Despite that, the team would skate its way to the Stanley Cup Final defeating the Nashville Predators four games to two, sweeping the Minnesota Wild four games to zero, and, ultimately defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning four games to two.
Kane leads the league in points now with 53 (22 goals, 31 assists) in 38 games. Panarin has 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) and Anisimov has 20 points (13 goals, 7 assists) in 38 games.
And, goaltender Corey Crawford has moved up to third in the league in wins this season. He has a .923 percent save percentage and a 2.33 goals-allowed average. He’s had a league-leading five shutouts and was the NHL’s first star of the week for the week ending Dec. 13–when he went 3-0-0 with a 0.33 goals-against average, a .989 save percentage, and two shutouts that week, earning consecutive shutouts for the second time this season and the third in his career.
Going into tonight’s New Year’s Eve game against the Colorado Avalanche, the Blackhawks are coming off a strong 7-5 victory over the Coyotes and have a 21-13-4 record –third place in the Central Division.
The last five games have seen three wins and two losses.
Last season, the Blackhawks picked up their pace as the playoffs came near. While there are quite a few things I’m sure the team hopes never to repeat, the quest for the Cup is no doubt high on the agenda.
The Blackhawks face the Avalanche at 7:00 p.m. CT in Colorado on Alti and CSN Chicago.
(As always, click the links for video clips or other interesting information.)
As the clock was winding down to the last 30 seconds of Tuesday’s game between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators, the victor was already a known entity and the final score was assumed to be 6-3 where it sat at that point. However as the clock hit 27 seconds, frustrations erupted and a line brawl broke out down in the Bruins defensive end that would result in a lot of paperwork for the officials and would send many players in both jerseys down the tunnel for an early shower as a number of 10-minute misconducts were handed out.
When it was all settled the Bruins were on the man advantage for that last bit of time and Jimmy Hayes would change the score with just .2 seconds remaining on the clock to make the final 7-3. It was his third of the game, and his first NHL-career hat trick. And though the game was technically over, the hats rained down onto the ice in recognition, as his teammates congratulated him and the opponents headed off to the dressing room with their eyes set on their game against another opponent on Wednesday night.
Amongst the joviality of the Bruins there was the knowledge that an earlier, and uncalled, hit by Brad Marchand was being examined by the league’s Department of Player Safety for clipping. Many of the questions for the Ottawa Senators post game were about this hit and if they saw it and what they thought of it. Of those who responded, the consensus was that it was the type of hit one would expect from Marchand.
Twitter had been abuzz since the hit demanding Marchand’s head on a hockey stick and hoping that he received a ten or more game suspension. They called him a repeat offender, citing his low bridge hit on Sami Salo in January of 2012 during a game against the Vancouver Canucks. However the collective bargaining agreement limits the aggregate time for consideration as a repeat offender to 18 months, which meant that his prior hit on Salo could not be considered in meting out the supplementary discipline.
Wednesday came the announcement that Marchand would have a telephone hearing, which put a cap to the number of games he could receive to no more than five. That evening it was announced that he was suspended for three games.
Boston’s Brad Marchand has been suspended 3 games for clipping Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki. Video: https://t.co/hpu2gBu5DN
Unfortunately for the Bruins this means that in addition to the injuries to Chris Kelly, Joonas Kemppainen and most recently David Krejci—three strong and valued players—they will also be without the services of Marchand during the Winter Classic when the Bruins and Montreal Canadiens take the game outside at Gillette Stadium. While Marchand’s detractors will not care, he is missing what is likely a once-in-a-career experience to play in such a game, and that is a shame.
The Bruins have continued to struggle with consistency, compiling a 7-4-3 result in December. Of course the Canadiens are probably quite happy to see the end of the month of December in which they were 3-11-0. The rivalry of these teams is classic, and having just seen each other on December 9 at the Bell Centre in a 3-1 win for Boston, there will be carry over. It would make for an exciting game anyway, but having it outdoors makes it all the more highly anticipated.
You can’t shovel rain. A lesson that seemed so painfully obvious at the first ever rained out AHL Outdoor Game on December 18th, later rescheduled for the next day where the weather cooperated and the Stockton Heat played their game and won over the Bakersfield Condors.
