#at one point montreal got called for too many players on the ice and my sister instantly was like

[basileus]

had a very long but especially cool day today at the pwhl takeover tour in seattle. super fun game that went to a shootout with the correct winner (hell yeah boston) but also neat to see so many people turn out in support of the pwhl. plus, seeing coach campbell at the ceremonial faceoff!

[truestory1929]

April 9th 2020

Final Blog 1979 to 1983 Emerson and Mary leaving the nest. After 1983 our house just went along just like everybody else!

Left to right back, Jamie, Me, Dad, Rita, front left, Emerson and Dorothy. This pic was just after we met our Father for the first time in 15 years!

THE FINAL BLOG! April 9th 2020

1979 to 1983

Emerson's leaving and Mary is moving in!

     Well here we are January 1979, my oldest son brother Emerson is halfway through grade 12 and wondering what to do in June when he graduates. Emerson took Motor Mechanics in High School this trade is still with him today, saved him tons of money, but he never took it up as a career. We had  rules in our house about education. First; education was more important than sports, two; you can live with us as long as you continue your education as long as you are progressing, this does not mean spending three years in grade 12, third and last; when the education is over, you live with us rent free for one year, get a job, save money for an apartment and move out. Otherwise we believe without these rules [ and we saw enough of it]  your parents will charge you a small rental fee,then you will take your excess money and buy a fancy sport's car with big payments,and a big insurance  bill and now go no where fast. This might be called tough love today. Especially because the average age of moving out is about 27 years old if you are lucky.

    David joined T-ball last year, and Jason joined this year. Sports was not at the top of our list for raising kids. I only played back yard sports. We had a ball field out by the Saint John airport where the car rental company is now. We played a lot of flys and grounders, scrub etc. Pat Riley and Jim Daly both hitch hiked to the south end of Saint John and played Little League. We played pond hockey on Treadwell Lake. I really did love sports but because of my situation I just did not get there. I am not feeling sorry for myself, its just the way it was.The first year I was at my foster home, the boys in Johnson's road talked me into joining school boy hockey. I had no equipment and The Wood's [ my foster parents] where not interested in helping me. I bought old time hockey equipment from the Merzetti's.[ who owned Mutal Jobbing on Douglas avenue] You could use google today and find this hockey equipment from the 50's. Leather helmet, leather pants and size 10 skates when I was a size 8. I loved it, but hitchhiking to Simonds Centennial Arena in the dead of winter was brutal. I played about 10 games. I did not even know what an off side was and I would be standing down in front of the other teams net waiting for the puck before my team mate was across the blue line. After a couple of games I caught on after all the the screaming and yelling from the coach and the players. Its funny now to think back on this stuff. Murray Sewell was responsible for my kids getting into sports. Murray had his t-ball team practicing in the Glen Falls play ground [which was next door to our house]so David went over to see what was going on. He got David throwing the ball and Murray was impressed. Like in the Chevy movie "BING0" this guy could throw a ball voila sports was born into the Reynolds Family.Jean was a good athlete, basically a tom boy until she was 16 years old, then yahoo, the most beautiful girl I ever met, a real lady, dainty, sweet, kind, loving, supportive [ and I mean supportive, I had a lot of crazy ideas and she went along with them eventually]. She was always being picked to be on someone's team at he Allison grounds in Rockwood Court. So its in [watch for the pun] the Jeans! lol

 Now lets go back to the Merzetti's. In my first year with my foster parents, Marion and Fred Woods, Jim Merzetti asked me if I wanted to make some extra money stocking shelves at Mutal Jobbing. Well sure I was always looking for ways to make money. I use to walk the ditches with Jimmy Daly for pop and beer bottles and we we an empty 50 lb burlap bag. We would take them Berry's store across from the airport and cash them in. Pile winter wood for neighbours, run errants for the neighbors, fish trout through the ice and sell them and even cut trees down from other people's land and sell them for christmas trees. We just got inside the door and this elderly gentleman walked in. MR. Merzetti who own the business introduced him to me, his name was Havelock Lane. Tall slim man very nice. Three years later after Jean and I started dating, she introduced me to her grandparents Havelock and Genavieve Lane! Yep, same guy!

    Emerson graduated yahoo, big milestone for any Reynolds to graduate.You know I never said this before,I hated our last name, I swore I was going to change my name when I grew up. We used to get "ren-hole" because we we so dirty and so poor, an I'm sure we were stinky. How do you bath in the winter and wash clothes when I filled the washer up every morning to supply water for Mom for the day out of Treadwell Lake? I remember when I graduated I thought I died and went to heaven! Emerson decided to go to NBCC and Take the one year plumbing course. We were very proud of him  wanting to continue his education. This will make the fourth Reynolds to go to NBCC. Myself, Dorothy and Jamie also graduated from NBCC. He passed in flying colors. He never took up Motor mechanics or plumbing as a career trade, but has saved himself lots of money doing both. Who really knows what you want to do for a living for the rest of your life? Every person I know [and I know a lot of people] are not doing what they thought they might do after the education is over with one exception, My son David, he knew he wanted to be a Doctor in grade 6. Emerson had done many jobs, each jog shaping his skills and shaping his well being. He has found his niche in Ventilation, he is at the top of his game, he  is in upper managment, he creates multi-million dollar bids for his company, he is well respected in his company and his field of expertise! Emerson never took us up on the offer to stay rent free for a year. NBCC let him graduate early as he had a job with Bob Duplussis Plumbing company. Moved out and into his own apartment on Michael Crescent all by the time of his 21st birthday on June 5th 1980. Emerson lived with us for 7 years. He is my oldest son, he is a big brother to my three sons. It was a hell of a run Em!

     Ben now has got into the sports world He joined t-ball this year. Jean is trying to get her drivers licence. Jean is very nervous about theses things. She is now 30 years old. I work shift work so I am not around to drive the kids to their sports for every game. We are going nuts, we have friends and neighbours helping us with driving to and from ball and hockey venues. Kudos to the Sewell's, Goguens, Allaby's, Carson's, White's, Mclaughlin's, Hutchinson's, Doiron's, Stevens, and many more for helping with picking up and delivering our kids to and from the rinks and ball fields. I was driving a 1974 Pontiac Lemans at the time. Big car, Jean failed two road tests up to this point. The car was too big for parallel parking , combine that  with Jean's nerves it was useless. Okay new plan, I called rent-a-wreck to see if I could rent a small car for her to take road test. They said no [remember no speaker phone] as their insurance only covers the driver. I said okay, [I never told Jean the whole conversation] come on Jean we are going to get a small car for you. I told her she could  sit in our the car until I got the rental car, I was not making any mistakes about blowing my scam. I rented an AMC pacer, nice and small, easy to parallel park etc. I left my car in the parking lot and drove home, we already had the appointment made. Jean said she would need to take a valium to calm her nerves just before we leave. The road test was in the West Side Motor vehicle. Now the examiner always asked for the permit and car registation. The registration was just a photo copy. In these AMC pacers they hasd  a tray that ran the entire width of the car under the dash. So I told Jean that it was just laying under the glove box where he could see it, praying that he would not pick it up. Remember Jean has no idea that this whole thing is illegal. Well she took the test and passed in flying colors. Yahoo Jean has her licence, I told Jean the whole story after we got home. The colr drained from her face.

    Okay, we are starting to finish chapters and start a new one. David finally gets his own room at 9 years old after Emerson moved out. We asked him how he wanted his room done. He wanted wallpaper with the old vintage airplanes, De Havilland's etc. We bought him a Captains bed and painted the room. That was one happy kid yahoo! Well the yahoo did not last long. Around Christmas time we got a call from Jean's mother who was living in Montreal at the time. We had just got settled in bed for the night, its was around midnight when the phone rang. We turned on the bedroom lights and Jean proceeded to talk to her mother. No speaker phone then, but I gathered it was Vera. Jean hung up and said her mother was crying and broken hearted. I asked her what was the matter and she said that Mary needed a place to stay until she graduated from high school.[ Quebec passed a new law that year requiring all students to finish their education in French only. Mary was taking hairdressing. Bill 101 was enacted on August 26, 1977. The bill basically was  made to ensure the Province of Quebec became totally French speaking only. The top jobs at the time were held by English speaking Canadians. Bill 101 was to make schooling in French only up to high school. All signages were to be in French only. Then in 1980 they decided that the high schools were to be French only too. Mary needed to move back to Saint John to finish high school.]  Jean said her mom wanted us to talk it over and call her back tommorrow. I told Jean call your mom back right now. You were the one who decided to take in Emerson for me. If you said no it was no. Now it is my turn, we are taking her in. Jean called Vera back and told her we would take care of Mary, and that was that. Now we have to tell David that he will have to move back in the laundry room for at least three years. Poor David, as sad as he was he never complained, he went about his business as usual. He might have said something to his brothers but not us? Mary was in grade eleven and will be going to Saint John Vocational School. Something I forgot to say about Emerson, he did a lot of babysitting, he made his own money as he was a member of the Miltia since he was 16 years old, and bought us very nice gifts [Thanks Em] Okay now, Mary was the same, she helped Jean around the house, she baby sat and made life for us as easy as possible. Mary was 17 years old when she moved in.

   Well Mary graduated in flying colors in June 1982. Mary decided that she really did not want to be a hairdresser. Jean was working at the Top of the Town restaurant. This was located on Main st. on the roof of Keddys Hotel. I talked to the superviser of the down stairs coffee shop and dining room off the main hotel lobby and was able to talk her into hiring Mary as a cashier. She eventually became a waittress. Jean introduced Tony Kane to Mary. Tony was working in the banquet department. The next year I got her an apartment in east Saint John and her and Tony moved in together. Mary moved out the end of September 1983. Before she moved out I got Mary to teach me how to cut hair.[ I just cut Jeans hair yesterday as we are quarantined]. David is now 12, Jason is 11 and Ben is 6. cutting their hair became another job for me for years to come. Emerson was getting married on Oct 8 1983. I was the best man at the wedding. It was a blast. When we got home we found our house was in  shambles. Some one broke into our home and ransacked the place, stole our stereo system and all my 8mm home movies from 1979 to 1983, Christmases, birthday, sporting events etc. We were heart broken. You never really get over something like that. It was like somebody tearing your heart out.

     Well David gets his room back again, he is now 12 years old. You are a good man David.We have been married now for 13 years Dec 12, 1983. We started this journey moving people into our home in 1973, two and half years after we were married. We were married December 12 1970. We will be married 50 years this December. We were going to go on a cruise, but we think in lieu of what is happening right now with the coronavirus that cruising is out for a long time for us. We have no desire to even fly overseas. We will stick to North America thank you very much!

   This will be my last blog, hope you guys found something that interested you. I can't sign out before I mention the foster parents. May of 1967 I went to Fred and Marion Wood on Johnson Road, where I grew up with  their youngest son Gerald. He introduced me to motorcycles, he would let me ride all of them, he had 4 different bikes in my time there. I never had an older brother so now I do. Gerald or Woody which he prefer, we still bike around today.  Dorothy and Emerson went to the Donnie and Jean Armstrong's, god bless them they 7 kids of their own. Jamie went to the Baxters Len and Mertle, who had at least 8 kids of their own.[The Baxters and the Armstrongs lived across from each other on the Loch Lomond road beside the Norris road.] Then Emerson went to the Morris's, and Dorothy went to the Websters. Then Emerson went back to the Armstrongs and then to me and Jean May 9th 1973. So from May 1967 to May 1973 Emerson moved 4 times in 6 years. Dorothy then went to Godin's and then to our place on Cooks Lake road off the Norris Road in August 1975 to attend NBCC. We lived in a small house we were renting from Dawn and Vince Dempsey. They were our Landlord and Landlady for our first 7 years of our marriage. After Dorothy graduated she and her boyfriend, John Sullivan, got an apartment on the Loch Lomond Road. People can say all they want about foster parents, some good stuff and some bad stuff. Without them, where would we be today. Mr amd Mrs. Wood taught me every thing I know. learned manners, building, [ I used all the tools to build an addition on the back of their house. which launched me into the Oil Refinery], I learned how to plAy chess, learned how to play a guitar etc. We had three square meals a day, we were warm, were clothed, we had it all. Yes we were separated, yes the love was not the same as we got from mom. But man, these people took us into their homes and took care of us. We were backward, dirty, angry, at times just plain bad, neglected, dressed in rags, if you can think of it that was us, but they took us in anyway, GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

    I wanted my grandchildren to have some history about their grandparents and their parents. I knew nothing about my grandparents, little about my aunts and uncles, cousins etc. They all lived in Nova Scotia. The only relatives that came to see us was Mom's parents Fred and Margie Hayter, they came in 1961 a year after Dad left, just for the day, and my Aunt Goldie in the late 70's at Todd Street in Glen falls. I started this project in the fall of 2013, I do not know where the time goes.I was going to quit a few times, I stopped writing for a while, but my grandkids urged me to finish. At times it seemed that I was just whining or feeling sorry for myself or sometimes it just made me sad. Thanks you for urging me on, it was good therapy for me, it made me realize how lucky we are, to have the family we have and all the good people I have met and all the things we have done! I am a lucky man to be so rich with LOVE!

    I never thought I would live long enough to receive an old age check, we have been getting it three years now. Its great to be a Canadian. After living in USA for the last several winters you know how lucky you are. They do not have free health care [ I know what you are thinking its not free , we paid high income tax compared to the Americans but that was a good thing, just ask an American.] and we have the Old Age check. They do not have this. They have social security, which is based the same as our Canada Pension Plan, a working persons pension. [ notice I did not say working man's pension lol]. Our old age check is an  awesome bonus. Canadians do not contribute financially to it, you only need to be 65 years old,and be a Canadian citizen for 5 years. Yahoo. I hope you all get to collect it someday.

      We will continue to quarantine ourselves after our mandatory quarantine on April 15th. We may be carriers so we do not want to pass anything on to you. We will continue the 6 feet or 2 meters social distancing,and we will wear a mask when we are out. We will visit out in the yards at your place or ours for the good of all of us! We love you all very much!    

    Your grandparents Nana and Papa! oxoxoxoxoxoxoxo see you soon!

[holidaywishes]

locked out

  Requested: 🙅

  Smut: yes no

  Author’s Note: I’m writing this solely because I need more Gally in my life. I’m not entirely sure why there isn’t a lot of Brendan Gallagher smut out there in the world (maybe I’m just not looking far enough) but I wanted there to be more. So here it is. It’s my first ever smut, so it may not be the best thing you’ve ever read, but I’d love any feedback :D

  Summary: You’re Brendan’s next door neighbour and he helps you forget about one terrible night.

  Warnings: plenty of cursing

  “No No No No No. I don’t need this right now. Fuck, Come ON!!” you sobbed angrily trying to open the door to your apartment. You were having the worst possible day and this was not helping. You lost your job because your boss was an absolute dickhead who couldn’t take responsibility for his mistakes, your girlfriend was engaged to the world’s douchiest douche bag no matter how many times you tried to convince her she was too good for him and, to top it all off, you’d now broken your key in the lock of your door.

  You were sure the entire building heard you crying and cursing but you couldn’t bring yourself to knock on any of your neighbours doors, so you called a locksmith and sat down at the door with your head in your hands while you waited for him to show up. It wasn’t long before you exhausted yourself from your uncontrollable sobbing that you fell asleep waiting for the locksmith -- who you would later find out showed up, saw you asleep and left -- only waking when you heard someone unlock their own door.

