Tag: Stanley Cup

  • St. Louis Blues – Stanley Cup Champions At Last

    St. Louis Blues – Stanley Cup Champions At Last

    “It’s been a rough season to be a fan of the St. Louis *ahem* Blues, and at this point everyone either realizes that the team is in the middle of a rebuild or is in desperate need of one.” — some hack earlier in the season *checks notes*, oh, yes, me.

    Well, well, well, look at who’s left standing at the mountain top. Before recapping this incredible playoff run, let me first just say that I absolutely cannot believe this finally happened. Growing up, watching great teams with great players like Brett Hull (more on him later), and watching them so often fail in the most comical ways – let’s just say, it jaded me.

    This year was different – every round had at least one defining moment of adversity that the Blues had to overcome. Against the Winnipeg Jets, the Blues found themselves down 2-0 in the third period of a pivotal game 5, yet managed to erase that deficit with 3 goals in the third. Against the Stars, who quite honestly posed a very bad matchup for the Blues, they found themselves down 3 games to 2, before roaring back to thoroughly dominate them the next two games. But for Ben Bishop in Game 7, the scores of the last two games would have been incredibly lopsided. There was the infamous hand-pass against the Sharks, after which the Blues outscored them by a combined 12-2 mark the last three games. Even in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Blues came back after getting blown out in game 3, having multiple players suspended, and losing a chance to clinch at home.

    There isn’t much to go over that TXHT has not covered in the game recaps, but my hope is to convey just how much this means to the city, to me. St. Louis is a nice city, but one people don’t necessarily need to visit. However, once you live there, once you experience the people, the day-to-day life, it becomes your home – forever. That’s why Brett Hull cares so much. That’s why greats like Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, and Wayne Gretzky still live, at least partially, in the city and were there every step of the way for this run. There’s also a certain kinship people have with the Blues that they don’t have even with the Cardinals – maybe the Cardinals win too much it becomes old hat? I really don’t know. But I do know that records were set for viewership and ticket cost, and almost half the population showed up for the parade. Brett Hull might still be having his own parade right now.

    But, as much as I try, I am certainly not a good enough writer to adequately convey its meaning in words, so please accept these two words as my final thought:

    Thank you

    https://twitter.com/STLBlueshistory/status/1139007682986348544

  • April 13th, 2019  —  News and Notes

    April 13th, 2019 — News and Notes

    Today is Saturday, April 13th, 2019, and these are your news and notes.

     

    There were four games in Stanley Cup Playoff action yesterday.

     

     

    All of the recaps are written by the TXHT staff.

     

    Columbus 5, TAMPA BAY 1 (Columbus leads the series 2-0)

     

    The Columbus Blue Jackets crushed the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 5-1 win and took a 2-0 series lead.

     

    Columbus will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead when Game 3 takes place tomorrow night.

     

     

     

    NY Islanders 3, Pittsburgh 1 (NY Islanders leads the series 2-0)

     

    The NY Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 and took a 2-0 series lead.

     

    The Islanders will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead with Game 3 shifting to Pittsburgh.  Game 3 takes place tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m., ET.

     

     

    Below you will find the Pittsburgh Penguins infographic from yesterdays contest and the image is the property of the Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners.

     

     

    St. Louis 4, WINNIPEG 3 (St. Louis leads the series 2-0)

     

    The St. Louis Blues defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 yesterday and took a 2-0 series lead.

     

    St. Louis will look to take the commanding 3-0 series lead with the series now shifting to St. Louis.  Game 3 takes place tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., ET

     

     

    Vegas 5, SAN JOSE 3 (Series is tied 1-1)

     

    The Vegas Golden Knights would go on to take Game 2 in the series after giving up a three goal lead in the first period and defeat the San Jose Sharks 5-3.

     

    The Golden Knights will look to take the series lead with Game 3 taking place tomorrow (Sunday, April 14) at 10 p.m., ET.

     

     

    Today’s Schedule of Games:

     

     

    To see all of the THXT’s recaps and Stanley Cup Playoff previews, please check out our website linked below.

  • April 7th, 2019  —  News and Notes

    April 7th, 2019 — News and Notes

    Today is Sunday, April 7th, 2019, and these are your news and notes covering the final day of the 2018-2019 Regular Season in the NHL.

     

    There were 15 contests yesterday across the NHL, with playoff implications on the line.

     


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

     

    Yesterday’s Results (Home team is in CAPS):

    Tampa Bay 6, BOSTON 3


    *Images are the property of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    The Tampa Bay Lightning would get their 62nd win on the season, tying an NHL record with the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, when they defeated the Boston Bruins with a 6-3 win yesterday afternoon.  Tampa Bay would get this win after being down 2-0 late in the second period and would score four unanswered goals before Boston would score in the third period to make it a 4-3 Tampa Bay lead. Tampa Bay would score two more goals, one being an empty netter late in the third, to give the Lightning a 6-3 win.

     

     

    Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov would set a record for points by a Russian NHL player with 128 points this season, when he registered his 41st goal on the season 53 seconds into the third period.

