2022-2023 PLAYER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #17

Final Score: Grosse Pointe 5 – Chicago 2

Labatts 3-Star Selection:
Star 1: GPG – Kuznetsov 1G
Star 2: GPG – Morrissey 3A
Star 3: GPG – Connor 1G

Game Winner: – Q. Hughes

Notables:
GPG – Skjei 5 Blocked Shots, Morrissey 3 Assists, Bernier 31 Saves
CHI – None

Game Winner: – Michael Bunting

Notables:
BCB – None
CHI – None

Timo Meier scored with 40 seconds left in regulation to break a 4-4 tie and give Bucks County the win. The Griffins rallied from 2 goals down to take the lead in the 2nd period, but they could not hold on after that. Fabbri scored twice in a losing effort.

Brett Howden scored his 2nd goal of the game with 3:24 left in the 3rd period to break a 4 all tie and Kevin Hayes added an empty net goal to provide the final margin of victory. Jason Robertson had a hat trick for Toledo, who went 2-4 on the PP while holding the Bobcats to an 0-5 effort with the man advantage.

In the 3rd, a Mark Scheifele PPG puts the Danes up 2-0 8 minutes in, and it stays that way until a Darnell Nurse penalty with 1:38 remaining gives Gilbert a 6 on 4 at the end. But numerous blocked shots on the 6 on 4 seal the win and shutout for Igor Shesterkin.

Anze Kopitar ties it for LA 1 minute into the 2nd, but Zuccarello (3 FO) wins the draw versus Giroux (10 FO) and it’s a quick goal at 2:40 by Neidereiter and Gilbert regains the lead. Then Gabriel Vilardi shoots looking for a rebound but no rebound – it’s a goal that sneaks through Shesterkin and Gilbert is up 4-2, 4 goals on 14 shots against Igor. But LA keeps pushing and gets goals from Kempe and Nylander and it’s a 4-4 game after 2.

In the 3rd, goals by Craig Smith and Yanni Gourde put Gilbert up 6-4, Gourde’s goal coming with just 4 minutes left. But Brad Marchand takes an elbowing penalty (a chippy game, more on that later), and LA converts on the PP quickly, Hintz’s 2nd goal of the game, and it’s 6-5 Sharks with 3:10 to go.

Gilbert pressures LA and the Danes can’t keep possession enough to get Shesterkin out. A Gilbert shot results in a faceoff in LA’s end with 33 seconds to go. LA loses the draw, but regains the puck, pulls Shesterkin and BOOM! – Barkov ties the game with 12 seconds left.

So it’s a 6-6 game and we go to overtime. LA outshoots Gilbert 5-1 in the OT but it’s on to a shootout. Shootouts have not been kind to LA this year, 4 losses and no wins. And Marchand starts it off with a goal in round 1, followed by a Barkov miss. But a Stamkos miss and Hintz goal evens it after 2 rounds. 3rd round – Duchene is stopped, and William NEEEELANDER scores on the backhand to give LA its’ first shooutout win of the year by a 7-6 score.

Back to the chippiness – only 5 power plays combined by the 2 teams, but all penalties were of the physical type – roughing (2), charging, cross checking, and elbowing. And LA had its very first fight of the season in the second period, coming during LA’s power play no less – Gourde and Dumba. In the 3rd period, Reilly and Hintz were given coincidental roughing minors early in the period, and Gourde and Dumba went at it again midway through the 3rd and this time received roughing minors.

LA actually outhit Gilbert 18-14, but Gilbert’s physicality seemed to work for most of the game, and it was their fourth line F’s getting one goal each in the game. Worst game of the season for LA’s 4th line, Staal-Fast-Moore were all a minus 3.

Bobcats shut down the Toledo offense in the 2nd period, holding them to just 4 SOG. Bucks County gets their offense organized and its constant pressure in the Toledo zone. McDavid is the first goal at the midpoint, and Wilson adds one late to tie the game at 2 after 2.

3rd period sees some quality shots by both teams. The Walleye hurt themselves late with 2 minors on Marchment. Both teams with 11SOG and zero SIG. Of to overtime tied at 2.

Toledo disorganized in OT, while the Bobcats get some SOG, and the last one by Skinner finds its way into the net to get them the 2nd point. 3-2 Bucks County.

1st star – Trocheck 2G
2nd – McDavid 1G
3rd – Skinner GWG

Fillip Forsberg’s 35th goal at 3:41 of overtime gave Cincinnati the 5-4 win over Charlotte. Twice the Inferno rallied to tie the game (once overcoming a two- goal deficit). Alex Ovechkin scored twice for the Buzzards.

Fillip Forsberg had two goals and an assist to lead Cincinnati to a 4-1 win over Portland.

Alamo 3 LA 0

1-Lehner
2-Crosby
3-Bratt

Alamo 5 Gilbert 3

1-Draisaitl
2-Couture
3-McAvoy

Raanta was actually impressive through most of the contest: he and Bombers’ goalie Marc Andre Fleury held the game to a 1-1 tie entering the third.

And then the fireworks started. First, Charlotte defenseman Ryan Suter and Alex Pietrangelo each struck for goals in the first 4:10 of the final period of regulation to give the Buzzards a 3-1 lead, while the hosts recognized this was far from over. The Bombers, not surprisingly, fought back with three unanswered goals of its own against Raanta within the next nine-minutes to seize the lead 4-3: forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Charlie Coyle got even strength goals followed by a power play tally by Anthony Duclair with 6:28 left in the third. The scoring only continued: less than a minute later, Bryan Rust who has struggled disastrously through most of this season for Charlotte (just eight goals entering the week), awakened to tie the game for the home squad 4-4.

And we were still not finished. Two heavyweights stepped in: first Ryan O’Reilly’s goal put the Bombers back on top, 5-4 with a scant 2:36 left in the game. Charlotte pulled Raanta in the last moments and with the extra man Charlotte’s Alex Ovechkin tied things yet again in dramatic fashion, 5-5 with 42 seconds remaining. In the three-on-three five minute OT, Flin Flon outshot Charlotte 6-4, but neither team found the net.

Off to the shootout we went, where Ovechkin got a goal while Landeskog, Vlad Tarasenko and Kevin Fiala were blanked by Raanta. In a splendid affair, Ovechkin-led Charlotte rallied in the third and won this contest in overtime, 6-5, and stole not just one but two crucial points against a Bombers squad gearing up for the postseason.

Coyle (two goals) and Duclair (1 G, 3 points) were first and second stars in the losing effort. Pietrangelo captured third star honors. Fleury and Raanta saved 31 and 28 shots respectively in this battle.

Charlotte’s Sorokin and Portland’s Jake Oetinger squared off in nets and shut down their opponents in the first period. When the Storm’s Clayton Keller and the Buzzards’ Ryan Johanssen exchanged goals in the second, it assured Charlotte that it would be playing its second straight home game entering the third period in a 1-1 tie.

In the opening moments of the final stanza, Ovechkin put the home squad ahead ahead with a goal at 1:17. Portland responded six minutes later when Rickard Rakell capitalized with a goal on the power play.
The game remained 2-2 until there was 3:18 remaining in regulation and Ovechkin once again rose to the occasion and beat Oetinger, off assists by Moritz Seider and Mitch Marner. The Storm, despite the extra attacker in nearly two minutes, could not find the tying goal and the Buzzards breathed easier after this 3-2 win.

Ovechkin, providing the late season heroics yet again, was first star with his two third-period goals and three points total. Johansen was second star with a goal and two points and Sorokin, who saved 34, got third star honors. Oettinger was nearly as brilliant as Sorokin in saving 36 shots.