Saturday’s always a busy night around the NHL, so Friday usually takes a back seat.
However, that isn’t the case for our daily blog. Here are three things we learned during Friday’s NHL action:
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Cory Schneider deserved better: It can’t be easy for Cory Schneider right now. He is 5-1-1 in his last eight games but on Friday he deserved a better fate against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The New Jersey Devils goaltender couldn’t have realistically played better than he did against Pittsburgh and all he got for his efforts was an overtime loss. Schneider stopped Pittsburgh’s first 37 shots and finished with an impressive 41 saves on 43 shots. The game was so one-sided that the Devils were outshot a whopping 43 to 14, and Marc-Andre Fluery only needed to make 13 saves to register the win. Life isn’t fair.
Strange coaching decision pays off: It’s not often we credit a coach for a shootout loss, but Bill Peters of the Carolina Hurricanes deserves some praise. At first glance, Peters’ decision looked absurd. He pulled Anton Khudobin from the game after the goaltender allowed two goals on his first three shots just 3:25 into the first period. Frankly, the goals weren’t necessarily the fault of the goaltender but Peters’ quick trigger finger certainly worked out for Carolina. Khudobin’s replacement, Cam Ward, stopped all 29 shots he faced from the St. Louis Blues before the Hurricanes fell in the shootout. In hindsight, Peters was wise to go with his gut instinct.
A trade where nobody wins: Cody Hodgson is just 24 years old, but his career outlook has never looked this bleak. That much was evident when the former Canuck was made a healthy scratch Friday night — coincidentally in a game against Vancouver. A lot was made of Vancouver’s decision to deal Hodgson to Buffalo, but right now both the Sabres and Canucks are getting very little out of the trade. Hodgson has just two goals in 48 games for a lousy Sabres team while Zack Kassian, the key part of the return for Vancouver, has a grand total of six points on the season. Hodgson was once viewed as a draft steal for Vancouver, but if he doesn’t soon change his career trajectory, he will be considered a bust.
