from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Vrana sounded as good as he has looked since joining the Blues at the March 3 trade deadline. He had five goals and one assist after seven games, thriving after getting the fresh start that he and the Detroit Red Wings agreed was needed after two turbulent years.

"In the situation I was in, I just wanted to get back on the ice and back playing in the NHL," Vrana said. "I just wanted to help a team with what I can do on the ice. As everybody could see, since I came back from program, I couldn’t really crack the lineup in Detroit, I didn’t really get much opportunity. I think for both ways, we moved on and I got opportunity here in St. Louis and I couldn’t be more happy. I get opportunity to play a lot of minutes and I have opportunity to produce. It has been going really well."...

"When I was away, I gained a lot of new information and help and support," Vrana said. "Unfortunately while I was away, I lost my spot on the team and when I came back, I couldn’t get that spot back. There are some things I cannot control, and I try to work hard and play my best."

Vrana was called up in mid-February, and played three games before March 3. That's the day Yzerman struck a deal with the Blues in which the Wings retained 50% of Vrana's salary in return for a 2025 seventh-round pick.

"On the day when the trade deadline was, I woke up and Steve called me," Vrana said. "He basically told me he traded me to St. Louis Blues. He wished me luck on and off the ice and said that this is just the way they wanted to make the decision. I accepted it — that’s how the business works."

more ($)

NEW YORK, NY (March 21, 2023) – The National Hockey League (NHL) and its longstanding partner Fanatics, today announced a new 10-year agreement which, beginning with the 2024-25 season, will see Fanatics become the League’s authentic outfitter of on-ice uniforms and supplier of authentic jerseys at retail. The deal marks the next stage of the NHL’s partnership with Fanatics, which over the past two decades has evolved to include NHL e-commerce and retail operations, fan apparel and headwear, replica jerseys, licensed memorabilia, performance and training products, on-ice Stanley Cup® Champions apparel and headwear, and now official on-ice uniforms and authentic jerseys sold at retail.

from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

“It was a brutal game,” said Rasmus Andersson following an 8-2 humiliation at Crypto.com Arena, where the Flames found themselves down 4-0 to a red-hot Kings club in the first period.

“There’s nothing more to say, really.”

One day after being buoyed by seeing playoff rivals Winnipeg and Nashville skunked, the Flames followed suit with yet another massive setback to their playoff plans.

In front of a highly-entertained crowd that included John Legend, Vince Vaughn and Stampeder-turned-Broncos signing Alex Singleton, the Flames were outshot 14-3 in an opening frame that was easily the team’s most uninspired performance dating back to their home loss to Minnesota.

Yet, Darryl Sutter refused to blame the team’s energy or readiness.

“They jumped all over us, all over our mistakes we made in the first period,” said Sutter, whose club was outshot 10-0 the final 12 minutes of the period.

“It’s not always about energy, tonight was just about getting outplayed.

read on

Watch the game highlights below.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Florida scored two goals early in the first period and forced the Wings to play catch-up. The Wings never were able to rally all the way back.

"Easy offense (allowed) in a couple situations for them," said coach Derek Lalonde of what proved to be the Wings' downfall. "I really felt we had a good chance to tie that game up and, then probably our inability to finish with a couple of our chances in the second (period).

"It's frustrating but a reality of where we're at. We have to slot some guys, a couple of our defensemen, and it's tough, in an increased role which is a reality of where they're slotted right now."

Defenseman Olli Maatta was minus-four and partner Jordan Oesterle was minus-three, playing as the second pair, a prime example of the Wings having players above where they were earlier in the season.

read on

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

“It’s like these games, you got to find a way to inspire your teammates, inspire yourself,” Copp said after a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. “That can be hard. That’s our challenge. That’s the challenge for the older guys in the room to find that inspiration and for the younger guys it’s proving that you belong in the NHL. It’s a lot of guys we have that are fighting for spots going forward. You got to find that gear to push yourself.”

