Down the Frozen River

Tag: Winter Olympic Games

  • February 24 – Day 136 – Olympic midnight

    Settle in and watch all 14 of today’s games. You owe it to yourself.

    As I write, the Czech Republic and Canada are playing for the bronze medal at the Olympics. That game started at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time.

    Back in North America, the NHL has scheduled a dozen tilts this fine Saturday, starting with Philadelphia at Ottawa (NHLN/TVAS) at 2 p.m. At 4 p.m., Colorado at Calgary is the next matinee scheduled, followed by the New York Islanders at New Jersey to clean up the day slate. The usual starting time of 7 p.m. brings seven puck drops (Winnipeg at Dallas [SN1/SN360], Boston at Toronto [SN], Tampa Bay at Montréal [CITY/TVAS], Carolina at Detroit, Pittsburgh at Florida, Buffalo at Washington and Chicago at Columbus [NHLN]), followed by Anaheim at Arizona an hour later. Finally, tonight’s nightcap – Edmonton at Los Angeles (CITY/SN/SN360) – is slated for 10 p.m. All times Eastern.

    Last but not least, Olympic gold is up for grabs between the OAR and Germany at 11:10 Eastern time at Gangneung Hockey Centre.

    Of quite a list of games, there’s more than a few that are worthy of our attention.

    • Czech Republic vs. Canada: For a Canadian team without its NHL players, bronze has to be considered a success.
    • New York at New Jersey: Patrik Elias was an excellent Devil for 20 years. Tonight, his 26 sweater will be lifted to the Prudential Center rafters alongside Martin Brodeur‘s 30, Ken Daneyko‘s 3, Scott Niedermayer‘s 27 and Scott Stevens‘ 4.
    • Boston at Toronto: Original Six action between teams separated by only one point in the standings? Sign me up.
    • Chicago at Columbus: Brandon Saad makes his return to Nationwide Arena tonight after being traded back to the Windy City this offseason.
    • Edmonton at Los Angeles: Old rivalries die hard, right?
    • OAR vs. Germany: It’s the favorites against what could be one of the best Cinderella stories of all time. Who wins the medal they want tonight?

    Almost all of the games listed above have the potential to be excellent, but there’s obviously only one clear choice for today’s featured matchup.

     

    I said something similar in my OAR vs. the Czech Republic semifinal preview, but it bears repeating: no team has been as impressive at the 4-0-0-1 Olympics than the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

    Of course, what should we expect from a team consisting of players from three of the best teams in the world’s second-best league?

    Красная Машина – The Red Machine – so dominant is its imposing offense. The OAR are managing a ridiculous 4.6 goals per game through their first five games, well above Finland’s second-best effort of 3.2 goals per game.

    While almost every skater on the OAR’s roster is capable of finding the scorecard, four in particular have stood out above the rest. F Nikita Gusev leads the way with 2-6-8 totals in five showings, followed by F Ilya Kovalchuk (5-2-7), F Pavel Datsyuk (0-5-5) and F Kirill Kaprizov (4-1-5). All four players are distributed through the Machine’s top two lines.

    Of course, one of the bonuses of having such an impressive attack is that it limits the opponent’s opportunities. In addition to averaging the most goals, the OAR are also limiting opponents shots on goal to only 21.6 – the second-fewest of any team in South Korea.

    Not that he needs all that much help, that keeps the workload off G Vasili Koshechkin. Having allowed only five goals all tournament, he’s posted an impressive .951 save percentage and 1.08 GAA.

    While almost everyone had predicted the OAR to qualify for tonight’s gold medal game, no one expected the 1-3-0-2 Germans to advance this far. Germany has never won either a silver or gold at the Olympics, meaning this will easily be its best performance at the tournament regardless of this game unfolds.

    Unfortunately for Träger der Adler – The Eagle Carriers – the odds are not stacked in their favor. Not only is the OAR going to be the most imposing team Germany has faced, but the Germans’ stats simply don’t stack up in comparison.

    Let’s start on offense, where Germany’s 2.33 goals per game is sixth-worst of any team in the tournament. No German skater has been more impressive than F Patrick Hager, who’s 3-3-6 totals through six games are easily the best marks of any player on the team.

    Meanwhile, considering the Eagle Carriers have allowed a fifth-worst 26.83 shots on goal per game, the defensive end has totally relied on the efforts of G Danny aus den Birken.

    If an MVP award is distributed at the Olympics, aus den Birken is certainly the most deserving German considering his .904 save percentage and 2.54 GAA. Though those numbers pale in comparison to Koshechkin’s marks, he’s been able to provide the biggest, most important saves for Germany to keep it alive in this tournament.

    Germany’s unprecedented run to the top of this Olympic tournament has been fun to watch, and I’m certainly pulling for the Eagle Carriers in tonight’s game. However, I don’t see them pulling off the massive upset against the OAR.

    Midnight has yet to strike in PyeongChang, as Germany – the Olympics’ Cinderella story – advanced to the gold medal game by beating Canada 4-3 at Gangneung Hockey Centre in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day.

    Though hockey is a game divided into thirds, this semifinal was a tale of two halves. Germany dominated the first half, as they had a 3-0 advantage through the first 28 minutes.

    Only one goal was struck in the first period, and it was a result of some very undisciplined play by the Canadians. With 6:41 remaining in the frame, F Linden Vey earned himself a seat in the penalty box for high sticking, and that infraction was compounded by the Canadian bench also being assessed a delay of game penalty (served by F Rene Bourque). As a result, Germany earned itself a 50-second five-on-three power play once F Felix Schutz was released from the penalty box (boarding). F Brooks Macek (F Dominik Kahun) needed only 14 seconds of that advantage to beat G Kevin Poulin, setting the score at 1-0.

    Where Germany really turned on the jets was in the second period, as they posted an imposing three goals in the frame. First up was F Matthias Plachta (F Patrick Hager), scoring only 3:21 into the period to give the Germans a two-goal advantage. That tally was followed only 3:28 later by F Frank Mauer (F Marcel Goc and F David Wolf), setting the score at 3-0. Canada finally got on the scoreboard at the 8:17 mark of the period courtesy of a F Gilbert Brule (D Chris Lee and D Maxim Noreau) power play goal, but the Germans answered right back only 4:14 later when Hager (Plachta and Schutz) registered a power play goal of his own.

    Though Hager’s goal was the last of the second period, there was one final major event in the frame. Only 28 seconds after Hager set the score at 4-1, Brule was ejected from the game for checking to the head and neck area.

    There’s a difference between winning a period and dominating a period. Germany won the first two periods, but – even with three goals – I wouldn’t say it dominated either frame.

    On the other hand, Canada absolutely dominated the third period. Not only did they fire 15 shots on goal – the most of either team in any period – but the Canadians also limited Germany to only one shot against Poulin.

    One.

    With that in mind, perhaps its no surprise Team Canada fought its way back into this game, starting with M Robinson’s (C Thomas and M Raymond) tally 2:42 into the frame. The next scoring opportunity of the frame belonged to Germany, as Kahun was tripped by C Goloubef while attempting a shot 39 seconds after the horn stopped blaring for Robinson. Fortunately for Canada, Poulin stood tall to keep the score at 4-2, meaning F Derek Roy‘s (Lee and Noreau) power play goal at the 9:42 mark of the game pulled it back within a goal.

    But the remaining 10:18 belonged to G Danny aus den Birken. No matter how many shots the Canadians fired, he would not yield the game-tying goal to earn the victory for Germany.

    Aus den Birken earned the victory after saving 28-of-31 shots faced (.903 save percentage), leaving the loss to Poulin, who saved 11-of-15 (.733).

