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  • ECF Game 2 – Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    ECF Game 2 – Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    Game 2 – BOS Leads 1-0

     

    Game Recap:

    Coming into Game 2 this afternoon the Carolina Hurricanes look to tie the series at one and take away the home ice advantage from the Boston Bruins. The first half of the period saw the tempo change hands between the two teams, and we alao saw a Hurricanes powerplay that did not generate much offense. Then in the last five minutes of the period Matt Grzelcyk would get one through Petr Mrazek and just over the goal line to score the first goal of the game. The Bruins would not be done there as they would get a late powerplay opportunity and would need only six seconds as Jake DeBrusk would knock in her own rebound and give the Bruins a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.

     

    Going into the second period the Bruins would get themselves into penalty trouble as Patrice Bergeron would take a tripping penalty, but the Hurricanes would squander their opportunity and moments later the Bruins would capitalize as Marcus Johansson would exhibit great patience as he feeds Connor Clifton with the pass for Clifton to bury the puck into a wide open net for his first career playoff goal. Then late in the second period Matt Grzelcyk would strike again, this time on the powerplay to give the Bruins a 4-0 lead going into the second intermission.

     

    Going into the third period the Hurricanes would stick with Petr Mrazek between the pipes, but the Bruins would continue their assault as David Backes would score 70 seconds into the period. Then after killing off their second Patrice Bergeron tripping penalty of the game, it would be Bergeron out of the box and setting up Danton Heinen to make it a commanding 6-0 lead. The Hurricanes would eventually end Tuukka Rask’s shutout bid when Justin Williams would deflect a Justin Faulk poimt shot to make it 6-1. Then the Hurricanes would build on that as they would catch Tuukka Rask cheating to play the puck as he would accidently shoot the puck into Teuvo Teravainen who would shoot it into the wide open net to make it 6-2, but it would be to little too late as the Bruins take Game 2 and the 2-0 series lead.

     

    Lineups:

    Carolina Hurricanes:

    Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho – Teuvo Teravainen

    Nino Niederreiter — Jordan Staal — Justin Williams

    Warren Foegele – Lucas Wallmark — Brock McGinn

    Jordan Martinook — Greg McKegg — Micheal Ferland

    Jaccob Slavin — Dougie Hamilton

    Brett Pesce — Justin Faulk

    Haydn Fleury — Calvin de Haan

    Petr Mrazek

    Curtis McElhinney

    Scratched: Jake Bean, Patrick Brown

    Injured: Saku Maenalanen (upper body), Trevor van Riemsdyk (left shoulder)

     

    Boston Bruins:

    Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak

    Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — David Backes

    Marcus Johansson — Charlie Coyle — Danton Heinen

    Joakim Nordstrom — Sean Kuraly — Chris Wagner

    Zdeno Chara — Charlie McAvoy

    Torey Krug — Brandon Carlo

    Matt Grzelcyk — Connor Clifton

    Tuukka Rask

    Jaroslav Halak

    Scratched: Steven Kampfer, Karson Kuhlman, John Moore

    Injured: Kevan Miller (lower body), Noel Acciari (upper body)

     

    First Period:

    Bruins Penalty – 11:56 – Zdeno Chara 2 minutes for Tripping

    Bruins Goal – 15:22 – Matt Grzelcyk (2) from Marcus Johansson (5) and Charlie Coyle (4)

    Hurricanes Penalty – 18:26 – Justin Williams 2 minutes for Tripping

    Bruins PPG – 18:32 – Jake DeBrusk (3) from David Pastrnak (6) and Torey Krug (8)

     

    End of 1st – CAR – 0       BOS – 2

    Shots              06                11

    Faceoffs         08                13

    Hits               14                  20

    PP                 0/1                 1/1

     

    Second Period:

    Bruins Penalty – 1:09 – Patric Bergeron 2 minutes for Tripping

    Bruins Goal – 3:46 – Connor Clifton (1) from Marcus Johansson (6) and Danton Heinen (5)

    Bruins Penalty – 13:36 – Chris Wagner 2 minutes for Holding

    Hurricanes Penalty – 16:07 – Justin Williams 2 minutes for Holding

    Bruins PPG – 17:56 – Matt Grzelcyk (3) from Charlie Coyle (5) and Torey Krug (9)

     

    End of 2nd – CAR – 0        BOS – 4

    Shots               17                 21

    Faceoffs          18                 21

    Hits                 26                  27

    PP                   0/3                  2/2

     

    Third Period:

    Bruins Goal – 1:10 – David Backes (2) from David Krejci (8) and Torey Krug (10)

