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Category: NHL

  • December 6th, 2018 — News and Notes

    December 6th, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Thursday, December 6th, 2018, and these are your news and notes

     

    There were three contests in action last night.

     

    Edmonton 3, ST. LOUIS 2 (SO)
    The Edmonton Oilers would have a multi-goal comeback in the 3-2 win in a shootout over the St. Louis Blues last night.

     

    It would mark the 61st time this season that a team would comeback from a multi-goal deficit and win the contest.

     

    This would also mark the 17th club to have a multi-goal comeback and win in multiple occasions.

     

     

     

    ANAHEIM 4, Chicago 2

    https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/1070732263657099264

     

    The Anaheim Ducks in their 4-2 win won their 24th game in the calendar year at home.

     

     

    SAN JOSE 5, Carolina 1

     

    San Jose Sharks Joe Thornton would have a three-assist game for the first time in the 2018-19 season and would be the 58th in his career.  He joins 11 other players on this exclusive list.

     

     

    The San Jose Sharks would go on to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes by the score of 5-1.  In the last five outings between the Sharks and Hurricanes, San Jose is 4-0-1.

     

     

     

    Tonight’s Schedule of games…

     

    TXHT has your previews of the contests between the Detroit Red Wings at the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as the Washington Capitals at the Arizona Coyotes at the following pages.

     

    Gameday Preview – 12/6/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Arizona Coyotes

    Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs – 06-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

    For more news, notes, information, and stats…

     

     

    In NHL news today…

     

    The NHL today announced that there will be a Winter Classic fan festival in Chicago’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park and will serve as a prelude to the 2019 Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

     

     

  • Gameday Preview – 12/6/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Arizona Coyotes

    Gameday Preview – 12/6/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Arizona Coyotes

     

     

    Washington Capitals (15-9-3 33pts) v. Arizona Coyotes (13-11-2 28pts)

     

    Time: 9p EST

    Station: NBC Sports Washington and Fox Sports Arizona+

     

    Preview:

    The Washington Capitals will be looking to get themselves back on their winning ways as they take on the red hot Arizona Coyotes who are currently on a four game winning streak.

     

    Washington Capitals:

    Projected Lineup:

     

    Keys to the Game:

    1. Play a full 60 minutes

    For a second straight game the Capitals went into the 3rd period with a lead, and for the second straight game they blew it with poor play, and a lack of effort, especially in their own zone. The Capitals have to do a much better job at protecting their leads and playing a full 60 minutes.

     

    2. Test the kid

    Adin Hill has been spectacular so far for the Coyotes and is a huge reason for their 4 game winning streak. The Capitals will need to make him work, and really test him, especially early on in the game.

     

    Arizona Coyotes:

    Projected Lineup:

    Alex Galchenyuk — Nick Schmaltz — Clayton Keller

    Richard Panik — Derek Stepan — Christian Fischer

    Mario Kempe — Brad Richardson — Vinnie Hinostroza

    Lawson Crouse — Nick Cousins — Josh Archibald

    Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Kevin Connauton

    Jakob Chychrun — Niklas Hjalmarsson

    Alex Goligoski — Jordan Oesterle

    Adin Hill

    Calvin Pickard

    Scratched: Ilya Lyubushkin

    Injured: Michael Grabner (eye), Jason Demers (lower body), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Antti Raanta (lower body)

     

    Keys to the Game:

    1. Force mistakes

    The Capitals have not played solid hockey these past two games, and the Coyotes need to take advantage of that fact.

  • Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs – 06-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

    Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs – 06-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

    DET Thumb - Copyvs TOR Thumb - Copy

     

    Gameday Preview:  Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs

    Time: Thursday, December 6th,  2018

    Toronto: 20-8-0 for 40 points

    Detroit: 12-12-4 for 28 points

    The Leafs head home after a crazy night in Buffalo where Auston Matthews stole the show with 2 seconds left in Overtime. The Leafs take on the Red Wings, young fast and have shown great resiliency the few weeks.

    Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

    Mitch Marner – 39 points (6 goals 33 assists)
    John Tavares – 31 points (17 goals 14 assists) 49% on face-offs
    Morgan Rielly – 30 points (9 goals 21 assists)
    Auston Matthews – 23 points (15 goals 8 assists) 53% on Face-offs)

    Dylan Larkin – 24 points (10 goals 14 assists)
    Gustav Nyquist- 23 points (6 goal 17 assists)
    Andreas Anthanasiou– 22 points (11 goal 7 assist)
    Frans Nielsen – 18 points (4 goal 14 assists)

    Frederik Andersen
    16-7-0 2.32GAA .931SV%

    Jimmy Howard
    9-6-4 2.77GAA .920SV%

    Lineups:

    Toronto:

    Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – William Nylander

    Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

    Patrick Marleau– Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

    Tyler Ennis –Para Lindolm– Andreas Johnsson

    Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey

    Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

    Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

    Frederik Andersen

    Garrett Sparks

    Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

    Suspension: None

    *William Nylander’s spot in the lineup will be in the Game Recap later tonight.

     

    Detroit:

    Gustav Nyquist – Dylan Larkin – Justin Abdelkader

    Andreas Anthansiou – Frans Nielsen– Thomas Vanek

    Luke Glendeing – Jacob De La Rose – Michael Rasmussen

    Luke Witowski – Christoffer Ehn – Martin Frk

    Niklas Kronwall – Mike Green

    Johnathan Ericsson – Dennis Cholowski

    Danny DeKeyser – Nicla Jensen

    Jimmy Howard

    Johnathan Bernier

    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Henrik Zetterberg, Evgeny Svechnikov, Trevor Daley, Anthony Mantha

    Suspension: None

     

    Keys to Winning against Detroit:

    1. Stay on top of the young defence
      1. Attack the defence of the Red Wings, need to pressure them into making bad decisions with the puck.
    2. Puck Posession
      1. Play with the puck for the majority of the game. Keep the cycle going tire the Red Wings players out.
    3. William Nylander
      1. We will get to find out if the Nylander will impact for the better or for the worst.

     

  • December 5th, 2018 — News and Notes

    December 5th, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Wednesday, December 5th, 2018, and these are your news and notes

     

    There were ten contests last night.

     

     

    FLORIDA 5, Boston 0

    Florida Panthers Jonathan Huberdeau is one of five players so far on the season to have multiple points in at least five contests.

     

    The Florida Panthers would go on to shutout the Boston Bruins 5-0, giving Roberto Luongo his 77th career shutout, taking sole possession of ninth place on the all-time list for shutouts by a goaltender.

     

     

    Winnipeg 3, NY ISLANDERS 1

     

    The Winnipeg Jets would score three unanswered goals, all in the final period, to defeat the New York Islanders last night.  Winnipeg’s win would be their fourth consecutive win.

     

    New York Islanders Anders Lee would register the lone goal of the contest for his team.

     

     

    PITTSBURGH 6, Colorado 3

     

    Pittsburgh Penguins F Patric Hornqvist would score a hat-trick in this contest in a short span of 2:43, the quickest ever in franchise history, and the Penguins would double up the Colorado Avalanche by the score of 6-3.

     

     

    Calgary 9, COLUMBUS 6

     

    In the Columbus Blue Jackets loss, Cam Atkinson would become the second player to register a point streak of at least 11 contests.

     

    Cam Atkinson would also register a hat-trick and would surpass Rick Nash for the most hat-tricks in franchise history.

     

     

    In this contest, the Calgary Flames would register nine goals in a contest for the 55th time in franchise history but for the first time in nearly eight years.

     

     

    The Flames and Blue Jackets would combine for 15 goals, the most since January 16, 2017, when the Penguins would defeat the Capitals 8-7 in overtime.

     

     

     

    MONTREAL 5, Ottawa 2

     

    Tampa Bay 6, DETROIT 5 (SO)

    Frans Nielsen of the Detroit Red Wings would score a hat trick in the contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the second of his career.

    Nielsen would be the first Red Wing to have two career hat tricks since Tomas Tatar on December 17, 2016.

     

    Toronto 4, BUFFALO 3 (OT)

     

    TXHT’s Toronto Maple Leafs contributor, Steve Gardiner, has your full coverage of the contest between the Maple Leafs and Sabres at the following page.

     

    12/05/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – Game Recap

     

    Minnesota 3, VANCOUVER 2

     

    The Minnesota Wild would score two goals in 45 seconds to snap a three-game losing streak with the 3-2 win at the Vancouver Canucks last night.

     

     

    VEGAS 5, Washington 3

    Cody Eakin of the Vegas Golden Knights scored his 11th goal of the season, leading all skaters for Vegas in the 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals.

