Down the Frozen River

Tag: Trevor van Riemsdyk

  • 2017 NHL Expansion Draft: Available Lists

    30 of the NHL’s 31 teams submitted their protected lists on Saturday by 5 p.m. ET. The protected lists were made public at 10:30 a.m. ET (originally scheduled for 10 a.m.) on Sunday. Additionally, the available lists of players to choose from were released.

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    The Vegas Golden Knights will now spend the next few days constructing their roster, with the full reveal set for Wednesday night during the NHL Awards Ceremony at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

    Vegas can choose from the following available players:

    Anaheim Ducks

    Forwards: Spencer Abott, Jared Boll, Sam Carrick, Patrick Eaves, Emerson Etem, Ryan Garbutt, Max Gortz, Nicolas Kerdiles, Andre Petersson, Logan Shaw, Nick Sorensen, Nate Thompson, Corey Tropp, Chris Wagner

    Defensemen: Nate Guenin, Korbinian Holzer, Josh Manson, Jaycob Megna, Jeff Schultz, Clayton Stoner, Sami Vatanen

    Goalies: Jonathan Bernier, Jhonas Enroth, Ryan Faragher, Matt Hackett, Dustin Tokarski

    Arizona Coyotes

    Forwards: Alexander Burmistrov, Shane Doan, Tyler Gaudet, Peter Holland, Josh Jooris, Jamie McGinn, Jeremy Morin, Mitchell Moroz, Chris Mueller, Teemu Pulkkinen, Brad Richardson, Garret Ross, Branden Troock, Radim Vrbata, Joe Whitney

    Defensemen: Kevin Connauton, Jamie McBain, Zbynek Michalek, Jarred Tinordi

    Goalies: Louis Domingue

    Boston Bruins

    Forwards: Matt Beleskey, Brian Ferlin, Jimmy Hayes, Alex Khokhlachev, Dominic Moore, Tyler Randell, Zac Rinaldo, Tim Schaller, Drew Stafford

    Defensemen: Linus Arnesson, Chris Casto, Tommy Cross, Alex Grant, John-Michael Liles, Adam McQuaid, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow

    Goalies: Anton Khudobin, Malcolm Subban

    Buffalo Sabres

    Forwards: William Carrier, Nicolas Deslauriers, Brian Gionta, Derek Grant, Justin Kea, Matt Moulson, Cal O’Reilly, Cole Schneider

    Defensemen: Brady Austin, Mathew Bodie, Zach Bogosian, Justin Falk, Taylor Fedun, Cody Franson, Josh Gorges, Dmitry Kulikov

    Goalies: Anders Nilsson, Linus Ullmark

    Calgary Flames

    Forwards: Brandon Bollig, Lance Bouma, Troy Brouwer, Alex Chiasson, Freddie Hamilton, Emile Poirier, Hunter Shinkaruk, Matt Stajan, Kris Versteeg, Linden Vey

    Defensemen: Matt Bartkowski, Ryan Culkin, Deryk Engelland, Michael Kostka, Brett Kulak, Ladislav Smid, Michael Stone, Dennis Wideman, Tyler Wotherspoon

    Goalies: Brian Elliott, Tom McCollum

    Carolina Hurricanes

    Forwards: Bryan Bickell, Connor Brickley, Patrick Brown, Erik Karlsson, Danny Kristo, Jay McClement, Andrew Miller, Andrej Nestrasil, Joakim Nordstrom, Lee Stempniak, Brendan Woods

    Defensemen: Klas Dahlbeck, Dennis Robertson, Philip Samuelsson, Matt Tennyson

    Goalies: Daniel Altshuller, Eddie Lack, Michael Leighton, Cam Ward

    Chicago Blackhawks

    Forwards: Kyle Baun, Andrew Desjardins, Marcus Kruger, Pierre-Cedric Labrie, Michael Latta, Brandon Mashinter, Dennis Rasmussen, Jordin Tootoo

    Defensemen: Brian Campbell, Dillon Fournier, Shawn Lalonde, Johnny Oduya, Ville Pokka, Michal Rozsival, Viktor Svedberg, Trevor van Riemsdyk

    Goalies: Mac Carruth, Jeff Glass

    Colorado Avalanche

    Forwards: Troy Bourke, Gabriel Bourque, Rene Bourque, Joe Colborne, Turner Elson, Felix Girard, Mikhail Grigorenko, Samuel Henley, John Mitchell, Jim O’Brien, Brendan Ranford, Mike Sislo, Carl Soderberg

    Defensemen: Mark Barberio, Mat Clark, Eric Gelinas, Cody Goloubef, Duncan Siemens, Fedor Tyutin, Patrick Wiercioch

    Goalies: Joe Cannata, Calvin Pickard, Jeremy Smith

    Columbus Blue Jackets

    Forwards: Josh Anderson, Alex Broadhurst, Matt Calvert, Zac Dalpe, Sam Gagner, Brett Gallant, William Karlsson, Lauri Korpikoski, Lukas Sedlak, T.J. Tynan, Daniel Zaar

    Defensemen: Marc-Andre Bergeron, Scott Harrington, Jack Johnson, Kyle Quincey, John Ramage, Jaime Sifers, Ryan Stanton

    Goalies: Oscar Dansk, Anton Forsberg, Joonas Korpisalo

    Dallas Stars

    Forwards: Adam Cracknell, Justin Dowling, Cody Eakin, Ales Hemsky, Jiri Hudler, Curtis McKenzie, Mark McNeill, Travis Morin, Patrick Sharp, Gemel Smith, Matej Stransky

    Defensemen: Mattias Backman, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Ludwig Bystrom, Nick Ebert, Justin Hache, Dan Hamhuis, Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak, Greg Pateryn, Dustin Stevenson

    Goalies: Henri Kiviaho, Maxime Lagace, Kari Lehtonen, Antti Niemi, Justin Peters

    Detroit Red Wings

    Forwards: Louis-Marc Aubry, Mitch Callahan, Colin Campbell, Martin Frk, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Drew Miller, Tomas Nosek, Riley Sheahan, Ben Street, Eric Tangradi

    Defensemen: Adam Almquist, Jonathan Ericsson, Niklas Kronwall, Brian Lashoff, Dylan McIlrath, Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul

    Goalies: Jared Coreau, Petr Mrazek, Edward Pasquale, Jake Paterson

    Edmonton Oilers

    Forwards: David Desharnais, Justin Fontaine, Matt Hendricks, Roman Horak, Jujhar Khaira, Anton Lander, Iiro Pakarinen, Tyler Pitlick, Zach Pochiro, Benoit Pouliot, Henrik Samuelsson, Bogdan Yakimov

    Defensemen: Mark Fayne, Andrew Ference, Mark Fraser, Eric Gryba, David Musil, Jordan Oesterle, Griffin Reinhart, Kris Russell, Dillon Simpson

    Goalies: Laurent Brossoit, Jonas Gustavsson

    Florida Panthers

    Forwards: Graham Black, Tim Bozon, Jaromir Jagr, Jussi Jokinen, Derek MacKenzie, Jonathan Marchessault, Colton Sceviour, Michael Sgarbossa, Reilly Smith, Brody Sutter, Paul Thompson, Shawn Thornton, Thomas Vanek

    Defensemen: Jason Demers, Jakub Kindl, Brent Regner, Reece Scarlett, MacKenzie Weegar

    Goalies: Reto Berra, Sam Brittain, Roberto Luongo

    Los Angeles Kings

    Forwards: Andy Andreoff, Justin Auger, Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford, Andrew Crescenzi, Nic Dowd, Marian Gaborik, Jarome Iginla, Trevor Lewis, Michael Mersch, Jordan Nolan, Teddy Purcell, Devin Setoguchi, Nick Shore

    Defensemen: Matt Greene, Vincent Loverde, Brayden McNabb, Cameron Schilling, Rob Scuderi, Zach Trotman

    Goalies: Jack Campbell, Jeff Zatkoff

    Minnesota Wild

    Forwards: Brady Brassart, Patrick Cannone, Ryan Carter, Kurtis Gabriel, Martin Hanzal, Erik Haula, Zack Mitchell, Jordan Schroeder, Eric Staal, Chris Stewart, Ryan White

    Defensemen: Victor Bartley, Matt Dumba, Christian Folin, Guillaume Gelinas, Alexander Gudbranson, Gustav Olofsson, Nate Prosser, Marco Scandella, Mike Weber

    Goalies: Johan Gustafsson, Darcy Kuemper, Alex Stalock

    Montreal Canadiens

    Forwards: Daniel Carr, Connor Crisp, Jacob De La Rose, Bobby Farnham, Brian Flynn, Max Friberg, Charles Hudon, Dwight King, Stefan Matteau, Torrey Mitchell, Joonas Nattinen, Steve Ott, Tomas Plekanec, Alexander Radulov, Chris Terry

    Defensemen: Brandon Davidson, Alexei Emelin, Keegan Lowe, Andrei Markov, Nikita Nesterov, Zach Redmond, Dalton Thrower

