Five Minute Major

*Photo from NHL.com*     In order to get a victory, the Calgary Flames turned to two of their best players: Johnny Gaudreau and Jacob Markstrom. Gaudreau scored on the power play, Markstrom came up with 37 saves, and the Flames shut out the Montreal Canadiens with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night. The win for the Flames snapped a 3 game skid, with their record now standing at 3-3-1 on the season.    Gaudreau started the scoring for the Flames on the power play at 3:34 of the first, snapping one to the back of the net to make it 1-0 Calgary early on. It stayed that way until the 3rd period, when, with 32 seconds remaining, Mikael Backlund scored on an empty net to increase the Calgary lead to 2-0, sealing the win for the Flames.     Gaudreau has had such a great start to the season on the Flames power play, which has scored at least once in each of their 7 games this season. Gaudreau has also posted at least one point in every game as well, the only play...

*Photo from Boston Sports Journal*     Perhaps all the Boston Bruins needed to score 5 on 5 goals was to play some home games. The 4th line excelled, Jaroslav Halak stopped 16 shots, and the Bruins toppled the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 4-1 score on Thursday night, improving to 5-1-1 on the season, good for second place in the east division standings.     At the 6:10 mark of the first, Chris Wagner scored his first goal of the season, putting the Bruins up 1-0 ealry on. Defensemen Cody Ceci then tied it up for Pittsburgh with a missile past Halak. Almost 4 minutes later, Sean Kuraly tipped home a tumbling Anders Bjork shot to make it 2-1 Bruins. In the second period, Patrice Bergeron tipped home a net-front shot from Charlie Coyle to make it 3-1 Boston. In the 3rd, Bergeron scored on the power play with a missile to make it 4-1 Bruins, which ended up as the final score.    Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy talked about the dynamic of his 4th line after the game...

*Photo from the Associated Press*     After Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne experienced some regression last season, his backup, Juuse Saros, had to prove he was ready to be a number one goalie this season for Nashville to have a shot at the playoffs. So far, he's proving it. Saros stopped 29 shots, Matt Duchene scored the winner, and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks by a 2-1 score via shootout to improve to 4-3, good for first place in the central division.    The scoring didn't start until 5:24 into the 3rd period, when Nick Cousins scored his first with the Predators to make it 1-0 Nashville. Exactly 4 minutes later, Ryan Carpenter scored his first goal to tie the game at one late in the game. It remained that way until the shootout, where Duchene was the only one to score on either side, giving Nashville the win.     Cousins described how Saros played, saying that "In the shootout, he made every save look pretty easy. He's so patien...

*Photo from the Orange County Register*     John Gibson has been one of the Anaheim Ducks best players for some time now. On Tuesday night, he showed exactly why that is the case. Gibson stopped all 31 shots that came his way, Danton Heinen scored the lone goal, and the Ducks beat the Arizona Coyotes by a 1-0 score, improving to 3-2-2 on the season. The Ducks have recorded at least one point in the standings in each of Gibson's last 4 starts.    Heinen scored the lone goal of the game for the Ducks, at the 10:59 mark of the first period, forcing a turnover and snapping one past Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper, who stopped the other 23 shots that came his way.    Heinen explained what went in to his goal, saying that "I kind of tried to force it from there earlier, but it came back to me, so I thought just put it on net and luckily it went in. It's tough to score in this league. You've got to keep on shooting, keep on going to the net."     ...

*Photo from Yahoo! Sports*     For Brandon Sutter, the term better late than never fit perfectly. Sutter scored his first career hat trick, Thatcher Demko stopped 35 shots, and the Vancouver Canucks routed the Ottawa Senators by a 7-1 score Monday night. Sutter, who is a 13 year veteran, finally got hat trick number one in one of the most convincing wins of the young NHL season.     Sutter started the scoring with a falling down goal in the first period to make it 1-0 Canucks. Roughly 5 minutes later, Tyler Motte added to the lead with a snap shot past Ottawa goalie Matt Murray. In the second, Austin Watson scored for Ottawa, followed by Tanner Pearson and a shorthanded goal for Sutter to make it 4-1 Canucks. In the 3rd, Quinn Hughes and Olli Juolevi scored for the Canucks before Sutter added goal number 3, making it 7-1.     Senators coach DJ Smith lamented his team's effort after the game, saying that "We got some guys that maybe are taking...

