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The Buzzer: Schenn fights, scores twice; Hoffman hits 100

By Scott BilleckFeb 9, 2018, 1:25 AM EDT

Players of the Night:

Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues: Another player who scored twice on Thursday night. Schenn set the tone early, fighting Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog three seconds after puck drop in the first period. He backed that up with his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season.

Sean Monahan, Calgary Flames: Boring Sean Monahan has 27 goals on the season after scoring a brace in the Flames 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils.

P.K. Subban, Nashville Predators: Subban also score two goals, including the game-tying goal late in the third period to force overtime against the Ottawa Senators. Subban’s second goal was his 15th of the season, matching a career-high.

Nick Cousins, Arizona Coyotes: OK, last one. Cousins scored twice, and his second with 19 seconds left in the third period forced overtime, where Clayton Keller fired home the winner to give the desert dogs a 4-3 come-from-behind win.

Other two-goal scorers: Tyler Seguin, Travis Konecny and Joe Pavelski.

Highlights of the Night:

Mike Hoffman scored his 100th NHL goal in style:

Tic-tac-goal:

Kyle Turris got a nice welcome back to Ottawa:

Factoids of the Night:

A reminder of how good John Klingberg has been:

Boeser doing more things:

MISC:

Scores:

Flames 3, Devils 2

Flyers 5, Canadiens 3

Senators 4, Predators 3 (OT)

Lightning 5, Canucks 2

Blues 6, Avalanche 1

Coyotes 4, Wild 3 (OT)

Stars 4, Blackhawks 2

Golden Knights 5, Sharks 3

Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck

The Buzzer: Night of the goalies

By Scott BilleckJan 23, 2018, 12:27 AM EDT
1 Comment

Players of the Night:

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning: The Lightning needed Vasilevskiy to play like the NHL All-Star that he is and that’s exactly what he gave them, stopping 40 shots to help the Lightning to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. The win was important for Tampa, who regained the top spot in the NHL standings and ended a three-game slide in the process. Vasilevskiy’s league-leading seventh shutout of the season ties a franchise record.

Petr Mrazek, Detroit Red Wings: Mrazek fielded 37 shots from the New Jersey Devils on Monday night and handled each and every one of them for his second shutout in as many starts.

Nick Cousins, Arizona Coyotes: Cousins got the ball rolling for the Desert Dogs in the first period, giving them a 1-0 lead. After the Islanders tied the game in the third, Cousins put the final stamp on the game with a goal 2:21 into overtime to give Arizona their second straight win.

Comeback of the Night:

Jason Zucker, Minnesota Wild: Zucker got drilled in the head with a slap shot in the first period and had to be helped off the ice. Miraculously, Zucker returned a short time later and went on to score the game-winning goal at the 4:59 mark of the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie in the Wild’s 3-1 win against the Ottawa Senators.

Highlights of the Night:

Granlund and Dumba:

Mrazek made plenty of saves on Monday and perhaps none better than this one (Brian Boyle‘s reaction is priceless):

Ottawa Senators fans will like this, even if the end result wasn’t great:

Auston Matthews had the celebration of the night:

Factoids of the Night:

Scores:

Avalanche 4, Maple Leafs 2

Red Wings 3, Devils 0

Wild 3, Senators 1

Lightning 2, Blackhawks 0

Sabres 2, Flames 1 (OT)

Coyotes 3, Islanders 2 (OT)

Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck

Jeff Carter on returning to Philly: ‘It’s not a big deal really’

By Joe YerdonMar 23, 2014, 11:39 AM EDT
57 Comments

It’s been nearly three years since the Philadelphia Flyers traded Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s been over two years that Carter has been a member of the Los Angeles Kings, but he’s yet to take the ice in Philadelphia as a member of another team.

That’s going to change on Monday night when the Kings visit Wells Fargo Center to face the Flyers but Carter doesn’t see what all the fuss is about as Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times tweets out.

“It is what it is. It’s been three yrs since I left there. It’s not a big deal really,” Carter said. “It should be a lot of fun though.”

In six seasons with the Flyers, Carter scored 181 goals before being shipped to the Blue Jackets in the deal that netted Philly Jakub Voracek and the draft picks that became Sean Couturier and Nick Cousins. That worked out pretty good for the Flyers.

Incredibly, Carter has only played one game in his career against the Flyers and that was just on Feb. 1 in L.A. Thanks to Columbus formerly being in the Western Conference and Los Angeles always being there and how the schedule used to work, visiting some Eastern Conference cities sometimes took a couple seasons.

The only question left here is how warmly will Carter be received in his former home city?

Flyers prospect Cousins charged with sexual assault

By Mike HalfordAug 26, 2012, 5:00 PM EDT
30 Comments

Nick Cousins, Philadelphia’s third-round pick at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, has been charged with sexual assault — along with two of his Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) teammates.

According to a press release from the Sault Ste. Marie police service, the trio was charged on Saturday with an offense “to a female known to them.”

Cousins and teammate Andrew Fritsch — a Phoenix Coyotes draft pick — will appear in court on Oct. 1 while the third teammate, Mark Pettacio, has a bail hearing set for Monday.

Cousins signed his entry-level deal with the Flyers in March and participated in Philly’s prospect camp in July.

Here’s more from Chad Graff of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

[Cousins] is widely regarded as the Flyers’ top prospect. After being drafted in the third round in 2011, Cousins put up 88 points in 65 games for Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League. But he knows his role isn’t likely to be a point-per-game NHL player. He’s a natural agitator.

“That’s a huge part of my game,” Cousins said. “I grew up doing it. I just know how to get under people’s skin – the kind of guy you love to have on your team, but hate to play against.”

The Greyhounds organization has released a statement about the charged players. You can read it here.

Here’s what it might take Columbus to land Jonathan Bernier

By Joe YerdonJul 22, 2012, 5:07 PM EDT
17 Comments

Last week we shared a report of the Columbus Blue Jackets interest in the Kings’ young backup goalie Jonathan Bernier.

Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch gives his take on what it might take GM Scott Howson to land the netminder and he has a lot of reasons to be reluctant about proceeding.

The Blue Jackets might have to send the Kings’ No. 1 pick in 2013 back to them to get it trade, and it could take something else. Not sure if the Kings would be willing to take on the contract of Steve Mason ($3.2 million, then RFA next summer) to facilitate a trade.

Howson is more than familiar dealing with Kings GM Dean Lombardi thanks to their Jeff Carter for Jack Johnson swap last season, but if they have to part with the pick they got from the Kings to get Bernier, that’s rough.

Summing things up it would wind up being: Jack Johnson and Jonathan Bernier for Jeff Carter and whatever else they might have to part with to get Bernier. Sending out Mason might be the one saving grace if the Kings were OK with it.

When you add in what Columbus gave up to get Carter (Jakub Voracek, 2011 first and third-round picks that became Sean Couturier and Nick Cousins) that’s an amazingly brutal set of moves. Maybe Howson wants to think things through should he decide to give Lombardi a call to talk things over again.