The compete level has been there for the Red Wings, even though they have lost 10 of their last 12.

“We have a certain standard we want to play by,” Copp said. “There’s going to be things that happened over the course of the game but there’s going to be some non-negotiables that we need to stick to. For the most part it was all right tonight. Turnovers cost us, especially in the first. But we have to find a way to play a little more inspired that we did tonight.”

more

Below watch an assortment of post game videos.

* The Panthers moved into a playoff position for the first time in nearly a month as Aleksander Barkov took sole possession of the franchise’s all-time lead in points.

* In his first career game as a starter, Ottawa’s Dylan Ferguson stopped 48 of 49 shots he faced and recorded the second-highest save total on record by a goaltender in their first NHL start.

* The Kings erupted for eight goals for the second time this season and gained ground on the Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division standings

* Tonight’s slate is highlighted by the Hurricanes hoping to hit the 100-point mark when they take on the Rangers, who enter play having scored 15 unanswered goals dating to last week.

Florida wins 5-2.

I'm having a few computer issues so for now, Detroit goals are below.

Team Stats

Hiya to all and welcome. It’s been hard to watch these game of late all the way until the last buzzer. That being said, I’ll finish out the season, hopefully witnessing the effort and entertaining aspect, while not going out like losers. I think about Larkin’s comments about not mailing it in.

"We have got to finish things out the right way," captain Dylan Larkin said. "We can't just go out there and not give it our all. We have fans coming to the rink, good crowds and energy in the building."

I’ll finish too, who knows? Maybe we all will… We have the best fans in the Hasek…..

It’s the Panthers vs the Wings. The puck will drop sometime around 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit and WXYT-FM 97.1. Also available on NHLN, TVAS, and BSFL.

It’s a Live Blog!

NEW YORK (March 20, 2023) – New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar and Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending March 19.

from Salim Valji of TSN,

As the Calgary Flames desperately try to stay in the Western Conference wild-card race, prized free-agent acquisition Nazem Kadri is playing fewer minutes than anyone anticipated last summer when he signed one of the biggest contracts in franchise history.

Kadri, Calgary’s lone All-Star this season, has not scored in 14 games but has eight assists over that span. Over the past three games, he has averaged 13:06 of ice time, well below fellow pivots Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund.

In the team’s 7-2 victory in Vegas on Thursday, he played a season-low 12:35, centering a line with Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis, two-thirds of Calgary’s usual fourth line. Kadri, who signed a seven-year, $49 million contract with the Flames in August, played the third-fewest minutes of any Flame and won just four of 12 faceoffs that evening.

“[Veteran, top guys] have to be better players,” Flames head coach Darryl Sutter said on Saturday ahead of the team’s 6-5 overtime loss to Dallas, when asked about Kadri’s diminished ice time.

Kadri attributed his recent struggles to bad luck, but said Saturday that he’s focused on staying consistent.

continued

via Ansar Khan tweets,

Gustav Lindstrom back practicing today and chatting with Henrik Zetterberg before the RedWings skate.

Ville Husso in starter’s net as Lalonde indicated on Saturday that he would start tonight vs. Florida.

lines at the skate::
Suter-Larkin-Raymond
Berggren-Copp-Perron
Kubalik-Veleno-Zadina
Erne-Czarnik-Chiasson
Walman-Seider
Maatta-Oesterle
Edvinsson/Hagg/Lindstrom

added 10:45am, Khan with the power play units below...

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The Wings had Sunday off, a chance to rest up before suiting up 14 times in 25 days. Were they challenging for a playoff spot (they're not eliminated, but they they're nine points out of a wild-card spot with five teams ahead of them) that would be daunting, but as it stands, the focus is on performances. Saturday's 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche was marked by poor special teams and getting caught flat-footed, again, when Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar exerted their superiority.

The Avs are the defending Cup champions, and the Wings were in the game until the third period. The only real blemishes since the Feb. 23 victory that put them in the playoff picture have been those two ugly losses at the Ottawa Senators, 6-2 one night, 6-1 the next. The other games have been close, and it was a source of encouragement that they outplayed the Boston Bruins in five of six periods spanning March 11-12.

