Down the Frozen River

Tag: Nordiques

  • January 12 – Day 89 – Y’Hall come back now

    You’re getting close to the weekend. Only one more day of school or work. The best way to prepare for Friday is with some hockey tonight, obviously.

    As usual, the action begins at 7 p.m. with Vancouver at Philadelphia, followed half an hour later by two more games (Pittsburgh at Ottawa [RDS2] and Buffalo at Tampa Bay). 8 p.m. marks the puck drop of another pair of contests (Boston at Nashville [TVAS] and Montréal at Minnesota [NBCSN/RDS]), with Detroit at Dallas trailing 30 minutes later. The final pair of games gets the green light at 9 p.m. (New Jersey at Edmonton and Anaheim at Colorado), with tonight’s nightcap – St. Louis at Los Angeles (SN/SN360) – getting underway at 10:30 p.m. All times eastern.

    Taylor Hall finally plays his first game in Rogers Place, although it’s much later than many Oilers fans expected before this offseason. He should receive a warm welcome this evening.

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    It seems like it was only last weekend that these two played each other. Oh wait, it was last Saturday that the Oilers beat New Jersey 2-1 on an overtime slap shot from Mark Letestu.

    This game has certainly been the more anticipated of the two contests waged between these teams this season. Thanks to a trade that shipped the former number one pick to Newark, Hall has been champing at the bit to get back in front of his original home crowd.

    Hall was drafted in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and made an almost immediate impact. He played 65 games in his rookie season, scoring a team-leading 22 goals.

    Although he only achieved that status one more time (ironically, it was last season when joined by Connor McDavid, the kid that replaced him as the star of the future), Hall was always an integral part of the Oilers‘ offense. He led the club in points three times in his six Edmonton seasons, and never fell lower than third place. In all, Hall contributed to or directly scored 328 goals in a blue sweater, only three fewer than Jordan Eberle in that time span.

    Since making his way to New Jersey after being traded for Adam Larsson, he’s learned all about how difficult scoring can be. Currently only taking credit for 25 points on nine goals, Hall is on pace for only 56 points on 20 goals, which would be the fifth and third-worst efforts, respectively, of his seven-year career.

    In his defense, it doesn’t help that he regularly has to play against the likes of Sergei Bobrovsky, Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist. Those guys don’t give up many goals to start with, no matter how good you are.

    Hall and his 16-18-8 Devils make their way to Edmonton with the second-worst record in both the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. That sounds much worse than it actually is though, as it’s only eight points out of a playoff spot – and with a game in-hand! – but I’m far from predicting a New Jersey surge. As one might expect from Hall’s numbers, the Devils have mightily struggled to score, accounting for only 92 tallies in 42 games, the third-lowest scoring rate in the league.

    Remember Hall’s scoring stats? 25 points on nine goals? I regret to inform you that he’s actually a team-leader with those numbers. He and Travis Zajac both have the same point total due to sharing the second line. The other skater on that line – P.A. Parenteau – has certainly benefited from their efforts, as his dozen tallies are the most in Jersey.

    It’s not happenstance that the third-worst offense has the second-worst power play in the league, as the Devils capitalize on only 13.3% or their opponent’s penalties. Both Kyle Palmieri and Damon Severson have thrived with one fewer foe to keep an eye on, as both have nine power play points to lead the club, but it’s been Hall and Parenteau who have truly done the minimal damage, each with four man-advantage tallies.

    Hosting Jersey this evening are the 21-15-7 Oilers, the third-best team in the Pacific Division even though they’ve lost their last two games. As a club is prone to do when four of their last five first-round picks are forwards, Edmonton has made their living on the offensive end of the ice, scoring 121 goals – the seventh-most in the NHL.

    When I said McDavid replaced Hall as the star of Edmonton in his rookie season, I meant it. McDavid has the world – or at least the NHL – by a string with his league-leading 48 points. Just like Parenteau, Patrick Maroon has taken advantage of having such a player on his line, as his 16 goals are tops in Edmonton.

