Hockey Rambling

Let’s jump right into the five games that were played on Friday. Colorado 3, Arizona 2 (Colorado leads series 2-0) The Coyotes played a better game in Game 2 than they did in Game 1. In fact, the shots were actually in Arizona’s favor 32-28 after they were outshot 40-14 in Game 1. However, a [...]

Before diving into game action, we’ll start with a few news items. Claude Julien was hospitalized with chest pains on Wednesday night. Kirk Muller is expected to serve as the Canadiens head coach for the remainder of the series against Philly. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery. Nicklas Backstrom is expected to miss Game 2 [...]

It was clean out day for teams that have been eliminated. There were lots of quotes to come out of the Toronto dressing room – Auston Matthews used “embarrassing”; Zach Hyman used some variation of “sucks” a lot – but I’ll leave those alone for now. They need to back up words with actions. What [...]

Do you know who would be suffocatingly frustrating to play against? The Columbus Blue Jackets. After dismissing a top-five offensive team in the Maple Leafs during the play-in round, CBJ took on the Lightning in a rematch of last year’s first-round series. One in which they handily swept the Eastern Conference powerhouse.  In Tuesday’s game, [...]

The big news we’ve been waiting a month for was which play-in team would end up with the first overall pick in the lottery. Because of the abbreviated season, teams agreed to allow the play-in franchises to the lottery draft, and they won. The lottery for first overall was Monday night and as hockey fans [...]

The Interactive Playoff Draft List is up, updated and ready for download. It’s not too late to start a playoff pool – using the actual playoffs, now that the “play-in” is complete. LIMITED TIME OFFER: Keeper League Pack (Prospects Report is already out!) and this Playoff List for under 20 bucks. That’s right – the [...]

After Friday’s six-pack of must-watch elimination games (with five resulting in the elimination of a team), Saturday’s pair of round-robin games may have seemed like a letdown for hockey fans looking to get their fix. Yet these games had playoff matchup implications, which made them worth checking out if you had the chance. In the [...]

It was a hockey fan’s dream on Friday, as games started early and went well into the evening. These games saw multiple teams enter the 16-team playoffs (playoffs for sure now), while some surprise teams will be entering Monday’s lottery for the first overall pick. Teams that won their series on Friday: NY Islanders, Arizona, [...]

Jesse Puljujarvi is heading back to Finland for next year. He has signed a one-year deal with Karpat of the Finnish Elite League. According to the press release, there is an out clause for the NHL, but who knows when the next NHL regular season will be. They’re hoping for December. Pulju had 53 points [...]