  “Hello?” you asked groggily

  “Hey (Y/N). Not gonna lie, I kinda thought you were drunk and passed out,” Brendan confessed, “saying it out loud I realize I probably should’ve made sure you were okay.” You let out a pathetic smile, holding back tears.

  “So... are you okay?” he continued and you broke down.

  “No, I-I…” your voice kept hitching and you had to take a deep breath before you said anything else, “I’ve had an awful day. Nothing has gone right. I mean nothing,” you could feel the tears start to fall uncontrollably and Brendan sat down next to you to comfort you, “my boss is a fucking dick and he fired me because we lost a major client, completely his fault by the way, and he felt the need to ‘save face’ or something by putting the blame on someone else -- me... So, now, I’m sitting here like an idiot waiting for a locksmith who I’m pretty sure is never coming because I broke my key in my lock and I’m tired, I’ve been crying since I got here. I just want to go in and have a shower or eat some ice cream. Or drink an entire bottle of Whiskey...” you buried your head in your knees that you had brought up to your chest sometime during your rant.

  “Yikes,” he laughed, “sorry that sounds like a supremely terrible day. You can come in to my apartment to wait for the guy if you want, but I warn you it’s a mess in there” you smiled and his kindness almost made you cry once more but you held yourself together enough to accept his offer.

  “So this is it,” Brendan gestured to his apartment, “make yourself comfortable.” You had lived next to Brendan for nearly four years but never had the opportunity to really get to know him, much less be in his home.

  “Wow, nice digs. You clean these windows yourself?” you pointed at the floor to ceiling windows, watching him slowly walk over to you, that signature smirk on his face.

  “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” he teased, handing you a drink, “you’ll have to wait until morning to find out.”

  “What happens in the morning?” you questioned. You thought, for a second, he might be flirting, but you didn’t really know the guy. Sure, you knew he was Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens but you didn’t know anything personal about him, so he couldn’t have been flirting with you even if it sounded an awful lot like an invitation.

  Brendan looked at you from the couch for a moment, hoping you’d catch on to what he was implying, “uhm,” he hesitated, “that’s when the windows get cleaned…” You nodded and headed over to the couch. Once you sat down, you realized just how tense you were when Brendan raised his shoulders to his ears to mock you, causing you to slowly lower them to calm yourself down.

  “Wanna talk about it?” he asked

  “What’s there to say that hasn’t been said?” you said “I had a terrible day and I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life now…”

  “Hey, Hey, it’s okay,” he rubbed circles on your back trying to calm you when you started to tear up again, “I’m sure everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

  “God, I’m so sorry. Making you take me in and all of this,” you gestured to yourself, “I appreciate it, honestly, but I should probably just head back. Maybe the guy is there now” you said nervously getting up from the couch walking to the door. When you opened the door, you noticed Brendan’s hand came up from behind you to push the door closed.

  “We would’ve heard something if he were here,” he said from behind you, “and I don’t mind having you here. We could actually get to know each other. It’s been four years, I think it’s time.”

  You felt like you were frozen. You could feel his breath on your neck and his arm was still outstretched with his hand flat on the door, leaving you to examine the veins that were ever present. You slowly turned around and looked up at him. Those beautiful green eyes staring at you as if he was trying to learn your deepest, darkest secrets with only a look.

  “What do you wanna know?” you finally said, watching his lips, “I’m an open book.”

  “What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?” he joked

  “Well six hours ago, I would’ve said breaking my key in the lock but that’s turned out kind of in my favour tonight” you said earnestly, trying to be sexy but failing miserably earning a smile from Brendan, “what about you?”

  “No regrets…” he said moving closer to you, pushing you slightly into the door. You turned your head away at the last minute and you could tell Brendan was confused.

  “I’m sorry, I just…” you looked up at him trying to explain, “I don’t do.. this” you stammered.

  “This?” he questioned, “what do you mean? Make out with hockey players?”

  “I don’t care that you’re a hockey player, I just don’t usually make out with strangers. In their apartment. After I’ve been crying for hours and got myself locked out of my apartment” you confessed.

  “I didn’t mean to… I just thought we h-,” he stuttered, stepping back and you realized that you were ruining everything, “we can just sit and watch a movie, or play Call of Duty?”

  “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry. I guess I’m nervous,” you laughed, “It’s not that I don’t want to, because I want to…” you leaned closer to him, biting your lip.

  “You just don’t know if we should, because you don’t do this” he said and you nodded, your eyes darting between his lips and his eyes, trying to summon the courage to kiss him even though your body was telling you not to. The two of you stood at his door in front of each other for what seemed like an eternity when all of a sudden his jaw tensed and you were suddenly backed into the door, his lips crashing into yours.

  The two of you moved in sync with each other. Taking breaths only when necessary to stay as close as possible, hands roaming each others bodies aimlessly in a fit of passion. When he took his lips off yours to kiss your neck, you let out a whimper and tried to maneuver him back to your lips but whatever he was doing was hypnotizing, you just let him kiss the side of your throat, tilting your head to the right to give him better access. Eventually, he made his way back up to your lips, letting his hands fall to grab your waist lightly and you moved your body impossibly close to him. You could feel him smile against your lips, so you smiled at him, opening your eyes to see his staring back at you.

   “Is this okay?” he asked breathlessly, “we can stop anytime you want.” With that, you knew you were done for. Fuck. That smile. Those eyes. That kindness. There was no turning back. You wrapped your arms around his neck to gently pull his head closer to you, kissing him deeply.

  “Just kiss me” you breathed when he pulled away, smiling when he went for your neck again. You were getting kind of tired of standing here, hitting your head on the door every time he pushed you back, so you tried pushing him forward to get him to walk to the couch; but he just continued trailing your body with light kisses. Before you knew it, his arms were wrapping behind your thighs allowing his hands to grab your ass to lift you up. You let out a small scream as your legs wrapped around his waist and your hands tangled in his hair as you continued kissing him. You could hear him bumping into things around the apartment trying to make his way to the stairs and you laughed slightly.

  “These things really never turn out as sexy as they do in movies do they?” you teased, “just walk slowly to the couch, I can guide you if you want” you whispered in his ear and he let out a moan.

  “Not the couch. The windows are too… open. People will see,” he said as he placed you gently onto his poker table, “unless you’re into that?” You smiled and shook your head ‘no.’

  “I like what you’re trying to do, but you don’t have to carry me. I can just walk myself to your room?” you raised your voice at the end to question if that’s what he wanted.

  “Nuh-uh,” he said as he laid a soft kiss to your lips, “I’m carrying you up there. It might just take us a little longer. But it’ll be worth it.” You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, signalling him to keep walking, still running your hands through his hair. The kissing was softer, slower, as he carried you up the stairs opening his eyes every few steps to make sure he didn’t fall.

  You moved from his lips to his neck, figuring he would be able to see more clearly without your head in the way but apparently he got distracted and slipped on the last step and the two of you fell into the wall at the top of the stairs.

  “Ow…” you giggled as you rubbed the back of your head and pouted, “I mean rough is fine, but not that rough.”

  He pushed you closer to the wall so he could take his hand away and rub your head, “I’m sorry, does it hurt?” you shook your head no, reaching your hand around his neck to kiss again, but he put his finger on your lips to stop you and you furrowed your brow in confusion, “hold on, there’s something wrong with this picture…”

  You had no idea what he was talking about, the picture seemed pretty right to you, if only he’d stop… stopping. Suddenly, he was moving frantically to take off his shirt but when you hit your head again he stopped, realizing it wouldn’t work.

  “I’m really not good at this, am I?” he joked, watching you rub your head again and smile at him, he kissed your lips and you pulled him close so he couldn’t let go again only pulling away for a second to speak.

  “You’d be better if you stopped trying so hard,” you said bluntly, “just take me to the bed and we can sort the clothes out from there” he obliged, kissing your neck, walking you effortlessly to his king size mattress and laid you down. You felt his hands stray from the back of your head to the hem of your shirt, lifting it slightly, but stopping before going any further. Damn it!

  “Stop teasing me,” you moaned, “I don’t like games.”

  “I’m not playing a game, but I am teasing you,” he admitted, smiling against your neck, “I need you to need me.” Holy fuck. You already felt like you needed him more than you could bear but when his hands drifted to the bottom of your skirt and he gripped your thigh, you let out a raspy moan. His mouth moved from your neck down to the side of your left breast, cupping your right with his hand, placing soft kisses across the clothed mound and trailed kisses down the centre of your stomach, you arched your back with every kiss he pressed to your skin. He stopped for a second to look up at you when he reached the waist of your skirt, as if to ask permission. With no strength to speak, you nodded to him and he grabbed the waistband of your skirt, lifting you up to gently pull the thick black fabric off then tossing it aside carelessly.

  You watched as he kissed up your legs beginning at your ankles, paying special attention to your inner thighs, making your head fall back and a moan escape your lips. He bit lightly at your lace underwear and you were ready for him to rip them off of you. Just when you thought you knew what he was doing, his face was in front of yours and you looked stunned.

  “Wh.. Why did you stop?” you whined, getting seriously sick of his indecisiveness, “I’m going to leave if you don’t fuck me soon.”

  “Someone’s snappy” he joked, “besides, you’re still locked out of your apartment…” He was right, you couldn’t actually go back to your apartment but that didn’t mean you couldn’t leave. You told yourself you’d leave, beginning a mental countdown, if he didn’t do something, and it was like he read your mind because, just then, you felt his middle and forefinger creep inside you. He went slow at first and faster once he saw you bite on your lip, taking that as his sign to continue what he was doing. You moved your hands slowly down his arms, stopping only for a second when you noticed he still had his shirt on but didn’t want to stop him because his fingers felt so good inside you that you just wanted more. He kissed your lips, curving his fingers inside you, forcing a moan to escape and him to continue kissing down your body until he reached the lace waistband of your underwear. He took his fingers out of you slowly to pull the underwear off and before you knew it, his hands were inside you again and his tongue was circling your clit.

  You could feel your body begin to shake as you moaned his name, he moaned with you and sent vibrations through your entire body. When you released, he slowly pulled his fingers from you and began kissing back up your body to your mouth. You wanted to return the favour, to at least give yourself some time to relax, so you pushed him onto his back and straddled him, making him bite his lips as he watched you. You leaned down to press a kiss to his lips but quickly went to his neck, gently pressing his Adams apple with your tongue as you kissed his neck and moved down his body. He tried to beat you in taking off his pants but you pushed him back and peered up through your eyelashes at him, telling him to relax and let you satisfy him. You unbuckled his belt and tugged on his jeans so he would lift his body enough for you to take them off; when you finally got them off, you slid your way back up to his waist, planting light kisses across his hip bones and sneaking your hand into his boxers. As you stroked his length and kissed his skin, you felt his moans and couldn’t help but smile. You pushed his boxers down and licked his tip before taking him in your mouth, watching him clutch the sheets on the bed.

  “Fuck (Y/N)!” he yelled, “Jesus fucking Christ! Your mouth feels fucking fantastic, I don’t think I’m gonna last..” His words made you stop and wander up to his mouth.

  “Not yet..” you said seductively, biting his lip as you pulled away, “I know you can last for me.” As you crept back to his erection, you made sure to touch every inch of his body -- even if the shirt he was wearing was preventing you from feeling his muscles. You stroked him lightly before taking him in your mouth once more, playing with his balls simultaneously, moving slowly to not excite him too much and then faster when you heard his moans get louder and he tried to feel more of you by thrusting his hips forward. His orgasm was nothing like you expected -- it was deep and quiet but powerful at the same time. When his climax ended, he pulled you up and laid you on the bed, climbing on top of you with a smirk on his face.

  “That was fucking fantastic,” he laughed and kissed you, “where have you been all my life?”

  “Across the hall…” you joked, “or across the country.” You could tell he wanted to continue and you wanted him inside of you so badly that you could barely stand it. But you wanted him to last. He kissed you deeply and his hands roamed to the hem of your shirt, resting there while your hands twisted through his hair. He moved his legs to either side of you to straddle you and, with your hands still tangled in his hair, he pulled you up so he could pull your shirt up over your head, you yanking at his, trying to pull it over his head; A mess of breathless giggles and frantic movements.

  As soon as your shirts came off, the two of you fell into each others lips like animals. Ravaging each other’s skin, feeling each other’s pulses growing stronger with every kiss, craving each other’s touch like you’d die without it.

  “Tell me what you want..” he said to you, laying you back on the bed gently and moving closer to you.

  “I want you…” you moaned, “I want you to fuck me.” There was a hunger in his eyes that made your knees go weak -- thank god you weren’t standing, was all you could think to yourself.

  He leaned into you, pressing his body hard against yours, biting the skin on your neck playfully. His hands moved to play with your clit before he aligned himself with your entrance and pushed himself inside, the two of you moaning in sync.

  “Fuck!” you exclaimed, throwing your head back against the pillow while Brendan rocked into you. He leaned down, placing his forearms on either side of your head, to kiss you as he rode you; you pushed your hips closer to his and it triggered something in him -- his thrusts became erratic and he sounded breathless.

  “Shit! Fuck! God Damn it!” He cursed and you wanted to laugh but you were in too much pleasure to laugh, “I think I’m close. Cum for me baby.”

  You bit your lip and stared deeply into his eyes. His thrusts eased slightly as he waited for whatever you were planning to do. You pulled him close to you, sucked on his earlobe and whispered “Not yet.” You shifted slightly so that you could roll over on top of him, readjusting him inside you when you were sitting on top of him. He sat up and kissed your neck, humming as you moaned.

  “You’re so fucking gorgeous (Y/N)” He whispered and watched you rock up and down his length, you smiled and let the feeling of him inside you take you over. He fell back and It wasn’t long before the pace increased and you were writhing on top of him as he hit your spot with every move.

  “Faster,” you moaned, “Faster, I’m so close. Fuck me!” He bucked his hips upward to meet yours and you felt your breath hitch in your throat as your orgasm began to hit you. You continued to ride him and you could feel the vibrations every time he moaned.

  “Cum for me, (Y/N)...” he heaved, running his hands over your breasts before letting out a final ‘Fuck’ and letting his head fall back. You brought him back up to you and stared deeply into his eyes as you rocked slowly up and down, your climax slowly rising in your stomach, his wanting to escape into you -- he let his head fall onto your chest and the two of you slowed down even further. Almost stopping, but not quite. He gave you sweet kisses across both nipples and ran his hands along your body, pushing your hair back when he got to your neck to suck on the crook of your neck and blow on the wet spot; it was like a bolt of lightning hit you and you could barely control yourself. You weren’t expecting the sounds that came out of your throat -- high-pitched and breathless but still louder than they’ve ever been. Brendan followed your lead, with his same orgasm as earlier -- deep, powerful and so sexy. He fell back and pulled you down with him on top of his chest. You laid on top of him, your head on his chest, rising up and down with his heaving breaths and you couldn’t help but smile.

  “Where are you going?” he said as you rolled off him and onto the bed

  “Not far,” you smiled, “I just need some water.” You kissed him before getting up and you could feel him watching you as you put on his T-shirt that you tore off earlier; you grabbed your phone before you left the room, noticing you had a voicemail from an hour ago, you opened the phone to listen.

