Category Archives: Hockey News

Zetterberg calls 10-1 loss to Habs an embarrassment to organization

It was a defeat that will go down as one of the worst in Detroit Red Wings history.

The club was picked apart by the Montreal Canadiens in a 10-1 drumming, a game that had captain Henrik Zetterberg in disgust.

"You basically embarrassed everyone that played with a winged wheel tonight, and we’ve got to live with that," Zetterberg said, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.

"I’ve played professional hockey for 20 years, I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of anything like what happened here tonight," he added.

The 10 goals were the most allowed by the Red Wings in a game since March 30, 2011, when they lost 10-3 to the St. Louis Blues, according to St. James.

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Sabres score 1st goal in over a week

Finally.

The Buffalo Sabres snapped their three-game shutout streak Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it was all for not, as they lost 5-1 anyway.

Prior to Jason Pominville's streak-breaking tally in the third period of Saturday's contest, the last time the Sabres scored was Nov. 24 against the Edmonton Oilers - a span of 232:09 minutes. Woof.

The Sabres are now averaging a league-worst 2.07 goals per game, and are unsurprisingly in last place in the NHL.

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Canadiens erupt for 10 goals, earn 5th straight win

The Montreal Canadiens hit double digits Saturday night, annihilating the Detroit Red Wings 10-1 to pick up their fifth consecutive victory.

Paul Byron scored a pair of breakaway goals and collected his first career hat trick, all before the second intermission.

Seven different Canadiens posted multi-point games, and five of them notched at least three points in the rout. Alex Galchenyuk led Montreal with four, hitting that mark for the first time in his career.

The outpouring of offense produced more than one milestone.

The Canadiens haven't lost since Carey Price returned from injury, and he's allowed only six goals combined in the five wins.

Saturday's blowout was the second time this season an NHL team scored 10 goals in a game, following the Chicago Blackhawks' 10-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins back on Oct. 5.

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Watch: Canucks honor Daniel Sedin for 1,000th point

Daniel Sedin got a hero's welcome in his first home game since hitting quadruple digits.

The Vancouver Canucks paid tribute to the Swedish forward in a pregame ceremony before Saturday night's contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The ceremony included a pre-taped video with a letter read by his mentor, former NHLer Markus Naslund, plus appearances by Thomas Gradin, the former Vancouver center and scout who convinced the club to draft both Sedin twins, and Derek Dorsett, the current Canuck who was recently forced to put his career on hold due to a spinal condition.

Daniel notched his 1,000th career NHL point with a power-play goal Thursday night against the Nashville Predators.

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Flyers’ Voracek: ‘Everything we touch right now turns to s–t’

Warning: Post contains coarse language

The Philadelphia Flyers are the anti-Rumpelstiltskin.

While the fairy-tale character spun straw into gold, things haven't been so magical during the team's current 10-game losing streak, according to Jakub Voracek.

"Everything we touch right now turns to shit," Voracek told TSN's Frank Seravalli on Saturday.

After defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere also dropped some profanity postgame, it's clear there's a lot of frustration in the Flyers' dressing room.

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Flyers lose 10th straight for first time since 2008

It was the same old song and dance for the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.

The team lost a 3-0 decision to the Boston Bruins to push their current losing streak to 10 games, marking the sixth time this season the club has been shut out.

The Flyers' current skid is now their longest since the 2007-2008 campaign, when they dropped 10 straight between Feb. 6 and Feb. 23, according to Dave Isaac of the Courier Post.

However, while the Flyers did lose 10 straight that season, they had the luxury of doing so later in the year and entered the skid with a record of 30-17-5, emerging at 30-25-7.

In the end, the Flyers still finished sixth in the Eastern Conference and managed to make it to the third round of the playoffs before bowing out to the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games.

This time around, the Flyers find themselves with a record of 8-11-7 - the third-worst in the East.

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Watch: Gostisbehere drops postgame F-bomb after Flyers’ skid hits 10

Warning: Video contains coarse language

Shayne Gostisbehere's frustration produced a different F-word Saturday afternoon.

The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman gave a blunt, honest assessment of his club's play after the Boston Bruins handed them their 10th consecutive defeat with a 3-0 shutout.

Like the rest of his teammates, Gostisbehere had a forgettable afternoon, taking a cross-checking penalty for a hit on Brad Marchand less than a minute into a Flyers power play in the second period.

