Hockey players are tough and fight hard to win. Hockey fans are also tough, weathering the ups and downs of their teams wins, losses, memorable moments, and forgettable plays. At the end of the day, however, we all, players and fans alike, realize that despite what the player earns or what the fan pays it is still a game.
Cancer is not a game. Cancer is a true fight. It is a fight for life and death. The cancer patient battles daily to overcome this dreadful disease. They fight pain, nausea, surgeries, triumphs, and heartaches. Their families are no less affected. They battle sorrow, a sense of helplessness, and their own fears. Few if any of us have been left untouched by this dreaded disease – either as a victim or as a loved one.
The Foligno family attends an event in remembrance of Janis Foligno, who passed in 2009 of cancer.
These stories and many more like them are why the NHL and NHLPA have donated more than $15 million since 1998. This money has been dedicated to supporting both national and local organizations that are involved in cancer care and research. This year alone, the two organizations, with the support of numerous other groups and NHL franchises throughout the U.S. and Canada plan to give another $200,000 in grants to local cancer organizations located in all 30 NHL markets and nationally to the following five cancer organizations.
ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer will use its donation to provide an online database of free testing sites for men at risk of prostate cancer, as well as free mobile testing in select markets.
Movember (we all recognize the player mustaches in November) which has allocated its grant to continue to fund its men’s health initiatives which include prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health, and physical inactivity.
Some of the highlights of this year’s drive include:
National Broadcasts: In the U.S., NBCSN will broadcast division rivals St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks on November 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET. In Canada, Sportsnet will feature Winnipeg Jets playing host to Philadelphia Flyers on November 7 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Both broadcasts will highlight lavender – the official color of the campaign representing all cancers – and will include sportscasters wearing the exclusive Hockey Fights Cancer™ tie; players with exclusive decals on their helmets, including some with lavender stick tape; and lavender rink boards.
In-Arena Awareness Nights: All 30 NHL Clubs will designate one home game as its Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Night and will include fan engaging events and activities (full schedule attached). Visit each NHL Club website for more information.
EA Sports: Throughout the campaign, this initiative will be featured in NHL® 16 and integrated into the game’s Hockey Ultimate Team game mode. EA SPORTS also will donate $10,000 to Hockey Fights Cancer.
The NHL and NHLPA, it partner affiliates, and all of us here at thepinkpuck.com would like to encourage you to consider helping in any way possible. For more information on the Hockey Fights Cancer campaign, and the many ways you can help, please go to their website at HockeyFightsCancer.com.
Hockey is the greatest sport on earth and hockey fans are the greatest fans. Let’s show the world what we can do when we step up to make a difference.
*A special thank you to fellow The Pink Puck contributor, Carly Mullady for lending creative insight to this piece.
It has been roughly a year-and-a-half since we first sat down to chat with our friends at NHL Ties. And boy, has a lot happened in the time since then.
The cravat-obsessed Twitter account grew during its second hockey season, garnering national attention and expanding its empire. Yours truly has kept in close contact with the operation during that time—I have garnered a couple “3 Stars On The Night” honors, gone “on strike” and subjected one of my colleagues to almost nightly tie ridicule.
Now, NHL Ties is taking on a whole new venture: Heading up a charity, in conjunction with the league. The account is giving back with the Game-Worn Ties Auction, which has them teamed up with the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative.
Don't worry everyone, McDavid hasn't even come close to doing anything OUR #Tie99 has done in his career. 😉 pic.twitter.com/WXXEmDVi4Z
The auction goes live on October 21, and will be hosted on NHL.com
That’s big league stuff. Did the operation out of Washington ever think that hosting something so big was possible?
“We’d be lying if we said we never imagined it,” NHL Ties CEO, Patrick, told me. “But it was always one of those ‘flight of fancy’ types of thoughts. We would start giggling after even mentioning it to each other as a ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’”
The auction wasn’t an overnight idea, he told me, but rather something that has been evolving since their “Knotty Cup” competition last year. They credit San Jose Sharks broadcaster Jamie Baker with first mentioning a ties-for-charity gig, and teaming up with the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative. The actual auction concept first hit NHL Ties after an on-air shoutout from broadcaster Brian Duff and analyst Brad May during a Buffalo Sabres game. The two mentioned that “fans had been asking for the ties off their necks that night.”