  “Hi, (Y/N). I wanted to call and let you know we need to reschedule with you; Our technician came to your apartment, however, you seemed to be asleep in front of the door and didn’t want to scare you, so he cancelled the appointment in our books,” The voice on the other end of the phone said, “I don’t think he had notified you and I apologize for that, the next appointment will be completely free of charge for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

  Ahh, so that’s what happened. You were a little annoyed but that didn’t last long due to the fact that your body was still buzzing. You searched through Brendan’s cabinets before finding a glass, turning on the tap and filling it up, then headed back to the bedroom. Stopping at the door for a second, watching Brendan’s chest rise and fall as he rested quietly; you set the glass of water on the side table and crawled back into bed, trying not to wake him but when he let out a quick growl, you apologized and told him to go back to sleep.

  “The guy won’t be back tonight. I guess he was here and then he left… So I guess I have to sleep here” you said lightly, winking at Brendan when he looked at you.

  “I didn’t think he would be. Even if he did come back, I’d tell him to screw off,” you looked a little stunned but let out a small laugh when he continued, “I need me some cuddles.” You adjusted yourself under the blankets and snuggled up onto his chest, your head on his shoulder.

  “Me too, Brendan” you whispered.

  “You really should get locked out more often” he joked as he drifted off to sleep and you thought to yourself ‘maybe I should…’

[gustavnyquist]

Hey. I’m kind of new to hockey and I would like to have a sort of a masterpost ? Or if you could guide me that’d be great. Thanks !

I sincerely hope you’re asking for a sort of hockey overview (rules, structure, etc.) bc that’s what I’m reading this as and that’s how I’m going to answer

okay so I looked through the tags for a while thinking there would already be something somewhere (and I’m sure there is) but I couldn’t find anything and I can’t think of a specific post that I’m aware of rn, so, I’m just going to make one myself

warning: this is rly long and I could not for the life of me make the read more work, pls forgive me, I will tag it as “long post”

so I’m totally cool with making this and none of this is meant to be condescending, only informational!

1. makeup of the NHL

there are 2 conferences (eastern and western) and 4 divisions (atlantic, metropolitan, central, and pacific)

the eastern conference is made up of:

the atlantic division, wherein you’ll find gems such as the: detroit red wings (wings), ottawa senators (sens), florida panthers (cats), buffalo sabres, toronto maple leafs (leafs), montreal canadiens (habs), boston bruins (b’s), and tampa bay lightning (bolts)

and the metropolitan division, wherein you’ll find beauties by the name of the: carolina hurricanes (canes), philadelphia flyers, washington capitals (caps), new york islanders (isles), columbus blue jackets (cbj, jackets), new jersey devils (devs), new york rangers (rags), and pittsburgh penguins (pens)

the western conference is made up of:

the central divisions, wherein you’ll find stunners such as the: nashville predators (preds), winnipeg jets, st. louis blues, minnesota wild, dallas stars, colorado avalanche (avs), and chicago blackhawks (hawks, trash)

and the pacific division, wherein you’ll find catches by the name of the: edmonton oilers, vancouver canucks (nucks), calgary flames, san jose sharks, arizona coyotes (yotes), los angeles kings, vegas golden knights (vgk, knights), and anaheim ducks

vegas is the newest team, which gave the pacific a full 8-team division, making the central division the only one with 7 teams, however, seattle’s probably getting a team in the near future and you’d think they’d belong in the pacific as well, so who tf knows what the divisions will look like in a few years :-) (this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve changed)

teams in the same division play each other 4 times a year (2 home, 2 away), every team plays each other at least twice every season (1 home, 1 away), and a team from one division can play a team from the other division in their conference 3 times a year, depending on how the scheduling works out

2. basic rules and structure for a hockey game

- a hockey game is 60 minutes, 20 minutes per 3 periods with 2 intermissions, but, generally, with stoppages and real-world timing, a hockey game last about 2 ½ to 3 hours

- there are 6 players from each team on the ice at a time, 3 forwards (right wing, centre, and left wing), 2 defensemen (right and left), and 1 goalie; each team will have with them on the bench 4 lines of forwards (12 guys), 3 defensemen pairs (6 guys), and 2 goalies (starter and backup) - some coaches, instead of 12/6, like to do 11/7, which means taking away a forward in favour of another defenseman, which basically means that some forwards will be taking double shifts and you’ll have an extra d-man to play so they essentially don’t get tired out as fast

- okay so the guy with the puck, on his way into the opponent’s zone (past the blue line) has to enter before any of his teammates, or at least the puck has got to cross the line first; the dudes on the other team can go in whenever bc it’s their own zone, but when you’re on offense, puck first - if you come before the puck, that’s called offside and the linesmen will stop the play and have a faceoff outside of your opponent’s zone

- you can’t just shoot the puck all the way down the ice into the opponent’s zone! that’s called icing - you can shoot it in from centre ice, but not from your zone all the way into the other guys’ zone; if you ice the puck, the linesmen will stop the play and the faceoff will come back in your own zone

- also, the referees (who call penalties) wear the orange armbands and the linesmen do not (they call the offsides and icings)

- nobody knows wtf goalie interference is anymore in the league so it’s best not to ask

which brings me to my next point

3. penalties

- the first thing to remember is that you will never fully agree with all of the refs’ calls as you become more familiar with the game, and yeah, sometimes it’s gonna screw over your team, but that’s hockey

- if your team gets a penalty, that means you’ll be playing 4 guys instead of 5, while the other team (on a power play) will have all 5 guys (plus goalies, of course), and your penalized dude gets to sit in the penalty box (aka sin bin) for 2-5 minutes, depending on what he did and what the call is

- a delayed penalty is when team 1 is called for a penalty, but team 2 (who is about to go on the power play, or pp) is still in control of the puck, so team 2′s goalie goes to the bench (since any goals here by team 1 won’t count) and they get an extra 6th man, and the penalty will be called as soon as team 1 touches the puck (or a goal is scored, and then no penalty)

- you can get a 2, 4, or 5 minute penalty, as well as a 10 minute game misconduct - 2 minutes is minor penalty, 4 minutes is a double minor, and 5 minutes is a major

- 2-minute minors: hooking, crosschecking, tripping, elbowing, highsticking (no blood), kneeing, unsportsmanlike conduct (mouthing off to the refs, ususally), too many men on the ice, and a variety of other things that I either can’t remember rn or don’t get called very often (like tucking your jersey into your pants) - these penalties end immediately if the team on a power play scores

- 4-minute double minors: generally this is for when you highstick someone and they start bleeding - if the power play team scores during the first 2 minutes, only that penalty ends (in other words, still 2 minutes to go), if they score in the second 2 minutes, then the penalty is altogether over

- 5-minute majors: fighting, boarding, spearing, charging, anything that’s more serious - the power play team can score as many times as they want during this penalty and the penalty will not end until the 5 minutes is up

- 10-minute misconduct: this is for when you’re rly being an asshole - mouthing off, seriously injuring a player, and so on, and you can either sit in the penalty box for 10 minutes (your team will not face a penalty for this, just the player) or you might just get kicked out of the game (say it’s the first or second period and there’s 10 minutes or less left, the player will probably just be sent to the dressing room for the misconduct and potentially return the next period)

- and above all else, a player rly can just kicked out of a game, especially if they’ve done something that is worthy of a fine or a suspension, which will be reviewed after the game

- also, both teams can get a penalty, which results in 4-on-4 hockey, and a team can get 2 penalties, which results in 5-on-3 hockey (or like 4-on-3 sometimes, if team 1 has 1 penalty and team 2 has 2)

4. wins, losses, OT, and SO

- if your team wins a game in regulation, congrats, you get 2 full points!

- if your team loses in regulation, you get 0 points :(

- OT (overtime) is when a game is still tied after 3 periods; each team gets 1 point, and the game is now going to sudden-death (someone scores, game over) 5 minute 3-on-3 hockey (yes, 3-on-3, 2 forwards and 1 d-man) - whoever scores now gets the full 2 points

- if that doesn’t solve it, we got to a SO (shootout), which involves 1-on-1 goalie vs. shooter, each team gets 3 shooters to start, the shooters rotate, and whoever scores the most goals wins (if no goals are scored by these 6 shooters, or it’s still tied, it goes to 1-shooter rounds until one team scores and the other doesn’t), winner gets 2 points

5. other general stuff

- come playoff time (only like a month away now), if you want a crash course on that, I’ll be happy to help, since I could do a whole new thing just for that

- if a player’s last name is kane, chances are they are a bad person (feel free to ask me for players that have done some shitty stuff, if you care to know that stuff)

- hockey tumblr is uh… an interesting place, take this as a warning, there are lots of nice ppl I’ve met here, but there are also a lot of opinions and it can get ugly

- there are also NHL awards and an entry draft at the end of the season, which you can ask me about, too (in June, that’s when it all takes place!)

- trades suck sometimes but luckily the trade deadline is over for this season (which was a week ago), so no more trades can be made until after someone wins the stanley cup this year

- there is an all-star weekend in January and that’s always a hoot

- every team has an AHL team affiliate, which is where they keep players that they can call up if someone gets injured, and where players develop so that they can be the best-conditioned player for the NHL before making it to the big league, and they play for their own cup (the Calder Cup, which the Grand Rapids Griffins, affiliate of the Red Wings, won last year)

- each team also has an ECHL team, which is a step under the AHL, like a reserve-reserve team

- if need be, I can also explain how call ups and waivers work, too

- the top three stanley cup winning teams are the: habs (24), leafs (13), and wings (11) - everyone else is pretty far from those totals

- here’s a link to some hockey blogs I like and follow (some of the urls might not be right, but the links should still take you to the right place)

- pls feel free to ask about anything else, I will try my best to explain it!

- you can also ask me about teams and players, specifically, but any of that would just be my own opinion on them and not necessarily a reflection of which teams and players ppl on here like (my fav teams are the wings and sens, and my fav players from each of those teams are Gustav Nyquist (right winger) and Erik Karlsson (d-man), and my fav goalie is Petr Mrazek, who now plays for the flyers)

hope this is helpful and what you were looking for :)

[luckylq6-blog]

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[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 37 - LA Kings

3-2 Win

There is a two-fold pretext going into this game. The first one was plain and clear Thursday night in Philadelphia: this team is nothing without Jack Eichel. This team with Eichel is a fringe playoff team as we’ve seen this month. This team without Eichel is a team that would struggle to stay out of a relegation zone. It sounds harsh but yet another massacre in Philadelphia, it seems like every other time we go down there is one waiting for us, proves we need at least some kind of upgrade to make this team more than just the Buffalo Jack Eichels. The other piece of pretext to this game was the meaningfulness of the points in the standings. It’s funny to think of any game in December as providing critical points. Big games exist when they have significance with a broad set of fanbases or in the standings. The relative bigness of this particular game against the LA Kings isn’t really about the Kings. They suck ass again. In a league where many tell you not to even look at the standings until after the New Year the Sabres have been in a playoff spot for… weeks? Entering this game the Sabres had dropped three straight after a decent stretch since Thanksgiving where they most recently won three straight against better competition. Over the weekend they claimed an overtime point against the Islanders but got no points on Tuesday against division rival Toronto before getting clobbered in Philadelphia on Thursday. It was so bad I didn’t even waste breath on postgame. The Maple Leafs are one of four teams who are neck and neck with Buffalo. The Sabres were second in an exceptionally weak Atlantic Division at 39 points Thursday. Montreal, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Florida were all at 38 or 37 points. And so you see now how two points against the Flyers would have meant a lot even though the halfway point of the season is still five games away. Those points never came and now all of the aforementioned teams excluding Tampa have passed Buffalo and we’re out of a playoff spot we somehow held onto for a few weeks. No NHL game is easy but now would be a really good time to get a safe win against the Kings.

For the first half of this game there was a lot to be frustrated about. Luckily most of Buffalo was transfixed on the 4:30 Bills game so there was likely only a half-full arena and a handful of us online angry guys to feel that way about it. For the first period and a half this was a shot-for-shot duel with the LA Kings. 5 years ago we might have celebrated that, but these aren’t 2014’s LA Kings. The latent, trash Kings got the lion share of the nice shots on goal in the first period where they outshot Buffalo 10-6. Linus Ullmark stood tall making some pretty grandiose saves, most of which you probably wanted the defense to prevent. After the massacre in Philadelphia its hard to imagine Carter Hutton getting a start not on a back-to-back. Ullmark is THE GUY now and he’s acting like it. One stop I swore was superhuman where the puck was turned over in the Sabres zone in the midst of quite some traffic. I don’t know how he recognized the turnover mistake of his own team for one and secondly I don’t know how he estimated the trajectory of the backhander so quickly as to snap it up like that. Anyway the first period ended with donuts on the board. The second period began with what they had coming. The Kings continued their shot domination for the first half of the middle frame and Adrian Kempe took advantage of Marco Scandella taking a slapshot from the slot and beat Ullmark. For how much better the basement-dwelling Kings played in the first half of this game it could’ve been 3-0 had it not been for Linus Ullmark’s great game. I really do think the team plays better in front of him and this game compared to last game is going to be exhibit A.

The game continued as a Kings shooting gallery until the Sabres really began intercepting pucks and pushing back toward the midpoint of the game. Jack Eichel got a really great chance right in front of Jonathan Quick that just would not go. This game was still one of those where a stray skate could’ve been the difference of the Kings extending their lead. That Vesey line was taking their turn in front of the LA net when a rebound squirted out to Rasmus Ristolainen who buried it before Quick even knew where it was, 1-1. I’ve been informed Quick has not been good at all this season. I hate to see a good American goaltender down like that but it kinda makes sense when you think of how much the Kings dynasty was built on a defense they no longer have. I mean Drew Doughty is still there but if one all-world defenseman made a defense then Rasmus Dahlin should’ve backstopped us to a Cup run last season. For all the bitching and moaning about this game showing we’re not any better than some of the worst teams in the league Jack Eichel didn’t score a goal. None of the players who made October so fun really contributed until the dying minutes of this game. Yesterday afternoon we got the “Black Stallion” Marco Scandella to score a goal. That nickname was the imagination of Dan Dunleavy calling the game and I think I join a choir of folks absolutely detesting it. Call him what you will I guess as long as we can call him gone in July. Scandella received a pretty innocuous pass at the point from Sam Reinhart and put one on net. It went in and the home team had their first lead of the game with a little over three minutes left in the second period. The Kings tried to respond before the middle frame concluded. That sweet Linus Ullmark save I described earlier was a save on Anze Kopitar with mere moments left on the clock. Through forty minutes it was 2-1 Buffalo though.

The Sabres got some decisive powerplays in the third period; none of them increased their lead because this is the Buffalo Sabres we’re talking about, but they got them! They really did get some dingers off the posts and what have you too. It got a little frustrating. Almost as frustrating as this situation with Eichel is. You may wonder: what issue could you have with Eichel after you basically said this team relies entirely on him in the opening? Well you may have heard he missed the bloodbath of a game in Philadelphia. The thing is he took warmups before being announced as out for the game. Speculation circulated about the flu or an accident nobody saw occur on the ice during those warmups. The most detail we got was a lower body injury which was later retracted. Eichel came back like his normal self in this game so I got to believe it was just the shits arriving right after warmups ended. No matter what it was the NHL counted it as the end of his point streak… or did they? The chances tended toward Buffalo as the third period went on and the Captain almost got a couple saucy ones himself. Eventually the Kings pulled Quick for the extra attacker and Eichel got the puck to Reinhart who got it to Victor Olofsson who chipped in an empty-netter. The game broadcast and several social media posts thereafter referred to Eichel continuing his “personal point streak” which is not only something I’ve never heard before its also something that is quantifiably stupid. Then again other posts left the word personal out and said he’s now on an 18-game point streak. I don’t know if we really need to litigate this but that streak was all some of us Sabres fans had back when the going was tough in November so there is certainly a desire to see it continue.