    With that victory, Germany has already clinched its best finish at any Olympic tournament, as the Eagle Carriers are ensured at least silver by qualifying for the gold medal game. As stated above, they play for the Olympic title tonight at 11:10 p.m. Eastern time against the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

    Additionally, the 73-46-17 home teams in the DtFR Game of the Day series have recaptured a 21-point advantage over the road teams.

  • February 22 – Day 134 – Russian to Czechmate

    It’s the best day of the hockey week! A dozen games are on this Thursday’s schedule!

    We begin today’s slate in North America with 11 NHL tilts, starting with three (the New York Islanders at Toronto, Minnesota at New Jersey and Columbus at Philadelphia) at 7 p.m. and four more (the New York Rangers at Montréal [RDS/TSN2], Tampa Bay at Ottawa [RDS2], Buffalo at Detroit and Washington at Florida [TVAS]) half an hour later. San Jose at Nashville drops the puck at 8 p.m., followed an hour later by a pair of Western Conference matchups (Colorado at Edmonton [SN1] and Calgary at Arizona). Finally, Dallas visits Los Angeles at 10:30 p.m. to close out the league’s action. All times Eastern.

    Of course, there’s also the Olympics to keep in mind. The first men’s semifinal between the Czech Republic and the OAR is scheduled for 2:40 a.m. Eastern time Friday morning.

    Of those games, I’ll have my eye on three:

    • New York at Montréal: Not only is this an Original Six rivalry, but it’s also a rematch from last season’s Eastern Quarterfinals.
    • Calgary at Arizona: G Mike Smith (injured) and D Michael Stone are making their first trips back to Glendale to take on the Coyotes, the team they both spent six seasons with before joining Calgary.
    • Czech Republic vs. the OAR: The top two remaining seeds are going at it for a chance to play for a gold medal!

    We’ve featured Olympic action the past six days, and I see no reason to stop that trend now. Let’s see who’s advancing to the gold medal game!

     

    Let’s start with the 3-1-0-0 Czech Republic, which posted a 2-1-0-0 record in Group A against the likes of Canada (3-2 SO), Switzerland (4-1) and South Korea (2-1) to clinch a first round bye into the quarterfinals, where it beat the United States in a 3-2 shootout victory.

    Offensively, there are few teams in this Olympic tournament that can rival the Czechs, as their three goals-per-game is (t)third-best among all 12 participating nations and (t)second-best of the four squads remaining.

    For those wondering: no, you will not witness any of the Czech Republic’s legendary right wings in this game. Instead of Jaromir Jagr, Martin Prochazka and David Vyborny, you should be looking forward to witnessing F Michal Repik (3-1-4 totals) and F Jan Kovar (2-2-4) continuing their stellar tournaments, as both are averaging a point per game.

    29-year-old Repik’s performance is of particular interest, as he’s managed his impressive marks from the Czechs’ fourth line and, more importantly, from both special teams. All three of his goals have been scored in different situations: one at even strength, one on the power play and one on the penalty kill. He’s a dangerous Swiss army knife of a player that should be taken seriously on every shift.

    The Czechs have also played decently in their own zone, as they’ve held their opponents to an average of only 25 shots against per game – the (t)fifth-lowest mark of all Olympic teams and third-lowest among the semifinalists.

    That’s left G Pavel Francouz to shine, and shine he has. Having been the lone goaltender Head Coach Josef Jandac has employed throughout this tournament, he’s posted a solid .94 save percentage for a 1.41 GAA.

    Mix all that defensive work together and you get a Czech Republic team that has allowed only 1.5 goals per game for the entire tournament, the (t)third-best mark in comparison to all 12 teams that have participated in PyeongChang and (t)second-best among the semifinalists.

    One final advantage the Czech Republic has in its back pocket is its support in the stands. With the exception of the South Koreans, no team has enjoyed larger crowds than the Czechs, who average 5460.25 fans in attendance at each game – almost 450 more than the Russians, who rank fourth in attendance. With both teams bringing their large fanbases, Gangneung Hockey Centre could very well sell each and every one of its 10,000 seats.

    Of course, that’s not a knock on fans of the Olympic Athletes from Russia, who’ve had the pleasure of cheering one of the most dominant teams in South Korea. After dropping their first tilt against Slovakia 3-2, the OAR has earned a 3-0-0-1 overall record, beating Slovenia (8-2) and the United States (4-0) to win Group B, and then Norway (6-1) in the quarterfinals.

    Not a bad rebound for Красная Машина – The Red Machine – after pundits were already accusing them of choking as favorites at a second-consecutive Olympic tournament.

    The strength in the OAR’s game relies heavily on their dominant offense maintaining almost constant possession of the puck, similar to the style the Boston Bruins have employed in the NHL this season. Not only is this a great way to generate goals – which the OAR does, averaging an Olympic-leading five goals per game – but it also limits opposing opportunities. The 19.25 shots faced per game by G Vasili Koshechkin are the fewest any of the 12 defenses in South Korea have allowed, and he’s been able to post a cool .929 save percentage for a 1.37 GAA as a result.

    Pair all that together, and the 1.5 goals against per game the OAR has allowed in their first four games is the (t)third-best mark at the Olympics and (t)second-fewest among the final four.

    Anyways, back to the offense. The OAR has more than a few stellar skaters at its disposal, but none have been better than F Nikita Gusev, a Vegas Golden Knights prospect should he choose to join them when his contract expires after next season. During this stint with the Red Machine, he’s posted incredible 1-6-7 totals to average almost two points per game.

    But the Czechs shouldn’t focus all their efforts on Gusev, or else one of the other six Russians averaging at least a point per game will fly right by them. F Ilya Kovalchuk, Minnesota Wild prospect F Kirill Kaprizov, F Sergei Mozyakin, D Vyacheslav Voinov, F Sergei Andronov and F Pavel Datsyuk have united to form what may be the strongest Russian team since its days as the USSR.

    It’s like they should have been favored to win this tournament or something.

    Usually this is where I jump into recent matchups, but I’d instead like to point out how each team handled a common opponent: Team USA. The OAR manhandled the United States in their Group B finale, dominating the game to a 4-0 final score. By comparison, the Czechs required not just overtime, but also a shootout to knock off the Americans 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

    There’s certainly much to be said about how the Americans approached either game. The US appeared nervous when playing the OAR, remembering the stories their parents, coaches and just about any other American hockey fan had told them about that fateful day 38 years ago.

    There was no second act of the Miracle on Ice for Team USA in this tournament against the OAR, and the Russians made them pay for their inability to string together more than a pass or two.

    Comparatively, the rivalry between Team USA and the Czech Republic ranks just above the rivalry between the American and Mexican hockey teams – in other words, its non-existent. Pairing the lack of heightened emotion with G Ryan Zapolski’s excellent play, the Americans rode out the Czechs’ stellar play and countered at just the right times to stave off elimination as long as they could.

    Now, this is not supposed to be a summary of Team USA, even if it did seem that way. Instead, I simply pose the question: if the Americans weren’t so riled up to play this game, would they have been as big a thorn in the Russians’ side as they were to the Czechs?

    I feel the answer is yes, but the OAR still would not have needed a shootout to knock them off. With that in mind, I feel safe in my prediction that the Olympic Athletes from Russia will be playing for the gold medal after beating the Czech Republic.

    With a 3-2 shootout victory in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day, the curse has been lifted on the United States’ women’s hockey team as it beat Team Canada to clinch the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

    Penalties were the big story in the first period, as Team USA earned a whopping three power plays. The first two opportunities amounted to only a combined two shots on goal, but F Sarah Nurse’s interference infraction with 1:34 remaining in the frame turned into a F Hilary Knight (D Sidney Morin and F Brianna Decker) deflection 68 seconds later to give the American’s a 1-0 advantage going into the first intermission.

