Tag: national hockey league

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Milan Lucic reveals just how bad things got for him in Calgary.

Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

The Milan Lucic saga in Calgary may finally be over, and quite frankly it may even put an end to the Milan Lucic saga in Edmonton considering the Edmonton Oilers originally signed him to his much-maligned contract and were still paying him $750,000 this season due to the salary retained in the trade that sent him to the Calgary Flames.

It brings to an end a period in the career of Lucic that drastically altered the reputation he had as a player in the National Hockey League. Lucic would go from having the reputation of a dominant physical forward with the Boston Bruins, perhaps even among the most feared men in the entire league, to that of a largely overpaid and ineffective forward with the Oilers and Flames.

While it might be easy to suggest that Lucic can brush it off with the millions he has earned in the process, there’s no doubt that all of the controversy surrounding his play and his contract had to have taken a toll on the man, and following the conclusion of the 2022-23 NHL regular season, Lucic admitted as much.

“You want to live up to the expectations of what you’re getting paid and all that type of stuff… and I’m a proud person,” admitted Lucic.

Speaking to the media following the conclusion of the season, a “glassy-eyed” Milan Lucic admitted that it had been a struggle for him during the low points of his tenure with the Flames, and he thanked the fans for keeping his love of the game alive with their chants of “Looch” every time he touched the pucked.

“I gotta say [the fans] made it fun for me again, and I thank the people here for that,” said Lucic.

In fact, things would get so bad for Lucic at some points during his tenure in Calgary that the bruising forward admitted he contemplated stepping away from the game altogether at times.

“It wasn’t fun… and it got to a point for me when it wasn’t fun coming to the rink anymore and all that type of stuff,” admitted Lucic. “It was tough at one point… but that’s why I’m thankful and grateful to have the people around me that I’ve had here in Calgary.”

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Crosby on his future in Pittsburgh, Malkin and Letang.

The 2022-23 National Hockey League regular season will go down as a disappointing one for fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise, with the team missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 regular season.

This has led to the belief that there will be major changes forthcoming for the Penguins ahead of next season and we’ve already seen evidence of that with both president of hockey operations Brian Burke and general manager Ron Hextall being fired this week as a direct result of the team’s poor performance on the ice.

The big questions now though surround the group’s core players with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, star forward Evgeni Malkin and star forward Kris Letang being the most frequently discussed members of that core group. There has been some concern that a player of Crosby’s calibur might not be interested in sticking around for a rebuild, but on Saturday the Penguins captain squashed those rumors when he reiterated that he hopes to be a lifelong Penguin.

“I’d love to. That’s been the case since Day 1,” admitted Crosby when asked if he wants to remain a Penguin. “I feel really fortunate to have been drafted here. I have great memories.”

Crosby also appeared to address any such speculation regarding his top two teammates, indicating that a big part of why he has enjoyed playing in Pittsburgh so much has been due to the quality of teammates he has had along the way. Although he didn’t mention them by name, it was clear that Letang and Malkin were the men being discussed in this scenario.

“I’ve got to play with two teammates specifically for a really long time – so, I’d love that to be the case,” said Crosby.

It sounds like if the captain has any say in the matter, Crosby, Malkin and Letang won’t be going anywhere soon.

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Full schedule announced for Bruins vs. Panthers in Round 1.

AP

The Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers are set to clash in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and now we have a better idea of how the series will play out.

On Saturday, the National Hockey League released the full schedule for the upcoming series with the notable exception of the exact start time for games 5, 6, and 7 likely due to the fact that they might not be needed should one team or the other dominate the series.

The Bruins and their impressive record this season have earned home ice advantage and that means that the first two games will take place in Boston on Monday and Wednesday. Following the conclusion of Game 2 on Wednesday, the Bruins will then travel to Florida for a pair of games, the first of which will be on Friday and the second of which will be on Sunday.

Should the series require more than 4 games, the series will head back to Boston the following Wednesday for Game 5, back to Florida on the following Friday for Game 6, and finally back to Boston on the following Sunday should Game 7 be required.

Here’s a full look at the schedule, including the start times for the first four matchups:

Monday, April 17 – 7:30pm EST – TD Garden
Wednesday, April 19 – 7:30pm EST – TD Garden
Friday, April 21 – 7:30pm EST – FLA Live Arena
Sunday, April 23 – 3:30pm EST – FLA Live Arena
Wednesday, April 26 – TBD – TD Garden
Friday, April 28 – TBD – FLA Live Arena
Sunday, April 30 – TBD – TD Garden

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David Pastrnak reaches 60 goals with a hat trick on Sunday!

