Articles in NHL Teams

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Before the Garden crowd took the low road by booing David Quinn when the Rangers flashed a picture of him on the video screen thanking him for his service, the one-time Blueshirts coach weighed in on his former team.

“They’ve got stars everywhere,” he said. “They’ve got stars in net, they’ve got stars on the blue line, they’ve got stars up front …”

Hours later, playing against Quinn’s current team from San Jose that had opened the season 0-5 while outscored by an aggregate 19-8, the Rangers played like a team of stars trying to win with skill rather than will.

They were disconnected and frustrated when early power plays did not connect. They practiced the fine art of poke-checking over and over again. They yielded swatches of open ice in a game where the Sharks were free to roam. Not a single Blueshirts skater was exempt from criticism.

And the Rangers lost, deservedly so, 3-2 in overtime on Erik Karlsson’s shot into an all-but-empty net at 0:49 after a typically dreadful attempt at defending that was a carryover from the third period in which the Blueshirts were outshot 16-2.

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* Juraj Slafkovsky tallied for the first time in his NHL career, while fellow No. 1 pick Rasmus Dahlin achieved a first-of-its-kind goal streak in the Sabres’ victory at Scotiabank Saddledome.

* Slafkovsky and Dahlin weren’t the only No. 1 picks to shine Thursday, with Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins combining for eight points as Edmonton handed Carolina its first loss of the season.

* New Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde can achieve a franchise-first when the Red Wings and Blackhawks square off in their 750th all-time head-to-head game, while the Lightning and Panthers are set to open their four-game season series after the clubs met in the 2022 Second Round.

A little over 4 minutes long.

Portland, Oregon / New York (Oct. 20, 2022) – adidas and the National Hockey League (NHL®) today unveiled the newest adidas Reverse Retro 2022 jerseys for all 32 NHL® teams. Building on the success of the 2020 program, adidas and the NHL® collaborated with teams this year to design new Reverse Retro jerseys that call back to unique historic moments in each Club’s history.

This season’s adidas Reverse Retro 2022 ADIZERO jerseys combine some of the most remarkable designs yet – including some colors never seen before on ice. All teams will wear the new jerseys during the 2022-23 NHL® season beginning in November, including a number of adidas Reverse Retro matchup nights, led by the Nov. 2 Pittsburgh Penguins-Buffalo Sabres game at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT.

from Mike Stevens of The Hockey News,

This is a team that has endured one of the more dramatic reputation erosions in recent memory, a process that began when the Coyotes were stripped of a first-round draft pick back in 2020 for violating league draft-testing rules, continued with The Athletic's Katie Strang uncovering the organization's toxic workplace culture in an in-depth expose, really started to fall off the rails when the club was threatened with eviction from their own rink by the City of Glendale in December 2021 for failing to pay arena rent and business costs, and finally crescendoed into being stuffed into a 5,000-seat college rink where they'll remain for the next three years.

So, yeah. Maybe regrouping for the next little bit to build a more stable foundation is not a bad idea, with that foundation hopefully beginning its evolution around the time the team's move to Tempe really starts to take shape.

And, frankly, the Coyotes have done a remarkable job of that so far.

The organization's draft capital is truly something to behold, with the Coyotes currently holding a total of three first-round picks, eight second-round picks, seven third-round picks, and four fourth-round picks over the next three NHL drafts combined. How they've accomplished that is by using those scant resources to their own advantage, becoming the premier dumping ground onto whom any cap-strapped teams can offload their unsavory contracts, albeit with a sweetener attached as the cost of admission.

That's all well and good for the future, though, but what about the present.

read on

* The Panthers posted 34 home wins in 2021-22, the second most in a single season in NHL history, and continued right where they left off to start 2022-23 as Carter Verhaeghe’s multi-goal effort propelled the club to another home-opening win.

* Mikko Rantanen posted at least three points for the second time in as many home games to start 2022-23 and continued his success during the month of October, posting 19-38—57 in 50 career games during the calendar month.

* Wednesday marked the fourth day in NHL history that defensemen accounted for each game-winning goal (min. 3 GP). The others: Feb. 18, 2008 (4 GP), March 14, 1985 (3 GP) and March 2, 1957 (3 GP).

