What a week of crazy NHL games. The Vancouver Canucks scored three unanswered on the Pittsburgh Penguins, who then scored five unanswered, powered by Evgeni Malkin's four points. The Canucks added one more, but it wasn't enough. The Toronto Maple Leafs had a gritty, physical win over the Nashville Predators without Austin Matthews. The Dallas Stars had a victory over the New York Rangers until K'Andre Milker scored with a second left. They won it a minute into overtime after having way too many chances in front of Jake Oettinger. The Calgary games jumped out a 6-1 lead over the Dallas Stars, but the Stars scored four unanswered to lose barely. Meanwhile, the Seattle Kraken had a six-goal first period en route to an 8-5 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Buckle up for the second half of the season and expect tons of goals.
Things I like
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The Boston Bruins finally suffered their first home regulation loss courtesy of the Seattle Kraken, who dominated them throughout most of the game, proving they are for real. The most remarkable thing about the Kraken is their scoring depth. You know you have a team when your fourth line is only scoring ten fewer goals than your top two lines at the halfway point of the season. That's what's going to make them a tough out too. Their biggest weakness is their goaltending. They really need to draft a prospect but only having one draft makes that difficult. They did pick Semyon Vyazovoi, but he's only 19.
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Speaking of teams with scoring depth, there's one team that surprisingly has some, the Edmonton Oilers. Although the Oilers have arguably the best three centers on a team since the Pittsburgh Penguins 20 years ago, they're starting to get help from a cadre of players. Klim Kostin, Kailer Yamamoto, Dylan Holloway, Warren Foegele, Mattias Janmark, and Ryan McLeod have all played a good game in the last few weeks. None of them are top-tier players or consistent, but if a handful have a good game now and then, it gives the Oilers a much better chance of winning. The Oilers scored 13 goals total in back-to-back games this week. But let's just not talk about Connor McDavid's socks. Don't Google that, either.
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Speaking of McDavid, he voiced his displeasure about the shootout. "No one loves the shootout," McDavid said. "It's a crappy way to finish a game." He would love to see it extended to 10, and so would I. He also wants to abolish the shootout in that scenario and end in a tie. I don't see why we can't have ten minutes and then the shootout. In any case, make a change, NHL.
Things I don't
- The Florida Panthers had a rough game in Vegas. I sometimes wonder what coaches think when they challenge certain plays. At the end of the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Panthers game, Panthers' coach Paul Maurice decided to challenge the Golden Knights' goal. Only the puck initially went off Brandon Montour's skate before hitting William Carrier, who was pushed down by Montour and into the goalie. There was no way you could have said it was goaltender interference. I suppose it's worth the challenge because it could become the game-winning goal. The problem is you give them a power play which assures your team a loss. Therefore it's not worth it. They didn't win the challenge, they pulled their goalie to even up the power play, and the Golden Knights of course, scored an empty net goal. They were only in this position because of their gaffe in the first period in the goat of the week section.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Wayne Simmonds vs Nick Foligno
A really great fight and a minute long. It only stopped because Simmonds' jersey went over his head. Fight of the year candidate.
Klim Kostin vs Brendan Lemieux
Lots of punches and a removed jersey.
Tanner Jeannot vs Mark Kastelic
A decent back-and-forth.
Goat of the Week
Florida Panthers
The puck entered the Panthers' zone weirdly during a Golden Knights change, but the Panthers' defensemen weren't paying attention. They were out of position initially and during the pass, and Nicolas Roy took advantage of the confusion.
Frederik Andersen could easily be here, but the Hurricanes won.
Stat Line of the Week
1/11/23 Philadelphia 5 vs. Washington 3
| Skater | TOI | G | A | +/- | SOG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. Konecny | 19:35 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
Travis Konecny has been on fire lately, racking up 20 points in a ten-game span. He's the seventh Philadelphia Flyer to score at least 12 goals and dish eight assists in a ten-game span. Against the Washington Capitals, he had a hat trick off a short-handed, regular and power-play empty net goal. I think that's all the goals you can score. Konecny is on pace for career highs in goals, assists, and points in his seventh season.
