Down the Frozen River

Tag: Steven Stamkos

  • Penguins force Game 7 with 5-2 victory over Lightning

    By: Nick Lanciani

    Pittsburgh Penguins LogoWell, Evgeni Malkin made true on his words— there will be a Game 7 in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

    Sidney Crosby’s 6th goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs proved to be the game-winner for the Pittsburgh Penguins after a third period surge by the Tampa Bay Lightning, as Pittsburgh walked out of Amalie Arena on Tuesday night in Game 6 with a 5-2 win.

    Matt Murray was in net for the Penguins after some speculation over whether or not Marc-Andre Fleury would return to the goal after his Game 5 flub in a 4-3 overtime comeback for Tampa on Sunday. Instead, it was Murray in goal for the Pens, staving off elimination for at least one more game day. Tuesday night was the first time this postseason that Pittsburgh was facing elimination.

    Murray made 28 saves on 30 shots on goal for a .933 SV% in the 60 minute effort, while Andrei Vasilevskiy came up with just 29 saves on 33 shots faced for a .879 SV% in the loss.

    After an overturned goal early into the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning fell out of rhythm and the Pittsburgh Penguins settled in for an eventual 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

    Here’s how it happened.

    Lightning fans in attendance jumped from their seats as Jonathan Drouin thought he had scored on a beautiful rebound from Matt Murray into the wide open net vacated by an out of position Penguins goaltender (Murray). But with 14:48 to go in the first period, Penguins head coach, Mike Sullivan, used his only coach’s challenge of the night to review the goal and see if the play entering the zone was offside.

    As Tampa entered the zone, Drouin had lifted his left leg, which was trailing his already-in-the-offensive-zone- right leg as the puck just barely crossed the blue line, thereby making Drouin offside. Multiple angles confirmed it and the call on the ice was overturned. The Lightning were offside and had not scored as a result. Play resumed, scoreless.

    Drouin’s overturned goal was the 8th overturned goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Evgeni Malkin added fuel to his own fiery passion for the game upon a retaliation infraction at 14:20 of the first period. Malkin received a two-minute minor penalty for slashing Tampa Bay captain, Ryan Callahan, and gave the Lightning their first power play of the night. The Bolts were unable to capitalize on the man advantage and the Penguins escaped a bad situation with one of their top forwards in the box with no harm.

    Two penalties in a span of 41 seconds doomed the Lightning on their penalty kill unit’s first appearance of the night. Anton Stralman was called for interference on a subjectively early/on time hit, depending who you ask, on Tom Kuhnhackl at 17:09 of the 1st and Victor Hedman was called for delay of game for sending the puck over the glass at 17:50 of the 1st period. With Tampa’s top defensive pair (Stralman and Hedman) in the box, Pittsburgh went to work on a 5-on-3 power play opportunity.

    Phil Kessel hacked at a flubbed pass from Sidney Crosby and ended up putting the puck at the back of the net for his 9th goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Crosby (9) and Malkin (9) picked up the assists on the power play goal at 18:46 of the period.

    With the goal, the Lightning gained a man back on the penalty kill and were able to escape the ensuing 5-on-4 advantage for Pittsburgh unscathed.

    After twenty minutes of play, the Penguins led 1-0 on the scoreboard and 14-4 in shots on goal, continuing their trend of outshooting the Lightning, as they entered Game 6 with a 196-131 shots on goal advantage over Tampa. The Bolts led in hits (7-6), faceoff wins (16-4), giveaways (7-3) and blocked shots (6-4), meanwhile Pittsburgh went 1/2 on the man advantage in the first and the Lightning went 0/1.

    Tampa started the second period with an extra jump in their step that they quickly lost and found themselves trailing the Penguins all over the ice.

    Kris Letang made it a 2-0 game with his 2nd goal of the playoffs scored on a nice wrist shot with a Penguin screening Vasilevskiy in front of the net. Conor Sheary (5) and Nick Bonino (12) notched the primary and secondary assists on Letang’s goal at 7:40 of the 2nd period.

    Ondrej Palat slashed Carl Hagelin just past halfway in the second period and received a minor penalty, which put Pittsburgh on the power play at 10:06 of the period. The Penguins were unable to convert on the man advantage and the Lightning were successful on the penalty kill without committing too many turnovers.

    With 25.6 seconds left in the period, Sidney Crosby made it a 3-0 game with his 6th goal of the playoffs on a wicked impressive wrist shot that beat Vasilevskiy. The lone assist went to Patric Hornqvist and was his 4th assist of the postseason.

    Forty minutes were in the books and the Penguins looked all but sure to have the game easily wrapped up by the second intermission, but Tampa Bay’s Brian Boyle had other plans in mind, at least in terms of entertainment value for the Lightning fans that packed Amalie Arena on Tuesday night.

    Unknown-1Five and a half minutes into the third period, Boyle fired a shot that bounced off a Pittsburgh skater and wound its way behind Murray to get Tampa on the board and cut the Penguins lead to two. The goal was Boyle’s 4th of the postseason and made it 3-1.

    Trailing by two, the Lightning drummed up several more quality chances before finally breaking through Murray’s brick wall with another goal from Boyle. His 5th of the playoffs, Boyle’s second goal of the night was assisted by Slater Koekkoek (1) and Jonathan Drouin (9) at 12:43 of the 3rd period. Plenty of time left for Tampa to make things interesting.

    But nearly five minutes after Brian Boyle earned his 1st career multi-goal playoff game, Bryan Rust skated in on Vasilevskiy on a costly breakaway.

    With a deke and a forehanded shot that slid past Vasilevskiy’s leg pad, Rust scored his 3rd goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs and put the Penguins back up by two. Chris Kunitz (5) and Olli Maatta (3) were credited with the assists on Rust’s goal at 17:52 of the third period in what was now a 4-2 game.

    Neither team committed a penalty in the third period and both teams swapped a couple of chances before Jon Cooper had to make the call to pull Vasilevskiy in favor of an extra attacker with about 75 seconds left in the game.

    Bonino promptly tallied an empty net goal for Pittsburgh at 19:06 of the third period and made it an unreachable three-goal lead. His 3rd of the playoffs, Bonino’s goal made it 5-2 and was assisted by Ben Lovejoy (2).

    With the win, road teams improved to 42-41 this postseason. In the entire 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, road teams were 38-51. Pittsburgh improved to 47-1 when leading after two periods this season (regular and postseason combined). Their only loss came in Game 5 to the Lightning.

    The Penguins last rallied from a 3-2 series deficit in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings. Having forced a Game 7 for Thursday night, the Penguins have a chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009. Tampa is looking to go to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history, having lost in last year’s Stanley Cup Final run to the defending champion, Chicago Blackhawks.

    The Lightning also defeated the New York Rangers on the road in Game 7 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Final, for the record.

    Pittsburgh and Tampa have faced each other in a Game 7 only one other time in Stanley Cup Playoff history. They met each other in the 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and the series came down to a 1-0 victory for the Lightning in Game 7 on the road at CONSOL Energy Center.

    Some final stats from Game 6…

    The Penguins led in shots on goal (34-30) and blocked shots (15-8), while the Lightning dominated in hits (26-18), faceoff wins (39-31), giveaways (17-7) and takeaways (8-6). Pittsburgh finished the night 1/3 on the power play and Tampa ended Tuesday’s action 0/1 on the man advantage.

    The Lightning were still without Ben Bishop and Steven Stamkos and it is unclear whether or not either one of them, if not both, may return for Game 7 on Thursday night in Pittsburgh at CONSOL Energy Center.

    Puck drop for Thursday is scheduled for 8 PM ET and the game can be viewed on NBCSN in the United States and on CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.

  • The Duo of Johnson and Kucherov lead The Bolts to a Comeback Win, Now Lead Series 3-2.