Like the rain, that flows right off the shovel, wins just seem to be escaping the Heat. There are too many moments where the team looks as if they are wading through the puddles that collected in the corners on that rainy Friday. Their speed is choked, their passes miss the mark, and their collective energy lacks the drive to get the puck to the net.
The team feels the frustration of not being able to string together even a couple wins. With a 9-14-0-2 record so far this season, the Heat are sitting in the basement in their division ( Pacific, 7th) and 13th in the Western Conference. Their special teams aren’t anything to write home about, ranking 18th on the power play and 25th on the penalty kill overall. The Heat, save for a few veterans, are a young group of guys who are still figuring out the game of hockey. This is why they are in the AHL, a developmental league, but the losing hurts all the same. It is difficult to win games when you are down a goal before the second period begins. It’s a struggle to win games when your team doesn’t put in a full sixty minute effort. Ahead of the game against the San Jose Barracuda this past Sunday, forward Bryce Van Brabant expressed frustration at his team’s performance.
“It’s just frustrating having games go the way they have these last few weeks. We’ve played well for two periods but seem to have one period be in a lull. We have to manage the puck better. We have to limit the neutral zone turnovers and the odd-man rushes we give up.”
In interviews with both the players and Head Coach Ryan Huska throughout the month of December, the list of things the Heat need to do to get their game back on track are echoed over and over:
-play simple and not get too fancy with the puck
-outwork our opponent
-play well in our end
-create chances and put pressure on early
-play smarter
-play our game
San Jose Barracuda Petter Emanuelsson and Barclay Goodrow battle for position in front of the Heat net as Jakub Nakladal defends
What is Stockton’s “game” exactly, then?
Coach Huska has been visibly unhappy with his team’s performance and their defined lack of intensity as of late. After the 5-1 loss to the Barracuda Sunday, when asked how his team played and their work ethic, Huska responded bluntly, “Not very good…not nearly good enough tonight to compete in a game like this.” He wants his players to win the 1-on-1 puck battles deep in the corners. He wants his guys to step up in the dressing room and start contributing, and be a team that moves their feet and is hard working every shift on the ice. The identity his team is searching for is one that is tight in the neutral zone and smart defensively. They are a team that gets the puck in the net. Right now, Huska says, they are a team that has a tendency to stand around and watch the game go by and overthink the game. They are a team afraid to make mistakes with the puck and that doesn’t win you hockey games.
The games don’t get any easier to win the further along in the season you go either. The Heat are going to need to right the ship before it lists on its side for too long and find a way to the .500 mark soon. Stockton put together a better game as they battled the first place Ontario Reign on Tuesday night. The energy they seemed to be lacking since before Thanksgiving crept back into their game as they battled harder in the corners and crashed the net, putting 40 shots on top-notch Reign netminder Peter Budaj. In the end, Ontario edged the Heat 2-1, but Coach Huska seemed more satisfied with the energy and compete level his team displayed.
“For whatever reason, when you have a few bad games in a row it takes a little bit to get yourself back on track,” said Huska post game. “You have to earn the bounces or the ‘puck luck’ that winning teams get and I think today we went back to working and competing.”
The Heat need to hold on to their work ethic as they head into Ontario on Thursday for a New Year’s Eve showdown and a pair of back to back games against the Texas Stars and the Bakersfield Condors over the weekend. They also need more than a few contributors on the ice to get the job done.
Who’s Stepping Up: Bryce Van Brabant and Derek Grant
Bryce Van Brabant dumps the puck towards the net as Micheal Haley defends
Heat forward Bryce Van Brabant has been stepping up for the team every chance he gets. This is just his second season with the AHL and he’s spent his entire career with the Calgary Flames organization. He’s a big guy at 6′ 3″ and he uses his frame to his advantage to play the puck hard all while being a pretty good skater. He isn’t shy about getting in the eyes of the netminder and he puts the same product on the ice every night he laces up the skates. Coach Huska values his consistency citing him in a recent interview as one of the most consistent guys he has in the lineup night in and night out. His hard work and physical play has paid off as in his last three games he has put three goals in the net.
Derek Grant controls the puck as Condors Dillion Simpson defends the puck.
Derek Grant is another to watch for. The Stockton forward has played a significant role through the month of December, contributing on the scoresheet and has a team record high 5 game point streak behind him. Coach Huska commented that he is solid in the faceoff circle, has been consistent at generating offense when it counts and responsible on both sides of the ice, something he wants to see more guys do.