    Bruins Penalty – 2:22 – Patrice Bergeron 2 minutes for Tripping

    Bruins Goal – 4:32 – Danton Heinen (2) from Patrice Bergeron (4) and Charlie Coyle (6)

    Hurricanes Goal – 11:17 – Justin Williams (4) from Justin Faulk (6) and Sebastian Aho (6)

    Hurricanes Goal – 17:32 – Teuvo Teravainen (7) from unassisted

     

    End of 3rd – CAR – 2         BOS – 6

    Shots              23                   25

    Faceoffs        22                    31

    Hits               27                     35

    PP                 0/4                    2/2

     

    Next Up:

    Game 3  – Boston Leads 2-0

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks – Round 3 – Game 1 Recap

    St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks – Round 3 – Game 1 Recap

    Game Recap:

    The Sharks opened the game with putting it all on the table as Logan Couture put the Sharks on board early. Schwartz would reply later on in the 3rd tying the game at one. But the Sharks would reply again on the powerplay thanks to the Captain Joe Pavelski. Making the score 2-1 Sharks after one.

    The 2nd period would be another bad one for the St. Louis Blues. The Sharks would score 3 more goals to the Blues 1 and then the Blues would take a few more penalties. The same seemed so much out of reach.

    The 3rd period would be a swapping of goals between the Blues and Sharks. A brawl would ensue at the end of the game and a lot of penalties. Expect the Blue to come out with a big game 2.

    Lineups:

    St. Louis

    Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko

    Sammy Blais – Ryan O’Reilly – David Perron

    Pat Maroon – Tyler Bozak – Christian Thomas

    Ivan Barbashev – Oskar Sundqvist – Alex Steen

     

    Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester – Colton Parayko

    Vince Dunn – Robert Bortuzzo

     

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Carl Gunnarsson (Upper Body)

     

    San Jose

    Scratched:  None

    Injuries: Radek Simek

     

    GameDay:

    First Period:

    San Jose Goal – 3:31 – Logan Couture (10) assisted by Gustav Nyquist (8) and Timo Meier (8)

    St.Louis Goal – 9:13 – Jaden Schwartz (9) assisted by Vladimir Tarasenko (1) and Brayden Schenn (4)

    St. Louis Penalty – 9:36 – Jay Bouwmeester, 2 minutes for Interference

    San Jose PP Goal – 11:24 – Joe Pavelski (4) assisted by Brent Burns (10) and Erik Karlsson (13)

    St. Louis Penalty – 10:33 – Colton Paryako, 2 minutes for Slashing

    End of 1st – STL – 1      SJS – 2

    Shots              10              9

    Faceoffs        11/27          16/27

    Hits                22                13

    PP                 0/1                 1/2

    Second Period:

    St. Louis Penalty – 2:57 – Tyler Bozak, 2 minutes for Hooking

    San Jose Goal – 7:41 – Kevin Labanc (4) assisted by Joe Thornton (5)

    St. Louis Goal – 8:58 – Ryan O’Reilly (3) assisted by Logan Couture (6)

    San Jose Goal – 10:24 – Timo Meier (4) assisted by Joe Thornton (5)

    San Jose Penalty – 13:23 – Melker Karlsson, 2 minutes for Delay of Game

    San Jose Goal – 17:34 – Timo Meier (5) assisted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic (4) and Gustav Nyquist

    End of 2nd – STL – 2      SJS – 5

    Shots               19                20

    Faceoffs        21/51           30/51

    Hits                35                  25

    PP                   0/1                  1/3

    Third Period:

    St. Louis Goal – 13:01 – Tyler Bozak (3) assisted by Pat Maroon (2) and Vince Dunn (5)

    San Jose Goal – 17:39 – Logan Couture (11) assisted by Joe Pavelski (4) and Evander Kane (6)

    St. Louis Penalty – 17:55 – Robert Bortuzzo, 5 minutes for Fighting

    San Jose Penalty – 17:55 – Barclay Goodrow, 5 minutes for Fighting

    St. Louis Penalty – 17:55 – Robert Bertuzzo, 2 minutes for Roughing

    San Jose Penalty – 17:55 – Brandon Dillion, 2 minutes for Roughing

    St. Louis Penalty – 17:55 – Robert Bortuzzo, Game Misconduct

    San Jose Penalty – 17:55 – Barclay Goodrow, Game Misconduct

    End of 3rd – STL – 3         SJS- 6

    Shots              31                25

    Faceoffs      31/73         42/73

    Hits              41                 35

    PP                 0/1                1/4

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • 2019 IIHF World Championships: Day 2 Recap

    2019 IIHF World Championships: Day 2 Recap

    Earlier today, in Day 2 of the IIHF World Championships, there were six games on the schedule.