    It didn’t take long for the Canadians to level the game. Only two minutes into the second period, F Haley Irwin (F Blayre Turnbull) set the score at 1-1 by deflecting a Turnbull pass pass past G Maddie Rooney out of mid-air. 4:55 later, who else to give Team Canada than F Marie-Philip Poulin (F Meghan Agosta and F Melodie Daoust)? With Agosta firing a reverse pass from the goal line, Poulin lifted her snap shot from the left face-off circle to the near post.

    That 2-1 Canadian advantage lasted into the second intermission and through the midway point of the final frame. If any doubt was beginning to creep into the Americans’ minds that they couldn’t beat G Shannon Szabados one more time to level the game, it was dashed with 6:21 remaining in regulation when F Monique Lamoureux-Morando (F Kelly Pannek) scored to tie the game and force overtime.

    With no goal struck in the 10-minute four-on-four overtime period, the gold medal would be awarded to the team that won the six-round shootout.

    1. F Natalie Spooner was the first Canadian to try to beat Rooney, but the netminder stood tall to keep her off the board.
    2. F Gigi Marvin gave Team USA an early lead in the shootout by beating Szabados.
    3. Facing an early hole, Agosta leveled the shootout score at one-apiece, but Szabados still had to face her second shooter to complete the turnaround.
    4. She did just that by keeping F Hannah Brandt’s attempt out of the back of her net. The shootout score read 1-1 through two rounds.
    5. Having already beaten Rooney in regulation, Poulin was Canada’s third shooter. However, she didn’t find the same success, as the American kept her net clean.
    6. Usually playing defense, Emily Pfalzer was given her opportunity to make an offensive contribution in the third round. Her shot was saved by Szabados, leaving the shootout tied through three rounds.
    7. Canada’s next hope was Daoust, and she made good on her opportunity by beating Rooney.
    8. However, that advantage didn’t last long, as F Amanda Kessel was able to level the shootout at 2-2 in her half of the fourth round.
    9. With the opportunity to force a miss-and-lose situation for the Americans, F Brianne Jenner’s attempt to set the shootout score at 3-2 were nullified by Rooney.
    10. That gave Team USA its first opportunity to win the shootout. Who else to send to center ice than Knight? However, her attempt was saved by Szabados, forcing an extra shootout frame.
    11. The Americans won the coin toss and elected to shoot first. F Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson made good on that decision, employing a triple move against Szabados to force a miss-and-lose on Team Canada.
    12. The Canadians called on Agosta to find the leveling goal, but Rooney was there to clinch the Americans’ second gold medal in women’s ice hockey.

    Rooney earned the shootout victory after saving 29-of-31 (.935 save percentage), leaving the shootout loss to Szabados, who saved an impressive 39-of-41 (.951).

  • February 20 – Day 132 – Bronze OAR fourth for the Finns?

    Tuesdays are usually chock full of action, and that’s definitely true today with the Olympics still in full swing. In total, there’s 14 tilts eligible for the distinct honor of being named DtFR’s Game of the Day.

    We start with the Olympics. The rest of the men’s quarterfinals are slated to be played this morning at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time. Finland squares off against host South Korea for a chance to  play Canada, and Sweden awaits the winner of Switzerland vs. Germany.

    In NHL action, there’s nine games to be played this fine evening, starting with four (Florida at Toronto, Columbus at New Jersey, Montréal at Philadelphia [RDS/TSN2] and Tampa Bay at Washington [TVAS]) at 7 p.m. and Nashville at Detroit half an hour later. Next up are two puck drops scheduled for 8 p.m. (San Jose at St. Louis and Los Angeles at Winnipeg), with Boston at Edmonton waiting an hour before getting underway. Finally, Colorado at Vancouver completes the night’s action at 10 p.m. All times Eastern.

    But wait, there’s still more hockey on today’s schedule, as there’s three games yet to be played in PyeongChang. The Czech Republic will play Team USA at 10:10 p.m. in the men’s quarterfinals, followed by the OAR vs. the winner of last night’s Slovenia-Norway match at 2:40 a.m. Also at 2:40 a.m. is the women’s bronze medal game between Finland and the OAR. All times Eastern.

    Beyond the Olympic games – all of which are important – I’m most drawn to the activity in Missouri due to the Blues and Sharks being tied at 72 points apiece. However, which game do we ultimately go with?

    Since medals are being handed out in the wee hours of the morning, it’s hard to ignore the Olympics. Let’s head over to Kwandong Hockey Centre to see how this game goes down!

     

    Before we get underway, it should be pointed out that all stats were collected before the fifth-place game between Switzerland and Japan. The potential for either team to fall above or behind Finland and/or the OAR in a given statistic is slim, but still mathematically possible.

    By simply looking at statistics, the loser of this game seems to be abundantly clear. The Olympic Athletes from Russia had a terrible group stage, losing all three games in Group A with a combined goal-differential of -14 (eclipsed only by Korea’s -19 in its opening three tilts). While the OAR did manage to upset Switzerland 6-2 in the quarterfinals, they were swiftly knocked out of gold medal contention in the semifinals by losing a 5-0 to the Canadians.

    The OAR rank seventh out of eight teams in the three statistics I consider most important in determining the quality of a team: goals per game, goals against per game and shots against per game.

    Offensively, Большая красная машина – The Big Red Machine – has averaged only 1.4 goals per game. They have only one weapon of any real significance in F Anna Shokhina, as she’s scored three of the OAR’s seven goals en route to 3-2-5 totals for the tournament.

    Make sure you read that correctly: Shokhina has five points, while the OAR have only seven goals to their credit for the entire tournament. To keep a long story short, the OAR are effectively helpless when she’s not on the ice.

    Allowing 40.2 shots against per game, the defense has been no better than the offense in The Big Red Machine’s first five games. That’s made life exceedingly difficult for G Nadezhda Morozova, and she may have stolen the only game she could against the Swiss. Morozova has posted a measly .889 save percentage for the tournament, which doesn’t pair well with her 3.98 GAA. Those defensive efforts combine for the OAR allowing 4.4 goals against per game.

    Meanwhile, Finland has simply fallen victim to the fate that befalls almost every national women’s hockey team in the world during the Olympics: it’s not from North America. With the exception of games against the United States and Canada, the Naisleijonat – Lady Lions – have earned two victories in two tries.

    However, in tournaments with only eight teams, squaring off against the two best squads in the world is unavoidable, hence the reason Finland finds itself playing only for bronze.

    The Finns’ biggest strength is almost certainly their attack, as the 2.8 goals they average per game is the fifth-best of all eight teams at the Olympics. The Lady Lions’ brightest star has been first-liner F Riikka Valila with her 4-1-5 totals, but linemate F Michelle Karvinen has also been stellar with her 3-2-5 marks. Both have averaged a point-per-game this tournament and show no signs of slowing down.

    Naisleijonat isn’t quite as spectacular on the defensive end having allowed a third-worst 31.6 shots against per game, but they’ve been more than bailed out by the solid play of G Noora Raty. She’s posted a .911 save percentage in her 295:25 of action, good enough for a 2.84 GAA. As such, Finland allows an average of only 2.8 goals against per game.

    It was only six days ago that these teams last saw each other in Group A play, and it’s a tilt the OAR would much rather forget. Led by a dominant two-goal performance by Karvinen, Finland easily handled the OAR to a 5-1 victory.

    Of course, that game counted only for seeding. With hardware on the line and a victory against Switzerland under their belt, I expect a much better showing from the OAR.

    However, don’t misread that and think I’m picking the OAR to win this game. Finland is far and away the superior team in this match, and they look to be an almost certain lock for their third Olympic bronze medal.

