37 career NHL games (all with the Avalanche).
He was traded to the Islanders on Oct. 11th last fall for Kyle Burroughs and has spent parts of the last five seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) for San Antonio, Colorado and Bridgeport, where he had 1-1–2 totals in 10 games for the Sound Tigers thus far in 2020-21 at the time of the trade.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound native of Joliette, Québec is a pending-restricted free agent at season’s end and has a $700,000 cap hit.
Jobst, 27, has yet to appear in an NHL game in his professional playing days and was undrafted.
After four seasons at Ohio State (NCAA-Big Ten), he signed a two-year deal with the Islanders on April 2, 2019, and has spent the last two seasons with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL).
He had two assists in six games with Bridgeport this season prior to being traded to New Jersey and 5-8–13 totals in 44 games for the Sound Tigers last season.
The 5-foot-8, 185-pound native of Speedway, Indiana is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end and carries a $792,500 cap hit.
Both Greer and Jobst are expected to report to the Binghamton Devils (AHL).
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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.
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Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast Through 20 Games
O.K., so I’m still behind on some things around here.
Whether you’re new to DTFR or a long-time fan(?), you’re able to see the finished products around here and think “wow, that’s neat” and go about your day doing whatever the next thing on your mind happens to be.
You don’t have to wake up everyday to all the shot charts, player and team forecasts, expected points total models, Photoshop files, running list of game notes, podcast notes (yes, that’ll be back soon) and more that’s related to the day-to-day DTFR operations around here or other seemingly useless bits of information that may or may not see the light of day.
But that’s all the fun parts anyway. Hockey is my passion.
The long, grueling, season is counteracted by moments like Nathan MacKinnon underhand tossing Conor Garland’s helmet back to him and being fined $5,000 in the process.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsNathan MacKinnon got a 10-min misconduct for tossing Conor Garland’s helmet at him. 🤭 pic.twitter.com/HdQHogvSut
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 1, 2021Guess I’m going to have to start tracking how often that happens now.
In addition to everything mentioned above, you might not know that I’m constantly applying to jobs, so sometimes little things like this forecast write up gets put on the back burner until there’s a minute or two between games, guest appearances on other podcasts and more job applications.
Not trying to use anything as an excuse here, but please forgive me for being *checks notes* 15 games behind on the latest forecast, which will be irrelevant in another five games anyway, because it’ll be time to update Boston’s forecast through 40 games this season.
I do this all by hand in Microsoft Excel, so you know I’m not a real mathematician or statistician.
If you ask me to code something, I’ll ask you “what ‘R‘ you talking about? Get it? Did you see the pun I made there? Words, am I right?”
15 games ago, I updated each individual Bruins player’s forecast after writing my recap about Zdeno Chara’s first game back in Boston as a member of the Washington Capitals then eventually got around to updating the corresponding chart that you’ll see below.
Then I had to do that for whatever other teams I’ve been able to keep track of on time and I promise I’ll be writing about those forecasts… …eventually.
Oh and apply to more jobs.
Anyway, you probably don’t care about the life behind the screen, so let’s get to Boston’s forecast through 20 games, shall we?
As always, remember that my degree is in communication and my minor was in sport management. I got a “C” in my Intro to Stats class back in my first semester of college, which was eight years ago this fall.
Between then and now, I’ve worked in live sports production (TV and radio) and been unemployed, which explains why I’m constantly applying to jobs.
First year players are impossible to predict until they’ve built up some time in the National Hockey League. Generally at least a game will suffice, but their numbers might look a little “inflated” (for the lack of a better term) until the season rolls on and their expectations fall back to Earth.
In other words, Zach Senyshyn is now forecasted for 18 assists in this latest forecast, but that shouldn’t surprise you since he only had two assists in six career NHL games over the last two seasons.
That will change in the 40-game update, since he’s played in at least seven more games between the time this report was originally intended to be done and the next one.
Remember that forecast is different from pace.
Finally, remember that there’s a lot of variables, like injuries, being a healthy scratch or on the taxi squad, other American Hockey League related or waiver related transactions, trades, sickness, COVID protocol, general superstitions, hot and cold streaks, etc. that can (whether scientifically proven or not) disrupt a player’s season.
None of these can be accounted for in Microsoft Excel’s forecast function.
In a perfect world, everyone plays a full season. Every player has a chance to live up to expectations, hit and/or exceed their mark or miss it by a little/a lot.
Hockey is a game made up of collective actions and sheer puck luck. It’s unpredictable, which technically defeats the purpose of this (so if you’ve made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back).
Boston Bruins Forecast Through 20 Games (36 Games Remaining)
David Pastrnak came back from offseason surgery and looked like he hadn’t missed a step, since his scoring prowess left an immediate impact on the team and kept him forecasted as the team’s leader in goals by season’s end with 26, though Boston’s forecasted points leader has now shifted from Pastrnak to Brad Marchand.
Marchand’s forecasted 23-31–54 totals lead Pastrnak’s 26-26–52 totals, while B’s captain, Patrice Bergeron is on track to round out the top-3 in scoring with 20-30–50 forecasted totals– good enough for the second-most assists on the roster, one behind Marchand’s 31 and three ahead of David Krejci’s forecasted 27 assists.
It’ll be fun to see just how much things have changed in the next forecast, since Krejci’s gone off in the assist department lately and Marchand missed a couple of games due to COVID protocol, but let’s save that speculation (or hindsight) for the 40-game report, O.K.?
On defense, Charlie McAvoy continues to lead the way with 7-29–36 forecasted totals, while Matt Grzelcyk (13 points) and Jakub Zboril (12 points) are the only other defenders expected to reach double-digit points totals.
That’s quite an area of concern for the Bruins.
Not so much in the “oh no, who might get taken by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft” sense, but rather, the general “oh no, this team is not as good as they were last year, but we expected that, so they still need to acquire a defender and more at the trade deadline this year” sense (especially if one of the younger blue liners like Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon or Urho Vaakanainen aren’t developing as fast or as well as Boston desires).
Nevertheless, what might be more pressing than ever before is the question of what comes next after Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak?
Rask (2.27-2.37 forecasted goals-against average, .914-.921 forecasted save percentage) is expected to have decent numbers this season if he can make a return to full health, while Halak (2.45-2.48 forecasted GAA, .910-.916 forecasted SV%) looks solid for a backup.
Yet, at the time of this writing, both goaltenders are out of Boston’s lineup– Rask due to injury and Halak due to COVID protocol.
Stay tuned for first impressions on Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman in the next forecast and what that might mean for the offseason’s plans with both Rask and Halak as pending-unrestricted free agents.
For a look at how things might have gone for the Bruins entering the 2020-21 season, feel free to read the original forecast through zero games played.
Down the Frozen River 
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