#Marchand’s Overtime Goal Gives Bruins Series Lead | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

uncleleo16 · 7 years

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Game 1 Preview

Time: 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: Verizon Center, Washington D.C.

Maple Leafs Last 5 Games: 2-3-0

Capitals Last 5 Games: 4-1-0

Season Series Against Each Other: 2-1-0 Capitals

Key Injuries: Washington healthy with John Carlson expected to play Game 1, The Maple Leafs are without Nikita Zaitsev for Game 1 with a upper body injury, Roman Polak likely to play Game 1 after suffering a lower body injury on Sunday. Eric Fehr out with a broken hand and Nikita Soshnikov has been out since March 22nd with an undisclosed injury.

Maple Leafs Starting Line-Up Prediction:

LW C RW Leo Komarov Nazem Kadri Connor Brown Zach Hyman Auston Matthews William Nylander James Van Riemsdyk Tyler Bozak Mitch Marner Matt Martin Brian Boyle Kasperi Kapanen

D D GK Morgan Rielly Roman Polak Frederik Andersen Jake Gardiner Connor Carrick Curtis McElhinney Martin Marincin Matt Hunwick

Healthy Scratches: D- Alexey Marchenko, F- Josh Leivo, F- Ben Smith Injured Reserve: D- Nikita Zaitsev, F- Nikita Soshnikov, F- Eric Fehr

Keys To the Game For Toronto:

Play Physical every shift making it difficult for Washington’s Stars to get going offensively

Use Speed to get quick offensive outlets and good scoring opportunities

Face-offs will be key against the Capitals, especially in the defensive end.

Play Smart Defensively. Don’t make fancy plays or try for something clever, just get the puck out and dump it into the Capitals end. Getting the puck out of the Defensive end will be important to limit the Capitals.

Special Teams. The Leafs have the 2nd best Power-play and the 10th best Penalty Kill. The Capitals have the 3rd best Power-play and the 7th best Penalty Kill. Which ever team is successful on their special teams will have a huge advantage in the series.

Enjoy the Moment. The Maple Leafs haven’t made the playoffs since 2013 in the lockout shortened season and haven’t made the playoffs in a full 82 game season since 2004. Alexander Ovechkin was drafted by the Capitals in 2004, just to give perspective as to how long the Maple Leafs have waited for another opportunity. The pressure also is on the President Trophy winning Capitals and the Maple Leafs aren’t predicted to win more than 1 game in the series by experts so no pressure at all. The season has already been beyond successful and making the playoffs is just a bonus in giving the young rookies valuable playoff experience.

Oddly Specific Prediction: The first goal of the game is scored by a defenseman. Bonus points if it is Roman Polak who has 4 goals this year.

10 Quick Notes from around the League:

Bruins beat the Senators 2-1 in Game 1 of their series with Brad Marchand scoring a late third period goal for the win.

Henrik Lundqvist records a 2-0 shutout win over Montreal in Game 1 of their series making 31 saves in that performance.

Rangers 4th Line forward Tanner Glass scores the first goal of the Playoffs and is the only Ranger Forward to beat Carey Price. It’s his 2nd playoff goal in 61 games.

Marc-Andre Fleury makes a surprise start for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the absence of Matt Murray and leads his team to a 3-1 victory over Columbus. Game 2 is Friday night at 7 in Pittsburgh.

The Minnesota Wild out shoot the St. Louis Blues 52-26 and lose 2-1 in Overtime thanks to Joel Edmundson scoring the winner and Jake Allen making an unbelievable 51 Saves in the victory.

Vladimir Sobotka recently joined the Blues from the KHL for their playoff run and scored 1 goal in 1 regular season and scored once last night in the victory to continue his small goal streak since rejoining the NHL.

The San Jose Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in Overtime after Melker Karlsson beat Cam Talbot on wrist shot. The Oilers only managed 19 shots in the game.

The Predators and Blackhawks start Game 1 on their series tonight at 8:00 EST on NBC and the Flames/Ducks series starts at 10:30 on NBCSN and CBC.

The Vegas Golden Knights sign former Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets Coach Gerard Gallant as the teams Head Coach for the upcoming season.

A recent report suggest that Ken Hitchcock will be the new coach of the Dallas Stars. He will be joining the team that he Coached to a Stanley Cup in 1999. Hitchcock has spent the past 6 seasons in St. Louis.

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blogfernsonthayassslove · 3 years

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Marchand’s Overtime Goal Gives Bruins Series Lead

ซื้อฟรีสปิน When Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand stepped onto the ice for a shift in overtime, the first-line left wing needed just four seconds to win the game for the Black and Gold. Marchand collected a pass fromCharlie McAvoy at the New York Islanders‘ blue line, skated down the left boards and his shot from a tough angle found its way past Isles goalie Semyon Varlamov and into the net for a 2-1 victory in Game 3 Thursday night.Marchand’s game-winning goal was his 102nd career playoff point and gives the Bruins a 2-1 series lead in their best-of-seven series at a rocking Nassau Coliseum. Game 4 is 7:15 Saturday night back on Long Island.The Bruins took an early lead in the first period when Craig Smith returned to the lineup after missing Game 2 with a lower-body injury and ripped a wrist shot over Varlamov’s shoulder at 5:52.Taylor Hallhad the primary assist on Smith’s goal, but it was the backcheck that the former Hart Trophy winner did right before the goal was a big reason the goal happened.Marchand’s goal ended the game and if the Bruins had lost, it would have been a tough loss for them to suffer. Boston outplayed the Islanders in parts of the game, but was frustrated by Varlamov. In the second period, Varlamov made a pad save on a David Krejci one-timer, and then at the end of the period, he stopped Nick Ritchie, who was alone in the slot. Varlamov has frustrated the Bruins this season with a 6-1 record in the regularseason and the postseason. In the third period, the Black and Gold outshot New York, 21-9, but again could not get a shot past theRussian goalie.

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thechampionrings-blog · 5 years

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Blues beat Bruins 3-2 in OT, May 29, 2019

Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson bumped into coach Craig Berube in the bathroom before the start of overtime and told him: "I just need one more." "He hit the post in the third there, and he just felt good about himself, obviously. Which he should have," Berube said. "I liked hearing it."

After clanging the potential winner off the post in the final two-minutes of regulation, Gunnarsson scored on a delayed penalty 3:51 into overtime to give St. Louis a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins (Boston Bruins championship rings) and tie the Stanley Cup Final at a game apiece. Jordan Binnington made 21 saves, and Robert Bortuzzo and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in regulation to send a game in the championship series to overtime for the first time since 2016. It was the Blues' first victory in the Stanley Cup Final in franchise history after 13 straight losses.

"I guess that's a little bonus and pretty cool if you think about it that way," Gunnarsson said. "We're pretty sure we're not going to stop here." Charlie Coyle and Joakim Nordstrom scored and Tuukka Rask made 33 saves for Boston (championship rings for sale), which won 4-2 in Game 1 on Monday night for their eighth straight postseason victory. Game 3 is Saturday night in St. Louis. Gunnarsson also assisted on Bortuzzo's first-period goal and then hit the post behind Rask with about 2 minutes left in regulation. In the final minute, Boston's David Pastrnak had a chance off a faceoff, but Binnington turned it away. "Would have loved to have it in the third, but who cares?" Gunnarsson said on the ice moments after the victory. "It's great, taking this home."

After a furious first period that ended in a 2-all tie, the teams went on defense in the second. Despite four penalties, including a high-sticking, blood-drawing double-minor against Boston's Connor Clifton, neither team was able to score. It stayed tied through a hard-hitting third period, with both teams failing to convert good scoring chances and avoid overtime. But after the break, it was all Blues.

Boston (nhl championship rings for sale) did not get off a shot in the overtime, and the Eastern Conference champs struggled to clear it out of their own zone. Alexander Steen drew a hooking penalty in front of the net, and the Blues pulled Binnington for an extra skater. Gunnarsson worked it around to the blue line, passed it to Oskar Sundqvist and then got it back for a rifle shot over Rask's stick side into the corner of the net. "He got a second chance at it and made the most of it," forward Brayden Schenn said. "The boys are happy for him." Gunnarsson also fed Bortuzzo midway through the first period for a shot that deflected off Matt Grzelcyk's stick past Rask to make it 1-1.

Nordstrom scored just 40 seconds later to give Boston a 2-1 lead, but that lasted less than five minutes before Tarasenko took advantage of a mistake by Brad Marchand and lifted the puck over Rask with a second effort to tie the score again at 2. "It was kind of like a crazy first. We got the lead, tie, lead, tie, kind of bounced back and forth," Rask said. "It probably wasn't our best game today." Grzelcyk left with about two minutes left in the first period after taking an elbow to the back of the head from Sundqvist. He left the arena for a hospital; Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said he had no other update. The Bruins did not score on the ensuing power play. "They seemed to play with more urgency than they did in Game 1. We played with less. They were on top of us, tighter than in the first game. We didn't seem to win as many races as we did in Game 1," Cassidy said. "Some of that was self-inflicted. Some of that was how they played."

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light-the-lamp-media-blog · 5 years

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December 9th, 2018 NHL Quick Hit Night Game Reviews

Krug’s overtime goal lifts Bruins over Senators

The Boston Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1 in overtime last night at the Canadien Tire Center in Ottawa. The Bruins now take a 3-0 lead in the season series. Brad Marchand would tie the game for Boston in the second period, which would eventually force overtime. Torey Krug would be the hero for Boston, giving them the victory. Those would be…

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#Anaheim Ducks #Boston Bruins #Calgary Flames #Chicago Blackhawks #Dallas Stars #Edmonton Oilers #Montreal Canadiens #New Jersey Devils #NHL #NHL Game Reviews #Ottawa Senators #Vegas Golden Knights

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maysoper · 6 years

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Hibernation Season Begins

Some will say that the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins were fairly even teams, and I would agree for the most part when just talking about the rosters on paper. The problem is that these series aren't played on paper, so making these comparisons are often futile when one brings in actual factors. I heard some suggest that this series was lost when Brad Marchand licked Ryan Callahan in Game Four. Others pointed to Game Two when the Lightning really established their physical game and forecheck. For me, there was one factor that made the Lightning on overwhelming favorite long before this series even started. I have been doing some radio work for CBC as stations across Canada have been asking for my input on the Jets and Predators, but they also ask about the other series that are happening. When it came to the Lightning and Bruins, I repeated the same lines to every single station that asked. I was concerned about how the Bruins would respond to the depth and speed of the Lightning after the Lightning played just five games against the Devils while the Bruins needed the full seven games to eliminate the Maple Leafs. In short, I thought the Bruins looked exhausted in the four-straight losses they suffered after winning Game One. In fact, I thought the Lightning not only established their game early in Game Two, but never really let Boston dictate the pace or tempo from that point onward in this series. Let's not discredit the Lightning for what they did in this series. Brayden Point outplayed the majority of the Bruins at 22 years-old, and he was a factor in each of the games. Players like Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Yanni Gourde, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, and Steven Stamkos outplayed David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Rick Nash, Jake DeBrusk, and David Krejci for the majority of series, and the end result was a 4-1 series win for the Lightning for the second series in row. One of the keys in the series was five-on-five play. The Bruins went the final 187:20 of the series without an even-strength goal after Charlie McAvoy had scored with 4:02 remaining in the third period of Game Two. The Bruins forwards mentioned above didn't score an even-strength goal after Game One, and the remaining forwards didn't get one either. In fact, the bottom two lines for the Bruins didn't record a point in the series. That's rather incredible when you consider the how important those players were in their victories against the Leafs. If you can't score on five-on-five, you better draw penalties and score often on the power-play. The Bruins didn't do that, either. In fact, the Bruins were shorthanded 19 times in the series and surrendered five power-play goals - a 74% penalty kill efficiency which was down nearly 10% from their third-overall penalty kill ranking in the regular season. They simply couldn't stop the Lightning when they needed to, and that contributed to their demise today. If there's anything that the Bruins can salvage from this loss is that they were one shot from winning Game Four which would have made this a 2-2 series. Losing in overtime never feels good, but that was an opportunity that slipped away, giving the Lightning the 3-1 series lead and they smelled blood in the water as they came home and dominated in a 3-1 victory today to end Boston's postseason. The Bruins will hibernate for the next few months before heading back to the rink to start a new season. The fourth-overall team in the NHL has been dismissed by the third-overall team in the NHL. Sometimes, the better team wins, but the Lightning's week of rest certainly was a major difference in this series. Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice! from Sports News http://hockey-blog-in-canada.blogspot.com/2018/05/hibernation-season-begins.html

