It wasn’t long before frustrations boiled over in Thursday’s game between the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings. Just 6:00 minutes into the contest, Mike Richards and Jamie Langenbrunner decided to duel. You can watch the fight below:
Richards also received a slashing penalty to put the St. Louis Blues on the power play. However, the Blues didn’t take advantage of that opportunity and Richards ended up scoring a goal and an assist to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
Richards has been fantastic in the Kings’ second round series and he’s one of the big reasons that they now have a 3-0 series lead over the St. Louis Blues.
PHT Morning Skate: Ducks retire Niedermayer’s no. 27; Is Simmonds heading to Tampa?
Welcome to the PHT Morning Skate, a collection of links from around the hockey world. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at phtblog@nbcsports.com.
• The Hockey News provides us with top 10 lists of active players in different categories that mean the most. (The Hockey News)
• The Anaheim Ducks retired Scott Niedermayer’s no. 27 last night. (NHL.com)
• The Columbus Blue Jackets are starting to suffer trade deadline fatigue. Their fans are counting down the days until Feb. 25. (The Cannon)
• Campbell Weaver has been added to the Bruins analytics department. (Stanley Cup of Chowder)
• After the Lightning and Canadiens faced off on Saturday night, the Montreal Gazette made the comparison between the Bolts and 1976-77 Habs. (Montreal Gazette)
• Capitals head coach Todd Reirden found an interesting way to connect with some his foreign players. (Washington Post)
• Is Wayne Simmonds heading to Tampa? The Tampa Times answers five questions on that subject. (Tampa Times)
• The Maple Leafs are going to need their veterans to perform better than they are right now. (Toronto Star)
• The fact that the Islanders are going to be playing their first-round playoff series at Nassau Coliseum is nothing but good news. (Newsday)
The kid has been in this category a pile of times since Jan. 7 when he made his first start of the season. That night, he recorded his first NHL shutout and grabbed his first NHL win.
Fast forward a month and a bit and Binnington’s flashy start hasn’t turned out to be a fluke. He shutout the Minnesota Wild with a 30-save performance on Sunday, three days after he shutout the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
‘Winnington’ has four shutouts on the season now. That’s four since Jan. 7. He owns a 12-1-1 record. That’s also since Jan. 7. And he’s a big, big part of why the Blues have 10 straight wins, matching a franchise record.
There’s no hotter goalie in the NHL and subsequently, no hotter team.
The Penguins needed someone to step up to keep ahold of their playoff spot and Evgeni Malkin’s two goals 2:31 apart in the third period gave the Penguins just what they needed in a 6-5 win.
Malkin missed five games because of injury and another because of suspension, but since he returned from his ailment, all he’s’ done is produce. He’s got four goals and two assists in three games since his return.
Pittsburgh is in a real fight for a playoff spot, so a hot Malkin, as opposed to a hot-headed Malkin, will be key down the stretch. They need his production in a big way.
Jordan Binnington is the 7th goalie in NHL history with 4+ shutouts in his first 14 NHL starts. The others: Frank Brimsek: 6 in 1938-39 Lorne Chabot: 4 in 1926-27 Alec Connell: 4 in 1924-25 Mike Karakas: 4 in 1935-36 Flat Walsh: 4 in 1928-29 Antti Niemi: 4 in 2009-10#NHLStatspic.twitter.com/XEovLLNKNf
With another three-point performance, Sidney Crosby (436-752—1,188) is now tied with Alex Ovechkin (646-542—1,188) in career points. The last time Crosby had more career points than Ovechkin was following games on Jan. 5, 2011.
Scoring a goal in the NHL is hard enough. Dropping it between your legs and roofing it while being hacked by a defenseman who’s in close proximity? Impossible, you’d think.
Barkov pulled off the impossible on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens, making Victor Mete look silly and Carey Price, too. Two good players, both left embarrassed.
Last night, the Philadelphia Flyers made a mess of it but still managed to beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 after blowing a four-goal third-period lead at home.
A day later, the Flyers made sure not to make the same mistake twice, defeating the Red Wings in the second half of a back-to-back home-and-home 2-1 on Hockey Day in America on NBCSN.
The Flyers were lucky to escape with those two points on Saturday but regrouped in overtime to take both points with them. On Sunday, the Flyers played a tighter game and found the game-winner from defenseman Ivan Provorov 2:11 into the third period to break a 1-1 tie.
The goal proved to be enough, with Carter Hart making 37 saves for his 11th win in his past 13 starts.
The Flyers have won 12 of their past 14 games (12-1-1) and now sit six points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who won earlier on NBC) for the second and final wildcard in the Eastern Conference.
Oskar Lindblom scored two goals in the game, giving him 10 on the season. His first, as you’ll see below, was a tad lucky.
Lindblom followed that up with No. 10 into the empty net late in the third period.
The Red Wings, not in the playoff picture due to a 15-point gap between themselves and the Pens, entered the game with points in six of their past nine games but couldn’t find the late spark that ensured they grabbed one on Saturday.
Jonathan Bernier got the start in goal but left after the first period due to an upper-body injury. Jimmy Howard, who started the night before, came in and made 11 saves in relief, giving up the game-winner to Provorov.
If you missed any of the Hockey Day in America stories, check out NBC Sports here.