    Goalies: Al Montoya

    Nashville Predators

    Forwards: Pontus Aberg, Cody Bass, Vernon Fiddler, Mike Fisher, Cody McLeod, James Neal, P.A. Parenteau, Adam Payerl, Mike Ribeiro, Miikka Salomaki, Colton Sissons, Craig Smith, Trevor Smith, Austin Watson, Colin Wilson, Harry Zolnierczyk

    Defensemen: Taylor Aronson, Anthony Bitetto, Stefan Elliott, Petter Granberg, Brad Hunt, Matt Irwin, Andrew O’Brien, Adam Pardy, Jaynen Rissling, Scott Valentine, Yannick Weber

    Goalies: Marek Mazanec

    New Jersey Devils

    Forwards: Beau Bennett, Michael Cammalleri, Carter Camper, Luke Gazdic, Shane Harper, Jacob Josefson, Ivan Khomutov, Stefan Noesen, Marc Savard, Devante Smith-Pelly, Petr Straka, Mattias Tedenby, Ben Thomson, David Wohlberg

    Defensemen: Seth Helgeson, Viktor Loov, Ben Lovejoy, Andrew MacWilliam, Jon Merrill, Dalton Prout, Karl Stollery, Alexander Urbom

    Goalies: Keith Kinkaid, Scott Wedgewood

    New York Islanders

    Forwards: Josh Bailey, Steve Bernier, Eric Boulton, Jason Chimera, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck, Stephen Gionta, Ben Holmstrom, Bracken Kearns, Nikolay Kulemin, Brock Nelson, Shane Prince, Alan Quine, Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom

    Defensemen: Calvin de Haan, Matthew Finn, Jesse Graham, Thomas Hickey, Loic Leduc, Scott Mayfield, Dennis Seidenberg

    Goalies: Jean-Francois Berube, Christopher Gibson, Jaroslav Halak

    New York Rangers

    Forwards: Taylor Beck, Chris Brown, Daniel Catenacci, Jesper Fast, Tanner Glass, Michael Grabner, Marek Hrivik, Nicklas Jensen, Carl Klingberg, Oscar Lindberg, Brandon Pirri, Matt Puempel

    Defensemen: Adam Clendening, Tommy Hughes, Steven Kampfer, Kevin Klein, Michael Paliotta, Brendan Smith, Chris Summers

    Goalies: Magnus Hellberg, Antti Raanta, Mackenzie Skapski

    Ottawa Senators

    Forwards: Casey Bailey, Mike Blunden, Alexandre Burrows, Stephane Da Costa, Christopher DiDomenico, Nikita Filatov, Chris Kelly, Clarke MacArthur, Max McCormick, Chris Neil, Tom Pyatt, Ryan Rupert, Bobby Ryan, Viktor Stalberg, Phil Varone, Tommy Wingels

    Defensemen: Mark Borowiecki, Fredrik Claesson, Brandon Gormley, Jyrki Jokipakka, Marc Methot, Patrick Sieloff, Chris Wideman, Mikael Wikstrand

    Goalies: Mike Condon, Chris Driedger, Andrew Hammond

    Philadelphia Flyers

    Forwards: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Greg Carey, Chris Conner, Boyd Gordon, Taylor Leier, Colin McDonald, Andy Miele, Michael Raffl, Matt Read, Chris VandeVelde, Jordan Weal, Dale Weise, Eric Wellwood

    Defensemen: Mark Alt, T.J. Brennan, Michael Del Zotto, Andrew MacDonald, Will O’Neill, Jesper Pettersson, Nick Schultz

    Goalies: Steve Mason, Michal Neuvirth

    Pittsburgh Penguins

    Forwards: Josh Archibald, Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Carl Hagelin, Tom Kuhnhackl, Chris Kunitz, Kevin Porter, Bryan Rust, Tom Sestito, Oskar Sundqvist, Dominik Uher, Garrett Wilson, Scott Wilson

    Defensemen: Ian Cole, Frank Corrado, Trevor Daley, Tim Erixon, Cameron Gaunce, Ron Hainsey, Stuart Percy, Derrick Pouliot, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Streit, David Warsofsky

    Goalies: Marc-Andre Fleury

    San Jose Sharks

    Forwards: Mikkel Boedker, Barclay Goodrow, Micheal Haley, Patrick Marleau, Buddy Robinson, Zack Stortini, Joe Thornton, Joel Ward

    Defensemen: Dylan DeMelo, Brenden Dillon, Dan Kelly, Paul Martin, David Schlemko

    Goalies: Aaron Dell, Troy Grosenick, Harri Sateri

    St. Louis Blues

    Forwards: Kenny Agostino, Andrew Agozzino, Kyle Brodziak, Jordan Caron, Jacob Doty, Landon Ferraro, Alex Friesen, Evgeny Grachev, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jori Lehtera, Brad Malone, Magnus Paajarvi, David Perron, Ty Rattie, Scottie Upshall, Nail Yakupov

    Defensemen: Robert Bortuzzo, Chris Butler, Morgan Ellis, Carl Gunnarsson, Jani Hakanpaa, Petteri Lindbohm, Reid McNeill

    Goalies: Jordan Binnington, Carter Hutton

    Tampa Bay Lightning

    Forwards: Carter Ashton, Michael Bournival, J.T. Brown, Cory Conacher, Erik Condra, Gabriel Dumont, Stefan Fournier, Byron Froese, Yanni Gourde, Mike Halmo, Henri Ikonen, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Tye McGinn, Greg McKegg, Cedric Paquette, Tanner Richard, Joel Vermin

    Defensemen: Dylan Blujus, Jake Dotchin, Jason Garrison, Slater Koekkoek, Jonathan Racine, Andrej Sustr, Matt Taormina, Luke Witkowski

    Goalies: Peter Budaj, Kristers Gudlevskis, Jaroslav Janus, Mike McKenna

    Toronto Maple Leafs

    Forwards: Brian Boyle, Eric Fehr, Colin Greening, Seth Griffith, Teemu Hartikainen, Brooks Laich, Brendan Leipsic, Joffrey Lupul, Milan Michalek, Kerby Rychel, Ben Smith

    Defensemen: Andrew Campbell, Matt Hunwick, Alexey Marchenko, Martin Marincin, Steve Oleksy, Roman Polak

    Goalies: Antoine Bibeau, Curtis McElhinney, Garret Sparks

    Vancouver Canucks

    Forwards: Reid Boucher, Michael Chaput, Joseph Cramarossa, Derek Dorsett, Brendan Gaunce, Alexandre Grenier, Jayson Megna, Borna Rendulic, Anton Rodin, Drew Shore, Jack Skille, Michael Zalewski

    Defensemen: Alex Biega, Philip Larsen, Tom Nilsson, Andrey Pedan, Luca Sbisa

    Goalies: Richard Bachman, Ryan Miller

    Washington Capitals

    Forwards: Jay Beagle, Chris Bourque, Paul Carey, Brett Connolly, Stanislav Galiev, Tyler Graovac, Liam O’Brien, T.J. Oshie, Zach Sill, Chandler Stephenson, Chrisitan Thomas, Nathan Walker, Justin Williams, Daniel Winnik

    Defensemen: Karl Alzner, Taylor Chorney, Cody Corbett, Darren Dietz, Christian Djoos, Tom Gilbert, Aaron Ness, Brooks Orpik, Nate Schmidt, Kevin Shattenkirk

    Goalies: Pheonix Copley, Philipp Grubauer

    Winnipeg Jets

    Forwards: Marko Dano, Quinton Howden, Scott Kosmachuk, Tomas Kubalik, J.C. Lipon, Shawn Matthias, Ryan Olsen, Anthony Peluso, Chris Thorburn

    Defensemen: Ben Chiarot, Toby Enstrom, Brenden Kichton, Julian Melchiori, Paul Postma, Brian Strait, Mark Stuart

    Goalies: Michael Hutchinson, Ondrej Pavelec

  • Sick Hands Sunday – Panarin and Lundqvist Can’t Be Stopped, Win This Week’s Crown.

    Hey everyone, I’m back again for a new week of Sick Hands Sunday! I can’t wait to get another version out to all my fans for you all to enjoy! This week was a little easier to pick the winner so let’s get right into it!

    So for the forward portion of this article, like I stated above, it was an easy week to pick the winner! The reason why I say this was because Blackhawks winger Artemi Panarin was on fire over the last week picking up ELEVEN points (4G, 7A) in just four games and in four of his five games this week he tallied at least two points and three power-play goals as well. Here’s how Panarin did game by game.