"We played Boston great," coach Derek Lalonde said. "Our performance in Nashville, we gave up five chances. It could be a worry going forward, when you are doing some quality things and not getting results, it can be deflating. It might be the reality of where we are, but it will be our job, as a group, not to let up."

Not letting the fading playoff picture discolor this past month may be a challenge, but nothing would be more deflating than not taking every last game as an opportunity to build for next season.

more ($)

* K’Andre Miller factored on four of six first-period goals to achieve a franchise first as the Rangers joined rare company in NHL history with a second consecutive high-scoring shutout win.

* A trio of hat tricks highlighted the NHL schedule for the second time in as many days and pushed the League total to seven though the past three days – the most through a three-day span since 2010-11.

* The Bruins scored at least seven goals for the fourth time this season en route to their franchise record-tying 26th road win of 2022-23.

from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

The Ottawa Senators made one change Sunday by sending goaltender Kevin Mandolese back to their AHL affiliate in Belleville and bringing up Dylan Ferguson to join the club in Pittsburgh.

Something had to change.

Coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to the arch-rival Toronto Maple Leafs in the Battle of Ontario Saturday, the Senators packed their bags Sunday and jetted off to Steeltown to open a two-game road trip with a pivotal game against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena Monday.

Trying to halt a five-game winless skid and crawl back into the race for the final wildcard spot in the East, this trip down the stretch has taken a turn for the worse, but this isn’t the group the Senators expected to be battling with down the stretch when camp opened in September.

And it starts in the net.

The biggest issue the Senators have right now is goaltending.

Injuries to top goalies Anton Forsberg, who tore both MCL’s Feb. 11, and Cam Talbot who has been sidelined since March 4th with an oblique injury, have sent this group into tailspin. Strong goaltending is paramount and hasn’t been steady since Talbot went down for the third time this season.

You can’t pin all the blame on 22-year-old Mads Sogaard and Mandolese because neither were supposed to be put in this position. But this is the cards they’ve been dealt and unless they can find a way to get consistency this situation won’t improve.

continued

from Daniel Ngor of The Hockey News,

If a team loses in overtime or a shootout, it’s a loss – end of story. And teams shouldn’t be rewarded with a point in the standings for losing a game.

Here are nine examples of how ludicrous the NHL standings and playoff seeding have been since the 2005-06 season when the league introduced the shootout format to break ties.

1. 2005-06 VANCOUVER CANUCKS & LOS ANGELES KINGS

Fresh out of the 2004-05 lockout, NHL hockey had returned. With its return, the NHL had a new format of settling games - the shootout. Like with the previous formats with ties, the shootout resulted in the losing team earning a point.

The 2005-06 Vancouver Canucks had eight overtime or shootout losses compared to the 13 the Edmonton Oilers had. The Canucks’ record that season was 42-32-8, and they finished with 92 points, which ranked ninth among Western Conference teams. The Los Angeles Kings finished 10th, also winning 42 games.

The Oilers, meanwhile, finished eighth in the conference with a record of 41-28-13 for 95 points. The Oilers embarked on a magical playoff run which ended in defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup final. But they shouldn’t have qualified for the playoffs at all because the Canucks’ and Kings’ winning percentages (both .512) were better than the Oilers' (.500).

continued

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

Do the math when it comes to Detroit’s goal scoring efficiency and what you discover is that this is a club in the midst of a team-wide scoring slump. Those who recently departed are lighting red lamps. Jabub Vrana has five goals in six games for the St. Louis Blues. Oskar Sundqvist was tallying Saturday for the Minnesota Wild, giving him as many goals on the day as all of his former Red Wings teammates combined.

