Stars of the week, latest on injury status of Evgeni Malkin and Alex Pietrangelo, Devils unveil Martin Brodeur statue. Details and more in NHL morning coffee headlines.
Sidney Crosby scored on a pair of goals to extend his goal streak to a career-best seven games in the Penguins’ win over the Ducks. Henrik Lundqvist lifted the Rangers past the Devils. Details and more in NHL hat trick.
Notable NHL Headlines.
Penguins star Sidney Crosby’s been on an offensive tear since mid-December.
NHL.com: Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson and Florida Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck are your NHL stars of the week.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Two months ago, Crosby was 110th in league scoring. He’s now fifth. While he might not catch Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane in the scoring race, he’s now within striking distance of second place. He’s really turned it around since the Penguins coaching change in mid-December.
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (lower-body injury) missed his third straight game and is now listed as day-to-day.
STLTODAY.COM: Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (right knee injury) has been placed on injured reserve and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That should bring an end to the Kevin Shattenkirk trade rumors. With Pietrangelo on the shelf, the Blues won’t trade Shattenkirk now.
WINNIPEG SUN: Jets forward Drew Stafford received a one-game suspension for high-sticking Colorado Avalanche defenseman Nick Holden.
CBS SPORTS: The Florida Panthers are angry over what they considered a cheap shot on teammate Aleksander Barkov from Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader. Barkov left the game with an upper-body injury and won’t play in tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
NEW YORK POST: Rangers coach Alain Vigneault criticized the league for not handing out supplemental discipline to Philadelphia Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds following his sucker punch of Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, who left the game with a suspected concussion.
BOSTON HERALD: Former Bruins winger Milan Lucic returns to Boston tonight for the first time since his trade to Los Angeles last summer. Lucic, who’s eligible for unrestricted free agency in July, is hoping to stay with the Kings for the remainder of his career.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: After missing the first three months of this season to an ankle injury, Robin Lehner is settling well into the role of Sabres’ starting goaltender.
NJ.COM: The New Jersey Devils unveiled a statue to goaltender Martin Brodeur, who backstopped the club to three Stanley Cup championships.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Parity among NHL teams is making most of them tentative about becoming sellers at the trade deadline.
I watched the Simmonds McDonaugh altercation 1/2 a dozen times. That basic play after a stoppage in play happens at least a dozen times a game on average. Players push upon completion of a play, essentially crosschecks, then players punch people in the head in retaliation. What did McDonaugh expect to happen when he cross checked Simmonds in the chest? He was looking right at him.
Hell Lucic 2 weeks ago to a swing an an unsuspecting player in a scrum in front of the net & nailed the linesman hard popping his head back. The consequence was nothing. Now he didn’t mean to hit the official but he did mean to hit a player who wouldn’t have been able to defend himself & would have been unaware.
These altercations after the whistle need to be eliminated. The Simmonds McDonaugh altercation is common. I don’t think he even deserved a penalty & if he did McDonaugh should have gotten penalized for cross checking as well. If your going to cross check someone even if it’s not hard chances are they are going to fight back & you had better prepare yourself. That unfortunately is the NHL game. Intimidation.
McDonough was penalized for 4 minutes, Rangers had a 1 minute power play as a result. In addition Simmonds broke his stick and threw it in the direction of the referee. That is an automatic 3 game suspension, but it went unpunished. In addition at the end of the Rangers power play the Flyers had an illegal substitution when they failed to put someone in the penalty box, and a Flyer came off the bench to create a breakaway. This should have been a 2 minute penalty