2021-2022 PLAYER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #1

Final Score: Brentwood 2 – Chicago 1

Labatt’s 3-Star Selection:

Star 1: BWB – Andrei Vasilevskiy 34 Saves
Star 2: BWB – Zach Aston-Reese 1G
Star 3: BWB – Dylan Strom 1G

GWG: Zach Aston-Reese

Notables:
BWB – Andrei Vasilevskiy 34 Saves
CHI – Alexander Wennberg 15 Faceoff Wins

A lot of new faces including former Bandits returning to the team in Kessel and Guentzel, but also a new leader in Kopitar who is given the “A” (Captain Horvat approves) as well as Morgan Rielly, Erik Karlsson, and Ben Chiarot on the revamped blue line! Backing up Vasilevskiy is dependable new backup Laurent Brossoit.

Let’s get to the drop of the puck!

It doesn’t take the Bandits long as Kopitar wins the home crowd over early, scoring 17 seconds into the game! Assisted by Guentzel and Josi. 1-0 Good Guys.

Gilbert calms it down and outshoots the Bandits in the 1st 11-5, but Foegele (1) puts the Bandits up by 2 late in the period.

We go to the 2nd where Gilbert gets their mojo going…

At 3:46 Burakovsky, who might finally be fulfilling his untapped potential, scores to close the gap, 2-1.

Less than 3 minutes later, Fiala (1) ties the game 2-2. And now it’s a whole new hockey game as the Bandits are being out-played and out-shot 23-12 through two periods but the stellar play of Vasilevskiy in net has kept the Bandits in the game.

We go to the 3rd, where the Bandits turn on the jets as well and out-shoot the Sharks 11-8.

At 14:10 of the 3rd, Eller (1) lays claim as the spark plug of the team as he gives the Bandits back the lead 3-2.

Vasilevskiy is tested but passes with flying colors as Sprong springs on a loose puck and buries the empty netter at 19:10 to seal the opening night victory, 4-2.

Burakovsky gets the first star scoring a goal and an assist and Fiala gets the 2nd with a goal and assist.

Kopitar is the 3rd star in his home Bandit debut scoring the opening goal, though for my money Lars Eller should have been considered more heavily for a star this evening.

Anyway… a good, but at times shaky, opening night win for the Bandits.

As long as this team has Vasilevskiy and their re-vamped blue line, they will always have a shot! If the top lines wake up, then all the better!

Once the fanfare of the Banner unfurling was done – and the rings being passed out, it was time for the 2021-21 season. And the Rangers have a major portion of last season’s team back – plus some new faces to add to the mix including Artemi Panarin – Breadman! And the Rangers faithful hope to see great things from a team that caught fire down the stretch to work their way into the post season and then surprise everyone. Can they do it again – can they keep up with division favorite Jagr (always the favorite) or Brentwood (hmmm, always the other favorite). And again, we have a new face in the division with Pittsburgh. Should be an exciting season.

After opening on the road, the Rangers arrive to host California and round out the week hosting Yellowknife, a couple of tough starts for the season.

However, the 2nd period does see the action intensify, CAL gets 10 shots on Reimer, Rangers get 13 on Grubauer. And early on Nugent-Hopkins puts one in. Then Hertl scores one just past midway in the period for a 2-0 Bathgate lead. Fans are dancing – but 40 seconds later Barzal gets California’s first goal to cut the score to 2-1. Then the defenses take over again! Nothing more in the 2nd.

3rd Period California comes out on the attack – down by just 1, they give it everything they can 16 shots, extra skater at the end but nothing, nothing until the final 35 seconds. But then its Hertl getting his 2nd goal of the game for Bathgate, an empty netter, and the Rangers hang on for the big 3-1 win. Crowd couldn’t be happier! Opening night – banner, rings, WIN!
STARS (all BGR)
1. Hertl 2 goals
2. Reimer 31 saves
3. Nugent-Hopkins 1 goal