     

    Steel Arena (Košice):

    Denmark 5, France 4 (SO)
    Germany 3, Great Britain 1
    Slovakia 4, Finland 2

    Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava):

    Switzerland 9, Italy 0
    Latvia 5, Austria 2
    Czech Republic 7, Norway 2

    To start off in Group A action earlier today, the games taking place in Košice, Denmark would defeat France in a shootout with a 5-4 win.

     

     
    Denmark’s Frederik Storm would have a three-point performance, including the game-winner in the shootout frame to give Denmark their first win in the tournament.  Denmark would come back from a two goal deficit midway through the second period to get the win.  There would be a lot of back and forth action throughout the contest and for team Denmark, Lars Eller would score a goal in the contest as well as a goal in the shootout frame.

     

    Denmark will look to win their second game in the tournament when they face off against Germany tomorrow and the French team will look to get their first win when they face off against the United States squad, coming off a 4-1 loss to the host Slovakian team, tomorrow.

     

    In the second game from Košice, Germany would go on to defeat the Great Britain squad with a 3-1 win.

     

     

    This game would mark the first time that the Britain squad would be in the top tier since 1994, however things would stay the same as they would fall.  The last time Great Britain got a win in the top tier at the IIHF Worlds was back in 1962 with a 7-5 win over Finland.

     

    For the contest, Moritz Seider, Yasin Ehliz, and Leon Draisaitl would net goals for the German team and the lone goal for Great Britain would come from Mike Hammond.

     

    Next up for the German team is Denmark when these two teams face off and Great Britain takes on Canada tomorrow.

     

    In the final contest in Košice for the day, Finland would move to 2-0-0-0 in the tournament with a 4-2 win over the host Slovakian team.


    The story thus far two days into the tournament is Kaapo Kakko.  Kakko thus far has recorded five goals in two games, three alone in today’s contest.  Although he has had two of his five on empty-netters, the other two have been fantastic goals.  There would be a high energy coming all contest long from both sides.

    Finland looks to notch their third win in the tournament on Monday when they face off against a United States squad, who faces off tomorrow against France.

    The host Slovakian team faces off against Team Canada, who faces off against Great Britain tomorrow, on Monday.

     

    Upcoming games from Košice:

    Sunday, May 12:

    United States v. France
    Denmark v. Germany
    Great Britain v. Canada

    Monday, May 13:

    United States v. Finland
    Slovakia v. Canada

     

    In action from Bratislava, the Switzerland team would demolish the team from Italy with a 9-0 win.

     

    In the contest, the Switzerland team would jump out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period.  Kevin Fiala would net a hat trick with Nico Hischier having a three point game of his own with one goal and two assists.

    Throughout the contest, the Italian team never had a chance as they would be outplayed on all aspects of the ice.

    Switzerland would go on to have a 61 shots on goal performance whereas the Italian squad would only have 19 shots on goal.

    Italy would have 4 penalties called on them and the Swiss team only had one penalty.

     

    Switzerland faces off against the Latvian squad and Italy faces off against Sweden.  Both of those contests take place tomorrow in Bratislava.

     

    In the second contest from Bratislava, the Latvian squad would pull away from Austria with a 5-2 win.

     

    The contest would be close for the first two periods before Latvia would put on a scoring and overall performance clinic in the third period.  Latvia would score three goals in the span of eight minutes to give Latvia the 4-1 advantage.  Latvia’s Lauris Darzins would score what would be the eventual game winner.

    Next up for both teams is Latvia taking on Switzerland and Austria facing Russia.  Both of those contests take place tomorrow.

     

    In the final contest for the day from Bratislava, Czech Republic would crush the Norwegian squad with a 7-2 win.

    The Czech team would have two goals and an assist each from Filip Hronek and Michael Frolik as they would take down Norway.  Dominik Kubalik would have a three point performance of his own with a goal and two assists in the contest.

     

    Norway would be scratching and clawing to find their way to get in the contest all game long but there would be no answers.

     

    Norway will face Sweden on Monday and the Czech Republic team will face off against Russia on Monday.

     

    Upcoming games in Bratislava:

     

    Sunday, May 12:

    Russia v. Austria
    Italy v. Sweden
    Latvia v. Switzerland

     

    Monday, May 13:

    Russia v. Czech Republic
    Norway v. Sweden

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • The Xperience – Avengers: Endgame Review *SPOILERS*

    The Xperience – Avengers: Endgame Review *SPOILERS*

    Bringing the entertainment to you, it’s The Xperience!!

