2016-2017 PLAYER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #11

Copp opened the scoring with his 7th goal but Jordan Eberle kntted the game at 1-1 in the 1st period. Then this game became a defensive struggle. Both team clogged the neutral zone and the next 40 minutes or regulation passed without additional scoring. In Overtime (the 2nd straight game for Thunder Bay, Nestrasil scored just he 2nd of the season for the 2-1 win.

Lundqvist is tired after making two road starts back to back earlier this week, so Neuvirth gets a start in this one against the high scoring Hampton Blizzard. It didn’t take long for the restructured Deep Freeze to open the scoring, as Eriksson (18) one-timed a shot from the slot off a beautiful setup from Datsyuk and Hoffman under 3 minutes in. Minneapolis would do try hard to squander the lead by getting 2 penalties only 20 seconds apart, but Neuvirth was up to the challenge and stopped all 5 shots he faced on the long 5-on-3. Hampton would get back to back penalties, giving Minneapolis effectively a 4 minute Powerplay, but Elliot stood tall to prevent them from extending the lead. Only 10 seconds after killing off the powerplay, Minneapolis gained control of the puck and Getzlaf set up Eriksson (19) in front for his 2nd of the game. 2-0 Minneapolis with 7:59 remaining in the first period. Ekblad would take a 5 minute major for checking from behind with 2:10 left in the 1st, giving Minneapolis an extended powerplay to end the period. Hampton held strong and killed off the first 2 minutes to enter the 1st intermission down 2-0.

Minneapolis would come out strong controlling the play to start the 2nd period, but it was Hampton who was able to capitalize. With Minneapolis still on the powerplay, Backlund (10) redirected a shot from Sekera to get the Blizzard on the board. 2-1 Minneapolis at 17:50 of the second period. Only 49 seconds later, just after the powerplay ended, Schmidt (3) fired a shot past Elliot to give Minneapolis a 3-1 lead. Both teams would generate a few chances during the rest of the period, but neither
would score again, and Minneapolis leads 3-1 at the end of the 2nd.

After a back-and-forth 10 minutes to begin the 3rd period, Ribeiro (7) ripped a slapshot past Neuvirth to bring the Blizzard back within 1. 3-2 Minneapolis with 9:59 to go. Once again, Minneapolis had an answer. Brassard backhanded a beauty past Elliot less than 3 minutes later to give Minneapolis the 2 goal lead again.

Star 1: MIN Eriksson 2 G
Star 2: MIN Brassard 1 G
Star 3: MIN Schmidt 1 G

GWG: Nate Schmidt

Notables: HAM Demers 5 blocks, Sekera 5 blocks, Elliott 40 saves
MIN Datsyuk 20-7 on faceoffs

HAM MIN
SOG 31 44
FOW 23 35
FO% 39.7 60.3
Hits 26 29
Blocks 21 13
Missed Net 14 13
Shot Attempts 58 78
Scoring Chances 14 14
PIM 15 10
PP 0-4 0-5
TOA 4:44 7:01

Matt Murray gets SMOKED for 5 goals on the first 10 shots before he’s yanked in favor of Ben Bishop.

Jordan Staal scores in the 3rd to avoid the total embarrasment of a shutout; Jagr ultimately falls 6-1 as their new-look lineup clearly needs to build some chemistry.

1 2 3 F
2016-17 Scottsdale 17-19-0-2 4 1 1 6
2016-17 Jagr 21-15-0-3 0 0 1 1

Scoring Summary
Per Time Str Team
1 4:52 EV SXM Greene (2), assisted by Dubinsky (3) and Cogliano (7)
1 6:06 EV SXM Murray (5), assisted by McDavid (24) and Voracek (21)
1 6:24 EV SXM Vermette (9), assisted by Nordstrom (3) and Josi (17)
1 14:21 EV SXM Josi (7), unassisted
2 :39 EV SXM Giordano (13), assisted by Voracek (22)
3 4:17 EV SXM Vermette (10), assisted by Boedker (9)
3 6:41 EV JAG Staal (11), assisted by Stralman (15) and Vlasic (18)