     

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    Panarin celebrates his goal (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

     

    In Panarin’s first game, he recorded a power play goal in a solid 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars. The “BreadMan” as they like to call him, received a beautiful pass right on the left-hand dot from Duncan Keith. Panarin let a nasty one-timer go from his knee that beat Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen right under the blocker to ice the game and push the score to 3-1. You can see his goal down below:

    In Panarin’s second game they took on the streaking New York Rangers in a battle of hot teams. Panarin recorded two assists in a 2-1 win. His best assist came on the Hawks first goal of the game early in the second period. He came down the left-hand boards, cut towards the dot, and delivered a great pass to a streaking Trevor van Riemsdyk who ripped a shot past Antti Raanta for the opening goal. He added a secondary assist late in the game as well. You can see the great pass down below:

    In the Blackhawks’ third game Panarin picked up three points (2G, 1A) with all three points coming on the power play! Panarin scored his first goal of the game just like he did in his first game. He received a cross-ice pass from Brent Seabrook right in his wheelhouse and Panarin fired the one-timer top cheese to bring the Hawks back a goal at 2-1. Here’s his rocket down below:

    Panarin would tally yet another power play goal in basically the same spot with the same setup. He took another beauty of a pass from Seabrook right on the left side dot and ripped another one-timer far side that beat Isles goalie Thomas Greiss high glove side to tie the game up at four goals a piece.He finished with another assist for three points on the night. Here’s his goal down below:

    In Panarin’s fourth game he had another monster game with three points (1G, 2A) in a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Blues. His first assist came on Brian Campbell‘s tap in goal. Panarin received a cross-ice pass from Patrick Kane on the left side boards. Panarin then spotted Campbell sitting wide open at the back door and he rifled a pass over to him for the tap in goal to tie the game at 3-3. Here’s the beautiful pass below:

    Panarin then put his great hands to use again with another fantastic assist. He spotted a wide-open Niklas Hjalmarsson at the points and sauced him a beaut of a pass at the top and Hjalmarsson fired a one-timer past Jake Allen to tie the game back up at 4-4. Panarin also added the icing to the cake with an empty net goal late in the goal to cap off the come from behind win! Here’s the awesome pass below:

    Panarin’s last game of the week he tallied two assists in a commanding 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. Panarin’s first assist came on Kieth’s first goal of the season. He stopped on the half wall on the left-hand board and passed to Keith who was wide open at the point. Keith let a massive one-time clap bomb go that beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones blocker side to tie the game at 1-1. He would then get another assist on an empty net goal to cap off an amazing week. Here it is below:

     

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    Lundqvist makes a save vs the Stars (Jermone Miron/USA Today Sports)

     

    Now for the goalie part of the article, I decided to go with Rangers goalie, Henrik Lundqvist! Even though he had games where he was benched because of poor play, he still finished with an extremely strong week. He finished with a record of 3-0 a .98 GAA and a .967 SV%. He only gave up three goals on 90 shots in three games and also grabbed one joint shutout with Rannta vs the Stars. If some of you guys don’t know he had to come out of the game because he was decked by Stars goon Cody Eakin, who has later suspended four games, but later returned to complete the shutout! So it was pretty easy to pick “King Henrik” as the winner for this week!

    The Honorable Mention goes to Devan Dubnyk and Eric Staal. I will see you guys next Sunday for another recap of the best player of the week! (Thanks to the Chicago Blackhawks’ Twitter for the videos of the goals!)

  • March 29 – Day 166 – Windy City meets the Land of 10,000 Lakes

    A three goal third period is what separated San Jose from Los Angeles to win 5-2 in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    Los Angeles scored first, thanks to Third Star of the Game Justin Braun firing the puck over glass.  Vincent Lecavalier capitalized on the man advantage with a snap shot, assisted by Alec Martinez (his 21st helper of the season) and Brayden McNabb.  Their lead lasted only 3:45 before Braun amended for his penalty with a pure wrister, assisted by Melker Karlsson and Tommy Wingels (his 10th helper of the season) to level the game.  The one-all score held into the intermission.

    7:55 after returning to the ice, First Star Joe Pavelski scored the Sharks‘ second straight goal with a wrister (his 36th tally of the season), assisted by Tomas Hertl and Brent Burns.  But, just like the first intermission, the second was also a level score, as Lecavalier scored his second of the night with 4:17 remaining in the frame, assisted by Milan Lucic (his 33rd helper of the season) and Tyler Toffoli.

    San Jose took their second lead of the night 4:28 into the third off a Second Star Joe Thornton power play wrister, assisted by Pavelski and Burns (his 43rd helper of the season).  Instead of LA having the leveler like this game went in the first two periods, the Sharks scored an insurance goal with 3:19 remaining from Karlsson, assisted by Wingels and Roman Polak (his 15th helper of the season).  The final goal was an empty netter with 19 seconds remaining, courtesy of Braun (his fourth of the season) after an assist from Dainius Zubrus.

    Martin Jones earns the victory after saving 30 of 32 shots faced (93.8%), while Jonathan Quick takes the loss after saving 26 of 30 (86.7%).

    The Sharks‘ victory snaps the two game winning streak by the road teams and sets the DtFR Game of the Day series at 75-43-18, favoring the home sides by 34 points over the roadies.

    It’s a relatively busy Tuesday, especially if you’re like @kephartc and me and are also keeping an eye on both Team USA soccer matches occurring this evening.  That being said, there are nine games being played this evening, with the action starting at 7 p.m. eastern with three of them (Boston at New Jersey [TVAS], Carolina at the New York Islanders and Buffalo at Pittsburgh [BELL TV]), with two more following half an hour later (Detroit at Montréal [RDS] and Toronto at Florida).  Chicago at Minnesota gets its start at 8 p.m. eastern, trailed 30 minutes later by another pair of games (Colorado at St. Louis [NBCSN] and Nashville at Dallas).  Finally, San Jose at Vancouver, this evening’s nightcap, drops the puck at 10 p.m. eastern.

    Most of tonight’s games are (Carolina at New York, Detroit at Montréal, Toronto at Florida, Chicago at Minnesota, Colorado at St. Louis, Nashville at Dallas and San Jose at Vancouver), while only two are between teams qualifying for the playoffs (Chicago at Minnesota and Nashville at Dallas).  The Chicago–Minnesota game is also a rematch of one of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals.

    You know how this usually goes down – we go with the game that qualifies for all three games!

    Unknown-2Unknown-2This will be Chicago‘s league-leading 23rd appearance in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 10-9-3 record.  Minnesota has made 11 appearances before tonight’s game, and own a 6-5-0 record in such instances.  Both of these teams were last featured March 20, when the Wild won 3-2 in a shootout in Chicago.

    The 44-25-7 Chicago Blackhawks currently occupy third in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference.  They’ve played a balanced game to get this far, allowing the eight fewest goals paired with the ninth most goals scored.

    Even with Trevor van Riemsdyk’s 147 blocks, Chicago has allowed  2333 shots to reach the injured 35-18-4 Corey Crawford and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.3% for only 188 goals against, the eighth fewest in the NHL.  That success has been no help to the defensive special team, as they are successful on only 79.17% of their penalty kills, allowing 45 power play goals in the process.  To improve on that rate, they have scored eight shorthanded goals, two more than the league average.

    Led by Patrick Kane’s 264 shots, the Hawks have fired the puck 2335 times, with 9% finding the back of the net for 212 goals (led by Kane’s 39 tallies), the seventh most in the league.  This special team is much better, as the Blackhawks‘ 21.74% success rate on the power play, good for 50 extra man goals (led by Kane’s 15 power play tallies) ranks fifth best in the NHL.

    Chicago enters tonight’s game riding a two game winning streak, with their most recent coming Sunday, a 3-2 victory in Vancouver.  With another win tonight, the Blackhawks have the opportunity to pull within two points of the conference lead, but they will need help from both Colorado and Nashville for that to happen.  Should they lose and Nashville win, their lead over the Predators for third in the division will fall to only two points.

    The 37-28-11 Minnesota Wild are currently the fifth best team in the Central Division and eighth best in the Western Conference.  To get there, they’ve played the ninth best defense, paired with the 13th best offense.

    Led by Jared Spurgeon’s 149 blocks, Minnesota has allowed only 2188 shots to reach 31-22-6 Devan Dubnyk and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 91.9% for only 189 goals against, the ninth fewest in the NHL.  Just like Chicago, the Wild haven’t gotten much help from the penalty kill, which ranks fifth worst in the league with only a 78.42% kill rate, allowing 41 power play goals.  That being said, the Wild have scored seven shorthanded goals (led by Erik Haula’s two shorties), one more than the league average.

    Even with Zach Parise’s 220 shots, the Wild has fired the puck only 2215 times, with 9.2% finding the back of the net for 206 goals (led by Parise’s 24 tallies), the 13th most in the NHL.  The Land of 10,000 Lakes is also the home of the 10th best power play, successful on 19.75% of their opportunities and good for 48 power play goals (led by Mikko Koivu’s 10 extra man tallies).

    Minnesota enters today’s game white hot, winners of five straight.  Their most recent was Saturday’s four goal shutout win in Colorado.  With another win tonight, the Wild have the opportunity to improve their lead over Colorado for the final Western playoff spot to five points, but they’ll need some help from St. Louis for that to happen.  It is also still possible for Minnesota to get out of the second wildcard spot and into the first, and a Wild win paired with a Nashville loss would pull them within four points.

