Tag: Jordan Binnington

  • St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks – Round 3 – Game 2 Recap

    St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks – Round 3 – Game 2 Recap

    Game Recap:

    The Blues came out from the gate determined to not hang their goalie Jordan Binnington out to dry like they did some many times in game one and it worked. The Blues came out and pressured in the first part of the period and scored the only goalie thanks to Blues potential Conn Smythe Candidate Jaden Schwartz. But the Blues couldn’t keep the Sharks at bay and they stormed back in the second half of the period with some pressure but couldn’t solve Binnington who I am sure was determined not to have another game like game 1.

    The 2nd period would be the Logan Couture show as the penalties would begin to ramp up against San Jose, St.Louis would score once via Vince Dunn but Couture would score a goal Short-Handed to get the Sharks on the board and then would score less than 2 minutes later to tie the game at two apiece in the second period. But the Blues wouldn’t just lay down and die with less than 4 minutes left in the second tough guy defencemen Robert Bortuzzo would score to reinstate the St. Louis Blues lead heading into the 3rd period.

    The 3rd period would be a swapping of penalties for both teams as they would both end up with no powerplay goals on the night. But with the Sharks pressing for the tying goal late the Blues Oskar Sundqvist would give the Blues some insurance with just over 3 minutes remaining and eventually seal the series tie at one apiece.

    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:

    St.Louis Goal – 2:34 – Jaden Schwartz (10) assisted by Vladimir Tarasenko (2) and Joel Edmundson (4)

    San Jose Penalty – 4:04 – Tomas Hertl, 2 minutes for Tripping

    St. Louis Penalty – 6:34 – Jay Bouwmeester2 minutes for Tripping

    San Jose Penalty – 15:46 – Evander Kane, 2 minutes for Tripping

    End of 1st – STL – 1      SJS – 0

    Shots              6                  9

    Faceoffs        6/17          11/17

    Hits                12                9

    PP                 0/2                 0/1

    Second Period:

    St. Louis Goal – 4:16 – Vince Dunn (2) assisted by Ryan O’Reilly (8) and David Perron (5)

    San Jose Penalty – 4:42 – Marcus Sorenson, 2 minutes for Interference

    San Jose SH Goal – 4:55 – Logan Couture (12) unassisted

    San Jose Goal – 6:54 – Logan Couture (13) assisted by Timo Meier (8)

    St. Louis Goal – 16:34 – Robert Bortuzzo (1) assisted by Joel Edmundson (5) and Tyler Bozak (5)

    San Jose Penalty – 19:31- Brendan Dillion, 2 minutes for Delay of Game

    End of 2nd – STL – 3      SJS – 2

    Shots               15                15

    Faceoffs       15/36           21/36

    Hits                24                  18

    PP                   0/4                  0/1

    Third Period:

    St. Louis Penalty – 10:37 – Robert Thomas2 minutes for Hooking

    San Jose Penalty – 12:42 – Joe Thornton, 2 minutes for Tripping

    St. Louis Goal – 16:52 – Oskar Sundqvist (3) assisted by Alex Steen (2) and Alex Pietrangelo (10)

    End of 3rd – STL – 4         SJS- 2

    Shots              25                26

    Faceoffs      23/54         31/54

    Hits              35                 28

    PP                 0/5                0/2

    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 Bouwmeester2 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 Paryako2 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 Bozak2 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 Bortuzzo5 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 BortuzzoGame 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Round 2 Game 4 Recap – St. Louis Blues v. Dallas Stars

    Round 2 Game 4 Recap – St. Louis Blues v. Dallas Stars

    St. Louis Blues v. Dallas Stars

    STL Leads 2-1

     

    Game Recap:

    The St. Louis Blues come into Game 4 looking to take home ice away from the Dallas Stars again, and extend their series lead. However, it would be the Stars who would start the game aggressively and get the first five shots on goal, but it would be a Jason Dickinson high sticking penalty that would give the Blues the powerplay and 18 seconds into the powerplay Vladimir Tarasenko would score his fifth of the playoffs to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead. Dickinson would make it up to his team though as he would get the puck past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at one a piece. Then in the final 3 minutes of the first period, Tyler Bozak would take an ill advised offensive zone penalty which would lead to Jason Spezza blasting a slapshot past a screened Binnington to give the Stars a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

     

    In the second period the Stars would continue their dominate play from the first period as John Klingberg would score to make it 3-1 for Dallas off of a very beautiful wrister that would get past Binnington who has looked spectacular while under seige during this game so far. Then later in the period the Stars would continue their dominating play as Roope Hintz would score his fifth of the playoffs as the Stars head into the second intermission leading 4-1.

     

    Going into the third period the St. Louis Blues played with a lot more urgency and would outshoot the Dallas Stars 12-5 in the period, but Ben Bishop would stand tall stopping all but one shot to guide the Stars to a 4-2 victory and even the series at two a piece.

