January 9, 2015

steve laidlaw

2015-01-09

Svedberg’s casual night, hypothetical goalie trades for the Wild, Eric Staal keeps it hot and more…

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That wasn't the easiest shutout of the season but Niklas Svedberg's 14-save effort certainly ranks up there. It was the easiest non-Sabres shutout of the season as that eliminates Jonathan Bernier's 10-save cakewalk and Ben Bishop's 13-save casual day on the pond, which both came against the Sabres. Of course, the Devils aren't exactly a tough opponent either but they aren't historically bad like the Sabres (who we'll get to in a minute).

If you are wondering about some of the easiest shutouts of all time Hockey Reference has you covered.

Loui Eriksson missed last night's contest after taking a slash against the Penguins the previous evening. Top prospect David Pastrnak jumped into the lineup to take his spot.

Pastrnak skated 15:04 alongside David Krejci and Brad Marchand. He didn't score but landed four SOG. Shooting big is certainly his MO.

The Milan Lucic–Patrice Bergeron pairing continues to pay dividends for Boston. Two goals for Lucic last night to give him four points in the last two games. You can certainly feel that strong second-half push coming.

There will be no hanging last night's loss on Cory Schneider as the goaltender stopped 40 of 42.

Eric Staal's second-half push is still in its infancy but it is building up strong. With five goals and seven points in his last seven games Staal is scorching hot.

Ryan Murphy managed his first points of this most recent call-up with two assists last night but let's not get overexcited. This was against the Sabres, who, as we mentioned above, are awfully awful.

Alexander Semin made his return to the Hurricane lineup notching an assist. He skated on the second line with Jeff Skinner who managed his first goal (and point) in his last eight games. They had Riley Nash and Victor Rask split time as their centerman. I'm not ready to get too excited about this combo, especially with Semin and Skinner seeing just second unit power play time but it would be nice if this could be mutually beneficial.

So Steve Mason did end up playing last night and even notched himself a nice overtime win over the Capitals.

What a complete drubbing of the Sharks by the Blues. There wasn't a relevant Blue who didn't get on the board last night but Jaden Schwartz led the way with three assists. It has been a triumphant return from injury for Schwartz who has six points in three games since returning.

They lose a little bit of cred for padding the stats with an empty-netter but the Patrick Kane–Brad Richards–Bryan Bickell line clicked for three goals and eight points last night, which is a great sign. I was going to mention how Bickell has been heating up of late but I don't trust that dude enough to consider this anything more than coincidence.

I mentioned Varlamov and the Avalanche above. They did it again last night blowing the doors off Craig Anderson and the Senators despite getting outshot 38-21. One more and it’s a streak!

Jarome Iginla led the offense with two goals, giving him 10 in his last 21 games, a far cry from the mere two he scored over the first 20 games of the season. Is he getting more comfortable, fulfilling his promise as a slow starter or simply having greater fortune? How about this – who cares? Iginla is fun to own again.

More misery for Nathan MacKinnon owners as he saw just 13 seconds of power play time last night.

I don't know how Mike Smith got the next start for the Coyotes after the Blues dumped gasoline all over him and David Backes lit the match but full credit to Smith, he came out and stopped 34 of 35 for the win over the Jets. Maybe this is politics because Smith has the big contract or maybe they wanted to give him another go after having gotten some practice in with goalie coach Sean Burke having returned from the World Juniors. Who knows?

What we do know is that we haven't seen Devan Dubnyk since he was similarly burned alive at the hands of the Dallas Stars on New Year's Eve.

Martin Hanzal sat out his second straight. No surprise we didn't see much from Sam Gagner or Martin Erat these past couple of games.

We did get a big showing from the Shane Doan–Antoine Vermette–Mikkel Boedker line that we haven't heard a lot from in about a month. That trio got in on a piece of all four Coyote goals. I do wonder if those three don't perform better when Hanzal is out.

Ondrej Pavelec made his first start since New Year's Eve and got dumped on for four goals once again. That's his third straight start with such a fate. Safe to say Michael Hutchinson will get the next one since they are basically on the "win and you're in formula" in Winnipeg. Can't knock it if it works.

That 70's Line has been back together for a little while now but I think that Tanner Pearson's goal last night (his first since December 11^th) was the first time that they got all three points on a goal since like mid-November. It's been rough, particularly for Pearson.

Well, well. The Panthers split up the dynamic duo of Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad only for Huberdeau to go off for two goals alongside Aleksander Barkov. Huberdeau also assisted on Barkov's first goal since Remembrance Day. Is this where Barkov flips the tides back to top dog among Panther centermen? I'm going to go with no but it would be interesting were that the case considering Huberdeau has not exactly been a game changer the past couple of years.

Huge win for Roberto Luongo in his return to Vancouver. Luongo > Ryan Miller.

Very excited to have the IR Report back in 2015. The latest article was yesterday so much of the information should still be good. Welcome back, Aaron Brouwer!

Check out these brief origin stories for all 30 NHL Team Names:

30. San Jose Sharks

Sharks was chosen from 2,300 entries in San Jose’s name-the-team contest. The other finalists included Rubber Puckies, Screaming Squids, Salty Dogs, and Blades. Blades was the most popular entry, but ultimately rejected because of its gang implications. When the nickname was chosen, seven shark species made their home in a stretch of the Pacific Ocean off the California coast called The Red Triangle.

I'm not sure we ever would have gotten Americans into hockey if we had a league with the Mighty Ducks and Rubber Puckies but my goodness would that ever have been hilarious.

Can we all agree to call the Sharks the Rubber Puckies any time they play like they did last night… or reach the playoffs?

Boedker!

You can follow me @SteveLaidlaw.