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    The Pittsburgh Penguins blew two leads; a 2-0 lead, and a 3-2 lead late in the game and lost a heartbreaker to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Overtime. This win puts the Lightning up 3-2 in the series and are now one win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row.

    The Pittsburgh Penguins looked to get back into the win column tonight at home. After dominating Games 2 and 3, the Pens were outworked in a Game 4 loss. Pittsburgh was welcomed to see that WWE Hall-of-Fame legend The Heartbreak Kid aka Shawn Micheals would be in attendance for tonight game. The Penguins 3rd line, better known as the HBK line, made up of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel has been on fire as of late. Shawn Michaels has inspired all Pittsburgh fans to now call this line the HBK line and the Pens invited him to come out to the game and he did! So Michaels hoped he could see the Pens pull out a win.

    The Penguins turned to their 12-year vet, goaltender Marc-André Fleury for his first start since March 31st. Fleury has not played since the end of March because he was battling a concussion. The Penguins were going with newcomer Matt Murray in hopes that he could spark the team and go on a long run. They were right and Murray was the backbone of the team and led them all the way to Round 3, the Conference Finals. Sadly, after Murray’s last performance in the Game 4 loss, he was pulled at the start of the third period due to the fact that he let in 4 goals on 30 total shots for a measly .867 SV%. Murray has appeared in a total of 13 games in this year’s playoffs going 9-4-1 with a .923 SV% and a 2.33 GAA. Pittsburgh is making the right call going with Fleury for Game 5. This game is also Fleury’s 100th career playoff game.

    Now on to the long list of injuries. As expected, Tampa goalie Ben Bishop, who has been out since his lower-body-injury in Game 1, is sidelined again for the 4th consecutive game. Lightning superstar Steven Stamkos, who also has not played since the end of March due to a blood clot, is still not able to suit up. The Penguins have scratched winger Conor Sheary who has not scored a goal since April 23rd. Beau Bennett has been given the nod to play tonight. This will be Bennett’s first game of the playoffs this year, and his first game since April 5th at Ottawa. On the other hand, Pens lockdown D-man Trevor Daley will miss the rest of the postseason, no matter how far Pittsburgh gets, due to a broken left ankle suffered in Game 4. Pittsburgh will welcome D-man Olli Maatta back into the lineup. Maatta has been dealing with a lingering injury suffered against the Capitals in Round 2 and some poor play that has held him in and out of the lineup. The Penguins will have to rely on the play of D-man Kris Letang more if they will want to shut down the strong forwards of the Lightning.

    The game started out with both teams flying out of the gate and being very physical with each other. The two clubs combined for a total of 13 hits within the first nine minutes of the opening frame. So you could tell that both teams aren’t messing around and want an early edge over the other squad.

    We would get the game’s first penalty with them being coincidental. Tampa defender Matt Carle and Pens center Evgeni Malkin both getting the gate for unsportsmanlike conduct at 9:11 of the first period. We would play 4 on 4 hockey for 1:25 until the Lightning would get the games first true penalty. Tampa center Tyler Johnson would get a two-minute call for hooking Pens captain Sidney Crosby. With this call the Pens would play 35 seconds of 4 on 3 man advantage, they were not able to score or apply pressure. The coincidental would expire and both teams would get their players back and they would play a regular 5 on 4 power play for 1:25. Pittsburgh only managed one shot and Tampa killed it off.

    Pittsburgh would get on the board first, but would barely beat the buzzer. It all started with a great play by Pens winger Chris Kunitz who would get the puck on the left-hand boards by the blue line in his own zone. Kunitz would make a beautiful play to chip the puck past pinching Tampa defender Anton Stralman and up to a streaking teammate, Bryan Rust in the neutral zone. Rust would grab the pass and beat opposing defender Victor Hedman wide and go in on a mini breakaway. Rust was able to hold of the back checking of Hedman and get off a wimpy shot in close that was saved by a stretched out Andrei Vasilevskiy and his right pad. The rebound was sat right on top of the goalie crease for anyone to grab. Meanwhile behind the play, Pens defender Brian Dumoulin jumped up in the play when he realized that the time was running out in the period. Dumoulin beat Tampa grinder Brian Boyle to the net and shoveled home the rebound with .7 seconds left in the period to put the Pens on the board at 1-0. This goal was Dumoulin’s first goal in 103 games (he did not score in the regular season playing 79 games), his first ever playoff goal, and his second ever career goal in the NHL.

    The second period would start with it being all Penguins, and as a result, the Pens would double their lead. Pittsburgh would bring the puck into the zone with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby skating down to the right boards to the hash marks. Crosby would post up and spot Pens D-man Olli Maatta wide open in the middle of the ice at the point. Maatta would receive the pass and quickly fire a shot pass to winger Carl Hagelin who peeled open at the top of the goalie crease on the left side. Hagelin would direct the pass to fellow winger Patric Hornqvist on top of the crease to the right side. Hornqvist would then tap the puck into the wide open net to increase the Pens lead to 2-0. This was Hornqvist’s 7th goal of the playoffs.

    Tampa would get their first power play of the game, and their first real chance to cut into Pittsburgh’s deficit. Pens D-man Kris Letang would get a two-minute trip to the box for slashing Tampa youngster Jonathan Drouin. Tampa’s power play has been struggling lately as they are just 2/8 in the series coming into Game 5. The Lightning would get their best chance of the game with the PP coming to an end. Defender Victor Hedman would get the puck at the point and come right down the middle of the ice. Hedman would fake a shot and dish it off to center Tyler Johnson at the side of the net. Johnson had the whole top of the net to shoot at. He one-timed the puck and was completely ROBBED by the stretched out toe of goalie Marc-André Fleury as he pushed from his left to his right to keep the score at 2-0 and kill the penalty.

    Just about four minutes later the Pens would go back to their second manpower advantage of the game. Tampa winger Nikita Kucherov would get the gate for holding winger Bryan Rust. The Penguins would only get two shots on the net and could not capitalize.

    Pittsburgh Penguins Logo

    The Tampa Bay Lightning would then score just 13 seconds after they killed off the penalty at 13:15 of the middle period. Tampa defender Andrej Sustr would hold the puck in at the right side hash marks and play the puck around the back of the net. Winger Alex Killorn would grab the puck at the left side hash marks skate in a foot and absolutely let a laser of a wrist shot go that beat Fleury high short side over the blocker to get the Bolts on the board and trim the Pens lead to 2-1. Tampa would then tie the game up 1:10 seconds later at the 14:25 mark. Again Lightning D-man Andrej Sustr would carry the puck into the same spot on the right side but he ended up losing the puck. Luckily, grinder Vladislav Namesnikov would pick up the loose puck, carry on towards the net and find an open Nikita Kucherov on the left hash marks in the slot. Namesnikov hit Kucherov right in his wheelhouse and Kucherov let a gnarly one-t snap-shot go into the wide open net before Fleury could get there to tie the game up at 2-2. This was Kucherov’s 10th goal of the playoffs which now puts him in a tie for first in the league with Sharks captain Joe Pavelski.

    Once again, the Pens would strike as the period would expire. Penguins defender Olli Maatta would carry the puck into the zone through the middle and dangle his way past the net and below the goal line on the right side. Maata would stop on a dime, turn around, and feed winger Evgeni Malkin in the slot. Malkin would grab the puck, fight off a falling Tampa defender, turn around, and fire a wrist shot on net. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy would make the save on top of the crease but let the rebound fall right in front of him. Before Vasy could dive and fall on the puck, Pens winger Chris Kunitz would bat the puck out of mid-air just before Vasy could get it with his glove. The puck would go right under Vasy’s body, through his legs, and into the net. The goal came with 50 seconds remaining in the second period to gain the lead back and make it 3-2.

    The Penguins are 46-0-0 (regular season and playoffs) when leading after two periods this season. They are the ONLY team to win every game when leading at this point. So if the Lightning want to be the first to beat them, they will have to jump out early in the final period and gain some momentum.

