Good action around the league tonight. Chicago/Montreal, Pittsburgh/Minny and LA/Dallas. NBCSN has STL/NJ.
November NHL Game Thread
- Thread starter cshea
- Start date
Habs down 3-0 to Chicago. Finally crashing back to earth a bit.
My Western Conference binky, the Flames, win 4-3 in OT at Washington. 8-4-2 start for Calgary.
My Western Conference binky, the Flames, win 4-3 in OT at Washington. 8-4-2 start for Calgary.
The Devils are SOOOOO slow. Once again, they spend 60 minutes chasing another team around the ice, always just a step behind. And this was a good effort on their part against a team on the second night of a back-to-back. Jaromir Jagr has six assists so far this season. He should have 20 but none of the players he sets up has the ability to put it away...and I'm looking at YOU, Travis Zajac. Most of the old guys are terrible...Elias, Zidlicky, Salvador, Ryder and 13 players on this roster are 31 years and older. Hey, don't get me wrong, this team would be fine...if it was 1999. But the game has changed and is a lot faster now. Somebody should tell Lou.
This is an elbowing minor on Wayne Simmonds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K46okB8fNJE
This is an awful call.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K46okB8fNJE
This is an awful call.
Zajac might have the worst contract in the NHLPumpsie said:
5.75 for SIX MORE YEARS for a player who's basically not good at anything.
Well, he certainly can't hold onto the puck or shoot. He had a couple of solid years 2008-2010 but really has not developed further and seems to be regressing.mikeford said:
Yeah, that's pretty bad. Will be interesting to see if he gets one of those dive fines or whatever the heck it was. Maybe we should start fining refs too.AMcGhie said:
New Jersey's problem is that, for whatever reason, they don't like to shoot the puck. Since the beginning of last season they have been one of the top possession teams in the league, but they are bottom 5 in shot attempts.
Is this an attempt at a burn or a zing? This doesn't even make sense. You're better than this. Do better.FL4WL3SS said:
It's their system. They keep control of the puck along the boards but simply don't get it in front of the net. I think it's about not understanding the new stats. Someone correlated puck control to wins and so the Devils focus on puck control. Unfortunately, no one told them that you have to shoot the puck to score goals and that the best place to do that from is in the slot area. The only guy who seems to understand this is Jagr who is always looking to set up a linemate in front of the net. Unfortunately, his linemates are Travis Zajac and Dainius Zubrus who always act like the puck is a hand grenade when they find it on their stick with a scoring opportunity. Frustrating to watch.cshea said:
I don't think it was a dive. I think he legitimately ran into Simmonds' elbow. Obviously, it was a ridiculous penalty.The Napkin said:
Pretty dirty play by Byfuglien who cross checked a Penguin from behind into the boards after he scored on a break away. But the Pen was Downie so, you know, I'm kind of torn.
https://vine.co/v/OegtL5xI9mu
https://vine.co/v/OegtL5xI9mu
Late getting back on this, but they really need to hammer Byfuglien on this. I'm too lazy to look it up but I think Dale Hunter got 25 for the Pierre Turgeon incident? I'd give Buff 10 games at minimum. And I don't particularly care that it's Steve Downie, he wasn't Downie'ing, he was scoring a goal.
Apparently there's still some life left in the struggling Avalanche. They got down 4-0 to the Flyers, Iginla fought Brayden Schenn, and they then scored 3 in the 3rd and had a power play chance to tie it with 2:40 left. Roy of course pulled his goalie, but it didn't happen. Colorado has a ton of talent but wow are they sloppy in their own end.
Apparently there's still some life left in the struggling Avalanche. They got down 4-0 to the Flyers, Iginla fought Brayden Schenn, and they then scored 3 in the 3rd and had a power play chance to tie it with 2:40 left. Roy of course pulled his goalie, but it didn't happen. Colorado has a ton of talent but wow are they sloppy in their own end.
Fat chance. On the ice, the refs evened it up so that Winnipeg didn't even go down a man. I hate the Penguins, but that's absurd. The NHL should not tolerate that garbage.MoGator71 said:
Last night's shootout in the Lightning-Red Wings game was Ben Bishop against Jimmy Howard, and the first shooter was Gustav Nyquist. Pretty good showing for UMaine.
mikeford said:
Yea, them and Edmonton. And neither team seems particularly interested in addressing it.
Fred in Lynn said:
Normally I'm OK with them evening it up, because usually the hit that started it all was something borderline that everybody overreacts to. But that hit was way over the line...guess I'll have to shelve my whole "refs love the Pens" complaint. For awhile at least.
The Avs are a fun team to follow from an analytics perspective. They somehow finished with 116 points and won a very tough division last year despite being a bottom 5 team in both Corsi and Fenwick. They were predicted to crash and burn this year based off unsustainable shooting and save percentages, and that appears to be happening.
I read an article by Scott Cullen on TSN a week ago that touched on the Avs a bit. Oddly enough, they were one of the top teams in the league in actual offensive zone time, but they still had miserable shot metrics. How does this happen? Here's the article for anyone interested. It also included some good stuff on player tracking.
http://www.tsn.ca/statistically-speaking-zone-time-shot-metrics-and-the-evolution-of-hockey-analytics-1.125198
I read an article by Scott Cullen on TSN a week ago that touched on the Avs a bit. Oddly enough, they were one of the top teams in the league in actual offensive zone time, but they still had miserable shot metrics. How does this happen? Here's the article for anyone interested. It also included some good stuff on player tracking.
http://www.tsn.ca/statistically-speaking-zone-time-shot-metrics-and-the-evolution-of-hockey-analytics-1.125198
And here is why they don't give a shit...Greg29fan said:
https://vine.co/v/MALBHHDIH9W
Edit: I guess that's an old highlight.
Speaking of McDavid, looks like he may have broken his hand during a fight tonight
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/connor-mcdavid-injures-hand-in-fight--punching-glass--video-003928475.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/connor-mcdavid-injures-hand-in-fight--punching-glass--video-003928475.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw
Bryce Salvador goes down with an injury and the Devils bring up a young, big defenseman named Seth Helgeson and the Devils have won 3-1 and 1-0 since. Perhaps, the Devils brass might get the clue. Maybe Salvador can have a season-ending injury.
Also, the only goal tonight came when Jaromir Jagr tapped Holtby's stick just as the goalie was trying to clear the puck from behind the net. The puck ended up on Cammelleri's stick and that was that. Jagr has hockey smarts up the yin-yang.
Also, the only goal tonight came when Jaromir Jagr tapped Holtby's stick just as the goalie was trying to clear the puck from behind the net. The puck ended up on Cammelleri's stick and that was that. Jagr has hockey smarts up the yin-yang.
Columbus lost 9 in a row until the won tonight in Philly. I suppose they were due, but when you get a team with a ton of injuries - 3 of their better forwards and their starting goalie - you're supposed to take advantage. Voracek did have a couple points to tie Sid for the scoring lead, depending on what Sid did tonight.
We're 8-8 on the PK since a certain horrible defenseman left the lineup as well.Pumpsie said:
The only person not noticing this, I'm sure, is Lead DeBlower
Anybody watch the Hall of Fame ceremony before the Penguins-Leafs game last night? Pat Burns' wife accepted the honors on his behalf, and gave a sweet little Burnsian fist pump. But what was more interesting to me was that Mike Modano might look better than he did in his playing days. The guy looks like he's barely 30.
In other news, Martin Hanzal scored three straight goals to put the Coyotes up 3-0 on the Canucks last night. They would win 5-0. His second goal looked like a blatant high stick, but whatever!
In other news, Martin Hanzal scored three straight goals to put the Coyotes up 3-0 on the Canucks last night. They would win 5-0. His second goal looked like a blatant high stick, but whatever!
I just want an excuse to post this video of Mike Modano. Come for the cheap shot, stay for the 1 minute-ish mark for comedy gold.
http://youtu.be/DmfMQ8wx5k0
http://youtu.be/DmfMQ8wx5k0
If you live long enough, you will see everything.
The Jets, a franchise I used to have an emotional attachment to, have a good defense. They are tied for second in the league with Chicago and behind St Louis for lowest Goals Against per game at 2.00.
Zach Bogosian seems to finally have some hockey sense. He's always had the physical talent. The kid, Jacob Trouba is a beast. Moving Byfuglien off the blue line where he was a defensive liability was always an obvious move. And ultimately, Paul Maurice and staff must get some big credit.
The Jets, a franchise I used to have an emotional attachment to, have a good defense. They are tied for second in the league with Chicago and behind St Louis for lowest Goals Against per game at 2.00.
Zach Bogosian seems to finally have some hockey sense. He's always had the physical talent. The kid, Jacob Trouba is a beast. Moving Byfuglien off the blue line where he was a defensive liability was always an obvious move. And ultimately, Paul Maurice and staff must get some big credit.
Yeah, he's hard to figure out. As soon as you start thinking that he could be a solid NHL goalie, he gives up a backbreaker out of nowhere like tonight. He either cleans that up or he's going to end up a career back-up goalie. And he's gotta stop giving up sharp-angle goals. Those should never go in. The difference in the game tonight was the goalies.mikeford said:
kenneycb said:
The second most ridiculous thing about that incident is that Modano only missed 1 game
The Islanders traded that kid for Cal Clutterbuck.
In case you were wondering if they were still run by morons or not.
kenneycb said:
Holy hell, I had never seen this. Thank you. I just laughed for about 10 minutes.