In a twenty second span I went from learning that they’re allowed to challenge that, to realizing they’re going to challenge that and the goal won’t count, and then to finding out that they didn’t challenge for some reason. Roller coaster.
David Quinn’s last decision as head coach (hopefully) Also nice to see LaFreniere and Kravtsov chipping in. It’s almost as if the youngsters need some time playing in the top 6 to show what they can do.
This panthers v. Lightning game is amazing. Misconducts galore as the lightning came in trying to send a message and got blown out.
This season is f’ed up for rookies. Any 18-20 year old playing all season, regardless of minutes, was a success. Lack of practice, lack of off ice training/coaching, condensed sched while dealing with Covid restrictions has to be seen as difficult circumstances. Could Laf have been deployed differently? Maybe but with his talent he will make a huge jump next year…even with Quinn running things.
I remember going to a wedding at the Columbus Hilton on October 24th 2015- my wife's OSU roommate was getting married. In the lobby of the hotel was some dude carrying two large USA hockey bags. My wife turned to me and said he looked lost. I instantly realized who he was, it was Torts headed to Nationwide for what I think was his first game at CBJ head coach. He was hired like 3 days before that. I walked over shook his hand and said good luck to him. I think he was honestly stunned anyone recognized him by the look on his face. Columbus had a reputation as a city where hockey players no matter the star could walk the streets unrecognized at the time. Torts was a damn hockey celebrity though coming off NYR and USA hockey fiascos. I had just moved to Columbus from Chicago that previous June, I had been in Chicago for the golden years of the Blackhawks so I was probably one of what seemed like probably 100 people in Columbus who knew who he was it felt like. I can't even begin to describe how terrible the CBJ fanbase was preTorts, people went to games but there was zero "following"- the die hards were all season ticket holders who seemed to all sit in the same section together. No one watched on TV, no one cared unless it was the one random game a year everyone in Columbus goes to. Torts made people pay attention to the BJs in Columbus- he made them relevant here. The BJ's had a real damn brand being built and then injuries, Russians, and Covid tore it away from them. I think Torts would've always ended here but man for 3 years he took the worst franchise in North American sports and for a period of time everyone had to pay attention to them. Good for him- hope he finds another gig somewhere Sidenote this also happened at the wedding the same night at the Hilton https://www.tmz.com/2015/11/16/kendrick-lamar-wedding-crasher/
Are they gonna play all the remaining games in the north? Seems like a dumb move to play a bunch of meaningless games and push the start of the playoffs back a week
Torts did the same here in Tampa. Before he got here the team was a laughing stock and the city didn't really care that much about the team. He was the right coach at the right time with a young core coming up and the city started to embrace the team in 02/03 then obviously even moreso the next season with the cup run. If this is it for his coaching career hopefully the Lightning can bring him back and put him in some community relations role like they've done with Jay Feaster. Ideally everyone would be healthy going into the playoffs, but this group has overcome injuries before and had success in the playoffs. Even last night before the shitshow in the third period, they played a decent game with a lot of guys out but got a bad bounce on the third Panthers goal and Vasy let in a couple he'd like to have back. They'll need other guys like Cirelli, Killorn, Sergachev, etc. to step their games up if the top guys are banged up and/or shaking off rust.
Connor McDavid is 4th all time in career PPG. 1. Wayne Gretzky - 1.92 2. Mario Lemieux - 1.88 3. Mike Bossy - 1.50 4. Connor McDavid - 1.41 Took Draisaitl a couple years to get going but the past 3 he’s been at 1.43.