    Not only has Minnesota already won the season series against Chicago, but they are looking for the season sweep with their fifth straight victory over the Hawks.  This season’s success is revenge  for a four game sweep in last season’s Western Conference Semifinals on Chicago‘s way to the Stanley Cup.

    Some players to keep an eye on include Chicago‘s Kane (94 points [leads the league], 39 goals [second most in the league] and 55 assists [tied for second most in the league]) and Minnesota‘s Dubnyk (five shutouts [tied for fourth most in the league] and 31 wins [10th most in the league]).

    Giving Minnesota‘s current winning streak against both the Blackhawks as well as overall in addition to being this evening’s host, I think the Wild pull this one out to complete the season sweep of the Windy City.

  • March 20 – Day 157 – The Wild’s wildcard chase continues in Chicago

    The Pittsburgh Penguins used a three goal second period to knock off the in-state rival Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    The first goal wasn’t scored until the 21:58 mark, courtesy of Radko Gudas and the Flyers, his fourth goal of the season.  1:01 later, Trevor Daley leveled the game with a snap shot (his fifth tally of the season), assisted by First Star of the Game Nick Bonino and Eric Fehr.  The tie lasted until 3:04 remained in the frame when Second Star Carl Hagelin’s slap shot found the back of the net for the game winner, assisted by Bonino (his 11th helper of the season).  1:29 later, Chris Kunitz fired a slap shot of his own to give the Pens an insurance score, assisted by Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist (his 27th helper of the season).  The 3-1 score held into the second intermission.

    Kris Letang was responsible for the lone tally of the final period, an empty netter assisted by Kunitz and Crosby (his 43rd helper of the season).

    Marc-Andre Fleury earns the victory after saving 16 of the 17 shots he faced (94.1%), while Third Star Steve Mason takes the loss, saving 31 of 34 (91.2%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 70-41-16, favoring the home sides by 30 points over the visitors.

    It’s getting to be that time of year again when Sundays are just as busy and unpredictable as Saturdays, and I’m not just talking about March Madness.  A total of seven games are going to be played today, starting with Anaheim at Winnipeg at 3 p.m. eastern.  Columbus at New Jersey gets going at 5 p.m. eastern, followed an hour later by Washington at Pittsburgh (NBCSN/TVAS).  The usual starting time of 7 p.m. features Calgary at Montréal (RDS/SN), which is trailed 90 minutes later by the opening puck drop of Minnesota at Chicago (NBCSN).  9:30 p.m. eastern marks the beginning of Colorado at Edmonton (SN1), which is followed half an hour later by this evening’s nightcap, Arizona at San Jose.

    A majority of today’s games are divisional rivalries (Columbus at New Jersey, Washington at Pittsburgh, Minnesota at Chicago and Arizona at San Jose), but Washington at Pittsburgh is the only game between current playoff qualifiers.  Also, the Anaheim–Winnipeg and Minnesota–Chicago games are rematches of some Western Conference playoff matchups of a season ago.

    In addition for the reasons stated above, the Minnesota–Chicago game is an important one because a Wild win propels them into the playoffs.

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    Tonight’s game will be Minnesota‘s 11th in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 5-5-0 record, with their most recent being March 10’s 2-1 loss on home ice to Edmonton.  Chicago has been featured 21 times before tonight’s contest, and own a 10-9-2 record in such games.  Their most recent in the series was Wednesday’s 3-2 home loss to Philadelphia.

    The 33-28-11 Minnesota Wild currently sit sixth in the Central Division and eighth in the Western Conference, making them the first team outside the playoff picture in that conference.  To get to that position, they’ve played the ninth best defense in the league, but have only managed the 13th fewest goals scored.

    Led by Jared Spurgeon’s 139 blocks, Minnesota has allowed only 2023 shots to reach 26-22-6 Devan Dubnyk and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 91.6% for 182 goals against, the ninth fewest in the league.  The Wild should make all efforts to avoid taking penalties, as their 77.01% kill rate that has allowed 40 power play goals ranks fourth worst in the NHL.  To slightly make up for that deficiency, the Wild has scored six shorthanded goals (led by Erik Haula’s two shorties), one more than the league average.

    Even with Zach Parise’s 199 shots, the Wild have only fired the puck 2067 times, with 9% finding the back of the net for 188 goals (led by Charlie Coyle’s 21 tallies), 13th fewest in the NHL.  As far as Minnesota‘s special teams go, the power play is miles ahead, as their 19.28% success rate, good for 43 extra man goals (led by Mikko Koivu’s nine power play tallies), ranks 14th best in the league.

    The Wild played yesterday to a 3-2 shootout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on home ice.  With a win today, Minnesota could advance themselves past the Avalanche for eighth in the conference, even if only for a day, but they will need the help of the Oilers.

    The 42-24-6 Chicago Blackhawks are currently the third best team in the Central Division, and fourth best in the Western Conference.  They’ve played stellar hockey all season, as they are the seventh best defense and eighth best offense.

    Even with Trevor van Riemsdyk’s 141 blocks, the Hawks have allowed 2207 shots to reach 35-18-4 Corey Crawford (questionable for tonight’s game as of Saturday night) and co., of which they’ve collectively saved a solid 92.3% for only 176 goals against, the seventh fewest in the league.  The best way to beat this Chicago defense is to get under their skin and get them to commit penalties, as their 78.64% kill rate that has allowed 44 power play goals against ranks seventh worst in the NHL.  To make up for that poor effort, the Hawks have scored eight shorthanded goals.

    Led by Patrick Kane’s 254 shots, Chicago has fired the puck 2213 times, with 9% finding the back of the net for 201 goals (led by Kane’s 39 tallies), eighth most in the NHL.  The Hawks have truly excelled on the power play, as their 22.52% success rate, good for 50 extra man goals (led by Kane’s 15 power play tallies) ranks third best in the league.

    Chicago‘s most recent game was their four goal shutout victory in Winnipeg Friday night.   A win tonight pulls the Blackhawks back within a point of the second seed in the Central Division, but a loss allows the Predators to get within three points of a division qualifier should they beat the Kings tomorrow.

    In addition to being  an important game this season, it was also a Western Conference Semifinal last season   It’s not one that Wild fans like being reminded of though, as Chicago swept Minnesota on their way to their sixth franchise Stanley Cup Championship.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Chicago‘s Crawford (seven shutouts [leads the league], 35 wins [tied for third most in the league] and .926 save percentage [fourth best in the league]) (should he play) and Kane (92 points [leads the league] and 39 goals [second most in the league] and 53 assists [tied for second most in the league]) & Minnesota‘s Coyle (21 goals, 19 of which were at even strength [both lead the team]) and Koivu (48 points, nine of which were power play goals and 23 were even-strength assists [all lead the team]).

    With the exception of the injured Crawford, it seems as if Chicago has gotten out of their funk from earlier in the week.  Since Minnesota‘s offense is as much of a threat, Chicago should be able to keep pressure off Scott Darling to ensure a home victory.

  • March 11 – Day 148 – Central Shootout

    Well, I don’t think anyone expected that one.  The Edmonton Oilers won 2-1 in Minnesota in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    Edmonton‘s first goal was the lone tally of the first period.  Lauri Korpikoski was responsible, as his wrister, assisted by Mark Letestu (his 11th helper of the season) and Adam Clendening, found the back of the net at the 9:55 mark.

    The Wild did the same thing in the second period, as Zach Parise’s 19th score of the season leveled the score at the 11:04 mark of the frame.

    The Oilers‘ winner found the back of the net with 7:29 remaining in regulation, scored by the first pick of this season’s entry draft, Second Star Connor McDavid, who was assisted by Zack Kassian and Andrej Sekera (his 19th helper of the season).

    First Star Cam Talbot earns the win after saving 29 of 30 shots faced (96.7%) while Third Star Darcy Kuemper takes the loss, saving 23 of 25 (92%).

    After tonight’s Wild loss, the DtFR Game of the Day series stands at 65-38-15, favoring the home squad by 27 points over the roadies.

    Five games will be played this evening, beginning with Pittsburgh visiting Columbus at 7 p.m. eastern, followed by Philadelphia at Tampa Bay half an hour later.  The Anaheim at St. Louis game drops the puck at 8 p.m. eastern, trailed 30 minutes later by Chicago at Dallas (NHLN).  Finally, Arizona at Calgary, this evening’s nightcap, gets its start at 9 p.m. eastern.

    Most of tonight’s games are divisional rivalries (Pittsburgh at Columbus, Chicago at Dallas and Arizona at Calgary), and two contests are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Anaheim at St. Louis and Chicago at Dallas).

    Chicago and Dallas are currently tied for the Central Division and Western Conference lead, so you gotta believe we’re keeping an eye on that one!

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    This will be Chicago‘s 20th appearance in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 10-7-2 record.  Their most recent showing in our series was February 25, a 3-1 loss on home ice to the Predators.  Dallas has been featured a little more recently, as they fell to the Red Wings 3-2 in overtime on February 29.  That was their ninth game in our series, and set their series record at 5-0-4.

