Tag: Oil

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Daily Matchup

December 14 – Day 63 – Keeping up with the Jones

There’s only four games on the schedule today, but most of them are very good. Like it usually does, the action starts at 7 p.m. when San Jose visits Ottawa (SN/TVAS), trailed half an hour later by Boston at Pittsburgh (NBCSN). Tampa Bay at Calgary (SN/SN360) drops the puck at 9:30 p.m., leading tonight’s nightcap – Philadelphia at Colorado (NBCSN) – by 30 minutes. All times eastern.

The most competitive contest of the evening is where we try to turn our attention to, and I think that will occur tonight in the Canadian Tire Centre.

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The most recent winners of the Campbell Bowl are currently the proud owners of a 17-11-1, the best mark in the Pacific Division and winners of their past two games. They’ve reached that distinction riding an impressive defense and goaltending that has allowed only 63 scores this season, a total that is second-fewest in the Western Conference.

As has been the case since last season, Martin Jones mans the Sharks’ crease, and does a pretty good job of it. Although he only has a 14-10-1 record, his .921 save percentage and 2.07 GAA are 13th and ninth-best, respectively, among the 38 goalies in the league with 13 or more appearances. With numbers like that, his record is more representative of an offense that has managed only the ninth-fewest goals.

Part of the reason Jones has been so good has been due to the blueline in front of him. Led by Brent Burns‘ 55 blocks, Jones faces an average of only 26.4 shots per night, the second-fewest in the entire NHL.

Hosting that impressive Sharks defense are the 16-11-2 Senators, losers of their last two games. Although I’m not really impressed by either aspect of Ottawa‘s game, their defense and goaltending has certainly overshadowed their offensive efforts. They’ve allowed 78 goals so far this season, the 11th-fewest in the NHL.

Even though 12-6-1 Craig Anderson has been the main man in net for the Senators, Dean Brown says it will by 4-3-1 Mike Condon in net this evening.

Condon is the proud owner of a .923 save percentage and 2.28 GAA, the 19th and 17th-best effort, respectively, among all 60 goaltenders with four or more appearances.

Regardless of who is in net for Ottawa on a given night, they certainly earn their paycheck. The Senators‘ defense allows 31.2 shots-per-game to reach the crease, the eighth-most in the league. What’s disheartening is Erik Karlsson (79 blocks), Cody Ceci (64) and Dion Phaneuf (63) have been putting their bodies on the line for their goaltenders, but they are the only ones with more than 40 blocks to their names. If the Sens want to hold onto their current playoff spot, more blueliners need to get involved in performing their primary job description.

A good spot to start would be on the penalty kill, where Ottawa ranks eighth-worst in the league on a 80.2% kill rate. Phaneuf has been especially active when down a man, as he leads his club with 21 shorthanded blocks, but he’s the only skater with more than 13.

These squads just met up last Wednesday in The Tank, where Condon and the Senators were able to pull off the 4-2 victory.

Some players to keep an eye on this evening include Ottawa‘s Karlsson (20 assists [tied for sixth-most in the league]) and San Jose‘s Jones (14 wins [tied for fourth-most in the NHL], including two shutouts [tied for seventh-most in the league], on a 2.07 GAA [10th-best in the NHL]).

All bets are off in Vegas in this game, but I feel pretty confident in picking the Sharks to come away with the victory for no other reason than the Senators are struggling right now. Ottawa‘s penalty kill is not very good, and their defense has not been gelling of late. Add that to San Jose wanting revenge for losing on home ice, and you have a Sharks winner.

Hockey Birthday

  • Patrik Sundstrom (1961-) – A 10-year NHL veteran, this Swedish center was selected by Vancouver in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. Sundstrom played 679 games over his career, and very near evenly split them between the Canucks and New Jersey.
  • Bill Ranford (1966-) – Boston selected this Canadian goaltender in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, but he spent most of his 15-year career in Edmonton, where he won his only Stanley Cup in 1990. He also won the Smythe Trophy that season.

Only three goals were struck in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day series – and all in the same period – but it was Chicago who avenged their home loss to the Rangers to steal the 2-1 victory in Madison Square Garden.

Trevor van Riemsdyk (Artemi Panarin and Second Star of the Game Artem Anisimov) took credit for the Blackhawks‘ first goal of the night, only 25:18 after the initial puck drop. That lead lasted only 2:57 before Jesper Fast (Oscar Lindberg) tipped-in his third goal of the season to level the game for the Blueshirts. Anisimov (Brian Campbell and Panarin) takes credit for the Hawks‘ game-winner on a snap shot with 69 seconds remaining in the second period, and that 2-1 score held until the final horn.

First Star Scott Darling earns the victory after saving 33-of-34 shots faced (97.1%), while Third Star Antti Raanta takes the loss, saving 24-of-26 (92.3%).

The road teams’ second-straight victory pulls them back within a dozen points of the home sides, but the hosts still host a 36-20-9 record in the DtFR Game of the Day series.

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Daily Matchup

December 8 – Day 57 – Orange you glad I picked two orange teams?

It’s Thirsty Thursday at a hockey rink near you!

*Disclaimer: I do not actually know if it is Thirsty Thursday at your local arena. Please do not assume I know your club’s Thursday promotions.*

The action starts at 7 p.m. with three contests (Colorado at Boston, St. Louis at the New York Islanders and Edmonton at Philadelphia), followed half an hour later by three more (New Jersey at Montréal [RDS/SN360], Vancouver at Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh at Florida). The New York Rangers at Winnipeg drops the puck at the top of the hour, and Nashville at Dallas trails at 8:30 p.m. 9 p.m. marks the beginning of Calgary at Arizona, which precedes tonight’s nightcap – Carolina at Los Angeles – by 90 minutes.

Riding a six-game winning streak, the Flyers are currently playing must-watch hockey. Tonight, they host a good Oilers team, so we’re off to the Wells Fargo Center.

Unknown-5Philadelphia Flyers Logo

 

Edmonton enters tonight’s game on a streak of their own, but it’s as far from Philly‘s as it can be without being a losing skid – they’ve suffered two-straight overtime losses. The Oilers are 14-10-4 for first place in the Pacific Division, and they’ve gotten to that position by playing an incredible offense that has already notched 82 goals, the most in the Western Conference.

Second-year pro and first-year captain Connor McDavid has headlined that scoring effort this season, notching 36 points in 28 games – the highest point total in the league, much less the Oilers. He’s joined by Leon Draisaitl to co-lead the club with 11 goals apiece.

Much of the success is due to Edmonton taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves in the form of opposing penalties. The Oil‘s 20.4% success rate is 10th-best in the league, co-led by Draisaitl and McDavid’s 10 man-advantage points. Draisaitl’s effort with the extra-man has been especially impressive, as his seven power play goals ties for second-most in the NHL.