Ithaca, NY’s own Dustin Brown tipped in a quick goal to pull the Kings within one in the last minute of play but ultimately the goal only served to make a few people down in Tompkins county that much happier and this game ended 3-2 Sabres. For a brief few hours while Buffalo was busy cheering the Bills to almost beating the Patriots in Foxboro, the Sabres were back in a playoff spot at second in the division. That Flyers game might prove to cost the Sabres more than just their Thursday night because the Leafs won last night as well and took over that divisional spot. Buffalo is only one point back and could leapfrog both Florida and Toronto Monday night, but both those clubs also play tomorrow night, and everyone wants to go into the Christmas break on a high note. I’d put my money on the Sabres not sitting in a playoff spot come Christmas morning, but I want to hear what you think so like, share and comment on this blog to let me know what you think.

The aforementioned Christmas break also coincides with a roster freeze that is already in effect meaning no moves for Jason Botterill… as if one were imminent. I think the need for a trade for a forward is a near unanimous opinion of the fanbase right now. However I will be a dissenting voice on the guy at the center of the Sabres last big top-six trade Jeff Skinner. The talk of him being upset not playing with Eichel on the top line is the kinda Coach-blaming knee jerk reaction that is so normal for us. It shouldn’t be. We’re trained to chase coaches out of town at this point and I really don’t think we have to right now. Yes, yesterday was another weird defenseman-playing-forward rotation and I too don’t like scratching Colin Miller out of any games but Ralph Krueger’s benefits to this club far outweigh his detriments right now. A lot of it is stuff we only see in streaks here and there, the not-so-sexy stuff like team cohesion and overall competitiveness when playing without the puck. Those are little things that make visible a behind-the-scenes reality of a Coach really revolutionizing this team. By all means take issue with the trash first half of this game and the poor play we still see too often from the Sabres, but don’t look for ways to blame it on the Coach. Midseason thoughts will go up in a couple weeks which will allow plenty of time and space for deeper conversations about the state of this team. For now let’s go wrap up the pre-Christmas schedule in Ottawa tomorrow. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. December so far is shaping up to be the streaky month. Three wins followed by three losses. The good news is if that trend continues they’ll beat Ottawa tomorrow and split the home and home series with the Bruins after Christmas.

[balarouge]

Quick Shifts: Reluctant DJ Marner reveals Maple Leafs’ new win song

An easy mix of the things our company learnt from the full week of hockey, major as well as much less thus, and also rolling four-lines deep. Typed with one palm while Dmitry Kulikov pulled us down to the ice.

1. Due to the fact that I spend an unhealthy amount of your time dealing with trivial matters that has little bearing on the real outcome of hockey video games, some of my very first ideas once the Toronto Maple Leafs permit both Jake Gardiner and also Nazem Kadri go over the summer season was: However who is actually mosting likely to be actually the dressing-room DJ now?

For many years, Gardiner cued up the club's morning-skate playlist and Kadri cranked up the beats for pre-game.

Switches out, no person intended to inherit the job.

"Our experts are actually making Mitchy do it this year," says Auston Matthews, after Thursday's strategy. "It's been hit-and-miss."

Matthews looks to his teammate: "Our team merely compelled ya. You just toss on the top charts and also let it run?"

"Top charts in to hip-hop," Marner shoots back. "Absolute bangers."

I talk to for an instance of the tracks that work along with the group.

"Absolutely nothing works. They regularly criticize," Marner mentions, defeated. "Regardless of what track acquires participated in, everyone detests it."

So, was Kadri a far better crew DJ?

"I can not offer Nazzy that. He had some tough goes there," Matthews smiles. "If you're the individual doing the popular music, you are actually screwed. You're constantly in the incorrect. Either the popular music's certainly not playing, the Bluetooth's not functioning, or it's a poor song ... it resembles a no-win scenario. Someone's received ta do it."

Marner it is.

"I obtained howled at to snatch my phone and play popular music, so whatever. I only put on a broadcast station on my app as well as say to everyone to pull it up. I am actually scarcely in the room until 26 mins [up until puck reduce] I do not take requests. I do not care," clarifies Marner, the reluctant selector.

"Article Malone's regularly excellent. It relies on the state of mind. I saw him in 2015 listed here, in the summer. He's excellent real-time. I such as all categories.

"I am actually not as well particular along with my music. On a lengthy bus ride, I can remain on my phone and also play music and merely cool."

Ironically, it was Kadri's replacement, Tyson Barrie, that assisted promote the 2-0 Maple Leafs' brand-new gain song they crank after a W.

"It's phoned 'Hot,' through Youthful Troublemaker," Marner mentions. "Tyson was the one that actually carried it up, as well as a pair people spoke about it. Youthful Hooligan performs a complete operate by means of this closet room immediately. It is actually receiving played on my phone very a little."

Incentive Beat! 6 performers Matthews plays in his headphones as he walks into the ring: Youthful Criminal, Drake, Future, DaBaby, Lil Child, Gunna.

"At the very least the music's a bit louder [during the course of warm-ups] this year. In 2013 it was extremely quiet," Matthews mentions. "Individuals were actually whining that it was actually too loud, yet our team're the ones participating in, so I believe they bumped it up a little. And our experts have actually had the ability to ask for tracks, so it is actually been actually a whole lot a lot better this year."

2. Shed in the shade of Jason Spezza obtaining healthy-scratched for the Walnut Leafs' time opener was actually the happy-news tale for his substitute, Scar Coast.

At age 27, the depth forward combated back to the NHL after an one-year respite in Magnitogorsk, where he placed up 16 aspects in 37 KHL activities.

"You can only chat to a handful of fellas in the storage locker room," he said of his winter season in Russia. "The coach is actually up on the panel, and he's certainly not speaking English. That is actually a little bit of a surprise at very first.

"It's a various experience. There is actually a considerable amount of positives you may apply for of it, yet at the end of the time I am actually satisfied to be actually back."

Toronto connected to Shore practically quickly after Metallurg was eliminated from the playoffs as well as told the journeyman they preferred him to simply play his activity-- inspection, succeed face-offs, begin a lot of your shifts in the defensive zone, don't anticipate a lot of mins.

"The moment I heard this was an opportunity, I was actually prepared to go," Coast claims. "Anytime you possess an odds to come to an association such as this, kinda inside out, it's one thing you acquired ta be actually definitely thrilled to perform."

Bank knows that many veterans, especially depth gamers, that jump from 3 different NHL crews in a solitary season just before finishing up overseas certainly never create it back to the highest degree.

"Among things you discover over there is actually, do not take anything for approved," he claims. "Thus when you obtain a possibility similar to this, you acquired ta maximize it."

3. Leafs instructor Mike Babcock changed out fourth-liner Coast for Spezza for Friday's gain in Columbus. He likewise got rid of third-line winger Dmytro Timashov in favour of Nic Petan and also bottom-pair defenceman Martin Marincin for Justin Holl, presumably on his swan song to catch as a Fallen leave.

Shore, Timashov as well as Marincin return to activity Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens.

A rotation of bubble players are practically extending practices in to October, until the Walnut Leafs' mentoring workers feels positive in the group.

"We don't possess the responses; our team're attempting to find 'em," Babcock stated.

Babcock hired this exact same strategy a married couple autumns once attempting to select Calle Rosen versus Andreas Borgman and Eric Fehr versus Dominic Moore.

We such as the turning tip. It always keeps gamers clean and also starving, and supplies our company outside along with debate. Why hurry to wrap up when personal injuries and ruts could will place any kind of lineup in motion anyhow?

Still, it's tough certainly not to check out Spezza's Game 1 scrape as a pointer that Babcock is actually visiting carry out things his technique, harmed feelings be actually damned.

"Mike and also I are actually one hundred per-cent on the very same web page," mentioned GM Kyle Dubas, talking to that reviewers stand by to evaluate these decisions till time's end rather than censuring pictures. "Mike possessed his rationale and also reasoning. I know it's unsatisfying for Jason, and I completely understand. I obtain why it is actually a dialogue."

Jason Spezza states he's never rested a property opener before. "It is actually unsatisfactory."

-- luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) October 2, 2019

4. At $2.1 thousand, Connor Brown was as well pricey for the Leafs' fourth pipe.

Now, he's a bargain on the Ottawa Senators' best trio, to the right of franchise foundation Colin White as well as Brady Tkachuk.

"It is actually enjoyment. I have actually regularly been a fella that would like to contribute offensively. That is actually, in all trustworthiness, the enjoyable part of the video game," Brown states.

"Brady as well as Whitey, my two lineys here, I failed to really understand a lot regarding them, coming from all of them being actually young in the game, and they each possess a considerable amount of capability. Whitey has a ton of rate, and Chucky, I was actually surprised along with how excellent his palms are actually and just how well he finds the video game and his capability to make plays. They're mosting likely to be quite great players for a very long time."

Comical just how quick a gamer's situation may change based on utilization. If Brown, a favourite of trainer D.J. Smith, may thrive in his brand new repulsive part, he might be actually in for a juicy salary increase hereafter, another platform period.

"Brownish Cow is actually a guy who we really love. You despise to find a man who is actually coming from Toronto, that likes being right here, leave, but it's the financial resources in the video game," Babcock said. "That's merely the fact."

Congrats to #Sens ahead Connor Brown that has earned the 100th point of his @NHL job along with a support on tonight's game-opening goal in Toronto.

-- Feelings Communications (@Media_Sens) Oct 2, 2019

5. In recent projects, the Walnut Leafs was among those rare clubs that failed to circulate a player-of-the game token after a victory.

This period, they revealed a fairly distinct one:

Go behind the curtain along with the Blueprint video cameras complying with Wednesday's succeed as Mike Babcock commemorates the @Raptors historic championship with a brand new Leafs heritage after wins. #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/BCligTRUwH

-- Toronto Walnut Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 4, 2019

That take care of on Matthews in complete equipment, though:

we got you pic.twitter.com/sDy02ucYsE

-- Toronto Walnut Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 4, 2019

6. The St. Louis Blues' social-media squad is already in championship type, trying out to produce us sob along with view ...

A special present coming from her kids-- thank you Laila for being actually such an inspiration during our #StanleyCup operate. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/4Zlu1Xuwjb

-- St. Louis Woe (@StLouisBlues) Oct 1, 2019

... and along with chuckling:

Sorry about the flaw. We are actually still knowing exactly how to twitter update with our champion bands on. #stlblues

-- St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 3, 2019

7. At the danger of hammering the John Tavares captaincy drum once again, the web links in between him and the descent of previous Toronto captains is actually something.

Darryl Sittler and also Wendel Clark went to Wednesday's opener to applaud him in-person. Doug Gilmour penned an open letter to Tavares upon hearing the news. And also the previous captain, unsigned Dion Phaneuf, along with whom Tavares dipped into the planet champion, connected via content.

"He sent a truly, really pleasant notification just mentioning just how exclusive it is actually to be actually a captain listed below and to participate in for this metropolitan area," pointed out Tavares.

As a young person, Tavares also fulfilled another Leafs leader, George Armstrong.

"It is actually definitely awesome to state I reached satisfy him and also be around him even at that grow older."

8. Dylan Larkin only backs products he relies on. He also performs an extreme quantity of stretching while using gown trousers.

this is actually the type of targeting marketing i would like to see from the NHL pic.twitter.com/If18tSW9QF

-- cayce (@cayceonthego) October 2, 2019

9. Patric as well as Helena Sandin took flight from Sweden to consume their boy Rasmus's NHL debut.

"They sacrificed a lot for me when I was actually much younger, so I assume it suggests a great deal to all of them also. They want the greatest for me and my bro, so they're incredibly pleased for our team," claimed Sandin, just before rewarding them with a help and also a gain.

Post-game, the teenage phenom admitted there was actually a moment during some of his shifts where he had to inquire himself if he was awake.

"It's heading to remain in my scalp at all times," he stated. "I'll remember this permanently."

10. Because our experts stated KHL star and Minnesota Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov recently, our experts kinda thought our experts will packed our Kirill Kaprizov percentage for an although.

Then he went out as well as racked up three goals in a period of eight minutes as well as 35 seconds. Receive this child in the NHL. Permit's pack up the Central Branch much more.

8 min 35 sec

Kirill Kaprizov credit ratings fastest hat trick in CSKA history. pic.twitter.com/MjfxqwcVJI

-- KHL (@khl_eng) Oct 2, 2019

11. A couple of exciting notes about Alex DeBrincat's three-year agreement expansion ($6.4 million AAV) along with the Chicago Blackhawks:

- Thus most of the other link bargains authorized through younger stars over the past month, DeBrincat's salary spikes in the 3rd time, to $9 thousand, ensuring his certifying deal is going to be actually a juicy one.

- His offer will definitely run out in 2022, the exact same summer season pros Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews as well as Duncan Keith all come off the manuals and also the hat is anticipated to hop. Can be a significant switching point for the franchise.

The Pussy-cat is actually BACK!

Alex DeBrincat has actually signed a 3-year agreement extension that jogs by means of the 2022-23 time, with an AAV of $6,400,000. #Purr #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/rF4ztP9YON

-- Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) Oct 3, 2019

12. Yes! Lazlo Holmes is actually now a persisting personality:

This content was originally published here.

[spine-buster]

Chapter 13 - The Beginning and the End of Everything (Finn Balor)

@wrestlewriting @wrasslin-x @thegenericluchadora @fan-fiction-galore @anerdysouthernbelle @spot-of-bother @amaranthine-reign @baleesi @flnnbalor @smuppies @sarahmatthews7 @daintymissdevitt @newjapan @corey-renee @running-ropes @balorsomega @karleedaniels27 @kazuchika @ileana0300 @alexahood21 @imnobodiesbitch @fembxt @heelturn-timesten @kaitlynwwefan @50shadesofadamcolebaybay @50shadesofkennyomega @chasingeverybreakingwave @thyestean-feast @thecandicej @devittsbalor @sp00kylesley @danahart @sietefinns @kaydee-kayyyy @powerbombshell @swedish-strong-style @blondekel77 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @artgurl559-blog

QUICK A/N: I know I haven’t in the past but I’m going to start using my regular tag list for this story for all future chapters.  Feel free to like and reblog and let people know about this story!  I’m sure there are a bunch of Balor fans I’m not tagging that might enjoy something like this.

And now, sadly, on to the first awful breaking news of the year…we have gotten word, and now confirmation, that hockey player and Olympic gold medalist Gemma Fitzgerald has been forced to retire due to her knee injury.  Last August, Fitzgerald suffered a complete rupture of her ACL, a torn MCL, and a litany of other tears and ruptures in her knee after she crashed into the boards after an altercation with Amanda Robinson of Team USA.  She has been quietly attending physiotherapy in Orlando, Florida, but after a recent evaluation, doctors concluded that her knee will never fully recover enough to be able to play hockey at an elite level.  Fitzgerald, best known as the woman to score the ‘golden goal’ for Team Canada at the Olympics, will be holding a press conference at 3pm today to discuss the shocking news.  

