Five Minute Major

*Photo from Jackets Cannon*     Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky got to play the team he left in free agency two years ago, the Columbus Blue Jackets. He sure played like a man on a mission. Bobrovsky stopped 38 shots, the power play converted twice, and the Panthers topped the Blue Jackets with a 4-2 win on Tuesday night.    4:59 into the first period, Juho Lammikko got the Panthers on the board with his 3rd goal of the season, making it 1-0 early on. In the second period, Patric Hornqvist and Owen Tippett scored on the power play for the Panthers, while Michael Del Zotto added one for the Blue Jackets, making it 3-1 Panthers after two periods. In the 3rd, after Oliver Bjorkstrand cut the Florida lead to 3-2, Carter Verhaege converted on the empty net goal with 23 seconds left to seal the win.    Lammikko said of his first period goal that it was "A nice pass by Weegs(MacKenzie Weegar). I just tried to hit the net because Lomby(Ryan Lomberg) a...

*Photo from the Star Tribune*     On a night that the Vegas Golden Knights had to scratch captain Mark Stone and alternate captain Alex Pietrangelo due to injury, they ran into a brick wall known as Kaapo Kahkonen. Kahkonen stopped 26 shots, Kevin Fiala added a goal, and the Minnesota Wild shut out the Golden Knights with a 2-0 win on Monday night. The win snapped a 5 game winning streak for Vegas.    Fiala got the scoring going 10:51 into the first period, sending his 8th goal of the season to the back of the net to give the Wild a 1-0 lead early on in this one. The score remained 1-0 Wild all the way until just 6 seconds left in the game, when Jonas Brodin scored an empty net goal, his 4th goal of the season, to seal up the win for the Wild.    Wild coach Dean Evason said of Kahkonen's performance that "He's the type of person who doesn't care about anything but getting in the net and competing. There's no stress, there's not any type of maintenance....

*Photo from the Herald Bulletin*     It was a good night to be Ottawa Senators forward Drake Batherson. Batherson scored the shootout winner, Ryan Dzingel scored his first goal since being traded, and the Senators outlasted the Calgary Flames with a 4-3 shootout win in Calgary Sunday night. Dzingel scored his first goal with the Senators after being traded by the Carolina Hurricanes in February.    Connor Brown started the scoring for the Senators 13:48 into the first period, with his 6th goal of the season. At 15:56, Dzingel made the Ottawa lead 2-0. In the second period, Mark Giordano scored for the Flames, and Colin White added one for the Senators, making it 3-1 after two periods. In the 3rd, a power play goal by Johnny Gaudreau and a tally by Noah Hanifin tied things up at 3. In the shootout, Matthew Tkachuk scored for Calgary, but Tim Stutzle equalized it, and Batherson sent the game winning goal into the net two rounds later.    Senators head coach D...

*Photo from The Athletic*     Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson was suspended 7 games by the NHL department of player safety, according to an announcement made by the department of player safety. The suspension comes after Wilson boarded Boston Bruins defensemen Brandon Carlo on Friday night, knocking Carlo out of the game and sending him to the hospital. No penalty was called on Wilson for that hit.    The league explained that "With the puck bouncing in Carlo's skates as he attempts to locate it, Wilson approaches from outside his field of vision and delivers a high, hard hit that makes direct contact with Carlo's head, driving him violently into the glass and causing an injury. Through no fault of his own, he's in a position where he is unable to brace for contact, anticipate the hit, or protect himself in any way from Wilson, who was approaching from outside of his field of vision. While there are aspects of this hit that may skirt the line be...

*Photo from USA Today*     Tom Wilson hit Brandon Carlo. Not just a regular hit, he headshotted Carlo right into the boards. After Carlo left the game shaken up, he was transported to an area hospital by ambulance. No penalty was called on Wilson. So the suddenly shorthanded Boston Bruins took matters into their own hands. Brad Marchand scored two goals, Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic took turns fighting Wilson, and the Bruins topped the Capitals with a dominating 5-1 win on Friday night.     Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy addressed Wilson's hit after the game, saying that "It's a fast game, they play hard, we play hard. But you could see it. He hit him clearly in the head. Defenseless player, predatory hit from a player that's done that before. I don't understand why there wasn't a penalty called on the ice. They huddled up, but I did not get an explanation why. It's out of our hands after that. We've just got to play hockey and try to stick together a...

*Photo from the CBC*     The second coaching change of the short NHL season is another Canadian team. The Calgary Flames have fired head coach Geoff Ward following a 7-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators, according to an announcement made by the team. The Flames also made an announcement that former Flames head coach Darryl Sutter will be taking over for a second term, as he has signed a 3 year deal to become the head coach.     Sutter talked about the high end core in Calgary at his introductory press conference, saying that "There's a nucleus here of nine or 10 players that are really good players in the National Hockey League. From a coaching standpoint, that jumps out at you. When you have a top goalie, a Top 3 defenceman and are strong in the middle of the ice, that's a recipe for winning and that's what appealed to me the most."    Ward became head coach of the Flames in November of 2019, after previous head coach Bill Peters was fired due to raci...

*Photo from Mile High Hockey*     Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks, the big guns on the Colorado Avalanche top line went crazy, particularly Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen had a 4 point night, Gabe Landeskog produced 4 points of his own, and the Avalanche shut out the Sharks with a 4-0 win Wednesday night.     Rantanen started the scoring at the 14:24 mark of the second period, scoring his 9th goal of the year to give the Avs a 1-0 lead. In the 3rd period, Samuel Girard scored at the 5:29 mark, followed by a Landeskog power play goal at 8:23, and then Rantanen scored his second of the night and 10th of the season at 14:34 of the 3rd, sealing this one off.     Rantanen talked about his offensive production, saying that "It's not all about the points. Some games you don't feel good and you might get three points, and some nights you are playing awesome, you get scoring chances every shift and you might get no points at all. Obviously, play...