Hosting them this evening are the 15-10-3 Flyers – a club who has earned 40% of their wins in the past 12 days to move into fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. The reason they’ve been able to pull off this streak is due totally to their offense, which has notched 87 goals so far this year.

Who else to lead Philly‘s scoring effort than Wayne Simmonds? His 26 points are just another line item in the long list of things he does for this club. 15 of those points are goals which – you guessed it – is also the best on the squad.

Edmonton‘s power play is good, but Philadelphia‘s is way, way better. Led by Claude Giroux‘ 14 power play points, the Flyers have connected on 23.8% of their man-advantages, the second-best rate in the league. Eight of Simmonds’ goals have been on the power play, double the tally of Giroux to top the squad.

Some players to keep an eye on this evening include Edmonton‘s McDavid (36 points on 25 assists [both lead the NHL]) and Cam Talbot (three shutouts [tied for second-most in the league] among 13 wins [tied for fourth-most in the NHL]) & Philadelphia‘s Giroux (18 assists [tied for fifth-most in the league]) and Simmonds (15 goals [fourth-most in the NHL] among 26 points [tied for ninth-most in the league]).

Philly is marked the favorite by Vegas with a -130 line, but I like Edmonton to take the victory. My pick is dependent on Cam Talbot having a good game, as he either plays well… or he doesn’t. That being said, the Oil do have the additional advantage of the superior penalty kill in their back pocket, which could still be enough to get them out of Philly with the victory.

Hockey Birthday

  • Red Berenson (1939-) – This center was a longtime Blue, playing 519 of his 987 games in the Gateway to the West. He notched 658 points over his 17 career, but nowadays he’s the head man at the University of Michigan.
  • Ted Irvine (1944-) – A left wing with 11 seasons of NHL experience, he spent most of his days playing in Madison Square Garden. He notched 331 points in his career.
  • Drew Doughty (1989-) – This defenseman has never played for anyone but the Kings, the club that drafted him second-overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Recipient of last season’s Norris Trophy, he notched 51 points and 105 blocks.

It took 61:36, but the Washington Capitals were able to hold off the Boston Bruins with a 4-3 overtime victory in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day.

It took only 23 seconds for the Caps to earn their first lead of the game, courtesy of Second Star of the Game Justin Williams (Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin). They doubled that lead to 2-0 7:34 later when Williams (Kuznetsov) buried his second of the night with a wrister.

Washington‘s final goal of regulation was struck 5:51 into the second period off a Daniel Winnik (Jay Beagle) wrister. The Bruins waited until 3:25 remained in the frame to begin their impressive comeback with a Dominic Moore (Anton Blidh) wrister. David Pastrnak pulled Boston within a tally with a minute remaining in the second period to set up an exciting third frame.

Only one goal was struck in the remaining 20 minutes, of course belonging to the Bruins. It was Colin Miller (Austin Czarnik and Brad Marchand) who took credit for the game-tying tally with a power play slap shot that eventually forced three-on-three overtime.

Although all momentum was on Boston‘s side, it was First Star Nicklas Backstom (Nate Schmidt and Marcus Johansson) who finished the contest for the Capitals with a game-winning wrister.

Braden Holtby earns the victory after saving 31-of-34 (91.2%), leaving the overtime loss to Tuukka Rask, saving 16-of-20 (80%).

Washington‘s win improves the home sides’ record to 32-19-8 in the DtFR Game of the Day series, a seven-point advantage over the visitors.

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Daily Matchup

December 7 -Day 56 – If bears could vote…

There’s only four games occurring tonight, but they all look to be good ones. The action starts at 7:30 p.m. with Minnesota at Toronto (SN), followed half an hour later by Boston at Washington (NBCSN/TVAS). Later, the co-nightcaps drop the puck at 10:30 p.m. (Carolina at Anaheim and Ottawa at San Jose [RDS]). All times eastern.

I know we’ve been in the Eastern Conference for the last four days, but the game I’m most interested in is going down in the Verizon Center. Off to the capital we go!

Unknown-7Washington Capitals Logo

 

Jumping right in, 15-10-1 Boston – currently riding a three-game winning streak – is the third-best team in the Atlantic Division, thanks in most part to a defense and goaltending that has allowed only 57 goals so far this season, the fifth-fewest in the league. That stat is made only more impressive by the fact that the Bruins allowed 228 goals a season ago, the tying for 11th-most.

Much of that improvement can be attributed to the 14-4-1 Tuukka Rask, whose .939 save percentage and 1.68 GAA – which rank fourth and second-best in the league, respectively, among goalies with 10 or more appearances – are vastly better than his efforts a season ago (.915 and 2.56) that rank among the worst campaigns of his 10-season career.

Rask doesn’t get to take all the credit though. Last season, his defense allowed 30.4 shots-per-game to reach his crease, the 13th-most in the league. Nowadays, that number is down to 27.7, the fifth-best. Taking responsibility for that change is rookie Brandon Carlo, who’s 45 blocks is a greater total than even the likes of Captain Zdeno Chara (43), Adam McQuaid (37) and John-Michael Liles (28).

That success has followed the Bruins to the penalty kill, where their 86.4% kill rate is the third-best in the league. Carlo has led that charge as well, with 15 shorthanded blocks on his young NHL resume.

Boston‘s Achilles heel continues to be their power play, which ranks fourth-worst at 13.8%. Two of the Davids (David Krejci and David Pastrnak, to be exact) have five power play points to co-lead the team, but I’d argue Pastrnak has been the most vital with four extra-man goals.

*Seriously, count up how many Davids are on the Bruins‘ roster. Last I checked, there’s three active right now.*

Hosting Boston this evening are the 14-7-3 Capitals, who currently occupy fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. Just like the Bruins, Washington has found most of their success by being a strong defensive team, allowing only 53 goals – the fourth-fewest in the NHL.

Last year’s Vezina Trophy-winning Braden Holtby currently has an 11-6-2 record on a .923 save percentage and 2.14 GAA – the 16th and 10th-best efforts among netminders with 10 or more appearances.

Much of the reason Holtby has been able to maintain his stellar play from a season ago has been due to the impressive defense playing in front of him that has allowed only 28.2 shots-per-game to reach his crease – effectively identical to last season’s Presidents’ Trophy-clinching effort.  Brooks Orpik has led the blueline with 39 blocks, but four total defensemen (Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen and Orpik) already have more than 30 shot blocks on the year.

Surprisingly, the power play has let Washington down thus far into the season. Even with Nicklas Backstrom‘s nine power play points and Alex Ovechkin‘s four power play goals, the Caps‘ 15.2% success rate is ninth-worst in the NHL. Part of the reason for that decline might be due to T.J. Oshie being sidelined since November 19 with an upper body-injury, one would expect a potent Capitals offense to overcome that setback.

