It's not every day you back a team on track for 65 points - as favorites, no less - against a perennial playoff side playing at a near 100-point pace.
But the New York Islanders are slowly starting to play better. They've picked up points in five of their last seven games and their expected goals for percentage is just below 50%. While that's nothing to write home about, it's a step in the right direction.
Now they're at home against a Boston Bruins team that's been decimated by COVID-19. The Bruins are top-heavy at the best of times so playing without three top-six forwards - Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, and Craig Smith - will be absolutely crushing.
Don't look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers have won three consecutive games. They've controlled nearly 54% of the expected goals at five-on-five over that time, a sign that the wins aren't just smoke and mirrors.
I like the Flyers to extend their winning streak to four tonight, but this play is more about fading the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens rank dead last in expected goals against per 60 over their last 10 games. They get caved in each and every night and continue bleeding quality chances.
Given Montreal's abundance of injuries, there isn't much reason to expect anything different in the immediate future.
I don't like Cayden Primeau's chances of masking the team's issues. He owns an .883 save percentage through eight NHL appearances and has lost all six games that weren't against the Ottawa Senators, who've been rebuilding since he first played in the league.
Philadelphia seems poised to score in bulk, which should allow it to get things done within 60 minutes.
Bet: Flyers inside regulation (+105)
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.
"The parties are pleased to announce that today's mediation resulted in a confidential settlement between the Blackhawks and Kyle Beach," per a joint statement released by Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, team CEO Danny Wirtz, and Beach's lawyer, Susan Loggans. "The Blackhawks hope that this resolution will bring some measure of peace and closure for Mr. Beach.
"As for the Blackhawks organization, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure that, going forward, this team will be a beacon for professionalism, respect, and integrity in our community. We remain grateful for the trust and support of the Blackhawks community, and we promise to continue working every day to earn and maintain that trust."
Beach alleged that former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted him in 2010 during Chicago's Stanley Cup Final run when Beach was a Black Ace for the team.
He said Blackhawks executives were told about the incident and didn't immediately act upon the information. An independent investigation, which concluded with a detailed report from law firm Jenner & Block in October, subsequently backed up Beach's account.
In the wake of the investigation, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman stepped down and vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac was relieved of his duties. Additionally, Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned. They all held positions with the Blackhawks in 2010.
Aldrich's name has since been crossed off the Stanley Cup.
The Ontario government is implementing 50% capacity limits for sporting events beginning Saturday to combat the spread of COVID-19.
The NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, as well as the NBA's Toronto Raptors, are the teams currently affected by the changes. Ontario is the first NHL or NBA jurisdiction to implement capacity limits this season.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Maple Leafs and Raptors, said it'll provide details to all impacted ticketholders within 24 hours.
There will also be a stricter mask mandate in Toronto's Scotiabank Arena beginning Saturday. Guests will be required to comply with all mask-wearing protocols or risk ejection.
"I know this will be tough, but it's an important step in ensuring we slow the spread of Omicron as we urgently accelerate boosters because, as I said earlier, it's all hands on deck," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday, per CP24's Bryann Aguilar.
The NHL and NBA have both seen outbreaks among players and staff in recent weeks. The Senators had three games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols in November.
The Raptors played in Florida last season due to border closures, while the Maple Leafs and Senators held their shortened 2021 campaign with no fans.
Washington Capitals star Nicklas Backstrom is expected to make his season debut Wednesday night versus the Chicago Blackhawks after being activated from the injured non-roster list, the team announced.
Backstrom has been recovering from an offseason hip injury, beginning the 2021-22 campaign on long-term injured reserve.
The 34-year-old is likely to center the Capitals' top line, as Evgeny Kuznetsov is unavailable Wednesday due to COVID-19 protocol.
Backstrom notched 53 points in 55 games last season. Washington has fared well without the veteran playmaker, sitting atop the Metropolitan Division through 28 contests.
The Calgary Flames' outbreak continues to grow, with the team placing 17 members in COVID-19 protocol Wednesday.
The Flames added seven players, seven support staff, and three coaches, including head coach Darryl Sutter, to the COVID-19 list. Johnny Gaudreau, Jacob Markstrom, and Rasmus Andersson are among the more notable players entering protocol.
The NHL postponed three Flames contests this week after six players were put in protocol Monday.
Calgary sits second in the Pacific Division with a 15-7-6 record.
Throughout December, we’re writing stories about records, spotlighting a fresh or overlooked angle behind sports' biggest milestone chases. Read Part 1 about Steph Curry.
On Jan. 13, 2006, Alex Ovechkin received a pass on the move against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. At his opponent's left faceoff dot, he wired a wrister through two sets of legs - those of the backtracking defenseman and goalie J.S. Giguere - to seal a hat trick in style. This was his 30th career NHL goal and first in overtime.
On Jan. 24, 1986, Wayne Gretzky dispossessed a New Jersey Devils winger and skated with speed into the offensive zone. Down 6-4 earlier in the game, the Edmonton Oilers prevailed 7-6 on Gretzky's snipe past Craig Billington. This was his 466th NHL goal - and first in OT.
Ovechkin is 144 goals shy of Gretzky's all-time record haul. By lighting the lamp 20 times this season, the Washington Capitals captain is on track to pass Jaromir Jagr before the February Olympic break. If he continues at this pace, he'll leapfrog Gordie Howe early next season.