    The 41-21-6 Chicago Blackhawks are currently the best in both the Central Division and Western Conference, and trail only Washington for the distinction of best in the league.  To get to that position, they’ve played one of the most well-rounded games – the sixth best in both offense and defense.

    Led by Patrick Kane’s 239 shots, the Hawks have fired the puck 2096 times, with 9.2% finding the back of the net for 193 goals (led by Kane’s 38 tallies), the sixth most in the NHL.  The offense has been spearheaded by the power play, as their 24.15% success rate, good for 50 goals (led by Kane’s 15 extra man tallies), ranks best in the league.

    The defense has been just as good.  Even with Trevor van Riemsdyk’s 135 blocks,  Chicago has allowed 2094 shots to reach 35-16-4 Corey Crawford and co., but they’ve been nothing short of remarkable, collectively saving 92.6% for only 163 goals allowed, the sixth fewest in the league.  The Blackhawks aren’t perfect though.  Their special teams only neutralize 78.65% of their penalties – allowing 41 opposing power play goals in the process – the seventh worst rate in the league.  Never fear though, they do help themselves by having scored seven shorthanded goals so far this year, two more than the league average.

    Chicago‘s last game was a 3-2 shootout loss in St. Louis on Wednesday.  As they are tied on points with the Stars, a win this evening is important as the season comes down to the wire, as the Hawks would like to clinch home ice throughout the Western Conference tournament.

    The 40-20-8 Dallas Stars occupy second place in both the Central Division and Western Conference due to losing a regulation+overtime tiebreaker to this evening’s competition.  It has been the offense that has led the way, as the Stars have scored the most goals in the league, but they’ve also given up the eighth most goals against.

    Led by Tyler Seguin’s 261 shots, the Stars have fired the puck an incredible 2195 times, with 9.8% finding the back of the net for 218 goals, the most in the NHL.  That success starts with the power play, as their 21.96% success rate, good for 47 power play goals (led by Jamie Benn’s 14 extra man tallies), ranks seventh best in the NHL.

    It has been the defense, specifically the goaltending, that has held Dallas back this season.  Led by Johnny Oduya’s 146 blocks, the Stars have allowed 1980 shots to reach 22-12-6 Antti Niemi and co., of which they’ve saved only 90.4% for 196 goals against, the eighth most in the league.  The penalty kill hasn’t helped matters, defending only 79.9% of their infractions for 41 power play goals against, the 11th worst rate in the NHL.  To help make up for those goals, the Stars have scored nine shorthanded goals (led by Cody Eakin’s three shorties), four more than the league average.

    Dallas lost their most recent game 4-3, a Tuesday night contest in Montréal.  With a win tonight, the Stars would reclaim the division and conference lead, but a loss could allow the Blues to take their second place position.

    Dallas currently leads the season series 2-1-0, but is 1-1-0 on home ice.  The Stars won the most recent meeting 4-2 in Chicago on February 11.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Chicago‘s Crawford (seven shutouts [leads the league], .929 save percentage [tied for the league lead], 35 wins [second most in the league] and 2.21 GAA [tied for seventh best in the league]), Kane (89 points [leads the league], 51 assists [second most in the league] and 38 goals [second most in the league]) and Artemi Panarin (62 points [10th most in the league]) & Dallas‘ Benn (73 points [second most in the league], 32 goals [tied for fourth most in the league] and 41 assists [tied for ninth most in the league]), John Klingberg (43 assists [seventh most in the league]) and Seguin (68 points [tied for fourth most in the league] and 32 goals [tied for fourth most in the league]).

    Choosing a winner in tonight’s game is tough.  Both squads have exceptional offenses, which doesn’t exactly play into Dallas‘ favor, but should the Blackhawks commit a lot of penalties, this game can stay tight.  The overall better team is the visitors, so I’ll pick the Blackhawks.

  • February 25 – Day 133 – The Predator becomes the prey

    Although the scoring differential was a bit larger than I had predicted, the Boston Bruins did in fact beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in yesterday’s Game of the Day, by a score of 5-1.

    The first and only goal of the first period came at the 16 minute mark, courtesy of a First Star of the Game David Pastrnak wrister.

    The winner was another Pastrnak wrister, this time 3:12 after resuming play, his eighth tally of the season.  Only 55 seconds later, Tom Kuhnhackl earned a tip-in goal, assisted by Oskar Sundqvist and Trevor Daley (his 15th helper of the season), to get the differential back to a single score.  The 2-1 score held into the second intermission.

    Although Boston already had the game-winning goal in their back pocket, it was really three goals in under five minutes in the third period that ended this game, the first of which was scored at the 10:34 mark courtesy of a Jimmy Hayes tip-in, assisted by Ryan Spooner (his 30th helper of the season) and Third Star Adam McQuaid.  The second of the period found the back of the net at the 14:26 mark with a Landon Ferraro snap shot, assisted by Dennis Seidenberg (his 10th helper of the season), followed 1:01 later by Brad Marchand’s wrister (his 31st goal of the season), assisted by Torey Krug and Patrice Bergeron.

    Second Star Tuukka Rask earns the win after saving 41 of 42 shots faced (97.6%), while Marc-Andre Fleury takes the loss by saving 24 of 29 (82.8%).

    After the second home in in a row, the homers have a 35 point lead over the roadies, as the DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 60-31-12.

    It’s an exciting Thursday in the NHL, with 10 games taking place.  The first two drop the puck at the usual starting time of 7 p.m. eastern (Minnesota at Philadelphia and New Jersey at Columbus), followed half an hour later by another couple of games (Carolina at Toronto and Arizona at Florida).  The third pairing of games drop the puck at the 8 p.m. eastern mark (the New York Rangers at St. Louis and Nashville at Chicago [NBCSN]).  The remaining four games all start by themselves, starting with Winnipeg at Dallas at 8:30 p.m. eastern, then the New York Islanders at Calgary half an hour later.  Ottawa at Vancouver begins at 10 p.m. eastern, and Edmonton at Los Angeles, acting as this evening’s nightcap, starts at half past 10.

    Four of tonight’s games are between division rivals (New Jersey at Columbus, Nashville at Chicago, Winnipeg at Dallas and Edmonton at Los Angeles), and two are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (New York at St. Louis and Nashville at Chicago).  Lastly, Nashville at Chicago is also a rematch of one of last season’s Western Conference Quarterfinal matchups.

    Seeing as it qualifies for all three of those groups previously listed, it is hard to take our attention off the Predators–Blackhawks game!

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    Tonight’s game is Nashville‘s seventh in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 2-3-1 record.  Their most recent showing under our observation was a 4-3 overtime loss in Tampa Bay on February 12.  Chicago has been featured a series-high 19 times, and own a 10-6-2 record in such games.  Their most recent game in the series was February 17, a 5-3 victory in Madison Square Garden.

    The 29-21-11 Nashville Predators currently occupy fourth place in the Central Division and seventh in the Western Conference, good enough for the top wildcard spot (which some could argue is very advantageous, seeing as they would avoid their highly competitive division foes until the Conference Finals).  The Predators have played a solid game to get them to that position, allowing the 13th-fewest goals and scoring the 15th-most.

    Thanks in part to Roman Josi’s team-leading 144 blocks, only 1617 shots have made their way to 22-18-9 Pekka Rinne and co., of which 90.8% have been saved for only 157 goals against, 13th-fewest in the NHL.  That effort slacks slightly on the penalty kill, as the Preds‘ 79.68% kill rate ranks 12th-worst, allowing 38 power play goals against.  That number is slightly improved though, when taking into account Nashville‘s six shorthanded goals.

    Led by James Neal’s 191 shots, Nashville has fired an incredible 1848 shots, and 8.4% have found the back of the net for 159 goals (led by Filip Forsberg’s 23 tallies), 15th-most in the league.  That offense has been spearheaded by the Predators‘ power play, with a 19.7% success rate for 39 goals (led by Shea Weber’s 11 extra-man tallies), which ranks 12th-best in the league.

    Nashville is currently riding a two-game win streak, with their most recent being a 3-2 victory in Toronto.  While potentially drawing within eight points of third place in the division is nice, a win this evening more importantly separates the Predators from the Avalanche by three points for the top wildcard spot.

    The 38-19-5 Chicago Blackhawks currently sit in second place in both the Central Division and the Western Conference.   To get to that position, they’ve played a top-five offense paired with a top-10 defense.

    Patrick Kane leads the way for the Hawks, accounting for 219 of the team’s 1913 shots, 9.1% of which have found the back of the net for 176 goals (led by Kane’s 35 tallies), fourth-most in the league.  The squad’s potency only increases when they have the man-advantage, as they connect on 22.63% of their opportunities for 43 power play goals (led by Kane’s 14 extra man goals), the second-best success rate in the league.