    With just 2:36 gone in the final period Tampa would go back on the power play. Pens defender Olli Maatta would get a double minor for catching Lightning’s Slater Koekkoek up high with his stick. So Tampa would have a four minutes power play in hopes of tying the game. With around two minutes gone in the four-minute man advantage center, Tyler Johnson would get called for interference on Pens defender Kris Letang. This penalty on Johnson would nullify the rest of Tampa’s power play and they would play 1:53 of 4 on 4 hockey. The 4 on 4 hockey did not result in anything so once Maatta’s double minor expired, the Pens would get a brief 6 seconds of PP time but could not do anything.

    With 3:52 left in the game, Tampa winger Ryan Callahan came down the left-hand side with the puck. Callahan skated to the dot and put a beauty of a wrist shot towards the net. The puck hit Fleury’s jersey near his arm, deflected off the post, and across the goal line but stayed out! Tampa was inches away from tying this contest up. Then just 36 seconds later, Tampa was able to get their tying goal. Winger Nikita Kucherov skating down the left side with the puck and dropped a nice backhand pass to fellow linemate Tyler Johnson at the left boards. Johnson put a shot on the net that was padded aside by Fleury. Regrettably, the puck fell to the boards behind the net where Kucherov was there to pick it up. Kucherov grabbed the puck and instantly wrapped around to the other side of the net and beat Fleury’s pad to the post and knotted this game up at 3-3 with 3:16 to go in the final frame. This was Kucherov’s second goal of the game (11th) which now puts him in sole position of first place for goals.

    The third period ended with the score still the same at 3-3 and went into over time. The only reason why the Penguins never scored again so far in the game is because the stellar play of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasy was amazing making a numerous amount of clutch saves. This is the second time in the series these two teams would play OT. Pittsburgh won Game 2 in OT. Tampa is 2-1 in OT games in the playoffs and Pittsburgh is 3-1.

    As the overtime started, both teams were hoping to end this game early. That hope was fulfilled by one team, that team? The Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa’s first line was in on the attack in the offensive zone. Lightning winger Ondrej Palat, who was on the right side hash marks, passed the puck up to Nikita Kucherov in the middle at the blue line. Kucherov accepted the pass and immediately passed the puck over to D-man Jason Garrison who slide down to the dot of the left-hand circle. Garrison put a wrist shot on net that ended up deflecting off center Tyler Johnson’s backside and ricocheting into the net for the game-winner only 53 seconds into extra time.

    Tampa Bay was led by their goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy who turned away 31 out of 34 shots for a nice .912 SV% while Pittsburgh’s Marc-André Fleury stopped 21 out of 25 shots for a terrible .840 SV% in his first game back. The Pens coach Mike Sullivan will have another big question on who to start for Game 6. Pittsburgh led in shots (34-25), faceoffs (37-31), hits (43-37), blocked shots (22-8), and giveaways (9-1) whereas Tampa Bay did not lead in any category. The teams were tied in penalty minutes (8-8) and both teams were 0/3 on the PP.

    These two powerhouse squads will suit back up for Game 6 where Tampa will look to close out the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Final Tuesday night at 8 pm.

  • April 4 – Day 172 – Stamkos-less Lightning

    Chicago scored for the first half hour, and Boston tried to level in their half, but to no avail, falling 6-4 in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    For our NFL fans, the scoring of this contest reminded me of the Seahawks–Panthers NFC Divisional game I attended this last postseason, as Chicago scored six goals before ceding to Boston the remainder of the time.  The Hawks‘ first goal was at the 13:14 mark of the first period, an Artem Anisimov power play wrister, assisted by Second Star of the Game Artemi Panarin and Brent Seabrook (his 31st helper of the season).  The only other goal of the frame was First Star Patrick Kane’s unassisted backhander, his 41st of the season.  More from him after the intermission.

    Like, immediately after, as he scored his second of three only 54 seconds after returning to the ice (his 42nd tally of the season).  This one was assisted by Anisimov and Panarin.  Jonathan Toews got in on the action 1:06 later with his 26th tally of the seaosn, assisted by Marian Hossa and Andrew Ladd.  Panarin’s third point was a game-winning slap shot at the 5:17 mark, assisted by Kane (his 57th helper of the seaosn) and Anisimov.  Chicago‘s final goal of the day completed Kane’s hat trick, assisted by Panarin (his 44th helper of the season) and Seabrook at the 14:16 mark.  After that, it was all Bruins, starting with David Pastrnak’s wrister at the 19:44 mark, assisted by David Krejci (his 44th helper of the season) and Zdeno Chara.  Eleven seconds later, and with only five ticks remaining in the second period, Third Star Patrice Bergeron set the score at 6-2 with his 31st tally of the season, assisted by Adam McQuaid and Brad Marchand.

    Goal #3 for the Bruins found the back of the net at the 2:39 mark of the third, courtesy of a Bergeron wrister assisted by Loui Eriksson and Torey Krug.  The final goal was struck nine seconds before the 10 minute mark from Brad Marchand, assisted by Krug (his 38th helper of the season) and and Bergeron.  Chicago‘s defense and goal-tending finally started taking the comeback seriously, and didn’t let Boston score again to ensure the 6-4 victory.

    Scott Darling earns the win after saving 42 of 46 shots faced (91.3%), while Jonas Gustavsson takes the loss, saving 10 of 12 (83.3%).  He replaced starter Tuukka Rask following Toews’ goal, saving 18 of 22 (81.8%).

    Chicago‘s win snaps the two game winning streaks by road teams in the DtFR Game of the Day series, setting the season record at 79-45-18, leaning towards the home sides by 37 points.

    We’ve got our second straight day of five games today, starting with two at 7 p.m. eastern (Tampa Bay at the New York Islanders [NHLN/TVAS] and the New York Rangers at Columbus), followed half an hour later by Florida at Toronto.  8 p.m. eastern marks the puck drop of Arizona at St. Louis, and 10 p.m. eastern brings with it our nightcap, Los Angeles at Vancouver.

    We’ve got a few divisional rivalries being played this evening (New York at Columbus, Florida at Toronto and Los Angeles at Vancouver), but only Tampa Bay at New York is between two playoff qualifiers.  In efforts to catch the most exciting game of the night, let’s head to Brooklyn!

    Unknown-1New York Islanders Logo

     

     

     

     

    Tonight’s game will be Tampa Bay‘s 18th appearance in the DtFR Game of the Day series, where they own a 11-4-2 record.  Under our watchful eye, they last played to a 5-2 home loss to the rival Panthers on March 26.  New York has made nine appearances in the series and own a 2-6-1 record.  They last appeared in their five-goal shutout home loss to the Penguins on Saturday.

    The 45-28-5 Tampa Bay Lightning are currently the second best team in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference.  They’ve gotten to that position by playing the fourth best defense in the league, paired with the 12th best offense, but that could all be going up in smoke with Steven Stamkos’ blood clot putting him on injured reserve.

    Lucky for them, they still have the backbone of their team, their defense.  Led by Victory Hedman’s 131 blocks, the Lightning have allowed only 2236 shots to reach 34-20-4 Ben Bishop and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.5% for only 186 goals against, the fourth fewest in the NHL.  That success continues on the penalty kill, where the Bolts have killed 84.3% of their infractions, allowing only 38 power play goals, the fifth best rate in the league.  Further improving on those efforts, Tampa has also scored seven shorthanded goals, one more than the league average.

    Before his season ended prematurely, the offense centered around Stamkos.  His 216 shots has led the Bolts to firing the puck 2236 times, with a solid 9.4% of those finding the back of the net for 217 goals (again, led by Stamkos’ 36 goals, six more than Nikita Kucherov), the 12th most in the league.  He’ll be missed on the power play as well, as his 14 power play goals has led Tampa to 43 extra man goals (Kucherov has the second most at nine) with their 16.29% success rate that already ranked sixth worst in the league before his exit.