Fergal was practically in tears as he watched Gemma’s press conference live.  She had flown back to Toronto with her doctors the day before.  A large conference room at a hotel was set up and filled to the brim with reporters for the press conference.  At the table, she sat in the middle, flanked by her doctor, her surgeon, Diane, and the general manager for the women’s national hockey team.  After a prepared statement, she was forced to answer question after question from the litany of reporters.  Her voice was dull, emotionless, and her eyes were empty.  He could tell she was still having a hard time, that she felt dead inside despite being in a room full of people.  

He didn’t know how she was doing it; how she was keeping it all together, after having to repeat details of her injury, why exactly she couldn’t play again, all the minute details reporters kept asking about.  He knew if it were him, he wouldn’t be able to do it.  He’d send out a statement and that’s it.  Who would want to face all those questions?  Who would want to relive the injury over and over again?  It was absolute torture.  

Rami had been texting him.  He was watching the press conference live, too, and was upset at what was unfolding.  Not to the degree of Fergal, of course, but upset nonetheless.  He shared Fergal’s sentiments of this being absolute torture for Gemma and how the media should ease up.  ‘But they won’t,’ he told Fergal, ‘because the hockey media in Toronto is just as bad as it is in Montreal.’ When the press conference ended Fergal wasn’t sure what to do with himself.  He thought about making himself something to eat but he wasn’t very hungry; even if he was, he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to hold it down.  He thought about watching stupid cat videos, or soccer highlights from the European leagues; anything to get his mind off things.  That only lasted so long.  Before he knew it he was on Twitter, going through the tag of Gemma Fitzgerald and reading what fans and journalists alike were writing.

Gemma Fitzgerald is the reason why my daughter put on a pair of skates.  She’s the reason my daughter sees herself as a future hockey player.

Fitzgerald is the best of her generation, and although he career was cut short, the argument could be made she was in the top 10 of all time.

Sad day for hockey in general, not just women’s hockey.  Fitzgerald’s better than a lot of NHLers.  This is horrible news.

Robinson now has a target on her back.  She should be banned from ever playing again.  Everyone knew what she did was deliberate.

Fitzgerald has inspired so many little girls.  Her power is truly beyond hockey.  What sad news.

And then, Fergal’s phone rang.  He expected it to be Rami or someone else but was shocked to see Gemma’s name flash across his screen.  He answered it so hurriedly he almost dropped it on the floor.  “Gemma.”

“Hey,” she sounded exhausted.  “Uh, how are you?”

“How are you?” Fergal asked, completely ignoring her question.

“Not good,” she admitted to him, the faintest crack in her voice.  “It’s…it’s a lot.”

“Where are you right now?”

“I’m in a hotel room,” she said.  “In the same hotel we had the press conference.  God, it was so fucking hard.”

“I can imagine.”

“Like, you’d think that the statement by the doctors would answer any and all questions they would have, but apparently not,” she complained.  “God, they practically made me relive the last five months over and over again until they sucked all the blood out of me.”

“I’m sorry that you had to go through that,” he said.  He didn’t really know what else to say.  “Tell me how you’re feeling.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone.  Fergal automatically knew she was crying.  “Ferg…” she managed to choke out.

“Gemma, come on, tell me,” he urged her.

“I feel like my life is over,” she was full out crying at this point.  “I can never play hockey again Ferg.  Ever.  What if someone told you you could never wrestle again?  Your life would be over!  Your world would be shattered!  No press conference or reassuring words from your doctors or hugs from your mom and dad would be able to make you feel better!” she began to freak out and ramble like she did the night he brought her back to his place and she saw the bruise she gave him.  “I just feel so empty, like nothing is going to be able to fill me up again.  I lived and breathed hockey and now I can’t play it anymore.  I’ll be so close yet so far.  I’ll be able to skate but I can’t do drills.  I can hold a stick and put on my uniform but I can’t…I can’t…”

“Shhhhhh,” he tried to get her to calm down, though he was thousands of miles away.  God, all he wished was to be by her side right now, hugging her.  “Gemma, it’s all going to be okay.”

“You keep saying that.  Everybody keeps saying that.  What I need everybody to realize is that it’s not going to be okay.  If I’m not playing hockey it’s not okay,” she stressed.  “The one thing I love most in this world has been ripped away from me.  I don’t know how I’m ever going to get over it.”

“I know it doesn’t seem like it now…but you will,” Fergal tried to offer some words of encouragement, although he knew they would probably have no effect.  “I mean…fuck, that came out wrong.  You’re never going to fully get over it, and that’s okay.  But you can find other ways to love hockey besides playing the game.  Listen, you’re always going to love hockey, and hockey is always going to be a part of your life.”

She was silent on the other end, and he wasn’t sure if it was because she was soaking up his words or because she was trying to compose herself and stop crying.  Probably the latter.  He probably wasn’t saying anything to help her feel better.  “Ferg?”

“Mhm?”

“I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve you telling me all these nice things when I’m at the lowest I’ve ever been…but I just want to let you know that even if I don’t show it…I do appreciate it.”

A small smile crept its way onto his face.  “Anything for you, Gemma.”

“Can I…can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“The Toronto Maple Leafs…they’re going to be honouring me this Saturday, on Hockey Night in Canada, before the face the Canadiens,” she began.  “I’ve gotta make this speech, but my family…Jane…I mean, we’re all getting a private box to hang out in afterwards.  I just…I need you there.  Can you come?”

It was an automatic yes.  There was no way he would have said no.

Fergal had been in his fair share of arenas before, but tonight, Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre, everything just felt…different.  

Despite the gruelling press conference Gemma still had more media to do.  He was able to watch reruns and live interviews on TV sets at various locations he found himself in, but he found it extremely hard to watch. Knowing how Gemma was feeling, knowing how hard this was for her…it almost made him sick.  But now, at the Air Canada Centre, she was forced to put on a brave face.  She was gracious to everyone, forcing a smile, shaking hands and posing for pictures.  She looked exhausted.  Fergal knew she was exhausted.

They finally got five minutes alone together about half an hour before the ceremony was supposed to begin.  Fergal made sure to take her aside before things got started.

“Are you doing okay?” he asked, holding her elbow lightly.  

“Surprisingly, yes,” she nodded her head.  

“Are you sure?”

“I just gotta make sure I don’t cry during my speech, because if I know I do I won’t be able to stop,” she chuckled, trying to make herself laugh.  

“Is there something I can do?  Do you…I don’t know, do you want me down there on the ice or something?” 

“Only my parents are gonna be on the ice with me,” she told him.  “Jane isn’t even gonna be there, cause if Jane’s there then the whole team has to be there, you know?  Gotta keep in minimal.”  

“Okay, sure,” he acquiesced, nodding his head.  “You sure there isn’t something I can do?”

Gemma smiled briefly.  “You’re fine, Ferg.  You being here is already enough.”

As if on cue, Gemma’s name was called from the opposite end of the hallway.  Both Gemma and Fergal looked to see another brunette walking towards them.  She was moving quickly, wearing a nice pair of fitted black pants and a navy blazer over a Toronto Furies t-shirt, which Fergal assumed had ‘Fitzgerald’ written on the back.  “Hey babe,” Gemma smiled slightly.

“Hey hun,” the woman smiled, looking over to Fergal briefly.  “This must be the infamous Fergal Devitt.”

“You’re right,” Gemma nodded her head.  “Ferg, this is my best friend Jane Hounslow.  Jane, Fergal.”

Fergal stuck out his hand and Jane shook it strongly.  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Fergal said.  “Gemma’s told me so much about you.”

“Likewise,” Jane smiled wryly.  

Jane wanted to say something else, judging by the look on her face, but Gemma quickly nipped that idea in the bud when she saw Jane’s smile.  “Anyway, you can wait in the box with Jane,” she said quickly.  “And I’ll be up there after my speech.  I assume that’s why you came to find me?  I need to be somewhere?” Gemma asked Jane.

“Larry Tanenbaum wants to take some photos,” Jane nodded her head.

“Alright, fine.  I’ll see you guys later, then,” Gemma said as she began to walk away.  She paused for a moment before turning back to Jane.  “Soyez pas bizzare,” she shot to Jane.  [[Don’t be weird]]

“I can’t promise anything,” Jane winked back.  Gemma snorted and shook her head, continuing to walk away.  Jane looked back at Fergal, another wry smile on her face.  “You and I have a lot to learn about each other.”

Fergal barely made it through the video package tribute that was shown to the arena.  They had compiled every major highlight, clips of interviews from when she was just starting professional hockey at 18 years old, clips of her coaches and teammates singing her praises, clips of little girls saying how cool and amazing she was and how they wanted to be just like her while waving Canada flags and wearing her jersey.  It was very emotional.  When the video package ended, they cut to a few people in the crowd who were already in tears; a quick shot of the owner’s box, where Brendan Shanahan and Lou Lamoriello were on their feet clapping; a group of girls, each wearing a Team Canada Fitzgerald jersey, their dads sitting between them.

The standing ovation Gemma received as she walked out on to the ice was deafening.  The cheering and clapping didn’t stop for a good few minutes.  He, Jane, her parents – they were all on their feet, following suit, clapping and cheering and wiping tears away, just like everyone else.  Eventually, the crowd stopped clapping and cheering, and let Gemma say her speech.

“Thank you to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and the Montreal Canadiens organization for hosting me and organizing this tribute tonight.  As everyone in this arena and everybody watching knows, hockey is a team sport.  Therefore, I would like to thank my teammates from the Toronto Furies and the women’s national hockey team for being an endless source of support and strength during these last five months, and in particular these last few days.  I’d also like to thank my team of doctors, my physiotherapist Diane, and everybody down at the rehab clinic in Florida for taking such good care of me.  I will readily admit that I haven’t been the easiest person to be around these last five months, and they have been working miracles to get me back on my feet.

All I’ve ever wanted to do was play hockey.  When I was a little girl watching Hockey Night in Canada with my parents, I immediately fell in love with the game and the magic of it all.  I remember telling my parents, my extended family, cousins, anybody who would listen, that I was going to be a hockey player – I was going to be the next Cassie Campbell, I was going to be the next Hayley Wickenheiser.  Don Cherry and Ron McLean wouldn’t be able to stop talking about how good I was.  To an extent I accomplished those dreams, but I still feel like there could have been so much more to do, so much more to accomplish.  

Despite my premature retirement I feel a deep sense of gratitude.  Gratitude that for eight long years I was able to play hockey professionally; gratitude that I was able to represent my country at the World Championships and the Olympics; gratitude that I was able to create my own magical moment for fans when we won the gold medal; gratitude that my teammates have been with me every step of the way.  I want to end this speech by addressing one group in particular.   To all the little girls in the crowd and watching at home who live and breathe hockey like I do, I want to say one thing: I see you.  I see you, and your passion, and your commitment, your tenacity and your hard work, and I encourage you, I implore you, I DEMAND you follow your dreams.  It could be you one day, scoring a golden goal for Team Canada, inspiring millions of other girls across this nation to pursue their dreams.  You are the future of this sport.  Make it what you want to see.  

Support women’s hockey.  Support the dreams, the hard work, and the dedication of women’s hockey players.  This may be my end as a player, but this does not mean the hockey world has seen the last of Gemma Fitzgerald.”

The entire arena was on their feet again as Gemma finished her speech and saluted the crowd.  The teams, still on their respective benches, began knocking their sticks against the boards in respect.  Two runners came to clear the podium away, and the captains from each team skated towards Gemma for the ceremonial puck drop.  After a polite photo op, she dropped the puck, shook the captains’ hands, and made her way backstage.

She eventually made her way up to the private box, and was greeted with warm hugs by everybody.  Not wanting to talk about anything or go over what she just did, she settled on Fergal’s left side, while Jane was on his right, and they focused on watching the game, explaining things to him and screaming about penalties like any fans would.  

The Leafs ended up winning 4-3 in overtime, which made Gemma happy, at least briefly.  When it was time to go, Fergal began saying his goodbyes to Jane, James, and Nabilah, but the feeling of Gemma gripping his elbow stopped him.  

“I’m just gonna make sure Fergal gets back to his hotel safely,” Gemma said to her parents, who were obviously expecting her to go home with them.  “He doesn’t know this part of the city and I don’t want him getting lost in the crowd.”

“Well…okay,” Nabilah nodded her head, not really having much of a choice.  “Are you going to take a taxi home?”

“Yeah mamma, don’t worry.”

“It was nice to see you again, Fergal,” James shook his hand.  “Maybe we’ll see you again before you go back down to Florida.”

“Yeah, for sure,” he nodded, unable to keep his eyes off of Gemma, who was essentially ditching her family to ‘make sure he got to his hotel room safely’.  What did that even mean?  He knew exactly where his hotel was – he was a big boy, he had Google Maps, he had the Uber app.  Did she want to talk about something?  Did he do something wrong?  Did someone say something to her?

“It was really nice to finally meet you,” Jane’s voice stopped his thoughts from going in to overdrive.  Gemma was working something out with her parents and he had no clue how long he had been staring at her.  “I have to get back home, but like James said, hopefully I’ll see you again before you leave for Florida.”

“Thanks.  It was really nice to meet you too,” Fergal said, leaning in for a hug.

Jane readily reciprocated.  “I can see why Gemma’s become so attached to you,” she said, only loud enough for him to hear.  

Before he could ask what she meant by that, another tug came at his arm.  “Ready?” Gemma beckoned.  

“Ready.”

The walk back to the hotel room took all of five minutes.  By the time they left and were walking the streets, the crowd from the hockey game had dispersed, so Gemma wasn’t recognized or bothered at all.  To Fergal’s confusion, they barely spoke, Gemma mainly just directing him where to go and asking what floor he was staying on.  There was so much to say, so much that could be said, but nothing.

When he opened the door with his keycard, Gemma made her way in.  Fergal followed close behind, but deliberately took his time, watching her as she paced at the edge of the bed a few times before finally sitting on it.  When she finally locked eyes with him, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was keeping in.  “You’re okay with me being here, right?” she asked.

“Of course,” Fergal said softly.  “Do you really need to ask?”

“I just wanted to make sure.”

Fergal waited a few moments before asking what he thought needed to be asked.  “Do you want to talk about something?”

Gemma shook her head.  “No.  I don’t want to talk.  I’m sick of talking,” she said.  “I managed to keep it together for the ceremony, now I’m just going to leak, if you don’t mind.”

Fergal half-expected that was coming.  But the fact that she was comfortable doing it in front of him rather than Jane or her parents was something he didn’t expect.  “Leak away,” he said as he sat down beside her.

She started to cry automatically.  It was like a tap.  Tears just started free flowing and she buried her head in her hands.  Fergal did the only thing he could think of doing, which was hug her.  Almost immediately she melted into him, grasping at him and crying on his shoulder.  He let her cry, words escaping him, as there was nothing really left to say.  She’d had a rough day, and he wasn’t about to make it rougher; he just wanted it to end as comfortably for her as possible.  

Eventually he came to the realization that she wasn’t going home; that she would be staying here, with him, in his hotel room, because she wasn’t going to stop crying anytime soon.  He moved to bring her closer to the pillows, and moved to take off his sport jacket to make himself just a bit more comfortable.  Gemma began wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and he moved as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t feel deserted for too long.

