Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

03/03/2015 at 10:50am EST

RANGERS KNOCK OFF LEAGUE’S BEST TO TAKE OVER DIVISION LEAD
Four different players found the back of the net to lift the Rangers past the League-leading Predators and to their ninth victory in their past 11 games (9-1-1).

* At 39-17-6 (84 points), the Rangers leapfrogged the idle Islanders (41-21-2, 84 points) to reclaim first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers hold two games in hand and own the ROW tiebreaker (NYR: 36, NYI: 34), but the Islanders lead the season series (NYI: 3-1-0, NYR: 1-3-0). The teams face off one more time in 2014-15, next Tuesday at Nassau Coliseum.

* The Rangers extended their home point streak to nine games (7-0-2), their longest such run since Feb. 16 – April 4, 2008 (8-0-3). They have won 16 of their last 21 contests at Madison Square Garden (16-3-2), including four consecutive victories.

* The Rangers also extended their point streak against Western Conference opponents to seven games (5-0-2); Elias says that is their longest such streak since Nov. 26, 1996 – Jan. 21, 1997 (8-0-2).

* Rick Nash scored his 38th goal of the season, second in the NHL behind Alex Ovechkin (41). Chris Kreider, Dominic Moore and Marc Staal supplied the other tallies.

* Per Elias, the Rangers improved to 17-0-1 in their past 18 games in which Kreider has registered at least one point.

* Fresh off signing a contract extension, Mats Zuccarello posted two assists. Derick Brassard also collected two helpers.

* Cam Talbot made 25 saves to pick up his eighth win in his past 10 starts (8-1-1). He improved to 7-0-3 this season at Madison Square Garden, where he has a 1.73 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and three shutouts (12 GP).

TOEWS POWERS BLACKHAWKS PAST HURRICANES
Jonathan Toews recorded 2-1—3, including his 20th goal of the season, to lead the Blackhawks to their third win in their past four games.

* At 38-21-5 (81 points), the Blackhawks moved within four points of the idle Blues (40-18-5, 85 points) for second place in the Central Division. St. Louis holds one game in hand and owns the ROW tiebreaker (STL: 32, CHI: 30), but Chicago leads the season series (CHI: 2-1-0, STL: 1-2-0). The teams face off two more times in 2014-15, on April 5 at United Center and April 9 at Scottrade Center.

* Toews notched his second three-point game (also Dec. 16 vs. MIN: 1-2—3) and third multi-goal performance of the season (also Oct. 30 at OTT: 2-0—2 and Nov. 22 at EDM: 2-0—2). He has five goals in his past five outings (5-1—6).

* Toews reached the 20-goal milestone for the eighth time in as many NHL seasons. Teammate Patrick Kane, who also made his League debut in 2007-08, also has hit the mark in each of his eight NHL seasons. Elias says Toews and Kane are only the third pair of teammates to score at least 20 goals in each of their first eight NHL seasons. The others to accomplish that feat: brothers Anton and Peter Stastny of the Nordiques and teammates Glenn Anderson and Jari Kurri of the Oilers, who both did so from 1980-81 through 1987-88.

* Brandon Saad reached the 20-goal milestone for the first time in his career. It stood as his fifth game-winning goal of the season, tied for the team lead with Kane.

* Marian Hossa and Marcus Kruger also found the back of the net. Michal Rozsival collected two assists for his first multi-point performance since Feb. 25, 2013 vs. EDM (0-2—2).

* The Blackhawks improved to 4-1-0 in their past five meetings with the Hurricanes dating to March 4, 2011. They also have won four straight matchups at United Center dating to March 11, 2009.

NEW ACQUISITION SMITH HELPS SHARKS DEFEAT CANADIENS
New acquisition Ben Smith posted 1-1—2, including the game-winning goal, and Alex Stalock stopped all 20 shots he faced to help the Sharks snap a three-game skid overall (0-3-0) and eight-game home drought (0-6-2).

* At 31-25-8 (70 points), the Sharks tied the idle Flames (33-25-4, 70 points) and Kings (29-21-12, 70 points) – in terms of points – for third place in the Pacific Division. Calgary and Los Angeles, however, hold the tiebreakers and sit ahead of San Jose in both the division and Wild Card races:


* The Sharks recorded their third consecutive shutout win over the Canadiens, also a 2-0 victory on Oct. 26, 2013 at MTL (Antti Niemi: 22 SV) and a 4-0 triumph on March 8, 2014 vs. MTL (Niemi: 27 SV).

* Via Elias, the Sharks are the first Western Conference team in NHL history to post three consecutive shutouts against the Canadiens. The last Eastern Conference team to accomplish that feat was the Capitals from March 26, 2011 – Feb. 4, 2012.

* Smith, who was acquired from the Blackhawks earlier in the day, notched his fourth career multi-point game and first since Dec. 16 vs. MIN (1-1—2 w/ CHI).

* “I had to drive home, grab a suitcase, a couple of suits,” Smith explained of the trade. “Got to the airport around 1 and flew out [to San Francisco] at 2. A little bit of a crazy day. They got me a car and we had a little bit of a police escort to get me down [to SAP Center].”

* Joe Pavelski registered 1-1—2, including his 32nd goal of the season (fourth in the NHL). It also was his 17th power-play goal, a career high and second in the League behind Alex Ovechkin (18).

* Patrick Marleau scored for the third consecutive game (3-0—3), the first time he has achieved that feat since Oct. 10-19, 2013 (5-3—8 in 5 GP).

* The Sharks have won eight consecutive home games against the Canadiens dating to March 12, 2001.