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buddyrabrahams · 6 years

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Bruce Cassidy rips officials after another no-call costs Bruins

The Boston Bruins can once again point to poor officiating as one of the reasons they lost a playoff game to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and head coach Bruce Cassidy has no problem calling attention to how lopsided things have been.

Boston was leading Tampa 3-2 midway through the third period in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night when Charlie McAvoy was dragged down by Nikita Kucherov behind his own net. No whistle was blown, and Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal.

Brutal night of referring in Boston. Rask had no chance on Kucherov and Stankos bombs. pic.twitter.com/BJ80J96jxC

— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) May 5, 2018

It looked like Kucherov got away with a blatant hold, but the officials stuck with the theme of the series by not giving the Bruins the call. Boston went on to lose in overtime, and head coach Cassidy ripped the officiating crew after the game.

[We] seem to be going down this road a lot lately in these things, about the non-calls,” Cassidy said, via Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston. “It looked like [Kucherov] reached around and pulled him down. Charlie’s a strong guy, but it wasn’t called, and it’s in our net, and that’s that. There was nothing you can do about it after[ward]. You’ve got to keep playing, and we did, but they made the first play in overtime.”

The players had very little to say about it, but Cassidy says he wouldn’t blame them if they were just as aggravated.

“You’d have to ask the players [how hard it is not to dwell on blown calls]. We tell them not to, but we’re human beings. It’s game after game after game. At the end of the day, you’ve got to find a way to play through it.”

There have been several missed calls throughout the series that have gone in favor of the Lightning. Perhaps the most egregious came in Game 2, when Brad Marchand had a breakaway and probably should have been awarded a penalty shot. There was also a high stick missed on Zdeno Chara in Game 3.

Nevertheless, the Bruins now trail the Lightning 3-1. Sometimes you have to overcome bad officiating, and Boston has not done a good job of that this postseason.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2FKaKeF

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Ramblings: Lightning Strike, Marchand Licks Again & Marchessault Moving Forward

Timo Meier & Jonathan Marchessault

The second round has been a breath of fresh air after the mostly lopsided quarter-final matches. If Boston could pull out a win on home ice Friday night, all four series would be knotted at two games apiece. However, it was the Lightning who jumped out to an early lead after a terrific individual effort by Brayden Point.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Unreal individual effort from Brayden Point <a href="https://t.co/WkX7mAO3PW">pic.twitter.com/WkX7mAO3PW</a></p>— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/992545989239099392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2018</a></blockquote>

His nine post-season points sit second behind Nikita Kucherov for the team lead. The former third-round selection is facing the oppositions’ top line each night and still managing to create offence out of nothing. He and Ondrej Palat have formed a deadly matchup duo.