When he lay back down beside her, she latched on to him again.  He moved closer to her and grabbed at her hand, clutching it against his chest.  After a while, her crying stopped, her breathing softened, and she was fast asleep against him.  Fergal could only hope that, in her sleep, she wouldn’t relive the pain of the last few days.  

[stevenstamkos]

Can you do a primer on julien/pl? I'd love to write fic about them, but I just know bits of pieces from your hcs. But they're both so big and soft????

Hey! So when I started writing we’re not here to take part (we’re here to take over), I didn’t think PL/Julien would be more than a one-off pairing that I’d write once for fun, so it’s been thrilling to find that people are interested in them!

So there honestly isn’t much interaction between the two of them, I’m sad to say. They’re friends, and they’ve been teammates a few times, but the part about them together is gonna be fairly short, sorry! I’d love to tell you about them anyway, bc I love them. I’m so sorry for how long this is. This isn’t a primer, this is an essay with pictures.

Part 1. Pierre-Luc Dubois

A good French-Canadian boy from Rimouski. He was drafted in 2014, 5th overall to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (CBSE) in the QMJHL

Look at him, he was so small. He grew up so fast :’) You might know this team as the junior team of a three-time Stanley-Cup winning Penguins goalie who is now in Vegas. Anyway! Luc’s played three seasons in the Q so far, so if he doesn’t make the NHL in 2017-2018, it’s back to juniors he’ll go. Not to Cape Breton though, but we’ll get to that later.

The Eagles are kind of tragic? But they’re good boys. They almost always make the playoffs but they just don’t make it past round 2, rip. Luc loved it there though (at least according to what he said after he found out he got traded).

So he had an incredible season in 2015-2016 leading up to the draft, posting 99 points in 62 games for a neat 1.6 PPG. (HE COULD’VE GOTTEN TRIPLE DIGITS but he got his ASS SUSPENDED for the last game of the season omfg.) This led to him going from a projected mid-to-late first rounder to top 5, and he ended up being selected 3rd overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2016 draft, to everyone’s surprise. Really, we all thought Puljujarvi was gonna go third. But nope, it was always gonna be Luc.

Btw his draft day suit? Beautiful. Even when I didn’t care about him, I loved it. Please watch the video of his draft just for the jacket lining, if nothing else.

Btw before things get dismal, I want to point out that he has the cutest friendship w my boy Thomas Chabot, bc they’ve played together a lot on national teams, so. Also has an adorable friendship with Evgeny Svechnikov, 10/10 would recommend checking that out

(That’s Svech on the left, and Max Lazarev in the middle)

Anyway Luc got cut from CBJ camp and never played a single game for them, got sent back to CBSE for the 2016-2017 season. And things didn’t go well for him because a few vital core players had left (like Svech) and Luc was not having a good season. He had like, 18 points in 20 games, not even a point per game. People were calling him a bust by like, early December.

Early December is also when he left CBSE briefly to attend Team Canada WJC camp, where he also found out that CBSE had traded him to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. And like, Hockey Canada camp was in Boisbriand, literally in BLB’s arena. So I wonder how that felt.

Anyway, we all knew how Team Canada did. Silver. Yeah.

Have this cute photo of Luc talking to Beaner instead.

(People were still calling him a bust though bc he only got 5 assists in 7 games which is Just Not Good Enough for a third overall pick)

So after the WJCs, Luc started playing with the Armada, who were legit contenders (sorry CBSE but it’s the truth) and his production kicked back up: 37 points in 28 games, and he never went more than three games without a point. BLB was like the fifth seeded team in the Q, and Luc led them to the finals. Where they got swept by the Saint John Sea Dogs.

If I had one gif to describe Luc, it would be this one. (x) Oh but there’s also this gifset where you can clearly see him saying “Stop fucking complaining!”

Overall it was a pretty rough year for Luc. WJC silver, got ripped apart by the media, got traded from his team, made it to the finals only to get swept (and not just swept but shut out in Games 2 and 3, too). Awk.

But Luc himself is a sweet, sweet boy, tries to look chill and cool all the time and is mostly successful until he opens his mouth. He’s terrible at baseball and is pretty funny. An incompetent boy, the baby of the family, probably doted on like crazy by his family. So precious to everyone who meets him. Also was super beloved on CBSE before they traded him :( He’s feisty as hell on the ice. 100+ PIM during his draft season, and this season if he didn’t miss so many games bc of WJCs, he prob would’ve done it again or at least gotten close. Just a messy, horrible dork despite his ~suave~ persona.

Part 2. Julien Gauthier

Another good French-Canadian boy, this time from Montreal. He was drafted to the Val-d’Or Foreurs (VDO) in the Q in 2013, 6th overall, so he’s played four seasons there now and is no longer CHL-eligible because of that, so if he doesn’t make the NHL this season, he’s going to be in the AHL.

He comes from a family of body builders. And you can kind of tell.

There’s a whole feature about his family’s bodybuilding.

Anyway. Julien played for VDO since 2013-2014, winning the President’s Cup in his first season. There are pictures of him lifting the Cup, but he was like 16 and he had 24 playoff games’ worth of shitty facial hair, so you can imagine why I’m not putting a pic here.

In the 2016 draft, he was taken 21st overall by the Carolina Hurricanes, their second first-round pick (they took Beaner at 13th). Which sounds pretty good until you remember that he was projected to go like, top 10, and possibly even top 5, but after the midseason his ranking just. dropped? So that probably hurt. But he looked good at the draft and he looked happy, so that’s all that matters

(You can prob tell by now that I am very interested in draft day suits)

So Jules was sent back for the 2016-2017 season, back to VDO. He was doing really well there too, and got invited to play for Team Canada at WJCs where he posted 5 goals and 2 assists. And then immediately after WJCs were over, he got traded to the Saint John Sea Dogs (If you don’t know anything about the CHL, hmu for a more detailed explanation on why the fuck CHL teams trade away their best players).

Here’s the thing to understand about the Sea Dogs this year. They were a fucking juggernaut. They were the top-seeded team and they ate other teams for breakfast. They went 16-2 in the playoffs, sweeping three teams and only losing two games to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in round 3. (The first time Julien faced VDO, his old team, post-trade was in round 2 and the Sea Dogs swept VDO.) And they swept BLB in the finals and made it look easy, and Julien scored four goals in two games. He only played two games in the finals though bc he got his stupid ass suspended for the final two games.

And then they lost to the Erie Otters in the Memorial Cup semifinal, but I’m allergic to that memory, so here’s Julien lifting the President’s Cup instead

Half his insta captions seem to be emojis, and it seems like 50% of the time when you communicate with him, all you’re gonna get is three emojis in response. They’re probably all goat emojis, bc that’s his nickname. Julien literally says that he uses social media to look at memes and share them with friends. He prob thinks he’s a bad boy but he’s soft as hell.

Everyone likes to tell him how big his body is, or talk to him about how big and thick he is, and he knows about it. (He…definitely knows about it.) He likes fishing and swimming and he has a super cute dog named Rosie. And he has Spongebob sheets.

Oh yes and his tongue is out like 70% of the time (x)

Part 3. Luc/Julien

I sort of made this pairing up on the spot? So there’s like, not a lot, but I can try. First can we talk about how nice they look together though. Luc is 6′3″ and 203 lbs, Julien is 6′4″ and 225 lbs. Okay just wanted to establish that.

I honestly have no idea when’s the first time they met each other, because Canadian boys in the same CHL league seem to all know each other from birth or something. They saw each other around during the 2014-2015 season, when Luc was a rookie and Julien a sophomore. CBSE and VDO aren’t in the same division though, so they only saw each other twice a season. And it was almost always messy lmao bc CBSE? knows no chill. Luc fit in perfectly there 3

They were very briefly teammates during Hockey Canada training camp for the 2016 WJCs, but Luc got cut from the team. Jules made it as the only undrafted guy, but Canada came home with sixth, so. Yikes.

During the 2015-2016 season, they got compared to each other a lot in Franco-Canadian media because they were the two best prospects from the Q. It was a weak year for Q draftees, but those two were up there. Julien was actually ranked above Luc at first. So there were a lot of these:

And they did interviews together:

(Did I mention that Julien had flow until right before the Combine? Raven made this gifset specifically to make me scream, which I did, very loudly.)

The good stuff really happens in 2016-2017, after they were drafted. In November, we had the GIFT of the super series (ok so it’s called the Canada-Russia series now, but whatever). Luc was made captain of Team QMJHL. He wore the C, which was a gift I did not deserve. Julien wore the A, bc of course.

They had so much chemistry on a line together. I shed a tear when I think about it. They helped each other score at least three goals that I can think of, in two games. Also, their cellies were cute, bc Julien gives good hugs (x)

They won both games and Canada won the super series. And THEN less than a month later, we have the WJCs, which is where the bulk of my feels came from. DID YOU KNOW THEY WERE STALLMATES. This seems an inconsequential detail, but I was very excited when I saw it in a random video. (Listen, when there is this little content of your rarepair…)

OH and let’s not forget the celly that started it all. Semifinal game against Team Sweden, Julien scores the go-ahead goal (and eventual game-winner), and is shoved by someone and falls on his back. Luc, in his screaming ecstasy, tries to catch him, fails completely, and decides to drop on top of him for my favorite celly of the year:

I get attacked every time I remember this celly happened. I imagine it’s even better in video form, but sadly they DIDN’T SHOW IT MUCH. Still, check out that bit until 1:36:23 though bc that’s when Luc tries to catch Julien when he’s falling and utterly fails, and decides to just. join him on the ice. It’s cute.

(Have you noticed that every time they celly together, it looks like they make out a little? I’m like 3-for-3 on this.)

And then they lost in the shootout in the gold-medal game to Team USA :( Neither of them was used in the shootout. And then they were both traded to their new, Cup-contending teams that made it to the finals, and Luc was a feisty little shit during that series and so was Julien, and it was a lot for my heart. I maintain that if Julien weren’t suspended, they would’ve fought at some point.

They got compared to each other again, during the series. Several times.

And yeah, that’s like, basically it? I love them both a lot, they’re good boys, so I figured I might like them together too, and I did. My rarepairs all subsist on daydreams and way too much knowledge about their individual QMJHL careers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Matchy matchy)

[slapshotsandoneshots]

Player: Jordie Benn – Montreal Canadiens

Prompt: You are keeping the fact that you had a baby with Jordie, what happens when he finds outs

Mentions: Jamie Benn

Warnings: Cuss Words. 

Preview: “You used to love hockey! You could use a break!” “I used to love a man who played hockey, there is a difference.” You responded. “We will sit in the noise bleeds. No one will see us!” she pleaded.

Characters: 2212 words.

Masterlist is over there. 

You sat at the dining room table, staring at the work you had spread across the table. You were brought from your thoughts by a soft cry. You quickly got up from your seat and walked over to the crib set up in the living room. You picked up your daughter, swaying back and forth, trying to get her to go back to sleep.

“How did I get here?” You thought to yourself. Here you were 25 years old and a single mother. You hadn’t exactly told Jordie about Emory.

Your life fell into shambles when Jordie got traded to Montreal. He came home from practice steaming. The night was filled him angrily packing and you begging him to let you come with him. He refused and he left you and his life in Dallas behind.

A few weeks later, you found out you were pregnant. You couldn’t bring yourself to tell him. He didn’t want any reminders of Dallas. It’s not like you two were trying. The baby would just be one more thing he left behind.

So here you were now, living alone and taking care of your one-year-old. The team tried to keep in contact with you, but you couldn’t risk any of them finding out and spilling the beans to Jordie. You had built a life for yourself and your daughter and you didn’t want to do anything that would even come close to ruining it. You never wanted your child to feel the heartbreak you did.

You did stay in touch with Katie, mostly against your will. You begged and pleaded with her to not tell Jamie. You knew he would run and tell Jordie the first chance he got. Eventually, she agreed, and she would visit when she could. You were happy she stayed in contact. You hadn’t really had many friends in Dallas and when you took the hockey players out of the equation, it was almost zero. She really did help when you were pregnant.

Your pregnancy was rocky. There were constant moments when all you wanted to do was call Jordie. But the voice in the back of your mind didn’t let you forget that Jordie didn’t want you to come, meaning he didn’t want you.

 But you got through it, and you were blessed with your baby girl. You couldn’t have been more in love since the moment she was born. Your heart ached every time, the small gingered hair child flashed the smile identical to the one of the love you lost. But at the same time, you were so happy she looked just like her father, it was like you had your own piece of Jordie.

You continued to rock the small baby in your arms as she fell back asleep. You stroked her hair as there was a soft knock at the door. You kissed her head as you went to open the door.

Katie pranced into your apartment, being quite extra. “How are my two favorite girls?” She asked as she rubbed Emory’s back.

 “What are you up to?” you questioned with a raised eyebrow.

 “I need a favor.” She smiled at you.

 “A favor?” you asked again as you placed Emory in her crib.

 “How do you feel about hockey games?”

 You gave her a look. “Really? What do you think?”

 “I really want you and Emory to come with me to a game, I want to introduce the little bean to hockey, it runs in her blood!”

“Katie, have you lost your mind? I just don’t think it is a good idea.” You answered moving to clean up the table.

“You used to love hockey! You could use a break!”

“I used to love a man who played hockey, there is a difference.” You responded.

We will sit in the noise bleeds. No one will see us!” she pleaded.

You knew she was going to continue until you gave in. If you sat up in the nosebleeds and left before the game was over no one would see you, you thought.

She was still rambling on about why you and Emory should come. 

“Fine. We will go.”

Katie’s face lit up as she wrapped you in a hug. “Promise you will go?”

“I promise.” You chuckled as she wrapped your pinky fingers together.

“I will see you tomorrow then! I will pick you and the little bean at 6!” she smiled as she headed for the door.

“Who are we playing anyway?” you asked with a laugh.

“Montreal”

Your laughter stopped.

 It was now 5:45 and you were pacing as you held a gurgling Emory in your arms. You had to admit she was quite a cutie in her hockey gear. Her hair was up in pigtails with little green bows and you had dug out the child size Benn jersey that sat in the back of your closet. You had come across it when you were pregnant and couldn’t help but buy it.

 You matched your daughter in your own victory green jersey and black leggings. Both of you dawning your matching white converse. The knock on the door brought you from your thoughts and you grabbed your purse. You couldn’t help the butterflies in your stomach or the nervousness running through your veins.

 It only got worse when you reached the AAC. You stood in front of the giant arena gripping onto your daughter. This was once a place you called your second home but now you couldn’t feel more out of place.

 You followed Katie inside as she flashed your tickets. You headed upstairs against Katie’s wishes to upgrade your seats. You sat down allowing Emory to bounce on your lap. You watched as the hockey players flew out onto the ice for warmups. Emory was entranced. She couldn’t take her eyes off the ice, following player to player. You followed your daughters gaze until you saw the player she was currently following. You watched as the player skated up to his brother and hugged him.

 You sighed.

 After a little while, the game started. You relaxed a bit into the second period. It was turning about to be a good game and you would be lying if you said you weren’t having a good time. You mainly were enjoying how happy your daughter was watching the sport. Katie was right, hockey ran in the girl’s blood.

 The second period was almost over when you heard Katie.

 “Shit.” She said quietly sinking in her seat.

 You looked at her quickly. “What?”

You followed her eyes to the jumbotron and there you both were, Emory standing in your lap grasping both your hands as she bounced to the music. You wanted to crawl into a hole right then and there.