Some players to keep an eye on tonight include Boston‘s Pastrnak (+15 on 15 goals [both tied for third-most in the league]) and Rask (14 wins [tied for most in the NHL], including three shutouts [tied for second-most in the league], on a 1.68 GAA [second-best in the NHL] and a .939 save percentage [fourth-best in the league]) & Washington‘s Holtby (2.14 GAA [10th-best in the NHL]) and Ovechkin (12 goals [10th-most in the league]).

Vegas thinks Washington is the favorite tonight, marking them with a -145. Since the Capitals are on home ice, I also like Washington to pull out the victory in what should be a good game.

Hockey Birthday

  • Gerry Cheevers (1940-) – How funny we’d feature the Bruins on 12-year Bostonian goaltender Cheevers’ birthday! Up until the 2011 championship, this netminder had been responsible for the Bruins‘ previous two Stanley Cup titles.
  • Garry Unger (1947-) –  A long-time Blue, this center was an seven-time All-Star and notched 804 points over his 16-season career.
  • Peter Laviolette (1964-) – Currently the head coach in Nashville, this skipper’s crowning achievement of his 15-season coaching career is still the Stanley Cup he won in 2006 with Carolina.
  • Georges Laraque (1976-) – The 31st-overall selection in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, this right wing spent most of his time with Edmonton, the club that drafted him. Twice he made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but both times his club failed to hoist the Cup.
  • Milan Michalek (1984) – This left wing was the sixth-overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by San Jose, but he played most of his days in Ottawa.

It’s the games I’m most confident in that are getting the best of me. I assumed the Rangers would have no problem beating the Islanders, but once again a good rivalry game turned the tables as the home Isles bested the Blueshirts 4-2.

The first goal of the night was a special one for the Islanders. Struck 7:03 into the game, Third Star of the Game Scott Mayfield‘s (Cal Clutterbuck and Anders Lee) slap shot was his first goal of the season, and only the second of his 14-game NHL career. Jason Chimera (Brock Nelson) backed that tally up with one of his own with 2:36 remaining in the frame to give the Islanders a two-goal lead going into the first intermission.

The Rangers‘ incredible offense finally got on the board 56 seconds into the second period with a Jimmy Vesey (Rick Nash) wrister, but Andrew Ladd (Shane Prince) notched the eventual game-winner only 1:22 later with a snap shot. The Rangers fought back within a goal at the 8:54 mark via a Marc Staal (J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider) wrister, but it was the last tally they could manage, both in the second period and regulation.

Second Star John Tavares (Josh Bailey and Nick Leddy) scored an insurance goal with 8:47 remaining in the game to seal the Islanders’ victory in the Battle of New York.

First Star Jaroslav Halak earns the victory after saving 36-of-38 shots faced (94.7%), forcing Henrik Lundqvist to take the loss, saving 28-of-32 (87.5%).

The second straight win by the home team in the DtFR Game of the Day series has improved their record to 31-19-8 and expended their lead over the roadies to six points.

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Daily Matchup

December 1 – Day 50 – This one’s not outside, but it’s still cool… right?

How special that the 50th day of play perfectly aligns with December 1. It’s like the NHL planned it that way.

As usual, Thursday is one of our busier weekdays, so without further ado…

Four games drop the puck at 7 p.m. (Carolina at Boston, the New York Rangers at Buffalo, Dallas at Pittsburgh [SN360] and the New York Islanders at Washington), followed half an hour later by two more (Philadelphia at Ottawa [RDS] and Florida at Detroit). 8 p.m. marks the start of a pair of games (Tampa Bay at St. Louis and Edmonton at Winnipeg), with New Jersey at Chicago waiting 30 minutes before getting underway. Two more contests get green lit at 9 p.m. (Columbus at Colorado and Los Angeles at Arizona) trailed an hour later by this evening’s nightcap: Anaheim at Vancouver (SN360). All times eastern.

Short list:

  • New York at Washington: I like rivalries. You like rivalries. We all like rivalries.
  • Edmonton at Winnipeg: This rivalry has existed even longer than New York–Washington, going back to these clubs’ WHA days.

I expect the contest at the MTS Centre to be the better of our two rivalries this evening, so off to Manitoba!

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Wait, didn’t we already feature this game? Yes, yes we have. In fact, if I went through my record correctly, this is the first exact rematch in the DtFR Game of the Day series this season, featuring both teams back in the same city.

Then again, is it truly an identical rematch? That distinction of city instead of arena was intentional. When we featured these two last time, they played at Investors Group Field where the Oilers have a perfect 1-0-0 franchise record after beating the Jets 3-0.

Edmonton enters tonight’s game with a 12-10-2 record, good enough for third place in the Pacific Division. They’ve earned that position with a solid offense that has scored 69 goals already this season – the fifth-best effort in the NHL.

You get two guesses to find out who’s leading the Oil, and you probably won’t need the second. It’s been Captain Connor McDavid, who has 31 points to his credit to average 1.29 points per game – the best effort in the league among players with more than two games played (yes, that intentionally excludes only Jack Eichel‘s two points in one game). 11 of McDavid’s points have been goals, which also leads the club by four tallies.

Defensively, the Oilers have been especially impressive on the penalty kill. They rank second-best in the NHL by not allowing a goal on 88.4% of opposing power plays. Leading the charge during these undermanned situations has been Darnell Nurse, who has 10 shorthanded blocks on his resume.

Hosting them this evening are the 11-12-2 Jets who occupy sixth place in the Central Division. Although they have a good offense, Winnipeg has been held back by their defense and goaltending that has allowed 72 goals, the fourth-most in the league.

Another Connor, Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has started between the pipes 17 times this season, earning a 9-8-0 record. Through those games, he’s earned a .915 save percentage and a 2.54 GAA, tying for (t)20th and 19th-worst among the 41 neminders with nine or more appearances.

If we’ve learned nothing else from the Jets, it’s that an average paired with an average defense does not yield a consistent winning result. Even though four Winnipeg blueliners have 30 or more stops – led by Dustin Byfuglien‘s 44 blocks – they allow an average of 30.3 shots against per night, the only 15th-best rate in the league. While I’m still leaning towards the goaltending taking most of the blame, the Jets‘ defense does need to find a better way to limit opposing opportunities beyond blocking shots.

As might have been suspected, the penalty kill has also been a problem for the Jets. Even though Toby Enstrom has 11 shorthanded blocks to his name, Winnipeg ranks eighth-worst when a man-down, stopping only 80.4% of opposing power plays.

Given an offense that has scored 65 goals already this season, it is somewhat surprising that Winnipeg‘s power play has found success on only 13.8% of attempts. Rookie Patrik Laine leads that charge with seven power play points, five of which are goals.