The Boston Bruins are playing what would normally be a relatively meaningless game with their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs already secured, but this is turning into a memorable night for the Bruins nonetheless.

Bruins forward David Pastrnak has hit a major milestone with his 60th goal of the regular season and has done so in epic fashion, recording a hat trick against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night.

Here’s Pasta’s first goal of the night:

And the second:

And the hat trick, his 60th goal of the season:

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Puck to the back of the head forces Garnet Hathaway out of the game.

The Boston Bruins may have lost one of their forwards at an inopportune point in the season.

On Sunday night, during a game between the Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway was knocked out of the game when he was struck in the back of the head by a shot courtesy of teammate Connor Carrick.

It is unclear if the shot from Carrick deflected off of a Flyers stick or not before it struck Hathaway, but the force of the blow to the back of Hathaway’s helmet was enough to send him racing back to the locker room. What is clear is that Carrick did not intend to hit his teammate, and this has been an unfortunate accident in what is a relatively meaningless game for the Bruins at this point in the season as far as the standings are concerned.

Hopefully the injury to Hathaway won’t prove to be serious, we will keep you posted as updates on his status become available.

Update: Hathaway has made his way back to the bench and even took a shift before the end of the second period. It would seem the National Hockey League’s concussion spotters have cleared him, a great sign for the Bruins.

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Trouble brewing between Tony DeAngelo and the Flyers.

Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports

As far as being a competitive team is concerned, for all intents and purposes the 2022-23 National Hockey League season is already over for the Philadelphia Flyers. The team has been well out of playoff contention for quite some time now, but in spite of that the disaster that has been this current season for the Flyers appears to be ongoing.

Over the course of the last few games the Flyers have made the curious decision of making veteran defenseman Tony DeAngelo a healthy scratch, in fact they have now done so for 3 consecutive games. For a healthy and a competitive player like DeAngelo that has to feel like a bit of a slap in the face, especially considering these kind of moves are usually reserved for when a coach is trying to send a message.

If there is a message being sent here though the Flyers don’t appear to be interested in communicating it to DeAngelo, with John Tortorella confirming on Sunday that he hasn’t even so much as talked to the player as of late.

DeAngelo of course has a history of being somewhat of a problem child with some of his previous teams so it isn’t exactly shocking to see him disciplined in this fashion. What is surprising though is the apparent lack of communication towards a player that the Flyers will still have under contract come next season. Former Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher signed DeAngelo to a 2 year deal in the summer of 2022, meaning that he will still be on the books for the Flyers come next season at a cap hit of $5 million.

Alienating one of your regular defenseman so late in the season seems like a questionable move given that context, especially when talking about a player as volatile as DeAngelo.

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Jeremy Swayman tears up and reveals why he pointed to the sky last night.

Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins picked up a historic win on Sunday night when they toppled a Philadelphia Flyers team that made it interesting throughout the game, becoming the winningest team in National Hockey League regular season history with their 63rd win of the season.

All of the focus was on the monumental win for the Bruins, and rightfully so, but for one of the players in the Bruins locker room the win had an even more specifical significance. That player was Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who following the victory was seen pointing to the sky as if to honor those who had passed on.

Following the game Swayman was asked about the gesture and he revealed that he was paying tribute to his former coach Dennis Gendron, better known to many as “Red.” Swayman spoke of one of his mentors during the post game interview but was overcome with emotion when he spoke of Gendron’s passing.

“Tonight was a really special one, two years ago today my all time mentor Red Gendron passed away,” revealed Swayman.

If it happened two years ago, why was Swayman thinking of Gendron last night? Well when Gendron passed away Swayman was in Philadelphia, and the young Bruins goaltender felt like his mentor was looking down on him on the anniversary of his passing.

“I was actually in Philly when it happened, and I think it was pretty scripted today how it worked out,” said Swayman, choking through tears. “It was pretty special for that.”

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Bruins set a single-season NHL record on Sunday night.

Eric Canha/CSM/Zuma

The 2022-23 Boston Bruins can legitimately make a case that they are the greatest regular season team in the history of the National Hockey League.

On Sunday night, the Bruins entered a game against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 3-way tie for the most wins in regular season history with 62. That record was shared with the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, but with a win over the Flyers on Sunday the Bruins earned their 63rd win of the season and claimed the record for themselves.