     

     

     

    ST. LOUIS 3, Vancouver 2 (SO)

     

    The St. Louis Blues would take down the Vancouver Canucks with a 3-2 win in a shootout and with the win, the St. Louis Blues would seal the third spot in the Central Division standings.

     

     

    Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson would score his 28th goal on the season and ended the season with 66 points, a rookie record for a Canucks player.

     

     

     

    MONTREAL 6, Toronto 5 (SO)

     

     

    The Montreal Canadiens would defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 6-5 shootout win, thanks to a hat trick by Ryan Poehling in his first NHL game.

     

     

    In this back and forth contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs could not keep up with the upbeat Canadiens and would fall in the shootout loss.  However, despite the loss, the Maple Leafs would earn 100 points on the season, and it would be the first time Toronto would earn that mark in consecutive seasons.

     

     

     

    Columbus 6, OTTAWA 2

     

     

    The Columbus Blue Jackets would seal their spot in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 6-2 win over the Ottawa Senators yesterday.  This would also be a penalty free game from both teams.

     

    Buffalo 7, DETROIT 1

     

     

    The Buffalo Sabres would face off against the Detroit Red Wings and would end up crushing Detroit with a 7-1 win last night.

     

     

    Detroit’s lone goal in the contest would come on a power play goal in the first period with Anthony Mantha’s 25th goal on the season, setting a career-high.

     

     

     

    New Jersey 4, FLORIDA 3 (OT)

     

    Travis Zajac would score the game winner in overtime, his 19th goal on the season, to give the New Jersey Devils the 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers last night.

    New Jersey ends the season with 31-41-10 record, whereas the Florida Panthers end their season with a record of 36-32-14 0y 4 /8

     

    https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1114708929773174784

     

    Carolina 4, PHILADELPHIA 3

     

     

     

    Despite being outshot in the contest, the Carolina Hurricanes would go on to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3.  With the win by the Carolina Hurricanes, they earned the top wild card spot and will face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.

     

    NY Rangers 4, PITTSBURGH 3 (OT)

     


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

     

    The Pittsburgh Penguins would fall to the New York Rangers yesterday, losing by the score of 4-3 in overtime last night.

     

    NY Islanders 3, WASHINGTON 0

     

    The Washington Capitals would fall to the New York Islanders with a 3-0 loss.  Despite the loss the Capitals will face off against the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Islanders will face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

     

     

     

    NASHVILLE 5, Chicago 2

     

     

    The Nashville Predators would defeat the Chicago Blackhawks last night with a 5-2 win last night thanks to goals by five different Nashville skaters.

     

    With the Nashville win, they would go on to become back-to-back Central Division champions.

     

     

    DALLAS 3, Minnesota 0

     

    The Dallas Stars would defeat the Minnesota Wild with a 3-0 win, thanks to two goals from Dallas F Tyler Seguin.  Seguin would bring his regular season goal total to 33 goals, matching a mark he had in the 2015-16 season.

     

    The Minnesota Wild would be outshot throughout the entire contest and never could catch up to physicality and overall play of the Stars.

     

     

    Edmonton 3, CALGARY 1

    The Edmonton Oilers would defeat the Calgary Flames with a 3-1 win thanks to Leon Draisaitl’s 50th goal on the season as well as Alex Chiasson’s 22nd goal on the season.

     

    Calgary’s lone goal would come from Mark Jankowski, his 14th goal on the season, in the first period of the contest.  After that goal by the Flames, they would not any answer for the Oilers.

     


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

     

    Winnipeg 4, ARIZONA 2

     

    The Winnipeg Jets faced off against the Arizona Coyotes and would escape with a 4-2 win last night.

    There would be four different goal scorers for the Jets in the contest and it would be enough to clinch home ice for at least the first round of the playoffs.

     

    LOS ANGELES 5, Vegas 2

     

    The Los Angeles Kings would face off against the Vegas Golden Knights and escape with a convincing 5-2 win.

     

    Los Angeles Ilya Kovalchuk would score twice and with goals by Jeff Carter, Matt Roy, and Anze Kopitar, the Kings would end their season a win.

     

    For the Golden Knights, despite the loss to the Kings, their season will continue when they face off against the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

     

     

    SAN JOSE 5, Colorado 2

     


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

     

    The San Jose Sharks would go on to defeat the Colorado Avalanche by the score of 5-2 thanks to scorers from five different Sharks players in the contest.

     

     

    For more news, notes, information, and statistics, you can check out the NHL’s Morning Skate Report at the following link:

     

    5802__stanley_cup_playoffs-wordmark-2019

     

    The First Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoff schedule was also announced earlier today.

     


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

     


    *Images are the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    TXHT will have a full playoff preview episode and articles to come so make sure to stay tuned.

  • TXHT Opinions – The Case of Not Going to the White House

    TXHT Opinions – The Case of Not Going to the White House

    With great accomplishments comes great acknowledgments.

