Kucherov scores twice as Lightning down Red Wings
DETROIT (AP) Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal of the game with 18:13 remaining in the third period, lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.
Tyler Johnson also scored for the Lightning, who now have the NHL's top record after winning their fourth game in a row. Justin Abdelkader and Mike Green scored in the second period to help Detroit erase a 2-0 deficit, but Kucherov broke the tie early in the third with his seventh goal of the season.
Kucherov reached out with one hand on his stick and barely got a piece of a loose puck in front of the net, deflecting it under Jimmy Howard and slowly into the net.
Kucherov had exactly one goal in each of Tampa Bay's first five games this season, and he added two more Monday. He's now second in the league in goals, two behind Washington's Alex Ovechkin.
Johnson opened the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first period, collecting the puck near his own blue line and outskating Trevor Daley the other way before beating Howard. Kucherov scored on a power play 101 seconds later with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Abdelkader's goal came after some extensive deliberation by the officials. He was hooked from behind by Victor Hedman on a breakaway, but he was able to get a shot off. Andrei Vasilevskiy made the save, and Abdelkader went sliding into him. Detroit's Darren Helm, who was trailing the play, put the rebound into the net.
After a review, officials took the goal away, ruling that Abdelkader had interfered with the goalie and Hedman was guilty of a hooking penalty. After additional discussion, Abdelkader was given a penalty shot, which he converted.
Green's tying goal was set up by Tomas Tatar, who started a rush with some impressive stickhandling in his own zone, and then eventually passed to Green, who followed his own shot and scored on the rebound.
UP NEXT
Lightning: Visit New Jersey on Tuesday night.
Red Wings: Visit Toronto on Wednesday night.
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Senators’ Boucher: Karlsson the ‘best player in the world’
Step aside Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson is the NHL's top player, or so says his coach.
"I think he's the best player in the world," Senators bench boss Guy Boucher told reporters Monday. "He has an impact on everything. Your breakouts, your transition, your offensive zone, your power play, your defensive play. (He's) your leader. He is who he is. He is such a presence."
Karlsson - who missed the Senators' first five regular-season games as he's continued to recover from offseason foot surgery - will be back in the lineup Tuesday when Ottawa takes on the Vancouver Canucks.
His return comes on the heels of what many pundits projected to be a tough go for the Senators without their captain in the lineup. But just the opposite occurred, as Ottawa holds a 3-0-2 record on the season and is one of just two clubs to remain undefeated in regulation time.
That includes the club's recent Western Canadian road swing, where the Senators went a perfect 3-0 for the first time in franchise history, a trip that was highlighted by back-to-back blowout wins over the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
"It's time. We did well without him," Boucher added. "A lot of people talked about the word 'survive' before he gets back, but I think the players should get all the credit for not just surviving but growing and every day wanting to get better.
"Erik comes in and the first thing he said, 'Let's just keep getting better.' I think we have everybody on the same page. Erik coming in is going to continue to help us do that."
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Minor-pro league will allow top teams to choose playoff opponent
Minor-league sports fans are accustomed to seeing their teams use gimmicks in order to drive interest.
But the Southern Professional Hockey League has taken things a step further, implementing a new initiative that will impact the on-ice play.
The SPHL announced its new playoff format Monday, which will see the top three teams in the standings hand pick their postseason opponent. The league is home to 10 teams, with the top eight clubs qualifying for the postseason.
The new arrangement, known as the Challenge Round, will see the top three teams select from the other five playoff clubs, with the team with the most points earning the right to pick first. The remaining two teams will then face off against each other in the opening round of the playoffs.
The SPHL was founded in 2004 and is three tiers below the NHL. In 2014, Carolina Hurricanes netminder Scott Darling - who once played for the SPHL's Louisiana IceGators and the Mississippi RiverKings - became the first league alumnus to make it to the NHL.
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Olczyk returns to booth as he continues cancer battle
NHL on NBC color commentator Eddie Olczyk is set to make his return to the broadcast booth just two months after being diagnosed with colon cancer.
Olczyk will be part of Wednesday's broadcast, a rivalry-night showdown between the Central Division's Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues.
Olczyk, 51, has completed three rounds of chemotherapy, and will work when his health allows.
"We have some dates that we have highlighted and hopefully I will be strong enough to do the job," Olczyk told Kevin Allen of USA Today. "If I am not feeling good, I just have to be honest with everyone and tell them I can't do it.
"Doing what I love to do will help me pass the time. Looking at the calendar hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month gets a little long."
Prior to becoming a broadcaster, Olczyk spent 16 seasons in the NHL, lacing up the skates for six different clubs prior to his retirement in 2000. He later coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for part of two seasons.
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Olczyk returns to booth as he continues cancer battle
NHL on NBC color commentator Eddie Olczyk is set to make his return to the broadcast booth just two months after being diagnosed with colon cancer.
Olczyk will be part of Wednesday's broadcast, a rivalry-night showdown between the Central Division's Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues.
Olczyk, 51, has completed three rounds of chemotherapy, and will work when his health allows.
"We have some dates that we have highlighted and hopefully I will be strong enough to do the job," Olczyk told Kevin Allen of USA Today. "If I am not feeling good, I just have to be honest with everyone and tell them I can't do it.
