It was a light night on the NHL schedule with only three games, but we learned a few things between these intriguing matchups.
The Islanders got a glimpse of the present and future, while one of their players faced his brother for the first time in professional hockey. Meanwhile, P.K. Subban continues to shine in Nashville, and another, younger defenceman is showing an awful lot of promise in Ohio.
Here’s what we learned:
STROME VS. STROME: WHO DOES MOM CHEER FOR?
The New York Islanders and Arizona Coyotes met on Friday night – which may not be the most intriguing matchup on paper – but it was a huge deal for the Strome family.
This game marked the first time Ryan Strome (Islanders) faced off against brother Dylan (Coyotes) in the NHL. Both were first-round picks, Ryan fifth overall in 2011 and Dylan third overall in 2015, so they have promising futures ahead still.
Of course, the Strome family was in attendance for the big game.
Ryan had 14:18 of ice time, while Dylan played just over 10 minutes, and it was the older Strome who made it to the scoresheet with a goal that put the Islanders up 2-0. Arizona would later tie it, but fall 3-2 in regulation.
After Ryan’s goal, Mrs. Strome was predictably excited. However, with Son 2 on the other team, it was, should we say, a confused reaction.
Of course Ryan had to score on his little brother, and now Dylan will probably hear about it at every Christmas, birthday and any other family gathering.
Dylan will just have to wait until next time to exact revenge for all the noogies and arm burns he probably had to endure through childhood.
ANOTHER LOOK INTO THE ISLANDERS’ FUTURE
So this one didn’t happen in the NHL tonight, but it is a sign of things to come for the league and the Islanders franchise.
Michael Dal Colle, the fifth overall pick of the 2014 draft, is in his first full season of professional hockey with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL. The Woodbridge, Ont., native brings a ton of offensive upside and is coming off his final junior season in which he scored 35 goals and 80 points in 60 games.
On Friday, he scored his first professional goal and it was assisted by another high upside offensive prospect in Josh Ho-Sang, who was the 28th overall pick from the same draft.
While the Islanders had been trending in the right direction for a few years, losing Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen was largely seen as a step back, even though they were replaced by Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera. There’s still a distinct lack of talented wingers to surround John Tavares and depth will be a concern.
But while Stanley Cup hopes are still in the distance, at least the future remains bright.
THROWING DOWN IN MOTOWN
As far as defying pre-season predictions go, the Vancouver Canucks have certainly made a case as the most impressive team relative to expectations so far.
The Detroit Red Wings however, are surprising us all in a different way.
Yes, an impressive 5-3 win over the Predators gave them a nice three-game winning streak, but it’s how they’re playing that’s come as a shock.
When Dylan Larkin dropped the gloves to square off with Nashville’s Yannick Weber, it marked the fifth time this season a Red Wing has been given a fighting major, a total which leads the league.
This is a franchise which has finished at the very bottom of the league in fights every season except one since 2003-04. The Red Wings have finished the regular season with seven, eight, and eight fights in the past three years, but are on pace to shatter that mark.
The last time Detroit finished the season with the most fighting majors in the NHL was in 1985-86 (it had 156). This pace seems unlikely to continue, but for now the Red Wings are the NHL’s most knuckle-ready team.
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TAKE NOTICE OF ZACH WERENSKI
It’s hardly surprising that, in a league where roughly 10 per cent of its players qualify for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, we’re using so much space to talk about youngsters in and coming up to the NHL.
Zach Werenski, the eighth overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, was the third defender picked in his year behind Noah Hanifin and Ivan Provorov. And he’s starting his NHL career off in a big way — if he can keep up half of the pace he’s going at, expect to see this Blue Jacket among the Calder finalists in April.
The Blue Jackets dropped their first two games of the season, but somehow a matchup against the Blackhawks seemed like a good bet to break out of that funk. Why? Because although Columbus once had a 13-game losing streak against their former Central Division foes, they have since won four of five after a 3-2 win Friday.
Werenski was a big part of the win as well, posting a goal and an assist — both on the power play — and now has four points in three games. Three of those points have come on the power play, leading to the idea that he could be a rising stud of a power play quarterback, something the Blue Jackets so desperately need.
It’s worth noting that Ryan Murray, another high draft pick of Columbus’ (second overall in 2012) left Friday’s game with an apparent head injury after colliding with Brent Seabrook along the boards. Murray entered the NHL with tons of promise, but has had a history of getting hurt, playing in just 78 games over his first two NHL seasons before getting into all 82 last season. And now this.