Just over 7 minutes to watch.

from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

Even Luciano Pavarotti had to occasionally clear his throat.

That’s what Tuesday night felt like for the Lightning. The once, and possibly future, champions took the ice through a flashing entryway amidst thunderous applause for the home opener at Amalie Arena. They looked as slick and chic as ever, and they had a sold-out crowd screaming its adoring approval.

And when it came time to hit the high notes, they burped.

It was disappointing, but not necessarily shocking. For teams that are well-traveled on the road to the Stanley Cup final, there is a lazy Sunday drive-quality to the regular season.

Don’t get me wrong, the regular season matters. You can’t pass Go without it. But, sometimes, it takes a little time to get everything and everyone steering in the right direction.

In the meantime, you have games like Tuesday when the Lightning blew a two-goal lead and lost 3-2 to a Flyers team with a little more energy, a little more spunk, a little more appetite.

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* Fans at Canadian Tire Centre were treated to a 12-goal offensive outburst, including a seven-goal second period, as the Senators outlasted their Atlantic Division rivals in their home opener.

* Six games featured a team erase a multi-goal deficit (regardless of result). Only four days in NHL history have featured more: Dec. 21, 2013 (8), Nov. 22, 2006 (8), Oct. 11, 1986 (8) and Nov. 16, 2019 (7).

* The NHL and its 32 Clubs released a comprehensive report, ‘Accelerating Diversity & Inclusion: NHL Report on Strategies, Initiatives and Progress,’ highlighting intentional efforts to promote positive social change within the sport. Click here to read more.

from Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province,

The collapse defied explanation, really.

“Tonight yeah, we did have two good periods. And just sh*t the bed pretty much (in the third),” Tanner Pearson said.

Bruce Boudreau said he was happy with how his team played in the first two periods.

“(The first) was the way we wanted to play, it was a very low scoring, low chance period … and then I thought we had a great second period and I think the game plan for the third period was fine,” he said. “But I mean, it did look like we started to, I don’t know what word I’m looking for, like just sort of collapse, and we’re afraid to win and, they came at us pretty good. And we just didn’t handle it very well.”

read on

Game highlights are below.

Watch below.

added 1:44pm, One game suspension, explanation is below.

* It has begun... Alex Ovechkin started his 2022-23 pursuit of Gordie Howe (801) by scoring his 781st and 782nd career goals and is now just 19 back of second place on the NHL’s all-time list.

* Artemi Panarin secured his second four-point game of 2022-23 and established a Rangers franchise mark for most points through the first four games of a season.

* Exactly two weeks before Halloween, a ghost (Shayne Gostisbehere) and a ghoul (Kaiden Guhle) made their mark on a Monday night that featured four comeback wins, five games with eight or more goals and two overtime winners.

from Travis Yost of TSN,

The National Hockey League has been increasingly vocal over the past two decades about increasing offence. And the league, to its credit, has frequently put its thumb on the proverbial scale – tweaks like downsizing goaltending equipment and modifying officiating standards were always meant to stimulate offensive play. But the expected scoring surge was slow to materialize.

That was true up until about five years ago. Since that point in time, we have seen a steady rise in scoring across all game states. There’s a fascinating debate, one that can’t be solved today, over how to apportion the credit for what’s driving the increase. How much do you weigh things like rule changes versus longer-term initiatives, like the expansion of international recruiting pipelines to enhanced player development programs?

At any rate, scoring has been up for some time now, and it’s created a more compelling and entertaining product. In years past, high-scoring Octobers gave way as the season wore on, finishing with healthy servings of three-goal games in March. Now, scoring is more entrenched over the full year.

I wanted to see what the opening week of this NHL season looked like, having been fascinated by the uptick in scoring in recent years. Low and behold, it’s up again, with the league seeing 6.4 goals per game to open the year:

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NEW YORK (Oct. 17, 2022) -- Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Oct. 16.

from Avry Lewis-McDougall of The Hockey News,

The ways we watch and listen to hockey content are constantly evolving, with new ways to consume games and additional data being added to on air broadcasts.

Teams and leagues are taking the next step to put even more content on their in-house streaming services or digital networks.

