Within the first five minutes of the game, Detroit had a shorty and a power play goal to take an early 2-0 lead.

No more scoring in the first but Boston added two of their own goals within 1 1/2 minutes or so to make it a 2-2 after forty minutes.

In the third, Boston scored with just over six minutes to take their first lead of the game.

No more scoring, Boston wins 3-2.

Below watch the Detroit goals and Seider taking a puck to the chin. He missed the last few minted of the second period, but did come back for the third with some stitches.

Team Stats

Good afternoon and welcome to all. Today’s game in Boston would be considered a daunting challenge by most teams. The Broons are currently sitting atop the standings with the best record in the league, but, it doesn’t mean that a loss today is forgone conclusion. I have no reason to be over optimistic, but, the Wings are coming into today’s game after finally breaking their six game losing streak with a hard fought win against the Cawks, which has to have given them a boost in confidence.

If nothing else, the guys absolutely have to go into today’s game and leave it all on the ice, as they have something to prove to themselves. It will be interesting to see how they respond, and, how hard they go against their former teammate, one Tyler Bertuzzi. Here’s hoping…

It’s the Wings vs the Bruins in another Original Six matchup. The puck will drop sometime around 1:00 PM and will be broadcast on ABC/ESPN+ and SN1. Also available on the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit)

It’s a Live Blog!

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Granted your faithful puck chronicler may have stared far too long at way too many NHL ice sheets (85 x 200 feet), but I’d like to see how (if?) play and scoring would change if both goal lines were moved 5 feet closer to center ice.

The idea would expand the length of each side’s offensive zone from 75 feet to 80 feet, and shrink the neutral zone from 50 to 40 feet. Nothing much fun happens between the blue lines, so if nothing else, the shift would make the Nothing Much Fun Happening Zone 20 percent smaller.

The goal lines, currently inked 11 feet from the rear wall (the same in the international game) would be at 16 feet, an increase of 45.5 percent in elbow room back there. It would effectively open up the sheet without having to enlarge the surface area.

Keep in mind: the NHL’s Lords of the Boards never will expand the sheet, be it by width or length. The cost of retrofitting existing buildings would be too high, and worse, it would mean fewer seats (all in high-cost loge territory) for box office inventory. If they ever make a change, it will be to shrink the area and add seats. That, friends of frozen water, you can take to the bank.

That added room behind the goal line would lead to offensive approaches not possible in today’s game. The extra space would encourage clubs, at even strength and on the power play, to design strategies for two forwards behind the net, likely force defensemen to chase them, and perhaps — praise be, ice gods — detangle that gnarled forest of legs, sticks, and skates in the high-percentage scoring areas in and between the faceoff circles.

more plus other topics including a look at Quinn Huges...

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

In Hellberg’s case, for the most part he is delivering the goods. Over 12 appearances he’s showing a 4-6-1 record with a 3.01 GAA and .899 save percentage. Those might not be Vezina Trophy numbers but considering the circumstances, they’re not terrible, either.

Hellberg A Road Warrior For Red Wings

The home crowd seldom gets a chance to see Hellberg in action unless things are going south for Detroit. Traditionally, backup goalies do the majority of their work on the road. Hellberg’s last seven appearances have all come in away games.

Veteran netminders seem more suited to the backup role. Hellberg is 31 and Detroit are among five NHL teams that have employed him.

“Maybe a little experience, understanding your role,” Lalonde suggested. “It’s tough to get rhythm but it’s the reality of it.”

Even though he’s lost his last two starts are surrendered 10 goals in the process, Lalonde is more than satisfied with what the team is getting from Hellberg.

more ($)

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

Way back at training camp, the 2023 class of UFA forwards was something to salivate over.

But with David Pastrnak, Bo Horvat, Dylan Larkin, Joe Pavelski and Andrei Kuzmenko all inking mid-season extensions, the remaining crop has been chopped frighteningly thin.

Good luck signing a frontline centre on Canada Day.

Thirty-seven-year-olds Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci are sticking it to Father Time, but they’re much more likely to choose retirement or another encore in Boston than the open market.

Ryan O’Reilly is the best of the bunch, and he’s currently a 2C/3C on a roster with Stanley Cup dreams.

Max Domi deserves his due for a 50-point showing, but most view him as a middle-six asset.

Same goes for solid but fading two-way pivots Jordan Staal, Jonathan Toews, J.T. Compher, Nick Bjugstad, Lars Eller, and David Kämpf.

more topics...

from Ethan Sears of the New York Post,

The Islanders have mastered the ability to turn a game on its head when it matters most: the third period.