    Tampa Bay‘s last game was a 3-1 victory over the visiting Devils on Saturday.  Two more points in the standings between now and this Saturday will clinch them a playoff spot, and I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that they’d like to get both tonight.  Should they do that and Florida lose in Toronto, they will move into first in the Atlantic Division.

    The 42-26-9 New York Islanders currently sit in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference, qualifying them for the first wildcard spot.  To get into that spot, they’ve played the 11th best defense in the league, paired with the 13th best offense.  A statistical analysis of the Isles‘ game can be found within Saturday’s article.

    New York hasn’t played since their embarrassing 5-0 loss on home ice to the Penguins on Saturday, but a win tonight could pull them into a tie with the Rangers for third in the division should the Blueshirts fall in Columbus this evening.

    Tonight’s game will be the series deciding game, as both teams split the two meetings at Amalie Arena earlier this year.  The last time they met was March 25, when Tampa won 7-4.

    Some players to keep an eye on include New York‘s Thomas Greiss (.924 save percentage [tied for fifth best in the league]) or Jaroslav Halak (2.3 GAA [10th best in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (two GAA [leads the league], .929 save percentage [second best in the league], six shutouts [tied for second most in the league] and 34 wins [sixth most in the league]).

    This one is a tough one to predict since Stamkos is out.  Although Tampa‘s defense is still intact and should easily handle New York‘s scoring attempts, there’s no telling what the Bolts will do on the other end.  I’m inclined to pick the Islanders in a close one simply because they’re playing at home.

  • Colby’s Corner Meets Connor- Part 1: Atlantic

    Colby’s Corner Meets Connor will be a four part series, where Connor Keith and I (Colby) will pick, by division, the MVP of the forwards, defensemen and a goalies. This week, the two of us will discuss the Atlantic Division.

     Forwards

    Connor: Steven Stamkos

    Stamkos is my choice for top forward in the division, based almost Unknown-1solely on his goals scored.  As of the time of my writing this, he has 36 goals, tying him for fourth in the league and first in the division.   Although that is only one more tally than Brad Marchand, Stamkos’ 64 points is eight clear of Marchand’s efforts.

    What also separates the two is the expectations placed upon each.  Boston is not 100% dependent on the success of Marchand.  They have Patrice Bergeron and Loui Eriksson, who combine to score 56 goals before Marchand adds his 35 tallies.  In Tampa Bay, the only other skater with more than 15 goals is Nikita Kucherov, meaning that Stamkos’ efforts are even more vital on the offensive end for his club.

    Colby: Jaromir Jagr

    This may surprise some people, but I think the ageless wonder needs a lot of credit for where these young Florida Panthers are. The 44-year-old legend has another 60 plus points this season. Jagr is top 25 in the league in points this season and he is a huge part of one of the strongest lines in the league this year – that line being Jagr, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov.  I wouldn’t say his numbers are what makes him an MVP; his experience and age are why I am handing him the MVP of the division. It’s also hard to argue with Stamkos’s numbers as Connor pointed out. But if we went by players’ actions, Stamkos’ contract issues and the fact he may leave, I will take my leader in Jagr.

    Defender

    Colby: Erik KarlssonUnknown-2

    I don’t think there is much question here. Erik Karlsson is by far the best defenseman in this division and the reason there is no argument is because of 63: the number of assists this beast has this year. However, the only issue I have with him is the horrible plus minus he has, a measly plus 2. This reminds me of Alex Ovechkin from a few seasons ago, who led the league for worst plus minus.

    Ottawa has an issue to solve, as they still haven’t found a good partner for Karlsson in their organization. If Ottawa can find that player, the Senators would probably have the 3rd division spot this year. Instead, they and the rest of the Canadian teams are golfing. Or maybe curling; isn’t there still snow and ice up there?

    Connor: Victor Hedman

    It’s another Bolt for my defensive pick.  Colby and I both agree that Erik Karlsson is the best in the division, but I want to bring a different look to the situation than simply both of us agreeing here.  I think Victor Hedman is a valid choice to complete the pair with Karlsson.  His 36 assists lead his squad, and he has the third most points (44) for a +23 on the year.  On the other end, his 130 blocks lead the Lightning by a solid margin.

    Goaltenders

    Connor: Ben Bishop

    I hate to pick all Lightning, but Bishop is probably the easiest of these three choices.  He ranks second best in the league in both GAA (2.02) and save percentage (.928), giving him 33 wins (tied for sixth most), six of which were shutouts (tied for second most).  After falling in the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago, he is one of, if not the reason Tampa has no tee times scheduled anytime soon.

    Colby: Roberto LuongoUnknown-2

    I am selecting another Florida goalie, however this one is from the Panthers. I think Bishop is a strong candidate for this position, but Luongo is another goalie whose numbers are very similar. Luongo has 32 wins in the season and a .921 save percentage. Both of these goalies are tops in the league; I think handing out an MVP to either one would be fair. I think the numbers from earlier in the year would give the advantage to Luongo. However, late in the season, he is slowing down as he grows another year older, which is affecting his play.

  • March 26 – Day 163 – It’s so much more than a cup… It’s the Governor’s Cup

    With four goals in the third period, Tampa Bay beat the Islanders 7-4 to reclaim the Atlantic Division lead.

    It was actually New York that opened the scoring, courtesy of a Brock Nelson slap shot at the 8:54 mark (his 25th tally of the season), assisted by Ryan Strome and Josh Bailey, but the Lightning leveled the score 4:48 with tip-in goal from Nikita Kucherov (his 29th tally of the season), assisted by Alex Killorn and Andrej Sustr.  With his 14th goal of the season, Vladislav Namestnikov gave the Bolts a 2-1 lead only nine seconds after Kucherov’s tally, the score that would hold until the intermission.

    5:02 after resuming play, Steven Stamkos connected on a slap shot for his 35th goal of the season, assisted by First Star of the Game Jason Garrison and Kucherov.  New York finally scored their second goal 23 seconds later on an unassisted Shane Prince wrister, his fifth of the season, to set the score at 3-2.  With 3:42 remaining in the period, the Isles leveled the game on a Johnny Boychuk tip-in, assisted by John Tavares (his 31st helper of the season) and Bailey, which held into the deciding third frame.

    The Bolts took another lead at the 6:03 mark of the third when Sustr connected on a slap shot, assisted by Garrison (his fifth helper of the season), but the Islanders leveled again 19 seconds later on a Nikolay Kulemin snapper, assisted by Frans Nielsen (his 28th helper of the season) and Travis Hamonic.  Tampa‘s game-winning goal was scored with 9:51 remaining in regulation, a Tyler Johnson wrister (his 13th tally of the season) assisted by Second Star Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Marchessault.  Twenty-three seconds later, Garrison scored the first insurance goal, assisted by Palat and Marchesault (his 10th helper of the season).  The final goal was an empty netter from Victor Hedman, assisted by Matthew Carle and Palat (his 19th helper of the season).

    Ben Bishop gets the win after saving 27 of 31 shots faced (87.1%), while Thomas Greiss takes the loss after saving 35 of 41 (85.4%).

    After that result, the DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 74-42-17, favoring the home sides by 35 points over the roadies.

    I could be wrong, but I believe that this is the most exciting day of hockey we’ve had all season as, with the exception of New Jersey and Vancouver, every team is in action today.  Business opens at 1 p.m. eastern when Winnipeg visits Buffalo (BELL TV), followed an hour later by Pittsburgh at Detroit (SN).  3 p.m. eastern is the beginning of Minnesota at Colorado, which precedes the last matinee of the day, Dallas at San Jose, by 60 minutes.  Six games drop the puck at the usual starting time of 7 p.m. eastern (Boston at Toronto [CBC], the New York Rangers at Montréal [NHLN/TVAS/SN], Anaheim at Ottawa [CITY/TVAS2], Florida at Tampa Bay, St. Louis at Washington and the New York Islanders at Carolina), with Columbus at Nashville trailing an hour later.  The trio of nightcaps end the night at 10 p.m. eastern (Philadelphia at Arizona, Edmonton at Los Angeles [CBC] and Chicago at Calgary [SN]).