     

    Audio Version:

     

     
    On the latest episode of The Xperience we do a full on SPOILER FILLED review of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which came out in theaters on April 26th, 2019.

     

    Michael is joined by his friend Sasha Kaplan as they discuss the film in all of it’s Spoiler glory, and what could be now that Endgame has come and gone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

     

    Also this episode contains minor foul language and SPOILERS about the film.

     

    This episode was recorded on Saturday May 11th, 2019.

    Special Thanks to Eyeshine for “Paper Hearts” as our Opening Music.

    Have a convention that you want The Xperience to cover? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see what we can do!

  • Western Conference Finals Preview – St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

    Western Conference Finals Preview – St. Louis Blues v. San Jose Sharks

    After a wild seven game series with the Dallas Stars, the Blues emerged victorious. Saturday, they continue their inexorable march to the Cup against the San Jose Sharks. Before breaking down the series, I’ll have to admit (though often considered a sacrilegious act to hockey fans), that I am a baseball fan and ardent supporter of the St. Louis Cardinals. As such, I noticed a quite interesting parallel between the World Series of 2011 against a Dallas-based team and the second round series with the Stars. Each series had game winners in this order: STL, DAL, STL, DAL, DAL, STL, STL.

    So, instead of recalling the vituperative memories of the last time the Blues and Sharks played in the playoffs, let’s focus on the last time the STL and SF baseball teams played for a premonition:

    Oh. Right.

    Anyway, back to the better sport – the Blues and Sharks finished the regular season with similar point totals, though the Sharks finished two points ahead with 101 and will start the series at home.

    The two teams met three times during the season, with the Blues going 1-1-1, including a 4-0 win and 4-0 loss in November (which, as we’ve seen before, does not really matter because that was before the team learned how to play hockey), as well as a 3-2 overtime loss, in a game without Vladimir Tarasenko.

    Like with any series, there are a number of factors that could be ‘keys to the series’, but quite honestly, there really is only one important one – Martin Jones. Jones is about as bad as Ben Bishop is good, so if the Blues cannot win this series, and score a fair amount of goals, it is completely on them. Though San Jose sports Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson on defense, neither is particularly adept at defense these days. Since Burns, Karlsson, Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl, and Logan Couture are quite skillful offensively, the Blues simply need to play as strong of a game defensively as they did in game 7 against Dallas, and bide their time until they get their offensive chances.

    To put how mediocre Jones is in perspective, let’s compare him to the much maligned Jake Allen, who absolutely was not good for the Blues during the season and a major reason for their stodgy start to the here. According to NaturalStatTrick, Martin Jones has a save percentage of .896, while Allen’s is .905. Allen has a GSAA of -5.91, while Jones has an astounding -22.87. GSAA is a metric that basically measures goals saved above average. While -5.91 isn’t great, it’s much better than -22. The only part where Jones beats Allen is in High Danger Save Percentage, with a paltry .806 to .796 edge.

    Of course more goes into an evaluation of a goalie than simply his raw stats, most notably team defense, but at minimum we can conclude that San Jose is not good at keeping the puck out of their own net, and Jones himself is not good when facing high danger shots. If the Blues do not score against Jones, the last thing anyone should be doing is valorizing him, because in all likelihood it will be the shooters that are taking bad shots, as opposed to Jones making great and timely saves.

    That’s basically it. Score goals. Just score goals. Play solid defense. And, above all else, don’t throw the puck in your own net:

    Blues in 6.

  • 2019 IIHF World Championships: Day 1 Recap

    2019 IIHF World Championships: Day 1 Recap

    Yesterday the 2019 IIHF World Championships kicked off action with four games taking place.

     

    Steel Arena (Košice):

    Finland 3, Canada 1
    Slovakia 4, United States 1

     

    Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava):

    Russia 5, Norway 2
    Czech Republic 5, Sweden 2

     

    In the first contest taking place in Košice yesterday, Team Finland would knock off Team Canada with a 3-1 win.

     

    Finland’s Kaapo Kakko would open up the scoring at the 6:47 mark in the first period and Team Canada’s Jonathan Marchessault would score the lone goal for Team Canada with his goal at the 8:03 mark in the period with assists coming from Mark Stone and Shea Theodore.

     

    After a scoreless second period, Finland’s Arttu Ilomaki would score at the 2:36 mark of the third period before Kakko would score his second goal in the contest for the Finnish squad with 34 seconds left in the period.  Finland takes on Slovakia tomorrow and Canada looks to get their first win in the tournament when they take on Great Britain on Sunday.

     

    In the second contest taking place in Košice, Slovakia would go on to crush the United States squad with a 4-1 win.

     

     

    Four different skaters would net goals for Slovakia with Alex DeBrincat netting the only goal for the United States, with DeBrincat’s goal coming in the first period at the 12:05 mark with Patrick Kane and Jack Eichel netting the assists on the goal.

     

    Slovakia would open up the scoring in the contest with Matus Sukel’s goal at the 4:02 mark in the first period.  Later on in the second period, Erik Cernak would score at the 1:52 mark with Tomas Tatar’s goal at the 4:58 mark to give Slovakia a commanding 3-1 lead going into the third period.

     

    Slovakia would score their fourth and final goal in the contest with Michal Kristof’s goal at the 15:54 mark in the third period.

    Slovakia looks to defeat Finland when they face off tomorrow and the United States will look to get their first win in the tournament when they take on Team France on Sunday.

     

     

    In the first contest taking place in Bratislava, Team Russia would cruise past the Norwegian team with a 5-2 win.

     

    The Russian team would strike five times in the contest before the Norwegian team would even respond.

     

    Team Russia’s scorers included Yevgeni Dadonov, who scored twice, Artem Anisimov, Nikita Kucherov, and Nikita Gusev all scored with Thomas Valkvae and Jonas Holos scoring for Norway.

     

    Team Russia looks to 2-0 in the tournament when the Russian team faces off against Team Austria on Sunday.  Team Norway looks to get their first win they face off against the Czech Republic tomorrow.

     

     

    In the second contest taking place in Bratislava, the Czech Republic would take down the Swedish team with a 5-2 win.

     

     

    On the Czech Republic side, Jakub Vrana would score twice, with other goals coming from Dominik Kubalik, Michael Frolik, and Jan Kovar.  Patric Hornqvist and Oskar Lindblom would score for Sweden but it would not be enough.

    Sweden looks to get their first win in the tournament when the Swedes take on Team Italy on Sunday and Czech Republic faces off against Team Norway tomorrow.

     

     

    Upcoming schedule of games:

     

    Steel Arena (Košice):

     

    Saturday, May 11:

    Denmark v. France
    Germany v. Great Britain
    Slovakia v. Finland

    Sunday, May 12:

    United States v. France
    Denmark v. Germany
    Great Britain v. Canada

     

    Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava):

     

    Saturday, May 11:

    Switzerland v. Italy
    Latvia v. Austria
    Norway v. Czech Republic

     

    Sunday, May 12:

    Russia v. Austria
    Italy v. Sweden
    Latvia v. Switzerland

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • ECF Game 1 – Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    ECF Game 1 – Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    Game 1

     

    Game Recap:

    Shipping off to Boston for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals the Bruins play host to the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time since the 2009 Semi Finals, and they would also be doing it without the services of star defenseman Charlie McAvoy as he is serving a one game suspension stemming from his illegal hit to the head of Josh Anderson in Game 7 against the Columbus Blue Jackets a few nights ago. However, no McAvoy, no problem as his replacement in the lineup Steven Kampfer would step up early as he would bury his first career playoff goal off of a Marcus Johansson pass after a spectacular defensive play to create the offensive rush leading to the Kampfer goal. Then on the next shift Sean Kuraly would throw a retaliatory punch at Brock McGinn to get a two minute roughing penalty, but the Hurricanes would only need three seconds as Andrei Svechnikov would get the puck right off the faceoff and throw it on net for a Sebastian Aho redirect past Tuukka Rask to tie the game at one a piece.

     

    Going into the second period both teams would remain tied at one, but halfway through the period after the Hurricanes would get their third powerplay opportunity of the game, and fail to convert on it, it would be Greg McKegg who would drive down the wing and wrist the puck past Tuukka Rask to give the Hurricanes the 2-1 lead. However, the goal was not called a goal right away on the ice as the referee did not signal that is was a goal initially as there was also a collision that happened in the crease as well due to Steven Kampfer also cross checking McKegg into Rask after being burned by McKegg when going down the wing towards the net, but the war room in Toronto called in the goal as the replays showed the puck going into the net prior to the collision taking place.

