Tag: national hockey league

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Andrew Cogliano diagnosed with broken neck after hit from Jordan Eberle.

The Colorado Avalanche are absolutely furious with the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety, and now we’ve got a pretty good idea as to why.

On Friday night, veteran Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano was on the receiving end of a nasty looking hit from Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle. The hit immediately looked terrible, with Cogliano going head first into the boards at a sickening angle, resulting in a penalty being called against Eberle.

Eberle only received a 2 minute minor at the time, much to the chagrin of the Avalanche, and following the game the Avalanche would receive no help from the Department of Player Safety either. The Department of Player Safety didn’t so much as levy a fine against Eberle, something that likely will only serve to make them look all that much worse given the most recent update on Cogliano’s status.

According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Cogliano has now been diagnosed with a fractured neck, and more specifically a fracture of the C5 Lamina. This is of course a very serious injury and as a result Cogliano has been ruled out “indefinitely” with no indication that he will return at any point during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It is a huge loss for the Avalanche, one that will be very tough to swallow given the circumstances of Cogliano’s injury. It will be very interesting to see how both teams respond in Game 7 of this series.

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Maple Leafs make 3 lineup changes for Game 6.

Duane Burleson/AP

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a chance to break the curse and advance beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday night, but to do so they will have to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning on their home ice at Amalie Arena.

Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe is pulling out all the stops for tonight’s Game 6 with 3 changes to his lineup, although there is reason to suspect that some of these changes may have come as the result of the Maple Leafs battling some injuries.

Coming into the lineup tonight will be Michael Bunting, Timothy Liljegren and Erik Gustafsson, and with an opportunity for those 3 we will see Justin Holl, Sam Lafferty and Zach Aston-Reese forced to step aside to make room.

That leaves the Maple Leafs with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen for Game 6.

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Tavares, Maple Leafs make history with win in Game 6.

Dom Gagne/CSM/Zuma

For the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday night will go down as a night to remember for many.

On Saturday night, during Game 6 of the opening round series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Maple Leafs finally got over the hump and managed to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Given that the Leafs not advancing beyond the first round had become one of the biggest jokes/memes in the hockey community, it’s easy to see why all the focus has been on the win itself. That being said though, one thing being overlooked by many is that this was also a record setting night for a franchise that has struggled mightily to get over the hump.

Both the Maple Leafs themselves and their captain, Leafs forward John Tavares, would earn themselves a little piece of National Hockey League history on Saturday night when they accomplished feats that none before them had managed.

In the case of Tavares, the Leafs captain established a new Maple Leafs record by becoming the first captain in the storied history of the franchise to score a series-clinching overtime goal. Tavares initially came to Toronto to fulfill his childhood dream of playing for his hometown team, and no doubt becoming the first captain to clinch a series for the franchise in overtime is something he will cherish for the rest of his life. It is also a record that can never be lost, given that there will never be another first.

The Maple Leafs on the other hand set a league-wide record, arguably making it more impressive than Tavares’ own, even if this record has considerably less emotional weight behind it. In their series win over the Lightning, the Maple Leafs needed to win 3 road games in overtime, a feat that has never before been accomplished by any team in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs over the course of a single series.

Although fans in Toronto already have reason to celebrate, a few more won’t hurt.

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Sheldon Keefe admits he blacked out after winning Game 6.

Although advancing beyond the first round of the playoffs isn’t usually an accomplishment that you would celebrate, for fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs and for the Maple Leafs organization on Saturday night it was most definitely a cause for celebration.

After years of disappointment the Leafs finally managed to achieve a modicum of playoff success when they dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that has defined what it is to be a championship level team in the National Hockey League for the past few years, in just 6 games. Not only was it a moment of joy for the organization, but the relief felt by many who had the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads must have been truly overhwelming.

On Saturday night, following the conclusion of Game 6, there was perhaps no one individual who exemplified these feelings more than Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. While speaking to the media, Keefe admitted that he was so filled with emotion that he genuinely blacked out during perhaps the biggest moment of his professional career.

“Jubilation…. I don’t know you black out in those moments,” admitted Keefe following Game 6. “You don’t know what’s going on, you’re just really excited. It’s been a long time coming. A long time coming for a lot of players in our room, a long time coming for myself, and even longer coming for Leafs nation. So it’s a great night.