    Whew… I know.  Gotta catch our breath!

    There’s five divisional rivalries being played this evening (Minnesota at Colorado, Boston at Toronto, Florida at Tampa Bay, New York at Carolina and Edmonton at Los Angeles), and three are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Dallas at San Jose, Florida at Tampa Bay and St. Louis at Washington).

    Although both Troy Brouwer and Seth Jones will be making noticeable first returns to previous home arenas (the Verizon Center and Bridgestone Arena, respectively), the battle for the Atlantic Division lead is just too important to ignore.

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    This will be Florida‘s ninth time featured in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 4-3-1 record.  The last time they were featured was March 14, when they lost 3-2 in Brooklyn.  With yesterday’s win over the Islanders, Tampa Bay improves their series record to 11-3-2.

    The 41-24-9 Florida Panthers currently occupy second place in the Atlantic Division (due to losing a regulation+overtime wins tiebreaker) and fourth in the Eastern Conference.  To get to that position, they’ve played the fifth stingiest defense, paired with the seventh highest scoring offense in the league.

    Led by Dmitry Kulikov’s 111 blocks, Florida has allowed only 2183 shots to reach 31-18-6 Roberto Luongo and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.2% for only 182 goals against, the fifth fewest in the NHL.  Although the defense as a whole has found incredible success, the penalty kill has not been as good, neutralizing only 81.25% of their infractions for 45 power play goals against, the 15th worst rate in the league.

    Even with Vincent Trocheck’s team leading 168 shots, the Panthers have fired the puck only 2108 times, with a whopping 9.7% finding the back of the net for 211 goals, the seventh most in the league.  Yet again, the special teams have let Florida down, as their power play has converted only 17.06% of their opportunities for 43 extra man tallies (led by Aleksander Barkov’s nine power play goals), the ninth worst rate in the league.

    Florida‘s last game was Thursday, a 4-1 victory in Boston.  As both squads are tied on points, the Panthers will take the division lead as long as they win tonight, but a regulation loss paired with a Bruins win will reduce their lead for second place to three points.

    The 43-26-5 Tampa Bay Lightning are currently first in the Atlantic Division and third in the Eastern Conference.  The third best defense in the league has gotten them to that position, which has been backed by the 12th best offense.

    Led by Hedman’s 128 blocks, the Lightning has allowed only 2096 shots to reach 31-19-4 Ben Bishop and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.5% for 173 goals against, the third fewest in the NHL.  That success continues even when a man down, as Tampa‘s sixth ranked penalty kill neutralizes 83.71% of opposing power plays, allowing only 36 extra man goals.  Further improving on that solid rate, they’ve scored seven shorthanded goals, two more than the league average.

    Even with Stamkos’ team leading 199 shots, the Bolts have fired the puck only 2125 times, with a solid 9.4% finding the back of the net for 202 goals (led by Stamkos’ 35 tallies), the 12th most in the league.  Tampa‘s hole continues to be their power play, as their 16.46% success rate, good for 40 extra man goals (led by Stamkos’ 13 power play tallies), ranks fifth worst in the NHL.

    With last night’s 7-4 victory over the Islanders, Tampa Bay enters this game riding a three game winning streak.  A win tonight officially breaks the tie for the division lead, but a loss could give them only a three point lead over third place.

    Florida has already won the Governor’s Cup this season, regardless of tonight’s outcome, with a 3-1-0  against the Bolts – but this game is much more important than an in-state trophy series.  The last time they met was January 23, a 5-2 Panthers victory in Sunrise.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Florida‘s Luongo (four shutouts [tied for sixth most in the league], .922 save percentage [tied for seventh best in the league] and 31 wins [tied for eighth most in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (2.05 GAA [second best in the league], .927 save percentage [second best in the league], five shutouts [tied for second most in the league] and 32 wins [tied for sixth most in the league]), Hedman (+23 [10th best in the league]) and Stamkos (35 goals [tied for fourth most in the league]).

    I don’t see a lot of goals being scored in this one.  Given the fact that neither of Florida‘s special teams give them much of an advantage and that the Lightning are playing at home, I think I’m leaning towards a Tampa Bay winner.  That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Panthers pull off the upset, proven by them already winning the season series.

  • March 25 – Day 162 – Island dwellers head to the beach

    Philadelphia used three unanswered goals in the third to earn the road win in Colorado in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    The Avalanche opened the scoring at the 23:05 mark with a deflection from Nick Holden, assisted by Mikhail Grigorenko and Mikkel Boedker (his 31st helper of the season), but the Flyers leveled the score 9:31 later with the only other goal of the period, courtesy of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who was assisted by Shayne Gostisbehere (his 24th helper of the season) and Andrew MacDonald.

    Colorado took another lead 6:13 after returning to the ice when John Mitchell connected on a wrister, assisted by Andreas Martinsen and Francois Beauchemin (his 26th helper of the season), which held for 8:04.  Philly leveled the score then on a slap shot from Radko Gudas, assisted by Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek (his 40th helper of the season).  Nineteen seconds later, the Flyers had their first lead of the game, one they would not yield, when First Star of the Game Claude Giroux fired a wrister assisted by Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn (his 28th helper of the season).  The lone insurance goal was from Ryan White on an empty net (his 11th tally of the season), assisted by Bellemare and Gudas.

    Third Star Steve Mason earns the win after saving 32 of 34 shots faced (94.1%), while Second Star Semyon Varlamov takes the loss, saving 41 of 44 (93.2%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 73-42-17, favoring the home sides by 33 points over the roadies.

    Busy Thursdays and Saturdays usually have light Fridays in between, and today is no different, as there’s only three contests taking place this evening.  The night gets started at 7 p.m. eastern with Washington visiting New Jersey, followed half an hour later by the New York Islanders at Tampa Bay (NHLN/TVAS).  Finally, Vancouver at St. Louis, this evening’s nightcap, drops the puck at 8 p.m. eastern (SN).

    Washington at New Jersey is the only division rivalry taking place this evening, while New York at Tampa Bay is the only game between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs.

    Although last night’s games effected the slated potential playoff matchup between these two, it still must be our focus due to the quality of the competition.

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    This will be New York‘s eighth contest in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 2-4-1 record, with their most recent being March 17’s 4-2 loss in Nashville.  Tampa Bay has been featured 15 times before tonight’s game, and own a 10-3-2 record in such occasions, with their most recent being Tuesday’s 6-2 beat down on the visiting Red Wings.

    The 39-24-9 New York Islanders currently occupy fourth in the Metropolitan Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference, good enough for the first wildcard spot.  To get to that position, they’ve played the seventh best defense, paired with the 13th best offense.

    Even with Calvin de Haan’s 172 blocks, the Islanders have allowed 2167 shots to reach 19-10-4 Thomas Greiss and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.3% for 182 goals against, the seventh fewest in the league.  Those efforts have been led be the penalty kill, whose 85.44% success rate, allowing only 30 power play goals, ranks second best in the NHL, and has six shorthanded goals to boot, one more than the league average.

    John Tavares’ 220 shots has helped lead the Isles to 2141 attempts, with 9.2% finding the back of the net for 200 goals (led by Tavares’ 27 tallies), the 13th most in the league.  That success has continued to the power play, where they also rank 13th in the league with their 19.31% success rate, good for 39 power play goals (led by Kyle Okposo’s seven extra man tallies).