“That’s when it hit us—(teams) auction game-worn items, let’s see if we can do game-worn ties!”
So started the push at the tail end of last hockey season to see if there was enough interest from some of their favorite tie-wearers would be interested in donating to the cause. Not surprisingly, the response was a positive one.
“We were shocked by how fast followers responded,” he said modestly. “More so, how many members of the hockey media world chimed in saying ‘sign me up!’”
In fact, some of the league’s most recognizable broadcasters and media members have mailed in autographed neckwear to be part of the auction.
So, what kind of stuff is being auctioned off anyways?
“Dave Stubbs from the Montreal Gazette has donated a bow tie, and a pocket square which he had signed by some Montreal Canadiens players. All of the San Jose Sharks on-air talent jumped in offering to donate, and legendary (retired) Dallas Stars play-by-play voice Ralph Strangis ponied up some from his collection, including the tie he wore the night he emceed Mike Modano’s number retirement ceremony in Dallas.
“(The list) just goes on and on from there. Brian Duff wrote fantastic histories for each of his donations. Ryan Boulding donated the first tie he bought. Brodie Brazil donated the tie he wore on his first ever San Jose Sharks broadcast. John Lu from TSN Montreal donated a bow tie he wore for Game 6 of the 2014 Eastern Conference semi-finals…”
That was from before the 2015-16 season even started. As of a couple days before the auction went live, NHL Ties was set up for three waves of different apparel to be auctioned off.
Suffice to say the auction promises to be a success. Which brings up the question: If all goes as planned, will NHL Ties make the Game-Worn Ties auction more than a one-and-done?
“We’d love to have this Game Worn Auction become an annual event,” Patrick said, before light-heartedly adding: “Hopefully we don’t screw things up too much with this one that NHL / NHLPA never returns our emails or phone calls next year! (Laughs)”
The Nashville Predators are going to be in the Tri-State area only twice this season which encompases NY/NJ/PA (of course, depending on who you ask it’s either PA or CT). This week it was to meet the Devils and the newly Brooklyn’d Islanders and in November they’ll be back for a Nov 23 game against the Rangers in Manhattan, the Sabres in Buffalo on the 25, and the Flyers in Philadelphia on Black Friday (at a 2:30 PM CST start).
The Predators spent Monday through Friday in the Manhattan area (since it is between both Newark and Brooklyn and easy to get to either) and on Nov 13 they played the sloppy New Jersey Devils. In the 1st period, Barret Jackman (who dwarfs his teammates so badly that I had flashbacks to Hal Gill) tried to start a fight with former Predator fighter Jordin Tootoo, but he skated away in order to get back to the play on the ice. Because he’s not the same player he was all those years in Nashville (that he talked about so plainly in his book All The Way: My Life On The Ice which I cannot recommend enough) when his nightly fights were one of the highlights of going to a Predators game (I’m half upset/half glad that the Devils haven’t cashed in on the Tootoo Merchandise Train and made a Tootoo whistle like the Preds used to sell, just because of how annoying the whistle would get).*
* I wrote all that and apparently Tootoo was fined for tripping Seth Jones the league maximum of $2,217.74.
Roman Josi scored after Shea Weber faked it while everyone was looking/ducking if his 100 mph slap shot was coming at them, but Weber passed it to Josi to make it 1-0 Predators.
In the 2nd period the Predators only managed four shots on goal (with only seven attempts) through the entire frame. Keith Kinkaid, who was in goal because Cory Schneider and his wife had their first child at 3 AM, didn’t look comfortable in goal all night — including getting hit into his goal by Fisher and Josi and having some equipment problems as well as just generally looking more twitchy in goal than I’ve seen him.
The Devils beat reporter said around this time on twitter:
Tom Gulitti
@TGfireandice
I feel bad for the 11,117 (or whatever the real number is) that showed up tonight. It has not been an entertaining game. 9:25 PM – 13 Oct 2015
Most of the problem was that the Mets are in the playoffs for the first time in 9 years and it was an important game that they could’ve won that night and clinched the division series in the hope that they’d be in the World Series for the first time since 2000 (and possibly win it for the first time since 1986). So. Yeah. Even if this was a Devils/Flyers matchup in Newark, there would be a lot of empty seats. A transitional team in the Devils and a Western division team in the Predators? It didn’t bode well for fan interest.