Penalty Summary
Per Time Team
1 9:45 SXM Josi (26), 2:00 – roughing
1 9:45 JAG Kadri (2), 2:00 – roughing
2 2:02 JAG Carlson (14), 2:00 – hooking
2 4:16 JAG Smith (20), 2:00 – holding
2 8:38 JAG Vlasic (48), 2:00 – roughing
2 15:27 JAG Smith (22), 2:00 – holding
3 1:27 JAG Hagelin (20), 2:00 – interference
3 7:51 SXM Cogliano (22), 2:00 – interference
3 10:19 SXM Colborne (26), 4:00 – high sticking
3 13:04 JAG Staal (30), 2:00 – hooking

SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3
Scottsdale 9 10 6
Jagr 9 8 18

SXM JAG
SOG 25 35
FOW 25 30
FO% 45.5 54.5
Hits 33 30
Blocks 12 12
Missed Net 5 14
Shot Attempts 42 61
Scoring Chances 12 8
PIM 8 14
PP 0-6 0-3
TOA 3:27 4:46

Star 1: SXM Vermette 2 G
Star 2: SXM Allen 34 saves
Star 3: SXM Josi 1 G, 2 Pts

GWG: Ryan Murray

Notables: SXM Bouwmeester 5 blocks, Allen,J 34 saves
JAG None

Scottsdale GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G Allen,J -W 1 34 .971 60:00 12 13 0 8.7 (+1.2)

Jagr GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G Murray -L 5 5 .500 20:39 4 5 1 6.7 (-0.5)
G Bishop 1 14 .933 39:21 17 10 2 8.7 (+0.6)

Brentwood comes to town in second place behind Jagr, and both teams were hyper-aggressive in their trading the past 2 weeks to make it a chase.

It’s a tightly contested game until Vern Fiddler opens the scoring late in the 1st to give Brentwood a 1-0 lead. But Jagr scores two early in the 2nd to take the lead… but that lasts all of 34 seconds as Phaneuf scores from the point to tie up the game.

Less than two minutes later, new acquisition Jussi Jokinen pots one to put the Mullets back up, and that score holds until #87 scores at 9:20 in the 3rd to tie up it 3-3.

But then Marc-Andre Fleury implodes, as Jagr racks up 3 unanswered goals by Kadri, Kessel, and Staal to take the game 6-3 and give Ben Bishop his 18th win on the season.

1 2 3 F
2016-17 Brentwood 17-19-0-3 1 1 1 3
2016-17 Jagr 22-15-0-3 0 3 3 6

Scoring Summary
Per Time Str Team
1 19:32 PP BWB Fiddler (12), assisted by Fehr (5) and Sedin (16)
2 2:55 EV JAG Martinez (7), assisted by Lindholm (5) and Carlson (16)
2 5:27 EV JAG Pavelski (18), assisted by Kadri (3) and Smith (5)
2 6:01 EV BWB Phaneuf (2), assisted by Bieksa (10) and Fleury (1)
2 7:47 EV JAG Jokinen (4), assisted by Abdelkader (16) and Staal (12)
3 9:20 EV BWB Crosby (18), assisted by Bieksa (11)
3 9:42 EV JAG Kadri (3), assisted by Vlasic (19) and Pavelski (24)
3 10:51 EV JAG Kessel (7), assisted by Carter (14) and Hagelin (12)
3 11:37 EV JAG Staal (12), assisted by Vlasic (20) and Jokinen (5)

Penalty Summary
Per Time Team
1 16:04 JAG Vlasic (50), 2:00 – tripping
1 17:44 JAG Staal (32), 2:00 – interference
2 1:28 JAG Kessel (16), 2:00 – tripping
2 2:45 BWB Fiddler (28), 2:00 – hooking

SOG 1 SOG 2 SOG 3
Brentwood 10 8 9
Jagr 8 13 13

BWB JAG
SOG 27 34
FOW 23 34
FO% 40.4 59.6
Hits 33 30
Blocks 14 15
Missed Net 10 9
Shot Attempts 52 57
Scoring Chances 12 12
PIM 2 6
PP 1-3 0-1
TOA 3:33 2:55

Star 1: JAG Kadri 1 G, 2 Pts
Star 2: JAG Pavelski 1 G, 2 Pts
Star 3: JAG Jokinen 1 G, 2 Pts

GWG: Nazem Kadri

Notables: BWB None
JAG Pavelski 20 faceoffs won

Brentwood GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G Fleury -L 6 28 .824 60:00 12 14 1 6.5 (-1.1)