Some players to keep an eye on tonight include Edmonton‘s McDavid (31 points on 20 assists [both lead the NHL] and 11 goals [tied for seventh-most in the league]) and Cam Talbot (three shutouts [tied for second-most in the NHL] among 11 wins [tied for sixth-most in the league]) & Winnipeg‘s Nikolaj Ehlers (16 assists [tied for third-most in the NHL]), Laine (13 goals [tied for second-most in the league]) and Mark Scheifele (26 points on 13 goals [both tied for second-most in the NHL]).

Vegas favors Winnipeg tonight, but not by much. The line reads -110, effectively only rewarding the Jets for playing at home. Due to that, I feel like Edmonton will be able to pull off the victory, as their defense and goaltending is slightly better than Winnipeg‘s.

Hockey Birthday

  • Ryan Malone (1979-) – Although drafted by his hometown Penguins, this left wing is most known for his six seasons in Tampa Bay.
  • Tomas Tatar (1990-) – The 60th-overall selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, he’s entering his sixth season with Detroit.

An impressive three-goal first period led the Sharks to a 4-1 road upset of host Los Angeles in the Battle of California.

The onslaught of goals started at the 3:32 mark with the second goal of rookie Kevin Labanc‘s (First Star of the Game Logan Couture and Second Star Joel Ward) career, a forceful wrist shot. With 55 seconds remaining in the frame, Couture (Joonas Donskoi and Ward) doubled a wrister of his own, trailed 30 ticks of the clock later by Ryan Carpenter‘s (Mikkel Boedker) first-ever career goal.

The only goal of the second frame belonged to the host Kings. 3:01 after resuming play, Third Star Dustin Brown (Marian Gaborik and Nic Dowd) took advantage of a Labanc hooking penalty to pull back within two goals, but they were never able to tickle the twine again before the clock emptied.

San Jose‘s final tally was with 77 remaining in the game, an empty-netter by Couture.

Martin Jones earns the victory after saving 26-of-27 shots faced (96.3%), leaving the loss to Peter Budaj, saving 20-of-23 (87%).

San Jose‘s victory is the first regulation win in the DtFR Game of the Day series since Ottawa’s 2-0 win on Sunday. It sets the series record at 28-17-7 in favor of the home squads, favoring them by six points over the roadies.

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Daily Matchup

November 14 – Day 33 – Selections are Slim

Here’s the list of tonight’s games. Hopefully your team is playing.

  • Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders – 7 p.m. eastern – TVAS
  • Dancing with the Stars -8 p.m. eastern – ABC
  • The Voice – 8 p.m. eastern – NBC
  • Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants – 8:30 p.m. eastern – ESPN
  • Scorpion – 10 p.m. eastern – CBS

So… yeah… there’s a not a whole lot of hockey action going on this evening…

But hey, it makes my decision-making process much easier!

Unknown-3New York Islanders Logo

 

This will be Tampa Bay‘s first time being featured in the Game of the Day, while New York is making their fourth appearance.

Tampa enters tonight’s game with a 8-6-1 record, good enough for fourth in the Atlantic Division. What impresses me about the Lightning so far this season is their offense, which has 45 goals to its credit.

Who else to lead the Bolts than Steven Stamkos? He’s appeared in all 15 games played this season, and has 17 points to his credit to lead the team. Eight of those points have been goals, which also leads the club.

Much of Tampa Bay‘s success has been found on the power play. Led by Nikita Kucherov and Stamkos’ seven power play points, their 25.4% success ranks fourth-best in the league.

The counterpart to the power play has been equally as successful. Tampa‘s penalty kill ranks eight-best in the league, neutralizing 86% of their infractions for only six extra man-tallies against.

The 5-7-3 Islanders wishes they were in the Bolts‘ position. They are the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference, due in most part to their lackluster defense and goaltending.

Jaroslav Halak has started 10 games en route to a 3-4-3 record. So far this season he’s played to a .907 save percentage and three GAA, which ranks 21st and 24th among the 35 goaltenders with seven games played.

While Halak and backup Thomas Greiss have left much to be desired after two-straight postseason appearances, they cannot shoulder all the blame. Together they’ve faced 475 shots (31.7 per game), 33 more than the average goaltender, or 2.2 per game. Although led by Johnny Boychuk‘s 2.8 blocks per game, no other Islanders have more than 40 blocks to their credit, leaving their netminders to get peppered.

As would be expected from a team with issues at and behind the blue line, New York has struggled on the penalty kill. Their 78% kill rate is sixth-worst in the NHL.

Offensively, the Isles have also struggled with their power play. Even with John Tavares‘ team-leading three power play points (perhaps that is the best indicator of their success), New York has scored on only 11.4% of their man-advantages.

Tonight’s game is the completion of the three-game regular season series between these clubs, that only just began 13 days ago. Tampa Bay has won both the previous two games by a combined 10-2 score, including a 6-1 victory on this surface on the first day of the month.

Of course, this year’s series is only a recap of their Eastern Semifinal showdown in May. If you’ll remember, the Lightning came out the winners in that series, with the Isles winning only Game 1 before Tampa Bay took the following four contests.

Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include New York‘s Dennis Seidenberg (+10 [leads the team]) and Tavares (five goals for 12 points [both lead the team]) & Tampa Bay‘s Stamkos (17 points [tied for fifth-most in the league] on eight goals [tied for seventh-most in the NHL]) and, should he play, Andrei Vasilevskiy (two GAA [seventh-best in the league] and .932 save percentage [10th-best in the NHL]).

The home squad has a +125 next to their name, which is never a good sign for fans wearing blue and orange. I’m siding with Vegas in this one, as Tampa leads the Isles in almost all statistics in addition to having the recent success against this evening’s competition.

Hockey Birthday:

  • Murray Oliver (1937-2014) – Oliver enjoyed an 18-year, 1127 regular season-game playing career. Most of that time was spent with the Boston Bruins (traded from Detroit during the 1960-’61 season), where he played center for seven seasons for 426 games. He also tried his hand at coaching, leading the Minnesota North Stars in 37 games during the 1982-’83 season.
  • Bobby Allen (1978-) – Allen made his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers during the 2002-’03 season, but he would be more known for his two year stint in Boston, where he played defense in 50 regular season games.
  • Taylor Hall (1991-) – Up until this season, the left winger had spent all of his seven-year career with the Edmonton Oilers. The first pick of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft played in 381 regular season games with the Oil before being traded to New Jersey this off-season.

Yesterday’s Game of the Day featured our second-straight overtime game, and once again it was the home team that scored the final tally as Vancouver beat Dallas 5-4.

The Stars got on the board only 5:43 after the initial puck drop with Patrick Eaves (Dan Hamhuis and Second Star Tyler Seguin) burying a wrister. That lead lasted only 22 seconds before Bo Horvat (Alexandre Burrows and Sven Baertschi) scored a wrister of his own to level for the Canucks. Dallas reclaimed the lead once again only 20 seconds after Horvat’s goal when Lauri Korpikoski (Radek Faksa and Jamie Benn) buried his wrister to set the score at 2-1, which held into the first intermission.