Pursuing Gretzky will headline the stretch run of Ovechkin's career. So, here's a subplot to think about in the meantime: when he retires, how many more goals than Gretzky will he have potted in overtime?
John McCreary, Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
The scoreline is 24-2; Ovi's league-record total dwarfs Gretzky's output in the extra frame. The fourth period existed for 16 of Gretzky's 20 NHL seasons, yet OT goals account for a minuscule 0.22% of his hallowed career sum. Ovechkin has scored twice in OT against Frederik Andersen alone.
Gretzky's peers were more productive in overtime. Mario Lemieux racked up 11 career OT goals; Mark Messier notched eight; Jari Kurri scored seven; Paul MacLean recorded six in 768 fewer games.
This aberration doesn't exactly mar the Great One's legacy. But it's shaped the record chase, morphing into a meaningful edge for Ovechkin as he gets closer to 894.
So what's going on here? Why is Ovechkin far more prolific in OT?
"I think there are probably three reasons," said Randy Gregg, a retired Oilers defenseman who played with Gretzky in the 1980s.
The first reason: despite scoring a ton, Gretzky was a pass-first player, as reflected by his record 1,963 assists. The second: Ovechkin's ice time spikes in OT - the Oilers were able to spell Gretzky by playing Messier, history's best No. 2 center. The third: when Gretzky did skate in the clutch, he tended to magnetize the opponent's attention.
"You'd have to key on the best player in the history of the game," Gregg said in a recent interview. "During the really tense times, either overtime or deep in the playoffs, Wayne would have one or two or three players on him."
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
In 1942, at the outset of the Original Six era, the NHL nixed overtime due to reductions on wartime train travel; to head home postgame, visiting teams had to get to the station pronto. Tie games ended as such for four decades, until the president of the Quebec Nordiques, Marcel Aubut, convinced the league's board of governors in 1983 that reinstating sudden death would excite fans.
OT was back, but other quirks of the era curbed Gretzky's opportunities to score.
One was his squad's firepower, which normalized blowout wins. Between 1983-84 and 1987-88, Gretzky's Oilers won more games by four-plus goals (78) than they settled in OT (65), per Stathead. Edmonton won 17 of those OT games, lost eight, and tied 40. Since Ovechkin's NHL debut, the Capitals have played 314 OT periods, netting a winner in 92 of them.
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
The OT format differed in Gretzky's day. Extra frames were played at five-on-five and no loser point was awarded. Valuing the point that a deadlock guaranteed, most coaches seemed content to play it safe.
"They were happy with ties after 60 minutes and they were happy with ties after 65 minutes," retired NHL goalie Andy Moog, Gretzky and Gregg's longtime Oilers teammate, told theScore recently.
"There wasn't any change in strategy. You didn't go for it to get the extra point."
OT changed to four-on-four in 1999, when the loser point was introduced. Ovechkin scored 15 goals in this configuration and has tallied nine since 2015, when skaters were capped at three-a-side. OT periods now devolve into a track meet or cat-and-mouse affair, as the team with the puck tries to maintain control until it can create a prime scoring chance.
"If you're going to have one shot on net in overtime, who would you want to have it?" Gregg said. "Alex Ovechkin comes to mind."
Gretzky's overtime heroics were scarce but dramatic.
One night in 1983, Gretzky put up eight points in New Jersey and called the Devils a "Mickey Mouse organization" that was ruining the NHL. He apologized for that jab but salted the wound in the 1986 game, stripping Doug Sulliman of the puck in OT to spring himself for the game-winner.
"In my opinion, it was a hook," Billington said postgame to reporters, including United Press International's Tom Shand. "But we're the New Jersey Devils and they're the Oilers and he's Wayne Gretzky."
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
Gretzky's other OT goal was poetic. On Oct. 15, 1989, he returned to Edmonton with the Los Angeles Kings and broke Howe's career points record. Gretzky's record-setting 1,851st point was a backhand goal that tied the score in the last minute of the third period. The game paused for him to greet Howe, hug Messier, and deliver a speech. When it resumed, he beat Bill Ranford in OT on a wraparound.
Then there was playoff Gretzky, who scored four overtime goals. His first - against the Kings in 1982 - won Edmonton the game that preceded the Miracle on Manchester. Gretzky's fourth - against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1993 - capped a power play on which he high-sticked Doug Gilmour and got away with it.
Somehow, Ovechkin has never scored in playoff OT. That blemish aside, his resume is vast and colorful.
Rob Carr / Getty Images
His 2006 snipe against the Atlanta Thrashers, which tickled twine six seconds after puck drop in OT, completed a hat trick and tied the NHL mark for fastest OT goal. Against the Detroit Red Wings in 2017, Ovechkin's power-play blast from the left dot raised the OT goals record to 20. His 24th and most recent, a wrister off the rush last January that beat the Boston Bruins, tied him with Mike Gartner for eighth on the career goals list.
The fact Ovechkin's gaining fast on 894 is "almost inconceivable" to Gregg. The record chase is a tribute to his transcendence. At the same time, it jogs Gregg's memory of everything that made Gretzky superb, which includes his playmaking and unselfishness. Credit where it's due: Gretzky only scored twice in regular-season OT, but he doled out 15 assists.
"All you had to do was get into an opening," said Gregg, who scored once in overtime, off a Gretzky assist in 1987.
"Somehow, with his old piece of lumber - the Titan stick that was about 400 pounds, it seemed like - he could get the puck through sticks, through skates, through legs. And not just to you, but right on your tape, flat as anything."
