Games recaps, updates on Kevin Bieksa and Nazem Kadri and the latest on the Canadiens and Oilers.
Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson makes one of his 29 saves in a 4-0 shutout win against the Blue Jackets.
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: Michael Hutchinson made 29 saves for this 14th win of the season as the Jets blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0. The Jets also welcomed back defenseman Jacob Trouba, who missed 16 games with an upper-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets enter the All-Star break with a record of 26-14-8, sitting firmly in fifth overall in the Western Conference and only two points behind the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.
OTTAWA SUN: Erik Karlsson scored twice as the Senators took a 3-0 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs and hung on for a 4-3 victory.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Senators remain 10 points out of the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference, as are the Maple Leafs, who have now lost six straight games.
CALGARY HERALD: Flames goalie Joni Ortio suffered his first NHL defeat this season as the Anaheim Ducks doubled up the Flames 6-3. It marked the 20th straight game the Flames have lost in Anaheim.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Definitely not the happiest place on earth for the Flames, though they retain hold of the final wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference as the LA Kings also lost last night.
THE VANCOUVER SUN: Bad news for the Canucks as veteran defenseman Kevin Bieksa is out indefinitely following surgery on his broken left hand. Bieksa suffered the injury during a recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning when struck by a slapshot by Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks only recently welcomed back Dan Hamhuis from a groin injury. Losing Bieksa could be a serious blow.
TORONTO SUN: The Maple Leafs and Nazem Kadri are reportedly in talks on a new contract worth $22 million over five years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That’s $4.4 million per season for a center on pace for 23 goals and nearly 50 points, numbers similar to what he posted up last season, but nowhere close to the nearly point-per-game pace he was on (44 points in 48 games) during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign. Is Kadri worth it, Leafs fan? Discuss!
MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Canadiens enter the All-Star break in a light mood, having won seven of their last ten games and sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, only three points out of first overall.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: They’ve also done it scoring fewer goals at this point in the season than they did at this time a year ago. The Habs offensive, defensive and puck-possession numbers are among the league’s worst, yet thanks to superb goaltending and timely offense they’re among the best teams in the NHL.
EDMONTON SUN: With a pair of comeback wins, the Oilers are showing signs of a turnaround.
50 point second line centre for under 4.5 mill? Sure…problem is we have a crappy 2nd line center who wouldnt get 50 points unless he was playing with 70 point wingers and loads of minutes on the topline…
Too bad about being down by 3 at the end of the first again…bad goaltending early is killing them. Team that is struggling to score looking up at the clock knowing they need to score 4 or 5 to win is not exactly confidence building. Besides the first they looked ok.
Was happy to see a bit of tenacity from Clarkson last night – looked like a weight had been lifted when he scored. Two assists for Gardiner – I’ll take it, he looked alright last night. Overall last night was a win for the Leafs, in my opinion – some good play from under-performing players and we moved another spot higher in the draft
Gardiner and Rielly are alot of fun to watch together…agreed Gardiner looked pretty good lastnight. Percy and Polak….not so much. Percy is young and has some growing to do, Polak is Gleason 2.0 Gleason was Komisarek 2.0…remember Aulie or Fraser? 2 guys that are the exact same type players only cheaper? Not that they were good or any better, but they were not really any worse either.
Reimers gotta have the first and 4th goal. To say there was a screen on the first goal is really clutching at straws. The fourth goal was much worse, shot was half way up the net from a distance. How is he that far deep in the net every time?
Wow TML, falling back 3-0 to a team that really isn’t that good. *tap wood, cross my fingers* Then scrambling back in as the tired team sat back resulting in your 6 loss in a roll and only 3 wins in 17 and you claim a win.
Maybe the leaf players think the same way and that is the problem with Leaf culture.
I am just waiting for the 10 – 14th place team to win this years lottery so all the teams who tanked or fans who wish for the tank can get some egg on their face.
#1 only has a 20% chance of winning the lotto. That means there is a 80% chance someone else will win it. Tanking for a 1 in 5 chance doesn’t seem the wisest thing to do in my my mind. Well unless you can get to the bottom two spots cause even if you lose you will get the 2nd or 3rd pick.
Maybe the Oilers can continue to rise. They’re now a respectable team playing 500 hockey unlike that clown act in Toronto. Ha who am I kidding.
Who claimed it was a win?…they looked “ok” in the secomd period is along way off saying much of anything really. After all the flak he has got all year (with good reason for the most part) Gardiner played pretty well, dont think its wrong to point out a good game after some of the bad ones he has had…that goes for a few other guys on the team aswell….cant look at it like the sky is falling all the time, that is the just as much a problem with the culture around the team.
ummm…shticky….read TML’s post. The quote is. “Overall last night was a win for the leafs.”
I’m not trying to be an ass but really? I mean my first words were WOW TML. You’d think you go and read his post so you know what I was referencing and countering.
Not a leaf fan Lyle but hope you don’t mind if I join the discussion.
I don’t think Kadri is worth that. He has potential though and if signed to that ammount Nonis is gambling on yet another contract.
To bad the Canucks couldn’t convert Kassian into a defensemen, might take a few years but why not try
:urg:
Wow! I am late to the show and all the quality debate in the rumour section has passed me by.
I’m not going to touch the trade ideas discussed there.
I have to say the Maple leafs played 1000 times better last night against the Sens. The 1rst goal Reimer should of saved. The 2nd goal opened my eyes as to the leafs problem. It is a lack of effort. They may not of prevented that goal it was a pretty passing play on a 3 on 1. But as each leaf trailing was racing to catch up their legs kicking madly to gain speed they hit their blue line and to a man each one decided to coast. The Sen players stopped to make those passes. If those leaf back checkers continued to move their legs they may have got in the passing lane or at least put pressure on the Sens, who love to miss the net.
The game also highlighted Ottawa’s problems. Although it was a back to back game and that can be blamed I’ve seen it all to often this year that the Sens sit back and let the game come to them. They are not a skilled team, they should be mucking it up and grinding out wins forcing the game onto their opponents.
Clarkson played pretty well last night. Maybe he can be traded. Yeah I hope you saw the sarcasm in that. Now before you judge this next comment understand I like Phaneuf although agree he is over paid. Why is he fighting players like Eric Staal and Milan Michalek? I thought he was in a higher weight class. 3 wins in 17 games. Wow.
The improved play was predictable though. They didn’t look like a tanking team last night.