Only one goal was struck in the second frame, and it belonged to the Stars. Eaves (Seguin and Antoine Roussel) takes credit for the score with a deflection to give the Stars a 3-1 lead 4:56 before the second intermission.

Willie Desjardins and Henrik Sedin must have given some speech going into the final frame, because the Canucks came back to the ice with a vengeance. 3:26 after resuming play, Loui Eriksson (Third Star Markus Granlund) buried a wrister to pull Vancouver back within a goal, followed 2:40 later by a power play wrister from Brandon Sutter (Daniel Sedin and H. Sedin) to level the score. Once again Dallas took the lead, this time with a Roussel (Seguin) backhander with 8:11 remaining in regulation. That score held until 100 seconds remained on the clock. First Star Troy Stecher (Burrows and Horvat) scored the first goal of his career with a slap shot to force overtime.

Three-on-three play lasted only 1:27 before Granlund (Sutter) ended the game with a wrister, sealing the Canucks‘ come-from-behind victory.

Ryan Miller earns the victory after saving 17-of-21 shots faced (81%), forcing Kari Lehtonen to take the overtime loss, saving 25-of-30 (83.3%).

Vancouver‘s overtime victory sets the DtFR Game of the Day series at 21-11-3, favoring the home squads by 11 points over the roadies.

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Daily Matchup

November 12 – Day 31 – Fixing Florida

It’s Saturday, so you know what that means: lots of hockey!

Exactly.

Like always, we get glued to our televisions at 7 p.m. when eight pucks are dropped (Detroit at Montréal [SN/TVAS], San Jose at Tampa Bay, the New York Islanders at Florida, Buffalo at New Jersey, Minnesota at Philadelphia, Toronto at Pittsburgh [CBC/CITY/NHLN], Washington at Carolina and St. Louis at Columbus), followed an hour later by two more (Boston at Arizona and Anaheim at Nashville). Finally, the New York Rangers visit Calgary at 10 p.m. (CBC/SN1) to act as our nightcap. All times eastern.

Short List:

  • New York at Florida: It’s a rematch of an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal a season ago between two teams still searching for their identity.
  • Detroit at Montréal: Original Six alert.
  • Anaheim at Nashville: Another 2015-’16 Quarterfinal rematch, but this one is in the Western Conference.
  • New York at Calgary: If Josh Jooris weren’t on injured reserve, this would be his first return to the Saddledome since leaving the Flames. Guess he’ll have to wait until next year.

In a peculiar way, I’m drawn to the Eastern rematch from a season ago. Not only have we not featured the Panthers yet this season, but I want to get to the bottom of why they are not finding the success they were projected to have.

New York Islanders LogoFlorida_Panthers_logo_2016

 

Probably the best explanation of the 5-7-2 Islanders is that they’re 1-2-2 in their last five game played. While the offense has been only average in comparison to the rest of the league, it has been the defense and goaltending that has been the major pitfall.

Jaroslav Halak has started nine games so far this season to earn a 3-4-2 record on a .903 save percentage and 3.03 GAA, which rank 25th and 26th-worst in the league, respectively, among all goaltenders to play this season. While these numbers are far from good, the skaters in front of him have not been providing him much help. Even thought Johnny Boychuk, Dennis Seidenberg, Calvin de Haan and Thomas Hickey all have 32+ blocks to their credit, the Islanders have allowed 432 shots against, well over the league average.

One of the major reasons for the high shots against totals given the great efforts by those four blueliners is New York‘s inability to avoid the power play. Even though he hasn’t played since last Saturday due to a broken right thumb, Travis Hamonic leads a club that averages 10:55 in the box (tied for 10th-most in the NHL) with 23 penalty minutes. As would be expected by the taxed special team, the Isles have been burned by opposing power plays and allowed a goal on 24.1% of opposing attempts, the worst effort in the Eastern Conference.

Brooklyn is also home to one of the worst power plays in the league, as the Isles are successful on only 10.5% of their attempts.

Hosting them this evening are the 6-7-1 Florida Panthers, a team that has been only average this season. Unlike tonight’s opponent, what has probably been most impressive about them has been their defense and goaltending.

Roberto Luongo has started nine games this season to earn a 4-5-0 record on a .917 save percentage and 2.36 GAA to rank 12th and 15th-best, respectively, among goaltenders with seven or more starts to their name.

Part of the reason he and James Reimer have been able to find their success has been the blue line playing in front of them. Even though Michael Matheson leads the club with only 16 blocks, Florida has allowed only 401 shots to reach net, six fewer than the league average.

As stated before, these squads met up last year in the opening round of the Atlantic Division’s playoff bracket. After the clubs split the first four games, the Islanders won two double-overtime games in a row to advance to the Eastern Semifinals. It truly was an upset seeing as the Panthers were not only the Atlantic champion, but they had won the regular season series against New York 2-1-0.

Some players to keep an eye on tonight include Florida‘s Jon Marchessault (seven goals [tied for eighth-most in the league]) and New York‘s John Tavares (11 points on five goals [both lead the team]).

Florida is marked a -150 favorite by Vegas, and that’s a line I definitely agree with. Their offense should be more than capable of scoring on the Islanders‘ week defense.

Hockey Birthday

  • Denis DeJordy (1938-) – This goaltender played 316 games over his 11 NHL seasons, 62.7% of which were with Chicago. He earned a 124-128-51 career record, and won the 1966-’67 Vezina trophy.
  • Mark Hunter (1962-) – This right wing was the seventh overall selection in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by Montréal, but he spent  34.7% of his playing days in St. Louis. He hoisted the Stanley Cup once in his career, with the 1988-’89 Calgary Flames. Nowadays, he’s an assistant with the Maple Leafs.
  • Bryan Little (1987-) – The 12th overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by AtlantaWinnipeg, this right wing has appeared in 614 games with the franchise. He scored a career-best 64 points in his 2013-’14 campaign.
  • Adam Larsson (1992-) – This defenseman was the fourth overall pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by New Jersey. He was the Devil sent to Edmonton this off-season in the trade for Taylor Hall.

I picked Philadelphia to beat Toronto in last night’s Game of the Day. I got embarrassed, as the Leafs won 6-3 on a four-goal third period.

Toronto earned a 1-0 lead only 2:54 into the contest when Nazem Kadri (Star of the Game Morgan Rielly and Nikita Zaitsev) scored a wrister, but Philly pulled even 1:05 later when Wayne Simmonds (Claude Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere) capitalized on a power play opportunity. The Flyers pulled ahead only 26 seconds after drawing even when Travis Konecny‘s (Radko Gudas and Michael Del Zotto) backhand found the back of the net. The final goal of the period wasn’t registered until only 52 seconds remained in the frame. Rielly (Mitch Marner and James van Riemsdyk) takes credit for the power play score with his first goal of the season to set the score at 2-2.