New Captain, Andy Greene was one of the best players for the Devils and was on the ice for the longest of any player on the ice at 27:24 (even Shea Weber, who is constantly one of the Predators on the ice the most was only on for 24:03).
Pekka Rinne’s shutout was broken by Kyle Palmieri at 18:20 in the 3rd period (Greene & Jacob Josefson with the assists). However, Pekka Rinne in his forever attempt at channeling Martin Brodeur had the assist on Roman Josi’s second goal of the game into the empty net in the 3rd at 17:21. And Eric Nystrom, Isles legend Bobby Nystrom’s son, got the unassisted empty netter for the final score of 3-1. This was a great moment for Nystrom (@enystrom23) as he was injured the last time the two teams met in Newark in March of 2015.
This game was Pekka Rinne’s 384th game as Nashville’s goalie, surpassing the franchise record of Tomas Vokoun’s 383. Pekka also surpassed Vokoun for records for wins (207) and shutouts (37).
”It’s a big honor,” Rinne said. ”Tomas Vokoun was a great goaltender and had a long career here. When I first came here, he was someone I looked up to, so it’s fitting that I could pass him. I just hope there’s a lot more games left in me to have here.”
The Predators spent their off-day practicing in Brooklyn and then the rest of the day was left to them. Eric Nystrom and his mom went to the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan. Josi, James Neal & Colin Wilson were in the Meatpacking District at Solo House New York taking weird photos. And Defensemen Anthony Bitetto who got his start in the EJHL for the New York Apple Core and is from Island Park on Long Island and was excited to be home and also went suit shopping while in NYC.
The Nashville Predators were 3-0-0 going into the Oct 15th game against Islanders. Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) wrote for The Tennessean an article about how ‘weird’ it is for Eric Nystrom, whose father Bobby was so instrumental for the Islanders that his jersey was hung in the rafters of the Coliseum and now is in the Barclays Center. As Pink Puck contributor Marissa Greenberg has written about, Barclays Center is more than just the very diplomatic ‘weird’ for many fans, but unlike the game on Tuesday, even with the Mets going to a do-or-die Game 5 situation, the arena was more than full capacity for a random Thursday night hockey game in Brooklyn which is real exciting for the Isles. There were 10,542, however due to the weird shape of the building it definitely felt more full than the Devils game (where, unlike in Brooklyn, there was a lot more obvious gold jerseys in the seats that were full).
Nashville outshot the Islanders 47-28, however, they lost the game with the Isles winning 4-3. The 1st period saw rookie Austin Watson score (even if that was because former Nashville Predator Marek Zidlicky accidentally hit it into his own net) at 2:14. In the 2nd, Filip Forsberg continued his hot streak with his second goal of the season and then later in the period in the strangest fight/rough up with two teams who have Clutterbuck & Jackson — he and John Tavares each got a roughing penalty. 40 seconds after he scored, Anders Lee scored for the Isles and Kyle Okposo scored 4-on-4 to make it 2-2 going into the 3rd period.
In the 3rd the Isles’ Nikolay Kulemin scored with an assist by Mikhail Grabovski which greatly excited my section of Eastern European hockey fans to make it 3-2. Captain John Tavares scored the game winner to make it 4-2. James Neal scored his first of the season at 14:36 with an assist by Forsberg & Josi for the final score of 4-3. Forsberg was great defensively all game, including being able to skate and prevent Ryan Strome getting an empty net goal in the last minute. Neither team scored on two power play attempts, however, the Predators looked a lot better and a lot more like a cohesive team, even in the loss. Also, Thomas Greiss (who I have a goalie!crush on) played really well for the Islanders, but Halak should be coming back sometime soon as their main goalie and even though the final score was 4-3 that was at no fault of how well he and Pekka Rinne did in goal.
The Predators play in Ottawa against the Senators on Oct 17 to conclude their first trip of the season.
As the final buzzer sounded on the first of the home and home, there were many left scratching their heads about what they had seen and about what magic Bentley possessed to keep beating the Northeastern Huskies in their arena. For the third time, the Huskies fell to the Bentley Falcons while hosting them at Matthews Arena.