    Some players to watch in tonight’s game include Edmonton‘s McDavid (48 points on 34 assists [both lead the league]) and Cam Talbot (three shutouts among 20 wins [both tied for fifth-most in the NHL]) and New Jersey‘s Parenteau (12 goals [leads the team]) and Steven Santini (+5 [leads the team]).

    Vegas has marked the Oilers a heavy favorite to win tonight’s game at -190, and it’s hard to pick against that. The Oilers have been one of the better stories this season barring Columbus and Minnesota, and New Jersey hasn’t been able to match their mid-November form when they went 5-0 in nine days. Oilers fans shouldn’t need to break a sweat.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Jimmy Skinner (1917-2007) – Although offered a contract from the Rangers, Skinner never played a game in the NHL. Instead, he coached four seasons in Detroit to win the 1955 Stanley Cup.
    • Tim Horton (1930-1974) – Just in case some of you kids don’t know, he’s more than a donut and coffee shop. This seven-time All Star played 24 seasons, almost all of which were in Toronto, where he won four Stanley Cups – including three-straight from 1962-’64.  He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977, three years after passing away in a car accident.
    • Curt Fraser (1958-) – Drafted 22nd-overall by his hometown Canucks in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft, this left wing played a dozen seasons in the league, most of which in Chicago. He ended his career with 433 points to go with his 1306 penalty minutes.
    • Espen Knutsen (1972-) – Although this center was drafted in the 10th-round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by Hartford, he never played a game with the club. Instead, he spent most of his five seasons in Columbus. In 2002, he became the first and only Norwegian participant in an All Star Game.
    • Jocelyn Thibault (1975-) – This goaltender was drafted 10th-overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by Quebec, but he ended up spending most of his time in Chicago. He completed his career with a 238-238-75 record and earned one All Star nomination.
    • Marian Hossa (1979-) – The 12th-overall pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by Ottawa, this right wing is currently in his eighth season in Chicago. He’s thrice hoisted the Stanley Cup, not to mention his five All Star Game appearances.
    • Claude Giroux (1988-) – The captain of Philadelphia was drafted 22nd-overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He’s spent his entire career with the Flyers and has been thrice named an All Star.

    Led by First Star of the Game Alex Ovechkin‘s two-goal night to notch the 1000th and 1001st points of his career, Washington was more than prepared to beat the Penguins 5-2 in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day.

    Ovechkin (Second Star Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie) got off to a quick start, giving the Capitals the lead only 35 seconds into the contest with an impressive wrister. Although it proved to be the only goal of the first period, Pittsburgh was never able to pull ahead of the Caps.

    Thanks to Carl Hagelin earning a seat in the penalty box for hooking Tom Wilson, Ovechkin (John Carlson and Backstrom) doubled the Capitals‘ lead with a power play slap shot  from the spot he always shoots from in the left penalty circle. The 2-0 Washington lead held into the second intermission.

    Justin Williams (Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov) takes credit for the eventual winning goal, as his wrister only 4:31 into the final frame was pure. The Pens tried to claw (wing?) their way back into the game with an Evgeni Malkin (Justin Schultz and Phil Kessel) power play wrister only 3:15 later, but Backstrom (Oshie and Carlson) put that threat to bed with a power play wrsiter of his own with 6:49 remaining in the third period. Patric Hornqvist (Sidney Crosby and Kessel) tried once again to find some late momentum by scoring a power play wrister with 2:36 remaining in regulation, but Lars Eller (Backstrom and Oshie) scored on the empty net with 18 seconds left on the clock to fully ice the game.

    Third Star Holtby earns the victory after saving 30-of-32 shots faced (93.75%), while Marc-Andre Fleury takes the loss, saving 25-of-29 (86.2%).

    Washington‘s home victory snaps the four-game winning streak by the road squads in the DtFR Game of the Day series and improves their record to 48-29-14, nine points better than the visitors.