The joy radiating from Keefe, who again must have had such a giant weight lifted off of his shoulders, was palpable. You can see it for yourself, and hear the man in his own words, in the short clip below.

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A closer look at Stuart Skinner’s ‘big mistake’ in Game 6.

Andy Devlin/NHLI/Getty

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but it was probably a lot closer than the Oilers would have liked.

Although the game was back and forth with a solid effort from both teams on the ice, it would be a catastrophic mistake from Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner that would keep the Kings close late in the game. That mistake from Skinner was a routine clearing attempt that went horribly wrong and resulted in a goal for the Kings.

First let’s take a look at the play in real time:

This clearly looked like a horrific play on the part of Skinner, but thanks to one sharp-eyed observer watching on Saturday night we now know that it was nothing of the sort. 

Kevin Woodley, who deserves all the credit in the world for noticing this, was quick to notice upon zooming in on the play that Skinner’s stick had actually broken on the play.

Here’s another look in slow motion:

Another sharp-eyed observer in Derek Schlereth noticed that the stick had actually been broken by a Kings player, Adrian Kempe to be exact.

So while Stuart Skinner was catching plenty of heat for his ‘big mistake’ it turns out it wasn’t a mistake at all, but just a very unfortunate series of events.

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Fleury shares sad update on his future after being eliminated in Game 6.

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The Minnesota Wild were eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention on Friday night, and although there will be plenty of discussion about how things went down in this series, we’ll table that discussion for another time. That’s because on Friday night, following the Wild’s elimination at the hands of the Dallas Stars, many fans were openly wondering about the future of veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury remains under contract with the Wild for the 2023-24 NHL season, having signed a two year deal with the Wild in the summer of 2022, but is coming off a rather underwhelming season by his standards. Fleury was just OK during the regular season with a 2.85 goals against average and a .908 save percentage, but even those underwhelming numbers fell off a cliff come the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Fleury recorded a brutal 7.00 goals against average and a .774 save percentage in his lone start in Game 2, and although he would appear once more in relief of Filip Gustavsson he finished the 2023 playoffs with a 5.48 goals against average and a .811 save percentage.

On Friday, following the conclusion of Game 6 and his team’s outster from the playoffs, Fleury appeared to admit that all of this had taken a toll on him when he openly spoke about the end of his career in the NHL.

“That might be it,” said Fleury of playing out the final year of his contract.

It’s not hard to see why such a poor season would take a toll on a proud Stanley Cup champion like Fleury, but hopefully a more successful campaign in the 2023-24 season will leave the usually jovial netminder feeling rejuvenated.

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Connor Hellebuyck sounds off on his future with the Jets.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

The Winnipeg Jets had their season come to a disappointing end on Thursday when they fell to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, doing so in just 5 games.

Many believe that the early exit for the Jets could mark the end of an era in Winnipeg, especially after fiery comments from Jets head coach Rick Bowness following the Jets’ elimination in Game 5. In fact, Bowness’ comments about his own players were so harsh that National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman was compelled to say that this current core of the Jets has in fact come to an end.

“If there was any question that it meant the end of this particular core, I think that eliminates it,” said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “I think that ends the question, if there was any doubt.”

It’s one thing to hear these kind of comments from an NHL insider, but it is another matter entirely when members of that very same core also start hinting at a future outside of Winnipeg.

On Saturday, Jets star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made comments that left a great many questions about his future as a member of the Winnipeg Jets. If the Jets are intending to move towards a rebuild, it sounds like Hellebuyck doesn’t intend to be a part of that situation.

“I’m not interested in a rebuild. I just want to compete…” said Hellebuyck on Saturday.

Hellebuyck also added that he wants to win a Stanley Cup, and is cognizant of how much time he has left in his NHL career.

“My main goal is to win a Stanley Cup… I’m starting to run out of time,” admitted Hellebuyck.

As per Murat Ates of The Athletic, Hellebuyck also confirmed that he has not had any discussions about an extension with the Jets as he is set to head into the final year of his current deal.

Hellebuyck had another strong performance in the regular season with a 2.49 goals against average and a .920 save percentage over 64 appearances for the Jets, and he would almost certainly be one of the most highly sought after commodities as either a free agent a year from now or as a potential trade candidate prior to then.