     

    In the third period the Hurricanes would unravel a little bit in the first three minutes of the period as they would take two really bad penalties that would come to cost them as on the first powerplay opportunity of the period for the Bruins it would be Marcus Johansson knocking in a loose puck in the slot to tie the game at two a piece, then 28 seconds later on another powerplay the Bruins would score again as Patrice Bergeron would score his 6th of the playoffs to give the Bruins the 3-2 lead before the three minute mark of the third period. Then in the final three minutes of the game the Bruins would score two goals in a span of 11 seconds starting off with an empty net goal, and then a goal on a breakaway by Chris Wagner as the Bruins would put this game out of reach to win Game 1 5-2.

     

    Lineups:

    Carolina Hurricanes:

    Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho — Teuvo Teravainen

    Nino Niederreiter — Jordan Staal — Justin Williams

    Warren Foegele – Lucas Wallmark — Brock McGinn

    Jordan Martinook — Greg McKegg — Micheal Ferland

    Jaccob Slavin — Dougie Hamilton

    Brett Pesce — Justin Faulk

    Haydn Fleury — Calvin de Haan

    Petr Mrazek

    Curtis McElhinney

    Injured: Saku Maenalanen (upper body), Trevor van Riemsdyk (left shoulder)

    Scratched: Jake Bean, Patrick Brown

     

    Boston Bruins:

    Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak

    Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — David Backes

    Marcus Johansson — Charlie Coyle — Danton Heinen

    Joakim Nordstrom — Sean Kuraly — Chris Wagner

    Zdeno Chara — Connor Clifton

    Torey Krug — Brandon Carlo

    Matt Grzelcyk — Steven Kampfer

    Tuukka Rask

    Jaroslav Halak

    Scratched: Zane McIntyre, Karson Kuhlman, John Moore

    Injured: Kevan Miller (lower body), Noel Acciari (upper body)

    Suspended: Charlie McAvoy

     

    First Period:

    Bruins Goal – 2:55 – Steven Kampfer (1) from Marcus Johansson (4)

    Bruins Penalty – 3:39 – Sean Kuraly 2 minutes for Roughing

    Hurricanes PPG – 3:42 – Sebastian Aho (5) from Andrei Svechnikov (2) and Jordan Staal (6)

    Bruins Penalty – 14:37 – Charlie Coyle 2 minutes for Hooking

    Hurricanes Penalty – 16:55 – Nino Niederreiter 2 minutes for Slashing

     

    End of 1st – CAR – 1       BOS – 1

    Shots              10                08

    Faceoffs         13                09

    Hits               09                  07

    PP                 1/2                 0/1

     

    Second Period:

    Bruins Penalty – 4:08 – Sean Kuraly 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Hurricanes Goal – 9:18 – Greg McKegg (2) from Jordan Martinook (4) and Micheal Ferland (1)

    Hurricanes Penalty – 16:56 – Micheal Ferland 2 minutes for Interference

     

    End of 2nd – CAR – 2        BOS – 1

    Shots               25                 18

    Faceoffs          24                 18

    Hits                 19                  17

    PP                   1/3                  0/2

     

    Third Period:

    Hurricanes Penalty – :49 – Jordan Staal 2 minutes for Boarding

    Bruins PPG – 2:26 – Marcus Johansson (3) from Brad Marchand (9) and David Krejci (7)

    Hurricanes Penalty – 2:41 – Dougie Hamilton 2 minutes for Roughing

    Bruins PPG – 2:54 – Patrice Bergeron (6) from Brad Marchand (10) and Jake DeBrusk (4)

    Hurricanes Penalty – 5:29 – Dougie Hamilton 2 minutes for Interference

    Bruins ENG – 17:47 – Charlie Coyle (6) from Brandon Carlo (2) and Sean Kuraly (2)

    Bruins Goal – 17:58 – Chris Wagner (1) from unassisted

     

    End of 3rd – CAR – 2         BOS – 5

    Shots              30                   28

    Faceoffs        31                    28

    Hits               27                     25

    PP                 1/3                    2/5

     

    Next Up:

    Game 2 – Sunday at 3p EST – BOS Leads Series 1-0

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • Eastern Conference Finals Preview – Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    Eastern Conference Finals Preview – Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

    Eastern Conference Finals

    Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

     

    Regular Season Series:

    CAR 1-0-1 (Playoffs 8-3)

    BOS 2-1-0 (Playoffs 8-5)

     

    How they got here:

    Carolina defeated the Washington Capitals 4-3 in the first round, and then swept the New York Islanders 4-0 in the second round.

     

    Boston defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in the first round, and then defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 in the second round.

     

    A Deeper Look at the Series:

    Offense:

    For the Carolina Hurricanes this postseason they had a lot of players playing in the playoffs for the first time in their careers, and outside of the veteran leadership of Jordan Staal and Justin Williams they have also received contributions from their young stars of Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho. The biggest surprise this season has been the rise of rookie forward Warren Foegele who has recorded 5 goals and 4 assists for 9 points in the postseason so far.