In those final 20 minutes, they will scratch and claw and exhaust the opposition.

That is where they have thrived, outscoring opponents 17-1 in their last 10 third periods, a stretch in which the season itself has gone from a near write-off to a joyride that looks playoff-bound.

Believe Casey Cizikas when he says the Islanders are not out of it until the final buzzer.

Believe Anders Lee when he talks about the Islanders’ self-belief, even after their abysmal first two periods such as they played Thursday at Pittsburgh.

Believe in the Islanders, who have parlayed their last 10 third periods into a 7-2-1 stretch, bringing their playoff odds north of 50 percent despite injuries to Mathew Barzal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau that have stretched their depth to its limit.

“We stick with our game,” Lee said following the 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins on Thursday. “We play the way that we have been and we did the last 20. We can rely on our forecheck, our guys can make plays, we can score goals. Down 3-1, not going to happen every night, but we believe in ourselves.”

continued

from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

One by one they trudged out to the dressing room podium, hanging their heads after another devastating result.

The outcome, the questions, the frustration, all the same as they have been far too often this season.

A 3-1 loss to the Ducks of Anaheim Friday makes it three months and counting since these Calgary Flames pieced together a three-game winning streak.

Three nights after consecutive road wins seemed to breathe new life into the Flames' sagging playoff hopes, they remind everyone why they are where they are:

They can’t beat the teams they’re supposed to beat — the inexperienced, rebuilding, struggling squads all vying for Connor Bedard.

Asked what can be read into the Flames’ losing record against non-playoff teams, Darryl Sutter shrugged.

“Well, neither are we,” said Sutter with a fact that is becoming increasingly apparent.

continued

Game highlights are below.

Brandon Montour completed Florida’s multi-goal, third-period comeback victory with an overtime goal to help the Panthers continue their playoff push as they moved within two points of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

* John Gibson made 36 stops to surpass Guy Hebert on the Ducks’ all-time saves list.

* A busy 15-game Saturday will feature the Bruins aiming to clinch a berth in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs and become the fastest team in NHL history to reach the 50-win mark all broadcast nationally on ABC, ESPN+ and SN1. Click here for a breakdown of Boston’s clinch scenarios.

Only 2 games tonight.

Chicago at Florida 7pm ET and Anaheim at Calgary 9pm.

Florida is 4 points out of the wild card spot while Calgary is also 4 points out of the second seed wild card position.

So feel free to comment on anything hockey related. You'll get your hockey fix tomorrow with 30 teams in action, starting at 1pm.

via the YouTube page of the Detroit Red Wings,

Detroit Red Wings Defenseman Jake Walman joins Daniella Bruce and Art Regner to discuss his 3-year contract extension, his success in Detroit, and more on this edition of The Word on Woodward.

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

It’s crazy how history repeats itself. But here we are, 40-some years later, and we can’t wait for the same hockey game to start.

Toronto’s prodigal son will return Saturday night, skating out of the visitor’s gate under the glare of the Hockey Night in Canada lights in the jersey — must we say it? — of those damned Edmonton Oilers.

Again.

First, it was Wayne Gretzky, the Brantford kid who is the best there ever was.

And Saturday night, Newmarket’s Connor McDavid — the most dynamic, productive and exciting player in the game today, by a margin that increases each season like a Secretariat lead as he rumbled down the stretch.

In only the second Saturday night game here in his career, we all suspect that McDavid would love to follow in the steps of The Great Gretzky, who saved his best for those Beatles-like visits to the old Maple Leaf Gardens back in the ’80s. There, amidst throngs of screaming fans out on Carlton St., Gretzky averaged a goal and 2.6 points per game in his career.

continued

from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet,

The question I’m going to get into today is, if you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs, how much do you want to acknowledge the Lightning's players who try to drag you into scrums with face-washes and jawing and other forms of emotional warfare, when there’s an actual hockey game to be won? I think it’s well-established that no team wants to be a Sedin getting rabbit punched by Brad Marchand, they don’t want to be Auston Matthews not acknowledging the choke-out attempt from Ben Chiarot, they can’t just “turn the other cheek” for seven games when both cheeks are getting punched in. But you also can’t get lost in the sauce when there’s actual hockey to be played.

