Trade intrigue, bad bounces, a shot at centre and more. Here are six things we learned around the league on a busy Saturday night before the NHL Trade Deadline.
(Also, you should probably watch the magic that is Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shootout save vs. Montreal, at the top of this post.)
Healthy scratches build intrigue
The New York Rangers made headlines over the past week by listing known trade targets Michael Grabner and Rick Nash as healthy scratches as they await trades. (Grabner was dealt to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, and the latest on Nash is that he could soon be a Bruin.)
More teams joined the healthy-scratch trend on Saturday, including the Montreal Canadiens (Tomas Plekanec), the Buffalo Sabres (Evander Kane) and the Ottawa Senators (Johnny Oduya).
According to Scott Oake, general manager Peter Chiarelli told forwards Pat Maroon and Mark Letestu to pack a few extra outfits ahead of the club’s Pacific Division road trip.
Bad bounces fool good goalies
Sometimes in hockey, the bounces go your way. Other times? Not so much. Just ask Craig Anderson and Jon Gillies, both of whom bore the brunt of a bad-luck blooper on Saturday afternoon.
The Senators can’t seem to catch a break these days, and Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers was no exception. Just after Anderson left the crease to intercept Brandon Manning‘s dump-in attempt behind his net, the puck hit a partition and made a beeline to the wide open net, off the post and in for a Flyers goal — their fifth and final marker in Philadelphia’s eventual 5-3 win.
Gillies, meanwhile, misjudged a bouncing puck shot by Nathan MacKinnon from just inside the centre-ice line, which pinballed off the post, off Gillies and in. The rookie showed plenty of poise, though, and didn’t let the blooper throw him off as he backstopped the Calgary Flames to an eventual 5-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
Devils honour Patrik Elias
There was plenty to celebrate in New Jersey on Saturday night: Taylor Hall extended his impressive point streak, head coach John Hynes was confirmed to be staying put behind the bench for another season, and… well, they won their game against the New York Islanders.
But Saturday’s biggest celebration was all about honouring one of the greatest, Patrik Elias, as the organization retired his No. 26 sweater to the rafters in an emotional pre-game ceremony with plenty of Devils royalty in attendance.
Elias officially announced his retirement last March. The centreman and two-time Stanley Cup champion registered 408 goals and 617 assists for 1,025 points in 1,240 career NHL regular-season games over the course of two decades with the Devils.
Laine reaches 30, again
Patrik Laine is on a roll. He scored twice in a row on Saturday night to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Dallas Stars 5-3, reaching the 30-goal mark for the second time in as many seasons. That puts the 19-year-old in some pretty elite company.
No. 29 has scored in five straight games, with a total of six goals and nine points over that five-game stretch. He had 36 goals and 64 points as a rookie last year and is currently sitting at 31 goals and 51 points with 20 games to go.
Nylander takes centre stage
Saturday night’s matchup against the Boston Bruins was a big test for the Toronto Maple Leafs for a couple reasons: first, they were without Auston Matthews, who suffered a second-degree shoulder separation Thursday night; secondly, uh, it’s the Bruins — a likely playoff opponent.
They passed the test, winning 4-3 for their ninth straight home victory thanks to some strong chemistry from William Nylander and Mitch Marner.
Nylander was given the tough task of filling in for Matthews at centre, and excelled in the spotlight with two assists. Head coach Mike Babcock liked what he saw from the versatile forward.
“I thought he was good today,” Babcock told reporters after the game. “Willy has been good a number of times at centre, it’s just you’ve got to do it every day. You’ve got to do it 82 times and then whatever in the playoffs and then you’ve got to do it for 20 years. It’s hard. It’s way easier to be a winger and it’s just if he can learn to compete on a high level, he can be a centre in the league, for sure. He’s dynamic in the middle of the ice, there’s a little more space for him and he likes to have the puck.”
Marner, who has really found his stride of late, showed great chemistry with Nylander at centre, scoring once and registering a trio of assists. The sophomore has hit a few rough patches this season but with 16 goals and 51 points through 64 games, he’s on pace to surpass his rookie stats (19G, 42A).
McLellan finally gets a break
Hockey fans watching the Edmonton Oilers take on the Los Angeles Kings Saturday were treated to quite the dramatic finale.
What looked like a sure victory for the Oilers quickly crumbled as the Kings rallied to score twice in the final seconds — with the game-tying goal coming with 9.8 seconds left.
Or so we thought.
The goal wasn’t initially called, but a review once time expired revealed that the puck did, in fact, cross the goal-line as goalie Cam Talbot’s right pad was pushed back by Kings forward Dustin Brown. To overtime we go!
Or so we thought.
A second review showed there was goalie interference. No goal. It was a lucky outcome for the Oilers, who frittered away another lead. And it was an incredibly rare outcome for head coach Todd McLellan:
Watch the whole thing here:
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