Five Minute Major

*Photo from Arctic Ice Hockey*     When the Winnipeg Jets went to overtime against the Montreal Canadiens, they wanted to end it rather early. So they did. Connor Hellebuyck made 40 saves, Paul Stastny scored the winning goal, and the Jets topped the Canadiens with a 2-1 overtime win Saturday night.     Nikolaj Ehlers got the scoring going for the Jets, notching his 11th goal of the season, a power play goal at 10:38 of the second period. Nick Suzuki provided the equalizer for the Canadiens, with his 5th of the year at 15:13 of the second. It remained tied at one until 36 seconds into overtime, when Stastny scored the game winner, for his 4th goal of the season.     Stastny talked about the overtime win, saying that "We're confident. You know how it is in this game, overtime is a crap shoot. Especially three-on-three. You may as well go out there and play aggressive. Bucky was unbelievable for us. He didn't give up a lot of rebounds. He was f...

*Photo from Last Word on Sports*     Ever since Nazem Kadri has joined the Colorado Avalanche, he has been a top 6 piece in the Avs emergence as a top flight contender. He did it again on Friday. 3 different Avalanche forwards scored, Kadri netted the game winner, and the Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes with a 3-2 win on Friday night.     Mikko Rantanen started the scoring 1:43 into the second period, with a power play goal to make it 1-0 Avs. It remained that way until 6:04 into the 3rd, when Andre Burakovsky lengthened the Avs lead to 2-0. Kadri then made it a 3-0 lead with his 6th goal of the season. Phil Kessel and Drake Caggiula both scored within 43 seconds to make it a 3-2 Avs lead, but they couldn't get another one, giving Colorado the win.    Kadri talked about the win after the game, saying that "Losing back-to-back games is not ideal for this group, so we wanted to come back and bounce back in a positive way. I think for the most par...

*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*     The Florida Panthers are for real. This season has been their best in recent memory. They showed it again on Thursday night. 3 Panthers scored in 3:11, Frank Vatrano scored the game winner, and the Panthers pulled off a wild 3-2 comeback win against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, with an impressive late game 3rd period comeback.     The scoring didn't start until the second period, when Joe Pavelski got the Stars on the board with a power play goal 2:10 into the period. At the 17:49 mark, Jamie Benn increased the Stars lead to 2-0 with his 4th goal of the season. At the 13:39 mark of the 3rd, Alexsander Barkov started the Panthers comeback with his 8th goal of the season. 1:02 later, Anton Stralman potted a goal to tie things at two. 2:19 after the tying goal, Vatrano scored what ended up being the game winner to complete the comeback.    Barkov said of the big win for the Panthers that "Bounce-back gam...

*Photo from the Toronto Star*     When the Toronto Maple Leafs needed him, William Nylander was there. In fact, he basically won them the game. Nylander scored twice, Michael Hutchinson stopped 21 shots, and the Maple Leafs topped the Calgary Flames with a 2-1 overtime win on Wednesday night.     The scoring in this game did not start until the last minutes of the 3rd period. It was Andrew Mangiapane who started the scoring, notching his 7th goal at the 16:33 mark of the 3rd to make it 1-0 Flames. 2 minutes later, Nylander scored the tying goal in a netfront scramble, tying the game at one. 1:06 into overtime, Nylander slid one into the net to give Toronto the 2-1 win.    Hutchinson stopped 21 shots out of 22 that came his way, earning a tough win. Hutchinson's record increased to 2-1-0 in limited playing time this season, while the Leafs themselves have been on a tear to start the season, currently sitting at 15-4-2, first in the NHL's North Division,...

