Stars - best of Friday 29th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

FIRST STAR

 

Brent Burns - SAN JOSE SHARKS vs St Louis Blues

Burns picked up his first career NHL hat trick in the 6-3 win over the Blues. He also picked up an assist on Tomas Hertl's late empty netter.




SECOND STAR

 

Braden Holtby - WASHINGTON CAPITALS vs Montreal Canadiens

Holtby had a surprise start at the Verizon Center when Michal Neuvirth hurt himself pre-game. He saved 35 shots in the 3-2 shootout win.




THIRD STAR

Darren Helm - DETROIT RED WINGS vs New York Islanders

Darren scored the opening two goals in the 5-0 demolition of the New York Islanders. Ending the Wings losing streak against the Isles.



Honourable Mentions

Mikhail Grabovski had a goal, an assist and the shootout winner in the Caps-Habs game.......



Tomas Plekanec also had a goal and an assist but his miss in the shootout gave the winner point to the Caps......



The man mountain that is Zdeno Chara got himself a Gordie Howe hat trick. He fought with Brian Boyle, assisted on Brad Marchand's goal, and then scored the game winner in the Bruins 3-2 win against the New York Rangers......

 

Rick Nash also scored in that game. It was easy on the eye......

Stars - best of Wednesday 27th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

First, Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans. Enjoy the day whilst the rest of the world go to work.

Back to a full program in the NHL last night with 13 games played, and for the joy of fans, after the last few days of dominant goaltending it was literally raining goals last night.

And it was an emotional night in Florida, as the Philadelphia Flyers visited the Tampa Bay Lightning with Bolts legend Vinny Lecavalier and another former Bolts favourite in Steve Downie on the team.

FIRST STAR

 

Evgeni Malkin - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Another two goal, one assist performance here. Malkin's effort came as the Pens fought back from 4-1 and 5-3 down to beat the Leafs 6-5 in a shootout. His assist and 2nd goal were the Pens 4th and 5th goals. He also scored the game sealing goal in the shootout.



SECOND STAR

 

Victor Hedman - TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING vs Philadelphia Flyers

Hedman had a point on each of Tampa's first three goals, scorer of the 1st & 3rd, plus an assist on the 2nd.

Here's his first goal. Ray Emery and goalie's everywhere, watch with caution. This may cause harm to your health.



THIRD STAR

Patrick Kane - CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS vs Calgary Flames

Kane played the hero with the game winner on a clever backhand shot. He scored the first Blackhawks goal in what turned out to be a two goal night for him.




Honourable Mentions

Tomas Tatar did this.....



Sean Monahan continues to impress and had a nice goal on a wrist shot.......



Brendan Gallagher is now one goal short of hitting double digits for the 2nd consecutive season. This ripper on the PP, the number one PP on the road, was his 9th of the campaign....



Brad Richards scored a long range goal for the Rangers on Tim Thomas.....




MY PICKS

3-2 for me last night. Pittsburgh, St Louis and San Jose with the wins.


NOTE: Yesterday's "The Night Ahead" will be the last one for the foreseeable future. Unless somebody else would like to write it everyday.

What the Rogers, NHL TV deal makes me hope for

Now that the dust has started to settle on the enormous news yesterday, that Rogers Communications is the sole rights holder of national NHL broadcasts in the "true north strong and free". Now, this means that Canadian cable network TSN, will not broadcast any national games for at least twelve years after the current season ends. They are not gone, they will be lurking in the back, trying to pick up any hockey rights that become up for grabs. They also still hold the rights to regional Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens games.

For the majority of us hockey fans, from outside of Canada, we don't realise what a big deal this thing is. To put it in UK TV terms, it's what we will experience in about 18 months time when Sky and ITV stop broadcasting UEFA Champions League games, and all games broadcast in the UK will be exclusively on BT. The FA Cup is also headed to BT exclusivity.

I'm not going to delve into the details. No doubt many people have given the facts, figures and their two pennies' worth. I'm going to focus on something that doesn't involve TSN. It involves Rogers' Sportsnet and CBC. Part of the deal is that Sportsnet control the 60 year, CBC flagship show, Hockey Night in Canada. CBC will still air the iconic institution but Sportsnet will have total control. Control over, content, on air talent, artistic and creative direction, and many other aspects that go into creating the show each week.