If you were to simply be handed the statistics sheet you would assume that Bentley’s goaltender Jayson Argue walked on water. He faced 51 shots on the night and only let in two—a save percentage of .960. And while Argue was indeed impressive between the pipes, Huskies head coach, Jim Madigan, felt that the onus was on his players.
“We could look at the shots and feel good about the fact that we outshot them 51 to 11, but this game isn’t measured by shots, it’s measured by whose got the most goals at the end of the game,” he stated during his postgame comments. “I thought our kids were ready to start and play the game and we had a game plan going in. We executed some of it and we couldn’t finish at the net. At the end of the day, they finished at the net and we didn’t.”
The Huskies did come out strong and it was clear that they were working a game plan, as passes forced the puck up and out of their defensive zone and the team spent the bulk of the game in the Falcons end, peppering Argue with shot after shot. But as the first period was almost over the Huskies had to take a face off in their end and that’s where things started to unravel.
“This is a 60-minute game. We’ve talked about that all year long, from last year and carry over this year. We talk about discipline. And you can’t give a team, when you have them on the ropes, opportunities and that’s what we did,” Madigan explained. “We had this team on the ropes in the first period and we didn’t execute a face off well and they score with 5.7 seconds left in the first period. We come back out and we take three hooking penalties, reaching penalties, because we’re lazy on 1-on-2 situations. Just not smart hockey. And they capitalize on two of them.”
In fact, senior and team captain, Andrew Gladiuk scored all three of Bentley’s goals—his first three on the season. The White Rock, British Columbia native had, going into the game, a career 55-53-108 in 107 games played for the Falcons. This shows that he knows how to play the game and can get to the right areas of the ice at the most opportune times.
As the game progressed and the denied shots continued to mount for the Huskies, it was apparent that they began to deviate from who they are as a team and as individual players. In some situations the results were turnovers. The Huskies forgot to keep the play simple, perhaps because they began to second guess themselves or because they felt they had more time and space to make a fancy shot.
“You know, those too cute, fancy plays in tight areas, are not us, nor were we successful,” Madigan shared. “And what ends up happening is guys try to do a little too much. Trying to play outside themselves a little bit. And then what ends up happening, you’re trying to be too cute, you’re making three passes when you should only be making one and then turnovers happen.”
Going into Saturday’s game, it is obvious that Coach Madigan wants his team to refocus on the game plan they had drawn up originally, making sure to fully execute it. He also wants his players to pay attention to Gladiuk when he is on the ice. He was pleased with the defensemen’s moving of the puck and their fast transition and suggested this would continue to be a focus going into Saturday’s rematch.
This game will be the first of three on the road for the Wild; afterwards they will travel to California to take on the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.
Fans can expect Zach Parise, who already has four goals on the season, to be a leader for the Wild during the road games. Many young players have also stepped up this season, and players such as Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter and Matt Dumba should contribute during the road trip games.
This will be Devan Dubnyk’s second time playing his former team since he was traded to the Wild in January 2015.
Although the Coyotes were not a playoff team last season, the Wild should still expect to have their work cut out for them, as they have many young players who are expected to step up, like Max Domi.
Like the Wild, the Coyotes are a defensive minded team, one with speed as well as size.
Both teams would like to keep their winning streak going, as it is important to start the season off strong, and get as many points as possible early on.
The controversial new home of the New York Islanders was abuzz Friday night for their home opener as the team took on the reigning Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. The game began with a video honoring the team’s Stanley Cup dynasty. The video also made a point of showing that while they are still the “Islanders”, they are now Brooklyn’s team. In addition, Islanders legends were present to commemorate late Hall of Fame coach, Al Arbour who passed away last month. The positivity for the night ended there.
The Islanders looked slow, and were failing to connect on passes throughout the first period. Also of note, both teams were having trouble staying upright as the ice was incredibly soft and according to players, “slushy”. Even after tightening their game up during the second and third periods, the Islanders ultimately fell to the Hawks after taking a penalty and allowing a goal during the newly implemented 3 on 3 overtime.
The move from the team’s original home, Nassau Coliseum, has been a sore spot for fans since the change was first announced. There have been complaints from fans from the very first pre-season game at the Barclays Center in September of 2013. Despite complaints, fans hoped that some of the issues would be resolved and that the arena would ultimately begin to feel like home by the time the team actually settled in. However, as the night finally arrived, it appeared that Barclays did not do much to create a home-like atmosphere for this displaced hockey fan base.