  • December 15 – Day 64 – Goals on Gold on Goals

    Thursdays are usually good days for hockey, and today is no different. The first of eight games drop the puck at 7 p.m. (Anaheim at Boston and Chicago at the New York Islanders), followed half an hour later by two more (Arizona at Toronto and Los Angeles at Detroit). 8 p.m. marks the beginning of a trio of contests (New Jersey at St. Louis, Minnesota at Nashville and Florida at Winnipeg), with the New York Rangers at Dallas, this evening’s nightcap, waiting 30 minutes before getting underway.

    I know we just featured the Bruins Monday, but I like this little West vs. East thing we’ve been doing the last couple days. Let’s keep it going in the TD Garden.

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    The 15-10-5 Ducks make their yearly trip to Beantown in second place in the Pacific Division. They’ve earned that position with an offense that has already scored 82 goals this season, the eighth-most in the NHL and second-most in the division.

    Much of that success can be attributed to Corey Perry, who has a team-leading 26 points to his credit. However, most of those have been assists, which has left the door open for Ryan Kesler to lead the club with 12 goals.

    The Ducks have truly been a juggernaut when they have a man advantage. In that situation, Anaheim has found the back of the net 23.5% of the time, the third-best rate in the NHL. Kesler and Perry both have a dozen power play points to their credit to lead the club, but Kesler’s have been more impressive as he’s potted seven man-advantage tallies – the most in Anaheim.

    The Ducks still struggle on the penalty kill, as their 80.6% neutralization rate is tied for eighth-worst in the league. If it weren’t for Sami Vatanen and his squad-leading 12 shorthanded blocks, nobody in Anaheim would have more than nine shot blocks in that situation. That is indicative of the effort the Ducks have put into their kill, and is also what will hold them back from making a deep playoff run if they leave it unresolved.

    Playing host tonight are the 16-12-3 Bruins, the third-best club in the Atlantic Division. They provide a good matchup for the Ducks tonight, as their strength has been on the defensive end where they’ve only allowed 74 goals, which ties for the ninth-fewest in the NHL.

    15-5-3 Tuukka Rask has been in net for all but one of Boston‘s point-earning games. While that might be cause for concern for his stamina going forward, it certainly makes his success so far this season even more impressive. His .93 save percentage and 1.9 GAA are ninth and fifth best among the 41 netminders with 12 or more appearances.

    I know I say it every time we feature the Bruins, but the main reason Rask has bounced back from such a poor season last year is due to the defense playing in front of him that has allowed only 27.5 shots-per-game, the fourth fewest in the league. Rookie Brandon Carlo deserves much of the credit, as his 52 blocks lead the Bruins.

    That success has bled into the penalty kill, where Boston‘s 86.4% kill rate is third-best in the NHL. The rookie continues his impressive debut campaign in this department as well, as his 16 shorthanded blocks lead the Bruins.

    Boston‘s power play also ranks third in the league, but unfortunately it’s third-worst. They’ve found the back of the net on only 13.2% of opportunities, even though they’re led by three players (David Krejci, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak) with five man-advantage points apiece. Pastrnak has been the most impressive with the extra man, as he’s scored four power play goals.

    Some players to keep an eye tonight include Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf (22 assists [second-most in the NHL]) & Boston‘s Pastrnak (19 goals [second-most in the league] for a +17 [tied for third-best in the NHL]) and Rask (three shutouts [tied for second-most in the league] among 15 wins [tied for third-most in the NHL] on a 1.9 GAA [fifth-best in the league] and a .93 save percentage [ninth-best in the NHL]).

    I’ve never bet on sports, much less a spread or line, but if I understand correctly the Bruins opened a -127 favorite, but Vegas has since pulled the contest off the board. I like the Ducks to earn the road victory for no other reason than Boston played an overtime game in Pittsburgh yesterday.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Mario Marois (1957-) – Although he was originally drafted by the Rangers in the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft, this defenseman spent much of his career in his hometown with the Nordiques. After 955 games over 15 seasons, he retired with a career +10 on 433 points.