*Photo from The Athletic*     The Montreal Canadiens have made a coaching change, firing head coach Claude Julien and assistant coach Kirk Muller, according to an announcement by Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin. Assistant coach Dominique Ducharme will take over as interim coach until a permanent coach is found, according to Bergevin.    Montreal started off this season hot, with a 7-1-2 record in their first 10 games, right at the top of the NHL's North Division. Since then, it has been a struggle for the Canadiens, winning just two of their last 8 games, including back to back losses against the Ottawa Senators, moving Montreal's record against the worst team in the North Division to just 1-1-2.    Bergevin said in a statement that "I would like to sincerely thank Claude and Kirk for their contributions to our team over the past five years during which we worked together. I have great respect for these two men whom I hold in high regard. In Dominique ...

*Photo from Sportsnet*     The Buffalo Sabres have reached a point in their season where they need to get wins by any means possible if they want to have a shot at the playoffs. Tonight, Linus Ullmark sure helped with that. Ullmark stopped 41 shots, 4 different Sabres scored, and the Sabres beat the New Jersey Devils with a 4-1 win on Tuesday night.     The scoring didn't start until the 10:20 mark of the second period, when Victor Olofsson scored on the power play to give Buffalo the lead. In the 3rd, Rasmus Asplund and Dylan Cozens scored to extend the Sabres lead to 3-1. That's when Nikita Gusev finally got the Devils on the board, making it a 3-1 game. With just one second left, Cody Eakin scored for the Sabres to put it on ice, securing the 4-1 win.    Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said of the atmosphere that "It was a playoff feel coming into this game today. The meetings today, this morning, this afternoon, everybody was really edgy and focuse...

*Photo from The Athletic*     The Los Angeles Kings are on a roll. Entering the game vs the St.Louis Blues winners of 4 in a row and a 5 game point streak, they wanted to extend both streaks. They sure did. Jonathan Quick stopped 31 shots, Dustin Brown scored twice, and the Kings shut out the Blues with a 3-0 win on Monday night.     Gabe Vilardi started the scoring for the Kings, getting a power play goal at the 17:30 mark of the first, his 5th goal of the season. In the second period, Brown scored unassisted at 18:54 to extend the lead to 2-0, with his 9th goal of the year. In the 3rd, Brown iced the win with an empty net goal, his 10th goal of the season, making it 3-0 Kings.     Brown said of the win that "I think it's definitely a team collective effort. There's huge parts of the team that weathered the storm, and now we're back. I think people outside the room may be surprised. We're building on last year and we've got confidence. We've...

*Photo from CBS Sports*     Unlike the Avalanche vs Golden Knights, this game between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers did not take over 10 1/2 hours to finish. The start of the game was delayed around 10 minutes or so, but other than that, it was smooth sailing, especially if you were the Bruins. David Pastrnak recorded a hat trick, Trent Frederic scored his first career NHL goal, and the Bruins rolled over the Flyers with a 7-3 win on Lake Tahoe Sunday night.     Pastrnak started the scoring for the Bruins just 34 seconds into the game, giving the Bruins a very early 1-0 lead. The Flyers then got goals from Joel Farabee and Sean Couturier and they had a 2-1 lead. Charlie McAvoy then tied things up for the Bruins, making it 2-2 after one period. In the second, Pastrnak scored just 46 seconds in to make it 3-2 Bruins. Then, Charlie Coyle, Frederic, and Nick Ritchie all scored for the Bruins in 99 seconds, with Ritchie's goal coming on the power play. In...

*Photo from USA Today*     The scene is a beautiful Lake Tahoe, right at the California/Nevada state line. The first period, with the sun shine, looked wonderful, but not to skate on. All of a sudden, the game was postponed. Over 8 hours postponed, to be exact. 10 hours and 37 minutes after puck drop, the Colorado Avalanche topped the Vegas Golden Knights by a 3-2 score, in the first of two outdoor games on Lake Tahoe by the NHL.    The delay was due to the sun shining, lack of cloud cover, and unseasonably warm temperatures, according to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Those factors can melt the ice at Lake Tahoe, and players were falling and having a hard time dealing with the ice during the first period. That, due to the forecast for the rest of the day, saw the NHL push the start of the second period all the way to midnight eastern time, or 9:00 PM Lake Tahoe time.     Samuel Girard opened the scoring for the Avalanche in the first period, sending o...