The Flyers returned to the ice intent on imposing their will, made evident by Mark Streit getting caught for tripping Zach Hyman and earning a seat in the sin bin two minutes into the frame. Philly responded well though, as Simmonds (Sean Couturier) scored a shorthanded snapper 53 seconds later to take a 3-2 lead. It was the lone score of the second period.

4:03 into the third period, Martin Marincin (Rielly and Kadri) scored his first goal of the season with a slap shot to pull the Leafs into a 3-3 tie. Another first goal of the season proved to be the eventual game-winner, as Hyman (Auston Matthews and Connor Carrick) scored a snap shot 4:31 later to take the lead. The Leafs didn’t look back, as they scored two insurance goals, courtesy of Leo Komarov and Marner (Rielly and Tyler Bozak), to secure the victory.

Frederik Andersen earned the victory after saving 30-of-33 shots faced (90.9%), while Steve Mason saved 17-of-23 in the loss (73.9%).

Toronto‘s victory sets the DtFR Game of the Day series at 19-11-3, favoring the home squads by nine points over the roadies.

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Daily Matchup

October 25 – Day 14 – Moose comes home

It’s been too long since we’ve had a busy schedule. Cue tonight, which has 11 games taking place. As you’ve come to expect, the action gets started at 7 p.m. with three of them (Minnesota at Boston, Arizona at New Jersey and Florida at Pittsburgh), followed half an hour later by another trio (Buffalo at Philadelphia [NBCSN], Tampa Bay at Toronto [SN1/TVAS] and Carolina at Detroit). Calgary at St. Louis drops the puck at 8 p.m. and Winnipeg at Dallas follows suit 30 minutes later. The west coast gets involved at 10 p.m. with two contests (Ottawa at Vancouver [RDS2] and Anaheim at San Jose [NBCSN]), and Columbus at Los Angeles rounds things out half an hour later. All times eastern.

Short list:

  • Calgary at St. Louis – Troy Brouwer and Brian Elliott make their first return to the Scottrade Center since making their way to Alberta in the offseason.
  • Anaheim at San Jose – No friends here, and that often yields some of the best hockey.

I enjoy an Anaheim–San Jose meeting as much as the next, but since Calgary‘s second visit isn’t until March – a month most have no expectations of them being relevant in – we’ll catch Brouwer and Elliott’s return to the Gateway to the West.

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Elliott’s career in St. Louis began in the 2011-’12 season, back in the days of Jaroslav Halak. They found immediate success,  taking home the William M. Jennings Trophy for that campaign.

Over the next five seasons, he amassed a 104-46-16 record, averaging a .925 save percentage (best Blues-career among players with more than one appearance) and 2.01 GAA.

His 164 starts are most recorded by a St. Louis goaltender, but the record that he truly hangs his hat on is the franchise record for shutouts – 25, five more than the man he was originally charged with backing-up. One more shutout was recorded last season during the playoffs, as he led the Blues to qualify for the Western Finals for only the seventh time in team history.

Helping Elliott and the Notes to the Western Finals was Brouwer. Only in town for a year as a result of the trade that sent T.J. Oshie to Washington, the right wing made good use of his time, notching 21 assists, the second-highest mark of his career, and 18 goals, tying for third-most on the team.

He scored eight goals in the playoffs with the Notes last season (the most of his career), including a Game 7 winner in Chicago during the Western Quarterfinals to eliminate the team that drafted him in 2004.

Be it by trade or free agency, both have found their way to the struggling 2-4-1 Calgary Flames. Before last night, their only other victory was a 4-3 overtime win against the Sabres last Tuesday.

As Colby documented Saturday, goaltending and defense has been the problem for Calgary so far this season. In only seven games played, they’ve already allowed 28 goals against, by far the most in the league. That averages out to four-per-game, tied for the second-worst rate in the NHL with Carolina and Ottawa.

Much of that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the goalies. Together, Elliott and Chad Johnson have saved only .871 percent of shots faced for a 3.78 GAA – in other words, not good, as their combined save percentage trails the league average by .032. These stats collected before the completion of Monday’s game.

St. Louis has picked up right where they left off a season ago. Their 4-1-1 record is best in the Central Division, with their lone pointless game occurring five days ago in Edmonton when they lost 3-1.

After the last few days of focusing on some defensive teams, the Blues provide a lot of scoring. Of course, could you expect anything less of a team led by Paul Stastny, Alex Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko with seven points apiece? The right wing of that group is on a mission every time he takes the ice, and already has a team-leading four goals to show for it.

Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Calgary‘s Brouwer (five points, including three goals [both tied for team lead]), Michael Frolik (three goals [tied for team lead]), Mark Giordano (five points [tied for team lead]) and Sean Monahan (three goals [tied for team lead]) & St. Louis‘ Jake Allen (three wins [tied for second-most in the league]) and Tarasenko (four goals [tied for fourth-most in the NHL] for seven points [tied for ninth-most in the league]).

Tonight’s game is actually the second half of a home-and-home series between these squads… Well, kind of. That holds true for the Blues, who have been waiting for the Flames in St. Louis probably since Sunday morning. The Flames made a quick stop in Chicago last night, winning 3-2 in a seven-round shootout.

The Blues beat the Flames 6-4 Saturday in the Saddledome. Vegas is predicting more of the same, as St. Louis is favored -190 this evening. I’ve picked against the gamblers and been right a few times already this season, but tonight is not a game I’m willing to take that bet. The Notes should win this one.

Hockey Birthday

  • Rejean Houle (1949-) – This right wing spent his entire 11-year NHL career in Montréal, playing 635 games en route to five Stanley Cup championships.
  • Mike Eruzione (1954-) – We usually reserve this section for NHL alumni, but this left wing deserves an exception, seeing as he captained the American hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. For those who are bad at remembering dates, maybe the game-winning goal in the Miracle on Ice means something to you?
  • Wendel Clark (1966-) – The first pick of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, Clark played 608 of his 793 career games with Toronto, the team that drafted him. Interestingly, it took him three stints with the club to reach that number.
  • Josef Beranek (1969-) – Beránek was a center drafted 78th overall in 1989 by Edmonton. Although he bounced around the league a little bit, his 208 games with the Oil were the majority of his 531-game NHL career.

Yesterday’s Game of the Day went exactly as expected, with the Montréal Canadiens beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1.

Second Star of the Game Shea Weber (First Star Alexander Radulov and Artturi Lehkonen) opened the scoring 25:28 into play with a slap shot, but Jakub Voracek (Claude Giroux and Brandon Manning)  drew the Flyers level with 8:13 remaining in the second period.

