As we near the halfway point of the NHL season, the Boston Bruins are still sitting pretty on top. Sixty-two wins are the record for an 82-game season, and the Bruins have 27. They came within one win of equaling the best 30-game start in NHL history held by the 2008-09 San Jose Sharks and the 29-30 Boston Bruins. Neither won the Stanley Cup, as the Bruins lost in the finals and the Sharks in the first round. That's really what the Bruins are up against.
The Bruins had convincing wins over the Florida Panthers, Winnipeg Jets, and New Jersey Devils this week. They are first in goals for and against and third on the power play and penalty kill, which is mightily impressive any way you slice it. I don't believe any team has ever finished first in both goals for and against, and it's hard enough to be top five in both.
The Bruins have another game with the New Jersey Devils this week before their big New Year's Dayish showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins, which I'm highly looking forward to.
Things I like
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Cale Makar is making many headlines lately for his sportsmanship after waving off a tripping penalty. Makar tripped on his accord, but the ref called a penalty on Mathew Barzal. It's a normal reaction for an out-of-position ref who sees a player go down and a stick in the area to call it. The overreaction to it is funny. Some say he's doing it to draw a call later, or what about the time he did embellish? But it's a nice gesture, and being honest should happen more. It's sad when we have to applaud someone's honesty. But considering he said he feels guilty and probably wouldn't wave it off next time, I guess it's back to business as usual.
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Alex Ovechkin is breaking all kinds of records lately. He passed Gordie Howe for second in all-time in goals with 802 while breaking the record for most shots on goals with 6218 by passing Ray Bourque. Ovechkin is 259th in shooting percentage at 12.9%. Ovechkin is tied for fourth in most shots on goal in one game with 15. Ray Bourque has that record with 19. Ovechkin is on his way to breaking the empty net goals record. He currently has 54, two shy of Wayne Gretzky. So it won't be too cheap to pass the record using those since Gretzky has about as many.
Things I don't
- I've complained about this before, but the overtime length needs to double to ten minutes. I can't imagine an extra few minutes every few weeks would matter, and it would cut down the shootout amount by about half. Overtimes go quickly too. I turned on the Vegas Golden Knights vs. St. Louis Blues overtime with four minutes left, and the next thing I knew, it was shootout time. They all fly by with barely any stoppages. As soon as games go to shootouts, I turn them off.
Fight of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Brandon Tanev vs Kyle Burroughs
After last week's great slate of fights, this was the only passable one.
Goats of the Week
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets are many things, but they are predominately a bad team. They were sloppy on the powerplay in the first period, gifting the Flyers with the opening goal. The Blue Jackets lost by one, minus the empty net goal.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils didn't have a great game against the Carolina Hurricanes, giving up a shorthanded and this unassisted goal.
Brendan Smith drops a no-look pass in his own zone with a few Hurricanes in the area for some reason, and Stefan Noesen picks up and bounces off Mackenzie Blackwood, who wasn't paying attention.
Stat Line of the Week
12/22/22 Vancouver 6 vs.Seattle 5
| Skater | TOI | G | A | +/- | SOG | Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E. Pettersson | 19:33 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
Elias Pettersson is starting to take it up a notch on his way to becoming an elite player. He had two goals and three assists in a shootout win over the Seattle Kraken. He followed it up with two assists in a win over the Edmonton Oilers. His teammate Bo Horvat had four points in that game. Pettersson is on the way to hitting career highs in goals, assists, and points. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks have won six of their last nine.
Numbers, Numbers
801 – Career NHL points for Jamie Benn in 983 games. He's only been a point-per-game player twice in his career.
200 – Career NHL goals for Tomas Tatar
2 – Goals in eleven seconds by Nic Dowd against the Detroit Red Wings
2 – Shorthanded goals by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes
46 – Saves and a shutout for Ilya Sorokin in a shootout loss against the Colorado Avalanche
568 – Career points for Roman Josi, surpassing David Legwand for most in Nashville Predators history. I had no idea Legwand was first.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
- Carolina
- Pittsburgh
- Washington
- Boston
- NY Rangers
Bottom 5
- Chicago
- Columbus
- Anaheim
- Montreal
- Florida