The Official National Hockey League Appreciation Thread

[KarateKen]

Crazy game tonight in St. Paul as the Wild beat the Canucks 10-7 in the highest scoring game of the year. There were three hat tricks tonight, the first time there have been three hat tricks in the same game since November of 1992. Also, Minnesota scored six goals in 5:45 seconds and seven total goals in the third period. Absolutely bonkers. The ten goals by Minnesota set a franchise record. The entire game was, to use the obvious pun, wild.

Minnesota has played better in recent weeks and now is only two points out of the final playoff spot in the west.

[Patrick]

Crazy game tonight in St. Paul as the Wild beat the Canucks 10-7 in the highest scoring game of the year.

The owner of the team I am playing in fantasy hockey this week has checked out because he had Kirill Kaprizov on his bench and missed out on a 12.2 point performance.

[KarateKen]

Crazy game tonight in St. Paul as the Wild beat the Canucks 10-7 in the highest scoring game of the year.

The owner of the team I am playing in fantasy hockey this week has checked out because he had Kirill Kaprizov on his bench and missed out on a 12.2 point performance.

I would do the same thing. Many years ago, I was in an office fantasy football league and I had running back Curtis Martin of the New York Jets. I think he was my first-round pick. Martin did nothing for me for five or six games in a row, or whatever it was, so I benched him. That week scored three touchdowns. To this day I have never played fantasy sports again.

[KarateKen]

Auston Matthews is having a monster season. His 52 goals are the most in the league and he is on pace for 76 Matthews has 13 more goals than Sam Reinhart who is second. Fifty goals for an entire season is a huge number in today's NHL, Matthews already has passed that and if he puts in 76 it would tie 5th all time most goals in a single season, the most recent being in 1992-93. There are only three players who have scored more than 76 goals in a season, Wayne Gretzky did it twice (92 and 87 goals) Brett Hull (86) and Mario Lemieux (85). To put 76 goals in deeper perspective, last year McDavid had his career high in goals, at 64. Alex Ovechkin's career high is 65 from 2008.

If Matthews and the Leafs continue to play well maybe they could make a deep playoff run. The franchise has not had much to cheer about in recent years as last season was the first time in almost two decades they won a playoff series, only to get thumped by the Panthers in the second round. Toronto has not won a Stanley Cup since the 60s when there were only 8 teams in the league. The east is tough with Florida, Boston, and New York all looking like legit Cup contenders.

[KarateKen]

The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Maple Leafs on Tuesday and got their 300th franchise win, making them the fastest team in history to 300, it took them 514 games. It ends a seven-game win streak for Toronto.

On the other side of it Arizona has now gone winless in their last 13, the longest streak by any team this season. Arizona is a team that might be moving soon and these losing streaks don't help. The NHL is looking at possibly moving them to Houston, Atlanta, or Salt Lake City. There is a chance they could be staying in Arizona, and if so then Salt Lake is likely to get an expansion team.

[KarateKen]

There might be grave concern in Vegas as the defending champions continue to struggle, losing to the Blue Jackets today. This comes after the ugly 7-2 loss on Saturday against Buffalo. Vegas has allowed 18 goals in three games. Jack Eichel is back for Vegas so that is the good news but they are struggling right now and will not be division champs. The other good news for teams like Vegas is that once you get into the playoffs anyone can make it to the finals. They should get into the playoffs unless there is a total meltdown, though they have now fallen to third in the division with the LA Kings right on their tail.

Out east the New Jersey Devils have fired head coach Lindy Ruff. Jersey came into the season with high expectations as a Stanely Cup contender but their season has been a rough one, with 64 points they are currently 8 points out of the final playoff spot in the east. Certainly could argue that the Devils have been the most underachieving team in the league this year.

Ruff is the seventh NHL head coach to be fired since the season started.

[sensei8]

My Golden Knights are having a very tough season. As defending champions, it might appear the repeat Stanley Cup might not be in their cards.

Thus far...

The Knights are in 3rd place in the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. They've won 33 and lost 22 games. They've lost 3 in a row...they lost tonight to the Blue Jackets 3-6 on Jackets ice.

The Knights play, at home the Canucks this Thursday, March 7th.

GO KNIGHTS!!

[aurik]

My Golden Knights are having a very tough season. As defending champions, it might appear the repeat Stanley Cup might not be in their cards.

Thus far...

The Knights are in 3rd place in the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. They've won 33 and lost 22 games. They've lost 3 in a row...they lost tonight to the Blue Jackets 3-6 on Jackets ice.

The Knights play, at home the Canucks this Thursday, March 7th.

GO KNIGHTS!!

As the saying goes, the only thing harder than winning a Stanley Cup is defending a Stanley Cup -- for multiple reasons:

- Winning the Cup means that your team had a much longer playoffs than the rest of the League. This means more time to accumulate all those nagging injuries that can only be healed by rest and recuperation.

- Likewise, winning the Cup means you have a shorter offseason to heal those injuries

- Finally, with the salary cap, you're going to have players who are coming off contracts, and with a Stanley Cup under their belt, those players are going to be due a raise.

Which makes the 3 Cup Finals appearance by the Lightning a few years' back an even more amazing feat.

[sensei8]

My Golden Knights are having a very tough season. As defending champions, it might appear the repeat Stanley Cup might not be in their cards.

Thus far...

The Knights are in 3rd place in the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. They've won 33 and lost 22 games. They've lost 3 in a row...they lost tonight to the Blue Jackets 3-6 on Jackets ice.

The Knights play, at home the Canucks this Thursday, March 7th.

GO KNIGHTS!!

As the saying goes, the only thing harder than winning a Stanley Cup is defending a Stanley Cup -- for multiple reasons:

- Winning the Cup means that your team had a much longer playoffs than the rest of the League. This means more time to accumulate all those nagging injuries that can only be healed by rest and recuperation.

- Likewise, winning the Cup means you have a shorter offseason to heal those injuries

- Finally, with the salary cap, you're going to have players who are coming off contracts, and with a Stanley Cup under their belt, those players are going to be due a raise.

Which makes the 3 Cup Finals appearance by the Lightning a few years' back an even more amazing feat.

Solid post!!

[KarateKen]

Agreed that it is very tough. I feel the west is wide open. If the playoffs started today I would put the Oilers as the favorite, but Vancouver has had a strong year, so has Winnipeg, Dallas, and Colorado, and of course Vegas is still the defending champion. It's going to be an interesting playoff as it always is.

In the east Florida has been playing out of their minds the past six weeks. I think they have lost two games since January 22.