The St. Louis Blues have won two straight since firing their coach and hiring Jim Montgomery. They would have made it three straight without a turnover against the Philadelphia Flyers (see below). But this sadly illustrates why NHL teams fire coaches constantly during the season. Because it usually works so it will continue.
Jordan Binnington became the Blues franchise leader in wins with 152. That’s right, 152. The Blues have been around since 1967, 57 years. The Blues goalies have been so bad that no one stuck around long enough to amass a high win total. Binnington has been such a rollercoaster since his rookie season, but he’s by far the best they’ve had in a decade.
Things I like
1.The San Jose Sharks have scored 22 goals in their last four games and won three. In their only loss, they outshot the Ottawa Senators 39 to 11. They’re still at the bottom of the standings with a -18 goal differential but are progressing. Of course, it’s beneficial to get another top-five pick, but that’s hard to tell the players. Only two of their top seven scorers were drafted by them (William Eklund and Macklin Celebrini). The Sharks could still use a goalie, although they took two last drafts.
2.The Washington Capitals are the most surprising team this season. After not making the playoffs two seasons ago, they barely snuck in last season and then were swept, yawn. It’s shocking to find them in the first place in their division especially with Alex Ovechkin injured. It is even stranger they have the best goal differential at +32. Logan Thompson was a great pickup, and the Capitals might boast the only undrafted goalie tandem in the NHL. Almost everyone on the Capitals is having a career year. Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, Tom Wilson, you name them, it’s happening. Whether that can continue remains to be seen. I don’t think they’ll stay in first but the playoffs look like a lock.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Josh Anderson vs Jacob Trouba
There was more twirling than punches, but it was still a good fight.
Goat of the Week
Brandon Saad - St Louis Blues
I can’t tell what happened, but it looked like Saad whiffed on his pass, and Noah Cates recovered and set up the eventual goal by Tyson Foerster. He had plenty of time, and even though it was up the boards with two Blues there, that may not have been the best play. The Flyers won in overtime.
https://www.nhl.com/video/phi-stl-foerster-scores-goal-against-jordan-binnington-6365371064112
Goal of the Week
Mason Marchment - Dallas Stars
A no look spin-o-rama by Marchmant against the Winnipeg Jets.
https://www.nhl.com/video/wpg-dal-marchment-scores-goal-against-connor-hellebuyck-6365395754112
Stat Line of the Week
12/01/24 Vancouver 5 vs. Detroit 4
| Skater | TOI | G | A | +/- | SOG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J.DeBrusk | 21:46 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
After seven seasons with the Boston Bruins, half of which he wanted a trade, Jake DeBrusk finally left on his own. He signed with the Vancouver Canucks this season. DeBrusk scored two goals in the first minute of the second period, the overtime winner and assisted on the game-tying goal. Not too shabby. DeBrusj is on pace to match his season-high numbers of 2022-23. I’m sure he’s happier to be closer to home too.
Numbers, Numbers
2 – Goalies that have won a game as a teenager and an adult, Marc Andre Fleury joined Martin Brodeur
589 – Career assist for Victor Hedman surpassing Martin St Louis for first in Tampa Bay Lightning history
313 – Career assists for Quinn Hughes surpassing Alex Edler for first in Vancouver Canucks history
5 – Overtime losses by Juuse Saros and the Nashville Predators, including three straight
700 – Games played for David Pastrnak
3 – Goals by the Boston Bruins in a one minute and ten seconds span in the Bruins win over the Canadiens
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
- Washington
- Toronto
- Edmonton
- Philadelphia
- Minnesota
Bottom 5
- Nashville
- Chicago
- NY Islanders
- Ottawa
- Montreal
NFL Thoughts
The Chicago Bears are a badly coached team. Coach Matt Eberflus was finally put out of his misery and fired. His decision-making at the end of games was abysmal. But I will defend him slightly against the Detroit Lions. I understand why he wanted to preserve the timeout. It was third down, so he couldn’t spike the ball after the play. The timeout allowed them to throw the ball to any area of the field, which is what I would have done. But if you see your team struggling, you should probably call it or, at the very least, be yelling from the sidelines to get them where they need to be. He literally did nothing.
But Caleb Williams shares just as much blame in this debacle. He can’t take that sack. He has to throw it away. He also needs to get the people to the line faster. I realize he can’t carry them to the line, but he clearly wasn’t doing enough. I gave him slack because he took forever to snap the ball, but the wide receivers took forever to get in position. But he also could have called the timeout. His excuse of I can’t because I’m a rookie doesn’t track because he called a timeout earlier in the game. Plus, he changed the play to an endzone shot when he realized the time left. If he can change the play, he can call the timeout. But he didn’t need to because the Tampa Bay Buccaners picked up five yards on Sunday with six seconds left and a timeout. Such a badly coached team, and Eberflus deserved to go.