Jagr GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G Bishop -W 3 24 .889 60:00 18 10 2 8.1 (0.0)

RIP — 3
CAL — 4

Scoring Summary
1 06:05 CAL Zibanejad (9), assisted by Boucher (1)
1 10:11 CAL Reinhart (10), assisted by Beauchemin (13) and Nelson (15)
1 11:18 RIP Scheifele (14), assisted by Ehlers (7) and Versteeg (7)
2 00:20 RIP Duchene (11), assisted by Pietrangelo (14) and Hall (26)
2 08:38 CAL Rask (6), assisted by Faulk (15) and Gaudreau (32)
2 14:26 RIP Jenner (16), assisted by Spooner (25) and Scheifele (6)
3 10:36 CAL Gaudreau (15), assisted by Rask (14) and Ovechkin (18)

Star 1: CAL Gaudreau 1 G, 2 Pts
Star 2: CAL Rask 1 G, 2 Pts
Star 3: RIP Scheifele 1 G, 2 Pts

GWG: John Gaudreau

Notables: LAK Ristolainen 6 blocks, M.Jones 32 saves
BWB Bieksa 5 takeaways

Lakeland GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G M.Jones -L 4 32 .889 58:16 9 11 3 7.6 (+0.3)

Brentwood GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G Fleury -W 3 26 .897 60:00 13 13 1 7.7 (+0.1)

Notables: LAK Ristolainen 6 blocks, M.Jones 32 saves
BWB Bieksa 5 takeaways

Lakeland GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G M.Jones -L 4 32 .889 58:16 9 11 3 7.6 (+0.3)

Brentwood GA SV Save% TOI W L OL Rate
G Fleury -W 3 26 .897 60:00 13 13 1 7.7 (+0.1)

It seems as though the Suds may also still be suffering from their holiday hangover, as they give up two early chances – one right off the opening Faceoff for Getzlaf, and another just a minute later with a 3-on-2 rush. Johnson was able to bail out the defense on the first chance, but Datsyuk beat him on the second for his 5th of the season
only 2 minutes into the game. About halfway through the opening period, Datsyuk picked off a pass across the middle of the ice to create a 3-on-1 going the other direction and set up Eriksson (20) who beat the last defender and put it right through the legs of the goaltender. 2-0 Minneapolis with 10:37 to go in the first. The period would end with Minneapolis still leading 2-0 despite Corktown managing to outshoot them 9-7.

Neither team managed to generate any goals in the second period despite a fair number of shots and a powerplay for the Deep Freeze. Corktown skaters blocked 7 shots in the period in addition to Johnson’s 10 saves to keep the score static at 2-0 for Minneapolis entering the third. Corktown will begin the third period shorthanded with a 1:47 left on tripping call to Neal.

Minneapolis would fail to capitalize on the powerplay thanks to some more strong goaltending from Johnson keeping the margin at 2. About 8 minutes into the third period with possession in the Minneapolis’ zone, Tarasenko (17) blasted a shot through the screen and beat Lundqvist for the first goal against the new Deep Freeze keeper. With 2:52 to go and the score still at 2-1 in favor of Minneapolis, Doan takes what could only be described as a boneheaded penalty for Charging across the ice to
hit Neal along the boards, and it only took 31 seconds for Corktown to capitalize. Miller (9) beat Lundqvist high on the glove side to tie the game at 2 with 2:21 left to play. Minneapolis coach Larry Murphy is not pleased, and instructs his team to play for the win in regulation. On the very next shift, Eriksson gets loose for a chance 1-on-1 with Johnson but Johnson is able to make the save to keep the score tied. The aggressive play paid off on the following shift though, as the Corktown defense fell apart and Getzlaf set up Sharp (9) to give Minneapolis the 3-2 lead with 44 seconds to go. Corktown would muster a couple more shots before the final whistle but couldn’t beat Lundqvist again. King Henrik makes 27 saves in his first game (and victory) for the Deep Freeze.

