A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and silly, and rolling four lines deep.
1. The ugliest bit of fallout from the Toronto Maple Leafs’ recent five-game debacle has less to do with the organization’s lack of confidence in James Reimer, a goaltender whose heroics one spring ago now seem so distant, and more to do with some Toronto fans’ willingness to turn so quickly and harshly on the backup goaltender.
Over the weekend, some cowardly members of Leafs Nation took shots at Reimer’s wife, April, on Twitter. The goaltender’s wife took the high road:
As the Leafs deal with anxiety off the ice and sloppy defence on it, credit Tyler Bozak for speaking out and sticking up for Reimer.
“I think that’s pretty low and pretty sad,” Bozak said of some fans’ eagerness to paint Reimer as the goat. “We haven’t helped him out a bit.”
I’d love to hear the Leafs’ handsomely paid captain speak with such conviction on the matter, too.
Last week we watched young Morgan Rielly defend Bozak, and now Bozak is paying it forward and defending Reimer. This team cares about each other. If Reimer does get the start Tuesday versus St. Louis, the skaters need to win one for their goalie. Goodness knows he’s bailed them out before.
2. Oh, Phil Kessel, don’t ever change:
Despite the sniper’s misfire, Kessel’s water bottle fail is still a runner-up to that of the L.A. Kings’ Dustin Brown:
3. Looking for an account to follow on Twitter? Try @BoringSeanMonahan, which is hilarious.
“I’ve tried to find out for a long time now. I still think it’s Derek Smith but I don’t know. It is funny and it doesn’t offend me at all,” Monahan told the Edmonton Journal. “We just joke around about it.”
Before tonight’s game Markus Granlund dropped his tape and it rolled down the dressing room floor, I gave it back to him and he said thanks.
— Boring Sean Monahan (@boringmonahan) February 28, 2014
To celebrate this long awaited gameday, I’m going to try this new pumpernickel bread in my toaster. It’s darker than my normal bread.
— Boring Sean Monahan (@boringmonahan) February 27, 2014
4. The most impressive statistic in the NHL is zero.
That’s the number of penalty minutes Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan O’Reilly has through 69 games this season. That wonderful little donut sits at the end of a stat line that includes 26 goals and 31 assists, both career highs.
The last player to finish a regular season (minimum 65 games played) without committing a penalty was the New York Islanders’ Butch Goring in 1980-81. Goring had 23 goals and 37 assists in 78 games that season.
If he can keep up his disciplined ways, O’Reilly will become just the 12th man in NHL history to accomplish the feat.
“Growing up, my parents always told me, you can never score from the penalty box. You can never help the team win from the box,” O’Reilly, who has never had more than 18 PIM in a season, told The Denver Post.
His secret? Yoga.
“Yoga in general is a big practice in discipline, the control over your whole body,” O’Reilly said. “It does obviously help. You’re defending a guy and aware of your body. You can’t put your stick in a certain area. It does correlate.”
5. Anyone else getting bored of dumping all over the Vancouver Canucks, who have rather suddenly gone from the best Canadian NHL team to maybe the third best in what seems like an eye-blink?
Well, here’s a cool thing the team has done involving a strategically placed GoPro camera and some super slow motion:
6. An even cooler initiative came from the San Jose Sharks last week.
On Tuesday the Sharks signed a new player, Sam Tageson, to a one-day deal. Tageson, an 18-year-old with a potentially life-threatening heart condition and an awesome Make-A-Wish dream, received a one-day contract from the Sharks that allowed him to practise with the team, hang out with players and stand alongside his temporary teammate during that night’s anthem.
Stay classy, San Jose:
7. When there’s no hope for your team to make the playoffs, you have to resort to making your own fun. A Buffalo website will give away $1,000 if forward bust Ville Leino fails to score a single goal this season. After the weekend, poor rich Leino had zero goals in 50 games.
8. Two long-delayed homecomings brought polar opposite fan reactions, underscoring the difference between the average hockey fan in Columbus and the average fan in Jersey. Due to injury and the shortened 2012-13 season, Zach Parise and Rick Nash didn’t make their respective returns to their original NHL clubs until last week.
In Newark, Parise, who left for Minnesota as a free agent, was booed relentlessly by a group that used to love him. The only cheers he heard rained down when he was hauled off to the penalty box.
One night later, Nash, who requested a trade out of Columbus, made his long-awaited return to Nationwide Arena as a member of the New York Rangers and was welcomed warmly. (Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky had his own version of acknowledging Nash, however.)
Take note, New Jersey:
9. The St. Louis Blues have much to boast about. Unless Boston decides to never lose again (possible), they’re the best bet to claim the Presidents’ Trophy, they have the deepest defence and a world-class goaltender, and deploy four forwards who have scored more than 20 goals this season. But — and it’s a big but (one t — don’t get excited, Sir Mix-A-Lot) — they cannot defeat the California teams.
The Blues’ 2013-14 record versus the Ducks, Sharks and Kings is a combined 1-8-0, and they’ve been outscored 32-19 over those nine games. This is the team easily leading the Western Conference in goal differential (+68) we’re talking about.
St. Louis would love to avoid traveling to Cali early in the post-season and gain confidence by drawing a Minnesota or Phoenix.
10. If there is a higher power, she will grant us a Kings-Blues playoff series, a Leafs-Habs playoff series and, most of all, a Penguins-Flyers series this spring. Is that too much to ask?
Pittsburgh has long been the most consistent Pennsylvania team, but Philly defeated them in the 2012 playoffs. Sidney Crosby is the best player in the game; Claude Giroux has been the most inspired NHLer since January. Plus, the teams’ fan bases have a palpable hate for the opposing team.
11. Unexpected trend: The Calgary Flames, whom you may know from such victories as 8-1 over Edmonton Saturday, have scored more often than any other NHL team since the trade deadline.
Most goals since March 5:
1. Flames 39
2. Bruins 36
3. Lightning 32
4. Sharks 30
5. Flyers 29
12. And, finally, a Dutch hockey game was abandoned after a backup goaltender climbed over the glass to protect fighting father, who got involved in a fight in the stands. Fun fact: the goalie who climbed the glass is also the referee’s brother. We can’t make this stuff up, kids: