Five Minute Major

*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*     With the season series set to wrap up after an earlier win by the Calgary Flames, they wanted to win twice, so they set out and did it. Milan Lucic scored, Mikael Backlund scored, and the Flames defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in a shootout on Monday night.    With the win, the Flames have beaten the Penguins both times they've squared off this season, sweeping the season series against them. They've also been red hot(get it?) in this last stretch of play, with a 6-1-1 record in their last 8 games. Overall, they have a 13-4-5 record this season, good for first place in the NHL's Pacific Division.    Asked about sweeping the season series, Lucic said "We talked about it this morning that they had 45 shots the last time we played them. We played a little too loose in Pittsburgh and we got away with one. Today, puck possession was better, zone time was better than the last time we played them and we held them t...

*Photo from CBS Minnesota*     The Minnesota Wild have established themselves as a high scoring team to begin the season. That did not change one bit last night. Ryan Hartman scored, Nick Bjugstad scored, and the Wild defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Sunday night.    With the win, the Wild have won 3 straight games and 4 out of their last 6, improving their record to 14-6-1, first place in the Central Division. Hartman's goal gave him 12 for the season, and he is on a 3 game goal streak, and has 13 points in his last 14 games. The Wild also put up another 4 goal game, as they have the most goals scored in the league since November 2.    Hartman said of his goal scoring this season that "I don't think I've had a goal with time and space, like get a full shot off. I've had to be quick or something with a rebound. I'm trying to think about some of them, but it's not a bad problem to have, I guess. But, yeah, just trying to play the game the right w...

*Photo from TheScore*     The NHL's newest team, the Seattle Kraken, have had their ups and have had a lot of downs to begin their inaugural season. Entering a difficult place to play in South Florida, a few Florida Panthers had their revenge games. Jordan Eberle scored twice, Ryan Donato scored, and the Kraken defeated the Panthers 4-1 on Saturday night.    It was a return to the FLA Live Arena for former Panthers Chris Driedger and Alex Wennberg, with Driedger being chosen by the Kraken in the expansion draft, and Wennberg signing with Seattle in free agency. The Kraken improved to 7-13-1 this season with the victory, with Driedger being the starting goalie in his return to Florida.    Driedger said of being back that "It's just good to see those guys. Honestly it was a bit of a challenge trying to just keep my head in the game. And it's so familiar being in this barn. Just seeing those guys on the other side of the ice is a bit different. But at the end ...

*Photo from the Globe and Mail*     The Columbus Blue Jackets were not at the top of their game. They just couldn't find the muscle. Until the 3rd period that is. Adam Boqvist scored, Jack Roslovic scored, and the Blue Jackets defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 on Friday night.    Things just weren't going the Blue Jackets way to start. Sure, they had goals, but it was tied after two periods. Something had to change. Well it did, because the Blue Jackets pulled ahead in the 3rd period to win their 3rd straight game, and win 5 of their last 6 games, increasing their record to 12-6-0, good for 4th place in the Metropolitan Division.    Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen said of the win that "Some of these nights, you're not even mad. You can tell that they just don't have it, and we're gonna have games like that, but the one thing I said was, 'Let's just try to find a way to win this. Let's try to piece together 20 minutes and see what happens.'...

*Photo from Sports Illustrated*     We've reached Thanksgiving, around the quarter mark of the NHL season. Usually, the position your team is in when the Turkey hits the table can be a good indicator of how the rest of the season will go, with obviously a few exceptions every time, most notably the 2018-2019 St.Louis Blues. With that in mind, let's look at the standings in the NHL, division by division. *Photo from Cardiac Cane* Metropolitan Division 1. Carolina Hurricanes(14-3-1, 29 points) 2. Washington Capitals(12-3-5, 29 points) 3. New York Rangers(12-4-3, 27 points) 4. Columbus Blue Jackets(11-6-0, 22 points) 5. Pittsburgh Penguins(9-6-4, 22 points) 6. New Jersey Devils(8-5-4, 20 points) 7. Philadelphia Flyers(8-6-4, 20 points) 8. New York Islanders(5-9-2, 12 points) *Photo from ESPN* Atlantic Division 1. Florida Panthers(14-2-3, 31 points) 2. Toronto Maple Leafs(14-6-1, 29 points) 3. Tampa Bay Lightning(11-4-3, 25 points) 4. Detroit Red Wings(9-9-3, 21 points) 5. Boston ...