 The picture switched to different fans, and Katie turned to you.

“We don’t know that they saw it. They hardly ever watch the jumbotron.” She assured you.

“I hope your right.”

You both sat in uncomfortable silence while the minutes on the clock ran down.

The moment the players were off the ice, Katie’s phone pinged. You looked over at her hoping it was some kind of coincidence.

“We are in trouble.” She simply stated after reading the text message.  

Your heart fell into your stomach. He knew, Jamie Knew. Did he put two and two together? Did Jordie know? All the questions ran through your mind and you went to stand up, running was the only thought now on your mind.

“They want to see us after the game. You can’t run from this.” She pleaded.

“Running is exactly what I am doing.” You stood up repositioning Emory on your hip. You headed for the escalators as Katie followed.

“Just Stop Y/N.” she called after you.

“Stop what Katie? I didn’t want to come to this game because of this exact reason. I tried so hard to protect her from this.”

“Protect her from what Y/N?”

“A father who isn’t in her life! I don’t want her to feel how I feel ever!”

“How would you know! You never told him! You don’t know that Jordie didn’t want her in his life! And now I am in deep shit for keeping this from Jamie. You at least owe it to me, to give it a chance. It’s time to tell them. ”

You sighed the tears brimming your eyes. Emory reached up and sloppily wiped your face, gurgling up at you.

“I guess we are meeting Daddy tonight Ems, My little secret is out of the bag huh?” You kissed her cheek. 

You allowed Katie to take you downstairs. Jamie had given her instructions to wait in a room where the team normally ate. You both sat in silence, you swore you could hear the heart beat in your chest.

Emory was getting antsy. You moved to the floor with her as she tumbled around between your legs. She was currently obsessed with your shoelaces and you stroked her hair as she on pulled them. You heard the game ending and knew it wouldn’t be long now.

The door swung open and your breathing hitched.

You saw the younger Benn brother enter the room.

“Where is she? He quickly asked Katie. She pointed towards where you sat on the floor.

All eyes were suddenly on you. You were not fond of the attention but Emory was beyond excited. She gurgled as the men approached you. Jamie sat down slowly not too far from you.

“Y/N.” he spoke.

“Jamie” you replied not knowing what else to say.

“Is this why you didn’t stay in contact with us?” he asked sadly.

“I couldn’t bring myself to tell any of you. It just hurt too much.” You looked down at your daughter.

 “You didn’t have to go through this alone, Y/N.” He answered.

 You stayed quiet as you watched your daughter tumble over to Jamie. He smiled at her and she became entranced with his shoelaces now instead.

 “She’s my niece isn’t she?” he questioned and you just nodded. 

You fell into silence once again as he played with the little girl.

“Does he know?” you suddenly asked.

“He saw you two on the jumbotron when we did, he put it together.” He answered.

You closed your eyes and stood up. He wasn’t here, so you knew you were right. He wanted nothing to do with you or your daughter.

Jamie must have read your mind. “He’s coming.”

You looked at him just as the door swung open once more.

There stood Jordie, he was obviously distraught. He was hair was still wet and his suit was crooked.

“Y/N. Where is she?” he asked. You were unable to read your demeanor.

You were still in shock when he quickly asked you again.

“Where is my daughter Y/N?”

He followed your eyes to where Jamie was sitting with Emory. Tying and Untying his dress shoes. He went to rush over to her when you suddenly found your nerve and stood in-between them.

 “No”

“What do you mean no? I want to see my child.” Jordie demanded.

 You looked at Katie. “Take her please?” you commanded.

Jordie watched as Jamie picked up Emory and followed Katie from the room.

Jordie sat down placing his head in his hands.

“Why didn’t you tell me Y/N?”

“You didn’t want any reminders of Dallas. You made that very clear when you left.”

“But a kid? I would have never left you to go through this alone.”

“Jordie, you did. I begged you to come to Montreal but you refused! I would have followed you anywhere!”

“I didn’t want you to have to leave your life here!”

 “What life here Jordie! My life here was you!”

“What’s her name?”  he asked out of the blue.

You sighed and shook your head. “It's Emory.”

“Can I meet her; Please Y/N I want to see my daughter.”

“I can’t have you in and out of her life. I won’t let her experience the heartbreak of being left behind by you.”

“I would never! I didn’t want to leave you behind either! I thought I was doing what was best!”

“And how did that turn out?” you questioned angrily throwing your arms up in defeat.

“Please let me fix this, Y/N. I will prove it to you. I will do anything.” he pleaded and you couldn’t say no.

“Fine, you can meet her.”

You both went out and found Jamie and Katie. Her uncle had already spoiled her buying her a stuffed toy from the nearby merchandise stand.

Jordie slowly approached his brother and daughter. He reached out his arms for Emory and she leaned into him. Her curiosity peaked by his beard. She began running her small fingers through it, gurgling at him as if to ask him questions. Jordie let out a soft chuckle as he rubbed her back.

 You leaned against the hallway wall, watching as your daughter played with her father. You finally let the tears fall from your eyes, but this time happy tears.

[flauntpage]

That’s All Folks (Probably)… Thoughts after Capitals 5, Flyers 3

As the Flyers skated off the ice down two goals to the Washington Capitals at the end of the first period Wednesday, they were met by an overwhelming boo from the fans in attendance.

It was a little much, especially since the Flyers have repeatedly overcome two-goal deficits – or larger – this season and with the way the team had been playing for two months, one bad period while missing two of it’s top six forwards against the defending Stanley Cup Champions didn’t deserve such ire from the fans.

I said as much on twitter and had fans tell me I have no right to tell them how to react when they paid so much money for their seats.

My two responses to that are:

It’s not my fault you couldn’t find cheaper seats than the ridiculous sums you pay to see a regular season hockey game. That’s on you.

While you do have a right to react any way you want, just because you spend money on a ticket doesn’t mean your reaction is the right one.

Then the second period started.

Alex Ovechkin scored before everyone was back to their seats from an intermission bathroom break.

Andre Burakovsky less than two minutes later and Brian Elliott’s night was mercifully over.

The first shot Cam Talbot saw in relief came 80 seconds later from Nicklas Backstrom – and it too went in the goal.

And the boos rained down again. This time, it was deserved.

No, the Flyers didn’t quit – they never do – and actually got the game back to its eventual final score of 5-3, making the final 12 minutes or so interesting, but overcoming a five-goal deficit – even one that occurred within the game’s first 25 minutes – is incredibly difficult to do.

Even more so against a team as good as Washington. Even more so without Jake Voracek or Nolan Patrick in the lineup.

And with that, the Flyers playoff chances took a huge hit and for all intents and purposes could evaporate completely in the next four days.

The Flyers remain seven points out of a playoff spot with just 15 games remaining. Carolina, Pittsburgh and Montreal all have 79 points and the Flyers have 72. The Hurricanes and Penguins have a game in hand on the Flyers and all three teams have a significant edge in regulation wins, which is the first tiebreaker.

The Penguins host Columbus – another team ahead of the Flyers, albeit on the outside looking in – and Montreal is in San Jose tonight before heading to Anaheim Friday. The Hurricanes host Winnipeg Friday night.  The Penguins then travel to Columbus on Saturday to complete their home-and-home series and host Boston on Sunday while Carolina travels to Nashville Saturday night.

That’s a lot of games that could impact the Flyers in the next four days and the only one the Flyers can control themselves is a game in New York against the Islanders Saturday night.

And while the stars could align in such a way that the next time the Flyers are on home ice against Ottawa Monday they are only five points out of a playoff spot, it could also go incredibly sideways and look like this come Monday morning:

Pittsburgh 84 points

Carolina 83 points

Montreal 83 points

Columbus 80 points

FLYERS 72 points

(Top three are playoff spots)

Yeah, that’s why the game at home against Washington was so important. And that’s why a 25-minute brain fart was not ideal.

“There’s obviously minimal room for error at this point for us,” said alternate captain Andrew MacDonald after the game. “It’s obviously not realistic to say we’re going to win every single game, but these divisional games are pretty important. It’s kind of a missed opportunity for us.”

No doubt. But what went wrong? How do you come out so flat when you know coming in that so much is on the line for the team?

“I don’t think there was one thing,” coach Scott Gordon said. “Our pace of play, I didn’t think we did a lot away from the puck to support. [In the] offensive zone, we had a few turnovers. [In the] defensive zone coming back for breakouts, I thought we made it easy for them to gain the zone and attack. [We had] missed-coverages in the slot. [On the] first goal we have three guys in the area, Ovechkin comes up with it, falling down makes a pass to the front and it goes right to their guy and they score, and we don’t get anything on it, a stick on it or anything.  So, that kind of typified the first [25 minutes].”

Ovechkin sets up Tom Wilson from his knees – NHL https://t.co/nU7VzxoY68

— Hockey24x7

(@hockeynews24x7) March 7, 2019

Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim get caught running around a little bit, and Phil Varone always seems one step behind on this goal.

It’s one Gordon didn’t like, but also credit Ovechkin for a great play.

However there were a few other goals that were pretty bad.

Moose Droppings

Brian Elliott had been excellent for the Flyers since returning from injury a couple weeks ago. Two solid relief appearances and four strong starts in which the team went 3-0-1 was a significant reason for why the Flyers were still thinking playoffs in March despite being the worst team in the NHL in January.

But Elliott crashed back to earth against the Caps.

He allowed three bad goals, which ended up being the difference in the game.

You might want to cover your eyes on this first one:

BRETT CONNOLLY DOUBLES THE CAPITALS LEAD!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/LGfG3NcjHw

— Hockey Daily (@HockeyDaily365) March 7, 2019

“I think he shot [and] at the same time one of our D men… [they] kind of whacked sticks,” Elliott said. “It’s kind of an off-speed pitch.”

Sure, Brett Connolly’s shot flutters on him a bit, but a goalie can’t whiff with his glove like that. That’s a save that needs to be made.

Then there’s Ovi again:

Ovechkin goes 5 hole off a beautiful pass by Backstrom for his 46th of the season pic.twitter.com/LI1K14nB82

— Heart of NHL (@HeartofNHL) March 7, 2019

Yes, it’s a nice keep by John Carlson. Yes, Backstrom does a good job shielding the puck, absorbing a hit from Radko Gudas and finding Ovechkin open on the far side. But that doesn’t mean you have to leave the wickets that open. It’s too inviting to any shooter, never mind arguably the game’s greatest goal scorer ever.

“It was a broken play that we pressured on the boards and became a two-on-one pretty quick,” Elliott said. “He’s a good player. [He] caught me trying to read if he was going to pass or shoot, and he scored.”

Appreciate the honesty Moose. But still, it’s not like it was a trademark Ovechkin rocket. That’s another goal that needs to be prevented by the goalie.

Then this was pretty much the death knell:

Burakovsky snipe feat. Eller's bloody lip#CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/6V4tTMmkvc

— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) March 7, 2019

Phil Myers with a rookie mistake on this one getting caught in the neutral zone as two guys get behind him with the puck, but Shayne Gostisbehere does a nice job of closing on Burakovsky to force the weak shot.

But Elliott whiffs on this one too. Just listen to Brian Boucher on the broadcast (in the video above) talk about Elliott. It’s why Boosh is the best in the business. He should be on the No. 1 broadcast team and not freakin’ Pierre McGuire.

I digress.

Elliott was pulled. Talbot came in. But the damage was done.

Phil Myers

Hey, the kid made a mistake on that fourth goal, but otherwise had a pretty good night one that resulted in this:

The first of many for @philmyers06! Congrats! #WSHvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/ZdWoNVD0p4

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 7, 2019

It’s a sweet goal for the rookie, who Russ was able to snap a picture of celebrating his first NHL goal in the locker room (at least Russ was good for something at this game!)

Here's @NHLFlyers defenseman Philippe Myers with his first NHL goal puck. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/Xh3sGs90Ze

— Russ Joy (@JoyOnBroad) March 7, 2019

But scoring a goal is not all we should talk about with Myers. You notice him on the ice – and not just because he’s a big kid. But he’s such a fluid skater for his size as well.

Take this play for example:

Phil Myers – very good at the sport of hockey pic.twitter.com/ZJ3z7cU3VN

— Brandon Murphy (@2Murphy8) March 7, 2019

He’s going to be a very good player at this level. The Flyers are going to have to deal with the mistakes like what happened on the Burakovsky goal for a little while, but those are growing pains that will be worth it in the long run.

Myers is a confident kid and a hard worker who is proving he belongs at this level. Would he have been a difference maker if he was called up sooner though:

The idea that the Flyers season would have played out differently if Hart would have been up since the start is dumb (he was bad in the AHL for the first two months). The idea that January might have went a lot better had Philippe Myers been up — that holds water for me.

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 7, 2019

​I often agree with Charlie on his assessments, but I don’t know if I can get behind this completely. A rookie defenseman would have been the difference between winning and losing in the first five games of the month of January when the team was outscored 20-8 – in what would have been the first games of his NHL career no less? That is a little much.

Myers is going to be very good. But let’s not elevate him to Bobby Orr status this quickly. He’s not a difference maker yet.

Other stuff

This game was the first time in Flyers history that they scored a goal in the last 15 seconds of one period and the first 15 seconds of the subsequent period as Myers closed out the second and Claude Giroux opened the scoring in the third period.

Speaking of Giroux, it was his 20th goal of the season, marking the seventh time in his career he reached the 20-goal plateau. Giroux is on pace for 88 points this season, which would be the third highest in his career.

Sean Couturier had two more assists. He now has 63 points in 65 games this season. He is on pace for 78 points, which would eclipse last season’s 76 points as a career best. Not too shabby for a guy who only had three points in his first 11 games (which is 60 in the last 54 games).

As was reported here yesterday and confirmed with more details last night on Twitter and the Press Row Show, the Flyers will open next season in Prague, Czech Republic with two games against the Los Angeles Kings. There will likely be an exhibition game there as well as part of the trip. Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer was the first to report the Flyers would be playing in Europe and Dave Isaac of the Courier Post was the first to link the Flyers and Kings as potential opponents using some ingenuity and connecting dots.

