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Category: 2019 NHL Stanley Cup

  • Game Recap – 1st Rd. Game 1 – Carolina Hurricanes v. Washington Capitals

    Game Recap – 1st Rd. Game 1 – Carolina Hurricanes v. Washington Capitals

    Carolina Hurricanes v. Washington Capitals

     

    Game Recap:

    The Washington Capitals begin their Stanley Cup defense at home against the Carolina Hurricanes, and the start of the game would see the Capitals weather the storm from the Hurricanes for the first half of the period followed by Nicklas Backstrom going top shelf on Petr Mrazek on the first shot of the game for the Capitals to make it 1-0. Then Justin Faulk would be called for high sticking, and on the powerplay Evgeny Kuznetsov would do a beautiful pass across to slot to Backstrom for his second of the game. The Hurricanes would not do themselves any favors though as Micheal Ferland would be called for interference and with a mad scramble Alex Ovechkin would net his first of the playoffs to make it 3-0 goinf into the first intermission.

     

    In the second period both teams would trade scoring opportunities, and some penalties as well. While the Capitals would kill their lone penalty early in the period, Carolina would give the Capitals two more powerplay opportunities. However, this time the Hurricanes would keep the Capitals off the score board while on the penalty kill.

     

    In the third period the Capitals would get some really good scoring opportunities to start the period, but Petr Mrazek would stand tall to keep the deficit to three. Then Andrei Svechnikov would score back to back goals to cut the Capitals lead to one in a span of two minutes and nineteen seconds. The Capitals would then get themselves into penalty problems, but would successfully kill both penalties. Then Lars Eller would score the empty netter to seal the deal for the Capitaks as they take the 1-0 series lead.

     

    Lineups:

    Carolina Hurricanes:

    Nino Niederreiter — Sebastian Aho — Justin Williams

    Micheal Ferland — Jordan Staal — Teuvo Teravainen

    Andrei Svechnikov — Jordan Martinook — Brock McGinn

    Greg McKegg — Lucas Wallmark — Warren Foegele

    Jaccob Slavin — Dougie Hamilton

    Brett Pesce — Justin Faulk

    Haydn Fleury — Trevor van Riemsdyk

    Petr Mrazek

    Curtis McElhinney

    Scratched: Saku Maenalanen, Jake Bean

    Injured: Calvin de Haan (upper body)

     

    Washington Capitals:

    Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson

    Carl Hagelin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie

    Jakub Vrana — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

    Andre Burakovsky — Nic Dowd — Chandler Stephenson

    John Carlson — Nick Jensen

    Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

    Brooks Orpik — Christian Djoos

    Braden Holtby

    Pheonix Copley

    Scratched: Jonas Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Ilya Samsonov

    Injured: Michal Kempny (torn left hamstring)

     

    First Period:

    Capitals Goal – 9:58 – Nicklas Backstrom (1) from John Carlson (1) and Brooks Orpik (1)

    Hurricanes Penalty – 12:32 – Justin Faulk 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Capitals PPG – 13:10 – Nicklas Backstrom (2) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (1) and John Carlson (2)

    Hurricanes Penalty – 16:31 – Micheal Ferland 2 minutes for Interference

    Capitals PPG – 18:05 – Alex Ovechkin (1) from Tom Wilson (1) and John Carlson (3)

     

    End of 1st – CAR – 0       WAS – 3

    Shots              10                09

    Faceoffs         13                09

    Hits               21                  18

    PP                 0/0                 2/2

     

    Second Period:

    Hurricanes Penalty – 1:46 – Andrei Svechnikov 2 minutes for Hooking

    Capitals Penalty – 4:07 – Bench (Alex Ovechkin) 2 minutes for Too Many Men

    Hurricanes Penalty – 13:05 – Justin Williams 2 minutes for Holding the Stick

     

    End of 2nd – CAR – 0        WAS – 3

    Shots               21                 13

    Faceoffs          23                 21

    Hits                 32                  27

    PP                   0/1                  2/4

     

    Third Period:

    Hurricanes Goal – 5:07 – Andrei Svechnikov (1) from Lucas Wallmark (1) and Dougie Hamilton (1)

    Hurricanes Goal – 7:26 – Andrei Svechnikov (2) from Lucas Wallmark (2) and Justin Faulk (1)

    Capitals Penalty – 11:14 – Jakub Vrana 2 minutes for Hooking

    Capitals Penalty – 16:29 – TJ Oshie 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Capitals ENG – 19:24 – Lars Eller (1) from unassisted

     