“He plays against the other team’s top defensive pair every night and we need another guy to step up to take some of the pressure off of him… He’s done a good job for us over the last little while and we want to make sure other guys are stepping up and contributing the way he is.”
When asked about his point streak after Sunday’s loss to the Barracuda, Grant was decidedly humble and focused more on how the team needed to get some wins under their belt.
“It’s a good thing for me, I guess, but when you’re not winning games it’s not something you think too much about. You can’t be too happy with it really. As a team we need to find ways to win.”
He emphasized that the only ones who could fix their current slump were themselves. They had to put the work in and that effort had to come, particularly since the final part of December featured four games in a six day stretch.
Energy Boost in Mitchell Heard
The Heat have lacked energy, looking lackluster moving through most of December. Sometimes a team needs a guy who can take one for the team and help the momentum shift and help tilt the ice. These energy guys may not necessarily rack up points in net, but their presence is felt by both teams. Forward Mitchell Heard, called up from the ECHLAdirondack Thunder, knows how to find the back of the net and insert energy into the lineup. Heard played for the Heat during the preseason before being sent down to the Thunder. He played 23 games, scoring 9 goals and 14 assists (23 points) and recently had his second ever four-point night in the ECHL. In a game against the Manchester Monarchs on December 26th, Heard tallied 2 goals and 2 assists, then immediately came in to Stockton for a game the following day. In his second game with the team against the Ontario Reign on Tuesday, Heard took it upon himself to help his team overcome a slow start.
“It was one of those things where I’m just trying to set the tone for the game and get some energy going for the boys,” Heard commented about his fight against Reign Curt Gogol. “Coming off a loss the other night, you just want to build some energy and some jump in our game. They’re a top team in our division and we wanted to let them know we were here to play tonight.”
Heard also notched a helper on the only goal of the evening from Van Brabant. The Heat will look to guys like Heard, Grant and Van Brabant to continue their contributions, but it’s going to take more than these three to step up and get the team back on track.
Upcoming games:
vs Ontario Reign (Citizens Business Bank Arena, NYE)
Well, there won’t be two points under the Christmas tree this season for the Boston Bruins as they go into the holiday break. They were shut out at TD Garden by a very hungry and determined St. Louis Blues team who came into Tuesday’s tilt in a disagreeable mood from their “unacceptable” loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night. However, given how the Bruins began the season, their current position in the standings is definitely something they can take into the break happily.
That being said, the Bruins are planning on continuing to improve their game and work to remain in playoff contention coming out of the holiday break. They will play host to the Buffalo Sabres on the 26th, which will see the return of hometown phenom Jack Eichel to the Garden, though playing for the “enemy.”
Let’s not forget also that in addition to the Sabres game, Boston will soon be playing a very important game both in terms of points and rivalry on New Year’s Day, as they take on the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium in the 2016 Winter Classic.
Though Tuesday night’s score was a disappointment for the Bruins, it was one of their strongest games, playing almost a full 60 minutes and overall having some solid passing as well as limiting the Blues chances for most of the game. They managed to keep St. Louis off the scoreboard until Vladimir Tarasenko got a breakaway at 7:35 of the third frame. His goal gave some additional jump to the Blues and they made it 2-0 about five minutes later from a goal by Robby Fabbri.
The Blues did an impressive job of keeping Boston to the outside with their shots.
“They have some big bodies back there, but I thought, you know, those battles are just determination and, you know, a battle of will,” defenseman Torey Krug said. “We have to be better for sure, I mean, like I said, it was a great test for us, but it just shows that you can never be satisfied and those mistakes in this league will cost you, especially against good teams. So you know we’ll be better. I’m looking forward to playing this team again for sure.”
It was clear the Blues had full faith in their backstop—Jake Allen—but they were all committed to the game, no passengers on that bench.
Jake Allen keeps door shut (Photo: Alan Sullivan)
“I think last night we were all in for about 18 minutes and left the foot off the gas, but tonight it was a full 60,” Allen said after his shutout. “Last night if you looked around the locker room it was an unacceptable loss. But we had the chance today to right this ship before Christmas, before a couple of days off. That was one of the best road games of the year.”
