2024 NHL Thread

[Cobra Mgr]

Carolina's goalie situation continues to have up & down streaks by both netminders.

Canes Pytor Kochetkov has been mighty shaky. Canes win 6-4 over the Isles. But the Nyetminder save % is .806 the last 3 outings. B4 then he had won his last 5 w/a .948.

He has been given every chance to own the Canes net for the next decade & he keeps giving it away.

Anderssen is currently on the hot streak. He'd lost 4 in a row w/an .877. Now he has won the last 6 w/a .940.

[Amazin69]

According to a stat CBC showed during Flames-Oilers, Kochetkov (see I learned!) is 3rd in the league in stopping High-Danger chances.

Vasilievsky was one percentage point ahead of Kuemper (.857 to .856, or something like that) and then it was like 40 points down to Pyotr, but still. 3rd is 3rd.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

According to a stat CBC showed during Flames-Oilers, Kochetkov (see I learned!) is 3rd in the league in stopping High-Danger chances.

Vasilievsky was one percentage point ahead of Kuemper (.857 to .856, or something like that) and then it was like 40 points down to Pyotr, but still. 3rd is 3rd.

Best I can describe him is he is an old lady driving w/her signal on. Every time you think he's about to turn the corner he goes straight ahead. He will have nights vs other top goalies & will be phenomenal. Then vs a notch below & will become torn screen door.

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C

You saw the Kings fiasco.

[Cobra Mgr]

No cap, I hate the Caps. And I hope someday Wilson gets a skate right in the center where the lord split him.

[Déjà Bru]

I'm not a hockey fan, but I did notice this headline and read the story:

Alex Ovechkin ties NHL goals record: Wayne Gretzky reacts to Capitals star's 894th career goal

Gretzky's comments struck me as quite gracious. Read them yourself and see if you agree.

[LD84]

As a former resident of the DMV, it is nice to see the Capitals have a great season and Ovechkin have a chance to break the record before the end of the season.

Washington is pretty cursed as a sports city. Before the Capitals, Nationals and Mystics won in the late 2010's, they had endured a dreadful few decades without a championship.

[Cobra Mgr]

Next season, Canes need to pkg any amount of picks & Andrei Svechnikov for a decent goalie.

Best run in the history of the Whalers/Canes franchise and there will be nothing to show for it for want of a playoff goalie.

[Cobra Mgr]

An NHL 1st

[Bluenoser]

Is it just a bit eerie that the 2 teams on the outside looking in, but still with a chance of making the play-offs, (Cgy out West and Col down East), are the 2 teams that Johnny Gaudreau played for?

Could it be an omen that they both sneak in?

[Amazin69]

Speaking of farewells, I'm just catching up on Saturday's game, but I see that we lost Whalers legend Greg Millen (age 68) this week.

So there goes one suggestion for who could replace Pyotr in the net. Sorry, Cobra!



RIP, Greggo.

[Cobra Mgr]

[Amazin69]

Oh, Lorde! If I've ever seen a jinx (leaping up and down holding a neon sign spelling out "I AM A JINX"), that's it!!

********************************
David Rittich was god-awful in the final two meaningless games of the season, giving up 11 goals in the two outings. This despite the defensemen (Doughty, Edmundson) who had been resting their tired bones for the previous two weeks getting on ice to knock the rust off.

This not only means that we have to really hope that Kuemper stays healthy throughout the playoffs, but that we really need to consider if Rittich is worth spending any of our UFA money on, given that we desperately need to keep Gavrikov, and that Kuzmenko has passed his audition with flying colors. If we just have to go with Pheonix Copley or Eric Portillo as the back-up next season, is that doable?
*******************************

Kuzmenko really has fulfilled expectations. He really shone against San Jose (granted that was an 8-1 win because the Sharks don't know how to defend the middle of the ice) and Winnipeg back-to-back. Against the Sharks, there was a play where Kopitar drove towards the left corner and then went around Kuzmenko who not only boxed out his own man (Mario Ferraro) but Kopitar's, as well as any NBA forward ever did. And thus Kopitar had a wide open lane to feed Kempe in the slot (unguarded, because San Jose…) and that was one goal.

And then Kopitar found himself in the left corner again, but he saw that the Sharks were swarming over Kuzy, meaning that the center was open, and Kopitar sent a blind pass through his legs to the open ice and Kuzmenko had gotten free from the boards and could have played it…but he saw that Trevor Moore (coming on to change for Kempe) was even Moore open, so he let it go and Moore put it home. Good awareness.