     

    With the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup victory last season they earned the greatest accomplishment in their franchise’s 44 year history, however, they won the Stanley Cup during a time that everything around us is very politically charged. For those that try to stay out of politics like we do, you can’t help but know what is going on in the world today thanks to social media and the reach it has. Unfortunately here in the United States we have a President who has been very divisive and hateful and has churned up the political angst around us.

     

    During the Stanley Cup Finals the press asked Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly, now with the Hershey Bears, if he would visit the White House to which said he would decline the opportunity to go if given the invitation to attend. After the Stanley Cup was won forward Brett Connolly made it known that he would not attend either as he stood behind Smith-Pelly and respected the decision to not attend the White House if/when invited.

     

    Then late last week it was announced that the Capitals would attend a private ceremony at the White House hosted by President Donald Trump on Monday, March 25th. Many have questioned why so late into the season for this with the Capitals getting ready to start the playoffs in two weeks. Some conspiracy theories have stated because of Smith-Pelly being on the team and because of what has happened with the NFL, NBA, and WNBA these past two years in dealing with this current Presidency that he was the source of the issue, and that the timing of Smith-Pelly’s demotion to Hershey paved the way for this to happen.

     

    However, something that no one expected was on Friday Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby, who is the team’s LGBT-Inclusion Ambassador, announced that he would not be attending the White House ceremony citing that he needs to stick to his moral values, which is something we can all respect.

     

    Now with the knowledge that both Connolly, who doubled down and stated that he will not attend, and Holtby that they will not be attending the White House with the team many on social media have gone on the attack with tweets and Facebook posts lambasting the two. Critizing them for not being American, both Connolly and Holtby are Canadian, or for not wanting to use the opportunity to discuss their differences with the President, which is not the time nor the place to do it when in a push for the playoffs.

     

    Should these issues be discussed and done in an open forum so we can bridge a gap and make progress to a better society? 100% yes we should, but we must always remember that there is a time and a place to do so. Also we must always remember that we live in a country that we have the right to choose what is best for us, no matter whether you agree or disagree with the decision or opinion of the other person.

     

    Both Brett Connolly and Braden Holtby decided that they would not attend the White House ceremony for the Capitals 2018 Stanley Cup victory, and we here at The Xperience: Hockey Talk support both Connolly and Holtby for decision, just as we support the rest of the team for their decision to attend the White House ceremony despite our personal opinions on the matter.

     

    **We will be keeping the comments open for this article, however, if we feel things are getting too toxic we will shut comments down on this specific article.

  • NHL News and Notes: September 28th, 2018

    NHL

     

    These are your news and notes covering the NHL for Friday, September 28th, 2018:

     

    In preseason action last night…

    • The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Arizona Coyotes in a 3-2 overtime win at Rogers Place. Connor McDavid recorded six shots on goal, a game-high, and had two goals. McDavid entered training camp with a goal to shoot the puck more and he was doing that in this contest.
    • Johnathan Toews recorded his third goal in three preseason games in a Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 defeat against the Ottawa Senators. Toews scored 20 goals last season, a career NHL-low.
    • The New Jersey Devils defeated the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-3 win at Bell MTS Place. New Jersey goalie Keith Kinkaid recorded 21 saves in the contest.
    • The New York Rangers concluded their preseason slate with a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. The Rangers had a 3-0 lead, however New York was being outshot 16-2. The Raagers would allow goals by Ivan Provorov and James van Riemsdyk, to make it a 3-2 Rangers lead. Kevin Hayes would seal the victory at 1:35 left in the game with an empty-net goal.
    • The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Florida Panthers with a 6-2 victory in a contest that took place at Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida. Mathieu Joseph, Tampa Bay’s fourth round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, scored twice. Joseph also recorded an assist and leads Tampa Bay with seven points (three goals and four assists) in five preseason games. Joseph is still showing that he should be on the team’s opening-night roster.

     

    In preseason action last night:

    • Tampa Bay 6, Florida 2 (at Amway Arena, Orlando, Florida)
    • New York Rangers 4, Philadelphia 2
    • New Jersey 5, Winnipeg 3
    • Ottawa 2, Chicago 1
    • Edmonton 3, Arizona 2 (OT)
    • Calgary 4, San Jose 3

     

    In preseason action tonight:

    • Pittsburgh at Columbus
    • Buffalo at New York Islanders
    • Carolina at Washington
    • Detroit at Toronto
    • Dallas at St. Louis
    • Minnesota at Colorado
    • Los Angeles at Vegas

     

    In NHL news….

    The Stanley Cup is currently being updated with the names of the Washington Capitals, who will be on a new band on the Cup.

     

    The Capitals announced that there will be an outdoor viewing party for the Stanley Cup championship banner raising ceremony on Wednesday evening when the Washington takes on the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena.

     

    The NHL and NHLPA have jointly contributed $25,000 toward the Ottawa storm relief efforts. This donation will be used for food purchases for those in enned and to cover costs for any crisis counseling.

     

     

    You can watch TXHT Live every Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.