In recent weeks, the team has announced various changes, one of which involved changing the team’s goal horn. The new horn, which was tested during some of the pre-season games was supposed to mimic the horn of an MTA train. This was an effort to further push the “take the train to the game” mentality that has been shoved in fans faces since this move began to take shape. However, fans recognized what this was, and jumped at the chance to criticize the weak sounding goal horn. Many took to twitter, calling out the Barclays CEO, Brett Yormark, voicing their displeasure with him, and the horn. Yormark appeared on “The Michael Kay Show”, explaining that while they are going to bring back the original goal horn, he made it clear that it was not due to fan’s influence. He went on to say he did not appreciate the way fans “attacked” him and the organization. This did not deter fans from booing Yormark any time he appeared on the jumbotron on Friday night. Based on the reactions to opening night, it seems Yormark may continue to be in poor favor with fans for the foreseeable future.
The evening began with pouring rain as fans filed out from the subway and Long Island Rail Road station directly across from the arena. Lines to get in as it neared puck drop were not horrible, and getting through the metal detectors went fairly quickly. However, fans who had arrived closer to the time that the doors opened, at 6 pm, had a much busier and less organized experience. Many complained of long lines, unclear direction, and curt staff. Upon walking into the arena, attendees were greeted by the site of the now famous off-center score board. There is also a platform that houses Nassau Coliseum’s organ along with organist, Paul Cartier who has been brought over from the team’s old digs on Long Island. On this platform, Shannon Hogan and Stan Fischler along with the in-house DJ also have their posts set up.
The main concourse on the first level of the building offers an array of food and beverage options, which are without a doubt of a higher caliber than what fans were used to at the Barn. There were also various kiosks set up selling new Black and White “Brooklyn” branded team merchandise along with items with the more familiar Blue and Orange color scheme. In addition to the kiosks there is what would appear to be a team store. However, instead of it saying “Islanders team store” or anything of that nature, the sign above the door read “Nets Shop”. Now this may be a small detail, and some may argue that the Islanders are the buildings “minority” or “second” franchise, but the facility had more than enough time to change signage and make it feel a bit more like this would be the Islanders home for the foreseeable future. Buildings throughout the NHL house more than ones sports franchise and it is highly unlikely that they are unable to either change the signage depending on the game day or simply come up with a solution that represents the franchises equally. This seemed to be a large oversight on the part of the Barclays center.
Watching warm ups has long been a staple of the experience of going to a hockey game for many people. However, Barclays Center staff either chose to ignore this tradition, or simply does not care. The ushers were unpleasant, cold, and refused to let fans watch warm ups from the lower bowl. The strict nature of the arena’s seating staff is far from the friendly, laid back attitude that Islanders fans have become accustomed to when dealing with venue personnel. The seating itself at the arena is not conducive to watching a hockey game. Certain seats are considered “partial view” and provide fans with an obstructed view of the ice, causing them to miss action happening at the near goal. In addition, the seats in the upper deck are at such an angle that you must sit all the way forward and lean a bit to see the ice properly. The rows are so close together that walking through the row to get through is nearly impossible. Aside from seating, it appeared that attendance was an issue as well. While the seats in the upper deck was nearly packed, there were large sections of the lower bowl that were entirely empty. Even with the empty lower bowl, the game was supposedly “sold out”.
With the “sold out” crowd it appears that the crowd may have been too much for the arena to handle. Throughout the night fans stated that the corridors became overcrowded, and that lines for the rest rooms and concessions were just as bad if not worse than at Nassau Coliseum. People were unable to leave their seat and get food, or use the restroom and make it back to their seat before the next period’s starting face-off. Fans explained that while overcrowded restrooms and long lines for food were an issue at the Coliseum, they would think that it would be better here since this is a “state of the art facility”. Many food kiosks were not in service, and although attendance during pre-season was not nearly what it was on Friday night, based on ticket sales alone, the arena should have known what to expect and how to accommodate the crowds.