It’s safe to say we haven’t seen the best out of the 22-year-old just yet. His 66 points this season appear to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Tampa extended their lead to two after Kucherov converted on the power-play midway through the first frame. However, as it’s been so often this spring, the Bruins top line woke up and started causing chaos

David Pastrnak converted on the power play with a single to left field. It was his 20th point in 11 games to sit one behind league-leader, Jake Guentzel.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">David Pastrnak. Hand-eye: Second to none. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLBruins?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHLBruins</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StanleyCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StanleyCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/89VHjGlZu3">pic.twitter.com/89VHjGlZu3</a></p>— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) <a href="https://twitter.com/RTaub_/status/992552291784851456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2018</a></blockquote>

The special team’s play continued to be a factor. Patrice Bergeron scored the next two goals – a power-play marker in the second frame and a short-handed tally early in the third period. Bergeron has been the beating heart of this Bruins’ team. He’s riding a five-game point-streak to the tune of six goals and four assists.

The Boston top line has now produced 52 points in 11 games. They may be top heavy, but impressively so.

Speaking of the top line, it was another typical night for Brad Marchand. Two points, two hits and a long, wet lick to Ryan Callahan’s face. Seriously, this was maybe moderately comical the first time it occurred, but it’s long gone too far. How this isn’t an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, I’ll never know.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brad Marchand gives Ryan Callahan a lick <a href="https://t.co/b2th9vdOwO">pic.twitter.com/b2th9vdOwO</a></p>— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/992563235873161216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2018</a></blockquote>

Steven Stamkos evened the game at three with seven minutes to play after Kucherov forced a turnover with a clear hold on Charlie McAvoy. The play went uncalled and the TD Garden was silenced. Tampa put the dagger into their heart when Dan Girardi scored three minutes into overtime. The surprise hero snuck down to the blue paint and managed to get a piece of a cross-ice dish from Alex Killorn.

The Lightning head home for game five with a 3-1 stranglehold on the series.

Torey Krug left the game and did not return after going down awkwardly in the third. We’ll wait to hear the severity but that would be a devastating loss. He leads all defensemen in playoff scoring with 12 points and is a lynchpin on the Bruins’ top power-play.

I’m confident that this fall will finally see Torey Krug’s draft value hit a respectable level. After 59-points in 76 games in 2017-18, he’s seen improved production in each of the last three seasons. At 27 years old, he’s still got plenty of big numbers in front of him.

I'll just leave this here. Who do you take?

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Points-Only Keeper League Pickum!</p>— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrazyJoeDavola3/status/992265163024683009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2018</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

After blanking the Golden Knights 4-0 in game four, the two west coast teams travelled back to Vegas for the pivotal game five match.

It was all Knights early and often, peppering Martin Jones for 28 shots through the first two periods and leading 3-0. They extended their lead to 4-0 when Alex Tuch scored his second of the game and fourth of the playoffs half way through the third period. The aggregate distance from the net of those four goals may be under six feet as the 6'4 220lbs winger is a major load to handle near the blue paint.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Alex Tuch showing it all in the playoffs, beautiful give and go with Eakin <a href="https://t.co/eLNbQ2hbyG">pic.twitter.com/eLNbQ2hbyG</a></p>— Born Salty (@cjzero) <a href="https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/992620537150148609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2018</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

That fourth tally chased Martin Jones but gave life to the Sharks as Kevin Labanc and Tomas Hertl scored two quick goals on Marc-Andre Fleury to cut the lead to 4-2. Mikkel Boedker brought the Sharks within one with under five minutes to play. Logan Couture recorded his third assist of the period on the play and is up to 12 points in eight playoff contests.

That's as close as they would come as Jonathan Marchessault sealed it with an empty-netter.

The pendulum will swing back to San Jose for Game six on Sunday evening where the Golden Knights will have an opportunity to punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals.

It may be time for people to start opening their eyes to Timo Meier. The 21-year-old winger just completed his first full season in the league and posted a very respectable 21 goals and 35 points.

He’s backed that up with two goals and three helpers in eight playoff games. He’s part of the reason that the Sharks are playing some of their best post-season hockey since deep run in 2015-16.

What stands out the most when looking at the Swiss forward is his shot generation. 210 shots in 81 regular games while seeing under 15 minutes a night. That’s an average of 10.5 shots-per-60 minutes. While I don’t have cumulative data for this season, that number would have landed him within the top 20 skaters in 2016-17.