So we skate into PERIOD 3 – starts earl with Tavares going off for cross checking before a minute ticks off the clock. No PP goal. Then as that penalty expires Strome goes off for the 1st of his 2 3rd period offenses – interference. Again, no PP goal BUT K’Andre Miller gets his 1st goal of his career – and it’s a short-handed goal – to give the Rangers a 2-1.
lead! And less than a minute after Strome comes out of the box, he gets whistled again for 2 more minutes – ugh. But no PP goal. Then at 7:17 he returns to the ice and 15 seconds later Oleksiak gets nabbed for tripping and 2 more minutes of short handed play. NO Yellowknife PP goals. The of the FIRST 9 MINUTES and 32 SECONDS of PERIOD 3 – the Braves have the 1 man advantage for a whopping 7 MINUTES! 7 minutes and the only goal was a Rangers SH goal!!
Well let’s get rid of the penalties and as the halfway point passes, Buchnevich is set up by the P Boys – Provorov and Pionk to make it 3-1 Rangers. But Rantanen scores his 2nd goal of the game a minute and a half later and we still have a game as it’s 3-2 Bathgate. Once again, defense reigns supreme into the final minute and once again the local fans are treated to an EN goal as Pionk puts it past the Yellowknife pipes with 20 seconds left to seal the deal, 4-1 Rangers!
STARS
1. YEL – Rantanen 2 goals
2. BGR – Pionk 1 goal, 1 assist
3. BGR – Buchnevich 1 goal (GWG)

The rivalry was built over the summer as the management of these teams saw eye-to-eye on many of the same players and bidding wars ensued. This healthy competition has set both teams up for potential success in the upcoming year.

Tomas Nosek levelled the scores at one apiece on the first foray into Chicago’s zone in the second period. Tallying his first marker of the season just 28 seconds in. The Cosa Nostra received a gift just 14 seconds later, as Tyler Toffoli headed off to the penalty box to go on the first of their four power plays on the night. Brett Pesce fired a puck on net for Cincinnati at 1:05 of the frame and the Inferno got the present, shorthanded, and took the lead 2-1. That is how the middle frame ended and Cincinnati won the shots battle in the stanza, 11-4.

The story of the game for Cincinnati came in the second period, as the Inferno killed off all three Chicago power plays, a total of nine minutes of kill time–including five minutes of David Perron charging time.

Alex DeBrincat tipped in a shot at 1:16, to once again knot the game at 2-2. The Inferno would get the game winning goal from Toffoli at 4:44 and collected the 3-2 triumph. Chicago won the shots battle in the third period, 11-5. For the game, the Cosa Nostra held the upper hand in shots, 29-24. Neither team was able to capitalize on a man-advantage opportunity, as Chicago was shutout in four tries, while the Inferno failed on two tries.

Cam Talbot collected the win in goal, stopping 27 shots. Juuse Saros absorbed the loss, turning aside 21 shots. DeBrincat was arguably the best player for Chicago, tallying a goal, blocking four shots and collecting three takeaways. Pesce netted a goal and an assist with a blocked shot for Cincinnati.

FINAL: Cincinnati 3, Chicago 2

The Coas Nostra travel to Brentwood for its next game, while the Inferno head to Bathgate, in a rematch of the opening round of last year’s playoffs.

The second period Charlotte responds with a goal from Rust to even the game 1-1

Not much happened in the first two periods but the game got exciting in the third period. With the game tied 1-1 Charlotte’s Verhaeghe and Johannson both found the net in the first 10 minutes to give the Buzzards a 3-1 lead. Portland showed this could be a different team than last season as they responded with energy and got a goal from Schulz to draw within 1 and evened the game with a goal from Brown with 6:59 remaining. With the crowd on their feet unfortunately Marchand drilled a slap shot with 13 seconds left to give Charlotte a 4-3 win

Star #1 -Johansen (Cha) 1 goal, 2 assists
Star #2 -Verhaeghe (Cha) 1 goal, 2 assists
Star #3 – Rust (Cha) 1 goal, 1 assist

Period 2 – Rakell keeps the crowd on their feet with a shorthanded goal to give the Storm a 2-0 lead but Wheeler responds with a goal to end the period 2-1 Portland

Period 3 – Portland was showing a great defensive effort, holding a 2-1 lead, but with 1:19 remaining in the game Tolvanen evened the score and sent the game to OT

Overtime – With both teams battling 3v3 the game was knotted at 3 when with 56 seconds remaining when Alamo’s Draisaitl send the Portland home disappointed with a GW goal

Star #1 – Draisaitl (Ala) 1 goal, 1 assist
Star #2 – Tolvanen (Ala) 1 goal
Star #3 – Wheeler (Ala) 1 goal

Crosby had 16 faceoff wins while Binnington had 33 saves for Portland

2nd period sees pretty even control by both teams. They both kill off a minor near the midway point, but the lamps stay quiet Late in the period its Mangiapane finding an opening again to give the home team some insurance. The Racoons kill off one more before intermission. 3-1

3rd period – Players getting a bit tired, we see 2 small fights that result in nothing. Raccoons pull the goalie near the end, and the Walleye take advantage to put an empty netter in (Forsling) to make the final 4-1.