     

    For the veteran Boston Bruins they have received contributions from all of their top players including Brad Marchand who leads the way with 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points this postseason. However, despite their contributions this postseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets last round showed how you can keep the top players of the Bruins quite for an extended amout of time throughout the series. Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets they faltered near the end and the likes of Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak would take over and lead the Bruins back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

     

    Defense:

    On defense for the Hurricanes they have been lead quietly by Jaccob Slavin who leads the team in points with 11 this postseason, but all 11 points have been assists for Slavin and it has shown as he has been a jolt for kick startig the Hurricanes offense. The Hurricanes have also gained contributions from Dougie Hamilton, Justin Faulk and Brett Pesce who combined have 19 points (4 goals and 15 assists) this postseason. With these four players firing on all cylinders, it makes the Hurricanes defense a dangerous one to contain in regards to moving the play up the ice and into the offensive zone.

     

    The Bruins major contributions offensively have come from Torey Krug (1 goal and 8 points) and Charlie McAvoy (1 goal and 6 points) from the blueline, but their overall core which is lead by captain Zdeno Chara has been solid throughout the majority of these playoffs. However, going into Game 1 the Bruins will be without McAvoy who will be serving a ome game suspension for his hit to the head of Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson in Game 7 last round, so the Bruins are going to need to step up in his absence for Game 1.

     

    Goaltending:

    For the Hurricanes they have relied on both of their horses from the regular season in Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney. Mrazek, who is the team’s number one goaltender has a 5-3 record with a 2.22 GAA and a .913 save percentage, while McElhinney has a 3-0 record with a 1.56 GAA and a .947 save percentage since coming in when Mrazek went down with a lower body injury. The Hurricanes hope to have Mrazek between the pipes for Game 1, but McElhinney is ready to answer the call when needed.

     

    For the Bruins they have their stalwart Tuukka Rask who in these playoffs have an 8-5 record with a 2.02 GAA and a .938 save percentage as he has been the backbone for the Bruins this postseason.

     

    Goaltending will be one of the biggest keys this series, and could also be the determining factor.

     

    Special Teams:

    CAR – PP 17.8%     PK 81.6%

    BOS – PP 25.9%     PK 79.9%

     

    For special teams this could be considered a wash as both teams are on the opposite end of the spectrum in regards to powerplay and penalty kill. During the regular season the Bruins had a better powerplay, but on the penalty kill the Hurricanes were the better team. One edge I would give to the Hurricanes would be their penalty kill as seeing it in person, against the Bruins for Hartford Whalers Night, they utilize their young, fast players along with their grizzled defenders to kill penalties, and with players like Teravainen and Aho on the kill that can score shorthanded, that can give the Hurricanes a slight edge.

     

    Prediction: CAR in 6

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • Game Recap-Round 2: Game 7 Colorado Avalanche v.s San Jose Sharks

    Game Recap-Round 2: Game 7 Colorado Avalanche v.s San Jose Sharks

    Game Recap:

    Game 7, can’t get any better than that right? Tonight’s game between the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks would decide who will face the St. Louis Blues for the right to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski would make his return after missing time from a concussion off a faceoff play in last rounds game 7 against the Golden Knights. He would participate in warm-ups and was determined to be able to play in tonight’s game. Joe Pavelski played a big role in the first period as he got the first goal of the game and set up the second goal by Tomas Hertl on a beautiful passing sequence. Mikko Rantanen would get the Avalanche within one. After the first period, San Jose would lead 2-1.

    In the second period, Jonas Donskoi would add to the Sharks lead at the 12:27 mark and score his first of the playoffs. Going into the third and final period, the San Jose Sharks would lead the game 3-1.

    Colorado in the third period would get within one goal fifty-one seconds into the period as Tyson Jost would put the puck in the back of the net on his backhand. However, Colorado wouldn’t score again and the San Jose Sharks were the victors by a final score of 3-2. The San Jose Sharks will now play the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Finals.