I know that 9/10 NHL fans, whether they have access to CBC or not, have seen the breath taking opening montages to HNiC. Tim Thompson is the man behind them. I hope, I pray, that Sportsnet make the right choice and keep him in that role. They would be very wrong to get rid of him.

I'm now going to bombard you with a selection of CBC montages. They are great to watch, and you never get bored of watching the same ones over, and over, and over.

That's it from me. Enjoy the videos.

 

 

 

 

 

The Night Ahead - Wednesday 27th November 2013

In "The Night Ahead" we take a look at a selection (well, five) of the upcoming games for the evening (early hours here in the UK) and add a preview and opinion on the match ups.

Twice this week we have had a night of very little games to a night of many many games.

BOSTON BRUINS @ DETROIT RED WINGS

Detroit have won two of the last three, after losing seven in a row, giving them eight losses in ten. Boston have won eight of their last ten. But, Detroit only find themselves as the Atlantic's 4th seed, only 5 points behind the division leading Bruins.

Carl Soderberg, Reilly Smith and Torey Krug continued their great form, I mentioned here, on Monday night in the B's 4-3 OT win over the Penguins.

The usual guys are doing it for Detroit right now, Nyquist, Zetterberg, Franzen, and the magic man, Pavel Datsyuk have all been picking up goals and assists. But there seems to be something missing.

The Bruins are my pick.


TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS @ PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Toronto have navigated a difficult November admirably despite being with Bozak, Bolland and Kadri out for periods. Although with all two of the three in the team they got thumped 6-0 at home to Columbus on Monday.

After dismantling Anaheim and Washington before narrowly dispatching the Islanders, the Penguins have lost two in a row against Montreal and Boston.

Both teams have issues at the moment and I'm picking Pittsburgh.


ST LOUIS BLUES @ COLORADO AVALANCHE

Two of the best go head to head. Alex Steen, David Backes, T.J. Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo go against Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, Gabriel Landeskog and Nate MacKinnon.

The Blues are on a four game winning run, 8-1-1 in the last ten. Colorado are 6-4-0, on a three game win streak.

I've got the Blues.


PHOENIX COYOTES @ MINNESOTA WILD

Phoenix are enjoying life under new ownership, and steady management leads to steady performances on the ice. Currently 14-6-4 on the year and 5-3-2 in the last ten. It's not surprising that the foundation for this form starts with Mike Smith in net and impressive defenseman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The scoring leaders for the team are Vrbata, Doan, Hanzal and Ribeiro. 

The Wild are very quietly going about their business recently. Whilst other teams in the West get all the headlines, Minnesota have found themselves in a lower seeding position but have pulled away from the teams behind them. Josh Harding has a .939 SV%, and Parise, Koivu and Pominville lead the way offensively. The Wild young players have emerged as great talents too. The quartet of Brodin, Coyle, Granlund and Niederreiter accounting for 40 points.

I'm taking Minnesota.


LOS ANGELES KINGS @ SAN JOSE SHARKS

LA come into this game having won five of the last seven. The only defeats coming in OT to Colorado and New Jersey. The injury to Jonathan Quick hasn't been the hinderance many thought it would be. Ben Scrivens has stepped in and has a .947 SV% in 12 games.

San Jose aren't doing too shabby either. They've won six of the last seven. The defeat coming at the hands of Chicago with a score of 5-1. Along with the big names, players like Vlasic, Wingels and Demers have really impressed me. Combining for 10 goals and 27 assists.

I like San Jose in this game.


Tonight's picks: Boston, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Minnesota, San Jose.

Stars - best of Tuesday 26th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

There was only one game last night so this thing practically writes itself today.

FIRST STAR

 

Ryan Garbutt - DALLAS STARS vs Anaheim Ducks

Garbutt picked up a brilliant goal and two assists as the Stars came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Ducks 6-3.




SECOND STAR

 

Antoine Rousssel - DALLAS STARS vs Anaheim Ducks

It was a two goal night for Antoine. Doubling his tally for the season.




THIRD STAR

 

Vernon Fiddler - DALLAS STARS vs Anaheim Ducks

Fiddler's two assists came on both Roussel goals. The first was the primary assist as he just throws it into the Ducks' crease. See video above.


Honourable Mention

Erik Cole had two assists on the night also. On the goals from Cody Eakin and Alex Chiasson.


MY PICKS..... or PICK

Dallas won so..... yeah.