April 8 2015
Dobber
2015-04-08
Kings/Penguins in deep D’oh now; Stone’s awesomeness; stars getting rested with soreness; more …
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I don’t even know what to say about the Penguins. But I do know what to say about the Senators. Well done. Just when I thought the Pens came out to play some playoff hockey for the first time this season, they get manhandled after their impressive first period. So much for leadership in the dressing room. Experience? Overrated.
The Penguins get the cheesy bonus point to keep them in the mix, but with the Detroit win the Penguins are in serious trouble. It’s down to:
Pittsburgh 96 points, 2 GR (vs NYI, at BUF)
Boston 95 points, 3 GR (WSH, FLA, TB – all road games)
Ottawa 95 points, 2 GR (at NYR, at PHI)
With one ‘freebie’ against Buffalo, the Penguins have the easier schedule. But the Bruins have won five in a row
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Kudos to the young guns. Forget Turris and Ryan, the Senators are being led into the postseason by Mark Stone, J-G Pageau, Mike Hoffman, Mika Zibanejad and Andrew Hammond. Take a snapshot of the above sentence and travel back in time. All the way back to last September. And show it to me. I would laugh. So would everyone else. Has the torch been passed? Well, Stone is now just one point behind Turris (in two fewer games). And barring injury, he seems set to lead this team in scoring next year. His two points give him 61, which tied Forsberg and Gaudreau for the rookie scoring lead.
Two months ago, Forsberg, Gaudreau and Ekblad seemed like locks for the Calder voting top three. But the way Stone is rolling, he could steal it. Leading all rookies in scoring is just the start. But carrying his team into the playoffs in dramatic fashion sure helps.
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Sidney Crosby gets two quick points to surge to the NHL lead…but then John Tavares picks up three points and ties him and holds the tie break with more goals. So I’ll just segue into that game now.
Wait, first I’ll note that Ian Cole‘s point streak is now five games and he has seven points in seven games. Kris Letang (concussion) has resumed physical activity. But at this point, it’s just been the stationary bike. If the Penguins must win their last game, maybe Letang magically gets better for it. We’ve seen it before.
It is possible, however, that Christian Ehrhoff returns for those two games. In which case he would get the offensive minutes in place of Cole.
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Now for the NYI game. The Flyers have now scored 21 goals in their last six games, which has been timely for owners of Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux. Voracek has 11 points in his last seven games, while Giroux has seven in seven. Voracek is now two points back of the scoring lead and wouldn’t that be something. Yes, sell high on him this summer. I still believe he’s a 70-point player in an 80-point player’s costume. That’s my play, but only if the return is good. What I love about Voracek is the fact that he has missed only nine games in his career (seven seasons). Love it. You can’t put a price on reliable health from a productive player.
Jiri Tlusty has averaged about seven minutes of ice time per game the last four games.
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Now that it’s crunch time, the Blues’ Ken Hitchcock is playing his players who he can count on. So it’s interesting to see Jori Lehtera‘s ice time at its lowest of the season. Just 23:46 in ice time in the last two games combined. He may not be the greatest playoff pick up.
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Playoff Draft List is out Friday, updated Sunday!
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The Devan Dubnyk quest for 40 wins is dead. But he has 36 wins with two games left. However, with the Wild now safely in the playoffs, he’ll probably get a break for one of those games.
Jason Zucker was back in the Minny lineup and scored a goal. Here were the line combos with his return to action:
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#1 |
25.3% |
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#2 |
22.7% |
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#3 |
17.9% |
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#4 |
12.2% |
That Vanek line has really cooled. Vanek has just one point in five games now.
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Joey Hishon scored his first career NHL goal last night. Congrats to my hometown boy, who has overcome serious concussions to finally get to this league. But the injuries took their toll and he’ll never be a scoring line player.
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So LA lost to the “lowly” Oilers. Now they have to win both their remaining games, and hope that the Jets beat the Flames.
With these three-point games (that are getting worse in terms of frequency) are seeing to it that several 96-point teams won’t even get into the playoffs.
Richard Bachman, who I loved as a dark horse from 2011 through 2013, is suddenly Andrew Hammonding his way to short-term relevancy. Three straight wins for him and just five goals allowed in his last four games.
But…that being said, here is one of the goals Bachman allowed last night: