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The Buzzer: Maximum Domi; Night of blowouts

By James O'BrienFeb 27, 2019, 2:17 AM EDT
2 Comments

Three Stars

1. Max Domi

Consider this a collective award for the Canadiens, who throttled the Red Wings 8-1, even though they played the night before.

Domi led the way two goals and three assists for five points, with three shots on goal and a +5 rating in that lopsided win. This pushes his breakthrough 2018-19 campaign to 22 goals and 59 points in 64 games.

By the way, Domi’s the first Canadiens player to score at least five points in a game since some obscure player named Guy Lafleur did so in 1978.

Other Canadiens players could make credible arguments for spots in the top three, too. Jonathan Drouin was among the non-Domi leading scorers of Tuesday, generating four points (all assists). Andrew Shaw wasn’t far behind, generating his first hat trick.

Those three didn’t just tear things up, they also scored with startling efficiency. Looking at goals alone, they combined for five on just seven SOG. By my calculations, that is … very good.

2. Teuvo Teravainen

Teravainen is to the Hurricanes what Domi is to the Canadiens for Tuesday. He had the best game of anyone on a team that dominated the competition, and thus Teravainen’s teammates deserve mentions, too.

Teravainen scored one goal and three assists for four points. Remarkably, the Teravainen – Domi connection continues over the full season view, as Teravainen has 59 points in 2018-19 (in 63 games). The Hurricanes probably already felt good about signing Teuvo to a five-year extension with just a $5.4 million cap hit when they inked it in January, but it only looks better now.

Two of his teammates deserve recognition, as well. Both Dougie Hamilton (two goals, one assist, game misconduct?) and Jordan Staal (three assists) generated three-point nights. Hamilton was especially dangerous, generating nine SOG in Carolina’s impressive 6-1 win against Kings.

3. Brad Marchand

Marchand scored a goal and two assists, with his tally being his 25th career shorthanded goal, tying Rick Middleton for the Bruins’ franchise record.

The 30-year-old now has 25 goals and 74 points in 62 games this season. Marchand’s now 11 points short of his career-high of 85 points, which he generated in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.

A lot happened in this game, even beyond Marchand helping the Bruins dominate the Sharks. Erik Karlsson looked a little slow on Marchand’s goal, maybe because – you know – he might be dealing with an injury that requires rest. There was also a fight between Evander Kane and Zdeno Chara. Yeah, a lot was going on.

Highlights of the Night

Matthew Tkachuk might not suffer from many more slumps when he can score like this.

Vinnie Hinostroza has a lot of moves, which Roberto Luongo unfortunately found out.

Factoids

  • Jordan Binnington only needed to make 19 saves for his fifth shutout, so that wasn’t quite good enough to get him in the three stars on a high-scoring night. He’ll have to settle for being on a pretty lofty list.

Scores

BOS 4 – SJS 1
CGY 3 – NYI 1
PHI 5 – BUF 2
WSH 7 – OTT 2
CAR 6 – LAK 1
PIT 5 – CBJ 2
MTL 8 – DET 1
STL 2 – NSH 0
MIN 3 – WPG 2
ARI 4 – FLA 3 (SO)
VGK 4 – DAL 1

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.

The Buzzer: Gallagher’s hat trick powers Habs; Stars end Blues’ streak

AP
By Adam GretzFeb 22, 2019, 12:50 AM EDT
2 Comments

Three Stars

1. Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens. The Montreal Canadiens were dominant on Thursday night in a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, turning in one of their best overall performances of the season. At the center of it was Brendan Gallagher who recorded his first career hat trick to continue his great season. After his performance on Thursday he is now up to a team-leading 26 goals.

2. Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks. The Pittsburgh Penguins were no match for the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night who looked like the Stanley Cup contender that they are. Tomas Hertl was one of the big driving forces in the win as he scored a pair of power play goals, including one in the game’s first two minutes to set the tone for what would go on to be a decisive win. This game ended up getting very heated late.

3. Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes. The Carolina Hurricanes are back in a playoff spot after their come-from-behind win over the Florida Panthers. Captain Justin Williams had a huge game by scoring a pair of goals, including one off of his face. His second goal was a bit more conventional and went in the books as the game-winner. Nino Neiderreiter and Teuvo Teravainen also had multi-point games for the Hurricanes in the win.

More Notable Performances From Thursday

  • The Dallas Stars were 5-2 winners over the St. Louis Blues, snapping what had been an 11-game winning streak. Jamie Benn eclipsed the 20-goal mark in the win for the Stars.
  • The Nashville Predators reclaimed the top spot in the Central Division with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. You can read about it and what is ahead for the Predators here.
  • Big night for New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider as he recorded his first shutout of the season in blanking what is left of the Ottawa Senators’ roster.
  • The Arizona Coyotes are not going away. Their overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday was huge and now has them just one point out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Given where they were coming from a year ago and the injury situation they have dealt with this season it is an impressive accomplishment to still be in this race.

Highlights of the Night

This sequence early in the Washington Capitals-Toronto Maple Leafs game was bonkers.

Another highlight reel goal for Aleksander Barkov!

Tomas Hertl may never score an easier goal in the NHL.