    New York‘s last game was a 3-1 home victory over the Senators on Wednesday.  Since Pittsburgh lost last night, a win tonight would propel the Isles back into the third division qualifier.

    The 42-26-5 Tampa Bay Lightning currently occupy second place in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference.  They’ve gotten to that position by playing the fourth best defense in NHL, paired with the 10th best offense.  A more in-depth analysis of Tampa‘s game can be found within Tuesday’s article.

    The Bolts enter tonight’s game on a two game winning streak, with their most recent being Tuesday’s 6-2 victory over the Red Wings.  Increasing that streak to three with a win tonight would propel the Bolts back into the division lead.

    This will be only the second of three meetings between these squads this season.  New York won the first game 3-2 in Amalie Arena on November 28.

    Some players to keep an eye on include New York‘s Greiss (.927 save percentage [third best in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Ben Bishop (2.02 GAA [second best in the league], .928 save percentage [second best in the league], five shutouts [tied for second most in the league] and 31 wins [tied for seventh most in the league]) and Steven Stamkos (34 goals [tied for fourth most in the league]).

    Not only is Tampa the better team, but they’re also riding a winning streak and have a home-ice advantage.  The Bolts should be back in the division lead after this game is through.

  • May 22 – Day 159 – Final round: Wings v. Bolts

    With three unanswered goals in the second period, the Nashville Predators earned their first and only win over the Los Angeles Kings this season in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    Third Star of the Game James Neal waited until 27:37 had ticked off the clock before scoring his wrister (his 28th tally of the season), assisted by Second Star Ryan Johansen.  5:40 later, First Star Mike Fisher took advantage of a too many men penalty to double the Preds‘ lead, assisted by Neal and Johansen (his 38th helper of the season).  To close the period’s scoring, Filip Forsberg connected on a backhander to give Nashville their third and eventual game-winning goal, assisted by Craig Smith and Roman Josi (his 41st helper of the season).

    The Kings must have gotten a stern talking to from Darryl Sutter during the intermission, as they scored only 32 seconds after resuming play on a Drew Doughty wrister (his 14th tally of the season), assisted by Rob Scuderi and Anze Kopitar.  7:28 later, they pulled within a goal with a tally from Alec Martinez, assisted by Tanner Pearson and Kopitar (his 43rd helper of the season).  Nashville got back to scoring at the 11:45 mark of the third period when Johansen connected on a tip-in, assisted by Shea Weber (his 29th helper of the season) and Calle Jarnkrok.  The Predators‘ final goal was courtesy of Josi on an empty net with only 29 seconds remaining in the game, setting the score at the 5-2 final.

    Pekka Rinne earns the victory after saving 28 of the 30 shots he faced (93.3%), while Jonathan Quick takes the loss, saving 24 of 27 (88.9%).  He was replaced after the second intermission by Jhonas Enroth, who saved only one of the two shots he faced (50%).

    After Nashville‘s win, the DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 71-41-17, favoring the home squads by 31 points over the roadies.

    If you like days with lots of games, this is the Tuesday for you.  10 games will be played tonight, starting with the first two at 7 p.m. eastern (Buffalo at Carolina [BELL TV] and Philadelphia at Columbus), followed half an hour later by three more (Anaheim at Montréal [RDS], Washington at Ottawa [RDS2] and Detroit at Tampa Bay [TVAS]).  8 p.m. eastern brings with it the beginning of the Vancouver at Winnipeg contest, which is trailed 30 minutes later by two more (Los Angeles at Minnesota [NBCSN] and Dallas at Chicago).  Edmonton visits Arizona at 10 p.m. eastern, and this evening’s nightcap, St. Louis at San Jose, drops the puck half an hour later.

    Four of tonight’s games are divisional rivalries (Philadelphia at Columbus, Detroit at Tampa Bay, Dallas at Chicago and Edmonton at Arizona) and three are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Detroit at Tampa Bay, Dallas at Chicago and St. Louis at San Jose).

    In addition for the reasons listed above, the Detroit–Tampa Bay game is also a rematch of an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal from a season ago, so we’ll head down to Amalie Arena.

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    Tonight’s game will be Detroit‘s 11th in our Game of the Day series, where they own a 6-3-1 record.  Their most recent showing in such a game was last Tuesday, when they fell in Philadelphia 4-3.  Tampa Bay has been featured 14 times before this game, and own a 9-3-2 record in the series.  We last focused on them March 8, when they fell 1-0 in overtime to the Bruins on home ice.

    The 36-25-11 Detroit Red Wings currently sit in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and eighth in the Eastern Conference, good enough for the second wildcard spot.  To get to that position, they’ve played the 15th best defense, paired with the 10th worst offense.  A more in-depth analysis of the Wings‘ game can be found within last Tuesday’s article.

    Detroit is currently riding a two game winning streak, with their most recent being Saturday’s 5-3 victory at Florida.  While a win tonight would pull the Red Wings into a tie with the Islanders for the first wildcard (a tie they lose on games played), it could, more importantly, expand the gap between themselves and the pressing Flyers to three points, but the Wings will need some help from Columbus this evening for that to happen.

    The 41-26-5 Tampa Bay Lightning currently occupy second in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference.  Defense has been the name of the game in Tampa, as they’ve given up the fourth fewest goals, and have scored the 13th most to boot.

    Led by Victor Hedman’s 126 blocks, the Lightning have allowed only 2071 shots to reach 30-19-4 Ben Bishop and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.5% for only 171 goals against, the fourth fewest in the league.  The Bolts‘ penalty kill has been especially strong, neutralizing 84.09% of their infractions for only 35 power play goals against, the fifth best rate in the NHL.  Further improving on that tough defense, the Tampa Bay has also scored seven shorthanded goals, two more than the league average.

    The offense has been only a step behind.  Even with Steven Stamkos’ team-leading 197 shots, the Lightning have fired the puck only 2091 times, but 9.2% have found the back of the net for 196 goals (led by Stamkos’ 33 tallies), 13th most in the league.  The biggest hole in Tampa‘s game is most certainly their power play, as their 16.32% success rate, good for only 39 extra man goals (led by Stamkos’ 13 power play tallies), ranks fifth worst in the NHL.

    Tampa Bay‘s most recent game was Saturday, a 2-0 win in Arizona.  With a win tonight, the Bolts would reclaim the Atlantic Division lead (even if only by a games played tiebreaker), but a loss leaves the door open for the Bruins to take over second place should they beat the Rangers in tomorrow’s game.

    Detroit leads the season series 2-1-0 going into the final game, but it was Tampa Bay who earned the 3-1 win last time these squads met, which took place February 3 on the very surface they’ll meet on this evening.  Of course, this season’s regular season series carries extra weight, as these squads met in the first round of last season’s playoffs.  It was a tightly contested series, as the Bolts needed the full seven games to finally knock off the Wings.

    Some players to keep an eye on include Detroit‘s Petr Mrazek (.924 save percentage [tied for sixth best in the league] and 2.21 GAA [seventh best in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (2.02 GAA [leads the league], .928 save percentage [second best in the league], five shutouts [tied for second most in the league] and 30 wins [tied for seventh most in the league]) and Stamkos (33 goals [tied for seventh most in the league]).

    Both of these teams are playing on even rest, with the minor exception that the Lightning traveled home over the weekend versus Detroit just making the drive across the Sunshine State. Frankly, Tampa Bay is the better team in this game, both offensively and defensively, and I expect them to play as such.

  • March 8 – Day 145 – Another lesson in alliteration: Bruins and Bolts battle for… the Atlantic Division

    It took overtime, but Boston was able to continue their season dominance against the Panthers, beating them in a wild 5-4 game.