    For every punch in yesterday’s Game of the Day, the opposition had a counter-punch. That forced a shootout, where the Sharks were able to steal a 4-3 victory in Ottawa.

    Only 5:57 into the game, Joe Pavelski (Logan Couture and Joe Thornton) buried a snap shot to give San Jose an early lead, but Bobby Ryan (Ryan Dzingel and Second Star Dion Phaneuf) and the Senators were able to answer 64 seconds later with a wrister to tie the game at one-all.

    The Sharks took the lead once again with 8:30 remaining in the second period with a wrist shot from First Star Brent Burns (Brenden Dillon), but Ottawa was able to answer 5:57 later when Kyle Turris (Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman) buried a snap shot to tie the game a second time.

    Phaneuf (Erik Karlsson and Stone) gave the Senators their first lead of the night when he scored a power play snapper with 3:46 remaining in regulation, but San Jose stole a page out of their book when Chris Tierney (Burns and David Schlemko) netted a wrister 1:18 later, knotting the game a third time. Neither club was able to manage another goal in regulation or three-on-three overtime, which forced a shootout.

    The Sens took the first attempt…

    1. …but Turris’ shot was saved by Martin Jones.
    2. Mikkel Boedker failed to take advantage, and his miss did not even test Mike Condon.
    3. Ryan met the same fate as his teammate, once again leaving the door open for the Sharks.
    4. Pavelski failed to take advantage though, as Condon was able to make the save.
    5. Karlsson was up next, and Jones gobbled up his third-straight shot.
    6. San Jose‘s Burns couldn’t end the shootout, but he probably would have had a better chance if he’d put his attempt on frame.
    7. Jones seems to have a hobby of saving Senators‘ shootout shots, as Chris Neil met the same fate as the three previous Sens.
    8. Third Star Kevin Labanc earned that distinction for a reason: he earned the bonus point for the Sharks by scoring the lone shootout goal.

    Jones earns the victory after saving 28-of-31 (90.3%) shots faced, leaving the shootout loss to Condon, saving 26-of-29 (89.7%).

    The third-straight victory by the visiting team in the DtFR Game of the Day series as pulled the roadies within 11 points of the hosts, who still have a 36-20-10 record.

  • October 22 – Day 11 – Not just a rivalry game

    It’s Saturday, so you know what that means: a busy day. Everything is being held for prime time, so eight games drop the puck at 7 p.m. (Toronto at Chicago [CBC], Montréal at Boston [CITY/TVAS], Tampa Bay at Ottawa [SN1/SN360], San Jose at Detroit, Colorado at Florida, Minnesota at New Jersey, Carolina at Philadelphia and the New York Rangers at Washington [NHLN]). 8 p.m. brings with it two more contests (Pittsburgh at Nashville and Columbus at Dallas), and the final two games find their start two hours later (Vancouver at Los Angeles [CBC] and St. Louis at Calgary [SN1/SN360]). All times eastern.

    Short list:

    • Montréal at Boston: One of, if not the best all-time rivalry in hockey. It’s always worth the watch.
    • Toronto at Chicago: Another Original Six matchup.
    • New York at Washington: This rivalry goes back to the ’80s. Since all of us at Down the Frozen River were born in the ’90s, we’re pretty sure that was a long time ago.

    Of those three games, it’s just too hard to ignore the scrap for the Atlantic Division lead between Montréal and Boston going on this evening in the TD Garden.

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    Two of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference square off this evening and, as I mentioned before, the winner will take the division lead. But, something tells me that a division lead, especially this early in the season, is just icing on the cake between these two.

    The Canadiens enter the game with an impeccable 3-0-1 record, with their lone single-point game occurring last weekend In Ottawa.

    Although the Habs have scored 16 goals already this season, it has been their blue line and goaltending that has been more impressive. So far, Al Montoya and Carey Price have only allowed six tallies, half the league average, on a combined .955 save percentage.

    The home Bruins have a 3-1-0 record, losing their only game last Saturday 4-1 in Toronto.