Throughout the game, the crowd was not shy about voicing their opinions. When the newly crafted, co-ed ice crew came out, the crowd began chants of “we want ice girls”. While the crew was more efficient than the ice girls, it is yet another change from the culture Islanders fans are accustomed to. During a T.V. time out, the camera showed players from the Brooklyn Nets wearing the new black and white Islanders third jersey, which garnered a stream of “boos” from the crowd. Additionally, during the game comments were made about how hard it was to hear, as the audio kept cutting out. It was nearly impossible to hear the on-ice officials or even the PA announcer. The goal horn and song were also hard to hear throughout the arena. The audio wasn’t the only technical issue of the night. More than once after there would be a giveaway or ad during a TV time out, the presenter would be left on screen with nothing to say, the cameras not cutting away, making for an awkward few seconds. It appears that there are some issues that the A/V team needs to get sorted out even though it probably should have happened already.
The final complaint of fans was the commute. Many fans were used to being home within 40 minutes of the game ending back when the team played in Uniondale. However, with the new arena being in Brooklyn, many fans said that Friday Night would be their first and possibly only time making the trek to Barclays as they just got home too late for it to be plausible. In addition, for a family of four to go to the game, round trip Long Island Rail Road fare will add at least 60 dollars to their family’s outing, many said they cannot see that cost being sustainable over the course of the season. Those who are able to take the train, if Friday was any indication, will face cramped, over-crowded trains for the thirty minutes it takes to get from Atlantic Terminal, where Barclays is located to Jamaica, one of the main LIRR hubs.
Overall, the arena has potential, whether the arena and team reaches that potential remains to be seen. Do I see the changes being made to the point of Islanders fans eventually loving this place? In all honesty, no. Based on the behavior of the organization thus far, and based on the fan reactions of last night and the various pre-season games throughout this and previous years, I believe it will be an uphill battle for Barclays to convince Islanders fans that this will be a good home for their team.
As the Boston Bruins came out during warm ups wearing their menacing, predominantly black third jerseys, and it was clear that Zdeno Chara was going to be playing, it seemed like perhaps things would go better for the Bs. And as the game started and Boston scored two goals—both within seconds of beginning a power play—it looked like they had found a spark and were poised to take control of the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Of course those two goals were in the first period, and there was still 8:58 remaining in that first period, but it was the strongest the team had looked since the regular season began.
Roughly four and a half minutes later the Lightning’s Brian Boyle would cut that lead in half, on what many felt was a soft goal allowed by Tuukka Rask. And then a minute later while on the power play, the Lightning would strike with their first power play goal of the game allowing them to take a tie into that first intermission.
Ben Bishop
“Getting that first one helped. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there with taking the penalties and they capitalized; made a couple of good plays on the power play,” Lightning’s goalie Ben Bishop told me after the game. “Then obviously to get one back there and get the second one and kind of tie it up going into the second really kind of saved us to go into the second period as a 0-0 game.”
It didn’t “kind of” tie up the game, that’s exactly what it did, in essence making for an even playing field when the puck dropped on the second period. That may have been the only truly even thing for the remainder of the game. Despite outshooting them and beating them in the faceoff circle, the Bruins struggled the remainder of the game.
Boyle would notch his second of the game, an unassisted even-strength goal, putting the Lightning up by one. The score would remain there for almost seven minutes until Loui Eriksson, who had a goal disallowed in Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens as a result of goaltender interference, would capitalize with the Bruins third power play goal—giving the Bruins goals on three out of their four power plays on the day.
Goaltender interference though seems to be becoming an issue with the black and gold—called accurately or not—as they have now had four such calls in two games. Monday’s matinee against the Lightning saw Patrice Bergeron (who was also called for this in Saturday’s game against Montreal), David Krejci and David Pastrnak all whistled for this infraction.
And as the Lightning began to gain momentum in the game, at the same time the Bruins began to struggle to make good decisions. There are times when taking the body is a good thing. However, when choosing to take the body allows the other team possession of the puck that is an example of when not to check an opponent. Couple that with Rask’s struggles to be the last line of defense for his team, and what started out as a promising game ended in a burning by the Lightning..
Having lost three straight, the Bruins are obviously concerned, but they are not hitting the panic button. To a man interviewed post game, they talked about looking at the breakdowns and fixing them. They talked about each player being expected to improve.