    It took only 34 seconds before Boston took the lead on a Third Star of the Game Patrice Bergeron tip-in (his 27th tally of the season), who was assisted by Brad Marchand and First Star Lee Stempniak.  They followed that up with a score at the seven minute mark, scored by David Pastrnak, who was assisted by Matt Beleskey (his 20th helper of the season) and Dennis Seidenberg.  The Bruins‘ lead became three goals 5:22 later with a Brett Connolly snap shot (his ninth tally of the season), assisted by Noel Acciari.  Florida got a goal back with 3:12 remaining in the period on an Aleksander Barkov wrister, assisted by Jaromir Jagr (his 28th helper of the season) and Jonathan Huberdeau, but Boston returned their lead to three with Bergeron’s second score of the period, assisted by Stempniak (his 30th helper of the season) and Marchand.  The 4-1 score held into the first intermission.

    Both goals in the second period belonged to the Panthers, with their first occurring only 3:15 after resuming play.  It was Second Star Jiri Hudler’s slap shot that found the back of the net, assisted by Huberdeau (his 31st helper of the season) and Erik Gudbranson.  Only 2:53 later, Florida pulled within a goal with a Jussi Jokinen power play wrister, assisted by Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck (his 22nd helper of the season).  The 4-3 score held through the rest of the second period and into the second intermission.

    Florida got their leveler with 4:43 remaining in regulation from Hudler, assisted by Alex Petrovic and Nick Bjugstad (his 13th helper of the season).  Neither team was able to break the tie, forcing the game into three-on-three overtime.

    The Bruins earned the bonus point with a minute remaining in that overtime period, assisted by Ryan Spooner (his 33rd helper of the season) and John-Michael Liles.

    Tuukka Rask earns the win after saving 47 of 51 shots faced (92.2%), while Al Montoya takes the overtime loss, saving all but the winner (93.8%).  He replaced Roberto Luongo after the first period, who saved only 12 of 16 (75%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 64-37-14, favoring the home side by 29 points over the roadies.

    It’s a relatively busy Tuesday in the NHL, especially in comparison to yesterday’s slate of games.  The action starts at 7 p.m. eastern with three contests (the New York Rangers at Buffalo, Ottawa at Carolina and Detroit at Columbus), followed half an hour later by three more (Pittsburgh at the New York Islanders [NBCSN], Dallas at Montréal and Boston at Tampa Bay).  Nashville at Winnipeg drops the puck at 8 p.m. eastern, followed an hour later by this evening’s nightcap San Jose at Edmonton.

    Half of tonight’s games are between divisional rivals (Pittsburgh at New York, Boston at Tampa Bay, Nashville at Winnipeg and San Jose at Edmonton), but only two are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Pittsburgh at New York and Boston at Tampa Bay).

    I know that we just featured Boston yesterday, but a regulation win by the Bruins this evening would propel them into first place in the Atlantic Division from third, and that is too much to ignore.

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    This will be Boston‘s 16th appearance in the Game of the Day series, where they now own a 6-8-1 record after last night’s contest.  Tampa Bay has been featured 13 times before tonight, and own a 9-3-1 record in such games.  Their most recent showing in the series was a 4-1 victory in Boston on February 28.

    The 37-23-7 Boston Bruins currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference.  To get to that position, they’ve played the third best offense in the league, but it’s been paired with the 12th worst defense.  A more in-depth analysis of their game can be found within yesterday’s article.

    After yesterday’s win, the Bruins are within a point of the division lead.  However, if they want to capture that position, they will need to earn their two points within the 60 minutes of regulation, as Tampa Bay would win the games played tiebreaker should the squads end the evening tied at 83 points apiece.

    The 39-23-4 Tampa Bay Lightning currently occupy the top spot in the Atlantic Division and second in the Eastern Conference.  To get to that position, they’ve played the fourth best defense in the league, backed by the ninth best scoring offense.

    Led by Victor Hedman’s 106 blocks, the Bolts have allowed only 1853 shots to reach 28-17-3 Ben Bishop and co, of which they’ve collectively saved 92.3% for only 155 goals against, the fourth fewest in the NHL.  That success continues on the power play, where Tampa Bay kills 83.76% of their penalties, allowing only 32 power play goals, the seventh best rate in the league.  Further improving that rate, Tampa also has five shorthanded goals to their credit, led by Brian Boyle’s two.

    The offense doesn’t trail too far behind.  Even with Steven Stamkos’ 179 shots, the Bolts have fired the puck only 1892 times, but 9.5% have found the back of the net for 183 goals (led by Stamkos’ 29 tallies), ninth most in the league.  Even though Tampa has an incredibly accurate offense, their power play is still nowhere near as effective as they would like, as it is successful on only 17.19% of attempts, the sixth worst rate in the league, for 38 power play goals (led by Stamkos’ 12 extra man tallies).  Even worse, the Lightning have allowed six shorthanded goals, one more than the league average.

    Last night’s 4-2 loss in Philadelphia ended Tampa Bay‘s nine game winning streak, but they don’t have the opportunity to think about what could have been.  Tonight, they need to defend their division lead from the Bruins, and push Florida away in the process.

    Tampa Bay currently leads the season series 2-1-0, with the most recent meeting being the 4-1 Tampa Bay win in Boston on February 28.  Interestingly, neither team has been able to hold home ice, so perhaps Jon Cooper and Claude Julien both use that statistic to their own ends in their pregame speeches.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Boston‘s Bergeron (28 goals [tied for ninth most in the league]), Marchand (33 goals [third most in the league] and +22 [tied for eighth best in the league]) and Rask (four shutouts [tied for fifth most in the league] and 27 wins [tied for seventh most in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (2.06 GAA [leads the league], .926 save percentage [fourth best in the league] and 28 wins [sixth most in the league]) and Stamkos (29 goals [tied for seventh most in the league]).

    I think this one goes the Bruins way.  Both teams played last night, but the Lightning had to travel home all the way from the City of Brotherly Love.  And, of course, neither team has won on home ice against the other.  Sounds reason enough for me!  Should Tampa reverse that trend, it will be largely up to their defense to keep shots off Bishop’s net.

  • February 28 – Day 136 – The Bolts won’t stop winning!

    It took five games for the Predators to beat the Blues, but they made up for it by scoring five unanswered goals in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    The winning tally was the only one of the first period.  Third Star of the Game Craig Smith’s wrister found the back of the net at the 5:39 mark, assisted by Mike Ribeiro and First Star Filip Forsberg (his 20th helper of the season).

    Only 54 seconds into the second, Nashville doubled their lead with a Forsberg wrister.  He was assisted by Petter Granberg and Smith (his 10th helper of the season).  4:45 later, Forsberg struck again with another wrister, assisted by Smith and Ribeiro, for his 25th tally of the season.  The lead become 4-0 with 5:11 remaining as Forsberg’s snap shot, assisted by Ribeiro (his 36th helper of the season) and Roman Josi, earned him a hat trick.

    The final goal entered the net at the 4:37 mark of the third, courtesy of Colin Wilson’s wrister (his fifth goal of the season), assisted by Viktor Arvidsson and Anthony Bitetto.

    Second Star Pekka Rinne earns the shutout victory, saving all 28 shots he faced.  Jake Allen takes the loss, allowing four goals on 23 shots (82.6%).  He was replaced by Pheonix Copley at the 15:34 mark of the second period for this first NHL action.  He made five of six saves (83.3%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 61-33-12, favoring the home sides by 33 points over the roadies.

    To close out the week, there’s seven games taking place this Sunday.  The first of those drops the puck at 12:30 p.m. eastern when Washington visits Chicago, followed two and a half hours later by two matchups (Florida at Minnesota and St. Louis at Carolina).  6:30 p.m. eastern features the puck drop of the Tampa Bay at Boston game, trailed 30 minutes later by San Jose at Vancouver.  At 9 p.m. eastern, Los Angeles visits Anaheim, with this evening’s nightcap, the New York Islanders at Edmonton, dropping the puck half an hour later.