*Photo from the Boston Globe*     Despite some long lapses in their schedule so far, the Boston Bruins have had a pretty good start to the season, all things considered. The good times continued on Wednesday night. Charlie Coyle scored, Patrice Bergeron scored, and the Bruins defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a 5-1 score on Wednesday in Buffalo.    The Bruins have won 4 of their last 5 games with the victory, currently holding a 10-6 record, sitting in 5th place in the Atlantic Division with 20 points. That's a 4 point lead in the standings ahead of 6th place Buffalo, who has a 7-10-2 record in 19 games.    Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of Coyle's play that "I think Charlie's played pretty well, to be honest with you. But his numbers are good, he's shooting the puck. He helps on the kill, second power play now pretty consistently. He's scored a couple goals, the Montreal goal, got a lucky one, but also scored another one tonight where he gets it ov...

*Photo from Reuters*     The Edmonton Oilers have a pretty lethal power play. The Dallas Stars decided to fight fire with fire. Roope Hintz scored, Jason Robertson scored, and the Stars defeated the Oilers by a 4-1 score on Tuesday night at the American Airlines center in Dallas.    In order to win, the recipe for the Stars was scoring on the power play. It contributed two goals on the man advantage, plus a 3rd goal that came right after a Dallas power play expired. A big reason why is Hintz, who has scored all 6 of his goals this season in the last 6 games. He is red hot, which is exactly what Dallas needs.    Stars defenseman and power play member John Klingberg said "I think the power play has been good the entire year. You're not going to score every time, but you can build momentum out of it. We've got two really good units battling for the ice time, so it's what you need. I think when you're competitive like that, you want to be on the ice. Both units...

*Photo from the East Bay Times*     The matchup between the San Jose Sharks and the Carolina Hurricanes turned into a goalies duel on the pacific coast. One goal would make all the difference. Kevin Labanc scored, Alexander Barabanov scored the winning goal, and the Sharks defeated the Hurricanes 2-1 in overtime on Monday night.     By winning, the Sharks snapped a skid in which they had lost 4 of their last 5 games. Prior to Labanc scoring in the 3rd period, the Sharks had been held scoreless for 135 minutes and 58 seconds. It's a necessary win for the Sharks, who improve their record to 9-8-1 this season, good for 5th place in the Pacific Division standings.    Labanc said of his goal that "With us being down 1-0 that was a big goal. It's a big one for us against a great hockey team. They're a good, hard defensive team. We just have to make sure we aren't turning pucks over because they feed off of those turnovers and then the puck is going back...

*Photo from the New York Post*     This tilt at Madison Square Garden can be described as pure chaos on the hockey rink. Everything went back and forth, up and down, even in the last second of play. Jacob Trouba scored, Ryan Lindgren scored with less than a second to play, and the New York Rangers stunned the Buffalo Sabres with a 5-4 win on Sunday night.    With his goal in the last second of play, Lindgren becomes the 24th player and 4th defenseman in NHL history to score a go ahead goal in the final second of play in the 3rd period. He's also the 4th player in Rangers history to do so, with the most recent being Brad Richards, who did it in December of 2011. The others are Dean Prentice, who did it in 1960, and Grant Warwick, doing it in 1945.    Lindgren said of his goal that "Me and Foxy are standing up kind of back towards the point and look up and see the clock and kind of realize with five seconds left there's probably not going to be enough time fo...

*Photo from TSN*     It was a game the New Jersey Devils weren't supposed to win, considering that they were going up against the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning. Hockey can be funny sometimes. Yegor Sharangovich scored, Dawson Mercer scored, and the Devils defeated the Lightning 5-3 on Saturday afternoon.    By beating the Lightning, the Devils increase their team record to 8-5-3 to begin the season, and they also ended Tampa Bay's point streak at 9 games. It was 4 goals scored by the Devils offense in the 3rd period that got them going in this one, ultimately getting them the win, snapping their own 3 game losing streak.    Devils forward Jimmy Vesey said of the win that "We had lost a couple in a row, and I think it would have been easy to pack it in and say, 'We're playing Tampa, they're a good team and we've got a couple days off here and we'll get it next week.' But no one can question our effort all year. Tonight was awesome and even better, we g...

*Photo from the Surrey Now-Leader*     The struggles of the Vancouver Canucks this season have been pretty well documented. They were not on Friday night. Kyle Burroughs scored his first NHL goal, Conor Garland scored, and the Canucks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Friday night.    By beating the Jets, the Canucks improve their record to 6-10-2 this season, just 7th place in the Pacific Division. They snapped a 6 game losing streak with the win, and also snapped a 9 game home losing streak to the Jets, dating back to the 2016-2017 season. Burroughs scored his first NHL goal at his home arena, as he is a Vancouver native.    Burroughs said of his first goal that "As soon as it left my stick, God knows what happened. I think I was the last one to celebrate. It was a big accomplishment, especially for me. I don't score a lot of goals in any league. To get it here is nice and a little bit of weight off the back. It's even better to get the win tonight."...