     

    Washington’s Alex Ovechkin would reach the 20-goal mark for the third time in fewer than 27 games on the season.  He has scored at least 51 goals in the other two occurrences of this feat.

    For full coverage of the contest between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights, please go to the following page.

     

    Game Recap – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

    Arizona 2, LOS ANGELES 1

     

     

    Tonight in the NHL…

    Image courtesy of the NHL Public Relations and the NHL

     

    In the NWHL…

    The NWHL held their All-Star Game Draft earlier today with captains Shannon Szabados and Lee Stecklein picking their squads for the NWHL All-Star Game that will be in Nashville, Tennessee.

    The 2019 NWHL All-Star Game will be on Sunday, February 10th, 2019 at Bridgestone Arena and will take place following the NHL match-up between the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues.

     

    Team Szabados:

    Team Stecklein:

     

    In NHL news…

     

    In case you missed the big news yesterday, the NHL announced that the League will expand to 32 teams with the addition of a franchise to Seattle.

     

    Elliotte Friedman released his “31 Thoughts” article today.  You can check that out at the following page.

    https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1070351730305449989

  • Game Recap – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

    Game Recap – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

    Washington Capitals (15-8-3 33pts) v. Vegas Golden Knights (14-13-1 29pts)

     

    Game Recap:

    Former Washington Capital Nate Schmidt would net the late game winner and an empty netter to seal the deal for the Vegas Golden Knights against the Capitals, making their return to Vegas an unsuccessful one. The Capitals were unable to capitalize on their powerplay opportunities, and put themselves into penalty trouble once again.

     

    Lineups:

    Washington Capitals:

    Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson

    Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Brett Connolly

    Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Devante Smith-Pelly

    Chandler Stephenson — Nic Dowd — Dmitrij Jaskin

    Michal Kempny — John Carlson

    Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

    Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

    Braden Holtby

    Pheonix Copley

    Scratched: Jonas Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd

    Injured: T.J. Oshie (concussion), Brooks Orpik (knee surgery)

     

    Vegas Golden Knights:

    Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith

    Oscar Lindberg — Cody Eakin — Alex Tuch

    Daniel Carr — Tomas Nosek — Ryan Carpenter

    William Carrier — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Ryan Reaves

    Brayden McNabb — Nate Schmidt

    Shea Theodore — Deryk Engelland

    Nick Holden — Colin Miller

    Marc-Andre Fleury

    Malcolm Subban

    Scratched: Jon Merrill, Brad Hunt, Max Pacioretty

    Injured: Erik Haula (lower body), Paul Stastny (lower body)

     

    First Period:

    Capitals Penalty – 1:03 – Brett Connolly 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

    Golden Knights PPG – 2:30 – Ryan Reaves (6) from Cody Eakin (8) and Oscar Lindberg (1)

    Capitals Penalty – 8:05 – Madison Bowey 2 minutes for Holding

    Golden Knights Penalty – 9:43 – Bench (Daniel Carr) 2 minutes for Too Many Men

    Capitals Goal – 15:33 – Jakub Vrana (7) from Brett Connolly (11)

    Capitals Penalty – 19:44 – Nic Dowd 2 minutes for Tripping

     

    End of 1st – WAS – 1      VGK – 1

    Shots             09                 07

    Faceoffs        07                 19

    Hits               09                 20

    PP                 0/1                1/2 *3rd in Progress

     

    Analysis:

    This was an ok period for the Capitals. They’ve gotten themselves into penalty trouble which allowed Vegas to take the 1-0 lead and a powerplay to start the second period. The Capitals are not doing well in the faceoff circle and they are being physically dominated by the Golden Knights in the hits category. However, they have responded well and got a good goal from Jakub Vrana to tie the game.

     

    Need to Do:

    The Capitals need to kill off this penalty, and then stay out of the box and stop giving the Golden Knights opportunities. Also the Capitals need to do a much better job in faceoff circle and pick up their physical play as they were horribly dominated in hits.