     

    Line Ups:

    Colorado Avalanche

    San Jose Sharks

     

    First Period Highlights:

     

    Second Period Highlights:

     

    Third Period Highlights:

     

    Final Stats:  COL-2  SJ-3

    Shots:             29        27

    Hits:               27        31

    Face Offs:     38%     62%

    Power Play:  0/3       0/3

     

    Next Up: San Jose Sharks v.s St. Louis Blues: Western Conference Finals

    Game 1- Saturday May 11th, 2019 @ 8pm EST

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

  • Round 2 Game 7 – Dallas Stars v. St. Louis Blues

    Round 2 Game 7 – Dallas Stars v. St. Louis Blues

    Dallas Stars v. St. Louis Blues

    Game 7 – Series Tied 3-3

     

    Game Recap:

    Heading back to St. Louis after tying the series at three a piece the Blues look to close out the Dallas Stars in Game 7 at home, and to start the game the Blues would control the tempo of the game. However, it would be the Stars who would be doing the bulk of the shooting in the period, but it would be the Blues striking first as Vince Dunn would let a blast go that would get past a screened Ben Bishop to make it 1-0. Then the Stars would be the beneficiaries of a lucky bounce as a Blues pass behind the net and hit off of the referee’s foot and to the front of the net where Mats Zuccarello would get the puck and wrist it past a confused Jordan Binnington to tie the game at one to end the first period.

     

    In the second period it would be all St. Louis as the Blues would control the tempo of the game for the majority of the second period that saw them outshoot Dallas 18-1. Also the Blues would draw two penalties against the Stars, but Dallas would play a very tight penalty kill that would prevent the Blues from getting any quality scoring chances.

     

    Going into the third period the Blues would continue playing with the momentum and hem the Stars in their own zone, but Dallas have a couple good shifts against the Blues but could only muster 3 shots the entire period compared to the Blues 13 shots. Neither team would score thus forcing overtime.

     

    In the first overtime period both teams would generate chances on net but both Ben Bishop and Jordan Binnington would stand tall in their respective nets.

     

    Going into double overtime the Dallas Stars would start strong and come close on a Jamie Benn wrap around, but could not get it in the net. Then Robert Thomas would drive the net and ring the pick off the post then would take a fortunate bounce off of Bishop’s back and land in the crease for Pat Maroon to tap in to win the game and the series for the Blues as they head to the Western Conference Finals.

     

    Lineups:

    Dallas Stars:

    Jason Dickinson — Tyler Seguin — Mats Zuccarello

    Jamie Benn — Roope Hintz — Alexander Radulov

    Andrew Cogliano — Radek Faksa — Blake Comeau

    Brett Ritchie — Justin Dowling — Jason Spezza

    Esa Lindell — John Klingberg

    Miro Heiskanen — Roman Polak

    Taylor Fedun — Ben Lovejoy

    Ben Bishop

    Anton Khudobin

    Scratched: Valeri Nichushkin, Tyler Pitlick, Gavin Bayreuther, Dillon Heatherington, Landon Bow, Mattias Janmark

    Injured: Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Jamie Oleksiak (lower body), Joel Hanley (upper body)

     

    St. Louis Blues:

    Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Tarasenko

    Sammy Blais — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

    Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas

    Ivan Barbashev — Oskar Sundqvist — Alexander Steen

    Joel Edmundson — Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

    Vince Dunn — Carl Gunnarsson

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

    Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Robert Bortuzzo, Michael Del Zotto, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Ville Husso

     

    First Period:

    Blues Goal – 13:30 – Vince Dunn (1) from Alex Pietrangelo (9) and Robert Thomas (3)

    Stars Goal – 15:55 – Mats Zuccarello (4) from unassisted

     

    End of 1st – DAL – 1       STL – 1

    Shots              13                10

    Faceoffs         15                10

    Hits               07                  12

    PP                 0/0                 0/0

     

    Second Period:

    Stars Penalty – 7:07 – Brett Ritchie 2 minutes for Tripping

    Stars Penalty – 11:02 – John Klingberg 2 minutes for Tripping

     

    End of 2nd – DAL – 1        STL – 1

    Shots               14                 28

    Faceoffs          24                 20

    Hits                 14                  18

    PP                   0/0                  0/2

     

    Third Period:

    N/A

     

    End of 3rd – DAL – 1         STL – 1

    Shots              17                   41

    Faceoffs        32                    36

    Hits               22                     29

    PP                 0/0                    0/2

     

    Overtime:

    N/A

     

    End of OT – DAL – 1         STL – 1

    Shots              26                   52

    Faceoffs        41                    46

    Hits               23                     33

    PP                 0/0                    0/2

     

    Double Overtime

    Blues Goal – 5:50 – Pat Maroon (3) from Robert Thomas (4) and Tyler Bozak (4)

     

    End of 2OT – DAL – 1         STL – 2

    Shots              30                   54

    Faceoffs        44                    52

    Hits               24                     33

    PP                 0/0                    0/2

     

    Next Up:

    Western Conference Finals STL v. COL/SJ

     

    Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.