NHL Weekly: Punk rock on ice, Markstrom stands tall but Edmonton's streak falls
Most productive player
Thirteen hockey players scored five points in the week, including Alexander Ovechkin and defenseman Torey Krug, who did it in just one game. The winner, however, was six-point Canadian forward Nick Suzuki. The Montreal captain shone, especially with his shooting, scoring four of his six attempts and adding two assists.
Unfortunately, his productivity didn't help the team much, the Canadiens won only one of their three games and are currently ten points behind the last playoff spot.
Goaltender of the week
Calgary should sell before the transfer deadline (March 8th), or so the media claims. And the proof was the recent trade of Elias Lindholm to Vancouver. But the Flames don't seem to be giving up. The club won all three games this week and Jacob Markstrom was outstanding during them. He allowed just six goals from 99 shots and had a 93.9% save percentage.
And his numbers could have been even better. On Saturday against the NY Islanders, he tried to score in an empty net at the end but instead, his team cashed in. He also recorded an assist in the same game, his fourth of the season. Only Roman Turek has had more (5) in Calgary's colours in one season, twenty-two years ago.
Highlight of the week
When the All-Star Game break came in late January and early February, Edmonton weren't too happy. The Canadian club were in hot form with sixteen straight wins and just one short of tying the NHL record for the most consecutive victories. But they couldn't break it. After the exhibition game, the Oilers went to the current champions in Vegas and ended their impressive run with a 3-1 defeat.
Even so, the Oilers had not lost in 51 days with 11 different players scoring winning goals and the team moved up 16 spots in the standings. Some were happy they lost like current Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet, who was a player at Pittsburgh during their record 17-game winning streak in 1993. "I don't like it when people say they want someone to break the record. I certainly didn't want that," he said with a smile.
Stat of the week
From the time he arrived in Minnesota, it was apparent that Russian forward Kirill Kaprizov was about to leave quite a mark. He scored 51 points in 55 games in 2020/21 to become Rookie of the Year and, the following season, he broke the century mark. He has now become the first player in Wild history to break the 20-goal mark four seasons in a row. Funny to think that he was selected with the 135th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Social media highlight
Have you ever wondered what it looks like to change the plexiglass right by the bench? Well, in Pittsburgh, it looks something like this.
Photo of the week
Why Don't You Get A Job, Hammerhead, Pretty Fly and many more; popular California punk rock band The Offspring visited the Anaheim-Edmonton game and even got to be a part of the ceremonial faceoff. Dexter Holland and Co. threw the puck down between Radko Gudas and Connor McDavid in special jerseys resembling the band's symbol.
Ladislav Smid's take
"It was a wild game between Toronto and Ottawa on Saturday, with Ridly Greig closing out the match with six seconds left by scoring with a goalie's slap shot into an empty Leafs net. The turnover was caught by Morgan Rielly, quite rightly, only Rielly shouldn't have hit him in the face with a crosscheck, so of course that wasn't good.
"But I liked the immediate response, that kind of behaviour doesn't belong in hockey. Greig was completely disrespectful, but unfortunately, things like this happen more and more often on the ice.
"I don't want to lump everyone together, of course, but it's clear that the younger generations are losing respect. I don't know what exactly it is. Is it education? It's one thing to play hard and leave everything on the ice, but then there are also unwritten rules on the ice that you have to follow and at the same time respect your opponent."