     

    Second Period:

    Capitals Penalty – 8:35 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Illegal Equipment

    Capitals Goal -11:42 – Alex Ovechkin (20) from Brett Connolly (12) and Madison Bowey (5)

    Golden Knights Penalty – 15:42 – Ryan Reaves 5 minutes for Interference

    Golden Knights Penalty – 15:42 – Ryan Reaves – Game Misconduct

     

    End of 2nd – WAS – 2    VGK – 1

    Shots             18                 17

    Faceoffs        18                 26

    Hits               22                 35

    PP                 0/2                1/4

     

    Analysis:

    This was a better period for the Capitals as they were better in the faceoff circle and they also were able to get the lone goal of the period. However, they were still dominated in the hits category, plus they did not do much with their lone powerplay which was a 5 minute one.

     

    Need to Do:

    The Capitals need to keep on pressing the play, and play a full 20 minutes. Also the Capitals need to do a much better job with their powerplay opportunities.

     

    Third Period:

    Golden Knights Goal – 2:33 – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (4) from Brayden McNabb (3) and Nate Schmidt (2)

    Golden Knights Goal – 2:49 – Cody Eakin (11) from Oscar Lindberg (2) and Deryk Engelland (4)

    Golden Knights Penalty – 3:53 – Colin Miller 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Golden Knights Penalty – 7:14 – Jonathan Marchessault 2 minutes for Slashing

    Capitals Goal – 11:40 – Jakub Vrana (8) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (18) and Matt Niskanen (9)

    Capitals Penalty – 14:46 – Nic Dowd 4 minutes for High Sticking

    Golden Knights PPG – 18:35 – Nate Schmidt (1) from Shea Theodore (12)

    Golden Knights ENG – 19:53 – Nate Schmidt (2) from unassisted

     

    End of 3rd – WAS – 3    VGK – 5

    Shots             26                 28

    Faceoffs        26                 37

    Hits               40                 41

    PP                 0/4                2/6

     

    Analysis:

    This was a letdown of a period for the Capitals. They gave up two goals in a span of 16 seconds in the first 3 minutes of the period, and did not play with much gusto throughout the period.

     

    Next Up:

    Washington (15-9-3 33pts) @ Arizona (13-11-2 28pts)

    Vegas (15-13-1 31pts) v. Chicago (9-14-5 23pts)

  • 12/05/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – Game Recap

    12/05/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – Game Recap

    Transaction Update: Leafs traded Winger Josh Leivo to the Vancouver Canucks for Phil Carcone 

    Toronto Maple Leafs (20-8-0 40pts) v, Buffalo Sabres (17-8-4 38pts)

    Lineups:

    Toronto:

    Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau

    Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

    Andreas Johnsson – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

    Tyler Ennis– Frederik Gauthier – Andreas Johnsson

     

    Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey

    Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

    Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

     

    Frederik Andersen

    Garrett Sparks

    Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

    Suspension: None

     

    Buffalo:

    Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

    Tage Thompson – Casey Middlestadt– Kyle Okposo

    Conor Sheary – Evan Rodrigues – Vladimir Sobotka

    Patrick Berglund – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

     

    Lawrence Pilut – Rasmus Ristolainen

    Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

    Nathan Beaulieu – Casey Nelson

     

    Carter Hutton

    Linus Ullmark
    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Jason Pominville, Marco Scandella

    Suspension: None
    Gameday:

    First Period:

    No Scoring or Penalties

    End of 1st – TML –0        BUF – 0

    Shots              7                     14

    Faceoffs     14/22              8/22

    Hits               4                     5

    PP                 0/0                   0/0

     

    Analysis

    Leafs came out flat to start this one. With Buffalo pouring on the pressure for the first 5 or 6 minutes. But Andersen stood tall as normal shutting the door hard. Keeping the game at 0-0 through the first period.

    Need to Do:

    Get your legs moving, force the Sabres to skate and play defence.

    Second Period:

    Leafs Goal–08:33 – Auston Matthews (14), assisted by Ron Hainsey (9)

    Leafs Penalty – 11:19 –Conor Brown, 2 mins for Interference

    Sabres Penalty –11:39 – Tage Thompson, 2 mins for Hooking

    Sabres Goal– 14:01– Sam Reinhart (8), assisted by Nathan Beaulieu (3) and Rasmus Ristolainen (13)

    Leafs Goal– 19:50– Jake Gardiner (2), assisted by John Tavares (14) and Mitch Marner (33)

    End of 2nd – TML – 2          BUF – 1

    Shots              17                    26

    Faceoffs       28/44              16/44

    Hits              8                      10

    PP                 0/1                    0/1

     

    Analysis:

    Leafs came out to play in this period, despite some bad turnovers the Leafs took lead with Auston Matthews 14th of the season and reclaimed the lead with 59 seconds left in the 2nd with a beautiful tic tac toe play by Mitch Marner and John Tavares which lead to Jake Gardiner putting his 2nd of the season in the net.

