Every other Monday, Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas will give you a peek behind the curtain and share stories about what he sees and hears in his job as a rink side reporter.
Based in Ottawa, Kyle’s notes will sometimes be about the Senators, but he’ll also include content from wherever Hockey Night in Canada takes him.
Here’s this week’s collection:
1. The pressure of a new six-year deal clearly has not affected the Flyers’ Travis Konecny one bit. He is off to the best start of his young career averaging just over a point per game after 13 contests.
We found a neat profile the London Free Press did on Konecny during his OHL draft year. One of the observations that writer Patrick Maloney made in the piece was that “He doesn’t keep track of his considerable stats; he just wants to win; he’d rather see a teammate succeed than himself.”
No question Konecny is paid to put up considerable stats with his new deal. He wore his emotions on his sleeve Saturday night against Toronto as he did everything but score when the game was tied late in the third period and continued into overtime.
Just like all those years ago playing midget hockey for the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs, Konecny still hates losing.
2. I am guessing there was some money on the board in the Maple Leafs room Saturday, since it was assistant coach Dave Hakstol’s first time back in Philly since his three-plus season run as head coach of the Flyers came to an end.
Hakstol played tour guide the night before with the coaching staff, taking them for a Philly Cheesesteak that had Mike Babcock nearly doing backflips when he reminisced about it the next morning with the media. As he came on to the bench for warmups, Hakstol even took time to say hi to some familiar faces behind the glass.
One of the first things that jumped out to both him and his kids after settling in to Toronto: Leafs fans are a lot friendlier.
3. It was oh so fitting that in Brendan Gallagher’s 500th career game he scored on his first shift by jamming the puck in the net from the side of the crease.
Of all the improvements he has made to his game over the years, he says the biggest one is probably learning how to go hard to the net without getting called for goalie interference.
“Adding the coach’s challenge certainly didn’t do me any favours,” Gallagher said with a smile. “I cost my teammates a few goals that first year with the new rule.”
“I’ve always gone to the net with a certain reckless abandon, now I’ve figured out how to harness it.”
After back-to-back 30-plus goal campaigns, he is on pace to eclipse 40 a month into this season.
4. Habs fans may remember a couple weeks ago against the Sharks when Max Domi set up what was going to be a patented Shea Weber one-timer from the point…until Victor Mete swooped in out of nowhere and took the pass instead.
As video of the play quickly made its way around Twitter, Mete meanwhile had no idea what he had done. “I didn’t even know he was still behind me,” he said. “I thought he was back-pedalling outside the blue line to switch over to the other side.”
It was not until after the game Mete saw the play back, thanks to countless buddies sending him texts chirping him, and wondering what the heck he was doing.
Did Shea say anything about it? “Nope, nothing,” Mete replied.
He joked he wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
5. As of this writing, no one in the NHL logs more ice time per game than the Senators’ Thomas Chabot at 26:29. That’s over two minutes more than he averaged a season ago.
I wondereded if that big of a jump was part of the plan for new head coach DJ Smith coming into the season.
“Nope, but you have to remember they played with a lead quite a few times early on last year,” Smith explained. “When you’re chasing the game as much as we have, he’s going to play a ton of minutes.”
The Sens have trailed heading into the third period in half of their games so far this season.
Chabot’s usage will be something to keep an eye on as Saturday’s loss in Boston kicked off a tough stretch of 16 games in 29 days this month including four back-to-backs.
6. Nick Paul bought a place in Estero, Florida two years ago and now spends his summers down there.
Last summer he attended an event called “The Hockey Summit” in Estero, where he listened to a former football player talk about different breathing and meditation exercises he does to help improve his mental health.
“I used to come to the rink thinking ‘don’t screw up,’ ‘you’re going to make a mistake,’ ‘you’re a bust,’” said the 2013 fourth round pick, who was the key piece in return for when Ottawa traded Jason Spezza to Dallas in 2014.
Now with the help of some meditation, Paul is in a more positive frame of mind and is more confident in his abilities. He has heard all the criticism over the years and at times even believed it.
Paul now has four points in seven games after what he hopes was his final call-up from the AHL.
7. Veteran ENG camera operator, Dan Slater, spotted DJ Smith and Joe Thornton having a friendly chat at the bench Sunday morning during the Sharks pre-game skate. I was trying to think what the connection would be between the two.
“Junior!” Smith said. When he was an 18-year-old playing for the Windsor Spitfires, Thornton came into the OHL at age 16 with the Soo Greyhounds.
“I was one of the tougher guys in the league at the time, but I knew (Thornton) was going to be a star so I left him alone,” Smith explained. “But the other guys I wouldn’t let off the hook.”
Good move.
8. It was a silly string of events on Saturday before the Leafs/Flyers game in the city of brotherly love. Until next time, Gritty.
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