*Photo from PensBurgh*     On a rather unassuming Thursday night in Montreal, it became hunting season for the visitors from the U.S. Sidney Crosby scored, Teddy Blueger scored twice, and the Pittsburgh Penguins stomped the Montreal Canadiens with a 6-0 shutout win on Thursday night.    Crosby scored his first goal of the season, in his 4th game of the season, after spending the start of the season on the NHL's Covid-19 protocol list. He's back, and so far, with his one goal and one assist, is looking to kickstart the Penguins offense.    Crosby said of the convincing win that "We wanted to play like that right from the start. I thought we did a good job of moving our feet, putting pressure on them and getting some early goals there to get a lead. That's a big boost, especially with how many chances we had against Buffalo and not being able to convert some of those. To get the same looks and see them go in, I think that you could tell that gave us a go...

*Photo from the Chicago Tribune*     Since Derek King took over as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, they have not lost. That streak continued on Wednesday. Alex DeBrincat scored, Patrick Kane scored, and the Blackhawks defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Wednesday night.    The Blackhawks won their first road game of the season, out of 7 they have played. It's also their 4th straight win, having not lost since King took over as interim head coach after Jeremy Colliton was fired early in the season. They've improved to 5-9-2 this season, 7th place in the Central Division, and 13th place in the Western Conference playoff picture.    DeBrincat, who scored his 9th goal of the season on Wednesday night, picked up the Gordie Howe hat trick, providing a goal, assist, and fighting Seattle's Yanni Gourde after a hit on Kane. Brothers Seth and Caleb Jones also played together on the Blackhawks as teammates for the first time in their careers, after Caleb was acti...

*Photo from the Norman Transcript*    Facing their rivals from two Canadian provinces to the west, the Winnipeg Jets were looking to cap off their homestand the right way. Nikolaj Ehlers scored, Mark Scheifele scored, and the Jets defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Tuesday night.    The Jets wrap up their homestand with a 5-1-1 record, moving to 9-3-3 to begin the season, giving Winnipeg first place in the Central Division. It was the efforts of Ehlers and Scheifele, who netted goals, combined with a two assist night for defenseman Josh Morrissey, that kept the potent Oilers offense at bay, allowing the Jets to grab their 5th win in 7 games.    Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said of the game that "We did a really good job defending as unit of five. At times, you're going to have to stay behind even if you want to go out from for a little more offence and they're going to have shifts where they have the puck for a minute in your zone and the only oppor...

*Photo from TSN*     At the beginning of this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets have been the comeback kids in the NHL. Not really from adversity or low expectations, they are coming back from deficits and winning games. Boone Jenner scored, Zach Werenski scored, and the Blue Jackets rallied past the Detroit Red Wings with a 5-3 win on Monday night.    With another comeback win, the Blue Jackets improve to 8-5-0 to start the season, 6th place in a tightly contested Metropolitan Division. Their latest comeback is their 6th come from behind win in their first 13 games of the season. Just this month, they have two comebacks that have seen the winning goal in the last two minutes of the 3rd period. This time, it was Werenski's turn to step up.    Werenski said of his goal that "I was gonna change. I saw my stick sitting at center ice. I went and picked it up. When I got in the zone, Gus passed me the puck and it ended up going in the net. Probably one of t...

*Photo from MassLive*     For the first time in a long time, hockey's most storied rivalry got back in action. Charlie McAvoy scored two goals, Charlie Coyle scored two goals, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Sunday night.    After not playing each other in the short last season, it had been 641 days since the Bruins and Canadiens squared off, the last time being a Boston win at TD Garden in February of 2020. Both sides were itching to get back at each other, and this time, the Bruins came out on top, much to the delight of the home crowd.    Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of playing Montreal that "In the second period, we had zero puck luck. In the third, we stuck with it and got lots, so good for us. It's not one of 82 games when it's against Montreal. It isn't to me, and it shouldn't be to anybody that knows anything about the Boston Bruins. There's always more energy. We want to beat them every time we're on t...

*Photo from Canes Country*     Right in the middle of a tie game late, it was an unlikely source that brought the goods. Sebastian Aho scored, Brendan Smith scored, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the St.Louis Blues by a 3-2 score on Saturday night in Raleigh, NC.     It was Aho who paced the Carolina offense, scoring a goal in the second period and assisting on defenseman Brady Skjei's goal in the first period, all while spending almost 22 minutes on the ice, with a final TOI of 21:45. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo also had a two point night, assisting on two goals, and Andrei Svechnikov picked up two assists as well.    Smith said of his game winner that "DeAngelo's passes are so perfect. They're right on your tape, but they're putting you in a position to make a play. I was able to walk into a slap shot. We had a good screen in front. I'm obviously very excited. It's a moment I'm never going to forget."    Skjei got the Hurricane...