     

    Lineups:

    St. Louis Blues:

    Jaden Schwartz — Ryan O’Reilly — Vladimir Tarasenko

    Brayden Schenn — Oskar Sundqvist — David Perron

    Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas

    Robby Fabbri — Ivan Barbashev — Alexander Steen

    Carl Gunnarsson — Alex Pietrangelo

    Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

    Vince Dunn — Robert Bortuzzo

    Jordan Binnington

    Jake Allen

    Scratched: Joel Edmundson, Michael Del Zotto, Sammy Blais, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Jared Coreau

     

    Dallas Stars:

    Jason Dickinson — Tyler Seguin — Mats Zuccarello

    Jamie Benn — Roope Hintz — Alexander Radulov

    Andrew Cogliano — Radek Faksa — Blake Comeau

    Mattias Janmark — Justin Dowling — Jason Spezza

    Esa Lindell — John Klingberg

    Miro Heiskanen — Roman Polak

    Joel Hanley — Ben Lovejoy

    Ben Bishop

    Anton Khudobin

    Scratched: Tyler Pitlick, Valeri Nichushkin, Brett Ritchie, Taylor Fedun, Gavin Bayreuther, Landon Bow

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

     

    First Period:

    Stars Penalty – 4:44 – Jason Dickinson 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Blues PPG – 5:02 – Vladimir Tarasenko (5) from Vince Dunn (4) and Ryan O’Reilly (5)

    Stars Goal – 11:23 – Jason Dickinson (3) from Tyler Seguin (5) and Mats Zuccarello (5)

    Blues Penalty – 17:15 – Tyler Bozak 2 minutes for Interference

    Stars PPG – 19:08 – Jason Spezza (2) from Alexander Radulov (3) and Esa Lindell (3)

     

    End of 1st – STL – 1       DAL – 2

    Shots              08                12

    Faceoffs         09                13

    Hits               10                  11

    PP                 1/1                 1/1

     

    Second Period:

    Stars Goal – 9:26 – John Klingberg (2) from Tyler Seguin (6) and Mats Zuccarello (6)

    Stars Penalty – 10:33 – Radek Faksa 2 minutes for Holding

    Stars Goal – 17:28 – Roope Hintz (5) from Jamie Benn (7) and Alexander Radulov (4)

    Blues Penalty – 20:00 – Jordan Binnington (Jay Bouwmeester) 2 minutes for Roughing

    Blues Penalty – 20:00 – Jordan Binnington (Tyler Bozak) 2 minutes for Slashing

    Stars Penalty – 20:00 – Jamie Benn 2 minutes for Unsportsmanlike Conduct

     

    End of 2nd – STL – 1        DAL – 4

    Shots               17                 26

    Faceoffs          17                 26

    Hits                 22                  24

    PP                   1/2                 1/1

     

    Third Period:

    Stars Penalty – 2:47 – Tyler Pitlick 2 minutes for High Sticking

    Blues Goal – 13:44 – Robert Thomas (1) from Alex Pietrangelo (8) and Ryan O’Reilly (6)

     

    End of 3rd – STL – 2         DAL – 4

    Shots              29                   31

    Faceoffs        24                    35

    Hits               28                     30

    PP                 1/3                    1/2

     

    Next Up:

    Game 5 – Series Tied 2-2

     

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

  • Three Stars and NHL Rookie of the Month (March 1-March 31) Announcements

    Three Stars and NHL Rookie of the Month (March 1-March 31) Announcements

    The National Hockey League yesterday announced the Three Stars of the Week and earlier today the Three Stars of the Month as well as the NHL Rookie of the Month was announced.

     

    First, TXHT will take a look at the announcements made for the Three Stars of the Week (week ending March 31)


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    The First Star of the Week went to Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

     

    Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky would be named the First Star of the Week thanks to a four wins on the week with two shutouts and would extend the Blue Jackets win streak to five games.

     


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    The Second Star of the Week went to Detroit Red Wings F Tyler Bertuzzi.

     

    Tyler Bertuzzi shared the League lead with three goals and seven assists in four outings to power the Red Wings to a perfect week and their fifth consecutive victory overall.

    During the week, Bertuzzi would become the first Detroit player to record three consecutive three-point games since 1992-93.  Steve Yzerman achieved that feat twice during the 1992-93 season.


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    The Third Star of the Week would go to Arizona Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

     

    Arizona Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper would achieve a record of 2-0-1 to keep the Coyotes in the hunt for a wild card spot and earn two shutouts over the week.

    Over the season, Kuemper has achieved a career high 26 wins in 53 appearances and ranks  in the top 10 in the NHL in goals-against average (6th place with a GAA of 2.34) and save percentage (9th place with a SV% of .924).


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

     

     

    Second, the National Hockey League earlier today announced the Three Stars of the Month (March 1-March 31).

     


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

     

     

    The First Star of the Month would go to Edmonton Oilers C Connor McDavid.

     


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    McDavid would have 20 assists over a 14 game span during the month of March and lead the Oilers to a record of 7-5-2 for the month.  McDavid would also have 11 multi-point games over the course of March.