There are many new faces on the Bruins’ bench this season. It is possible that what they need most is a good old-fashioned bonding trip. And fortunately for them they are about to embark on a two-game road trip as they play the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday followed by the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
The AHL finally came to the West Coast, and the Calgary Flames affiliate Stockton Heat put on a goal clinic for their Inaugural Season opener at Stockton Arena Saturday night, shutting out the visiting Rockford IceHogs 7-0.
The Stockton Heat came out of the gate on fire, scoring four goals in the first period alone, two of which were on the power play. They showcased their active defensive style, with heavy cycling of the puck at the blueline and defensemen jumping in to keep the IceHogs on their toes. Four different defensemen walked away with points, with two, Oliver Kylington and Jakub Nakladal, netting multi-point games.
Heat Head Coach Ryan Huska was pleased with his team’s solid opening night win. “I liked our game tonight,” said Huska. “I thought our older players, in particular their preparation was very good and I think it allowed us to get off to a good start tonight.”
The power play in particular gave the Heat an edge early on, as Rockford fell quickly into penalty trouble. Stockton took advantage with Bill Arnold and Marcus Granlund getting the puck past veteran IceHogs goaltender Michael Leighton during the first period.
“Our power play did a great job early on in the first period,” said Coach Huska. “It allowed us to get the lead and I felt that we continued at that point instead of letting our foot off the gas. It was nice to see for the first win of the year.”
The four goals tallied in the first period by the Heat chased IceHogs Leighton from the net and brought in Mac Carruth, who has since been reassigned to the ECHL Indy Fuel. Carruth was able to slow the bleeding between the pipes, allowing just one goal in the second.
The Heat didn’t give Rockford much room to move through the neutral zone, and they struggled to generate an offensive push. The first period shots were telling with just eight reaching Heat goaltender Jon Gillies. The IceHogs didn’t fare much better in the second period, generating just three shots, and penalty problems continuing. Stockton, instead continued their offensive onslaught, adding another goal early in the second. Heat Forward Drew Shore caught the puck from Kenny Agostino and drove it through traffic to make the score 5-0 thirty-five seconds into the second frame.
Heat Forward Bill Arnold deflects the puck in front of IceHogs goalie Michael Leighton.
The Heat added two more goals in the final period. The sixth goal came just a minute in with a quick release from Derek Grant in the slot to beat Rockford’s Carruth. Number seven, a power play goal was tallied by former Worcester Sharks Forward Freddie Hamilton, who received a gift from the blueline off the stick of defenseman Oliver Kylington.
“It was a total team effort tonight,” Heat goaltender Gillies said. “Our guys backchecked hard all night and never got complacent with the big lead. It’s a testament to the mentality in this locker room and how things will be all season.”
Players to watch on the Blueline:
Two players instantly took the spotlight for the Heat on opening night with their solid blueline play. Not only did they help shut down any drive Rockford tried to generate, their offensive skills were highlight reel worthy. Both Oliver Kylington and Jakub Nakadul were keys to the Heat’s win over the Rockford IceHogs. The depth along the blueline for Stockton had been the talk of training camp and the two’s performance on Saturday night furthered those discussions.
For Nakladul, it is his cycling the puck and his quick decision-making, along with a wicked shot from up top that characterizes his play.
“He surprised us a little with his puck handling ability,” said Coach Huska after Saturday night’s scorcher. The way he was moving things up top. He wasn’t afraid to use his shot either which is something that is very important.”
Kylington might be just an eighteen year old defender fresh from the Swedish league, but his hockey sense is all over the map. His offensive skills are sharp and Heat Coach Huska knew what the young defenseman could bring to the table offensively and has been impressed with how he handles himself on the ice and his composure with the puck.
Kylington feels that the North American style of play fits him better and that the game moves much faster than in the Swedish league. “This ice (NHL ice) fits me too. I think you have much more space and room to do stuff with the puck in the offensive zone and I like to play in the offensive zone.”
Solid Goaltending in Gillies:
The 2014 NCAA Champion netminder from Providence College and playing for the USA in the 2014 World Junior Championship, Jon Gillies seems to be everything a team could want in a goaltender. His 6’6″ frame fills the net and he solidly stopped all nineteen shots he faced on Saturday, earning his first professional shutout.
“I just try to use my size and play solid positionally,” Gillies said. “I think a lot of the times you see a goalie make a wildly athletic save it means he was out of position. I just try to stay steady and use my size to make it difficult on the shooter.”