    Three of the games are between division rivals (Tampa Bay at Boston, San Jose at Vancouver and Los Angeles at Anaheim), and another set of three are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Washington at Chicago, Tampa Bay at Boston and Los Angeles at Anaheim).

    Although the Washington–Chicago game is very tempting, the game that has the most immediate impact on the standings actually occurs in New England, as the Bolts and B’s are currently tied for second place in the Atlantic Division.

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    This evening’s game will be Tampa Bay‘s 13th in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 8-3-1 record.  Their most recent under our scrutiny was their 4-0 victory in New Jersey on Friday.  Boston has also been featured this week, as they beat Pittsburgh 5-1 on Wednesday, which set their series record at 5-7-1 in 13 games played.

    The 35-22-4 Tampa Bay Lightning currently sit in second place in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference.  They’ve no doubt earned that position, as they play the sixth-best defense in the league paired with the ninth-best offense.

    Thanks in part to Victor Hedman’s team-leading 102 blocks, the Lightning have allowed only 1727 shots to reach 25-17-3 Ben Bishop and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.1% for only 149 goals against, sixth-fewest in the league.  That strong defensive play has continued to the penalty kill, as Tampa‘s 82.97% kill rate for only 31 power play goals against ranks eighth-best in the NHL.  That rate improves even more when the Bolts‘ short-handed goals are taken into account, of which they have five (led by Brian Boyle’s two), one more than the league average.

    The offense trails right behind, led by Steven Stamkos’ 170 shots for 1775 attempts on goal, of which a solid 9.4% have found the back of the net for 169 tallies (led by Stamkos’ 27 tallies), ninth-most in the league.  It has been the power play where Tampa Bay‘s biggest weakness can be found, as they connect on only 16.98% of opportunities (fifth-worst in the league) for 36 power play goals (led by Stamkos’ dozen).  To make matters worse, the Bolts have also given up six shorties on the season.

    Tampa is currently riding a five-game winning streak, the second-best active streak in the NHL right now.  Their most recent showing was the four-goal shutout at The Rock Friday night.  In addition to breaking their tie with the Bruins for second place, a win also has the potential to pull the Bolts within two points of the in-state rival Panthers should they lose to the Wild.

    The 34-22-6 Boston Bruins currently occupy third place in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference.  Their efforts have been almost entirely on the offensive end, as the defense and goaltending have allowed the 11th-most goals.  A more in-depth analysis of their game can be found within Wednesday’s article.

    The Bruins are currently riding a two-game winning streak, with their most recent being their 4-1 victory in Carolina Friday night.  Just like Tampa, a win by Boston earns the Bruins outright ownership to second place in the division, with them potentially trailing Florida by only two points for the division lead.

    The season series is currently tied at 1-1-0, with both teams earning a win on the road.  Their most recent meeting Halloween, when the Bruins won 3-1 in Tampa.

    Some players to keep an eye on in this evening’s game include Boston‘s Brad Marchand (32 goals [tied for third-most in the league]) and Tuukka Rask (four shutouts [tied for fourth-most in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (2.09 GAA [second-best in the league], .924 save percentage [tied for seventh-best in the league] and 25 wins [tied for ninth-most in the league])and Stamkos (27 goals [seventh-most in the league]).

    Although neither team has been able to defend home ice yet in this season this year, I think Boston‘s poor defense allows Stamkos and co. to earn two points and focus in on catching the Panthers for the top seed in the Atlantic.

  • February 26 – Day 134 – Tampa Bay victory streak

    The Nashville Predators did the impossible and beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 in the United Center in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    The Hawks earned the first score of the night after 25:27 of play, courtesy of a Brent Seabrook slap shot.  His 12th tally of the season was assisted by Jiri Sekac and Erik Gustafsson.  The Predators leveled the score only 3:41 later on a Viktor Arvidsson wrister, assisted by Mike Fisher.  The one-all score held into the second intermission.

    The game-winner found the back of the net with 1:51 remaining in regulation, scored by Calle Jarnkrok (his 12th of the season), assisted by Fisher’s second helper of the evening.  Nashville‘s lone insurance goal was an empty netter from Miikka Salomaki, assisted by Ryan Ellis (his 19th helper of the season).

    With Nashville‘s win, the DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 60-32-12, favoring the home squads by 33 points over the roadies.

    For a Friday night, it’s a fairly light schedule for the NHL.  Only five games are taking place, and the first three drop the puck at 7 p.m. eastern (Tampa Bay at New Jersey, Minnesota at Washington and Boston at Carolina).  Following the completion of those games, Edmonton at Anaheim drop the puck at 10 p.m. eastern, which is trailed 30 minutes later by this evening’s nightcap, Buffalo at San Jose.

    Edmonton at Anaheim is the only divisional rivalry taking place this evening, and none of the games are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs.

    Since New Jersey has the opportunity to move into the playoffs with a win, let’s focus in on their game against the Lightning.

    Unknown-1New Jersey Devils Logo

     

     

     

     

    Tonight’s game will be Tampa Bay‘s 12th in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 7-3-1 record.  Their most recent was a 4-2 victory in Pittsburgh on February 20.  New Jersey hasn’t played since their 3-2 shootout loss to the Capitals on February 6.  That result set their record at 1-2-1 record in the series.

    The 34-22-4 Tampa Bay Lightning currently occupy second in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference.  Although it has taken time, the Bolts have both ends of the ice working smoothly, as their defense ranks eighth-best and the offense is ninth.  A more in-depth analysis of their game can be found within last Saturday’s article.

    The Lightning are currently riding a four-game winning streak, with their most recent being a 2-1 against the Coyotes on Tuesday.  With a win tonight in Jersey, Tampa ensures that they maintain second in the Atlantic.  Should the Devils win, the Bolts could fall into third if the Bruins beat the Canes.

    The 30-25-7 New Jersey Devils sit in fifth in the Metropolitan Division and ninth in the Eastern Conference, just outside the playoff picture.  Jersey is led by the fifth-best defense, but it has been paired with the worst offense, the main reason for their current position.

    Led by Adam Larsson’s 119 blocks, the Devils have allowed only 1735 shots to reach 26-19-6 Cory Schneider and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.6% for only 143 goals against, 5th fewest in the league.  That success has carried into the penalty kill, where Jersey‘s 82.81% kill rate ranks 10th-best in the league, allowing only 33 power play goals against.  New Jersey has also scored five short-handed goals this season, one more than the league average.

    That defense has been necessary, as the offense ranks worst in the league.  Even with Kyle Palmieri’s team-leading 1499 shots, the Devils have fired the puck only 1499 times, with 9.1% finding the back of the net for 138 goals (led by Palmieri’s 23 tallies).  Even though the overall offense has not played well, New Jersey‘s power play ranks ninth-best in the league, successful on 21.16% of power plays for 40 power play goals (led by Palmieri’s eight).  That being said, the special team has given up seven shorties, three more than the league average.

    Jersey‘s most recent game was a 6-1 loss in Columbus last night.  With a win tonight, Jersey would jump the Penguins for the second wildcard position, but a loss puts them at risk of falling behind Carolina in the race for the playoffs.

    This is the first game between these squads this season.  Last year, New Jersey won the season series 2-0-1, but the Bolts did take the Devils to overtime in their only game played at The Rock.

    Some players to keep an eye on include New Jersey‘s Schneider (2.11 GAA [third-best in the league], four shutouts [tied for fourth-most in the league], .926 save percentage [sixth-best in the league] and 26 wins [tied for sixth-most in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Ben Bishop (2.13 GAA [fourth-best in the league], .923 save percentage [tied for eighth-best in the league] and 24 wins [tied for ninth-most in the league]) and Steven Stamkos (26 goals [tied for seventh-most in the league]).

    The same thing that has held New Jersey back all season will be their Achilles heel tonight: they will be unable to score any goals, which will allow Tampa to earn two points.