Articles in NHL Teams

from Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now,

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ record says they are in denial, that losing six of their first nine games this season is irrefutable evidence of the kind of team they are.

The look in their eyes and the firmness in their voices conveys a very different message.

Players remain adamant that they have performed better than going 3-6 would indicate. That, as Ryan Graves put it succinctly after practice Tuesday, “we just keep finding ways to lose.”

No one can dispute that they’ve been very good at that so far.

Their 4-3 loss to Anaheim Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, when the Ducks not only survived an extended 5-on-3 power play for the Penguins late in the third period, but scored a shorthanded game-winner with 12.8 seconds left in regulation, was the kind of defeat that could not only leave a mark, but tattoo an indelible impression on the psyche of the losing club.

“Those ones sting, when they go that way,” Sidney Crosby said.

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* Michael Carcone and Jack McBain combined for 5-3—8 as the Coyotes erupted for eight goals in their victory against Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks.

* The Ducks and Rangers earned wins to sweep lengthy road trips, with Anaheim forward Mason McTavish joining a rare NHL list by scoring a shorthanded go-ahead goal in the final seconds of regulation. They were two of the eight teams which earned a win by a one-goal margin or two goals including an empty-netter Monday.

* Drew Doughty and William Nylander can achieve first-of-its-kind feats when the Kings and Maple Leafs clash on ESPN during tonight’s two-game Halloween slate, which also pits Roman Josi and the Predators against Elias Pettersson and the Canucks on Sportsnet ONE.

* The Maple Leafs (14-9-3, 31 points) have earned 14 all-time wins in games taking place on Halloween, which are tied with the idle Rangers (14-4-2, 30 points) for the most by a franchise in NHL history. Toronto’s 31 standings points during games on Oct. 31 are tops among all clubs.

NEW YORK (Oct. 30, 2023) – New Jersey Devils right wing Tyler Toffoli, Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson and Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Hartman have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Oct. 29.

from Travis Yost of TSN,

Does the National Hockey League have its own version of the core four?

No, not the Toronto version. I’m talking about four divisional leaders — the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic, the New York Rangers in the Metro, the Colorado Avalanche in the Central, and the Vegas Golden Knights out West — who have emerged as pace setters in October.

I think it’s notable each team was able to create some daylight within their division in the opening weeks of October. The NHL is a league, for better or worse, with tremendous parity and, as a result, volatility. And yet these four teams haven’t just played extraordinarily well early, they’re also four teams priced inside of the top 10 as Stanley Cup favourites from the pre-season.

This isn’t to say there haven’t been other impressive teams around the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and Vancouver Canucks have also looked great early. But the current divisional leaders are not just winning game after game, they’re running up some gaudy goal differentials in the process.

So, why have these four teams burst to the forefront of their divisions? Let’s take a look at how they won October, and what that may mean going forward.'

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* Twenty years after the first regular-season outdoor game in NHL history, Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton again played host to the Heritage Classic but this time, the home team walked away with a victory after a return to the lineup from captain Connor McDavid.

* All four home teams won on Sunday, including the Devils, who improved to 5-2-1 (11 points) with Tyler Toffoli scoring to reach 10 points on the season and the club notching their League-leading 14th power-play goal.

* A busy nine-game Monday will see former Jets captain Blake Wheeler return to Winnipeg for the first time since signing with the Rangers as an unrestricted free agent prior to the season.

Calgary vs. Edmonton outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

Puck drops just after 7pm ET and is on TBS and stream on MAX. In Canada watch on Sportsnet and TVA Sports.

Feel free to discuss the game.

via the NHL's YouTube page,

The four-time All-Star played 1,714 regular season games, recording 1,109 assists and 430 goals.

from Corey Masisak of the Denver Post,

Cale Makar left the game near the end of the second period Sunday after crashing awkwardly into the end boards, but he was able to return and play in the third, and said he should be fine moving forward following a 4-0 defeat against the Buffalo Sabres.

“I don’t really remember (what happened), to be honest with you,” Makar said of the incident. “I think a lot of it’s on me, going back slow, no effort. I don’t know if it was my right leg, I think I tried to take a stride and I don’t know if I caught myself or what happened. The next thing I knew, I was sliding into the boards....

While Makar attempted to take some responsibility for the play after the game, his teammates and his coach did not like how the play unfolded.

“It’s a penalty in my books,” defenseman Devon Toews told Altitude TV. “You learn that play in Bantam (hockey), how to get on the hips of a guy to get him off balance. You’re taught to do that when a guy is up against the boards to get him off balance and pin him.

“When you do it six feet away from the boards at speed, it gets dangerous. That’s a dangerous play. This league is trying to protect starts, trying to protect the players. That’s a play that is dangerous, in my opinion, and something that needs to be addressed.”

read on

Watch the incident below...