    Team USA turned on the jets in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day, as the Americans beat Slovakia 5-1 at Gangneung Hockey Centre in the qualification round of the men’s Olympic tournament to advance to a quarterfinal matchup against the Czech Republic.

    Team USA was the first to get on the board, but they didn’t score until the 1:36 mark of the second period. F Troy Terry (a fifth-round pick by the Ducks in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft) drove through the center of the zone for a solid scoring opportunity, but he did too much and slid his backhanded shot past the goal post and into the boards. The loose puck bounced back above the goal line, eventually ending up on Bruins prospect F Ryan Donato’s (D Matt Gilroy and Terry) stick for him to beat G Jan Laco to the far post.

    Arguably the biggest event of the game occurred only 26 seconds later. F Ladislav Nagy ended up in G Ryan Zapolski’s crease, making contact leaving Zapolski with an injury to his left knee. Before play was stopped, another D Michal Cajkovsky hit Donato in the head with his shoulder, drawing blood. Much to backup G Brandon Maxwell’s chagrin, neither player’s ailments took them out of action. However, Cajkovsky did earn himself a 25-minute match penalty, removing him from play.

    That whole sequence left Team USA with a five-on-three advantage, which they converted into a goal only 17 seconds later. Doing his best W Alex Ovechkin impression, D James Wisniewski (Terry) one-timed a slap shot from the left face-off circle to beat Laco for what proved to be the game-winning goal. F Mark Arcobello set the score at 3-0 with 6:30 remaining in the frame by flipping a snap shot past Laco’s glove.

    Slovakia finally found a goal with 3:06 remaining in the second. with  F Jordan Greenway (a second-round pick by the Wild in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft) in the penalty box for slashing and F Tomas Surovy acting as a screen, D Peter Ceresnak (D Dominik Granak and Nagy) ripped a slap shot from the blue line to pull the Slovaks back within a 3-1 deficit.

    A little bit of tic-tac-goal is what led to Team USA’s fourth goal of the game, probably the prettiest tally I’ve seen at this tournament. F Broc Little slid a one-touch pass right across Laco’s crease, setting up F Garrett Roe (Little and F Brian O’Neill) to elevate his shot over the netminder’s right pad. To keep with tradition of scoring two goals against Slovakia, Donato (Wisniewski) scored the Americans’ last goal, setting the 5-1 final score and locking up a date with the Czechs.

    Zapolski earned the victory after saving 22-of-23 shots faced (.957 save percentage), leaving the loss to Laco, who saved 28-of-33 (.848).

    That’s four-straight wins by teams officially designated the road team at the Olympics in the DtFR Game of the Day series. As such, the visitors have pulled within 18 points of the 70-45-17 hosts.

  • Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games

    We’ve talked a lot in DtFR Podcasts about who is – and maybe even more about who isn’t – going to the XXIII Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. However, we haven’t had too many discussions yet about the tournament itself.

    What nations are going to be there? What is the format of the tournaments? What time will those games be? Will the United States get those games broadcast live? And, most importantly, who’s taking gold?

    Let’s tackle those questions one at a time.

    What nations are going to be at the Olympics this year?

    In total, there will be 14 nations represented between the two tournaments – though that number does come with a catch.

    Starting with the women’s tournament (which drops the first puck February 10 at 2:40 a.m. Eastern time), there will be two groups of four sides apiece competing to qualify for six spots in the knockout tournament.

    Group A consists of:

    • Canada
    • Finland
    • Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)
    • United States of America

    One of these things is not like the others, so now sounds like as good a time as any to discuss one of our “wildcard” nations.

    With a press release on December 5, 2017, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Russian Olympic Committee for the 2018 Games for “the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system” during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

    While that is a hefty charge, the IOC did offer an avenue for clean Russian athletes to compete. Every Russian who passes the IOC’s drug tests is eligible to compete for the Olympic Rings instead of for the Russian Federation, meaning any medals won by Russian athletes will not count towards Russia’s all-time medal counts. No Russian flags will be raised, nor will the State Anthem of the Russian Federation be heard, but at least those athletes will still have an opportunity to compete.

    Group B consists of:

    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Sweden
    • Switzerland

    Ooh, our other “wildcard!” It’s hidden a bit better than the Russian situation, but there’s a hint in one team’s name.

    You probably noticed there was no specification associated with Korea. That’s because North Korea and South Korea are fielding a unified team of 35 players (the standard 23 from South Korea with an additional dozen from North Korea) in the women’s hockey tournament.

    This is a weird and highly politicized (Politics at the Olympics? *insert sarcastic ‘No!’ here*) decision that was finalized only 24 days before Korea’s first game, and that crunched timeline may yield unfortunate results on the ice. Steve Mollman of Quartz provides some excellent information about the politics of the situation, but the only rule Head Coach Sarah Murray, a dual-citizen of Canada and the USA, must follow is three North Korean players must be active for each game.

    Meanwhile, the men’s tournament is a bit larger and features three groups of four teams for a total of 12 nations.

    Group A consists of:

    • Canada
    • Czech Republic
    • South Korea
    • Switzerland

    …Group B:

    • Olympic Athletes from Russia
    • Slovakia
    • Slovenia
    • United States

    …and Group C (the group I’m affectionately calling “The Euro Cup.” Original, I know):

    • Finland
    • Germany
    • Norway
    • Sweden

    All 12 squads will qualify for the knockout stage, but there is a major reward for each nation that wins its group: an automatic entry into the quarterfinals. The best second-place team will also earn a bye in the playoff round that will feature the remaining eight teams.

    What is the format of each tournament?

    Like many international sporting events, both the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey tournaments will begin with a group stage.

    Each team in a given group will play one game against the other three teams in its section. For example, the unified Korean team in the women’s tournament will play Switzerland (February 10 at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time), Sweden (February 12 at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time) and Japan (February 14 at 2:40 a.m. Eastern time).

    Standings will be tabulated in a way similar to the NHL, however there are a few differences: wins count for three points, while overtime and shootout wins only count for two. Overtime and shootout losses will still count for one point, and a regulation loss is… well, a major bummer.

    Okay, we’ve completed the group stage. How does this turn into a knockout tournament?

    This is the phase where things start to look a bit different between the men’s and women’s tournaments. Let’s start with the women’s competition, which will begin its knockout stage on February 16 at 10:10 p.m. Eastern time.

    Did you notice how stacked Group A is? The IOC and IIHF did that intentionally, but they also paved the way for those teams into the tournament as all four will qualify for at least the quarterfinals. The top two teams from the group (A1 and A2) will receive automatic bids into the semifinals, while the remaining sides will square off against the winner and runner-up of Group B (A3 versus B2 and A4 versus B1) in the quarters. B3 and B4 will continue play, but the best they’ll be able to finish in the consolation tournament is fifth place.

    The winner of A3vB2 will take on A1 in the semis, and A2 will square off against the victor of A4vB1. Once those tilts are done, it will boil down to the Gold Medal game, which is scheduled for February 21 at 11:10 p.m. Eastern time. The Bronze Medal match is slated for February 21 at 2:40 a.m. Eastern time.

    As stated before, the group stage in the men’s tournament has no bearing on which nations advance into the knockout – all 12 teams will do just that. However, playoff matchups are dependent on success in the group stage.

    Once group play is complete, all 12 teams will be pooled into one table with the three group winners listed 1-3, the runners-up 4-6 and so on, so forth. Within those four trios, they’ll be ordered by the number of points they earned in the group stage. Should there be a tie in points, it will be decided by goal-differential, then goals for, then – hopefully it doesn’t come to this one – the superior 2017 IIHF ranking.

