Just when it looked as if the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings would not be able to find the on switch, they have quickly flicked it on and are playing some of their best hockey of the season.
The Kings have won four in a row after their 3-1 win on Saturday against the surging Washington Capitals. There is still concern about the play of goaltender Jonathan Quick who has a subpar .891 save percentage for February, far below the .920 league standard for excellence in goal. The Kings have won with improved offense and have averaged four goals per game during their current winning streak.
Los Angeles is three points behind Calgary for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The resurgent Kings were just one of many top stories over the weekend. Let’s now review a great weekend of action.
Big Losses in Dallas Win
The Dallas Stars may have scored a 2-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night but they also likely lost their last hope of making the playoffs. Dallas lost their top scorer, center Tyler Seguin, to a knee injury when he was hit low by Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov on an awkward hip check that went bad. Although Kulikov has no history of being a dirty player, his own coach, Gerard Gallant, said that the game misconduct penalty was the right call.
Kulikov made the unforgivable mistake of hitting Seguin low in the knees when it was unnecessary and when he could have hit him high and clean. Seguin is out for between two to four weeks. Dallas right winger Patrick Eaves took a hard shot to the head in the game and is out indefinitely. Another right wing, Ales Hemsky, was lost indefinitely with a lower body issue. The Stars lost the next day at Colorado 4-1 in what was likely a portent of things to come. Hopes for a second consecutive playoff season are as good as finished for the Stars.
Ducks Exposed by Great Eight
The Washington Capitals scored a 5-3 Sunday night win at Anaheim over the slumping Ducks who have lost six out of their last nine games. Anaheim has fallen to third place in the Western Conference playoff race and simply does not have the defense or goaltending to win be taken seriously as a bona fide Stanley Cup contender. Washington LW Alexander Ovechkin continues to impress. The Great Eight had two first period goals and dug hard all night with hustling back checks that are providing the Caps with the leadership that they lacked last season. Nobody was tougher or more critical on Ovechkin last year than me, but the Great Eight has not looked this good or complete in years and his play in this game was downright inspiring.
Adding to the great play were the Caps throwback uniforms. Much like when the Kings rocked their original purple and gold last Thursday, the Caps throwbacks prove once again that teams usually get their uniforms right the first time and should not change. Washington is 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. This is the type of game and play style that turns people into hockey fans. Yes, defense wins championships. But offense sells tickets and moves TV ratings. The NHL has fallen far short in balancing the two. This game had the personality, flow, and skill that is far more entertaining than the all too typical shutdown drone suffocation by system matchups that must be done away with.
Jets Clip Wings
In a highly entertaining game on Saturday night, the Winnipeg Jets rallied from a 3-1 deficit to score a 5-4 shootout win at Detroit over the Red Wings. Winnipeg is winning respect and new fans with their never give up attitude and relentless team effort. The Jets have won three out of their last four games to hold a firm grip on the fifth playoff spot in the West.
Goaltender Michael Hutchinson picked up the win and continues to outperform original number one goaltender Ondrej Pavelec with a save percentage of .923. It would be great to see the Jets make the playoffs as they play the game with a passion that resembles their fan base. Head coach Paul Maurice continues to build an impressive team culture that could pay dividends in the playoffs, where grit and character matter most. Detroit is slowing down with a 3-3 mark in their last six games and is now four points behind Montreal and Tampa Bay for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
Flames Top Canucks
It was a playoff atmosphere on Saturday night in Calgary where the Flames scored a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Lance Bouma broke a 2-2 tie with an early third period goal to put the Flames over the top. Vancouver goaltender Ryan Miller continues to underwhelm while Calgary Sean Monahan scored two goals to improve his team best total to 19 on the season. The truculent Flames aren’t going away. Perhaps the new math guys can split the atom and find a metric for heart and character that remains undiscovered.
Best Shootout Ever?
The Chicago Blackhawks scored a 2-1 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC Sunday afternoon. It was one of those games in which there were plenty of scoring chances and quality hockey between two good teams with star power. It also, however, brings to light the imbalance of today’s NHL.
The goalies and their bulky equipment have too much of an advantage and the league needs to stop tweaking the rules and get bold. A game that is 1-1 with plenty of scoring chances is still usually not as good as a 4-3 or 5-4 game. Beyond that NBC has seen its ratings fall beneath 1.0 for its first two Sunday matchups this season. You are not going to grow the game or TV ratings with 1-1 regulation scores. The highlight of the game was perhaps the best shootout I have ever seen. And I say that as someone that usually turns off the TV at shootout time. Chicago’s Patrick Kane stole the show with a multiple deke goal that brought the crowd of 20,000 plus roaring out of their seats.
The shootout featured goals by superstars Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh with Kane, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp lighting the lamp for the Hawks. The shootout was a showcase of skill but it also opened eyes to the need for the league to create ways for more of that skill to flourish in actual game conditions. Pittsburgh is just two points behind the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division while Chicago is locked into fourth place in the Western Conference.
Panthers Fail to Capitalize
After being shutout 2-0 at Dallas on Friday the Florida Panthers lost at home in a 2-1 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues. The Panthers scored just one point over the weekend and failed to take advantage of the slump of the eight place Boston Bruins, who Florida trails by three points for the final playoff spot in the East. The Panthers are in desperate need of a finishing sniper. Toronto has such a player in Phil Kessel, who happens to own a home in South Florida and would love to play somewhere where he would go unnoticed. Seems like a perfect fit and just the jolt that the Panthers would need for their playoff push.
Lightning Strikes Sharks
The San Jose Sharks have lost five out of their last eight games and now rank 21st in the NHL for goals against while ranking 13th for goal scoring. San Jose is just three points ahead of ninth place Minnesota for the final Western Conference playoff spot. The possibility of Sharks head coach Todd McClellan getting fired will increase if the Sharks cannot find consistency, as missing the playoffs would be a financial disaster for the team. Meanwhile Tampa Bay is the top scoring team in the NHL. It was great to see heart and soul character player Ryan Callahan snap a beautiful third period goal for his 17th of the season to ice the game for the Bolts.