All this while seeing second unit power play time and having his second most consistent linemate be Christ Tierney. He’s continued his depth role in the playoffs but has upped his shot rate to nearly three per contest.

The flashes of dazzling skill are becoming more frequent and you can see his confidence growing. That was obvious for all to see in game two. That night he played a career-high 27 minutes, had a helper, six shots, six hits and over three minutes of power play time.

While his true breakout may be another season away, he’s a player that needs to be rising on people’s lists of keeper players to watch.

Let’s take a moment to talk about Jonathan Marchessault.

Much has been written about his path to the NHL. Undersized, undrafted winger who climbed the junior ranks. Fighting for an AHL deal only to be left without a contract despite displaying success. After receiving his NHL shot with Tampa, he was left without a contract once again. And of course, the Panthers tragic misstep and his departure to Vegas is becoming the stuff of hockey infamy.

But what I’m most interested in, is what we can expect from him moving forward. Is this a premier fantasy asset we're looking at? Or a right-time, right-place season that will be difficult to replicate?

Let’s dig into the numbers.

The first number that jumps off the page was the insane value the 27-year-old brought to those in cap leagues. His 75 points for a paltry $750K was the best bang-for-your-buck-value in the entire league.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’d just like to take a moment and remind the world that Jonathan Marchessault made 750K this year. That’s $10K per point (75)<br><br>His replacement in Florida, Jamie McGinn, made $3.333 million and produced one point for every $115K (29)</p>— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrazyJoeDavola3/status/991891794714443776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

He signed a six-year, 30 million dollar extension in January, that’ll kick in next fall. That will all but assure he won’t be bringing such incredible value moving forward. Yet, for a player who flirted with a point-per-game this season, five million per is easily digestible.

When looking at the top 50 scorers from this season, 30 of them made more than five million. Another seven players were on their entry-level deals and are expected to at least match the raise that the Golden Knights’ star earned.

Marchessualt finished tied for 28th in points and did so while clicking on a very sustainable 10.1 percent of his all situation’s shots. Of the top 50 point-per-game leaders, only five had lower conversion metrics.

Patrick Kane: 27-49 = 76 points (9.5%)

Blake Wheeler: 23-68 = 91 points (9.4%)

Ryan Getzlaf: 11-50 = 61 points (9.4%)

Jakub Voracek: 20-65 = 85 points (8.8%)

Erik Karlsson: 9-53 = 62 points (4.6%)

Marchessault wasn’t overly reliant on power play production either. Of regular skaters, he produced the fourth most even-strength points-per-60 at 3.058. That’s ahead of players such as Evgeni Malkin, Claude Giroux and Nikita Kucherov.

His five-on-five production was boosted by an increased conversion rate. He clicked on 2.5 percent more even-strength shots than a season ago. Jumping from 8.16 to 10.66. That latter number represented the 13th highest mark in the league among regular players.

That will be difficult to replicate. As will his 1042 PDO mark.

What will be key to his continued success will be the sustainability of his linemates. Will William Karlsson be able to replicate his tremendous goal-scoring prowess? Do we see Reilly Smith slip back to being a 50-point threat as he has been most of his career or does he maintain the 60-point level he displayed this season?

There are no assurances in this world, but the way the trio is playing in the cocoon of the wild-west Golden Knight system appears to be a reasonable bet. And what better place to lay a bet down than Las Vegas.

That's all for this week. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @CrazyJoeDavola3

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-lightning-strike-marchand-licks-again-marchessault-moving-forward/

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investmart007 · 6 years

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COLUMBUS, Ohio | Blue Jackets, Caps say there is still plenty in the tank

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COLUMBUS, Ohio | Blue Jackets, Caps say there is still plenty in the tank

COLUMBUS, Ohio | April 18, 2018 (AP)(STL.News) — Three straight overtime finishes to start the postseason? No problem. That’s what the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals were saying after Tuesday night’s double- OT game, one that finally ended when the puck pinballed around the front of the net, hitting Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski and the Capitals’ Lars Eller before squirting past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

“Real ugly” was how Eller put it afterward.