To Gostisbehere's credit, he apologized immediately for his slip of the tongue.

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5 veteran free-agent signings who haven’t worked out

With the quarter mark of the 2017-18 season now firmly in the rear view, we approach the portion of the NHL campaign when teams begin to jockey for playoff position and assess their rosters ahead of a few months of intense puck.

So naturally, we felt it was an excellent time to do some assessing of our own.

Here's a look at a group of five veteran free-agent signings from this summer who are currently leaving their general managers searching for answers.

Patrick Sharp, Chicago Blackhawks

Once a perennial 30-goal man, Sharp has seen his stock steadily decline over the past four seasons. But the Blackhawks still expected him to contribute on a regular basis when he was inked to a one-year deal in July.

Through 25 games, however, Sharp has struggled to find consistency while being shuffled up and down Chicago's lineup.

While few thought Sharp could recapture his 65-plus-point form, his current total of three goals and four assists just won't get the job done, regardless of his relatively cheap price of $800,000.

Sam Gagner, Vancouver Canucks

When Gagner was able to parlay his 18-goal, 32-assist 2016-17 campaign in Columbus into a three-year deal worth $3.15 million a season, Canucks general manager Jim Benning's competence as a front-office executive was questioned once again.

With Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat currently on fire, Gagner's lackluster start of three goals and seven assists have been somewhat masked. Gagner has struggled to find a fit in Vancouver's lineup, and at that price, he needs to be much better.

Radim Vrbata, Florida Panthers

Currently on pace for his lowest goal output since 2013 - a measly 12 - Vrbata is having a tough time hitting his stride in the Sunshine State. So far for the Panthers, Vrbata has been a complete non-factor while playing just under 14 minutes per night on a line with the offensively-challenged Henrik Haapala and Jared McCann.

Until the Panthers find him some better linemates who are more suited to supporting a 36-year-old player with his best days clearly behind him, Vrbata's point total of 11 might not be increasing all that much this year.

Chris Kunitz, Tampa Bay Lightning

The four-time Cup champion moved from one Eastern Conference powerhouse to another when the Lightning signed Kunitz from the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer on a one-year deal.

Despite the decorated mantelpiece, Kunitz has failed to translate his past success to his new club, registering only three goals, four assists, and a Corsi For percentage of 49 across 25 games for the Lightning.

Trevor Daley, Detroit Red Wings

Being the highest-paid player on this list (three-year, $9.5 million), Daley gets the least amount of slack for his poor performance so far this campaign. He was added to Detroit's roster in the summer to bring an element of veteran defensive stability to a Red Wings blue line that allowed the fifth-most goals only one season ago.

Fast forward to today, and the Red Wings are still allowing goals at an alarming rate.

Factor in Daley's one point, minus-5 rating, and a negative Corsi percentage of 48, Detroit is probably wishing it hadn't sunk what it did into this 34-year-old veteran.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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McLellan defends Russell’s character, slams ‘analytic nerds’

After scoring the game-winner for the wrong team Thursday night, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Kris Russell has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Russell spun and fired a shot into his own goal late in the third period versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, throwing away the chance at a crucial two points for his team, and giving way to some relentless mocking online.

But the Oilers are putting the miscue behind them, and head coach Todd McLellan came to defense of his oft-criticized defenseman on Saturday.

Per Tim Campbell of NHL.com:

"Kris Russell is a character individual and that's why our team cares so much about him. Whoever's criticizing this individual probably has never played a competitive sport in their life and if they have and they've been perfect and that event never occurred to them, then they should be in the hall of fame somewhere. Mistakes happen. There was no intent for him to shoot it in our net. That's the one video clip we don't even review. What are we going to look at? But what he means to our team ... and I know all the analytic nerds out there find ways to run him into the ground but he means a lot to our team. Every single one of those players, regardless of the goal the other night he put into his own net will tell you that any day in any place. I'm pretty sure a lot of guys in that locker room down the hallway would tell you the same thing. So analytics that, if you want."

Russell's analytics, though, are quite bad. This season, his Corsi For percentage relative to his teammates is -5.7. That said, the 30-year-old has 11 points in 26 contests to go with 67 blocked shots, which is why the Oilers see him as valuable.

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