Pius Suter, the lone goal scorer for Detroit in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, was netting for the first time in 12 games. Jonatan Berggren has one goal in 14 games. Lucas Raymond is showing one goal in 15 games next to his name. Joe Veleno is goalless in 19 games. He’s scored once of the last 24 games and twice through the past 35 contests.

Filip Zadina has scored twice in 27 games. Dominik Kubalik shows two goals in 14 games and four in 23. Perron has scored twice in 25 games.

Even captain Dylan Larkin, who was hotter than blacktop in July during much of February, scoring seven goals in six games, has cooled off. He’s got three markers over his past 13 games.

more

from George Richards of Florida Hockey Now,

With 13 games remaining in the regular season, the Florida Panthers remain outside the NHL playoff race but they are right on the heels of both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders.

By coming back to beat the Devils 4-2 on Saturday night, Florida pulled within a point of the Penguins and Islanders.

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost for the third straight time — this one 6-0 to the Rangers — so that one point held up.

The New York Islanders eased on by a perhaps distracted San Jose Sharks so they have a three-point lead on the Panthers.

Unlike the playoff standings a few weeks ago, these are not necessarily skewed by the old games-in-hand as both the Penguins and Panthers have played the exact same amount of games.

Florida has played two fewer games than the Islanders, however, so that could come into play as it may be conducive for them to try and win the top wild card and avoid the juggernaut Boston Bruins in the opening round.

continued

from Larry Stone of the Seattle Times,

When the Seattle Kraken stood pat at the trade deadline earlier this month, it was portrayed as a vote of confidence in the players on hand by general manager Ron Francis. He stated that he didn’t want to disrupt the chemistry of a team that had surged into contention for the Western Conference’s top spot.

Francis’s judgment might indeed be proven right — and, indeed, the Kraken surged to three victories in a row in the immediate aftermath of the deadline. But two weeks later, the Kraken have hit a lull that, if not remedied, threatens to mute much of the good vibes they’ve built up all year.

It’s not crisis time, not even after Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena, in which they fell behind a mere 95 seconds into the game and played catch-up the rest of the way. But with four losses in their last five games, it’s not unreasonable to wonder if some new blood might have proved energizing right about now.

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol was effusive about the effort of his players, who had to overcome the loss of goaltender Philipp Grubauer to an undisclosed illness midway through the second period.

“Our team played a good hockey game today. It was an even hockey game,’’ Hakstol said, while noting how difficult it is to play constantly from behind. “We worked extremely hard. And especially on the offensive side of the puck, we ground for our offensive opportunities and generated real good opportunities. … That’s why it’s disappointing. It feels bad.”

continued

from Adam Kimelman of the NHL's website,

Martin Necas scored the tying goal with 0.3 seconds remaining when the Carolina Hurricanes rallied for a 5-4 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Necas tied the game on a 6-on-4 power play in the third period with Frederik Andersen pulled for an extra skater, knocking a loose puck past Felix Sandstrom before time expired.

"I was just standing on the back door and the puck just -- I don't even know -- somehow showed up there and I just banged it into the net," Necas said.

Sebastian Aho then scored on the rush 28 seconds into overtime to complete his hat trick, pushing the puck through the skates of Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo and beating Sandstrom for his 30th goal of the season....

"I thought we played really well, felt we had the game controlled," Flyers coach John Tortorella said.

more

Below watch the game tying and OT goals.

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- There is at least one team in the NHL — possibly as many as three — paying close attention to Kyle Dubas’ status as general manager of the Maple Leafs.

Dubas, who is working on the last year of his contract in Toronto and was not re-signed last summer when team president Brendan Shanahan wanted to re-up his chosen GM. And now, with Dubas’ status possibly tied to upcoming Maple Leafs playoff success, there are more than whispers that other clubs around the league have taken the position of waiting to see whether Dubas will, in fact, be available at the end of the season....

- This is the ultimate dilemma of the Leafs’ playoff circumstance. They can win one round, but could they win a second round against Boston? Will anyone do that? And do you hold a GM, a coach, the president, all of them, accountable for doing what might not be possible? This is a Leafs team capable of playing for a Stanley Cup. Getting there — now that’s the challenge. These are the Stanley Cup circumstances for any team in the Atlantic Division.