1st star-Mangiapane 2G
2nd – Forsling 1G
3rd – Pettersson 1G

Play stays tight through most of the 2nd period. Toledo kills off a penalty, then Portland kills off 2. A Forsling tackle on a breakaway gives Granlund a penalty shot, but Pettersson is up to the task and stops it. A pissed off Portland team puts on the pressure and 1 minute later Granlund gets his goal. 2-1 at intermission.

3rd period – An early fight between Grzelcyk and Mangiapane results in nothing. At the midway point, Toledo’s 3rd line gets a goal from Hoffman to get the lead up to 2. Things cruise along until Portland tightens things up with a goal from Athanasiou, 3-2 with just under 3 minutes to go. A Graves penalty seconds later puts the Storm in a bad place on the PK with only 2:26 to play. In a bold move, the Storm pull the goalie with a minute left on the PK, and then pay the price when Trocheck finds the open net to make it 4-2 final.

1st star -Trocheck 2G 3pts
2nd – Robertson 1G 3pts
3rd – Hoffman 1G

Pretty even 2nd period with teams combining for 30 SOG. The only damage takes place at the midway point after a penalty by Cernak, and the Rangers get a goal from Tatar. We got a total of 59 SOG and only 3 goals total at intermission. Something has to give.

3rd period – Toledo makes something happen early with a goal by Robertson to tie the game at 2. Then 15 minutes of nothing until the Walleye make another mistake. A penalty by Benn leads to a PP goal by Panarin. Just under 2 minutes to go, and the Walleye control the faceoff, pull the goalie, and its game on. After a few shots on goal, finally the Rangers get control and bring the puck up ice, Pionk finds the net to make it 4-2. Walleye keep the goalie out and manage to cut the lead to 1 with 14 seconds left. They win the faceoff and move the puck into the offensive zone for one last shot but can’t strike gold. 4-3 Rangers Final

1st star – Tavares 1G 3pts
2nd – Tatar 1G 3pts
3rd – Panarin 1G 2pts

2nd period things really get going. Hoffman sandwiches 2 goals around a Toledo penalty kill, and its 3-0. Then the Walleye get really sloppy and commit 3 penalties, which results in a 5 on 3 goal by Landeskog, and 5 on 4 goals by Connor and Petry. Poof! a 3 goal lead is gone and so is the Walleye confidence. An ass chewing on the bench results in a little less hammer time by the Walleye, and late in the period, Kempe finds openings in front of the Thunder Bay net twice in 30 seconds. A much happier squad and crowd go to 2nd intermission up 5-3.

3rd period is all Walleye. The NorWesters commit 2 penalties early, and the Walleye make them pay each time. Goals by Trocheck and Saad double the lead to 4. Conservative play to the end, and except for a rebound shot conversion by Pete, no damage, and game ends 8-3 Walleye.

1st star – Hoffman 2G 3pts
2nd – Kempe 2G
3rd – Pettersson 2G

Cincinnati 6 Alamo 4

Stars

1-Ellis – 3 goals Alamo
2-Karlsson – 1 goal 1 assist Cincinnati
3-Pacioretty -1 goal 1 assist Cincinnati

Three stars (all from Jagr)
Star 1 Kaprizov 1 G 2 points
Star 2 Rask 39 saves
Star 3 Letang 1 goal

Three stars (all Charlotte):
Star 1: Marchand 1 G 4 Points
Star 2: Backlund — two empty net goals to ice the game
Star 3: Chris Driedger, 42 saves in his debut for Charlotte

Stephenson and Pastrnak accounted for goals for Chicago.

Three stars (all Charlotte)
Star 1: CHA Marchand 2 G, 3 Pts.
Star 2: Sorokin 37 saves
Star 3: Iafallo GWG