    The defense is only a step behind.  Even with Trevor van Riemsdyk’s 115 blocks, 1911 shots have found their way to 32-15-3 Corey Crawford and co., 92.5% of which they’ve saved for only 148 goals against (seventh-fewest in the league).  The biggest whole in Chicago‘s game is their penalty kill, which neutralized 79.89% of their penalties for 35 power play goals against, 13th-worst in the league.  That being said, the Hawks‘ seven short-handed goals do make that rate a little bit more manageable.

    Chicago‘s most recent game was a 6-1 loss in Minnesota on Sunday.  In addition to securing second place for another day, a win also has the chance to propel Chicago to the top of the division and conference should Dallas lose in regulation.  A loss does put the Hawks at risk for falling to third, should the Blues beat the Rangers.

    Chicago has already won the season series, going 3-1-0 in the four previous games played.  These squads last met January 19 in Music City, where the Hawks won 4-1.

    This game is also another rematch of one of last season’s Western Quarterfinals.  As we know, Chicago won that series and every other one they were a part of en route to a Stanley Cup championship, but it did take the Hawks six games to defeat Nashville.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Chicago‘s Crawford (seven shutouts [leads the league], 32 wins [second-most in the league] and .928 save percentage [tied for third-best in the league]), Kane (84 points [leads the league], 49 assists [second-most in the league], 35 goals [second-most in the league] and +21 [tied for sixth-best in the league]) and Artemi Panarin (57 points [seventh-most in the league]) & Nashville‘s Josi (44 points, 14 of which are power play assists, and 144 blocks [all lead the team]), Neal (+16 and 191 shots [both lead the team]) and Weber (11 power play goals and 133 hits [both lead the team]).

    Sometimes life isn’t fair.  For the Nashville Predators and their fans, this evening is one of those times.  The Chicago team they are facing is, plainly, just too good.  Nashville should consider themselves lucky if they escape the United Center with even a point.

  • February 17 – Day 125 – Let’s look back at the first game of the season

    Yesterday, I picked the Dallas Stars to beat the St. Louis Blues in the Game of the Day, but it was in fact the Notes who fired the overtime winner.

    The Blues opened the scoring at the 20:12 mark with a wrister from Jaden Schwartz, who was assisted by Colton Parayko (his 16th helper of the season) and Carl Gunnarsson.  St. Louis‘ 1-0 lead held into the second intermission.

    Dallas leveled the score with 6:34 remaining in regulation with a Mattias Janmark wrister, assisted by Valeri Nichushkin and Alex Goligoski (his 21st helper of the season).  Neither side was able to break the tie before the clock read zeroes, so the game went to three-on-three overtime.

    The Blues won the game after 1:11 of overtime, courtesy of a slap shot form Kevin Shattenkirk, who was assisted by Paul Stastny and Alexander Steen (his 29th helper of the season).

    Brian Elliott earns the win after saving 17 of 18 shots (94.4%), while Kari Lehtonen takes the loss after saving 20 of 22 (90.9%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 56-28-11, favoring the home squad by 35 points over the roadies.

    It’s a light Wednesday schedule, with only three games on deck.  The first two start at 8 p.m. eastern (Montréal at Colorado and Chicago at the New York Rangers [NBCSN]), followed two hours later by Minnesota at Calgary.

    None of tonight’s games are between divisional rivals (in fact, Minnesota at Calgary is the only game between teams of the same conference), but Chicago at New York is an enticing matchup since it is between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs.

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    Tonight’s contest will be Chicago‘s 18th in the Game of the Day series, where they own a 9-6-2 record.  Their most recent showing in such games was Saturday, when they fell 3-2 in overtime on home ice to the Ducks.  New York has been featured 14 times in the series before this evening, and own an 8-4-2 record in such games.  They were most recently featured last Wednesday when they visited Pittsburgh, winning 3-0.

    The 37-18-5 Chicago Blackhawks are currently second in both the Central Division and Western Conference.  As you might guess, there’s a reason they’ve earned that position, as they are the fourth-best offense and the eighth best defense.  Who said you couldn’t have the best of both worlds?

    Not Hannah Montana, that’s for sure.

    Led by Patrick Kane’s 211 shots, the Hawks have fired a whopping 1861 shots so far this season, of which 9.1% have found the back of the net for 170 goals (led by Kane’s 34 tallies), fourth-most in the league.  Looking from simply it’s position in league’s stats, the power play is almost holding the Blackhawks back, as it ranks a measly sixth-best in the league, scoring on only 21.74% of attempts for 40 extra-man goals (led by Kane’s 14 power play tallies).

    Thanks in part to Trevor van Riemsdyk team-leading 112 blocks, the Hawks have held opposing offenses to 1845 shots reaching 31-14-3 Corey Crawford and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.7% for only 139 goals against, eighth-fewest in the league.  Probably the biggest deficiency in Chicago‘s game is their penalty kill, which ranks 15th-worst after killing only 80.72% for 32 power play goals against.  They do improve that number, though, with seven short-handed goals to their credit.

    Chicago took care of the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night, winning 7-2 in the United Center to end their losing skid at three games.  A win tonight propels the Hawks past the Stars into first place in the division and conference by a point.

    The 32-18-6 New York Rangers currently occupy second in the Metropolitan Division and third in the Eastern Conference.  To get to that position, they’ve scored the fifth-most goals in the league, paired with a defense that gives up the 12th-least.

    Even with Rick Nash (who’s been sitting out with a bone bruise since January 22)’s team-leading 149 shots, the Blueshirts have only managed 1644 shots so far this season, of which a solid 9.7% have found the back of the net for 163 tallies, fifth-most in the NHL.  Unlike most teams of their caliber, New York‘s power play verges on atrocious, connecting on only 16.56% of opportunities for 26 extra-man goals (led by Mats Zuccarello’s five power play tallies), to rank sixth-worst in the league.  Making matters even worse, the power play has also given up five short-handed goals, one more than the league average.

    Dan Girardi’s team-leading 130 blocks has helped the Blueshirts skaters allow only 1650 shots to reach 28-14-4 Henrik Lundqvist and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 91.9% for 143 goals against, 12th-fewest in the league.  Once again, it is the Rangers‘ special teams that hold them back, as they’ve killed only 78.11% of penalties for 37 power play goals against, fifth-worst in the league.

    New York most recent contest was a 3-1 victory over the Flyers on Sunday.  A win tonight may not improve the Rangers‘ position in regards to the Capitals very much, but it does improve their distance from their in-town rivals to six points.

    Today’s Game of the Day may seem a little familiar, and that’s because it is.  New York visited Chicago to open the season as our first featured matchup, and won 3-2.

    Some players to watch in this game include Chicago‘s Crawford (seven shutouts [most in the league], 31 wins [second-most in the league], .93 save percentage [tied for fifth-best in the league] and 2.19 GAA [tenth-best in the league]), Kane (82 points [leads the league], 48 assists [second-most in the league], 34 goals [second-most in the league] and +23 [tied for third-best in the league]) and Artemi Panarin (54 points [tied for sixth-most in the league]) & New York‘s Lundqvist (28 wins [tied for third-most in the league] and .924 save percentage [tied for eighth-best in the league]).

    When the season’s best offensive player and one  of the hottest goalies come to town, you know it’s a big game.  If New York can manage to keep the game five-on-five for the entire 60 minutes, they might have a chance of holding home ice, but I doubt it.  Chicago for sure earns two points in the Big Apple.

  • February 11 – Day 119 – Oduya and Sharp return to the United Center

    All it took was a goal from Second Star of the Game Kevin Hayes at the 8:34 mark of the first period for the New York Rangers to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the Blueshirts made sure to tack on two more goals just for good measure to win 3-0.

    Hayes was assisted by Tanner Glass and Third Star Keith Yandle (his 25th helper of the season).  The 1-0 lead held through not only the first intermission, but also the second.

    New York‘s first insurance goal wasn’t until the 4:21 mark of the third, scored by Dominic Moore, who was assisted by Derek Stepan (his 14th helper of the season).  Jesper Fast completed the evening’s scoring with only 1:31 remaining, scoring his eighth goal of the season on the empty net.

    First Star Henrik Lundqvist earns the win after saving all 34 shots faced, while Marc-Andre Fleury takes the loss after saving only 19 of 21 (90.5%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 53-26-10, favoring the home squad by 36 points over the roadies.

    It’s a busy Thursday, with nine games on tap.  The action gets started at 7 p.m. eastern with three games (Los Angeles at the New York Islanders, Buffalo at Philadelphia and Anaheim at Columbus), followed half an hour later by Colorado at Ottawa.  8 p.m. eastern brings with it the beginning of two games in the Central Division (Washington at Minnesota and Boston at Winnipeg), followed 30 minutes later by Dallas at Chicago.  Toronto at Edmonton drops the puck at 9 p.m. eastern, and this evening’s nightcap, Calgary at San Jose, starts at 10:30 p.m. eastern.

    Two of tomorrow’s games are divisional rivalries (Dallas at Chicago and Calgary at San Jose), and another set of two games are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Los Angeles at New York and Dallas at Chicago).