With 6:52 remaining in regulation, Brendan Gallagher (Radulov and Weber) scored a game-winning power play goal with a tip-in for the Habs. Radulov capped his three-point night with an insurance goal (Alexei Emelin) on an empty net with 63 seconds remaining.

Third Star Carey Price earns the victory after saving 31-of-32 (96.9%), while Steve Mason takes the loss after saving 30-of-32 (93.8%).

Montréal‘s victory set the DtFR Game of the Day series at 10-5-1, favoring the home sides by six points.

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Daily Matchup

October 24 – Day 13 – Something something Canadian aviation

There’s only two games on the schedule this evening. The first involves Philadelphia visiting Montréal at 7:30 p.m. (RDS), with Calgary at Chicago dropping the puck an hour later (NHLN/SN/TVAS). All times eastern.

Seeing as Philly has much higher expectations for this season than the Flames, we’ll head up to the Bell Centre to catch them take on the Habs.

Philadelphia Flyers LogoUnknown-1

 

This game was supposed to be made a little bit more fun by the return of Dale Weise, but he is serving one-third of his suspension for his illegal check to Korbinian Holzer‘s head this evening. We’ll just hold that story until November 5.

…Or will we?

The season hasn’t treated the 2-2-1 Flyers very nicely so far. Before beating the Hurricanes 6-3 on Saturday, the Flyers were riding a 0-2-1 skid, being outscored 14-9 in that stretch.

As indicated by that statistic, defense and goaltending have been the issue on Broad St. – something Flyers fans have become all too familiar with. Steve Mason has taken the decision in four of Philly‘s five games for a 1-2-1 record. He has a .882 save percentage for a 3.35 GAA, both numbers well below the league average. Although he’s seen limited time, Michal Neuvirth has statistically been worse, posting a .854 save percentage for a 4.24 GAA in 85 minutes played.

Offensively, the Flyers are led by Jakub Voracek, who has scored two goals and notched five assists for seven points. Matt Read leads the club in goals, with five to his credit.

Montréal has yet to not earn a point having gone 4-0-1 so far this season, including their current three-game win streak. Most recently, the Canadiens went into the TD Garden to beat the Bruins 4-2 on Saturday. That success has propelled this squad that many wanted dissected a season ago to the top of the Eastern Conference early on.

Defense has been the name of the game for the Canadiens so far this year. Overall the Habs have a +11 goal-differential, but their eight goals-allowed is seven below the league average. Al Montoya started the first three games, saving .962 percent of the shots he faced for a 1.3 GAA. Carey Price has since returned to post a perfect 2-0-0 record, saving .92 percent for a 2.02 GAA.

Offensively, Montréal has turned to Alex Galchenyuk (1G/4A), Brendan Gallagher (3G/2A), Max Pacioretty (1G/4A) and Shea Weber (1G/4A), all of whom have five points. Gallagher and Torrey Mitchell have both scored three goals to lead the squad in that department.

Some players to keep an eye on this evening include Montréal‘s Nathan Beaulieu (+7 [tied for fifth-best in the NHL]), Montoya (1.3 GAA on a .962 save percentage [both second-best in the NHL] for two wins [tied for eighth-most in the league], including one shutout [one-of-five this season]) or Price (2.01 GAA [ninth-best in the NHL]) and Weber (+8 [tied for third-best in the league]) & Philadelphia‘s Claude Giroux (six assists [tied for the NHL-lead]), Read (five goals [tied for second-most in the league]), Wayne Simmonds (four goals [tied for fourth-most in the NHL]) and Voracek (five assists [tied for sixth-most in the league]).

Montréal has a -160 advantage over the Flyers this evening. Given Philly‘s goaltending situation and the fact that this game is in the Bell Centre, that might be a conservative mark. Expect the Habs to earn two points this evening.

Hockey Birthday:

  • Jamal Mayers (1974-) – Over 65% of Mayers’ 915 career NHL games were played with St. Louis. A right wing by trade, he scored 90 goals en route to a 219 point career and currently acts as an analyst for NHL Network.
  • Jonas Gustavsson (1984-) – This is the eighth NHL season of the goalie’s career and his first with Edmonton. One of his best accolades is the silver medal he won at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi with Team Sweden.

In case you didn’t watch the Heritage Classic yesterday, Edmonton scored three goals in 7:52 to beat the Jets 3-0 at Investors Group Field in our Game of the Day.

The first of those goals, thus the game-winner, was struck 36 seconds before the midway point of the game. Third Star of the Game Mark Letestu fired a unassisted short-handed snap shot past Connor Hellebuyck to open the scoring. 1:46 later, Darnell Nurse (Connor McDavid and Second Star Zack Kassian) doubled that lead with a snapper of his own. With 2:44 remaining in the second period, Kassian (Benoit Pouliot and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) scored the second insurance goal for the Oilers to set the score at the 3-0 final.

First Star Cam Talbot saved all 32 shots he faced en route to the shutout victory. Hellebuyck takes the loss, saving 29-of-32 (90.6%).

Edmonton‘s win is the second-straight for a road team in the DtFR Game of the Day series, but the home sides still have a four-point advantage with a 9-5-1 record.

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Daily Matchup

October 23 – Day 12 -It’s not really my heritage, but I’ll celebrate anyways since there’s hockey

Eight points are on the line on this fourth Sunday of October. Edmonton visits Winnipeg at 3 p.m. (NHLN/SN/TVAS2) and Minnesota at the New York Islanders drops the puck at the completion of that contest at 6 p.m. Arizona at the New York Rangers (NHLN) starts at the usual starting time of 7 p.m., and Vancouver at Anaheim (SN), this evening’s nightcap, gets underway an hour later. All times eastern.

Although I have my qualms with the plethora of outdoor games played these days, this afternoon’s contest in Manitoba should be worth the watch.

Unknown-5Unknown-4Welcome to Investors Group Field. Canadians know this place as the home of Winnipeg‘s football team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. All of us on this website are Americans, so we are more familiar with it hosting seven matches during the 2015 Women’s World Cup, including two involving *ahem* the World Champion USWNT.

I’ll wait for you to get settled down again. I know, I still celebrate every time I think about Megan Rapinoe’s two goals in this stadium.

Anyways, back to the sport we’re supposed to be talking about: football. Wait, no, the football stadium was taken over by hockey. Right.

The Edmonton Eskimos Oilers enter today’s game with a 4-1-0 record – the third best in the Western Conference, and fourth best in the league. Their lone blemish came last Sunday against Buffalo, falling 6-2. They’ve found their success with the puck on their stick, scoring 20 goals so far this season (seven more than the league average). Last year’s first overall pick in the NHL Draft has been at the forefront of the Oil‘s attack, as Connor McDavid has eight points to his name, including four goals.

