The Chicago Blackhawks failed to exercise their demons in Philadelphia, Jaromir Jagr makes playing hockey look easy and Brian Boyle continues to inspire.
Here are four things we learned in the NHL.
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Brian Boyle continues to inspire
It’s amazing that Brian Boyle is even playing right now, after being being diagnosed with leukaemia in mid-September.
But he is playing – having returned to action on Nov. 1 – and on Thursday, in his fifth game of the season, he found the back of the net.
Just look at that celebration. A great story keeps getting better.
In the first intermission, Boyle gave an emotion interview with Deb Placey of MSG Network.
“I’ve never cried after a goal before,” Boyle said. “It’s a lot, it’s everything.”
Hopefully seeing Boyle succeed on the ice can provide some inspiration for others struggling with the same horrible disease.
It’s not sunny in Philadelphia for Blackhawks
It was a night the Blackhawks have been dreading for years, a road game in Philadelphia. And once again the Flyers got the upper hand on the team from the Windy City.
With a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks, the Flyers have won 14 straight home games against Chicago. The last time the Hawks won in the City of Brotherly Love was Nov. 9, 1996. That’s the same year the Flyers’ current home, the Wells Fargo Center, opened.
Jaromir Jagr (more on him below) was the only currently active player in the league that season.
It’s not like the Blackhawks can’t beat the Flyers. Just last week, they beat Philadelphia 3-0 at home. But on the road, Chicago just can’t get anything going, at least in the regular season.
The Blackhawks’ did win a pretty marquee meeting in Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, when Patrick Kane’s overtime winner clinched the first of three Cups this decade.
Jagr helps Jankowski get first goal
Mark Jankowski scored his first career goal on Thursday and it had an extra special assist attached to it.
Jaromir Jagr fired a shot on goal that bounced off Petr Mrazek, hit Jankowski’s leg and landed in the net. There are no pictures on the scoresheet and I’m sure Jankowski didn’t mind the odd way his first goal happened.
All season we’ve been marvelling at the fun stats from Jagr and this assist gave us another chance. For example, Jankowski was born Sept. 13, 1994. On that day, Jagr had already played four complete seasons (311 games) and had 125 goals and 134 assists.
Jagr followed that assist up with his own goal late in the second, his first as a Flame.
Here are some more fun stats.
Jagr said when he signed with the Flames that this will likely be his last season. Until that day comes, though, we will continue to enjoy all the fun that comes every time he touches the puck.
Zucker putting Wild on his back
Jason Zucker is having a special week.
One day after scoring his team’s only goals in a loss to the Maple Leafs, Zucker had a hat trick in a 3-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. That’s right, he scored all five of his team’s goals in those games.
Zucker has been a steady two-way player for the Wild for the past seven years, twice passing the 20-goal mark in his career. But that hat trick was his first and came after scoring twice on eight other occasions in his career.
He now has eight goals on the season after Thursday’s performance and should surpass 20 tallies again by April.
But if the Wild want to return to the playoffs, they should probably get some other players going offensively, too.
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