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

The Vancouver Canucks have evolved so much, so quickly, that the 72 hours between their game Saturday night and the next one on Tuesday will be filled across the city with angry talk about how the home team was robbed by referees in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers.

Before this season, all that outrage and despair was generally channelled towards the team itself, which didn’t need much help from officials or anyone else in order to lose National Hockey League games.

On Saturday, a too-many-players penalty to Canuck Dakota Joshua while his team was already shorthanded led to the Rangers’ second five-on-three goal of the game and another power-play marker 63 seconds later as New York turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.

And after Carson Soucy’s slapshot tied it for Vancouver with 4:18 remaining, K’Andre Miller won it for New York on a two-on-one in overtime after Canuck Elias Pettersson turned over the puck when tripped skate-on-skate by Ranger Chris Kreider.

Rangers' Miller snipes OT goal after Pettersson tripped at other endPlay VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 1:40Loaded: 9.86% CaptionsFullscreen

The too-many-men call against Joshua, who jumped on the ice (but did not seem to impact the play) when Pettersson was still well away from the bench on the penalty kill, felt harsh. The skate-on-skate contact in OT, as Pettersson was cutting back on Kreider, looked like a penalty.

But fixating on the officiating in a game when each team had six power plays obscures a larger point: Saturday was yet another test aced by the Canucks as they rebrand themselves under coach Rick Tocchet.

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Game highlights are below.

* The site of the first outdoor contest in NHL history is set to play host to their first outdoor rendition of the “Battle of Alberta” when the Oilers and Flames clash at Commonwealth Stadium for the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic.

* Frank Vatrano joined Auston Matthews as the only players with multiple hat tricks in 2023-24 and did so by joining rare company in franchise history with three goals, three different ways.

* David Pastrnak lifted the Bruins past an Original Six rival by scoring his second penalty-shot goal of the season and joined a small list in NHL history with multiple in a single campaign.

True enough, the Senators lose an important player for a half-season even if they might have lost him for weeks to a negotiating impasse, who knows? But this resolution ultimately benefits Ottawa just the way that the league’s decision to rescind Brady Tkachuk’s one-game suspension for picking up an instigator penalty within the final five minutes of the game against Buffalo on Oct. 24. Surely it is a coincidence that there is new and favored ownership in Canada’s capital city.

-Larry Brooks of the New York Post where you can reach much more on the Shane Pinto suspension.

via Sportsnet's YouTube page,

David Amber is joined by Elliotte Friedman for Saturday Headlines to discuss the NHL reminding players of gambling do's and don'ts and how the NHL will rule on the aborted Evgenii Dadonov trade.

from Adam Proteau of The Hockey News,

The Calgary Flames fell to the St. Louis Blues by a 3-0 score at home Thursday, dropping their record this season to an ugly 2-5-1 mark. This was supposed to be their bounce-back year after a disastrous 2022-23 season – featuring a new coach in Ryan Huska, a new GM in Craig Conroy and a new-look lineup, but they’ve now lost four games in a row and have sunk to sixth place in the rather weak Pacific Division. After their loss to the Blues, Huska said his team deserved the boos they received from Flames fans, and defenseman Nikita Zadorov apologized to fans, saying the team “played like s***."

The Flames’ six defeats have come relatively easily for their opponents. Five of their losses have been by at least two goals, while all of their past four losses have come in regulation time, and they’ve been outscored 15-4 in those four games. This speaks to the all-around lack of competitiveness by Calgary, and it is a worrisome sign of what’s to come. It is still early enough for them to turn their season around, but let’s keep in mind they’ve now played approximately 10 percent of their season, and that’s a significant amount of time.

The Flames will be in the spotlight Sunday at the outdoor Heritage Classic. Their opponents and arch-rivals in Edmonton are similarly desperate after a terrible start to the season, and a loss to the Oilers would put up more red flags (and not good, Flames red flags) than Calgary has already raised this year. There are no excuses for the roster anymore. With a new management team and a tweaked lineup, the Flames will be exposed, one way or another, for the team they really are. And if they’re simply not a good team, rumored extensions for star forward Elias Lindholm and defenseman Noah Hanifin will be seen as rewarding mediocrity – or worse.

continue for these topics...

the Kings are off to an amazing start, and the Ducks are using a popular NBA rest tactic on their young star

from Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province,

Sometimes, images can get distortedd

On most nights, it easy to see why the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues are mirror images of each other. They skate hard. They forecheck with a purpose and deny the opposition seamless break-outs.

That was expected to be the plot Friday at Rogers Arena.

After all, Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet and Blues head coach Craig Berube were teammates and roommates with the Philadelphia Flyers. They share the same coaching philosophy in designing a game plan and they regularly converse.

However, a plan can look good on paper and not translate to the ice.