    Need to Do:

    Keep pressuring but don’t sacrifice too much defence for offence.

     

     

    Third Period:

    Sabres Goal– 02:39 – Jack Eichel (6) assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen(14) and Jeff Skinner (9)

    Sabres Penalty –07:16 – Tage Thompson, 2 mins for Hooking

    Leafs Penalty –08:44 – Patrick Marleau, 2 mins for Interference

    Sabres Goal– 12:57 – Jack Eichel (7) assisted by Sam Reinhart(16)

    Leafs Goal – 14:47 – Patrick Marleau (7) assisted by Morgan Rielly(21) and Auston Matthews(8)

    End of 3rd – TML – 3        BUF – 3

    Shots             27                   37

    Faceoffs     36/64                28/64

    Hits               10                       13

    PP                0/2                    0/2

     

    Analysis:

    Both teams applied pressure offer for the whole 3rd with Eichel scoring twice to take the lead then Marleau with under 5 minutes in the game to tie it.

    Overtime:

    Leafs Goal – 04:57 – Auston Matthews (15) assisted by Kasperi Kapanen(9) and Jake Gardiner(11)

    End of OT – TML – 4        BUF – 3

    Shots              30                   41

    Faceoffs     39/66                29/66

    Hits               11                       14

    PP                0/2                    0/2

    Next Up:

    Detroit (12-12-4 28pts) vs Toronto (20-8-0 40pts)

    Philadelphia (11-12-2 24pts) at Buffalo (17-8-4 38pts)

    .

     

  • Gameday Preview – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

    Gameday Preview – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

    Washington Capitals (15-8-3 33pts) v. Vegas Golden Knights (14-13-1 29pts)

     

    Time: 10p EST

    Station: NBC Sports Washington, ATTSN-RM, and Sportsnet

     

    Preview:

    For the first time in 6 months since winning the Stanley Cup, the Washington Capitals return to Las Vegas to take on the Golden Knights. The Capitals are coming off of an embarrassing 6-5 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, which saw them blow a 4 goal lead and give up 5 straight goals in the defeat, and are looking to bounce back to their winning ways after the 7 game winning streak was ended. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights are still having an up and down season so far as they continue to struggle to rekindle that spark they had last season, and are hoping a win tonight against their Stanley Cup Finals nemesis can start that fire.

     

    Washington Capitals:

    Projected Lineup:

    Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson

    Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Brett Connolly

    Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Devante Smith-Pelly

    Chandler Stephenson — Nic Dowd — Dmitrij Jaskin

    Michal Kempny — John Carlson

    Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

    Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

    Braden Holtby

    Pheonix Copley

    Scratched: Jonas Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd

    Injured: T.J. Oshie (concussion), Brooks Orpik (knee surgery)

     

    Keys to the Game:

    1. Don’t get complacent

    The other day against Anaheim the Capitals took a commanding 5-1 lead, and then eased off the gas and became complacent. That complacency costed the Capitals as they gave up 5 straight goals to lose the game. If the Capitals find themselves in another situation where they get a commanding lead over Vegas, they have to stay motivated and keep playing hard.

     

    2. Pick up the physicality

    The Capitals their last few games have been dominated in the hits department and need to pick up their physicality a bit and assert themselves more in their battles for the puck.

     

    Vegas Golden Knights:

    Projected Lineup:

    Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith

    Max Pacioretty — Cody Eakin — Alex Tuch

    Daniel Carr — Tomas Nosek — Ryan Carpenter

    William Carrier — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Ryan Reaves

    Brayden McNabb — Colin Miller

    Shea Theodore — Nate Schmidt

    Deryk Engelland — Nick Holden

    Marc-Andre Fleury

    Malcolm Subban

    Scratched: Jon Merrill, Brad Hunt, Oscar Lindberg

    Injured: Paul Stastny (lower body), Erik Haula (undisclosed)

     

    Keys to the Game:

    1. Get a good start

    Vegas is a team that many are saying is having a disappointing season so far compared to their historic run last season. The Golden Knights will have a lot of motivation going into tonight’s game against the Capitals and will want to avenge their Stanley Cup Finals loss to the Capitals at home this past June.

  • Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – 04-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

    Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres – 04-12-2018 – Game Day Preview

    Gameday Preview:  Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres

    Time: Tuesday, December 4th,  2018

    Toronto: 19-8-0 for 38 points

    Buffalo:17-8-3 for 37 points

    The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres meet in a tilt between 2 of the top eastern conference teams. Buffalo flying up the standings the last few months, while the Leafs have kept strong despite injuries and contract holdouts of two of their top players..

    Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

    Mitch Marner – 38 points (6 goals 32 assists)
    John Tavares – 30 points (17 goals 13 assists) 49% on face-offs
    Morgan Rielly – 29 points (9 goals 20 assists)
    Auston Matthews – 20 points (13 goals 7 assists) 53% on Face-offs)

    Jack Eichel – 32 points (5 goals 27 assists)
    Jeff Skinner- 28 points (20 goal 8 assists)
    Sam Reinhart– 22 points (7 goal 15 assist)
    Jason Pominville – 18 points (9 goal 9 assists)

    Frederik Andersen
    15-7-0 2.30GAA .931SV%

    Linus Ullmark
    5-0-2 2.57GAA .927SV%

    Lineups:

    Toronto:

    Kasperi Kapanen – Auston Matthews – Patrick Marleau

    Mitch Marner – John Tavares– Zach Hyman

    Andreas Johnsson – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown

    Tyler Ennis – Pars Lindholm – Josh Leivo

     

    Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey

    Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

    Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

     

    Frederik Andersen

    Garrett Sparks

    Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

    Suspension: None

     

    Buffalo:

    Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart

    Tage Thompson – Casey Middlestadt– Kyle Okposo

    Remi Elie – Evan Rodrigues – Vladimir Sobotka

    Patrick Berglund – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

     

    Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

    Lawrence Pilot – Rasmus Ristolainen

    Nathan Beaulieu – Casey Nelson

     

    Linus Ullmark

    Carter Hutton

     

    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Jason Pominville, Marco Scandella and Conor Sheary

    Suspension: None

    Keys to Winning against Buffalo:

    1. Stay Out of the Box
      1. Buffalo has a good powerplay, it will burn you.
    2. Win faceoffs
      1. Winning faceoffs means more puck possession
    3. Kadri
      1. Something has got to give with Nazem Kadri, so far he has been held goal-less this season and he is what drives that 3rd Need to find a way to get him going.
    4. Force the Sabres to take penalties
      1. One of the top powerplays in the league we need to keep it in the game.

     

  • December 3rd, 2018 — News and Notes

    December 3rd, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Monday, December 3rd, 2018, and these are your news and notes.

     

    Yesterday’s contests:

     

    Anaheim 6, WASHINGTON 5

    The Washington Capitals gave up a four-goal lead, and would later lose to the Anaheim Ducks by the score of 6-5.

    The Ducks became the first team ever to have a four-goal comeback against a defending Stanley Cup champion with the win.


    Anaheim Ducks G Ryan Miller would register his 374th career win and would tie John Vanbiesbrouck for the most wins by a U.S.-born goaltender.

     

    Nicklas Backstrom of the Capitals would score his 219th career goal, taking sole possession of fourth place in franchise history for goals, surpassing Mike Ridley who had 218 goals with the franchise.

    TXHT has your recap of the contest between the Anaheim Ducks and the Washington Capitals at the following page.

    Game Recap – 12/2/2018 – Anaheim Ducks v. Washington Capitals

     

    Winnipeg 4, NY RANGERS 3 (SO)

     

     

    Calgary 3, CHICAGO 1

     

    San Jose 3, MONTREAL 1

    With Joe Pavelski’s goal, he scored his 12th goal, tied for third-most since November 1st.  His goal helped the San Jose Sharks defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in Montreal last night.

     

    Colorado 2, DETROIT 0

    Mikko Rantanen registered his 45th point on this season, becoming the ninth different player since the 1993-94 season to have at least 45 points in a teams first 27 games.


    With the shutout win, Semyon Varlamov registered his 24th career-shutout, tied for the fourth-most by a Russian born goaltender.