    End of 3rd – CAR – 2         WAS – 4

    Shots              29                   18

    Faceoffs        39                    28

    Hits               37                     35

    PP                 0/3                    2/4

     

    Next Up:

    Game Two – Capitals Leads Series 1-0

  • Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins – Round 1 – Game 1 Recap

    Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins – Round 1 – Game 1 Recap

    Game Recap:

     

     

    Lineups:

    Toronto:

    Andreas Johnsson – Auston Matthews – Kasperi Kapanen

    Mitch Marner – John Tavares – Zach Hyman

    Patrick Marleau – Nazem Kadri – William Nylander

    Connor Brown – Frederik Gauthier – Trevor Moore

     

    Morgan Rielly  – Ron Hainsey

    Jake Muzzin – Nikita Zaitsev

    Jake Gardiner – Travis Dermott

     

    Frederik Andersen

    Garrett Sparks

     

    Scratched: Calle Rosen, Tyler Ennis, Nic Petan

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back)

    Suspension: None

     

    Buffalo:

    Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak

    Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — Marcus Johansson

    Danton Heinen — Charlie Coyle — Chris Wagner

    David Backes — Joakim Nordstrom — Noel Acciari

     

    Zdeno Chara — Charlie McAvoy

    Brandon Carlo — Torey Krug

    Matt Grzelcyk — Kevan Miller

     

    Tuukka Rask

    Jaroslav Halak

    Scratched: Karson Kuhlman, Steven Kampfer, Connor Clifton

    Injuries: Sean Kuraly (shoulder) and John Moore (Upper-Body)

    Suspension: None

    GameDay:

    First Period:

    Toronto Penalty – 8:55 – William Nylander, 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Boston PP Goal – 9:31 – Patrice Bergeron (1) assisted by Brad Marchand (1) and Torey Krug (1)

    Toronto Goal – 16:44 – Mitchell Marner  (1) assisted by Jake Muzzin (1) and John Tavares (1)

    End of 1st – TOR – 1       BOS – 1

    Shots              10                8

    Faceoffs         11/21            10/21

    Hits               17                  14

    PP                 0/1                 1/1

    Second Period:

    Toronto Penalty – 2:16 – Kasperi Kapanen, 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Boston Penalty – 2:47 – Jake DeBrusk, 2 minutes for Tripping

    Toronto SH Goal – 2:47 – Mitchell Marner  (2) unassisted (Penalty Shot)

    Toronto Goal – 18:25 – William Nylander  (1) assisted by Nazem Kadri (1) and Patrick Marleau (1)

    End of 2nd – TOR- 3        TOR- 1

    Shots               25                 29

    Faceoffs        20/42            22/42

    Hits                 25                  21

    PP                   0/0                  1/2

    Third Period:

    Boston Penalty – 11:45 – Zdeno Chara, 2 minutes for Interference

    Toronto EN Goal – 18:41 – John Tavares  (1) unassisted

    End of 3rd – TOR – 4         BOS – 1

    Shots              33                   38

    Faceoffs      32/64             32/64

    Hits               33                     31

    PP                 0/1                    1/2

    Next Up:

    Toronto Maple Leafs (1-0) v. Boston Bruins (0-1) – Saturday, April 13th 2019

     

  • 2019 NHL Playoffs- Game 1 Review: Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Islanders

    2019 NHL Playoffs- Game 1 Review: Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Islanders

    Tonight, the NHL Playoffs kicked off with a spirited match up between two Metropolitan Division rivals. At the end of the night, the Islanders would take Game 1 in overtime, in front of a raucous crowd at Nassau Coliseum.

    The Islanders got off to a quick start when Tom Kuhnhackl skated in the zone and sent a beautiful wrist shot which beat Murray high to the glove side, just 33 seconds into the game. Unfortunately Matt Martin was slow coming back to the bench and was offsides on the play, nullifying the goal. However, about a minute later, Jordan Eberle would net a goal, that would count, and got the crowd back in the game.

    The lead wouldn’t last long, as Phil Kessel would notch his first of the playoffs. It came 4 minutes after the Eberle got the opening goal. Kessel beat Robin Lehner five hole in the slot, after Cizikas lost an edge in the neutral zone.

    After some great back and forth action between the two teams, the Penguins would find themselves on the penalty kill late in the first period. The Islanders would score a power play goal off the rush, giving them the lead heading into the intermission. The goal coming from Brock Nelson.

