The Arizona Coyotes‘ deep pool of prospects gives them a presumably bright future, but their current situation looks pretty bleak.
The Coyotes looked awful against Pittsburgh on Monday, from the goal-line out.
Mike Smith was yanked after allowing four goals, two of which were from direct turnovers into the slot. The other two were weak wristers from the outside.
The final score was 7-0 in favour of the Penguins, who along with the rest of the Metropolitan Division, are admittedly among the league’s hottest teams right now.
Arizona has dropped seven of its past eight games, and has no time off before playing in Detroit on Tuesday in the second leg of a four-game, six-day road trip that ends in Minnesota.
“There’s a standard you have to play to in the NHL whether you’re a young guy or a veteran and we didn’t play or compete at an NHL level tonight,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said, before leaving his post-game scrum. “That’s the score you get and that’s where we’re at today.”
While the Coyotes-Penguins game was a laugher, the Canadiens and Bruins played one of the best games of the season in Montreal.
Here are four things we learned.
Nothing can stop Crosby
Sidney Crosby needed some repairs after taking a bite out of Martin Hanzal‘s stick in the dying moments of the first period.
He came back and continued his march towards a second Rocket Richard Trophy, finding the back of the net for the 21st time in just 23 games.
The goal wasn’t the prettiest, but it was another display of Crosby’s elite hand-eye coordination.
If Joe Pavelski is the NHL’s best tip artist, Crosby deserves praise as the league’s best batter.
Crosby’s ability to score from everywhere, to go along with his vision, backhand, skating, etc., make him pretty much impossible to stop.
Remember, remember, the 12th of December
The 12th of December meant something extra to at least one participant in each of the two games played on Monday.
For Mike Sullivan, it was the one-year anniversary of his hiring as head coach of the Penguins.
Pittsburgh has gone 52-23-8 since Sullivan took over behind the bench, and that doesn’t include a 16-7 Stanley Cup run last spring.
Elsewhere, it was Austin Czarnik‘s 24th birthday, and the Bruins rookie did something only a very select few get to do in their lifetimes: score a goal on Carey Price.
Czarnik opened the scoring, beating Price short side in a game Boston would eventually win 2-1.
It was Czarnik’s first goal in 16 games.
“And if that guy can score, so can I,” thought Ryan Spooner, presumably.
Spooner broke a 14-game goalless streak of his own in overtime.
Canadiens, Bruins will need some ice
The biggest rivalry in hockey was in full force on Monday, as both teams threw the body with reckless abandon.
The biggest hit of the night came from offensive defenceman Torey Krug, as he caught Andrew Shaw in the neutral zone up high.
Shaw was shaken up, but he did return and would later dish out a big hit of his own on Adam McQuaid.
Alexei Emelin was a physical force, nailing David Pastrnak and flipping Brad Marchand.
Even Alexander Radulov got involved, crunching Kevan Miller to end the first period.
Kind of a shame these teams won’t meet again until Feb. 12.
Rask came up big in Montreal
Tuukka Rask hasn’t had much success in his career versus the Canadiens.
His 5-13-3 record, with a .909 save percentage and 2.69 goals-against average in the regular season against Boston’s rival is considerably worse than his career marks.
None of that mattered on Monday.
The Finn was sensational in net, matching Price save for save and sending NESN’s Jack Edwards into delirium with this two-pad stack.
Rask just missed getting his second career shutout against Montreal, but his 30-save performance was special nonetheless.
His numbers this season: 15-5-2 record, 1.80 goals-against average, .932 save percentage to go along with three shutouts.
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Kessel can hammer the puck
Phil Kessel is a bonafide sniper; there’s a reason he’s hit the 20-goal mark in eight straight seasons.
But when you think of the prototypical Kessel goal, it’s usually him skating down the wing, before picking his spot with a flick of the wrists.
On Monday, he tried his luck with a less graceful release, sending one right through the catching hand of poor Louis Domingue.
There you have it, the first slapshot Kessel has ever taken in his 11-year NHL career*.
It was Kessel’s fourth goal in five games.
*Figuratively speaking.