    I won’t bore you with the seeding process, but the first round of the men’s knockout tournament will begin February 19 at 10:10 p.m. Eastern time. The top four teams from the group stage enter during the quarterfinals, which are scheduled for February 20 at 10:10 p.m. Eastern time, followed by the semifinals three days later. Bronze medals will be awarded after the game at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time on February 24, followed by the Gold Medal tilt at 11:10 p.m. Eastern time that night.

    What time are these games happening, and are they being televised?

    To our readers not from the United States, the broadcasting part of this section doesn’t apply to you. Then again, most of you probably don’t want puck drops listed in Eastern time anyway, so thanks for reading this far if you’re still here!

    Since the women’s tournament begins first, let’s start with their schedule. Remember, OAR means Olympic Athletes from Russia.

    2018 Women’s Tournament
    Date/Time in PyeongChang Date/Time (EST) Group/
    Round    		 Matchup USA Live Broadcast
    February 10 at 4:40 p.m. February 10 at 2:40 a.m. B Japan v Sweden
    February 10 at 9:10 p.m. February 10 at 7:10 a.m. B Switzerland v Korea USA
    February 11 at 4:40 p.m. February 11 at 2:40 a.m. A Finland v USA NBC Sports Network
    February 11 at 9:10 p.m. February 11 at 7:10 a.m. A Canada v OAR
    February 12 at 4:40 p.m. February 12 at 2:40 a.m. B Switzerland v Japan NBC Sports Network
    February 12 at 9:10 p.m. February 12 at 7:10 a.m. B Sweden v Korea NBC Sports Network
    February 13 at 4:40 p.m. February 13 at 2:40 a.m. A Canada v Finland NBC Sports Network
    February 13 at 9:10 p.m. February 13 at 7:10 a.m. A USA v OAR NBC Sports Network
    February 14 at 12:10 p.m. February 13 at 10:10 pm B Sweden v Switzerland NBC Sports Network
    February 14 at 4:40 p.m. February 14 at 2:40 a.m. B Korea v Japan USA
    February 15 at 12:10 p.m. February 14 at 10:10 pm A USA v Canada NBC Sports Network
    February 15 at 4:40 p.m. February 15 at 2:40 a.m. A OAR v Finland USA
    February 17 at 12:10 p.m. February 16 at 10:10 pm QF Quarterfinals CNBC
    February 17 at 4:40 p.m. February 17 at 2:40 a.m. QF Quarterfinals USA
    February 18 at 12:10 p.m. February 17 at 10:10 pm CONS Classification (5-8 place)
    February 18 at 4:40 p.m. February 18 at 2:40 a.m. CONS Classification (5-8 place)
    February 19 at 1:10 p.m. February 18 at 11:10 pm SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 19 at 9:10 p.m. February 19 at 7:10 a.m. SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 12:10 p.m. February 19 at 10:10 pm CONS Classification (7-8 place)
    February 20 at 4:40 p.m. February 20 at 2:40 a.m. CONS Classification (5-6 place)
    February 21 at 4:40 p.m. February 21 at 2:40 a.m. BMG Bronze Medal Game USA
    February 22 at 1:10 p.m. February 21 at 11:10 pm GMG Gold Medal Game NBC Sports Network

    And now, the men’s tournament:

    2018 men’s Tournament
    Date/Time in PyeongChang Date/Time (EST) Group/
    Round    		 Matchup USA Live Broadcast
    February 14 at 9:10 p.m. February 14 at 7:10 a.m. B Slovakia v OAR USA
    February 14 at 9:10 p.m. February 14 at 7:10 a.m. B USA v Slovenia NBC Sports Network
    February 15 at 12:10 p.m. February 14 at 10:10 pm C Finland v Germany CNBC
    February 15 at 4:40 p.m. February 15 at 2:40 a.m. C Norway v Sweden NBC Sports Network
    February 15 at 9:10 p.m. February 15 at 7:10 a.m. A Czech Republic v South Korea USA
    February 15 at 9:10 p.m. February 15 at 7:10 a.m. A Switzerland v Canada NBC Sports Network
    February 16 at 12:10 p.m. February 15 at 10:10 pm B USA v Slovakia CNBC
    February 16 at 4:40 p.m. February 16 at 2:40 a.m. B OAR v Slovenia NBC Sports Network
    February 16 at 9:10 p.m. February 16 at 7:10 a.m. C Finland v Norway USA
    February 16 at 9:10 p.m. February 16 at 7:10 a.m. C Sweden v Germany NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 12:10 p.m. February 16 at 10:10 p.m. A Canada v Czech Republic NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 4:40 p.m. February 17 at 2:40 a.m. A South Korea v Switzerland NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 9:10 p.m. February 17 at 7:10 a.m. B OAR v USA NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 9:10 p.m. February 17 at 7:10 a.m. B Slovenia v Slovakia USA
    February 18 at 12:10 p.m. February 17 at 10:10 pm C Germany v Norway NBC Sports Network
    February 18 at 4:40 p.m. February 18 at 2:40 a.m. A Czech Republic v Switzerland NBC Sports Network
    February 18 at 9:10 p.m. February 18 at 7:10 a.m. A Canada v South Korea USA
    February 18 at 9:10 p.m. February 18 at 7:10 a.m. C Sweden v Finland NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 12:10 p.m. February 19 at 10:10 pm Q Qualifications NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 4:40 p.m. February 20 at 2:40 a.m. Q Qualifications NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 9:10 p.m. February 20 at 7:10 a.m. Q Qualifications USA
    February 20 at 9:10 p.m. February 20 at 7:10 a.m. Q Qualifications NBC Sports Network
    February 21 at 12:10 p.m. February 20 at 10:10 pm QF Quarterfinals CNBC
    February 21 at 4:40 p.m. February 21 at 2:40 a.m. QF Quarterfinals NBC Sports Network
    February 21 at 9:10 p.m. February 21 at 7:10 a.m. QF Quarterfinals NBC Sports Network
    February 21 at 9:10 p.m. February 21 at 7:10 a.m. QF Quarterfinals USA
    February 23 at 4:40 p.m. February 23 at 2:40 a.m. SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 23 at 9:10 p.m. February 23 at 7:10 a.m. SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 24 at 9:10 p.m. February 24 at 7:10 a.m. BMG Bronze Medal Game NBC Sports Network
    February 25 at 1:10 p.m. February 24 at 11:10 pm GMG Gold Medal Game NBC Sports Network

    A master schedule is available at the bottom of this article, but there’s one question left to answer first.

    So, who’s going for the gold?

    Ah, perhaps the most important question of them all.

    As we’ve been doing this whole time, we’ll stick with tradition and predict the women’s tournament first.

    Just examining the format of the tournament, the IIHF and the IOC are simply begging for another Gold Medal Game between Canada and the United States, the world’s top-two ranked women’s teams.

    There’s obviously potential for either team to stumble in a group that features the four best squads in the world and be forced to play in the quarterfinals, but I just don’t see it happening. Should my prediction prove correct, the world’s best teams would square off in a third-straight Olympic Final, with Canada playing for its fifth-consecutive gold.

    As for the men’s tournament, it’s been well reported that the NHL keeping its players at home will play a major role in determining which nations are taking home hardware.

    In my opinion, that leaves the door wide open for the Olympic Athletes from Russia, especially since they’re playing in what I believe to be the weakest group of the bunch. The OAR boasts players such as F Pavel Datsyuk, C Mikhail Grigorenko, W Ilya Kovalchuk, D Alexey Marchenko, D Nikita Nesterov and F Vadim Shipachyov – all of whom have NHL experience. Tack on the fact that they all play in the second-best league in the world, and they’re more than prepared for every challenge that can come their way in Pyeongchang.