     

    At the start of the second period, the Islanders would get the early momentum, but could not capitalize with it, and after some great action that yielded no results, the Islanders would find themselves on the penalty kill. It would be Evgeny Malkin who would provide the power play goal for the Penguins. A great wrist shot that went off of Adam Pelech’s stick and over Lehner’s shoulder and in the net.

     

    In the third period, much like the second period, all of the action came at the back half of the period. It started when Erik Gudbranson and Anders Lee both went awkwardly into the boards at the 9 minute mark of the period. When the dust settled, Anders Lee earned a boarding penalty and Gudbranson went straight to the Penguins locker room. The Penguins would fail to score on the ensuing power play.

    3 minutes later, the Islanders would score the go ahead goal. Nick Leddy would take a shot from the point and it would knuckle past a screened Matt Murray, off the post and in. The Penguins then ramped it into high gear to try and tie the game, but were unsuccessful for a while because the Islanders defense was playing well. With about a minute thirty left in the game, the Penguins would pull their goalie, giving them the extra man. With their experience in the playoffs, they didn’t panic and Justin Shultz would net a goal from the point, that beat a screened Lehner.

     

    The Islanders had a chance to win the game off the rush before the end of the third. Josh Bailey would get a glorious chance in the slot that hit the post as time was expiring. This game would be the first playoff game to go to overtime.

    It would only take a little over 4 minutes to find a winner. Matthew Barzal would skate to the slot, stop and tried to beat Murray on the back hand. His shot hit the post and the rebound came right to Josh Bailey, who slotted it home to seal the victory for the Islanders.

     

    My 3 Stars of the Game

    Third Star: Phil Kessel (1g, 1a)

    Second Star: Jordan Eberle (1g, 1a)

    First Star: Josh Bailey (OTGWG)

     

    Boxscore

    https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/pit-vs-nyi/2019/04/10/2018030141#game=2018030141,game_state=final

     

    Game 2 of the series will be Friday night at 730p on NBCSN.

  • Gameday Recap: Nashville Predators vs. Dallas Stars (First Round: Game 1)

    Gameday Recap: Nashville Predators vs. Dallas Stars (First Round: Game 1)

     

    Game Recap:  In Game 1 of this Western Conference First Round Match-up between the Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars the first half of the first period would end up being a feel out process for both teams.  A strong showing would be shown during the contest however there would be a hard but clean hit by Nashville’s Brian Boyle to Dallas’ Jason Dickinson.  With that hit, Dickinson would have to go into the concussion protocol.  The rest of the first period would be a tough battle with both teams fighting strong for possession of the puck.  Roman Josi would score at the 12:12 mark in the period to give the Predators a 1-0 lead.

    In the second period, it would be a hard hitting period with good hits being thrown by both squads.  Midway through the period, Dickinson would return to the ice after the Boyle hit earlier in the contest.  Nashville would also spend a lot of this period trying to get shots off but were unsuccessful in making any of that happen.  Rinne would have a brilliant save to prevent the Stars from making it a 2-1 lead, with less than five minutes left in the period with Nick Bonino clearing the puck.  Look for both teams going into the third period to finish off strong as this has been a big defensive battle, despite the penalties that were taken in this period.

    When Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas to make it a tie game, he would become the youngest defenceman in franchise history to register a postseason goal.

    In the third period, it would be a slow start before Heiskanen would score his second goal in the game at the 6:10 mark to give the Stars their first lead in the game, leading 2-1.  A few minutes later, Mats Zuccarello would score his first postseason goal as a member of the Stars organization at the 10:39 mark.  Predators defenceman P.K. Subban would bring the game to within a goal with his goal at the 13:24 mark and then Mattias Janmark would get called for a holding penalty at the 15:08 mark to give Nashville a much needed chance to score on a critical power play.  Nashville would pull Rinne with five seconds left in the power play, but after several great chances to tie the game at 3 a piece, Nashville would fall to Dallas.

    The Dallas Stars would escape with the win, winning 3-2, and would take the home-ice advantage away from Nashville.  Nashville will look to even out the series on Saturday.  Game 2 will take place at 6 p.m., ET and I will have your full coverage of the contest.