Heat Coach Huska echoed Gillies saying, “He made saves tonight and he made them look relatively easy and that is the nice thing about having a goaltender his size and with his athletic ability in the net for us. Now his challenge is to back it up…and be ready for the next one.”
The Stockton Heat will face the San Jose Barracuda on Thursday October 15 at Stockton Arena. It will be the first meeting of the teams since the preseason and if both teams’ inaugural openers are any indication, the Heat will hold a clear edge in puck possession and giving the Barracuda dmen pause for thought.
Coming off their home opener loss on Thursday, it was safe to say that the Boston Bruins wanted to put one in the win column, especially considering they were hosting the Montreal Canadiens. This was the first of four games, with two at home—which for the Bruins includes the January 1, 2016 Winter Classic—and two on the road. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be the case on Saturday night.
Just 1:14 into the game, Matt Beleskey was called for an illegal check to the head and 11 seconds later, David Desharnais had the Habs on the scoreboard. And when the final horn sounded the Habs had a 4-2 win and the penalty sheet totaled 13 penalties equaling 53 minutes, with Ryan Spooner of the Bruins receiving a game misconduct after a boarding penalty major and Torrey Mitchell earning himself a match penalty—no doubt for the slew foot he gave to Zac Rinaldo with just 38 seconds remaining in the game.
Claude Julien used his Coach’s Challenge when a goal by Loui Eriksson was waved off for goalie interference. One of the changes to the rules this season, the challenge did nothing other than add a few minutes to the waiting time of the game, while the referees viewed the various camera angles on a tablet and then stuck to their original assessment.
Ever the politically correct, Julien commented after the game that it was a case where they would have to agree to disagree.
The chippiness of the game escalated as time on the clock counted down. And as Spooner was escorted off the ice with his game misconduct, it did not look good for the players in black and gold. Things became especially grave when Brad Marchand took a slashing call with 1:05 still remaining on the major penalty, forcing the Bruins to a two-man deficit for more than a minute. However, it turned out that this penalty time would be some of the strongest hockey that the Bruins would play Saturday evening.
Torey Krug
So, what can the team take away from yet another disappointing loss?
Perhaps first and foremost should be how the team is coming together to support each other when liberties are taken on the ice. Such was the case with the slew foot on Rinaldo, in which Max Talbot was quick to let Mitchell know such antics would not be tolerated.
“It is, you know, we have a good group in here. It’s just a great group of guys, that we have each other’s backs,” Torey Krug responded after the game. “If something happens out there, you know, it happens to all of us. So it’s definitely a group that, uh, we trust each other and take care of each other. Great job by [Talbot] there.”
“It is super important for us as a team. I think we showed at the last exhibition game at Washington that we’re a tight group here and we gotta keep showing it,” said Talbot about all the players who stood up foreach other. “That’s something that, when you get in those situations, you use to learn too, that these are the things that will keep you together and that will keep you moving forward.”
At this point there really is no where for the team to move but forward. They need to shake off these two losses and focus on their next home game, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It will be their first matinee game of the season—something they were not well known for last year.
But another thing that they must come to terms with is the youth on their bench. With Zdeno Chara still listed as day-to-day and Dennis Seidenberg out for at least another five weeks or so, the Bruins’ defensive line is much younger than in years past.
“It’s tough because we’re trying to work through something right now. Especially as a group, we’re being tested early; and a new group, we’re being tested ear,” Krug shared. “I think on the bench we can always be better; more positive. Make sure that we manage the game a little bit better as players. There’s always room for improvement, but by no means are we down on ourselves.”
Max Talbot
Going forward it will be up to the leadership core to help the younger players focus on their game and not on the negatives they have experienced in two losses.
“It is part of our role right now as a leadership group. I think, uh, having a lot of young guys in the line up where… I think we all know we can all be better,” Talbot said pensively. “And sometimes it’s seeing the big picture and not seeing just these two lost and the bad things you are doing out there. You gotta think as a group. You know, it’s uh, a role as older guys to be there for them and push forward and help them to stay confident and to actually develop their game to make a difference.”
The Bruins practice at 11 AM on Sunday, October 11, at their practice facility, Ristuccia Arena, in Wilmington. It will be interesting to see what Julien has them do given that he alluded to knowing what was going wrong and that it was on him and the players to fix it.
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