Fun facts on the Lightning’s “edge”:

This season they “lead” the NHL in PIMs, they’re second in fighting majors, and they’re first in misconducts. They live in the box, totalling an average of 12:10(!) in PIMs per game, which is up from last year when they finished second in PIMs per game with 11:30. That year they finished two seconds behind the Preds 11:32 per game, which was built on the back of Tanner Jeannot’s league-leading 14 fighting majors (among forwards), so … Tampa promptly traded for him.

A stunning fact: this is the 11^th straight season the Lightning have either finished first or second in the NHL in PIMs per game (it’s here I’ll note the presumably-pure-coincidence that this is Jon Cooper’s 11^th season with the team). I say “first or second,” but they’ve only been second twice and have lead the league nine times. The 2011-12 season was the last time they were outside the top-two, but what’s even crazier is you have to go back to 2005-06 to find a season where they weren’t top-5 in the NHL in PIMs per game.

Even with this history of playing an, er, abrasive game, it’s increasingly become a larger part of their identity.

more

Even allowing for the dopey blackouts to protect some shitty RSN's interests while shutting out NHL fans in Montana, Idaho, and other places that are nowhere near an NHL city, how the f*** was Edmonton @ Boston last night only available via streaming on ESPN+ ? Seriously, what is the logic here? It's ESPN's 'Hockey Night' with a dream regular season match-up and cable/satellite subscribers were unable to watch because it was not being shown on television. Make it make sense.

-Rear Admiral of Bar Stool Sports has more on this topic.

from Rick Westhead of TSN,

Steve Montador had problems with alcohol and drugs before he played his first National Hockey League game, and agreed to assume the risks after being warned numerous times by team doctors and trainers about the long-term dangers of playing after suffering repeated concussions, the NHL said in a new court filing.

“During his life, Montador struggled with substance abuse, depression, anxiety, insomnia and strained/abusive personal relationships,” the NHL wrote. “Despite being repeatedly made aware of and informed about potential long-term risks of head injuries, including CTE, by numerous individuals as detailed above, Montador continued to play in the NHL for years.”

The NHL alleges Montador had developed a cocaine addiction and had been using ecstasy by 2003-04, his second full season in the NHL. The league made the allegations in a statement of defence filed on Tuesday, four months after a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Paul Montador, Steve’s father, was transferred from U.S. federal court to Illinois state court.

Paul Montador has alleged the NHL has promoted and profited off of violence while not adequately advising players of the risks of repeated long-term brain injuries. He first filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the NHL in December of 2015.

continued

from The Athletic,

NHL teams continue to struggle with how to handle Pride jerseys, with the Wild following in the footsteps of the Rangers and scrapping plans for players to wear them on the organization’s Pride Night on March 7.

In particular, this issue has arisen for teams with prominent Russian players since that country’s anti-gay laws were amended in early December, per the New York Times, to make it “illegal to spread ‘propaganda’ about ‘nontraditional sexual relations’ in all media, including social, advertising and movies.”

The Flyers also had one player (Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov) opt out of warmups with his teammates on their Pride Night in January because he didn’t want to wear the team’s Pride jersey, citing his Russian Orthodox religious beliefs.

The Wild abandoned their plans to don Pride jerseys out of concern for Russian players. Star forward Kirill Kaprizov, notably, had a difficult journey back to the United States after returning to Russia this past offseason.

The Rangers, who also have several prominent Russian players, cited “individual right to respectfully express their beliefs” in not wearing the jerseys after announcing they would.

Russian Penguins star Evgeni Malkin, on the other hand, did wear a Pride jersey on the team’s Pride Night on Dec. 12, just after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the new legislation on Dec. 5.

continued ($)

via Ansar Khan tweets,

practice lines:
Suter-Larkin-Raymond
Kubalik-Copp-Perron
Zadina-Veleno-Berggren
Erne-Czarnik-Chiasson
Walman-Seider
Maatta-Chiarot
Hagg-Lindstrom
Oesterle

Lalonde said Hellberg will start tomorrow and Husso on Sunday.

Lalonde said no time frame on Fabbri’s return but expected back this season.

from Giana Han and Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer,

Less than a week after the trade deadline, the Flyers have decided to take an affirmative step in a new direction, with sources telling The Inquirer that they are firing president and general manager Chuck Fletcher Friday. Hired on Dec. 3, 2018, Fletcher had been with the organization for over four years. Former Flyer Danny Brière will take over on an interim basis.