     

    First Period:

     

    Dallas Penalty:  Mattias Janmark for Slashing —  2 min minor  —  8:51

     

    Nashville Goal:  Roman Josi (1) assisted by Ryan Ellis (1) and Nick Bonino (1)  —  12:12

     

    Nashville Penalty:  Brian Boyle for Hooking —  2 min minor  —  14:13

     

    End of 1st – DAL – 0       NSH – 1

    Shots              09                12

    Faceoffs         07                10

    Hits               06                  14

    PP                 0/1                 0/1

     

     

    Second Period:

     

    Nashville Penalty: Colton Sissons for Goaltender Interference —  2 min minor  —  3:18

     

    Dallas Penalty:  Ben Bishop for Embellishment (served by Mats Zuccarello) —  2 min minor  —  3:18

     

    Dallas Penalty:  John Klingberg for Roughing  —  2 min minor —  8:08

     

    Nashville Penalty:  Colton Sissons for Holding  —  2 min minor  —  11:10

     

    Dallas PPG:  Miro Heiskanen (1) unassisted  —  12:37

     

     

    Dallas Penalty:  Roman Polak for Tripping  —  2 min minor  —  15:30

     

    Nashville Penalty: Kyle Turris for Interference  —  2 min minor  —  17:16

     

     

    End of 2nd – DAL – 1       NSH – 1

    Shots              19                17

    Faceoffs         13               20

    Hits               11                  19

    PP                 1/3                 0/3

     

     

    Third Period:

     

    Dallas Goal:  Miro Heiskanen (2) assisted by John Klingberg (1)  —  6:10

     

     

    Dallas Goal:  Mats Zuccarello (1) assisted by Ben Lovejoy (1) and Jamie Benn (1)  —  10:39

     

     

    Nashville Goal:  P.K. Subban (1) assisted by Brian Boyle (1) and Mattias Ekholm (1)  —  13:24

     

    Dallas Penalty:  Mattias Janmark for Holding  —  2 min minor  —  15:08

     

    End of 3rd – DAL – 3       NSH – 2

    Shots              29                32

    Faceoffs         00                00

    Hits               14                  00

    PP                 1/3                 0/4

     

     

    Nashville Predators Lines and Defensive Pairings:

    Filip Forsberg-Ryan Johansen-Viktor Arvidsson

    Mikael Granlund-Kyle Turris-Craig Smith

    Colton Sissons-Nick Bonino-Austin Watson

    Brian Boyle-Calle Jarnkrok-Wayne Simmonds

    Roman Josi-Ryan Ellis

    Mattias Ekholm-P.K. Subban

    Dan Hamhuis-Dante Fabbro

    Pekka Rinne

    Juusa Saros

    Injured: Rocco Grimaldi (upper body)

    Scratched: Matt Irwin, Yannick Weber, Rem Pitlick, Zac Rinaldo, Miikka Salomaki, Cody McLeod, Frederick Gaudreau, Niclas Westerholm

     

    Dallas Stars Lines and Defensive Pairings:

    Jason Dickinson-Tyler Seguin-Alexander Radulov

    Jamie Benn-Roope Hintz-Mats Zuccarello

    Andrew Cogliano-Radek Faksa-Blake Comeau

    Mattias Janmark-Justin Dowling-Tyler Pitlick

    Esa Lindell-John Klingberg

    Miro Heiskanen-Roman Polak

    Taylor Fedun-Ben Lovejoy

    Ben Bishop

    Anton Khudobin

    Injuries: Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Brett Ritchie (hand)

    Scratched: Julius Honka, Jason Spezza, Jamie Oleksiak, Valeri Nichushkin

  • Gameday Recap- St. Blues – Winnipeg Jets (First Round – Game 1)

    Gameday Recap- St. Blues – Winnipeg Jets (First Round – Game 1)

    The Blues managed to pull out a 2-1 thriller after being down 1-0 going into the third period. The Jets took an early lead in the first period off a laser shot by Patrick Laine, who continues to torch the Blues. Even being down only 1-0, it was clear that the Jets had the upper hand – they were seemingly knocking the Blues off the puck every time they touched it, or the Blues fell victim to their own nerves. Robert Thomas, especially was quite jittery, bumbling several passes and falling down without any contact.

    All that changed in the third period. The Blues started funneling more pucks to the net and creating traffic. David Perron tied the game at 1, and later in the third, Tyler Bozak buried a Pat Maroon feed to take a 2-1 lead – a lead the Blues would not relinquish.

    In the end, the game turned out to look pretty even, with face-off percentage, shots, blocks and power play (in)efficiency largely equal between the two teams. The Blues, however, clearly looked like the better team in the third period – so much so that if that style of play and dominance continues, this will be a very short series.

    I suspect it will not, but given that the Jets were imposing their style of play the whole game and the Blues seemed content to simply ‘feel out’ the Jets to better plan for subsequent games, this was an ugly loss for Winnipeg.

    Look for more Laine in Game 2, with more offensive contributions from the Blues’ top line. Game 2 is Friday at 9:30 Eastern time.