*Photo from the Dallas Morning News*     After the start of the Dallas Stars season got delayed due to Covid-19 cases, the team is back like they didn't miss a beat. Anton Khudobin stopped 15 shots, the offense scored 3 power play goals, and the Stars beat the Nashville Predators by a 3-2 score on Sunday night. This win for Dallas wasn't as convincing as their 7-0 blowout of Nashville on opening night, but a win is a win, and that's what Dallas needs.    Denis Gurianov converted first on the power play for the Stars, tallying a goal at 14:55 of the first period. At 6:32 of the second, Roope Hintz scored the second power play goal to make it 2-0 Stars. At 14:55, Filip Forsberg struck on the power play for Nashville to cut the Dallas lead to 2-1. At 4:51 of the 3rd, Joe Pavelski scored on the power play to make it 3-1 Stars. Mikael Granlund scored at 9:59 for Nashville to get back to one goal down, but they couldn't muster anything after that.     Stars ...

*Photo from the Boston Globe*     On Saturday night, everything was clicking for the Boston Bruins. Patrice Bergeron scored twice, Craig Smith scored his first goal in a Bruins uniform, and the Bruins routed the Philadelphia Flyers with a 6-1 win at the TD Garden. Brad Marchand also scored twice for the Bruins, and Jaroslav Halak only had to make 16 saves in a suffocating performance by the Bruins.     Bergeron started the scoring in the first period, at the 8:09 mark, slapping one home on the power play to make it 1-0. In the second, Kevin Hayes tied things up for the Flyers with a re-direct to make it 1-1. Smith then scored his first as a Bruin, and Charlie Coyle tipped a perfect pass from Trent Frederic into the net to make it 3-1 after two periods. In the 3rd, Marchand scored one goal at even strength and one goal on the power play, and Bergeron then added another power play tally to make it 6-1 Bruins.     Despite having two goals of his own,...

*Photo from KOAA*     Gabriel Landeskog didn't like his first shot choice. So he went wrap around. Landeskog scored the overtime winner, Philipp Grubauer stopped 36 shots, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Anaheim Ducks by a 3-2 score in overtime on Friday night. Mikko Rantanen also scored his first goal of the season for Colorado.    At 2:56 of the first period, Joonas Donskoi started the scoring for the Avalanche on the power play, making it 1-0 Avs. It stayed that way until 47 seconds into the second period, when Hampus Lindholm tied things up for the Ducks, making it a 1-1 game. At 6:20 of the 3rd, Rantanen scored for Colorado to make it a 2-1 lead. At 7:42, Adam Henrique quickly tied it back up to make it a 2-2 game. Landeskog then scored the game winner 1:38 into overtime.     John Gibson made 29 stops on 32 total shots for the Ducks, but that wasn't enough to save his team, as the Ducks fell to a dismal 1-2-2 on the season, good for just 7th p...

*Photo from NBC Sports*     We've got the first big trade of the NHL season. The Winnipeg Jets have traded forwards Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forward Pierre Luc Dubois and a 2022 third round pick, according to TSN's Pierre Lebrun. The Jets are also expected to retain 26 percent of Laine's salary, according to Lebrun. The deal has been confirmed by both teams.    Laine, who was one of the best scorers on the Jets roster, is in the final year of his contract and will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, although it is reported he has already started discussing a contract extension with the Blue Jackets. Roslovic, a Columbus native, was an RFA for the Jets who hadn't come to an agreement yet on a contract, and thus hasn't played a game this season yet. He is expected to agree on a deal with the Blue Jackets.    Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said of the trade for Roslovic and Laine th...

*Photo from Stanley Cup of Chowder*     The Boston Bruins were stuck in the mud. They had always been strong defensively, but they didn't have any 5 on 5 goals scored entering game number 4 of the season, resulting in some close losses. Until the 3rd period. Jack Studnicka scored his first NHL goal, the Bruins broke their 5 on 5 drought, and they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in a shootout in their home opener at TD Garden. Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots for the Bruins in the win.    The Flyers started the scoring 6:17 into the second period, when Claude Giroux scored a power play goal to make it 1-0 Flyers. James Van Riemsdyk lengthened the Flyers lead at 17:51, making it a 2-0 game. In the 3rd, Studnicka scored just 57 seconds in to cut the Flyers lead in half. Just 1:09 later, Charlie Coyle snapped one to the back of the net to quickly tie things at 2-2. Travis Sanheim responded at 7:13 to give the Flyers the lead back, but Nick Ritchie's power play goal and Bran...