*Photo from The Point Hockey*     Winnipeg Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit is from British Columbia, so when he got the start against the Vancouver Canucks in his native province, he put up some stellar numbers. Brossoit saved 29 shots, posted his second career shut out, and the Jets topped the Vancouver Canucks with a 2-0 win on Friday. The Jets were able to continue their good start to the season, while the Canucks have been on a bit of a downward spiral.    Mark Scheifele started the scoring for the Jets at the 7:25 mark of the first period, slipping one into the net on the breakaway to give the Jets a 1-0 lead early on. It remained 1-0 Jets until the 18:43 mark of the 3rd period, when Mason Appleton scored an empty net goal to make it a 2-0 Jets win.     Scheifele talked about what happened leading up to his breakaway goal, saying that "I saw he was far out of the net, but he's a stellar goaltender, a big body. I just made my move and he bit a li...

*Photo from ESPN*     Tom Wilson may be turning into more of a scorer than a fighter. Wilson scored his 6th goal of the season, 3 different Washington Capitals scored goals, and the Capitals topped the Buffalo Sabres with a 3-1 win on Thursday night. In total, 4 different players scored goals during the game.    The Capitals started the scoring at the 17:23 mark of the first period, when Nick Backstrom scored a power play goal to make it a 1-0 lead. In the second, Wilson added a shorthanded tally to extend the lead to 2-0. In the 3rd, Connor Sheary added to the lead, making it 3-0, before Victor Olofsson finally got the Sabres on the board with a power play goal to make it 3-1 Capitals.     Wilson said of the Capitals win that "We didn't really give them much. Vitek made some big saves when he needed to. Besides that shorthanded clear, we didn't really give them much. We are feeling a little bit better about our game, so we've got to keep that rol...

*Photo from Reuters*     The Florida Panthers have asserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with this season. Just look at Wednesday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes as evidence. Jonathan Huberdeau produced a highlight reel assist, added two goals of his own, and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes by a 4-3 score in overtime Wednesday night.    The first period was all Carolina, however. Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho scored just 22 seconds apart in the first to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead. In the second, Huberdeau cut into the Carolina lead with a power play goal to make it 2-1. In the 3rd, Alex Wennberg took a beautiful pass from Huberdeau and sent it to the back of the net to tie things at two. Juho Lammikko then scored his first NHL goal, and the Panthers were ahead 3-2. Vincent Trocheck then tied things for the Hurricanes to force overtime. In OT, Hubderdeau scored the game winner to give Florida a 4-3 win.    Huberdeau discussed the red hot...

*Photo from Empire Sports Media*     New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin has been searching for his first win two starts into his rookie season. Entering his 3rd, he was still looking for it. He finally got it. Sorokin stopped all 20 shots that came his way, Anders Lee scored twice, and the Islanders shut out the Buffalo Sabres by a 3-0 score on Tuesday to give Sorokin his first NHL win.     Lee started the scoring at the 4:43 mark of the first period, depositing a great pass into the net to make it 1-0 Islanders early on. Jean-Gabriel Pageau lengthened the Islanders lead at 11:58 of the first, making it 2-0. It stayed that way until one second was left in the game, when Lee deposited an empty net goal to give the Islanders a 3-0 win.     Islanders coach Barry Trotz talked about Sorokin's first win, saying that "I think it will be a weight off his shoulders. As a goaltender, you want to get your first win and to get it with a shutout is hu...

*Photo from Arizona Sports*     Arizona Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper is a number one goalie. He has proven that several times over. Tonight, he proved it again. Kuemper stopped 24 shots, Clayton Keller scored, and the Coyotes shut out the St.Louis Blues with a 1-0 victory on Monday. The Coyotes possess 3rd place in the NHL's West Division with the win, which is a playoff spot.     Keller scored the game's lone goal, which came in the second period. At the 5:21 mark of the second, Keller took the feed from Nick Schmaltz and sent it past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington to give Arizona the 1-0 lead, which remained for the rest of the game.     Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said of the win that "If you're going to win in the playoffs, you've got to win ugly games. It's a 1-0 game, the puck was bouncing. It was a muck and grind type of game. There was a lot of everything. You've got to win these games. You've got to close them out. And we did...