The Bruins now stand alone atop the mountain having achieved a feat that no other team in the history of the NHL has managed to do and doing so while playing in the Atlantic Division, considered by many to be among the toughest divisions in the league.

Perhaps even more impressive than the record itself though is the fact that the Bruins still have room to extend it. With two more games this week, Tuesday against the Washington Capitals and Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins could eclipse the record previously established by the Red Wings and Lightning.

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Noel Acciari tells the tale of the time he showed up to a game a bloody mess.

Youtube

Hockey players are known for their legendary toughness but sometimes they can be too tough for their own good, and that very much appears to be the case when it comes to Toronto Maple Leafs forward Noel Acciari.

Recently Acciari was interviewed by National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman and it was during that interview that Friedman asked Acciari about an infamous story from his past. As the story goes, Acciari once showed up to a game carrying his equipment on his back and bleeding from his head after a car accident, but insisted on playing in the game anyways and would in fact do so.

Not only did Acciari confirm that the story is in fact a true tale, but provided perhaps the most shocking detail of all by revealing that he was only 10 years old when the whole thing happened.

“It was a Saturday and we were driving to Bridgeport in Massachusetts for a game,” revealed Acciari on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “We get rear ended pretty good, kind of caved in the back of the whole van and me and my brother are sitting in the back.”

As if that wasn’t crazy enough, according to Acciari the reason the accident happened in the first place was due to the fact that an inmate had escaped a local jail. This resulted in increased police presence on the streets, and the driver who collided with their van had apparently been distracted by the sheriff’s on the road.

“Apparently an inmate had gotten out so there was searches and everyone was looking over… and one car was just focused on the sheriff’s and everyone looking for whoever.”

Acciari would end up wounded as a result of the accident, splitting his head open on a TV inside of the family van, but that wasn’t going to stop him from getting to the game.

“We had the TV down the middle seat and I hit my head on the TV and cut my head a little bit, was bleeding,” said Acciari. “So we wait for the police and EMTs show up and I’m like ‘I gotta get to the game.'”

10 year old Acciari was determined to play despite his injury and even though the back of his family’s van had been caved in and could no longer be opened, he grabbed his equipment from the damaged van and took off to the arena with his gear on his back.

“You can’t open up the back of the van because the back door is caved in, so I just reached in and grabbed my bag from the backseat and pull it out and I told my parents ‘Hey the rink is right there, I’m going.'”

Unable to leave the scene of the accident, Acciari’s parents allowed him to walk to the arena where he would end up playing in the game and even scored a couple of goals to really complete the story.

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Bo Horvat apologizes for inflammatory Vancouver comments.

New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat got himself into a little hot water over the weekend when he made some public comments about his former team that were pretty inflammatory in their nature.

After the Islanders picked up a much needed win in their hunt for a playoff spot on Saturday night, Horvat participated in a post-game interview in front of the fans at UBS Arena and it was then that he made the comments. Horvat took what seemed like an entirely unprompted shot at his former team and their fans after he was asked what came off as a relatively run of the mill question during a post game interview.

Question: How does this rank for you in playoff pushes, the excitement of this building and the fans’ involvement over the last couple of games?

“It’s been unbelievable,” answered Horvat before then taking an unprompted shot at the Canucks and their fans. “It’s a lot better than Vancouver I’ll tell you that for free.”

Horvat’s comments drew widespread attention and likely cost him more than a few fans in the city of Vancouver, and on Monday morning he addressed the issue when speaking with the media. Horvat claimed that he got a little caught up in the excitement of the moment and stressed that the comments came off worse than he intended, before apologizing for the comments altogether.

“I wasn’t obviously expecting that,” said Horvat when asked about the reaction to his comments this weekend. “It was kind of a heat of the moment thing. I didn’t mean any disrespect to the fans of Vancouver or my teammates or city of Vancouver at all. It wasn’t directed at them at all. The (Islanders) fans were all excited, and I was excited to be in a playoff push. It was just kind of one of those things where my emotions got the best of me. I was just really happy to be there to be honest with you. It might have come out the wrong way to a lot of people so I apologize for that. I’m just excited to be in the position right now, to be in a playoff push, to be right there. I really enjoyed my time in Vancouver, I’m not trying to disrespect them at all. I’m sorry if it offended anybody but l’m really happy to be in this position right now. I’m really happy to be here, and I just wanted to express that. It maybe, like I said, came out the wrong way to a lot of people.”

There’s no telling if Horvat’s apology will undo any of the damage those comments made to how he is perceived in the Vancouver market.