Whether it was the lethargic Blues leaving their legs in Calgary on Thursday, where they claimed a 3-0 victory, or the Canucks showing resolve from first puck drop, the combination resulted in a convincing 5-0 victory that stretched Vancouver’s win streak to three games and improved its record to 5-2-0.

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Highlights are below.

* Drew Doughty capped off the first three-goal comeback win of the season with his game winner for the Kings and became the third defenseman in NHL history with at least three go-ahead goals in the final two minutes of regulation.

* Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks played spoiler to the reigning Stanley Cup champions as they snapped the Golden Knights’ season-opening winning streak. The 2023-24 campaign now has no undefeated squads left.

* Five of seven Canadian clubs will take the ice during a four-game Hockey Night in Canada slate, while the two teams left out, the Oilers and Flames, prepare for the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic.

via the NHL.

Connor Clifton will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Saturday.

The Buffalo Sabres defenseman is facing discipline for an illegal check to the head against New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier on Friday.

The incident occurred at 16:00 of the first period in the Devils’ 5-4 win at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Clifton received a match penalty.

Hischier played in the second period but did not play in the third.

The following grounds are being considered for supplemental discipline: Illegal check to the head. However, the Department of Player Safety retains the right to make adjustments to the infraction upon review.

Sportsnet style.

from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

“I thought (will) was long gone before that point of time,” said the Flames coach, bringing the thunder.

“It's nothing to do with being broken, we just sucked tonight.

“That's it.

“They're not broken, they’ve just got to get going.”

What concerned Huska the most was the work ethic that had a good chunk of Saddledome patrons streaming out of the exits early, feeling cheated by the effort.

But not before sharing their thoughts with hearty boos.

“We didn't work tonight, period,” said Huska.

“As to why there was a lack of work ethic, I have to spend a little time figuring that one out.

more

Below find the highlights.

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

There is no heartbeat, no connective tissues binding a team that skates back and forth with the personal familiarity of rush hour in Manhattan.

There is no bite, zero cohesiveness and even less swagger. They are expectant of bad fortune, devoid of momentum. Every time a line hops over the boards, it’s a restart, not a continuation of work that began with the previous group.

Their game is hope, not expectation. The losing starts with common puck battles, moves on to line matchups, and ends on the scoreboard, with a 3-0 New York Rangers victory that easily could have been three or four goals worse.

“We’ve got to be better,” said Darnell Nurse, of the 1-5-1 Edmonton Oilers. “Everyone just look in the mirror at this point, and we’ve got to be a whole lot (expletive) better.”

Not even an analytics wizard could save this Oilers team right now, beaten 14-8 on high-danger chances by the Rangers. No numerical hocus pocus could paint a picture that didn’t look as bad as the one that 17,939 people — including nearly 100 alumni, in town for Doug Weight and Charlie Huddy’s Oilers Hall of Fame inductions, plus Sunday’s Heritage Classic — bore horrific witness to.

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Game highlights are below.

* Leo Carlsson collected the first multi-point game of his NHL career as the Ducks completed their latest multi-goal comeback win in franchise history.

* Martin Necas and Cole Caufield also helped their clubs complete come-from-behind victories in overtime.

* Friday features Jack Eichel and the undefeated Golden Knights contesting a matinee against Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks in Vegas’ annual Nevada Day game as well as Devils forward Jack Hughes hoping to continue his scorching start to the season during a Sportsnet ONE doubleheader.

Under 7 minutes long.

from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- There’s still time to figure out who’s good and who appeals to Patrick Kane, but I do think Dallas will be a contender for his services.

- Two early trends: after seven consecutive declining seasons of save percentages (one was flat), this year’s number is up slightly — from .904 to .905 (courtesy Hockey Reference). You know what else is up? Fighting. It’s been trending that way the past few years, 0.354 per game in 2018-19 to .509 in 2022-23. But there’s a big jump so far: 0.815. The days of the enforcer are over, so it seems counter-intuitive. Maybe it illustrates the pressure and intensity from the moment the puck drops.

- Wanted to send my best to Red Wings radio voice Ken Kal. He’s taking some time after getting a medical procedure following last Saturday’s win in Ottawa. Doesn’t call any attention to himself, simply does his job. (Note to self: try this approach.) Looking forward to his return.

more Thoughts...

* A high-scoring, back-and-forth affair saw the Devils and Capitals score four and three unanswered goals, respectively, and ended with Alex Ovechkin adding his name to a couple of lists after scoring for the second straight day.

* Jack Hughes achieved a rare NHL feat as he collected three assists in a period for the second straight day and boosted his League-leading points to the highest total by a player through the first six games of a season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.

* The full #NHLStats Pack for the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic is now available, along with an interactive information guide for the event.

Top performers are first, top goals are below.