Opposing them this afternoon is the 2-2-0 Winnipeg Jets. The last time we watched the Jets, Patrik Laine scored the first hat trick of his career against the only kid drafted before him in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft en route to a 5-4 overtime victory. Just like Edmonton, offense is where Winnipeg shines. They’re led by center Mark Scheifele, who’s six points are evenly split between goals and assists.

Some players to keep an eye on in today’s game include Edmonton‘s McDavid (eight points [tied for third-most in the league] on four goals [tied for fourth-most in the NHL]), Kris Russell (+6 [tied for eighth-best in the league]) and Cam Talbot (four wins [leads the NHL]) & Winnipeg‘s Dustin Byfuglien (four assists [leads the team]), Laine (four goals [leads the team]) and Scheifele (six points for a +4 [both lead the team]).

With home ice, Winnipeg is favored at a -123. While that would certainly make a nice story, I don’t think that’s what is going to happen. I believe it will be the Oilers taking the two points from this game with an exemplary performance from McDavid on arguably the biggest stage he’s had in his young professional career.

Hockey Birthday

  • Fred Shero (1925-1990) – He may have played defense for 145 NHL games (all with the Rangers), but Shero is more known for his coaching career. He amassed a 390-216-118 career record en route to four Stanley Cup Finals appearances, winning half of those with Philadelphia.

The Boston Bruins have had trouble of late defending home ice, going 17-18-6 a season ago. That trend continued last night when they fell 4-2 to their arch-rivals, the Montréal Canadiens.

The Habs won this game in the second period. After a scoreless opening frame for both sides, First Star of the Game Brendan Gallagher (Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk) broke the draw with a snap shot with 8:19 remaining in the second to give the Canadiens the lead. That lead doubled 6:03 later when Phillip Danault (Alexander Radulov and Greg Pateryn) scored his first of the season.

5:34 into the final period, Third Star Dominic Moore (Tim Schaller and Noel Acciari) scored a wrister for the Bruins to pull the home team within a goal, but Paul Byron‘s (Shea Weber and Andrei Markov) short-handed snap shot 1:58 later returned the Habs‘ lead to 3-1 – and proved to be the game-winner. Ryan Spooner‘s (David Backes and David Krejci) power play snap shot at the 8:09 mark once again pulled Boston within a score, but they were unable to find the back of the net again. Second Star Torrey Mitchell tacked on the insurance goal with 7:13 remaining for the Canadiens to seal the victory.

Carey Price earns the victory after saving 19-of-21 (90.5%) of the shots he faced, while Anton Khudobin takes the loss, saving 25-of-29 (86.2%).

With that road victory, the DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 9-4-1, still favoring the home teams by six points.

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October 16 – Day Five – What does Dylan Strome have to do with Buffalo at Edmonton?

Washington‘s second appearance in the Game of the Day series didn’t need more than 60 minutes for them to earn their first win of the 2016-’17 campaign over the New York Islanders.

First Star of the Game Daniel Winnik (John Carlson and Jay Beagle) opened the scoring 11:58 after beginning play by deflecting Carlson’s wrister past Third Star Thomas Greiss. 1:51 later, Ryan Strome (Brock Nelson and Johnny Boychuk) scored on a power play wrister to beat Second Star Braden Holtby to level the score at 1-1, which held into the first intermission.

Winnik (Karl Alzner and Brooks Orpik) struck oil again 7:46 after returning to the ice with a wrister. It was the lone score of the final 40 minutes, giving the Capitals their first victory of the season.

Holtby earns the win after saving 21-of-22 (95.5%), while Greiss saved 26-of-28 (92.9%) in the loss.

Washington‘s victory sets the DtFR Game of the Day series at 5-2-0, favoring the home sides by four points over the roadies.

What a day yesterday, huh? Let your remote celebrate the Sabbath too, as there’s only three games to be played this evening. The action gets green lit at 6 p.m. when Anaheim visits the New York Islanders, followed an hour later by Buffalo at Edmonton (NHLN/SN1). Finally, Carolina at Vancouver gets its start at 10 p.m. (SN1). All times eastern.

The one that really attracts me is Sabres at Oilers. I know this will be the third time we’ll feature Edmonton, but is anybody really complaining about watching Connor McDavid?

Unknown-2Unknown-5As hinted at before, McDavid’s early success has only been eclipsed by Toronto‘s Auston Matthews – the man who replaced as the most recent No. 1 pick. Through two games, he’s already scored three times (tied for third-most in the league). Pair that with three more assists, and his six points ties Boston‘s Brad Marchand for best in the league. We certainly need more evidence, but every time the center takes the ice I begin to believe a little bit more in the return of the Oil.

Detracting from this matchup is the condition, and ultimate absence of Buffalo‘s Jack Eichel. The second pick in last year’s NHL Entry Draft scored 24 goals last year en route to 56 points. Almost ironically, his second year has already started like McDavid’s rookie season. Last year, McDavid missed time early in the season. Now it’s Eichel’s turn, as he suffered a high ankle sprain on Wednesday. All I know is Dylan Strome, the third pick of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, had better be careful next year.  Something’s coming. Something bad.

In all seriousness, Eichel and McDavid have only squared off once in three possible meetings, which is probably two fewer than the NHL’s marketing and promotions departments would have liked. That being said, it looks like ex-Islander Kyle Okposo will be making his Sabres debut this evening, with the possibility of ex-Panther Dmitry Kulikov also suiting up. So that’s exciting, right?

Just so you know, in comparison to Eichel v McDavid, the answer is no.

Some players to watch include Buffalo‘s Robin Lehner (.924 save percentage last season) and Matt Moulson (scored Sabres’ lone goal of the 2016-’17 season) & Edmonton‘s Leon Draisaitl (two goals [tied for sixth-most in the league] for four points [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]), McDavid (six points [tied for the league-lead] on three goals [tied for third-most in the NHL] and three assists [tied for third-most in the league], and +4 [tied for third-best in the NHL]), Kris Russell (three assists [tied for third-most in the league]) and Cam Talbot (two wins [tied for the league-lead]).

When’s the last time you heard this one: the Oilers are going to win this game. Vegas has Edmonton favored at -175 minimum in their home contest. I’ve gone against the odds a couple times this season (and, I would also like to point out that I’ve been right both times), but this is not one of those games. Edmonton pulls off the victory.

Hockey Birthday

  • Darius Kasparaitis (1972-) – The defenseman’s career may have found its start on Long Island, but Kasparaitis is most known for his time in Pittsburgh. Last year, he co-founded a Floridian real estate development company.
  • Paul Kariya (1974-) – This left winger was the fourth player selected in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, and with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim he played for nine seasons and 606 games. Oh, and he’s also a movie star. Check that footage from D3: The Mighty Ducks. Get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.