    Of course, we all saw what happened the last time the Russians were favorites to win the Olympics. Should this team crumble like 2014’s squad (even though F T.J. Oshie will be preoccupied playing with the best Russian player in the world, W Alex Ovechkin), I’m leaning towards the winner of the mini Euro Cup taking full advantage. All four of those teams are in the top-10 of the current IIHF World Rankings, with Sweden and Finland respectively leading the way as numbers 3 and 4.

    But don’t leave the predicting work to me. Here’s what all of us here at Down the Frozen River – and even our old pal Frank Fanelli, now of Student Union Sports – think is going to happen:

    Down the Frozen River’s Olympic Picks
    Cap’n Colby Connor Frank Jordan Nick Pete
    Women’s Tournament
    Gold Canada Canada Canada USA USA USA USA
    Silver USA USA USA Canada Canada Canada Canada
    Bronze Finland Sweden Finland Sweden Sweden Finland Sweden
    Fourth Sweden Japan OAR Finland Finland Sweden Finland
    Men’s Tournament
    Gold Sweden Sweden OAR Sweden OAR Sweden Sweden
    Silver Canada USA Finland USA Canada OAR OAR
    Bronze Finland Canada Sweden Canada USA Canada Canada
    Fourth OAR OAR Canada Finland Sweden USA USA

    It seems I’m not alone in my prediction of a Canada-USA Gold Medal match in the women’s tournament! All seven of us have the two squaring off in the final, with a slim majority believing Captain Meghan Duggan and co. can lead Team USA to its first gold since 1998.

    As for the women’s Bronze Medal game, we’re leaning towards a Scandinavian country taking home some hardware – with most of us favoring Sweden over Finland. However, Colby and I think underdogs are going to make it to the semifinals before falling, as I’m pegging the fourth-ranked Olympic Athletes from Russia to end up in fourth and Colby’s picking ninth-ranked Japan.

    In the men’s tournament, it seems Sweden is the nearly consensus favorite to come away with the medals that match its tri-crowned sweaters. However, who Captain Joel Lundqvist‘s – yes, the twin brother of the Rangers’ G Henrik Lundqvist – team beats in that Gold Medal game is anyone’s guess, as we’ve picked four different teams to take home silver.

    We seem to be in a bit more agreement about the winner of the bronze medal, as four of us have pegged Captain Chris Kelly‘s Team Canada to come home with its third-consecutive medal.

    While we may all have our own rooting interests, I think we can all agree that this should be a fun and exciting two weeks of hockey.

    2018 Olympic Hockey Tournament
    Date/Time in PyeongChang Date/Time (EST) Sex Group/
    Round    		 Matchup USA Live Broadcast
    February 10 at 4:40 p.m. February 10 at 2:40 a.m. W B Japan v Sweden
    February 10 at 9:10 p.m. February 10 at 7:10 a.m. W B Switzerland v Korea USA
    February 11 at 4:40 p.m. February 11 at 2:40 a.m. W A Finland v USA NBC Sports Network
    February 11 at 9:10 p.m. February 11 at 7:10 a.m. W A Canada v OAR
    February 12 at 4:40 p.m. February 12 at 2:40 a.m. W B Switzerland v Japan NBC Sports Network
    February 12 at 9:10 p.m. February 12 at 7:10 a.m. W B Sweden v Korea NBC Sports Network
    February 13 at 4:40 p.m. February 13 at 2:40 a.m. W A Canada v Finland NBC Sports Network
    February 13 at 9:10 p.m. February 13 at 7:10 a.m. W A USA v OAR NBC Sports Network
    February 14 at 12:10 p.m. February 13 at 10:10 pm W B Sweden v Switzerland NBC Sports Network
    February 14 at 4:40 p.m. February 14 at 2:40 a.m. W B Korea v Japan USA
    February 14 at 9:10 p.m. February 14 at 7:10 a.m. M B Slovakia v OAR USA
    February 14 at 9:10 p.m. February 14 at 7:10 a.m. M B USA v Slovenia NBC Sports Network
    February 15 at 12:10 p.m. February 14 at 10:10 pm W A USA v Canada NBC Sports Network
    February 15 at 12:10 p.m. February 14 at 10:10 pm M C Finland v Germany CNBC
    February 15 at 4:40 p.m. February 15 at 2:40 a.m. W A OAR v Finland USA
    February 15 at 4:40 p.m. February 15 at 2:40 a.m. M C Norway v Sweden NBC Sports Network
    February 15 at 9:10 p.m. February 15 at 7:10 a.m. M A Czech Republic v South Korea USA
    February 15 at 9:10 p.m. February 15 at 7:10 a.m. M A Switzerland v Canada NBC Sports Network
    February 16 at 12:10 p.m. February 15 at 10:10 pm M B USA v Slovakia CNBC
    February 16 at 4:40 p.m. February 16 at 2:40 a.m. M B OAR v Slovenia NBC Sports Network
    February 16 at 9:10 p.m. February 16 at 7:10 a.m. M C Finland v Norway USA
    February 16 at 9:10 p.m. February 16 at 7:10 a.m. M C Sweden v Germany NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 12:10 p.m. February 16 at 10:10 pm W QF Quarterfinals CNBC
    February 17 at 12:10 p.m. February 16 at 10:10 p.m. M A Canada v Czech Republic NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 4:40 p.m. February 17 at 2:40 a.m. W QF Quarterfinals USA
    February 17 at 4:40 p.m. February 17 at 2:40 a.m. M A South Korea v Switzerland NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 9:10 p.m. February 17 at 7:10 a.m. M B OAR v USA NBC Sports Network
    February 17 at 9:10 p.m. February 17 at 7:10 a.m. M B Slovenia v Slovakia USA
    February 18 at 12:10 p.m. February 17 at 10:10 pm M C Germany v Norway NBC Sports Network
    February 18 at 12:10 p.m. February 17 at 10:10 pm W CONS Classification (5-8 place)
    February 18 at 4:40 p.m. February 18 at 2:40 a.m. M A Czech Republic v Switzerland NBC Sports Network
    February 18 at 4:40 p.m. February 18 at 2:40 a.m. W CONS Classification (5-8 place)
    February 18 at 9:10 p.m. February 18 at 7:10 a.m. M A Canada v South Korea USA
    February 18 at 9:10 p.m. February 18 at 7:10 a.m. M C Sweden v Finland NBC Sports Network
    February 19 at 1:10 p.m. February 18 at 11:10 pm W SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 19 at 9:10 p.m. February 19 at 7:10 a.m. W SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 12:10 p.m. February 19 at 10:10 pm M Q Qualifications NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 12:10 p.m. February 19 at 10:10 pm W CONS Classification (7-8 place)
    February 20 at 4:40 p.m. February 20 at 2:40 a.m. M Q Qualifications NBC Sports Network
    February 20 at 4:40 p.m. February 20 at 2:40 a.m. W CONS Classification (5-6 place)
    February 20 at 9:10 p.m. February 20 at 7:10 a.m. M Q Qualifications USA
    February 20 at 9:10 p.m. February 20 at 7:10 a.m. M Q Qualifications NBC Sports Network
    February 21 at 12:10 p.m. February 20 at 10:10 pm M QF Quarterfinals CNBC
    February 21 at 4:40 p.m. February 21 at 2:40 a.m. W BMG Bronze Medal Game USA
    February 21 at 4:40 p.m. February 21 at 2:40 a.m. M QF Quarterfinals NBC Sports Network
    February 21 at 9:10 p.m. February 21 at 7:10 a.m. M QF Quarterfinals NBC Sports Network
    February 21 at 9:10 p.m. February 21 at 7:10 a.m. M QF Quarterfinals USA
    February 22 at 1:10 p.m. February 21 at 11:10 pm W GMG Gold Medal Game NBC Sports Network
    February 23 at 4:40 p.m. February 23 at 2:40 a.m. M SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 23 at 9:10 p.m. February 23 at 7:10 a.m. M SF Semifinals NBC Sports Network
    February 24 at 9:10 p.m. February 24 at 7:10 a.m. M BMG Bronze Medal Game NBC Sports Network
    February 25 at 1:10 p.m. February 24 at 11:10 pm M GMG Gold Medal Game NBC Sports Network

  • Merkle’s Weekly Bumblings: Week 14

    Skater of the Week: Mathew Barzal

    These bye-weeks are making things weird.