Star 1: MIN Datsyuk 1 G, 2 Pts
Star 2: MIN Sharp 1 G
Star 3: MIN Eriksson 1 G

GWG: Patrick Sharp

Notables: MIN None
CRK None

MIN CRK
SOG 26 29
FOW 29 19
FO% 60.4 39.6
Hits 23 30
Blocks 12 13
Missed Net 12 6
Shot Attempts 51 47
Scoring Chances 14 13
PIM 8 8
PP 0-2 1-2
TOA 4:09 3:28

Lansing came out hot in the first, outshooting the Suds 12-6 and controlling play. Despite that, they come out of the period in a 1-1 tie. Corktown controlled play most of the second, but G Conor Hellebuyck was sensational – 1-1 after 2.

The action heated up in the third..Lansing ended up 2 men down thanks to crosschecking penalties from Hudler and Backstrom 20 seconds apart. Hellebuyck stood tall and made several high-quality saves to keep the game 1-1. The momentum seemed palpable – and when Lansing tallied two coals 33 seconds apart just after the kill, a Lansing win seemed a foregone conclusion…but the home side wasn’t done yet.

Santorelli scored at 13:32 to tighten the game up, but Lansing played a confident, controlled late-game style. With 3 minutes to go, things seemed wll in hand – then, disaster. Hellebuyck let in a leaky one from long range at 17:21; only 15 seconds later, the Suds took the lead on a slapper by Paul Martin. The Caps seemed stunned after that – they put the extra attacker on with a minute to go, but constantly cycled down low and never even got a shot off with the man advantage.

Overall, Corktown dominated statistically, with wide leads in shots, hits, blocks, and possession time.

STARS: #3 Santorelli, #2 Martin, #1 Stone (all with 1+2)

The Sycamores got off to an uneven start, falling behind 1-0 on a Mackinnon deflection 7 minutes in. That tally seemed to wake the home side, however – they dominated play the rest of the period, but Tukka Rask stood tall with 10 saves.

The second period was a different story – Indiana came out flying and was quickly rewarded, as Williams scored at 4:33. Three minutes later we had a defenseman breakaway(!!) – Drew Doughty was in all alone and beat Rask glove side to make it 2-1. Late in the period the Sycamoes tacked on a PP goal, again from Williams, to make it 3-1 after 2. Indiana outshot Second City 21-7 in the middle frame.

The third period was largely more of the same. The game was essentially put away when Bergeron scored on a breakaway at 6:25. The Chiefs briefly made it interesting when Landeskog scored on a weak shot, but the Sycamores tacked on 2 goals late for a 6-2 win. Doughty had yet ANOTHER breakaway late in the period – the new coaching staff will be having a few words with their swashbuckling blueliner!

Notable stats: Indiana won 61% of faceoffs; attempted 80 shots to the Chiefs’ 42; Rask was strong even in defeat, with 40 saves.

STARS: #3 Mackinnon(1+1), #2 Bergeron (1+2), #1 Williams (2 Goals)

After a bit of a ‘warmup’ with Second City, the real test came to town in the form of a Blizzard. Hampton came in with a league-leading 58 points and 145 goals scored. In a controversial move, Indiana decided to keep Roberto Luongo on the bench for a second consecutive game, to keep him fresh for the ‘stretch drive’. That would prove to be a costly error.

The scoreless first period was played on relatively even terms, with Indiana outshooting Hampton 10-7. In the second period, things opened up – once again Indiana gave up the first goal, as Forsberg struck at 4:44. When Ekblad added a bad-angle goal just over a minute later, it looked like the rout might be on for the Blizzard…but once again Justin Williams came up big, with a PP marker at 9:52.

The teams then traded four more goals in the next 10 minutes, leaving Hampton with a 4-3 lead headed to the third. The teams traded chance after chance, as Indiana sought the tying goal..but at 6:31, Indiana’a Eric Gryba was assessed a 5 minute major and game misconduct for charging. Hampton scored three times on the ensuing power play, effectively ending the game and setting the 7-3 final. A late-period scuffle between Forsberg and Plekanec was the only surprise left; both were separated before it got serious and were given 2 each for roughing.

Notable stats: The game was played on even terms other than the 5-minute major. Indiana won more faceoffs, outshot the Blizzard 35-31, and attempted 14 more shots than Hampton. The difference was in goal – Brian Elliott was exceptionally strong for the Blizzard, while backup Rito Berra was mediocre at best for the Sycamores.

STARS: #3 Williams (2G), #2 McGinn (2G), #1 Hertl(2+1)