Alex Ovechkin scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season on Monday against the Calgary Flames, reaching the 20-goal mark for the 19th consecutive campaign.
Ovechkin joined Gordie Howe and Brendan Shanahan as the only players in NHL history to accomplish the feat. Howe did it in a record 22 consecutive seasons, but Ovechkin is the only one to do it from the beginning of his career.
The Great Eight notched his second of the contest in vintage fashion for career goal No. 843. He's now 51 goals back of tying Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.
Both goals came against Flames rookie Dustin Wolf, who's the 174th goalie Ovi has scored on. Only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored against more netminders.
A relatively clean bill of health has played a major role in Ovechkin's streak, as he's never missed more than 10 games in a season. His streak also survived three different shortened campaigns as a result of the lockout (2012-13) and the pandemic (2019-20 and 2020-21).
Dan and Sat are joined by Don Taylor of Donnie and Dhali to discuss Rick Tocchet's approach to the stretch run, the impact of Dakota Joshua's absence, and more. Also, hear from Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald on how the Sabres are shaping up ahead of their matchup against the Canucks.
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
Dan and Sat get into The Open as they discuss Allvin's recent comments on what could happen with their pending UFA's, the latest on Filip Hronek's next contract, and also talk about some of the new lineup looks in the roundup.
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
After discussing potential tweaks to three-on-three overtime at Monday's general managers meetings, the NHL appears content to leave things as is.
League executive Colin Campbell revealed in November that GMs are exploring changes to the current overtime format to prevent teams from continuously exiting the offensive zone with puck possession. Possible solutions included a shot clock or implementing an over-and-back line, but the ideas apparently haven't gained much traction.
"I think it's working," New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello said of the system in place, per NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika. "I don't think there's any need to make changes. I think if the regroups were causing it to go into a shootout, then you'd have to."
Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said potential changes could overcomplicate OT.
"All of a sudden, now I've got the puck at center ice, and you come and poke it. Did it go over the line? Did it not go over the line? Do we have a video replay on that? It just opens up a can of worms," Nill said.
"Now we're going to have another clock? It's not worth it."
The NHL is on pace to have 70% of its games this season end in overtime, which would mark a new record. In 2014-15, the final campaign before the league implemented three-on-three, 44% of games finished in the extra frame.
"We've looked at it, and we've looked at the percentage, and it hasn't been a problem, we think," Campbell said. "And we think it's exciting."
Vancouver B.C. – The Vancouver Canucks, in collaboration with LiUNA Local 1611 are proud to announce the conclusion of the “Game Changer Reno” contest. The winner, chosen by a select panel of judges, is the Art Holding Memorial Arena in Chase, B.C.!
“We are proud to announce that Art Holding
Troubles for Elias x2! Lindholm and Pettersson get the spotlight from Matt and Blake as offensive struggles continue for the two Swedish centres, especially in the wake of back to back letdown losses for the Canucks.
Jeff Paterson stops by from Rinkwide Vancouver, and points out that the Canucks have blown leads, and very early leads, too often of late and aren’t able to finish the games right now. The nine-game homestead is only 30 percent done, but the Canucks do need to stay above 500 the rest of the way to fully ensure the Oilers don’t catch them, what can Rick Tocchet do to make sure that happens?
The boys also take a look at the farm, with Abby post a big win on the weekend. Plus, the Whitecaps remain undefeated and the NFL quarterback carousel continues! Presented by Applewood Auto Group.
Find year-round coverage of betting news and insights for all sports by visiting our Betting section and subscribing to push notifications.
We're in the throes of March Madness elsewhere in the sports world, while the NHL is truthfully a little sleepy, with a wild-card race that hasn't been turned all the way up yet.
So, while we wait for next month's Stanley Cup Playoffs, let's have some fun and play a "What if" for the NHL, while simultaneously checking in how each team is playing down the stretch.
If the NHL had a midseason tournament like the NBA, only it was one-and-done style like the NCAA Tournament, what would it look like?
Let's find out. Our theoretical bracket's based on the standings through March 17, and we'll use a different core element of hockey handicapping to advance teams in our made-up tournament.
