NHL 2023-24 Recap Week 9 Blues fire their coach, the connorverse, resilient Maple Leafs, Tkachuk screwed

The St. Louis Blues have now made it three, firing their coach, Craig Berube. Only this one made no sense. Berube led them to their only, let me repeat that, only Stanley Cup win, a franchise that has existed since 1967. He should be able to stay as long as he wants. That winning season, he was an interim coach himself. I guess the Blues think lightning will strike twice. Only it won’t because it rarely does. Also, nobody picked the Blues to do anything this season. While they have some talent, it’s not enough. Additionally, Jordan Binnington was red hot and the main reason they won then. That’s not happening again. I feel bad for Berube. They don’t even have the decency to wait for the season to end. It was only a four-game losing streak. The Detroit Pistons are working on a 24-game losing streak, but nothing’s happening there. Being an NHL coach is a thankless job.

The culprit is unrealistic expectations. It’s good that you want to win, that is the point. But most teams don’t have the talent to be a serious contender. In the last 15 years, only the Blues team came out of nowhere to win it all. The other teams had young cores who paid their dues and struggled to get there. Even the Blues made the playoffs six straight years and a conference finals before missing the playoffs the year before the Stanley Cup win. The Blues shed most of their top talent and are developing a new core. They’re in the last wild card spot, too. There’s no way this team is beating the Colorado Avalanche or Dallas Stars in the first round, regardless of their coach. In other words, this was a complete overreaction. They have won both games with the new coach.

Things I like

1. The Connors squared off in the connorverse on ESPN. That would be Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard. Sure, it was corny, but they made a big deal of it, which is good. Realistically, we’re only getting 21 more of them playing each other. That may seem like a lot, but not when spread out over a decade. Bedard scored the first goal, but the Oilers were too much, and McDavid had two assists.

2. Usually, losses don’t feel good, but they are good learning experiences. But in this case, I think a loss should feel great. The Toronto Maple Leafs were down 5-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the start of the third period. But they didn’t feel like they were out of it, nor did the fans. I assume this is because of the playoff comeback wins against the Tampa Bay Lighting. After two quick goals, the fans were chanting, “Let’s go Leafs,” even down three. They scored one more, and then Auston Matthews scored two in the final 90 minutes to force overtime. They may have lost in overtime, but the game was a great character-builder. They followed it up by crushing the Penguins 7-0 without Matthews.

Mitch Marner had a beautiful goal between his legs in the comeback.

https://www.nhl.com/video/cbj-tor-marner-scores-goal-against-elvis-merzlikins-6343140310112

Things I don’t

1. Commissioner Gary Bettman stopped by the ESPN studio to talk about the Stadium Series and All-Star game. He also teased surprises that he wouldn’t divulge because he wanted you to watch the morning show on ABC. No thanks, Gary. Apparently, they’re changing the All-Star skills competition events again. Ugh. Must you change it yearly, Gary? Steve Levy asked P.K Subban what change he would make if he were commissioner for a day. Subban said more ice girls. The Stars have some nice ones. Oh, P.K., I think about girls all the time, too, and the Stars do have some nice ice girls, but geez. While it was “on the spot,” I’m pretty sure they knew the topics beforehand. Regardless, he should have said to make overtime ten minutes.

2. Brady Tkachuk and Pyotr Kochetkov had quite a sequence in the Ottawa Senators vs Carolina Hurricanes game. Kochetkov loses his stick to prevent a goal, and Tkachuk receives a penalty shot. I suppose that’s a judgment call. You can lose your stick during a play, I’ve done so. But this looks like he did it intentionally but made it look accidental. During the penalty shot, Kochetkov goes out to challenge and just takes out Tkachuk’s leg. I don’t know why they gave Tkachuk a misconduct instead of another shot. You can’t deliberately go for someone’s leg. Even if you go for the puck and hit the leg, it’s tripping unless you contact the puck first. I loved poke-checking, but I also got the puck. This is so blatantly bad, like the officiating.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Brady Tkachuk vs Tyler Tucker

Long with tons of punches and some grappling.

Tanner Jeannot vs Dennis Gilbert

A strange one that gets better at the end.

Goats of the Week

Josh Norris - Ottawa Senators

The Senators had a 4-2 lead, and then it all unraveled. This is the game-winner that goes off Norris’s stick. Maybe do something other than just have the stick there.

https://www.nhl.com/video/ott-dal-duchene-scores-goal-against-anton-forsberg-6343260444112

Matt Grzelcyk - Boston Bruins

Grzelyck doesn’t bother to follow Vincent Trocheck, who makes him pay.

https://www.nhl.com/video/nyr-bos-trocheck-scores-goal-against-jeremy-swayman-6343352433112

Stat Line of the Week

12/12/23 Vegas 5 vs.Calgary 4

In a back-and-forth game against the Calgary Flames, Mark Stone had a goal, a power play goal, an assist, and a power play assist. His regular goal was the game-winner when he escaped the defense for a breakaway. As skilled as Stone is, he’s only barely produced over a point per game twice. He’s barely below it now. Stone has never had thirty goals either, and he’s on pace to not reach it again.

https://www.nhl.com/video/cgy-vgk-stone-scores-goal-against-dustin-wolf-6342938958112

Numbers, Numbers

12 – Shootout rounds during Pittsburgh Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens

1004 – Career points for John Tavares, the 98th player to reach that mark

28 – Points by Connor McDavid during his twelve-game scoring streak

4 – Goals by Steven Stamkos against the Edmonton Oilers, surprisingly the first time he’s scored that many

4 – Teams that scored seven goals this week, the Maple Leafs did so twice

6 – Shutouts this week, the Panthers had two

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. Toronto
2. Vegas
3. Vancouver
4. New Jersey
5. Edmonton

Bottom 5

30. Anaheim
31. Chicago
32. Seattle
33. Buffalo
34. Ottawa