    Just like their counterparts, goaltending has been the Bruins‘ shining spot so far this season, as Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin have only allowed nine goals against, collectively saving 92.4% of shots faced.

    To properly breakdown how good a goaltending matchup this could be, Montoya and Rask are the top two in the league in save percentage, and both also rank in the top five in goals against average. If presumed starter Price can continue to produce like his backup did to start the season, we should be in for a great game.

    Some players to keep an eye on during this evening’s game include Boston‘s David Backes (+7 [tied for third-best in the league]), Brandon Carlo (+7 [tied for third-best in the NHL]), Zdeno Chara (+6 [tied for seventh-best in the league]), Brad Marchand (+9 [tied for the NHL-lead] with nine points [tied for the league-lead] on six assists [tied for the NHL-lead] and three goals [tied for ninth-most in the league]), David Pastrnak (+9 [tied for the NHL-lead] with four goals [tied for second-most in the league] for seven points [tied for fourth-most in the NHL]) and Rask (.947 save percentage [second-best in the league], three wins [tied for second-most in the NHL] and 1.67 GAA [fourth-best in the league]) & Montréal‘s Nathan Beaulieu (+6 [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]), Montoya (1.3 GAA [leads the league] and .962 save percentage [leads the NHL] for a shutout [one of three so far this season] on two wins [tied for sixth-most in the league]) and Shea Weber (+6 [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]).

    Last season, the Canadiens took the season series 3-2-0, including two victories in Massachusetts. But, it is the Bruins that are favored in tonight’s game at -124. Although the Habs have played well to start the season, I have a hard time picking against Boston on home ice.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Ron Tugnutt (1967-) – This goaltender put in 16 NHL seasons, playing most of his 537 games with Quebec (153) and Ottawa (166). Some of the records he still holds are most saves in a regular season contest (70) and highest regular season save percentage.
    • Stephane Quintal (1968-) – A long time Canadien, Quintal played 507 of his 1037 games along the blue line in a red sweater. Nowadays, he’s Senior Vice President of Player Safety.
    • Miroslav Satan (1974-) – Over 14 NHL seasons, Šatan played for five clubs, but he spent most of his time in Buffalo. The right wing scored 363 scores and ended up with 735 points.

    I expected a Predators win in yesterday’s Game of the Day. I was terribly wrong.

    This game may come to be known as the Power Play Game, as five of the eight scores were a result of the man-advantage. The first of those tallies was struck 5:17 into the second period when Justin Abdelkader (Third Star of the Game Ryan Sproul and Gustav Nyquist) took advantage of a Filip Forsberg holding penalty four seconds earlier to set the score at 1-0 for the Wings. The Predators struck back 8:56 later with power play goal of their own from P.K. Subban (Roman Josi) on a 5-on-3 play. Still on the power play from Danny DeKeyser sending the puck over the glass, Mike Ribeiro (Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson) gave Nashville a 2-1 lead with 5:29 remaining in the period. They couldn’t take that lead into the dressing room though, as Drew Miller (Mike Green) beat Pekka Rinne with 40 seconds remaining before the horn to level the score at two-all.

    1:10 after returning to the ice, First Star Tomas Tatar (Alexey Marchenko and Jonathan Ericsson) returned the lead to the Red Wings on an even-strength snap shot. Nyquist takes credit for the game-winner, an unassisted snap shot with 8:33 remaining on the game clock. Nashville pulled within one when Mike Fisher (Josi and Forsberg) scored a power play goal, but Darren Helm (Luke Glendening and Henrik Zetterberg) put that comeback to sleep with a power play goal of his own with 22 seconds remaining on an empty-net.

    Second Star Petr Mrazek earns the victory after saving 30-of-33 (90.9%), while Rinne takes the loss, saving 38-of-42 (90.5%).

    Detroit‘s victory at Joe Louis Arena sets the home teams’ record in the DtFR Game of the Day series at 9-3-1, favoring them by eight points over the visiting squads