     

    The Edmonton captain also scored seven times, including his seventh career
    overtime goal March 16 at ARI and 40th goal of 2018-19 March 28 vs. DAL.  McDavid also ranks second in the NHL with a career-high 74 assists and 115 points in 75 total contests this season as well as sharing the League lead with nine game-winning goals.

     

    The Second Star of the Month would go to Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    Bobrovsky topped the NHL in wins, tied with nine and had four shutouts in 13 appearances.  In those 13 appearances for the month, Bobrovsky would compile a
    1.74 goals-against average and .940 save percentage to give the Blue Jackets a 9-6-1 March record and to the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

     

    The Third Star of the Month would go to Boston Bruins D Brad Marchand.


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    Marchand placed third in the NHL with nine goals and 14 assists in 15 games to propel the Bruins to a 9-6-0 March and help the Bruins clinch their third consecutive playoff berth.

     

    Marchand would register three points in four games (March 7 vs. the Florida Panthers, March 12 at the Columbus Blue Jackets, March 21 at the New Jersey Devils, and March 27 at home against the New York Rangers.

     

    Finally, the NHL also announced the Rookie of the Month for the month of March.

     

    St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington named as the NHL’s Rookie of the Month

     


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    The NHL earlier today would announce that St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington would be named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for the month of March.  This would also be the second consecutive month in which Binnington would earn Rookie of the Month honours.

    Binnington would compile a record of 6-3-0 with a GAA (goals against average) of 2.37 and a save percentage of .912.

    Binnington allowed three or fewer goals in eight of his nine appearances to spark the Blues (43-28-8, 94 points) to their seventh playoff berth in eight seasons and would help get the Blues from the bottom of the NHL standings on January 2nd to second place in the Central Division standings as of the completion of yesterday’s games.

    Binnington has also compiled a record of 22-5-1 since he made his first NHL career start on January 7th.

    Binnington joins Vancouver Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson as the only two rookies to earn Rookie of the Month honours twice during the 2018-19 campaign.

     

    One final note to close out this article…

    Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman released his “31 Thoughts” blog post for the week.

    One big highlight on this week’s “31 Thoughts” blog post is the news with the CWHL shuttering operations on May 1 and what the NHL needs to do to make a viable partnership with the NWHL.

    https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1113112788853972992

     

  • NHL and NWHL Player of the Week announcements

    NHL and NWHL Player of the Week announcements

    The NHL announced the Three Stars of the Week for the week ending January 13th, 2019

     

     

    The First Star of the week went to Calgary Flames defenceman Mark Giordano.

     

    Giordano had an eight point week (three goals and five assists) over a four game period.

    Calgary would also have a perfect week for the now Western Conference leading Flames.  Giordano would have a three assist night (third on the season and fifth in his career) in the Flames 5-3 win over the Avalanche on January 9th.

    In a contest that took place last night, Giordano would play in his 800th NHL career game, Giordano would score twice and have an assist and help the Flames rout the Arizona Coyotes 7-1.

    Giordano has 47 points in 45 games played this season, had a rating of +7 on the week and has a rating of +36 on the season, the best for all players in the NHL.

     

     

    The Second Star of the Week went to St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington.

     

    Binnington in three games played this week stopped 74 of the 76 shots he faced and would finish the week with a perfect record of 3-0-0.

     

     

    Binnington made his first NHL start last Monday (January 7th) earning recording a shutout in the Blues 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Binnington would record 25 saves in that contest and he became the 35th goaltender in NHL history to have a shutout in his first NHL start and the second to record a shutout in an NHL debut since Rich Parent on January 26th, 1999 when the Blues faced off against the San Jose Sharks.

     

     

    In the next two contests, Binnington would only allow one goal each. The Blues would go on to defeat the Montreal Canadiens by the score of 4-1 on January 10th, recording 28 saves. In the next contest on January 12th, the Blues would defeat the Dallas Stars with a 3-1 win. Binnington in that contest would have 21 saves.

     

     

     

    The Third Star of the Week would go to Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel.

     

     

    Jake Guentzel would have five goals in three games and help the Pittsburgh Penguins get two victories which included their 10th win in the past 12 for a record of (10-2-0).

     

    Guentzel had one assist in the 5-1 the Penguins had over the Florida Panthers on January 8th.  He also recorded a hat trick in the Penguins 7-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks, which would also be the second on the season.  Guentzel would close out the week scoring both of the Penguins goals in the 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on January 12th.

     

    Guentzel leads all scores on the Penguins with 23 goals in 45 games played. In the past six contests, he has seven goals and three assists.

     

     

    NWHL

     

    The NWHL announced today that Minnesota Whitecaps forward Amy Menke has been named the NWHL Player of the Week presented by VEDA.

    Menke had two goals and three assists between the two contests for the Whitecaps over the weekend.  First in Minnesota’s 5-4 loss to the Boston Pride on Saturday night, Menke would have one goal and assisted on a goal scored by Kendall Coyne Schofield.  Menke in the Whitecaps 4-1 win over the Connecticut Whale yesterday had one goal and two assists in the first period. Menke’s second goal of the weekend would come in the second period.  Menke currently has seven points (4-3-7) in her first NWHL season.