*Photo from The Athletic*     While goalie Robin Lehner has been injured lately, Marc-Andre Fleury has played number one goalie reps, which means he has now started 4 games in a row. He has showed that he is worthy of being the number one goalie. Fleury stopped 30 shots, Max Pacioretty scored the only goal, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche by a 1-0 score on Sunday.     The game's lone goal came at the 1:38 mark of the second period, when Pacioretty scored his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Zach Whitecloud, to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead, which then held for the rest of the game.     Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said of Fleury's performance that "I think when you look at our schedule and with Robin going down, we've asked him to play a bunch of games in a row here and he's had the energy to do it, and not only do it but do it at a really high level. He's been our best player through this stretch. We've ...

*Photo from the Philadelphia Inquirer*     The Ottawa Senators got themselves quite a win on Saturday. Marcus Hogberg stopped 30 shots, Brady Tkachuk scored with 8.2 seconds left in the game, and the Senators topped the Winnipeg Jets with a 2-1 win on Saturday, pushing Ottawa's record to 3-12-1, still last place in the NHL's North Division.     Mark Scheifele started the scoring for the Jets, snapping one past Hogberg at 5:43 of the first period. Just 1:46 later, Evgenii Dadonov tied things up for the Senators with his 4th goal of the season. It remained tied at one until 8.2 seconds left in the game, when Tkachuk sent one into the back of the net for a dramatic game winner.     Despite scoring the winning goal, Tkachuk deflected the praise to Hogberg, saying that "All of the credit goes to Hoggy here. He was unbelievable. We really needed this one. We played a full 60. They pushed hard but we stuck to our game plan. That's huge for us a...

*Photo from Yahoo Sports*     Some roster reshuffling has taken place, both in Carolina and Ottawa. The Carolina Hurricanes have traded F Ryan Dzingel to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for F Alex Galchenyuk and F Cedric Paquette, according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. No salary is being retained in the trade. Both teams have confirmed the trade.    Dzingel returns to the Senators, who selected him in the 2011 draft. He previously played for the Senators between 2015 and 2019, racking up 62 goals and 64 assists in 247 games with the Senators. At the trade deadline of the 2018-2019 season, he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the following offseason, he signed with the Hurricanes. He is set to hit free agency this offseason.     Galchenyuk has appeared in 8 games for the Senators this season, picking up just one goal in the process. He signed with Ottawa this past offseason on a one year, $1.05 million deal, and will be a free agent after this ...

*Photo from the Hastings Tribune*     For Nashville Predators defensemen Dante Fabbro, his first game winning goal came at the perfect time. Fabbro scored the game winner with 1:00 left, Ryan Ellis added a power play goal, and the Predators topped the Detroit Red Wings with a 3-2 win thanks to Fabbro's goal. The Predators also snapped their 3 game losing streak with the win.    Ellis started the scoring for Nashville, with a power play tally 14:58 into the first period. At 19:25, Robby Fabbri tied it for the Red Wings late in the period. In the second, Matt Duchene and Marc Staal both scored in the final minute, about 14 seconds apart, to keep it tied 2-2. With 1:00 left, Fabbro sent one to the back of the net to give Nashville the lead, which they held on to.     Fabbro said of the win that "The win was good for our team. We've just got to clean up a few areas. I thought we made it a little too hard on Peks at points throughout the game, but he s...