*Photo from Pioneer Press*     What a season debut for young Minnesota Wild goalie Kaapo Kahkonen. Kahkonen stopped 22 shots, Ryan Hartman scored short handed, and the Wild snuck past the Anaheim Ducks with a 3-2 win Wednesday night, improving to 3-1 on the new season.     Hartman started the scoring for the Wild with his short handed goal at 13:51 of the first period to put them up 1-0. In the second, at 5:50, Nick Bonino lengthened the lead to 2-0 on a power play goal. Later, at 8:58, Nicolas Deslauriers got the Ducks on the board to make it a 2-1 Wild lead. Anaheim tied it at two at 12:21 of the second on Cam Fowler's goal. In the 3rd, Joel Eriksson-Ek scored for the Wild, making the score 3-2, which held.     Hartman addressed the team depth, which so far has underwhelmed, saying that "We know we can score. We've got a lot of guys that have skill that can put the puck in the net at any point of the game. We're confident that if it's late ...

*Photo from The Athletic*     The Motto "Stay in the fight" has become sort of a theme around the Winnipeg Jets these last few seasons. Tuesday night's game was a perfect example of that motto paying off. Nikolaj Ehlers scored the OT winner, Laurent Brossoit stopped 38 shots, and the Jets rallied past the Ottawa Senators with a 4-3 overtime win after trailing 3-1 earlier in the game.     Josh Norris got the Senators on the board first 4:41 into the first period, scoring his first NHL goal. Chris Tierney then made it 2-0 Sens at 10:31 of the first. At 18:09 in the first, Adam Lowry got the Jets on the board to make it a 2-1 Ottawa lead. At 11:47 of the second, Alex Galchenyuk scored on the power play for Ottawa to make it 3-1. Kyle Connor also scored on the power play for the Jets to make it 3-2. With 1:17 left in the 3rd, Blake Wheeler tied it a 3-3, leading to the OT winner by Ehlers about halfway in.     Jets coach Paul Maurice discussed how a c...

*Photo from NHL.com*     The Carolina Hurricanes had themselves a night. 4 different players scored, James Reimer stopped 31 shots, and the Hurricanes improved to 2-1 on the season with a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators. The win also ended Nashville's impressive 2-0 start to the season.     The scoring didn't start until 16:05 into the second period, when Andrei Svechnikov scored for the Hurricanes on the power play to make it a 1-0 lead. That lead lasted 46 seconds, as Filip Forsberg quickly answered for the Preds to tie it at one apiece. In the 3rd period, Vincent Trochek and Sebastian Aho scored to make it 3-1 Canes. Viktor Arvidsson then scored for Nashville to make it 3-2, but Nino Niederreiter put it away for Carolina to make it 4-2.    Forsberg talked about the tough loss for Nashville after the game, saying that "We deserved to win, and I thought we played a lot better than we did the other night. It's a funny game, hockey. You play O...

*Photo from NHL.com*     The Pittsburgh Penguins have their first win of the NHL season. Casey Desmith made his first start since the 2018-2019 season, Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout, and the Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 in the shootout. The win gives Pittsburgh their first, as they improve to 1-2, while Washington drops to 2-0-1.     Evan Rodrigues got the scoring started just 19 seconds into the game, making it 1-0 Penguins early on. At 12:04 of the first, Nic Dowd tied it up at one for the Capitals. At 14:24, Alex Ovechkin found the back of the net to make it a 2-1 Capitals lead. In the second Colton Sceviour, Nicklas Backstrom, and Marcus Petterson all scored, making it a 3-3 tie. In the shootout, Guentzel was the only player on both sides to score.    Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of the win that "We're trying to establish ourselves in the standings. We come out of the first couple of games without any points, and I tho...

*Photo from Sportsnet*     Jacob Markstrom had been the number one guy in Vancouver for so long. Now, after he signed a 6 year deal with the Calgary Flames, he had this game circled, the first against his old team. He made them look foolish for letting him go in free agency. Markstrom stopped all 32 shots he faced, the offense scored 3 times on the power play, and the Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 on Saturday night.     Calgary started the scoring 8:31 into the first, when Sean Monahan scored on the power play to make it 1-0. It stayed that way until 16:12 of the second, when Dillon Dube scored for Calgary to make it a 2-0 lead. In the 3rd period, at the 15:16 mark, Matthew Tkachuk netted a power play goal to make it 3-0, which held as the final score.     Markstrom said of the win that "It was huge. Great team win. It was weirder than I thought it would be. It's just weird seeing the team you played for for a long time on the other s...