Later on, Kuzmenko had the puck on the left circle and spotted Vladislav Gavrikov coming down the slot (Macklin Celebrini had blown a tire or something) and backhanded a pass to Gavrikov. Gav hardly knew what to do with the puck close in (his goals come from shots from the point) but he can add one and one, so he figured that with a defender on Kuzy and one on him, there was nobody on the right side, so he did a second blind backhand pass over there, to an unguarded Kempe, who scored. That whole game was poetry in motion. (And yes, only the Sharks, but still.)

*************
After that, the Kings faced an actual hockey team, and completed their sweep of Winnipeg, 4-1. At one point, Kuzmenko got the puck off the boards in the Kings' zone, fed Kempe, who drove down the left side and left a drop pass for Kuzmenko, who stared down Hellebuyck *hard*…and then shot a zap pass to an open Kopitar on the right side, who wasn't even visible on the camera from behind the goal, for a one-timer and in!

Later, Kuzmenko came in on a 2-on-1 and this time he stared at Kopitar hard enough that Hellebuyck dropped his left leg back a bit to pivot if needed, and that gave Kuzmenko the opportunity to put it away for his own goal.

So the Kings won 4 in a row, turned in a comatose performance against Seattle, and then won 4 more before this last fiasco. So they should be ready to go…but we will see.

[Amazin69]

So far, our "favorites" have both taken 2-0 leads and should have been up 3-0, but Freddie Freddied in 2OT. (Seriously, what was that?)

And the Kings' "shutdown" defense has now allowed 4.67 GPG so far. **** me.

(It doesn't help that we would have won the game, likely 5-4, if Jeff Mallott had been able to bury a shot into an wide-open empty net. But that's why Jeff got into exactly ONE game with Winnipeg 3 years ago before being summoned to fill in for an injured Tanner Jeannot late in the season. And while Jeannot is a semi-proven scorer despite now being a Physical Presence on the 4th line, not every 4th liner can master basic skills [such as "don't whiff when trying to score from within the unguarded blue paint"], as Jeff proved.

And let's hear it for the unnecessarily-risky coach's challenge that backfired so spectacularly! You may recall that the Kings were almost perfect on challenges when Todd McLellan was the coach. [10/10 in 2022-2023]. Did Todd take the video assistants with him to Detroit? Or does Jim Hiller just not bother to listen???)

ETA: On closer look, there's at least an argument for waving off the goal; Kane took a few good whacks at Kuemper's leg before he managed to kick the puck forward and then poke it under Darcy for the goal. But that's only like 60% chance of getting the refs' decision overturned, if that. Still seems reckless.

Stat I did not know: since the trade deadline (i.e., Kuzmenko's arrival) the Kings have the 2nd highest GPG in the League. Yes, this is skewed by a few results (back-to-back 7-2 games against Carolina and Boston, 8-1 vs San Jose, etc), but every team's stats are similarly skewed. Fairly impressive.

(I'd still like our 2nd-in-the-League defense back, though. Shutouts are fun, even if Jim Fox hates saying the word.)

[Cobra Mgr]

Canes take a 3-1 game lead but lose Andersen (AGAIN....). Timo Meier was nudge into the crease & he took advantage by shoving Andersen back into the goal. Somehow, even after replay, Meier stayed out of the box. And Carolina had to call in Pytor Kochetkov. PK was shaky early, letting the puck trickle behind him to bring the early Canes lead to one. But the D was stellar from there.

Canes really needed this one. It allows them to let Andersen sit some extra days w/a 2 game cushion. But I would be really ticked off if I thought the Canes had a legit chance to win the Cup.

[Cobra Mgr]

That Bell Centre is bananas.

[Cobra Mgr]

Aho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Amazin69]

Yeah, whatever. An extra day to digest this **** doesn't make it feel any less ****ty.

(BTW, could the 'Canes finish their business in regulation? I didn't even get to see half of the game, because I DVR'ed it, not knowing I should be watching HLN, wherever the hell that is.)

[Cobra Mgr]

What is the rule about contact w/the goalie handling the puck outside of the crease? Is he fair game? Is it an "unwritten rule" you still don't make contact? Does it matter if it is in the trapezoid behind the net?

[Amazin69]

Me, I'm still trying to figure out how Corey Perry tripping Edmondson in the final minutes isn't a penalty, but Gavrikov having his skates lock up with McDiver is a power-play in overtime.

(Yes, yes, we still should have won game 4, and that doesn't excuse game 3 or game 5 and how we now have to fight for survival when we should have swept these motherfondlers [FFS, they're playing John "Defense?" Klingberg! The man who hasn't been a + since before the Blues started singing "Gloria'! What more do you need, an engraved invitation to run up the score??].

All that goddamn work for home ice, and we're getting stepped on like a harmonica made in China!)

[Cobra Mgr]

ESPN is going to be showing the Stars coach a lot tonight.