Currently the Central Division is one of the strongest in the league, though the parity up and down both conferences is extremely close. The Blues brought a physical game; something that usually favors the Bruins. However there is still much the Bs can take from this game in positives.
For the Bruins, such a loss reminds them that they must continue to look within themselves and their locker room for the commitment and determination needed to get the wins. They will put hockey aside for the holiday—enjoying time with family and friends. The short break will refresh them and bring a renewed energy to their game.
It’s impossible to win all 82 games in the regular season, but those watching Tuesday’s game can take heart in the improved game the Bruins are bringing which includes good lane blocking, resilience, and a better pace from most on the bench.
“Let’s not forget what happened here in the last month and a half or so,” summed up head coach Claude Julien. “We’ve played some pretty decent hockey, so sometimes a loss like that just brings you back to reality and say, ‘Listen, we don’t get to where we are by accident, we gotta make sure that we play well and we do the things that we need to do to win.’ But at the same time, I like the direction our team has taken in the last month and a half and we should take advantage of that and take those three days and get some rest and hopefully come back and be as hungry as we have been in the last while.”
Saturday night’s match up between the Northeastern Huskies Men’s Ice Hockey team and the Michigan State Spartans was the third game in the Winter Showdown that saw the Spartans’ men’s and women’s basketball teams along with the men’s hockey team, travel to Boston for three games. The Huskies will return the favor next season by traveling to Michigan for a similar trifecta.
For the Huskies, Saturday’s game began as the when they played host to the Boston College Eagles two weeks prior, which is to say that the team came out fast and hard. Unfortunately as that game against the Eagles progressed the team could not sustain the speed and pressure. The Huskies continue to battle injuries this season, and seeing one of their most important defensemen—Matt Benning—get injured early in the game against the Spartans had some wondering if there would be a repeat with the team falling to their opponent.
The similarities continued as the Huskies went up two goals before the end of the second period. It was the third period that had given them difficulty in the previous game, but instead on Saturday they came out and continued to skate hard and do their best to limit the chances the Spartans had on their goal. For freshman goaltender Ryan Rusk, it was his first collegiate win, something he will undoubtedly remember for a while, and a nice way to enter the winter break.
Scoring for the Huskies were Michael McMurtry—his second of the season—and Zach Aston-Reese on the power play. For Reese this extended his point streak to a career-long five games (4 goals, 3 assists), which is definitely a positive for him to take into the break.
Northeastern is now 3-4-0 all-time against the Spartans, though it has been quite some time since they last played Michigan State. That game took place in 1996.
After the winter break, Northeastern will welcome Quinnipiac to historic Matthews Arena on Saturday January 2.
Postgame Northeastern interviews with head coach Jim Madigan and goaltender Ryan Ruck:
The New York Islanders have been doing well during this, their inaugural season at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The team is currently third in the Metropolitan Division after winning 7 out of their last 10 games. With a hot streak like this, it would seem as though fans would have nothing to complain about. However, as it was made apparent after an incident involving Barclays Center security and fans, this is not the case.
As noted earlier in the season, many fans were less than pleased with the Islanders new digs citing rude staff, a long and costly commute, and poor sightlines. The team has seen a drop in attendance with capacity in the smaller, new arena failing to reach the levels that the franchise saw last season at Nassau Coliseum.
Last Tuesday night, the New York Islanders had one of their worst games of the season, falling to the Panthers 5-1. The game went off without a hitch, and the action on the ice was kept to a minimum. However, action in the crowd was at an all-time high…and not in a positive way. According to spectator reports, a young woman was attempting to move closer to get a picture of the arena’s score board as a tribute to her late father was going to be displayed. The Barclays Center staff, trained by Disney, are known for being strict and unbending. The young woman did not listen to the security staff and continued to try to get a photo of the Jumbotron. This caused an altercation to take place in which the young woman was allegedly punched by a member of the Barclays security staff. Video of the incident can be found here.
Before the team had moved to Barclays, fans were concerned with the security not knowing how to handle hockey culture and tradition as demonstrated by the arena by not allowing fans to go into the lower bowl to watch pre-game warm ups. The fan base is used to the staff at Nassau Coliseum. Many of the ushers had been there for years, and came to know those who attended games. If the arena was empty, it was never an issue to move up a few rows, or if you wanted to get close to take a picture, more than likely, nobody would have given fans any trouble. The arena had a sense of warmth and community from their security staff. Tradition is an important part of this sport, and while changes needed to made so that the franchise could grow, it is still uncertain whether this was the right change for the team and its fans.