Below are the 16 first-round matchups for what we're calling "Ice Insanity." Like the Stanley Cup Playoffs, teams need to come in playing "playoff-style hockey," since we're picking this round's winners based on teams playing the best since the All-Star break, using a tried and true metric: even-strength expected goals share (ES xG%).
The Red Wings advance thanks to getting one of two matchups that would give them a better xG% since Feb. 1. The Kings and Jets weren't so lucky, as they suffered the biggest theoretical upsets in this not-real exercise. The 2-seed Rangers probably should have suffered the type of upset the actual Stanley Cup Playoffs are known for, but their 46.4% expected goals share was good enough to get past the Ducks. The Golden Knights, the defending Cup champions, weren't so lucky, unable to get away with recent lackluster play.
With the playoffs only a month away, this exercise shines light on teams that may be vulnerable early relative to the betting market, depending on the matchup.
On Friday, we'll look at the Sweet 16 matchups, asking teams: "Is your recent play sustainable beyond a good first-round matchup?"
The cheat sheet
The betting world's dirty little secret is that while there are no bad bets at the right price, the process of discovering a good price is hidden.
Each week, we balance market information from regular-season point totals and in-season advanced metrics - with an even-strength focus - to determine the win probability for each team and the moneyline needed to bet on either side. The idea is to remove the cognitive bias of win-loss records, which can be skewed by outliers like special-team results, poor goaltending performances, and other unreliable events.
You can use whatever parameters you like to decide how much of an edge you need to trigger a bet, but here are mine:
True line favorite of -111 or longer: 1%
True line between -110 and +110: 2.5%
True line underdog of +111 or longer: 4%
I also have a 5% win probability consideration for a team playing the second game of a back-to-back with travel and a 3% consideration for the second leg of a home back-to-back. For injured players, the player's impact on their team's win probability is estimated.
When the betting markets open up the night before, you can compare prices with our "price to bet" column to see if you're getting any value with either side's moneyline. There's a possibility that a moneyline moves into a bet-friendly range at some point between the market opening and puck drop.
DATE
GAME
WIN PROB. (%)
PRICE TO BET
Mar. 18
WSH@CGY
42.4/57.6
WSH +160/CGY -130
BUF@SEA
45.9/54.1
BUF +139/SEA -113
Mar. 19
OTT@BOS
38.2/61.8
OTT +193/BOS -155
WPG@NYR
41.2/58.8
WPG +169/NYR -137
PIT@NJD
45.6/54.4
PIT +141/NJD -115
CBJ@DET
43.1/56.9
CBJ +156/DET -127
TOR@PHI
60.9/39.1
TOR -149/PHI +185
CAR@NYI
58.4/41.6
CAR -135/NYI +166
COL@STL
61.9/38.1
COL -156/STL +193
SJS@NSH
24.2/75.8
SJS +394/NSH -296
MTL@EDM
22.4/77.6
MTL +445/EDM -328
BUF@VAN
47.6/52.4
BUF +122/VAN +100
MIN@ANA
63.9/36.1
MIN -170/ANA +212
TBL@VGK
44.7/55.3
TBL +146/VGK -119
CHI@LAK
24.2/75.8
CHI +395/LAK -297
Mar. 20
TOR@WSH
54.3/45.7
TOR -114/WSH +140
ARI@DAL
26.8/73.2
ARI +339/DAL -260
MIN@LAK
39.3/60.7
MIN +183/LAK -148
Mar. 21
WPG@NJD
41.4/58.6
WPG +168/NJD -136
STL@OTT
42.4/57.6
STL +160/OTT -130
NYR@BOS
46.4/53.6
NYR +136/BOS -111
NYI@DET
54.1/45.9
NYI -113/DET +138
PHI@CAR
25.9/74.1
PHI +357/CAR -272
NSH@FLA
37.4/62.6
NSH +199/FLA -160
BUF@EDM
34.8/65.2
BUF +225/EDM -179
MTL@VAN
35.2/64.8
MTL +221/VAN -176
CHI@ANA
46.8/53.2
CHI +133/ANA -109
SEA@VGK
43.7/56.3
SEA +152/VGK -124
TBL@SJS
63.8/36.2
TBL -169/SJS +211
Matt Russell is the lead betting analyst for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on social media @mrussauthentic.