    Barzal gets the nod for this week’s award having only played one game during that span. But what a game it was.

    Helping his Islanders to a 7-2 rout of the rival Rangers, young Barzal tallied his second five-point game of his breakout rookie campaign with two goals and three helpers. Perhaps more amazing is the fact that all five points were scored at even-strength, no power play help needed. This also landed Barzal a perfect +5 rating for the night, to go along with a .5 shooting percentage and even tallying the official game-winning goal (probably not worth much in a rout, but it pads the stats all the same).

    With 44 points in 44 games to this point in the season, Barzal continues to make a very strong case for a Calder Trophy nod come season’s end.

    Tendy of the Week: Mike Smith

    Posting a perfect 3-0-0 record this week on the strength of just four goals allowed in those contests to rack up a .963 save percentage and a GAA just a smidge over 1.30, Smith has his Calgary Flames scorching. (Pun entirely intended)

    Smith started the week stopping 33-of-35 shots faced in an overtime victory against the Wild, before nullifying 33-of-34 against the league-leading Lightning and 38-of-39 against Carolina to extend his winning streak to six games.

    Calgary went out and got Smith to fill the one glaring weakness they felt they had, and if he can keep this level of play up, they could be deadly.

    Game of the Week: Boston Bruins 4 vs Montreal Canadiens 3 (SO), Saturday January 13th, 2018

    The 739th all-time meeting between the Original Six arch-rivals had a little something extra to offer, as it was the first meeting of the two squads since Claude Julien‘s firing from Boston and hiring by Montreal late last season. A little bit of extra hype that this tilt ended up living up to.

    In total this one saw seven goals, 62 shots, 77 hits, and two power play goals on five opportunities.

    Max Pacioretty would get things rolling just 3:22 into the game, collecting the rebound from a deflected Victor Mete point shot and stuffing it just inside the near post behind Tuukka Rask to give the Habs the early advantage. Most of the first period would then pass by with little affair until Brad Marchand would streak in on the back door and receive a gorgeous Patrice Bergeron centering feed from the far board and bury it top shelf to even the score at the 17:40 mark on the power play, and the two teams would carry the 1-1 score into the first intermission.

    The second period would see things really open up, starting with a Jake DeBrusk breakaway tally just 2:55 into the frame. Charlie McAvoy caught the Montreal defense standing still and fed a gorgeous tape-to-tape pass to a streaking DeBrusk who made no mistake en route to his 10th goal of the year. Just 2:50 later, though, Nic Deslauriers would pounce on a Zdeno Chara turnover at center ice and streak past the stumbling Boston captain into the high slot, where he would unleash a laser of a wrist shot past the blocker of Tuukka Rask to draw his Habs back even. Then just 3:06 later Montreal would retake the lead on the power play, as Alex Galchenyuk would receive a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Drouin, take a couple strides towards the net, and absolutely smoke a wrist shot over the shoulder of Tuukka Rask into the top of the net to put his team up 3-2. The Bruins controlled a lot of the play throughout the rest of the 2nd, but were met with some solid Carey Price saves at every opportunity until at the 17:42 mark David Krejci was able to corral a bouncing puck in the slot and wire it past a surprised Price and even the game at three heading into the second intermission.

     

    The third period would see both teams register the most shots of any period (12 for Boston, 10 for Montreal), but strong play by both goaltenders (and a few clutch saves by the goalpost to the right of Rask) kept things knotted at three to end regulation and send the proceedings to three-on-three overtime. Montreal looked to have it won in the waning seconds when a Jakub Jerabek shot found it’s way up and over Rask, but a diving Torey Krug managed to bat the puck out of the blue paint before Pacioretty or Plekanec could get a stick on it.

    So off to the shootout we went. Both Paul Byron and Jake DeBrusk would score in the first frame, but after that the two goaltenders shut things down for the remaining two shooters a side to force shootout overtime, where Rask would shut the door on Galchenyuk to allow Brad Marchand to streak in and bury the game-winner right through the five hole of Carey Price and directly into the hearts of the Montreal faithful.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    I saved the Phillip Danault story from the Boston/Montreal game for this section, because it definitely deserves to be highlighted. Danault is reported to be doing alright and was released from the hospital Sunday after an overnight evaluation. The Habs forward took a Zdeno Chara slapshot off the side of the head in Saturday night’s contest, and was eventually stretchered off of the ice. A truly sombering scene in a very exciting contest, Chara was one of the first to Danault’s aid and appeared to apologize to him as he was loaded up and carried off the ice. Between this and the Girardi/Frk incident last week, I’m thinking maybe people should stop trying to block the hardest shots in the game with their faces.

    Speaking of near-disasters, Milan Lucic came millimeters from life-threatening danger himself when he tangled with Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek and, upon the two falling to the ice, had his neck cut by Nosek’s skate. The picture of the stitch job is pretty unnerving, and according to Lucic the cut was mere millimeters too shallow to open up his jugular vein.

    One of the NHL’s most impressive streaks is coming to an end. After 830 consecutive games, Anaheim’s Andrew Cogliano will be forced to miss the next two contests after being suspended for a very-not legal hit on Kings forward Adrian Kempe. A very heated contest led to a lot of physicality, and the play was certainly very out of character for Cogliano, who sacrifices a streak that could have broken the NHL record next season had it continued.

    The Vegas Golden Knights have formed their first rivalry, but not exactly the sort you’d expect. The United States Army has filed a copyright challenge to the franchise on the grounds that they already possessed the rights to the name ‘Golden Knights’ for its West Point parachute jump team. The franchise’s response? A spectacularly sarcastic tweet, obviously.

    Jack Johnson has requested a trade out of Columbus. A pending UFA, it is generally believed that Johnson wants to be traded to a team where he will have a chance at seeing more playing time in an effort to raise his stock on the market, after seeing his minutes plummet in recent weeks. While many CBJ fans (myself included) hold ‘JMFJ’ in high regards as a person, trading the defender had become a very common topic in Columbus long before the player’s request, as his production has dipped significantly, highlighting his defensive shortcomings and bringing about the argument for his replacement by younger options within the CBJ system.

    Tampa has lost star defender Victor Hedman for 3-6 weeks with a lower body injury. I’m pretty sure if they lost every game in that time they would still be like 4th in the league, but still, it’s a bummer.

    Am I the only one who thinks these Olympic Games are actually gonna be pretty fun? As rosters get released, obviously the star power we’re used to isn’t there, but convince me that these lesser-known guys, most of them being players who probably never even dreamed they’d get this chance, aren’t going to play their absolute hearts out every single second of every single game. I think it’s gonna be great.

    On a final note, we learned this week via Doc Emrick that Pierre McGuire has undergone successful surgery to remove a cancer-infected prostate. He is recovering and is hopeful to rejoin the broadcast team in time for the Olympics. Now I, like many, can admit to yelling at Pierre to stop yapping on about whatever ridiculous stat or story he knows about some third-line player on a team I don’t like, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that cancer should take a Chara slapshot to the mush and a few skates to its main artery. So get well, Pierre, Eddy-O and everyone else that has to fight this miserable disease.