Barclays has yet to comment or release a statement regarding this incident, updates will be provided as they become available.
After four solid days of practice and team bonding, the players hoping to represent the United States at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship took to the ice at the Mullins Center on the University of Massachusetts’ campus to compete against the UMass Minutemen. For some of the players this was the first time they had pulled on the USA jersey in game play. And though this is an exhibition game in many ways, Team USA head coach Ron Wilson made it clear that he expected his team to come out strong from the first puck drop. He, his staff and Team USA’s management were paying close attention to what the players brought in competition.
During the first period of play it was clear that the UMass Minutemen had been playing together longer as Team USA had some misconnects on passes and a little bit of miscommunication. However, even with these issues they were a strong team. They managed to control the puck and have the majority of the offensive zone time, which ultimately found rewards with a goal at 12:16 of the period – a nice shot from Nick Schmaltz in the high slot, with assists from Ryan MacInnis and Anders Bjork. When the buzzer announced the end of the period Team USA had 13 shots on their opponent, with one going in, and had kept the Minutemen to 7 shots. However, it did look a little like either the Minutemen were defensively sound or that Team USA was allowing the Minutement to push them to the outside.
“It was mostly our fault. We had guys standing in front of the net and the guy’s supposed to be there and screen the goalie and they would step out of the way at the last second and give the goalie an opportunity to see the puck,” said Coach Wilson. “In the second period and the third period when we were on the power play we had much better net front presence.”
Coming out in the second period, it was clear that Team USA was more comfortable as a team. They continued to dominate the offensive zone. Shortly after the halfway point of the game, at 11:52, Sonny Milano, who plays for the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL during the regular season, put Team USA up by two, with an assist from Christian Dvorak. When the whistle stopped play with about 9:52 remaining in the period, Team USA switched goalies, not because Alex Nedeljkovic hadn’t done well—he had a shutout going—but to ensure that both he and Brandon Halverson would have some game experience before the team heads to Finland. However Coach Wilson did mention that he thought hard about that, talking about the pressure it can put on the incoming goalie because of the shutout.
Third period had been the period that Wilson had hoped that Team USA could “coast,” but it was clear that there were still things to get done. At the five minute mark, Milano would put up his second goal on the game with an assist from defenseman Will Borgen And then 42 seconds later Milano would get the second assist on Colin White’s goal, one of his line mates, with the primary assist going to the third of that forward line Dvorak (his second point on the night).
That would end the scoring for either team, but showed how powerful the Milano-Dvorak-White line could be. That line would have 13 shots on goal and would combine for six points, including three of the four goals. While everyone has their eyes on Arizona native Auston Matthews—who did not play in the game—going into the tournament, it was clear that the game showcased another strong unit and others on Team USA did their best to showcase their right to remain with the team, something that Coach Wilson had challenged the players after practice in the morning.
“Generally yeah. Again it’s hard for me to comment right after the game but we have to have some good discussions in the next ten minutes or so to decide what we’re going to do with our team,” Wilson said of the difficult decisions facing his staff after the strong showing of all the players.
Wilson stressed throughout the week that he wants the players to be “selfish” with the puck—take opportunities to shoot the puck on goal rather than passing it—and there were some instances during Friday’s game where passes were made when shots should have been taken.
“Yeah, I mean, we were just kind of looking for each other. All new. It’s our first time playing with each other, so I guess trying to at least get some chemistry,” Milano said. “But, yeah, in the tournament we’re gonna have to maybe look off some passes and just take a shot or maybe go for a rebound if you want to get it to a guy or something, but you can’t be too fancy. Not going to get a lot of chances in the tournament, so we gotta bury it when we get those chances.”
Some tough decisions coming for Team USA coaching staff and management, but all the players recognize the honor and great opportunity they have had to even be included in camp. They will be sad to see some new friends leave, but are focused on the goal at hand which is to compete hard in Finland.
Full interview with Coach Ron Wilson and forwards Milano, White, and Dvorak:
Full interview with Coach John Micheletto and forward Shane Walsh and goaltender Alex Wakaluk:
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