*Photo from NHL.com*     What a debut it was for Washington Capitals rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek. Vanecek stopped 30 shots, Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson added goals, and the Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres by a 2-1 score Friday night, improving to 2-0-0 on the season. Vanecek was a second round draft choice by the Capitals in the 2014 entry draft.     After a quiet first period, Vrana got the scoring started for the Capitals, snapping one past Linus Ullmark 1:34 into the second period. It stayed that way until just 31 seconds into the 3rd period, when Rasmus Ristolainen got the Sabres on the board, tying it up at one. At 7:47 of the 3rd, Wilson scored for the Capitals, which became the game winner.     Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said of Vanecek's debut performance that "He was really good. I thought we were slow out of the gate in the first period for sure. The second period wasn't much better. I think we finally got going in the thir...

*Photo from the Boston Globe*     There were some questions about who would plug certain holes on the Boston Bruins roster with the departures of Zedeno Chara and Torey Krug in free agency. For at least one game, all is well in Boston. Brad Marchand scored two goals, Tuukka Rask stopped 20 shots, and the Bruins beat the New Jersey Devils with a 3-2 shootout victory Thursday night. Both of Boston's regulation goals came on the power play.     Marchand got the scoring started 17:40 into the game, snapping home a power play goal in front of the net to put Boston ahead 1-0. It remained that way until 8:51 into the 3rd period, when Miles Wood scored on a breakaway goal for the Devils, tying the game at one. At 13:52 of the 3rd, Nick Ritchie converted on the power play for the Bruins, making it 2-1. That lead lasted for 34 seconds, as Ty Smith scored on a tumbling puck that went off Bruins defensemen Jeremy Lauzon and into the net, tying it at two. In the 3rd round of...

*Photo from the Vancouver Courier*     These young kids in Vancouver are really something. Brock Boeser scored two goals, Nils Hoglander scored his first NHL goal, and the Vancouver Canucks topped the Edmonton Oilers by a 5-3 score to secure an opening night win. New starting goalie Braden Holtby stopped 28 of 31 shots that came his way, earning his first win in a Canucks uniform.     The Canucks got the scoring rolling in the first period, when Bo Horvat snapped one past Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen 15:32 into the game to make it 1-0 Canucks. It stayed like that until the 5:39 mark of the second, when Kailer Yamamoto got the Oilers on the board to tie it at 1. At 17:19 of the second, Hoglander scored his first NHL goal to put the Canucks back up 2-1. In the 3rd period, Darnell Nurse scored just 10 seconds in to tie the game at two. Adam Gaudette then quickly answered for the Canucks to make it 3-2, then Boeser scored goal number 1 to make it a 4-2 game. Aroun...

*Photo from PensBurgh*     Opening night is finally here. After a quick offseason, teams are back on the ice for a 56 game regular season sprint towards the playoffs, with 30 of the 31 NHL teams trying to knock off the Tampa Bay Lightning from the top of the hockey world after their Stanley Cup win in October. Let's take a look at all the opening day matchups. *Photo from Sports Illustrated* Pittsburgh Penguins @ Philadelphia Flyers Puck drop: 5:30 EST How to watch: NBCSN(U.S.) Sportsnet(Canada) Starting goalies: Tristan Jarry(Pittsburgh) vs Carter Hart(Philadelphia) Oh baby, the battle of Pennsylvania on opening night? Yes please. Besides the long standing rivalry between these teams, we also get a battle of young goalies, as Jarry took over the number one spot for the Penguins in his debut last season, as did Hart in Philadelphia.  *Photo from TSN* Montreal Canadiens @ Toronto Maple Leafs Puck drop: 7:00 EST How to watch: Sportsnet(Canada) Starting goalies: Carey Price(...

   Hello out there to anyone viewing this post. Welcome to Five Minute Major, a blog all about Hockey. My name is Michael, and I decided to create this website because I love hockey. I run this by myself, in conjunction with my baseball website, Strikeout Central, which is a website all about baseball. Now, let's talk about what you're going to see on this blog.    First off, I have a goal of publishing at least one post a day, but sometimes that might not be possible. Generally I do like to post at least once a day. As for what I'll post on here, it'll be game recaps, NHL news, trades, free agent signings, things like that.     So since opening night for Hockey is tomorrow, stay tuned for the first game recap coming on Thursday. Tomorrow, I'll post about all the games taking place tomorrow night. Here's to the start of what hopefully becomes a successful blog.