    In addition to qualifying for both groups, the Dallas–Chicago is also specials since it is first return of the return of Johnny Oduya and Patrick Sharp to the United Center since joining the Stars this off-season.

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    This will be Dallas‘ seventh time featured in the Game of the Day series, and they own a 4-0-2 record in such games.  Their most recent was a 4-3 overtime loss in San Jose on January 16.  Chicago leads the league in times being featured, as this will be their 16th.  They own a 9-5-1 record in those games, with their most recent being a 2-0 victory over the Blues on January 24.

    Johnny Oduya spent four seasons (219 games) with Chicago after being traded from Winnipeg at the 2012 deadline.  By far his best season scoring with the team was the 2013-’14 season where he scored 16 points (three goals and 13 assists) along with his 114 blocks (second-most of his Blackhawks career).

    Patrick Sharp also left the Hawks for the Stars this season, although he did it by virtue of off-season trade.  During his 10 year, 679 game career in Chicago, he scored 511 points (239 goals and 272 assists), with his best season occurring in the 2013-’14 season, where he scored 34 goals (tied for second-most of his Hawks career) and 44 assists (most of his Hawks career) for 78 points.  That campaign also tied his career high of 27 blocks in a one season.

    So far this season, Oduya has had one of his best seasons in years.  He already has 15 points to his credit, as well as 102 blocks.  Sharp has also had a slight resurgence, as his 16G-24A-40P line trails his entire last season by only three assists.

    Their new squad, the 34-15-5 Dallas Stars, currently sit in second place in both the Central Division and the Western Conference, trailing Chicago by three points.  They play the best offense in the league, and they’ve needed it since they give up the 11th- most.

    Thanks in part to Tyler Seguin’s 207 attempts, the Stars have fired a whopping 1753 shots, of which 9.9% have found the back of the net for 176 goals, most in the league.  Much of that success has been a result of the fifth-best power play in the league, as the Stars have connected on 21.18% of attempts for 36 goals (led by Jamie Benn’s 12 extra-man tallies).  The offensive success on the power play has come at a price, as Dallas has given up nine short-handed goals, five more than the league average.

    The defense has been a little less successful, as even though they’ve only allowed 1560 shots (thanks in part to Oduya’s 102 blocks) to reach 20-10-5 Antti Niemi and co., they’ve saved only 90.8% for 147 goals against, 11th-most in the league.  That position almost directly relates to their penalty kill, which also ranks 11th-worst.  They’ve killed 79.75% for 32 extra-man goals against, but that is slightly counteracted by Dallas‘ seven short-handed goals.

    The Stars last played on Tuesday, a 4-3 overtime victory in Minnesota.  A win tonight not only expands their lead over St. Louis for second place in the division to six points, but it also draws the Stars within a point of the division and conference leading Blackhawks.

    The 36-17-4 Chicago Blackhawks lead both the Central Division and the Western Conference by three points, and trail only the Washington Capitals by six points for the Presidents’ Trophy.  The Hawks are in their position for a reason, as they play a top-five offense paired with a top-10 D.

    Led by Patrick Kane’s 198 shots, the Hawks have fired a whopping 1760 shots so far this season, of which 9% have found the back of the net for 159 goals (led by Kane’s 32 tallies), third-most in the league.  Part of the reason for Chicago‘s offensive success has been their efforts on the power play.  The Hawks‘ 20.23% success rate ranks ninth-best in the league, and has earned them 35 extra-man goals.

    Unlike Dallas, Chicago hasn’t needed their offense to cover for the other end of the ice.  Even with Trevor van Riemsdyk’s team-leading 103 blocks, the Blackhawks have allowed 1732 shots to reach 31-13-2 Corey Crawford and co., of which they’ve saved 92.7% for only 130 goals against, sixth-fewest in the league.  Probably the worst aspect of Chicago‘s game has been their penalty kill, and even that ranks 11th-best in the league.  So far this season, the Hawks have killed 82.17% for 28 extra-man goals against.  When taking Chicago‘s offensive efforts on the kill into account, it gets a little better, as the Hawks have seven shorties to their credit.

    Chicago‘s most recent game was Tuesday, a 2-0 loss to the Sharks on home ice.  A win tonight over the Stars expands Chicago‘s lead in the division and conference to five points, and has the potential to put them only four points back from Washington for the Presidents’ Trophy.

    The Blackhawks and Stars have only played once this season, with the Stars winning 4-0 on home ice.  These teams will meet again in five days at the United Center.

    Some players to watch in tonight’s game include Chicago‘s Crawford (seven shutouts [leads the league], 31 wins [second-most in the league], .931 save percentage [fourth-best in the league] and 2.1 GAA [sixth-best in the league]), Kane (76 points [leads the league], 32 goals [leads the league], 44 assists [second-most in the league] and +22 [tied for fourth-best in the league]) and Artemi Panarin (52 points [tied for seventh-most in the league] and 34 assists [tied for seventh-most in the league]) & Dallas‘ Benn (61 points [second-most in the league] and 28 goals [tied for third-most in the league]), John Klingberg (35 assists [tied for fifth-most in the league]) and Seguin (28 goals [tied for third-most in the league] and 58 points [fourth-most in the league]).

    Given Dallas‘ defensive play so far this season, it is tough for me to pick against the Blackhawks.  I expect Chicago to avenge their loss from earlier this year.

  • January 21 – Day 103 – Rematch, Pt. II

    In yesterday’s Game of the Day, the Colorado Avalanche spoiled Jamie McGinn and Ryan O’Reilly’s return to the Pepsi Center, beating the Sabres 2-1.

    It was actually the Sabres who scored the opening goal of the game, but it did not occur until 36:38 had ticked off the clock.  It was a power play goal, courtesy of an Evander Kane wrister, who was assisted by Jack Eichel and O’Reilly (his 23rd helper of the season).  Buffalo‘s one-goal lead held into the second intermission.

    The Avalanche leveled the game at the 9:23 mark of the third, courtesy of an Second Star of the Game Alex Tanguay backhander, assisted by Carl Soderberg (his 24th helper of the season) and First Star Francois Beauchemin.  Tanguay returned the favor with only 32 seconds remaining in the game with his 15th assist of the season, this one to Beauchemin, who banged home the game-winner.

    Third Star Semyon Varlamov improves his record to 17-12-3 after saving 27 of 28 (96.4%), while Robin Lehner’s record falls to 0-2-0 after saving 33 of 35 (94.3%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 44-20-9, favoring the home squad by 33 points over the roadies.

    A light Wednesday gives way to a busy Thursday, with 10 games taking place.  The action gets started at 7 p.m. eastern with four games dropping the opening puck (Vancouver at Boston [SN360], Ottawa at New Jersey [RDS], Philadelphia at Pittsburgh and Calgary at Columbus), followed half an hour later by two more (Carolina at Toronto and Chicago at Tampa Bay [TVAS]).  Nashville at Winnipeg gets started at 8 p.m. eastern, followed half an hour later by Edmonton at Dallas.  9 p.m. eastern brings with it the beginning of San Jose at Arizona, and this evening’s nightcap, Minnesota at Los Angeles (SN), gets started at 10:30 p.m. eastern.

    Three of tonight’s games are between division rivals (Philadelphia at Pittsburgh, Nashville at Winnipeg and San Jose at Arizona), while three/four are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Chicago at Tampa Bay, San Jose at Arizona and Minnesota at Los Angeles).

    Tonight’s selection poses a tough choice for our Game of the Day, as you know I try to favor players returning to their old stomping grounds and last year’s playoff matchups.  Matt Bartkowski is making his first appearance in the TD Garden wearing a white sweater after spending the last five seasons with the Bruins, and Jarret Stoll’s return is even bigger as measured by seasons spent with a team, as he played seven seasons with Los Angeles before joining the Wild earlier this month.  Lastly, Chicago at Tampa Bay is a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Finals.

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    No team has been featured more in the DtFR Game of the Day series than the Chicago Blackhawks, as tonight is their 14th appearance.  They own a 8-4-1 record in such games, with their most recent being a 3-2 victory over the Predators in the United Center on January 12.  The Tampa Bay Lightning have been featured five times before this game, and own a 2-2-1 record in the series.  Their most recent showing in the series was a 5-2 loss to the Rangers the day before New Year’s Eve.

    The 32-13-4 Chicago Blackhawks are the hottest team in the NHL right now, made evident by their position at the top of the Western Conference standings.  The play one of the top offenses in the league, with their defense only steps behind.

    Led by Patrick Kane’s 177 shots, the Hawks have fired a whopping 1523 shots so far this season, with 9.4% finding the back of the net for 143 goals (led by Kane’s 30 tallies), third-most in the league.  Just like the offense as a whole, the power play has been nothing short of exemplary, scoring on 23.3% of opportunities for 33 goals, led by Kane’s 14 man-advantage goals.