  • Weekly Bumblings for Week 9 With Special Guest Host, Cap’n Cornelius

    Peter’s vacation continues, so you are stuck with me once more for the recap of last week’s NHL action.

    Player of the Week: Artemi Panarin

    You didn’t really think I’d get through two straight columns without talking about the Blue Jackets, did you? The Breadman had been having a solid if unspectacular year as the calendar turned to December.  Despite his talent (or because of it), it had taken some time for the Jackets to find line mates that paired well with the Russian winger.  The initial thought was to put him with Alexander Wennberg and Cam Atkinson.  On paper, that line made all of the sense in the world—two high scoring wingers paired with a player who showed his acumen for setting the table last season.  On the ice was a different story.  While Atkinson and Panarin clicked at points, Wennberg was too conservative, often playing in no man’s land beyond the offensive zone face-off circles.

    This lead to weeks of John Tortorella running the blender to try and find lines that worked. In the meantime, Wennberg’s injury also forced Tortorella to get more creative at center, a position the Jackets had been looking to upgrade during the offseason.  Enter rookie, Pierre-Luc Dubois.  While the Jackets wanted Dubois to be their center of the future, the team had been hesitant to play him at the position, preferring to try and ease him in.  But Torts took the advice of Dubois’ father who had found that when he was struggling with his game, he actually improved when forced into the rigors of playing center.  After a bit of a cold spell for Dubois, Tortorella decided to give it a try and Dubois slowly moved his way up the lineup, taking advantage of the opportunity presented by Wennberg’s absence, and finding himself on the top line with Panarin and Josh Anderson.  If the Jackets make noise in the postseason, the decision to unite the three unlikely line mates may be looked back as the moment that set the table for their success.

    So, in recent weeks, the line which has affectionately become known as PB&J (Pierre, Breadman and Josh) has started to click, but Panarin had yet to really have a performance where he went off. That changed on Friday night in New Jersey.  After a poor performance in Columbus on Tuesday against the Devils (notwithstanding excellent possession performances from the PB&J line), the Jackets’ backs were to the wall.  They really needed the win against their divisional opponent given how tight the race is in the Metropolitan.  The game didn’t start well for the Jackets with the team entering intermission down 2-0 and likely facing an unhappy LukasTortorella in the locker room.  But the tide would turn in the second period largely due to the efforts of Panarin.

    Panarin caused a turnover which found its way to Dubois’ stick for his first assist of the night. Another turnover created by Panarin lead to a goal by Lukas Sedlak in the middle of a line change to even up the score.  Panarin’s third assist of the night may have been the most impressive.  As four Devils watched Panarin, he saw the trailer, Scott Harrington, and made a perfect cross ice pass to get Harrington the goal.  After the Devils tied it before the second period ended, the Jackets got a rare power play goal when Panarin made a backhanded pass to Wennberg who, in a rarer aggressive play, went to the net and buried the puck.  Panarin would add a fifth first assist of the night when he found an open Zach Werenski for the fifth and final goal of the night. And that summary of the game doesn’t even fully encapsulate how well Panarin played.  He was consistently finding his way through traffic and the puck seemed to be magnetically attracted to the tape on his stick blade.

    While Saturday’s game was not nearly as exciting, Panarin still managed a Corsi For percentage of 58%. The Jackets would strike early as Panarin found Anderson behind the net and he would bury it top shelf.  When you have Sergei Bobrovsky in net, sometimes one goal is enough, and it would prove to be the case.  Panarin now has 6 straight primary assists for Columbus, but when you look back at Panarin’s performance this week, the thing that stands out that is underrated about him and is the big difference from Brandon Saad, is his play away from the puck.  His work in creating two turnovers that set up those first two goals against New Jersey during a crucial time in the game on Friday prevented the game from getting out of control and righted the ship for a team that had a couple poor performances against divisional opponents before that game.

    Game of the Week: Winnipeg Jets 3 at Tampa Bay Lightning 4 (OT), December 9, 2017.

    We’ve covered this game extensively this week, and with good reason. One of the top teams in the Western, versus one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. A classic matchup between the immovable object and the unstoppable force.  Even with the Jets coming off of two losses entering the game, you knew they would play up for this one.  Yes, I’m talking about Winnipeg for the second time in my two weeks doing this column and no it isn’t because there is a social media account that retweets anything you tweet featuring the word Winnipeg, positive or negative (yes, that really was a thing).

    The game got off to a quick start as you’d expect from two offensive powerhouses. Adam Lowry showed some great patience with two Lightning players defending him to find Andrew Copp in the slot for the first goal of the game.  The Lightning continued their streak of nine straight games with a power play goal (that’s possible, eh?) when Brayden Point made a beautiful feed to give Yanni Gourde a goal that Connor Hellebuyck had no hope to stop.

    A Cedric Paquette goal was overturned for goaltender interference by Chris Kunitz, so the score would stay 1-1, but Mikhail Sergachev would finally put the Lightning ahead with a beautiful shot after losing his defender with a quick change of directions. The Jets would not go away though.  Former Youngstown Phantom, Kyle Connor, would redirect a rising shot from Josh Morrissey to even the game at 2 and that is how the second period would end.

    Winnipeg retook the lead near the midway point of the third period when Nikolaj Ehlers somehow found Andrei Vasilevskiy’s five hole before the goaltender could even react to the shot.  After Vasilevskiy would stop another attempt by Ehlers, Nikita Kucherov’s shot through traffic somehow found the net and the score was again tied at three.  Note—the sequence I just described happened in all of about 2 minutes of game time.  Both teams then settled down and got the game to overtime to salt away a point for their troubles.

    Overtime wouldn’t last long though as Point would elude Bryan Little and get his backhand over Hellebuyck.

    The Lightning continue to be in a class by themselves in the early part of the season, but the Jets gave it their all.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    A busy week in NHL and other hockey news. On Tuesday the news came down that Russia would be banned from the Winter Olympics as punishment for their concerted efforts to violate anti-doping rules during the Sochi games in 2014.  Clean Russian athletes will still be permitted to play at the games, but not under the Russian flag.  If they are looking for a team name, I suggest “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Russia, Steroid Free!”  There was concern that the KHL might prevent its players from playing in the Olympics, which would have thrown a monkey wrench in Team Canada’s plans for the games.  However, cooler heads prevailed as the KHL probably realized there was value to having its athletes compete on the world’s highest international stage…unlike the NHL.

    Backing up slightly, last Monday the City of Seattle approved the memorandum of understanding with the Oak View Group to remodel the ancient KeyArena at a cost of around $600 million (most of it comes from private funds) so that it could be suitable to host one or more professional sports franchises. This will likely be the death knell for a competing project which would have seen a new arena built closer where the existing stadiums are, in SoDo.  The NHL owners, who conveniently had a Board of Governor’s meeting, couldn’t wait to let Seattle know that they would be willing to take their money consider their application for expansion.  Fee for expansion?  $650 million, exceeding the $500 million that Vegas just paid.  I think Seattle is a great market for hockey in an underserved part of the country, but I also think the economics of a team with startup costs of over one billion dollars are a bit shaky.  For comparison, the Blue Jackets paid a franchise fee of $80 million and built an arena at a cost of $175 million…and still eventually needed a bailout from local government.  From the league’s side, it is understandable why they prefer Seattle to, say, Quebec City, because of the geographic balance adding the market will create.

    Finally, let’s take a moment to remember 11 years ago when Anson Carter and his Columbus Blue Jackets teammates released a Christmas album. Amazingly I see no trace of this masterpiece on YouTube, so, if you are looking for a Christmas gift for me, there you go.