“The Philadelphia Flyers organization has always been defined by grit, determination, and a standard of excellence,” said Dave Scott, chairman of Comcast Spectacor and governor of the Flyers, in a statement obtained exclusively by The Inquirer. “Over the past several seasons, our team simply has not lived up to that standard, so today, we will begin to chart a new path forward under a new leadership structure for Hockey Operations.

“This morning, we released Chuck Fletcher from his president and general manager responsibilities. We are grateful for his hard work and dedication to this organization, and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

continued

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

"I've texted with him a little bit," Larkin said Thursday. "He said it’s cool playing on a good team. It’s a good team, good players. He’s going to do really well and going to go on a run and I’m really happy for him in that way.

"It’s going to be a tough game but I am excited to see how we stack up against these guys. It’s been emotional, it’s been kind of hard to see the dream of making the playoffs fade away, but we’ve kind of gotten over that and now we hit the reset button a little bit. We are still in it. You never know what can happen."...

"For me when I first came in here, I was a young guy and he would tell me to just play my game," Joe Veleno said. "If I had a turnover or made a made a bad play, he would tap me on the shoulder and be like, just keep playing. That is one thing I will remember about him."

Lucas Raymond spent most of his rookie season on a line with Bertuzzi, stoking a relationship that grew off the ice.

"Me and Tyler were very close," Raymond said. "We became really good friends and he was a big part of my time here. It’s going to be a little weird but a lot of fun to play him. We always joked around so now we can finally go at one another. He’s amazing guy, amazing player, I wish him all the best in Boston."...

"It’s going to be a weird," Zadina said. "Since I got here, I have been with Tyler on the team and hew as a huge part of this organization. I was looking up to him when I got here, my first season, so it was huge for me to see him play here and get better watching him. It’s going to be special to play against him, for sure, and hopefully he will take it easy on us."

more

from Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News,

Two Buffalo Sabres stood in front of their net as Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen carried the puck through the left circle, then sent a quick pass in front.

No one was in position and ready to prevent Jamie Benn, the Stars’ captain, from firing a quick shot past Sabres goalie Eric Comrie for Dallas’ second goal in 18 seconds during the first period Thursday night in KeyBank Center.

The Sabres entered the game only five points out of a playoff spot, yet you’d never know by watching their careless decisions with the puck and leisure coverage in the defensive zone against one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

There were a few bright spots sprinkled in between the myriad of mistakes. Jordan Greenway, the Sabres’ newest forward, scored shortly after Benn to cut the deficit to two, and Kyle Okposo delivered a similar response after another Dallas goal later in the game.

Somehow, it got worse for the Sabres.

They were booed on home ice again after allowing five goals in seven minutes during the third period of a 10-4 loss to the Stars.

continued

Watch the game highlights below.

* The Stars scored early and often at KeyBank Center in Buffalo en route to the NHL’s first 10-goal performance of the season and tying the second-most in a game in franchise history.

* Four Metropolitan Division clubs skated to victories, including the Islanders who captured the NHL’s 50th multi-goal, third-period comeback win of the season – the most in a single campaign in League history.

* Erik Karlsson established a career-high for points in a season thanks in part to his third 20-goal campaign and first since 2014-15.

Watch below.

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

It is all but certain – as it should be – that Henrik Lundqvist will be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame this year.

He has the numbers. He has the credentials. He had a career with the New York Rangers that few goaltenders will ever match and that should see him elected without much question or debate as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

And it is all but certain – with questions needing to be asked – that Curtis Joseph will be passed over for the Hall once again, just as he has for the last 10 years, without much hand-wringing, public arguing, or debate.

Joseph won 454 games for the six NHL teams he played for. That’s five fewer wins than Lundqvist, who played his entire career with the Rangers. Of the Top 12 winning goalies of all-time, nine are in the Hall, Marc-Andre Fleury is still playing, and Lundqvist has yet to be elected – which leaves Joseph alone.
The only goalie of the Top 12 to not be in the Hall of Fame or seemingly headed there.

Goaltenders, historically, have not gotten their complete share of Hall of Fame attention. Tom Barrasso, with two Stanley Cups from the Pittsburgh Penguins, is not in the Hall. Mike Vernon, with two Stanley Cups and a 32-9 won-loss record in those championship playoff seasons, is not in the Hall. Some people believe Chris Osgood belongs in the Hall – and I’m not one of them – after being part of three Cup champions in Detroit.

more

added 1:28pm,

added 12:11pm, Khan adds Husso not on the ice too

Some beauties here.