    It’s almost a shame Chicago‘s offense has been so good this season, because it casts shadows on their defense.  Even with Trevor van Riemsdyk’s 97 blocks, Chicago has allowed 1488 shots to reach 27-10-2 Corey Crawford and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.7% for only 111 goals against, sixth-fewest in the league.  The biggest hole in the Blackhawks‘ defense is the penalty kill, but Bolts fans shouldn’t be too excited – it’s still above average, completing the kill 82.09% of the time for only 24 goals against.  The penalty kill also has four goals of their own, one more than the league average.

    Chicago has won their last 12 games, and has yet to lose this calendar year.  Their most recent game was a 4-1 win in Nashville on Tuesday.  A win tonight gets Chicago within three points of the league-leading Washington Capitals (73 points), although the Caps still have four games in hand.

    The 25-17-4 Tampa Bay Lightning obviously made some New Year’s resolutions, as their 2016 surge has paid off with not only a playoff position, but a divisional spot.  They’ve used a top-10 defense to get them back in the playoff picture, and their offense is not far behind.

    Thanks in part to Victor Hedman’s 76 blocks, the Bolts have only allowed 1291 shots to reach 18-13-3 Ben Bishop and co., of which they’ve collectively saved 92.3% for only 108 goals against, sixth-fewest in the league.  Similar to Chicago, Tampa‘s most glaring defensive deficiency has been their penalty kill, but their’s is slightly below the league average, killing 80.43% for 27 goals against.

    Tampa Bay has fired 1318 shots this season (led by Steven Stamkos’ 135 attempts), of which 9.3% have found the back of the net for 123 tallies (led by Stamkos’ 20 goals).  The power play has been below average, scoring on only 17.95% for 28 goals (led by Stamkos’ nine extra-man tallies).

    Tampa is also streaking, as they’ve won six-straight.  Their most recent showing was a 6-4 victory over the Oilers on Tuesday.  A Bolts win tonight puts them within a point of the division-leading Panthers.

    We all know how last season’s Stanley Cup Finals, but these two have met more recently then that.  It was October 24 when Tampa traveled to the Windy City, and both played an entire 60 minutes without a goal.  Jonathan Toews was responsible for the game-winner, but a scoreless regulation game screams of an exciting, defensive game.

    Some players to watch in tonight’s game includes Chicago‘s Crawford (six shutouts [best in the league], 27 wins [second-most in the league] and .931 save percentage [tied for fourth-best in the league]), Kane (71 points [most in the league], 41 assists [most in the league], 30 goals [most in the league] and +24 [third-best in the league]) and Artemi Panarin (45 points [tied for eighth-most in the league] and 29 assists [tied for eighth-most in the league]) & Tampa Bay‘s Bishop (1.97 GAA [second-best in the league], .927 save percentage [tied for eighth-best in the league] and 18 wins [tied for ninth-best in the league]) and Stamkos (20 goals [tied for ninth-best in the league]).

    I predict this to be another great game between these two squads, but I do believe that Chicago will get out of The Big Guava with two points.

  • January 12 – Day 94 – Country meets Chi-Town

    The New York Rangers scored the game-winning goal with only 1:42 remaining in regulation to secure the 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.

    The first goal of the game was not scored until 29:04 courtesy of Third Star of the Game Jimmy Hayes, assisted by Ryan Spooner (his 20th helper of the season) and Zdeno Chara.  The Bruins‘ one-goal lead held into the second intermission.

    New York didn’t wait long to level the score after returning from the dressing room, 35 seconds to be exact.  Derick Brassard scored the leveler, assisted by Second Star Mats Zuccarello (his 16th helper of the season) and Ryan McDonagh.  The Rangers‘ late game-winner was courtesy of First Star Jesper Fast, assisted by Keith Yandle (his 21st helper of the season) and Kevin Klein.

    Henrik Lundqvist’s record improves to 19-11-4 after saving 32 of 33 (97%), while Tuukka Rask’s falls to 14-12-4 after saving 28 of 30 (93.3%).

    The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 37-19-8, favoring the home squads by 24 points.

    After a light Monday schedule, we jump back into the swing of things with eight games tonight.  The action gets started at the usual 7 p.m. eastern starting time with two matchups (Columbus at the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh at Carolina [TVAS]), followed an hour later by three more (New Jersey at St. Louis, Buffalo at Minnesota [BELL TV] and San Jose at Winnipeg).  Nashville at Chicago gets started at 8:30 p.m. eastern, followed 30 minutes later by the co-nightcap games (Tampa Bay at Colorado [NBCSN] and Edmonton at Arizona).

    Four of tonight’s games are between divisional rivals (Columbus at New York, Pittsburgh at Carolina, Nashville at Chicago and Edmonton at Arizona), while New Jersey at St. Louis and Nashville at Chicago are the only games where both teams are currently qualifying for the playoffs.  Lastly, the Preds–Hawks game is a rematch of one of the Western Conference Quarterfinals from a season ago.

    As has become the norm for games that qualify for all three groups, lets focus in on tonight’s game in the United Center.

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    Tonight’s game will be Nashville‘s fourth appearance in the DtFR Game of the Day series, where they host a 2-1-0 record.  Their most recent showing was a 2-1 loss in St. Louis on December 17.  Chicago has been featured 12 times before tonight, with this game breaking their tie with the Rangers for most appearances in the series.  They own a 7-4-1 record when the focus of our attention, with their most recent game being a 6-3 win over the Avalanche on Sunday.

    The 19-16-7 Nashville Predators currently occupy fifth place in the Central Division and seventh in the Western Conference, qualifying them for the final wild card position.  Overall, they play a balanced game, but have been slipping of late, losing their last three by a combined score of 13-4.

    Nashville is a tough team to figure out offensively, as they seem to be doing all the right things for success.  So far this season, they’ve shot the puck 1300 times (led by James Neal’s 129 attempts), with 8.1% finding the back of the net (only slightly below the league average of 8.8%) for 105 goals (led by Neal’s 15 tallies).  Even the power play has been at least average, with the squad connecting on 19.57% of attempts for 27 goals (led by Shea Weber’s eight goals).  Going along with the special teams play, it is probably not a good thing that the best note associated with the power play is that they’ve only given up one short-handed goal this season.

    On the other end, the Preds have allowed only 1117 shots (a total below the league average, thanks in part to Roman Josi’s team-leading 111 blocks), but 90.3% have snuck past 16-13-6 Pekka Rinne and co. for 114 goals.  A significant problem for the defense has been their penalty kill.  Nashville kills only 75.4% of opposing attempts, allowing 31 goals.

    As stated before, the Preds are currently riding a three-game losing skid, with their most recent showing being a four-goal shutout loss in Arizona on Saturday.

    The 27-13-4 Chicago Blackhawks currently sit in second place in both the Central Division and the Western Conference, trailing Dallas by four points.  Although they play well on both ends of the ice, they definitely a much more offensive-minded team.

    The Blackhawks have attempted a significant 1308 shots so far this season (led by Patrick Kane’s 161 shots), of which 9.1% have found the back of the net for 125 goals (25 courtesy of Kane), third-most in the league.  That success continues to the power play, where the Hawks have scored on 22.9% of their opportunities for 30 goals (led by Kane’s 13).

    The defense has been good, just not quite as good as the offense.  Led by Trevor van Riemsdyk’s 87 blocks, Chicago has allowed 1308 shots against, 92.3% of which are collectively saved by 23-10-2 Corey Crawford and co., for only 104 goals against, ninth-best in the league.  Probably the most glaring aspect of Chicago‘s game has been their penalty kill, where they only kill 81.97% of attempts (yes, it’s still better than the league average!) for 22 goals against.

    Of all the teams for Nashville to try to get their groove back against, Chicago would have to be near the bottom of the list, as the Hawks have won their last seven games, with their most recent being Sunday’s Game of the Day against the Avalanche, which they won 6-3.

    These two teams met last year in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, with the Hawks winning the series 4-2 on their way to the Stanley Cup.  The series included two incredibly exciting games, as the first meeting needed two overtime periods after the Preds scored three-straight goals to knot the game at three-all.  Thanks to Duncan Keith, the Blackhawks won 4-3.  Three games later, two overtime periods was not enough, as the Hawks won 3-2 in triple overtime with a Brent Seabrook one-timer.

    The story has already been continued this season, as this is the third of five meetings.  Each team’s home arena has seen a home-team blowout victory in a home-and-home series, with Chicago winning 4-1 on December 8 before heading to Nashville, where the Predators won 5-1 two days later.

    Some players to watch include Chicago‘s Crawford (six shutouts [leads the league], 23 wins [tied for second-best in the league] and .926 save percentage [tied for ninth-best in the league]) and Kane (62 points [leads the league], 37 assists [leads the league], 25 goals [tied for second-most in the league] and +19 [tied for fourth-best in the league]) & Nashville‘s Josi (111 blocks and 31 points [both lead team]) and Neal (129 shots, 15 goals, 12 at even-strength, and +11 [all lead team]).

    The Predators are in desperate need of a win, but I think it’s too tough a task for a road team in the United Center.  The Hawks should win this one, with the potential for their second-straight blowout.