Factoids

  • Connor McDavid recorded his 25th multi-point game of the season in leading the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders. One of those points was the game-winner in overtime. His 25 multi-point games are the third-most in the NHL this season. He also had a questionable hit on Nick Leddy in the first period that could result in a review from the NHL’s DoPS. Eventful night.  [NHL PR]
  • Nikita Kucherov reached the 100-point mark faster than any other player over the past 22 years. [NHL PR]
  • Alex Ovechkin scored career goal No. 650 in the Washington Capitals’ win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. [NHL PR]

Scores

Washington Capitals 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 2

Carolina Hurricanes 4, Florida Panthers 3

New Jersey Devils 4, Ottawa Senators 0

Minnesota Wild 4, New York Rangers 1

San Jose Sharks 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 0

Montreal Canadiens 5, Philadelphia Flyers 1

Tampa Bay Lightning 2, Buffalo Sabres 1 (SO)

Nashville Predators 2, Los Angeles Kings 1

Dallas Stars 5, St. Louis Blues 2

Edmonton Oilers 4, New York Islanders 3 (OT)

Arizona Coyotes 3, Vancouver Canucks 2 (OT)

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

Hurricanes move into playoff spot, keep celebrating like ‘bunch of jerks’

Carolina Hurricanes
By Adam GretzFeb 16, 2019, 10:55 PM EDT
18 Comments

The Carolina Hurricanes found themselves in the crosshairs of another angry old-school hockey analyst on Saturday night when Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry used his Coach’s Corner segment to criticize the team’s Storm Surge celebrations that take place after home victories.

During the segment, which was basically a 1:17 rant, Cherry repeatedly referred to the Hurricanes players as “jerks” (four times to be exact, including as “a bunch of jerks” at the end) and warned them not to do it in the playoffs because, well, this is the National Hockey League and that’s just not what you do.

This all comes after former NHL general manager Brian Burke has repeatedly criticized the celebrations and referred to them as “pee-wee garbage stuff.”

(You can see Cherry’s segment here starting at the 4:25 mark.)

The Hurricanes, of course, do not really care what the outside world thinks and their social media team wasted no time in having some fun with the criticism.

So guess what happened on Saturday night?!

The Hurricanes won again by defeating the Dallas Stars, 3-0, to move into a playoff spot for the time being by jumping one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins who were on the losing end of a 5-4 decision against the Calgary Flames earlier in the day.

The Penguins still have a game in hand and play on Sunday afternoon (12:30 p.m. ET on NBC), but the fact remains that the Hurricanes are currently occupying a playoff spot. Even if they fall a point back by this time on Sunday, they have still played their way back into legitimate playoff contention and are right in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, not only for a potential Wild Card spot, but perhaps even a top-three spot in the Metropolitan Division.

They are in it.

The Hurricanes also did what they do in these situations and broke out another Storm Surge celebration by doing … the limbo.

With a minute to play in regulation, fans at PNC Arena, obviously having been made aware of Cherry’s commentary, started chanting “bunch of jerks” as the clock ticked away.

They are not just embracing the criticism, they are feeding off of it.

My stance on the Storm Surge is very well established at this point: It is great, it is fun, and it is not showing anyone up because the other team is already long gone from the ice and it’s for the home fans. And even if it was, if you do not like it as an opponent you always have the option of winning the game. Nothing wrong with showing personality and having fun in sports.  Also, I want to see them doing it on the road, but as Jordan Martinook said to me after a game a couple of weeks ago “that will never happen.”

As for the recent results on the ice and what this all means for the Hurricanes, with Saturday’s win they are now 16-5-1 since Dec. 31, giving them 33 points during that stretch.

No team in the NHL has more points since then.

Everything is clicking for them right now.

They have an outstanding defense that makes them the best shot suppression team in the league (again!) and Curtis McElhinney has been a surprising stabilizing presence in net. That combination has made them a top-10 goal prevention team in the NHL and the recent addition of Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild has given them a much-needed goal-scoring presence in their top-six to go with emerging stars Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen.

Whether or not this will all be enough to end what has been a decade long playoff drought has yet to be determined, but this is probably one of the best chances they have had to get back in the playoffs. It is also the most exciting team they have put on the ice since that last playoff appearance during the 2008-09 season. They are young, they are fun, and they are building something that is worth watching — during and after the games.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

Hot streak helps Hurricanes surge into playoff contention

Associated PressFeb 14, 2019, 4:45 PM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes have skated their way out of being tied for last place into playoff contention – all in just six weeks.

They have been the NHL’s best team since Dec. 30, going 14-5-1 in that stretch while making an improbable push to snap the league’s longest active postseason drought.

The Hurricanes entered Thursday night’s games three points out of a playoff spot with 25 games remaining, a stretch run that starts Friday night when Edmonton visits.

”The important thing is, playoff teams get it,” captain Justin Williams said Thursday. ”We’re doing what’s necessary right now. We know where we are. All we need to do is keep winning and not worry about what’s going on above us.”

As much progress as the Hurricanes have made lately, there’s still so much further to go to reach the postseason for the first time since 2009 and only the second time since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006.