*Photo from WCVB*     Having guys who can score throughout the lineup is key for championship teams. In the last couple of years, the Boston Bruins have had that kind of depth, even though it hasn't resulted in a Stanley Cup just yet. That depth also displayed itself tonight. 3 different Bruins scored, Tuukka Rask made 33 saves, and the Bruins topped the New York Rangers by a 3-2 score with an overtime win on Wednesday night.     Julian Gauthier started the scoring for the Rangers in the first period at 13:50, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead. It stayed like that until 9:41 into the second, when Chris Wagner scored on a short handed breakaway for the Bruins to tie things up at one. In the 3rd, Anders Bjork scored to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, but a goal from Kevin Rooney shortly after re-tied things at 2-2. Just 36 seconds into overtime, Marchand sent one to the back of the net to give the Bruins the win.     Bjork's goal in the 3rd was his first of...

*Photo from The Athletic*     The Ottawa Senators thought they deserved to win the game. But, ultimately, sometimes the team that wins might not have deserved it the most, sometimes it can be some streaks of luck that give you the win on certain nights. Mikko Koskinen stopped 40 shots, Evan Bouchard scored his first goal of the season, and the Edmonton Oilers topped the Senators by a 3-2 score Tuesday night to get the win.    Conor Brown started the scoring for the Senators just 26 seconds into the game, redirecting a shot past Koskinen to make it 1-0 very early on. At 4:11 of the first, Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers to tie things at one. At the 17:19 mark, Bouchard scored on a perfect angle wrister to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. In the second, Tyson Barrie provided a goal for the Oilers to increase the lead to 3-1. In the 3rd, Evgenii Dadonov scored for Ottawa to cut the lead to 3-2, but they couldn't muster anything after that.    Brown said of the lo...

*Photo from the Athabasca Advocate*     The Toronto Maple Leafs have been on an absolute tear to start the season, after their last season was filled with turmoil and disappointment, not just during the NHL bubble in Toronto. Monday night's game against the Vancouver Canucks further proved their strong start. Frederik Andersen made 31 saves, 3 different Maple Leafs scored, and Toronto topped the Canucks with a 3-1 win.     Morgan Rielly started the scoring at 6:38 into the first, giving Toronto an early 1-0 lead. It stayed that way until 9:59 of the second, when Elias Pettersson tied it for Vancouver with a power play goal, making things tied at one. In the 3rd, Auston Matthews and and Alex Kerfoot scored 11 seconds apart to make it 3-1, and Toronto held on from there.     Matthews talked about how the 3rd period changed the game, saying that "It was 1-1 going into the third, and we hadn't nearly played our best hockey yet, but Freddie kept u...

*Photo from the Chicago Tribune*     Alex Debrincat has only a couple games under his belt after recovering from injury, but you couldn't tell by how he played on Sunday afternoon. Debrincat scored twice, Malcom Subban stopped 30 shots, and the Chicago Blackhawks topped the Dallas Stars with a 2-1 win Sunday, improving their record to 5-4-4 on the season.     Debrincat started the scoring at the 12:29 mark of the second period, giving the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. At 9:31 of the 3rd period, Jason Robertson tied the game for the Stars, which ended up forcing overtime. At 2:56 in overtime, Debrincat ended things to give the Blackhawks a satisfying 2-1 win.     Subban was able to stop 30 of 31 shots that came his way in the win for the Blackhawks, which was also the first win of the season for Subban, as his record improved to 1-1-1 on the season. It had been almost two weeks since Subban's last start, and he impressed in this one.     De...

*Photo from Bleacher Report*     Jordan Eberle sure had himself a night. Eberle scored twice, Anders Lee scored on the power play, and the New York Islanders topped the division rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday with a 4-3 win, snapping their 5 game losing streak.     Eberle started the scoring at 10:22 of the first, giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead. After PO Joseph tied it for the Penguins, Eberle scored again to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead after one period. In the second period, Evgeni Malkin scored the lone goal to tie things up at two apiece. In the 3rd period, Jake Guentzel scored to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead, but then Cal Clutterbuck and Lee scored to give the Islanders a 4-3 win.    Islanders coach Barry Trotz praised the power play, which delivered the game winning goal, at the end of the game, saying that "That may have been one of our best power plays. They had a really good attack mentality, retrievals and that was huge. We needed...