Meanwhile, the Flyers are surprisingly 7-1 in their last eight. Carter Hart is playing better too. In their next game against the Capitals, Hart had 39 saves in a win three days later.
Numbers, Numbers
50 – Multi goal games for Leon Draisaitl, tying him with David Pastrnak for 158th all-time
4 – Power play goals by the Los Angeles Kings against the Oilers, the first time they've had four in a game since 2012
7 – Goals gave up by the Ottawa Senators against the Colorado Avalanche. The Senators scored none.
4 – Assists by Moritz Seider against the Winnipeg Jets, the 20th time that a Detroit Red Wings' defenseman has done that in a game in franchise history
41 – Goals scored by the Seattle Kraken in the eight games in January, including two 8 goal games
30 – Shot advantage for the Edmonton Oilers over the Anaheim Ducks
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
- Boston
- Seattle
- New Jersey
- Winnipeg
- Tampa Bay
Bottom 5
- Arizona
- Montreal
- Columbus
- San Jose
- Anaheim
NFL Playoff Thoughts
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It's hard to imagine anyone beating the San Francisco 49ers. I don't see it.
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The Los Angeles Chargers losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars after winning the turnover battle by five and leading 27-0 is pathetic. They've had some heartbreaking losses, but this takes the cake. Brandon Staley has never been a good coach, but this was his worst performance. He's not any better than the coach he replaced, Anthony Lynn. Normally, his decisions to go for it on fourth down doom the team. Instead, it was his play calling and clock management. He never ran in the second half. He wasted his timeout, then used one to challenge a call that was never going to be overturned. It was only a ten-yard catch, anyway. He then didn't use his last one. The Jaguars called a timeout on fourth and one because Doug Pederson saw something. Staley clearly didn't and was not prepared for what Pederson called, which cost them the game. They also should have let them score after that, but I doubt he thought of that. Joey Bosa also got two unsportsmanlike fouls that helped affect the outcome. You shouldn't have to tell a grown man not to do something stupid in a playoff game, but maybe after the first one, you say something to him. He may have, and the camera didn't pick it up, but I doubt it. There's really no value in retaining him as a coach. But a great job by Trevor Lawrence bouncing back from that start.
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The Buffalo Bills are lucky. If Tua Tagovailoa had played, they would have lost. Skylar Thompson is so bad. But he didn't get any help. The Dolphins should have thrown way more screen passes to Hill and Waddle. I have no idea why Thompson was allowed to throw that pass on 3rd and 19 from his own ten. I've also never seen so many delay-of-game penalties on an offense. They had at least three in the fourth quarter, making them waste all their timeouts. If you want to keep injury-prone Tua and Teddy Bridgewater, get a better third-string quarterback.
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It's amazing that Kirk Cousins led that many comeback wins this season. All he does is dink and dunk. Cousins started their final two-minute drive with a four-yard pass and ended it with a three-yard pass on 4th and eight or whatever it was to a covered person. I don't know where Justin Jefferson went, but he makes spectacular catches. You'd think they could throw to him. I always thought Daniel Jones had everything necessary to be a top-tier quarterback but could never put it all together. Maybe now he can. He's off to a great start.
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Of all the stupid things teams did this weekend to shoot themselves in the foot, the way the Baltimore Ravens lost is by far the worst. Tyler Huntley fumbling at the goal line was a 10 to 14-point swing. The Cincinnati Bengals offense was dead. The Ravens would have won. They shouldn't have run that play. A sweep with an RPO is the way to go. Otherwise, know where you are or extend and then bring it back in. They had a chance to come back still, but with stupid penalties, bad clock management, and players losing their balance, it just went on and on. I firmly believe they would have won with Lamar Jackson. Next week's Bills vs. Bengals will feature two teams who are lucky to be there.