     

    LOS ANGELES 2, Carolina 0

    Los Angeles Kings G Jonathan Quick recorded 34 saves and his 50th NHL shutout, the most ever from U.S-born goaltenders in NHL history.

     

    In the NWHL contests yesterday…

     

    With five points in the Boston Pride’s weekend series against the Minnesota Whitecaps, Boston Pride’s Gigi Marvin has been named the NWHL Player of the Week

     

     

    In NHL news…

    The New York Rangers retired the number of Vic Hadfield yesterday, becoming the 10th player in the long history of the Rangers organization.

     

    The NHL announced their Three Stars of the Week earlier today.

     

     

     

     


    Late addition to the NHL news…

    The Philadelphia Flyers announced that Chuck Fletcher has been named the Executive Vice President and General Manager

     

    Tonight in the NHL…

    Tampa Bay Lightning @ New Jersey Devils, 7 p.m., ET
    Buffalo Sabres @ Nashville Predators, 8 p.m., ET
    Edmonton Oilers @ Dallas Stars, 8:30 p.m., ET

     

  • Progress Report – Tom Wilson 10 Games In

    Progress Report – Tom Wilson 10 Games In

    On September 30th, 2018 Tom Wilson did an illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, which resulted to Wilson being suspended for 20 games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on October 3rd. After NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman upheld the suspension, neutral arbitrator Shyam Das would reduce Wilson’s suspension to 14 games after having already missed 16 games. Wilson would return to the lineup immediately on November 13th for the Washington Capitals against the Minnesota Wild.

     

     

    Upon his return Wilson made an impact right away scoring a goal and subsequently getting a goalie interference  call at the same time.

     

    After that Wilson would fight Marcus Foligno to help guide the Capitals to a 5-2 victory over the Wild. Then the next night in Winnipeg Wilson would be held off of the score sheet as the Capitals would fall to the Jets 3-1. However, in both games Wilson averaged 16:30 minutes in ice time, and registered two shots combined with 7 penalty minutes and was Even in +/-.

     

    Then in his next eight games Tom Wilson showed why the Capitals drafted him 16th overall in 2012, as he would explode on the first line with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, and at times with Lars Eller. In these next eight games Wilson would register 7 goals, 6 assists for 13 points which also include Wilson being on a 6 game goal streak and an 8 game point streak, which are both active currently. Also Wilson would register 4 multi-point games and one 2 goal game. On special teams Wilson would also register 2 goals and 3 points on the powerplay, and 1 shorthanded goal. Also in every game, with the exception of the November 30th game against New Jersey which we will talk about in a moment, Wilson would average over 20 minutes of playing time and 2 plus shots a game.

     

    In the span of these eight games the Capitals would go 7-1-0 with all seven wins happening consecutively. In all 10 games that Wilson has played in the Capitals have an 8-2-0 record, and also saw their penalty kill improve by 10.2% from October (going into their game on December 2nd versus Anaheim). Plus the Capitals as a whole have played a much better as a team.

     

    However, it would be a miss if we didn’t have a little controversy involving Tom Wilson as on November 30th against the New Jersey Devils, Wilson would unfortunately get attention for all of the wrong reasons. After scoring a shorthanded goal 8 seconds into the 2nd period, Wilson would be tracking his man into the Capitals zone and would lay a hit on Devils forward Brett Seney.

    The play would result in Wilson getting a Match penalty for an Illegal hit to the Head, however, as it would be shown in the still we were able to grab you can see that Wilson did not make contact with Seney’s head at all.

    Also as seen on the play Wilson does make an effort to try to avoid contact.

    https://twitter.com/EdFrankovic/status/1068687202224349184

    Of course the big reason that this is controversial is because it is Tom Wilson. Plus he was in his 9th game back from suspension and we all know that Wilson is under a microscope by the League. Luckily for Wilson the Department of Player Safety decided that there would be no supplementary discipline as it was deemed that Wilson did not make contact with the head.

     

    Outside of this one little (big) blip for Tom Wilson, he has been proving why the Capitals drafted him in the first round, and with his role on the team, he has helped turn the ship around after a slow start to the season. If Wilson keeps playing the way he has been and stays away from the bad hits, and keeps playing smart, Wilson will be setting all new career highs this season.

     

    Also please read Isabelle Khurshudyan’s article on Tom Wilson for The Washington Post. It is a definite must read.

     

    Feature Photo Credit – Washington Capitals Twitter