Game recaps. Flames fire coach Bob Hartley, Kris Letang suspended & more in this morning’s collection of notable NHL headlines.
NHL Playoff News.
Lightning forward Brian Boyle scores in overtime against the Islanders.
TAMPA BAY TIMES/NEWSDAY: Brian Boyle scored in overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-4 victory over the New York islanders in Game 3 of the second-round series to go up two games to one. It was a hard-hitting game, which saw Lightning winger Jonathan Drouin temporarily leave the game in the second period after receiving a hard, clean hit from Isles defenseman Thomas Hickey. Prior to scoring the game-winning goal, Boyle leveled HIckey with a questionable hit that incurred the ire of Islanders coach Jack Capuano.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It remains to be seen if Boyle will be suspended. If we go by the recent suspensions in the Pittsburgh-Washington series, I’d say he’ll be suspended. However, it seems what the department of player safety considered a hit worthy of suspension seems to be open to interpretation.
THE TENNESSEAN/THE MERCURY NEWS: James Neal, Shea Weber, Colin Wilson and Filip Forsberg scored as the Nashville Predators overcome an early 1-0 deficit to defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 and narrow the latter’s series lead to 2-1. After struggling on the power player in the first two games, the Preds went two for five with the man advantage while killing off four penalties of their own.
STLTODAY.COM/THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: After giving up the game’s first goal, the St. Louis Blues tallied six times and romped to a 6-1 victory over the Dallas Stars. David Backes and Alexander Steen each scored twice while Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists. The win gives the Blues a 2-1 series leads. The chief concern for the Stars is their defense, which seemed to crumble against the Blues aggressive forecheck.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Stars need a better effort defensively and between the pipes in Game Four or this series could be over quickly. The Blues looked like a club taking command of the series with this lopsided win.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang received a one-game suspension for his hit to the head of Washington Capitals winger Marcus Johansson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That decision didn’t sit well with Capitals fans after Brooks Orpik received a three-game suspension for his head shot on Penguins blueliner Olli Maatta. The explanation seems to be Letang’s hit was a hockey play gone wrong as Johansson was still playing the puck, while Orpik’s was a deliberate attempt to injure as the puck was nowhere near Maatta.
Notable NHL Headlines.
CALGARY SUN: The Flames fired head coach Bob Hartley, who won NHL coach of the year honors last season. GM Brad Treliving insists this move was not related to the Anaheim Ducks firing Bruce Boudreau as coach.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Perhaps not, but the whole thing seems a little fishy to me. The Flames made notable improvement during Hartley’s first three seasons behind their bench, including reaching the playoffs in 2015. Poor goaltending (the Flames had the worst in the league this season) led to their downfall in 2015-16. I don’t think he deserved to lose his job because management did a lousy job providing him with decent goaltending, but that’s just me. I’m sure others believe otherwise. Flames management obviously did.
NBC SPORTS: Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano, New York Islanders forward Matt Martin and Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban are the finalists for NHL’s 2016 Foundation Player Award.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Three worthy nominees who’s done a lot for their communities.
BOSTON HERALD: Bruins forwards David Krejci and Matt Beleskey and defenseman Torey Krug all recently underwent surgeries. Krejci (hip surgery) will require 3-4 months of recuperation, Beleskey (left hand) will need six weeks and Krug (right shoulder) will require six months.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Beleskey will recover in plenty of time for training camp in September. Krejci is hoping to be ready in time for the World Cup of Hockey in mid-September. Krug, however, might be out until November.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov underwent right wrist surgery. He can resume hockey activities in six-to-eight weeks.
Agreed. Very fishy. Upper management was the reason the Flames had a poor season. The goalie problem that plagued them remains. I have no confidence in that dirty looking Burke. He’s well spoken and appears to know just enough about hockey to be dangerous.
Ehh I think even tho Burke is in charge in Calgary, that Treliving who seems to be a pretty on the ball gm so far in his career may have been looking beyond just goaltending to the possession type stats thar the Flames have put up over the course of Hartley’s time there. Not saying its the only reason but his style of game doesnt exactly help the weak goaltending situation,, and that aspect of their game hasnt been god despite having some success in some time. Again probably not the only reason but could have contributed to it.
The Boyle did not connect with his head…no suspension
Interestingly enough Burke addressed the Letang & Orpik hits in his interview about the firing of Hartley. He was coming to the defense of his son some what. His points were,less than a second had passed with the Letang hit, the original point of contact wasn’t the head his forearm made contact with the chest 1st, etc. He said you need to break these hits down in real time, talking milliseconds. He said if you listen to player safety they address the differences. Most people just watch the replay in slow potion & just assume they are the same. There not really when looking at them frame by frame timing the player releasing the puck etc.
Now don’t get me wrong I think how punishments are handled is a joke & below any professional sport. There is no deterrent or consistency.
He also said Letang wasn’t a repeat offender. I don’t know if this is true or not.
Calgary needs to fire Burke too. His opinions, rants, and general behaviour have become tiresome and unbearable to watch. His reaction at the lottery to seeing the Leafs win and the Flames fall down the list was absolutely priceless, and for him, well deserved. Brad Treliving has been doing a good job in trying to rebuild the Flames in much the same way the Leafs are doing now, even though this season they took a step back and had to fire a good coach. The biggest fear that I would have if I were a Flames fan, and Treliving knows this as well as anyone, is that Burke can undo all this good work with one quote. For this and other reasons, don’t be surprised if Bruce Boudreau decides to look elsewhere. If he does, you know who to blame.
I like that he chews tobacco. That’s about as far as it goes though. His ego is as big as the Saddledome. And he looks like a fat old tired hedgehog who can’t tie a tie.