Not long ago, they seemed destined to set an NHL record for futility by going 10 straight seasons without making the playoffs.

And they still might. But at least for now, they’ve made things interesting.

They were tied with New Jersey and Philadelphia for last in the division on Dec. 30 with 35 points, and were one point better than Ottawa for last in the Eastern Conference.

In a relatively short period of time, though, the Hurricanes have figured things out and have become pretty tough to beat. They’ve earned 29 points in that time span, one more than the New York Islanders and two more than St. Louis.

And most recently, they went 4-1 on a five-game road trip. The last time that happened was in 1998, when PNC Arena was still under construction and the Hurricanes were playing their home games in Greensboro.

”It was a big road trip, and we’re doing what we need to do right now,” Williams said, ”which is banking wins and seeing what happens.”

The offense appears to have found its scoring touch, with an NHL-best 76 goals over that 20-game span. Sebastian Aho has 25 points – nine goals, 16 assists – during the team’s hot streak while linemate Teuvo Teravainen has 22 – nine goals, 13 assists.

And Nino Niederreiter has fit right in with his new team, racking up 10 points in 11 games since he was acquired from Minnesota in a trade for Victor Rask.

And with the league’s trading deadline Feb. 25, the big question remains whether the Hurricanes will be buyers or sellers.

Micheal Ferland, acquired in a blockbuster offseason trade with Calgary, is due to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, so naturally, trade rumors have surrounded him. But it might be worth it to Carolina to keep the hard-hitting forward with 15 goals and 16 assists for the stretch run – and perhaps try to sign him to a contract extension.

”I’d like to get a deal done, obviously,” Ferland said. ”We’ve put ourselves in a good spot, trying to get into the playoffs. I’d like to stay here and help this team.”

The Buzzer: Seguin shines, JVR leads comeback, Kucherov dominates

AP
By Adam GretzFeb 13, 2019, 1:11 AM EDT
1 Comment

Three Stars

1. Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars. After all of the drama earlier this season the Dallas Stars are looking like a playoff team, and not surprisingly, the two players that took the most heat from their CEO — Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn — are a big reason why. Seguin was dominant on Tuesday night in a 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers, figuring in on all three Stars goals, scoring two and assisting on another.

2. James van Riemsdyk, Philadelphia Flyers. The Philadelphia Flyers probably deserved a better result on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but things have a funny way of working out. It looked like they were headed for a second consecutive loss for most of the night until they stormed back for a third period rally against the Minnesota Wild. James van Riemsdyk scored two goals on the night, including the game-winner on the power play with less than five minutes to play in regulation. The playoffs still seem like a long shot, but they are definitely looking like a team that is on the right track.

3. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning. The matchup of the night was in Tampa Bay where the best team in the Eastern Conference — the Tampa Bay Lightning — faced off against the best team in the Western Conference — The Calgary Flames. The Lightning showed that for as good as the Flames may be, they are still the top team in the NHL right now and cruised to a 6-3 win. Leading the way was Nikita Kucherov with a four-point night, which is already his fifth four-point game of the season. He is now up to a league-leading 88 points on the season.

Other Notable Performances From Tuesday

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets completely shut down the Washington Capitals in a 3-0 win. The Capitals managed just seven shots on goal through the first two periods and rarely seemed to be a threat to score. It was one of the Blue Jackets’ best showings of the season. Yes, just as they did after their previous win over the Capitals, there were some Evgeny Kuznetsov bird celebrations being done on the ice and also in the stands from fans.
  • The Boston Bruins received a four-point night from Brad Marchand in a big win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
  • The St. Louis Blues remained hot with their seventh win in a row to continue solidifying their playoff spot.
  • Mark Scheifele scored a pair of goals for the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers.
  • Teuvo Teravainen scored two goals for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators as they kept pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Highlights of the Night

Jeff Skinner shows off his quick release to help lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders.

Jimmy Howard boosted that trade value for the Detroit Red Wings by backstopping them to a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators, thanks in large part to these saves right here.

Columbus’ win over the Capitals was not just about defense. It also had this slick passing play completed by Nick Foligno to help put the game away late in the third period.

 

Factoids

  • Vladimir Tarasenko‘s point streak is at a career-high nine games. [NHL PR]
  • No goalie in the NHL has more shutouts since the start of the 2016-17 season than Sergei Bobrovsky [NHL PR]
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs scored three power play goals in 1:49 on Tuesday night, the fifth-fastest sequence in franchise history. [NHL PR]

Scores

Buffalo Sabres 3, New York Islanders 1

Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Washington capitals 0

Boston Bruins 6, Chicago Blackhawks 3

Dallas Stars 3, Florida Panthers 0

Carolina Hurricanes 4, Ottawa Senators 1

Tampa Bay Lightning 6, Calgary Flames 3

Winnipeg Jets 4, New York Rangers 3

St. Louis Blues 8, New Jersey Devils 3

Detroit Red Wings 3, Nashville Predators 2

Philadelphia Flyers 5, Minnesota Wild 4

Toronto Maple Leafs 5, Colorado Avalanche 2

Arizona Coyotes 5, Vegas Golden Knights 2

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.