"Doing what I love to do will help me pass the time. Looking at the calendar hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month gets a little long."
Prior to becoming a broadcaster, Olczyk spent 16 seasons in the NHL, lacing up the skates for six different clubs prior to his retirement in 2000. He later coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for part of two seasons.
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Golden Knights apologize for tweets that were ‘in poor taste’
The Vegas Golden Knights' social media department hasn't been shy about pushing the envelope since arriving in the NHL, but on Monday, they admitted they went too far.
"Before Sunday's game against the Boston Bruins, we issued a series of tweets quoting a Boston-based movie with a bear as its main character that were in poor taste," the Golden Knights wrote to USA TODAY Sports via email.
"By no means were the tweets intended to disparage females or female hockey players in any way. We do not condone sexism in any form and fully support the inclusive culture of hockey that makes our sport great. We accept full responsibility for our actions and apologize to those who were offended."
Here were the tweets, before they were deleted:
The female names are apparently referenced in the movie "Ted," a Seth MacFarlane comedy from 2012 starring Boston native Mark Wahlberg and featuring a talking teddy bear.
Athlete Ally, which "educates and activates athletic communities to eliminate homophobia and transphobia in sports," wrote in a statement that, "These (sexist) acts have no place in sport or society."
The organization's founder and executive director, Hudson Taylor, added the following:
This is just another example of how sport systematically attempts to degrade women and teach boys and men that women are inferior. Now more than ever, we need men to stand up and speak out against the sexism that’s pervasive in sport and society.
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Ehlers rides 5-goal week to 1st star honors
Nikolaj Ehlers is the NHL's latest recipient of its first star of the week distinction.
The Winnipeg Jets forward racked up five goals - including a natural hat trick and two game-winners - to go along with two assists in three victories.
Toronto Maple Leafs sophomore sensation Auston Matthews picked up second star of the week honors with four goals - including two overtime winners - in three games.
Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom claimed the third star of the week after piling up nine points in four games.
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Canadiens, Streit agree to terminate contract
Mark Streit's reunion with the Montreal Canadiens is officially over.
The club revealed Monday that a mutual agreement was reached with the veteran defenseman in order to terminate his contract.
Streit was waived last week after Montreal was reportedly shopping him. He chose not to report to the AHL after going unclaimed by all other NHL clubs on the wire.
The 39-year-old signed a one-year deal to return to the Canadiens in July.
He played his first three NHL seasons with the organization from 2005-06 to 2007-08, after being selected by Montreal in the ninth round of the 2004 draft.
Streit's return to the Canadiens lasted only two games, during which he was held off the scoresheet while averaging a mere 14:13 in ice time.
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3 reasons why the Red Wings’ hot start is a mirage
The Detroit Red Wings are doing their best to dispel most preseason predictions, but there are several signs that the club's encouraging start is unsustainable.
Let's get the obligatory "it's early" disclaimer out of the way, because that's always a critical caveat when looking at standings or statistics through five games, or what amounts to six percent of the Red Wings' regular-season schedule.
It's not just the notion of typical early-season wackiness that should curb Detroit's enthusiasm over its 4-1-0 record.
Here are three other reasons why the Red Wings aren't likely to maintain the success they've enjoyed so far:
Their opponents
Detroit opened its season with an impressive win over the Minnesota Wild, a consistently competitive club many expect to challenge for the Central Division crown.
But then, they needed a shootout to beat the Ottawa Senators and lost to a Dallas Stars team that's still trying to gel, while their two other wins came against the Vegas Golden Knights - a terrific story, but another likely mirage - and the Arizona Coyotes.
The reality check will begin Monday night, when the Red Wings battle the Tampa Bay Lightning - a team many have pegged to win the Stanley Cup in the spring - followed by a road date with the dynamic Toronto Maple Leafs, and then a meeting with the explosive Washington Capitals on Friday.
How the Red Wings fare in those three contests will be telling, regardless of the remaining schedule.
The underlying numbers
On the surface, there's a lot to like about Detroit's first handful of games. The Red Wings boast the NHL's fourth-most effective penalty kill (91.3 percent), and the 11th-best power play (22.2). They're in the top 10 in goals per game (3.4) and rank seventh in goals allowed per contest (2.4).
But a closer look at more meaningful figures shows the club is not as good as it appears.
The Red Wings are 16th in Corsi For percentage at even strength (49.77), according to Corsica Hockey. That tells us that while their special teams play has been effective, they're being outplayed at even strength.
Detroit has a plus-6 goal differential through five games, a mark bested so far by only five clubs, but a team shooting percentage of 9.73 and a PDO of 101.9 (via FirstLineStats) indicate regression is likely coming.
Howard isn't this good, even if Mrazek isn't this bad
Again, we're dealing with an extremely small sample size here, but that doesn't mean we can't put things in context.
Jimmy Howard is 3-0-0 with a .955 save percentage in three games, which is above average in a limited time frame, but a quick glance at his career numbers and his age give reason to believe it's not sustainable.
The 33-year-old's career save percentage is .916, and while he posted a stellar .927 figure last season, that was in only 26 games. The .955 mark is bound to come down.
Petr Mrazek is better than the .898 save percentage he has through two appearances, but his career mark of .913 shows he's not better by much.
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