In some instances, they’re ensuring a team broadcast survives at all.

In the case of the Edmonton Oilers this past week, they launched their platform known as Oilers+, a year-round streaming service with great ideas behind it that has raised a few eyebrows around the hockey world.

The paid service provides fans with unique features, original programs, pre, and post-game coverage, and practice content.

“We believe there's an audience out there,” said Stew MacDonald, the CEO of Oilers Entertainment Group. “Our fans have told us there's an audience out there that says were ready to embrace and subscribe to this.”

There's a lot on the service, and there's quite a bit of behind-the-scenes content that also features players and staff away from the rink. In an era where peeling the layers back on athletes is as big as ever, various shows on the app, from The Drop to Two Days In Toronto, do an excellent job of showcasing different Oiler personalities.

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* The first full week of the season opens with a nine-game slate Monday, highlighted by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby looking to become the fifth player in NHL history to start a campaign with three consecutive three-point performances.

* Head coaches Jim Montgomery, Paul Maurice, Derek Lalonde and Peter DeBoer can all improve to 3-0-0 with their new clubs, while Rod Brind'Amour and the Hurricanes also look to extend their season-opening winning streak.

* Kraken forward Matty Beniers (4-9—13 in 13 GP), who has found the score sheet in 12 of 13 games since making his NHL debut on April 12, can join rare company by continuing his point-per-game pace.

from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

Two games into this ugly start to this campaign, scoring goals is the least of the Wild problems.

They are bleeding goals and can’t get a save from either of their goalies.

“You can’t expect to win games when you let in 14 goals in two games,” veteran Mats Zuccarello said Saturday after a 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, one game after the Wild gave up seven in a season-opening throttling by the New York Rangers. “Sometimes we play defense like we’re a fucking junior team.”

read on (paid)

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- This is why the Ottawa Senators basically gave Matt Murray to the Maple Leafs. They paid him to go away because they couldn’t trust him to be healthy. And the team and the coaching staff stopped believing in him. When that happens to any team you have no chance of success. Now Murray is a Leaf, and one game in he’s injured. And if you were wondering about him prior to the season, you have more reason to wonder now.

- If you add WHA goals to NHL goals, which hockey history has conveniently ignored, Gordie Howe is the all-time scoring leader with 975, 35 more than Wayne Gretzky. If you add the professional goals Alexander Ovechkin scored in Russia before coming to the NHL, he would be at 816 goals. Instead, right now, the official count is Gretzky at 894, Howe at 801, and Ovie at 780. Ovie will pass Howe midway through this season.

a few more hockey notes

* The Flames torched the Oilers with four goals in the opening 10:18 to earn a win in this season’s first edition of the “Battle of Alberta” – a game that featured stunning similarities to the opening matchup of their 2022 Second Round series.

* Kevin Fiala tallied three points against his former club to help the Kings outlast the Wild in a back-and-forth 13-goal affair – the highest-scoring contest of the season so far.

* Sidney Crosby recorded his second straight three-point outing to start the season while surpassing two Hall of Fame members on all-time lists in the process.

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

After a game in which he gave away the puck on a critical shorthanded goal against, then had it bounce over his stick on the opposition’s winning goal, J.T. Miller cut off a question about his level of frustration: “I've been on for all eight f------ goals. I'm pretty frustrated.”

Only three of those goals-against were on Sunday, when the Vancouver Canucks blew another multi-goal lead and lost 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers. But Miller has been on the ice for all eight goals surrendered in what is close to becoming another alarming start for his National Hockey League team.

In the Canucks’ season-opener Wednesday in Edmonton, Miller witnessed first-hand the five straight goals the Oilers poured in to win 5-3 after trailing 3-0.

Of course, the Oilers have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two of the best players on the planet. The Flyers do not. They don’t even have Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek anymore.

But just like on Wednesday, the Canuck power play surrendered a shorthanded, tying goal late in the second period before the home team won it late in the third. With a slow grounder trickling towards the Canucks’ goal, Miller saw the puck bounce over his blade in front of goalie Thatcher Demko, who was easily beaten by Travis Konecny when the Flyer surprised him by skating out from behind the net.

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