But it was a win, one that Washington badly needed after losing two straight overtime games at home. The Capitals needed 89 minutes to win Game 3, the longest game in Blue Jackets history and one played in front of the largest hockey crowd ever at Nationwide Arena.

Of the first 26 games of the NHL playoffs, there have been four overtime games in all, with three of them in this series (Vegas and Los Angeles also had a double OT game during the Golden Knights’ sweep). It is the sixth time in playoff history that the first three games of a series went to OT.

Care to make it four?

The two teams go at it again on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. EDT, USA) with Columbus looking to take a 3-1 lead. Despite the extra hockey and nail-biting drama, nobody is feeling the burn. At least not that they’re saying.

“I didn’t see any guys dying out there,” Columbus captain Nick Foligno said. “I think we’re in really good condition for this time of year. I don’t think any guys worried about that.”

Washington coach Barry Trotz said his team is accustomed to managing overtime games and then coming back. It all builds character, he said.

“The playoffs are a test of will, even if it’s not overtime,” he said. “What I think overtime makes you do is concentrate when you’re tired. You have to be in that moment. You can’t cut that corners, you can’t do that fly-by when you’re really tired, you can’t cheat because those are the times the puck ends up in the back of your net.”

Columbus coach John Tortorella said he thinks his guys are fine.

“I’ll tell you right now, if we’re fatigued three games in, holy crap,” he said. “We’re just starting. It was a long game last night and we’ve had some overtime games, but that’s all part of it. You just can’t be tired.

I don’t even think you can start talking about fatigue until you’re in a couple of rounds from now.”

POWER LINE

After recording 20 points in the first two games against the Maple Leafs, the Boston line of David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron was held scoreless in Game 3. The Bruins are counting on their production to return for Game 4 in Toronto on Thursday night.

“I thought our top line was fine for the most part, they just didn’t finish,” coach Bruce Cassidy said after the 4-2 loss that cut Boston’s lead in the series to 2-1. “They (the Maple Leafs) were determined to keep them off the score sheet, and they did.”

While the Leafs had bad luck in the first two games — though that wasn’t their only problem, as the combined 12-4 score could attest — in Game 3 it was Pastrnak who hit the post on one shot and then Toronto’s Frederik Andersen made great saves on two others, first with his glove and then with his stick.

After two games, four Bruins led the NHL in postseason scoring — Pastrnak (4 goals, 5 assists), Marchand (1, 5), Bergeron (0, 5), plus defenseman Torey Krug (0, 5). Pastrnak’s nine points still led the league heading into Wednesday night’s games.

ABOUT THAT CALL

Cassidy took issue with a penalty call he says NHL officials made on a hunch in a 4-2 loss to Toronto in Game 3.

Bruins forward Riley Nash was handed a delay of game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass on Monday. But the puck touched the glass before entering the crowd, which would negate the minor penalty, and officials missed it. Nash was sent to the box at 16:58 of the first period.

Seven seconds later, James van Riemsdyk scored to put Toronto ahead 1-0. It was the first time in the series the Leafs scored first.

Cassidy, whose team leads the series 2-1, spoke to the officials at the beginning of the second period and wanted to know who of the four (two referees, two linesmen) decided to give Nash the two-minute penalty.

“My question was: who made the call? There’s no call immediately,” he said. “When a referee makes a call you kind of live with it because it’s decisive. So now they get together and I assume they want to make the right call, that’s the idea, but to me they got together and clearly they guessed because it hit the glass and we saw that. I think you’re kind of innocent until proven guilty.”

Game 4 is Thursday at Air Canada Centre (7 p.m. EDT, NBCSN).

By MITCH STACY by Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (U.S)

#Blue Jackets #Columbus #Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals #Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski #ohio #plenty in the tank

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