- Is it mandatory for all hockey colour commentators to describe goals as “hitting the back of the net?”

- Night after night in the National Hockey League the dressing rooms are all but empty post-game.
There are reporters standing around, looking at each other, waiting to see which player or players will be brought out to speak to.

The days of having conversations with hockey players, post-game, which used to be the most available and accessible of all professional athletes, is basically over for everyone but rights-holding television networks. The NHL and its member teams discovered during the COVID-19 protocols that it could control its own environment. And teams have adopted that tight control now that those protocols are no more.

more on the first and last topic, plus additional hockey notes...

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Ville Husso and David Perron spend games talking to one another while ensconced on their respective sofas. Their allegiances lie elsewhere now, but their interest lingers.

The coming week figures to be emotional for the two friends, with the Detroit Red Wings facing their former team, the St. Louis Blues, twice: On the road Tuesday and at home Thursday.

"It’s going to be nice," Husso said. "I have a lot of good memories there and a lot of good friends. It felt like home. I got drafted by them, went through East Coast, AHL, all the way to the NHL. All good things there. I’m a little nervous, for sure, but it’s going to be fun to play back-to-back games against them."

Husso and Perron are among four former Blues now calling Detroit home. They've improved the Wings at every position — Husso in goal, Perron and Robby Fabbri up front, and Jake Walman on defense — and strengthened the rebuild short-term and longer-term. When they aren't dressed in red and white, they still keep up with their former colors.

"Me and Perron, we still watch Blues games and we even sometimes chat during the games when we watch them, and Wally and Fabbs," Husso said. "It’s a connection, for sure."

continued ($)

* The reigning Art Ross Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winners each had three points as the Oilers and Avalanche both improved their chances of clinching a berth in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* The Hurricanes scored a March Madness-esque buzzer-beating tying goal and Sebastian Aho capped his hat trick with an overtime winner as Carolina prevented Philadelphia from completing the upset.

* Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand of the League-leading Bruins both factored on the same goal twice to reach the top of an all-time franchise list Saturday.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"Special teams were a big part of it," said coach Derek Lalonde of the Wings' loss, as Colorado scored a shorthanded and power-play goal with the game in the balance. "But probably a little bit of credit to their high-end guys. This will be frustrating, but a reality of where we are down the stretch here. The underlying numbers will say we played a pretty good game but we didn't execute and their difference makers were difference makers.

"We had some flashes of pretty good hockey but not enough."

Pius Suter had the Wings' goal, while goaltender Ville Husso stopped 16-of-21 shots before being replaced by Magnus Hellberg in the third period.

"The game felt a little out of reach and he (Husso) wasn't sharp," Lalonde said. "Five goals on (21 shots) is not ideal. It's a frustrating game for him but we're going to play him through it. We see a ton in Ville and we think he can be a real good goalie for us. He's shown that this year."...

Since the Wings (30-29-9) defeated the New York Rangers Feb. 23 to climb above the playoff cutline, they've only won two of 11 games (2-8-1).

"We have to finish things out the right way," Larkin said. "We can't just go out there and not give it our all. We have fans coming to the rink, good crowds with good energy in the building and we have to show up and build on that and play hard."

more

via Sportsnet's YouTube page,

On this edition of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discuss the impending sale of the Ottawa Senators, The QMJHL's decision to ban fighting, the near- fight between Jordan Binnington and Marc-Andre Fleury, and more.

It is always a negotiation for the commissioner and never a collaboration. There is always a demand. As it now stands, the PA escrow debt to the league supposedly stands at around $100M. The commissioner, thus, is holding NHL general managers hostage for about $3M a team no owner would miss — and would be recouped the following season as per the MOU documenting terms of the extension.

-Larry Brooks of the New York Post where you can read more on this and other hockey topics..