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Devils fan choked unconscious after assaulting Rangers fan.

The opening round series between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers is starting to heat up considerably now that the Devils have punched back and even taken the lead in this series, and unfortunately that can mean things getting a little too emotional at times.

This week we were treated to an example of that when a conflict between a pair of opposing fans was caught on video. In the video we can see what is at first a verbal confrontation between a fan wearing a Devils jersey and another fan wearing a Rangers jersey. Although we don’t know the source of the conflict it’s probably fair to say that the fact that the two people involved were rooting for different teams probably played some factor, but it appears to be the Devils fan that escalates things to the point of violence.

In the video we can see the Devils fan slap the drink in the hand of the Rangers fan, resulting in the Rangers fan grabbing the Devils fan around the neck and quickly putting him to sleep with a chokehold. In something of an ironic twist of fate, the Devils fan spills his own beer everywhere, including on himself, as he falls limp the floor.

The Devils fan had plenty of opportunity to avoid the conflict, including a woman repeatedly trying to pull him away, but instead ended up flat on his back in front of thousands of people both live in attendance and now on the internet as well.

If you’re going to attend a Stanley Cup playoff game this season, don’t be this guy.

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Maple Leafs hint at two major lineup changes for Game 6.

Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to break the curse tonight and advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by knocking off the Tampa Bay Lightning in 6 games. The Lightning have proven to be a resilient foe however and have already staved off elimination, and of course the Leafs have the added pressure of having a gigantic monkey on their back.

It looks like head coach Sheldon Keefe intends to pull out all the stops for Game 6 in his effort to get his team over that hurdle, with the Leafs hinting at a pair of very significant lineup changes on Saturday morning.

The first hint came to us courtesy of TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie, who on Saturday morning noticed that forward Michael Bunting did not remain on the ice with the extras during the Leafs morning skate. This appears to indicate that Keefe will be re-introducing Bunting into the series after he earned himself a costly suspension for a hit delivered to Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak.

Perhaps an even bigger change though was the second one hinted at during the Leafs morning skate, with Leafs defenseman Justin Holl taking part in the optional skate. This has led to a belief that he could be a healthy scratch in favor of defenseman Timothy Liljegren, a change that many expected to see Sheldon Keefe make earlier in this series.

Timothy Liljegren has been out of action for 16 days and has not appeared in a single game during this series, so this would be a risk on the part of the Maple Leafs head coach.

When he was questioned about his lineup, Keefe opted not to give any information at all.

“I’m not going to take any questions on the lineup,” said Keefe.

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Blake Wheeler fires back at Rick Bowness on Saturday.

Former Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler and his teammates were raked over the coals by their head coach Rick Bowness after being eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention, and now Wheeler is firing back.

On Saturday, Wheeler called out Bowness for publicly bashing the Jets players, implied Bowness had been dishonest, and suggested that his comments would have been better received had they been delivered in private.

“I thought Bones had an opportunity to address us as a team,” said Wheeler on Saturday. “He could’ve been honest with us, handled it behind closed doors… I didn’t like how he handled himself after the game.”

Earlier in the week, Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness unloaded on his players after they were eliminated in 5 games at the hands of the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Bowness went off on a tirade that you don’t often see from modern day coaches in the National Hockey League, one in which he made no effort to spare the potentially hurt feelings of the players in the Winnipeg Jets’ locker room.

“Overall thoughts? I’m so disappointed and disgusted right now… that’s my thoughts.” said a noticeably irate Bowness after Game 5. “No pushback, but it’s the same crap we saw in February,” said Bowness.

Although Bowness did not specifically call out any players by name during his rant, he made it clear that he wasn’t directing his ire at the team’s fourth liners.

“Their better players were so much better than ours, it’s not even close,” said a genuinely disgusted Rick Bowness. “Their better players were so much better than ours tonight, they deserved to win. They were the better team in the regular season, they were the better team in this series.”

It would come as a surprise to no one if Wheeler was included among the group of players that Bowness was calling out in his tirade and it may even be a sign that Wheeler, who was stripped of the captaincy prior to the start of the season, has worn out his welcome in Winnipeg.