LOOSE PUCKS
Predators forward Matt Cullen scored the team’s lone goal to extend his point streak to four games (2-4—6) . . . Hurricanes forward Andrej Nestrasil posted one assist to stretch his point streak to three contests (0-5—5) . . . Sharks forward Logan Couture (0-1—1) has 4-5—9 in five career games vs. MTL . . . Defenseman Kimmo Timonen (17:29 TOI) and forward Antoine Vermette (12:55 TOI) made their Blackhawks debuts . . . Defenseman Keith Yandle (19:41 TOI) made his Rangers debut . . . Defenseman Jeff Petry (18:15 TOI) made his Canadiens debut . . . The Coyotes claimed forward Craig Cunningham off waivers from the Bruins and forward Tye McGinn off waivers from the Sharks . . . The Blue Jackets signed forward Cam Atkinson to a three-year contract extension . . . The Flyers signed forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to a two-year contract extension . . . ICYMI: The Department of Player Safety fined Avalanche forwards Cody McLeod and Gabriel Landeskog for their respective actions during the final seconds of Saturday’s game vs. MIN . . . Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond, Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin were named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending March 1.

SNEAK PEEK AT TUESDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Nashville @ New Jersey, 7:00 p.m., FS-TN, MSG
Calgary @ Philadelphia, 7:00 p.m., SNW, CSN-PH
Washington @ Columbus, 7:00 p.m., SNE, SNO, SNP, CSN-DC, FS-O
Buffalo @ Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m., NBCSN
Toronto @ Florida, 7:30 p.m., TSN4, FS-F
Ottawa @ Minnesota, 8:00 p.m., TSN5, RDS, FS-N
NY Islanders @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m., MSG+, FS-SW
Anaheim @ Arizona, 9:00 p.m., PRIME, FS-A
Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 9:30 p.m., FS-W, SNW
San Jose @ Vancouver, 10:00 p.m., CSN-CA, SNP

2015 NHL TRADE DEADLINE RECAP
NHL clubs made 24 trades involving 43 players prior to the 2015 Trade Deadline, which passed on Monday at 3:00 p.m. ET. The 24 deals were the most on Deadline Day since 2009-10, when a record 31 trades involving 55 players were completed.

The full list of Monday’s deals:

* The Avalanche acquired forward Freddie Hamilton from the Sharks in exchange for defenseman Karl Stollery.

* The Blues acquired forward Olli Jokinen from the Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Joakim Lindstrom and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Blues acquired defenseman Zbynek Michalek and a conditional third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft from the Coyotes in exchange for forward Maxim Letunov.

* The Bruins acquired forward Brett Connolly from the Lightning in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Bruins acquired forwards Maxime Talbot and Paul Carey from the Avalanche in exchange for forward Jordan Caron and a sixth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Canadiens acquired forward Brian Flynn from the Sabres in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Canadiens acquired forward Torrey Mitchell from the Sabres in exchange for forward Jack Nevins and a seventh-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Canadiens acquired defenseman Jeff Petry from the Oilers in exchange for a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

* The Canucks acquired forward Sven Baertschi from the Flames in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

* The Canucks acquired forward Cory Conacher from the Islanders in exchange for forward Dustin Jeffrey.

* The Coyotes acquired goaltender David Leggio from the Islanders in exchange for defenseman Mark Louis.

* The Ducks acquired defenseman Simon Despres from the Penguins in exchange for defenseman Ben Lovejoy.

* The Ducks acquired defenseman Korbinian Holzer from the Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Eric Brewer and a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Ducks acquired forward Michael Sgarbossa and a conditional pick in the 2015 NHL Draft from the Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Mat Clark.

* The Ducks acquired defenseman James Wisniewski and a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft from the Blue Jackets in exchange for forwards Rene Bourque and William Karlsson as well as a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

* The Islanders acquired forward Tyler Kennedy from the Sharks in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2015 or 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Islanders acquired goaltender Michal Neuvirth from the Sabres in exchange for goaltender Chad Johnson and a third-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Lightning acquired defenseman Braydon Coburn from the Flyers in exchange for defenseman Radko Gudas and a first- and a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

* The Penguins acquired defenseman Ian Cole from the Blues in exchange for defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and a seventh-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

* The Red Wings acquired defenseman Marek Zidlicky from the Devils in exchange for conditional draft picks.

* The Sharks acquired forward Ben Smith and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft from the Blackhawks in exchange for forward Andrew Desjardins.

* The Wild acquired forward Jared Knight from the Bruins in exchange for forward Zack Phillips.

* The Wild acquired defenseman Jordan Leopold from the Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Justin Falk and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

* The Wild acquired forward Chris Stewart from the Sabres in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.

Click here for the official trade tracker.

IT ISN’T ALWAYS JUST ABOUT BUSINESS
The Wild acquired Jordan Leopold (Golden Valley, Minn.) from the Blue Jackets after the defenseman’s 11-year-old daughter, Jordyn, penned a letter to the organization asking for her father to be traded to his hometown team.

“[Trading] Jordan Leopold was about doing the right thing for a guy who was a great pro for us,” said Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen. “He’s done everything we asked him to do the right way. We gave up a fifth-round pick to St. Louis to get him; we got our fifth back. We got Justin Falk to join our team the rest of the way this year, and Jordan Leopold gets to go home and join his family. We thank him for everything we did for the franchise. He was a great pro.”

Click here for the full story.


DID YOU KNOW?
On this date in 1875, the first recorded indoor hockey game under organized rules was played at Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The rink stood at a location that today is just a short walk from the Canadiens’ home at Bell Centre.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the above information.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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