The Penguins eliminating the Capitals tops this morning’s list of notable NHL headlines.
NHL Playoff Recaps and News.
Penguins forward Nick Bonino (13) celebrates his series-ending overtime goal against the Capitals.
TRIBLIVE.COM/THE WASHINGTON POST: Nick Bonino’s overtime goal gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals, eliminating the latter from the playoffs in six games. Phil Kessel scored twice as the Pens jumped to a 3-0 lead, but the Caps battled back to tie the game, in part due to three straight delay-of-game penalties by the Penguins in the third period. The Caps defense was hampered by the loss of Karl Alzner, who was sidelined by a lower-body injury. The Pens will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A hard-fought victory for the Penguins and a heartbreaking defeat for the Capitals, who remain labeled as playoff chokers. Some critics will want to hang this defeat on Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, but he had two goals and five assists for seven points in this series, more than Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (two assists) and Evgeni Malkin (one goal and one assist) combined. With his club facing elimination in Games Five and Six, he responded with two points in each game and was always a serious offensive threat. The key to this series was the Penguins’ depth and speed advantage. Crosby and Malkin weren’t significant offensive factors in this series, but they didn’t have to be. Carl Hagelin (seven points), Phil Kessel (six points) and Nick Bonino (five points) stepped up when the big guns were silenced.
NHL.COM: Fatigue could be a factor for the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators when they square off in Game 7 of their second-round series on Thursday.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS; Game 6 of the Dallas Stars – St. Louis Blues series was the highest-rated Stars game in their home market since 2007.
Other NHL Headlines.
TSN: The Anaheim Ducks are to interview former Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo.
NEWSDAY: New York Islanders GM Garth Snow hopes to retain his coaching staff for next season.
PHILLY.COM: Philadelphia Flyers winger R.J. Umberger hopes to land with another NHL team as a free agent if he’s bought out of his current contract.
THE PROVINCE: Curtis Vey, father of Vancouver Canucks forward Linden Vey, will stand trial with a co-accused woman on charges of conspiracy to murder their spouses. The pair were charged in 2013.
DETROIT FREE PRESS: The Red Wings hired former Boston Bruins assistant coach Doug Houda as an assistant to head coach Jeff Blashill.
THE BOSTON GLOBE: The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins will play an exhibition game this fall in Quebec City.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That game will be seen as a sop to Quebec City hockey fans if their club doesn’t get an expansion franchise.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The AHL board of governors approved the sale of the Springfield Falcons to the Arizona Coyotes, who intend to move the franchise to Tucson.
Kessel now leading the Pens with points in the playoffs 12 p in 11 g, wonder how many still think he was the problem in Toronto.
Maybe the hot dogs are better in Pittsburgh? 😉
lol
They put french fries on their hamburgers in Pittsburgh.
There, the secret is out.
Hagelin looked 3x faster than any Capital. Kessel has space out there to move.
Conference finals of speed!
Still laughing at the idiotic idea of putting Fleury in for game 6 considering he’s always good for a meltdown game when he comes back from injury. I think he’s played his last game for the Penguins. Cost is a decent young LW or a first.
Disagree, Deeee.
Love how Murray has been playing, but I still want to see more of him before making the final call on Fleury. I think you have to split their starts next year and make a deadline move. But hell, two goalies of that caliber sure gives you a good feeling in the playoffs too. So maybe they go the full season. Either way, Murray has the car keys, but not the slip just yet.
Considering Kessel came into training camp in the best shape of his life I think he was looking for something more out of his career from the seasons inception. And this team is full of reclamation projects that have paid dividends.
The Ducks and Wild trade coaches?
Amusing, considering both GM’s are likely on thin ice, as a result of the growing perceptions of their respective roster/cap mismanagement.
“Shuffling the deck-chairs on the Titanic” is the phrase that comes to mind.
Murray isn’t on thin ice in Anaheim. I can’t speak to Fletcher’s situation. No GM has better managed the cap or his roster for expansion than Murray. No team in the NHL has accomplished so much spending so little as Murray in Anaheim. They had the 24th lowest payroll in the NHL last season & are a serious cup contender for at least the next 3 to 5 seasons.
In case you missed the memo. He was runner up to Yzerman in 2014-15 for executive of the year. They lead the league in goals against with 188. They had the #1 power play & the #1 penalty killing unit. Ranked 17th for goals for. 8th for goal differential. This is a young team really, especially on defense & they have numerous stud prospects coming. Theodore, Ritchie, Larsson & Montour.
This summer he gets to auction off Vatanen & Andersen to address the loss of 2 wingers to UFA Status. Perron & McGillis most likely only bringing back 1 top 6 winger, prospects & picks.
In his post season interview he said revenue was actually up this season so they are able to spend more next season on slaries but they have an internal cap.
Bruce Boudreau’s personal decisions cost Anaheim an opportunity to advance out of the 1st round. Dressing Gibson in games 1 & 2 over Andersen was a huge mistake. Sitting Theodore to dress Stoner who was returning from injury in game 7 was a serious mistake. He & Despres got split on the 1st goal by Wilson & both barely played following.
A GMs job is to put togeter a winning team, not to position it for an expansion draft…regardless of how good or bad its positioned for it I doubt there is an owner or president in the league that is going to keep a GM on that basis or on the flip side going to fire a gm because of how they are positioned going in to expansion…if thats the sole purpose of keeping a guy around or firing him Id suggest that the team is bring run by a knit whit, and incase you missed the meno guys who win awards get fired all the time (how may Adams award winners been fired over the past few years?)
Almost every supposed expert had Anaheim to win the cup. After a brutal start in the season, where they just could not score for some reason, they went on an unbelievable run where they were the best team in the NHL for 2 3rds of the season. They lost round 1 because of poor coaching decisions & playing a goalie that stole games.
I know you do not like it Shticky but some NHL teams are run like businesses & properly managing assets & money is as important as their quest for the cup. Anaheim is in a fabulous position today, moving forward & will be a cup contender coming out of a brutal conference for at least the next 3 to 5 years potentially even longer when you look at the foundation & how young some of these players are.
Interesting how you latched of to the gravy & not the meat of the post. There actual results; stats, wins, etc. Murray is not being fired. This is 1 of the top 5 teams in the NHL now & due to those other aspects I referenced even better in the future. No GM has better managed his assets & the only other GM even close to managing the cap is Poile in Nashville.
Murray is a brilliant man & not even remotely in jeopardy of losing his job. Henry and Susan Samueli the owners of the Ducks give Murray full autonomy to run Hockey operations any way he wishes with in the budget they set down with Michael Schulman the CEO.
Like several teams, the Ducks are run like a proper business not just a sports team willing to lose money. Although they did lose just under a million in the 2014-15 even though they made it to the conference final. Murray stated on radio recently revenues were up this year, so his budget has been increased nominally. No team has accomplished as much as the Ducks spending so little. They had the 24th lowest payroll in the NHL last season!
Same coach making the same type of decisions and goaltending that they had on that miracle run you spoke of….Im not saying Murray should or shouldnt be fired Im saying it seem sometimes you post some ridiculous comments just to see your own words on a hockey thread.
a GM shouldnt be fired because the team is in a good spot for an expansion draft is one of the prime examples of this.
Murray stonewalling Ovie was the most important part of the series in my mind. Ovie had a lot of point blank chances that Murray swallowed up. Kessel had a couple good games though.