(Kinkead: apologies for the generic cover image, our photo service is currently down)

The post That’s All Folks (Probably)… Thoughts after Capitals 5, Flyers 3 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

That’s All Folks (Probably)… Thoughts after Capitals 5, Flyers 3 published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[paradoxicalca]

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 7: Spicy Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Nov 11, 2019 - Nov 17, 2019Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!Rankings (29/31 Rankers Reporting)Ranking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (1.34)Washington Capitals-15-3-42-1-1Best team in the league, full stop.2 (2.2)New York Islanders114-3-12-0-0The magic continues. Point streak of 14 games, of which 13 were wins. It looked in danger down 3-0 in Philly, but the guys who have been really hot, Barzal and Beauvillier, stayed hot bringing the Isles back. Brassard is playing amazingly on Nelson's wing, currently looking like the best signing across the league this past summer. Goaltending showed some signs of regression this week but the team still found a way to win. Ladd looks to have returned to full health, or at least as close as he can get anymore, but is in Bridgeport for the time being. Will be interesting to see if he makes his way up to the NHL or gets hurt before he gets the chance.3 (3.69)Boston Bruins-112-3-51-0-2Well, at least it's a point streak as the injuries mount up with Krug joining the IR and Bergeron not playing against the Caps. I hope Bruce made the team bagskate penalty shots until they scored 3 each on Halak and Rask. In Bruce's tenure as Head Coach, the team has a record 3-14 in shootouts. I can't fault the goalies either but it's pretty much a given that if you take the Bruins to a shootout, the other team will get the W. I'm not expecting miracles there but at least near 0.500.4 (5.63)St. Louis Blues-12-4-50-1-2The Blues have been winning a lot despite relatively poor play for a while now, and this week they finally had some down games. Just from the eye test, they look good but not good enough. If they don't rebound in the next week expect them to severely drop5 (6.03)Edmonton Oilers-13-6-31-1-1This team needs to make up its fucking mind. Blown out by the Sharks then blowing out the Avs then tossing away a victory with an OT loss against the Stars. The team still lives and dies on the Powerplay. Best Powerplay in the league, but nearly all the offence is produced through the Powerplay. The 5-on-5 play needs substantial improvement. The bottom six is a disaster. And then the reason we still lead the Pacific: Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. WE ARE MERE MORTALS IN FRONT OF THESE GODS. Solid shout-out to Nuge, Klefbomb, Bear, Koskinen, Smith, Khaira and Nurse. 4 consecutive divisional games next week. If the Oilers do well here, they will continue to stand above the Pacific, but any faltering here and they will take a dive in this competitive division.6 (6.4)Colorado Avalanche-12-6-22-1-0Injuries yay! This week started off taking out Francouz and having us call up our 3rd and 4th goalies to play games. Also RIP Calvert hope he is ok. Adam Werner stole the show against the Jets, but he had a lot more trouble with McDavid and Drai. Bibeau was serviceable vs the Canucks, but we would love Grubauer or Francouz to get healthy, both are on the trip as we carry 4 goalies. The good news is the team looked good with solid chemistry and MacKinnon and Makar have just taken over. On the bad side the defense looks scattered and it doesn't help our young goalies. Next up is the second half of our Western Canadian trip and Saturday finishes with a Hockey night in Canada game against the Leafs in Denver. Makalder Watch: Cale Makar is amazing, on track for the best rookie season by a defenseman in decades. He had 6 points in three games with another Game winner against the Jets. His defense has also been getting better and better he had some great plays against the Canucks.7 (8.74)Carolina Hurricanes212-7-13-0-0Rob the Bod has the team back on track but the competition they faced wasn’t overtly difficult and they barely eked out wins against the Wild and Buffalo. For a team that is considered to have one the best overall defense in the league giving up a tying goal late each game is unacceptable.8 (9.23)Arizona Coyotes612-7-23-1-0The Yotes went 3-1 over the previous week, setting NHL history by becoming the first team to sweep the previous 2 Stanley Cup Champions in back-to-back games (of 69 potential times in history). The success is being driven by the rock-solid goal tending tandem in net, with Kuemper picking up a shutout over Calgary, and almost picking up a goalie fight as well. Defense has also been rock tight. It isnt consistently pretty, but this team is finding ways to win, taking 3 of 4 games this week (2 through the shootout).9 (10.77)Pittsburgh Penguins-111-7-21-1-1"I need to be fire," he said with a laugh. "I will be fire." This is Geno Malkin as we know him stepping up in the absence of Crosby who needed surgery and will be out for a couple months. Geno along with the rest of the walking wounded that is the Penguins lineup, struggled to finish their many chances in losses against the Rangers and Devils this week. The Pens controlled possession, got solid defensive efforts from the backend, and played tough and resilient for a team whose players are dropping left and right. Saturday the Penguins got their bounces and lit up the Maple Leafs unleashing the power of Geno’s fire straight to the seat occupied by Leafs coach Mike Babcock who got an earful from his home crowd. The Penguins are no strangers to playing without Sid, and with a continued effort to solid defensive hockey they will tread water until he can come back and lead the Pens into the playoffs once again.10 (11.29)Montreal Canadiens811-5-42-0-1After earning 5 of 6 points in an emotional week highlighted by a stunning road upset of the NHL-leading Capitals, the Habs cruise to the quarter-mile post in 2nd place in the fierce and unforgiving Atlantic division. They've done it with a high-octane and well-balanced offense that's been a nightmare to defend. Even slumps by Domi and Drouin haven't slowed the Habs down, thanks (in part) to Tatar's great start and Suzuki's emergence as the most exciting rookie east of the Rockies. If Price, Petry and Weber stay healthy this team could do some serious damage in the 2nd half. Keep in mind GM Bergevin has the cash (cap space), the credit (draft picks/prospects), and the biceps to make a major purchase at the trade deadline. This is a team to watch.11 (13.31)Dallas Stars1111-8-23-0-0Where has this team been hiding all season?? The stars seem to have suddenly figured how to do that hockey well.12 (13.34)Buffalo Sabres-210-7-31-1-1We are playing for a top pick right now. I can't honestly believe we beat Ottawa, let alone in regulation. This incredible trainwreck would be unfathomable in a vacuum, but given that this same sequence happened literally last year, I'm less shocked. If we don't have either Jack or Sam for any length of time, we can write this year off as a straight-garbage-fire loss. How many games has it been since someone other than them has scored? Our secondary scoring is so cold that if you lined Jimmy Vesey up in interstellar space, heat would flow from space into his body. We were first in the league!13 (14.03)Winnipeg Jets712-8-12-1-014 (15.09)Tampa Bay Lightning39-6-21-1-0Tampa looked amazing against NY, but meh against the Jets. Did a great job of capitalizing on PPs during the NY game, but went back to spending too much time in the box against Winnipeg.15 (15.74)Vancouver Canucks-310-7-41-1-1The Canucks went 1-1-1 this week, finishing off a four game home stand with a total of 3 points. Underlying numbers remain promising, but results are sporadic and it appears we are seeing the Canucks settle closer to what can be expected out of a young team. I've seen people discussing the DJ again, which usually says more about dissatisfaction with the on-ice product than it does about whatever cheesy tunes are being played. That said, the Canucks still potted 11 goals in their last 3 games, Hughes had 2 assist Saturday night, Demko remains solid (and at times brilliant), and the hockey is fun as hell for a bubble team. The power-play remains inconsistent, because this is ice hockey and nothing is consistent. After a too-good-to-be-true start, fans may need to re-calibrate expectations in order to enjoy the grind as the season wears on.16 (15.77)Nashville Predators-99-7-30-2-0Well this is the easiest blurb I've written in my time doing these power rankings: something is fucked with this team right now, and the fanbase is quickly turning against itself questioning what the problem is. Has Lavi lost the room? Is Pekka on the decline? Is the defense breaking down too much? Was Duchene worth it? What does it say that Bonino is our second leading goal scorer? Is our third D pairing holding us back? Is everyone just overreacting to a cold streak? What should our next banner say? I don't really have any answers, but I do know watching the last few games has not been fun. Also, we're currently on the outside looking in at 5th in the Central so that's cool I guess. Oh look, Chicago won another game so now we're 6th. Fuck.17 (16.43)Vegas Golden Knights-610-9-31-2-0The most recent win can't hide the fact that the Golden Knights were just in a 5 game winless streak. Underlying numbers suggested that the Knights are playing better than their record shows but blown leads, missed opportunities, and 3rd period collapses we're a theme during the team's slump. We'll see if the win against Calgary is a start of fixing those issues.18 (16.94)Philadelphia Flyers110-6-40-1-2I mean taking the top two teams in the league (Islanders and Caps) to the SO means we can Fly with the best of em. But losing in regulation to the Sens means that we can Die with the worst of em. We still need the veterans to step up a bit more, but the young guns have been doing well to keep us in games (TK, Lindblom, Hart). Also can the NHL STOP SETTING GAMES ON THE ONLY NIGHTS THAT I WORK LIKE COME ON GUYS I LIKE WATCHING HOCKEY TOO. Ted Talk over, Praise Gritty19 (17.49)Anaheim Ducks-310-9-21-1-1This season feels like a rerun. Looks like a losing home stand came 1 month earlier than last year. A poor effort against the oilers after 4 days off. Similarly poor effort against the wild. I don’t see the fight. I don’t see the ducks ready to start any game lately. Song of the week: Free fallin’ - Tom Petty and the heartbreakers20 (17.89)Florida Panthers110-5-52-1-0The Panthers had a fantastic comeback victory against the Bruins early in the week. They showed a lot of character and determination. This team doesn't quit when they get scored on and fall behind which is great because goaltending has been, let's put it nicely, garbage. Overall it was a good week with a rare regulation loss and win.21 (18.51)Calgary Flames-610-10-30-3-0Oof. The Flames scored 1 goals in 3 games this week, and conceded 12. They have not led at any point in about 220 minutes. In short... the Flames are a bad hockey team right now.22 (19.54)San Jose Sharks210-10-13-0-0The San Jose Sharks are 6-0-0 in the (2019-20) Radim Šimek era! In all seriousness, the team is looking much better than they did for the first ~15 games. The offence is getting more creative and it's showing, and the D has tightened up. I really like the line of Meier-Hertl-Goodrow and I hope PDB doesn't blend them too soon, and Kane-Cooch-Labanc have looked pretty good too. Karlsson and Vlasic have cleaned up their play since they've been together, and Šimek has really anchored Burns, which is exactly what we needed from him. The Sharks aren't out of the woods yet and there's improvements to be made, but we're playing much better than we have been. G23 (20.37)Toronto Maple Leafs-109-9-40-3-0The weather is getting colder, and the leaves are falling. Big time. After a rough start for the backup Hutchison v Chicago, he was waived on Monday and the Leafs called up Kaskisuo to backup Freddy Andersen. On Wednesday, the Leafs fell behind twice but only came back once, losing 5-4. Then, a 4-2 loss to Boston extended the Leafs losing streak to 4 games. This was further extended to 5 after Kaskisuo's NHL debut against the Penguins, as he got completely hung out to dry, as the Leafs got clobbered 6-1. Offensively, it doesn't look like there's much effort or care. Too many passes. Defensively, too many passes to the other team. It's bad. Be sure to check out r/leafs for any information you need about leaves!24 (23.54)Chicago Blackhawks29-7-43-0-0The Blackhawks beat the Golden Knights for the first time in franchise history. The Hawks are 5-0-1 since tweaking their system, scoring 4+ goals in each of those 5 wins. Kane has 8G, 9A and points in each of our last 9 games. Dach has 4G, 2A and points in each of our last 4. 5-on-5 goals by Hawks defensemen: 1 in our first 17 games, 4 in the last 3. The Hawks are 4-0-0 on the tail end of back-to-backs, thanks to an excellent goaltending duo.25 (24.94)New York Rangers-28-8-21-2-0Shitty week overall. Started off solid with a OTW against the Pens with Kakko scoring two goals including the overtime winner. After that, the Florida trip got real bad real fast. The Lightning blew us completely out of the water 9-3. Chytil scored two goals, but beyond that there wasn't too much good. In the game against the Panthers, Panarin attempted to carry us to a W singlehandedly, but we came up short. Hopefully once Zibanejad comes back, we'll find a little more consistency and we can pull out some more wins.26 (26.46)Columbus Blue Jackets-17-8-41-0-1"We are one god damn uptight team" - John Tortorella27 (27.37)Los Angeles Kings38-11-13-0-0The Kings had a perfect week- despite being against mostly low opposition. The lower half of the Pacific is getting spicy- although the Kings still sit at the very bottom.28 (27.4)New Jersey Devils17-8-42-1-0Suspicious shifty eyes * 2 wins in a row? All that did was probably buy Hynes more time before the inevitable. 3 games upcoming, Bruins, Pens, Red Wings. *The Good:** We won 2 games against decent opponents in the Pens and Habs, back to back, with Blackwood in net both games. Simmonds has 3 goals in the last 4 games and the goals seems to be coming in from all over the roster in general. The Bad: We dropped the game against the Sens and let Pageau walk all over us and get a hatty. Hall still isn't putting the puck in the net despite leading the team in points. His shooting percent has now fallen below 3%. The Ugly: Cory might as well not be rostered. He's played once since Halloween. His save% is 0.852, and his GAA is 4.59. It's really, really hard to watch the player who was the reason the Devils weren't the worst team in league for several years get hurt and completely fall apart post surgery. In a span where we've played 3 back to backs, Cory has played once and lost.29 (27.91)Ottawa Senators-18-11-12-2-0Another unexpectedly strong week. Even if the Sens did hand Eichel 4 goals on a silver platter on the 2nd stage of a back to back, they were still hanging in the game (albiet barely) right up until the final backbreaker goal. Beating the Flyers was also pretty huge. This team is starting to be defined by a "work insanely hard" culture which is exactly what we've been needing! Somehow we find ourselves closing in on the Leafs in the standings...I think most Sens fans would honestly rather have a high draft pick instead of making a playoffs push this year. Still, with the Sens looking less awful than expected and the Sharks on a winstreak thanks to Radim Šimek - the Czech god of the blue line - one must already wonder who will make it to the wildcard spots and what draft day is going to look like. Even with barely a quarter of the season played out.30 (28.8)Minnesota Wild-37-11-21-1-1The Wild aren't as good as they could be, and not as bad as they should be. The one thing that's been consistent over the years however is reigning as the league's worst 3-on-3 team, and it's not even close. Since the implementation of the arcade-style OT, Minnesota is a laughable 12-30. Translate those results over to the first 60 minutes and it's Lottery City baby!31 (29.8)Detroit Red Wings-7-12-31-0-2This is the worst Red Wings roster in some 30 years. A defense this week led by Dennis Cholowski(21) and Madison Bowey(24). Seriously read that again, that’s the first pair! Despite this, the Red Wings have finally made a return to playing the kind of games that makes any rebuilding team successful. Down to the wire, come from behind, and battling hard for each win even if they come up short. Andreas Athanasiou has picked up heat scoring a couple signature goals with his speed and quick hands. Larkin is still creating awesome chances and looks fantastic in the faceoff circle. This team actually does a great job in that department despite not capitalizing on many of the opportunities. Furthermore, the league worst PK has actually been getting extremely better in the last two weeks. While it sits at 70.6%, the last five games the Wings have killed 12/14 PP. Things are swinging back up for Detroit lets hope they can maintain this pace for more than two weeks. r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 7: Spicy Edition Source

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: (SAT) THUNDERBIRDS DOUBLED UP BY PACK

Wolf Pack Entertain Thunderbirds BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Joey Keane paced the Wolf Pack with a three-point effort as they scored four goals in the third period to pull away from the Springfield Thunderbirds to win by the count of ��6-3. The Wolf Pack continue their scorching play at home in raising their record at the XL Center to 18-1-0-2 on the season. The Wolf Pack also maintained its hold on first place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 26-10-4-5 for 61 points. Hershey kept pace with a 4-1 over Bridgeport at the Webster Bank Arena. The two teams square off tomorrow night at the Mass Mutual Center at 7 pm. “We came out good in the first, we were sluggish in the second too many penalties we just didn’t get any rhythm. The third period was much closer to how we want to play and we played much better,” remarked head coach Kris Knoblauch. In the third, the Wolf Pack were able to score early in the period to regain a one-goal lead. Vitali Kravtsov picked up his second assist of the night and made a dead stop in the right-wing faceoff circle after winning a one on one battle and then sent a perfect cross-ice lead pass that Phil Di Giuseppe skated into and deftly redirected his 14th goal into the net. “That was a sweet play he got it right to me. He’s gonna be a special player,” remarked DiGiuseppe The Wolf Pack didn’t stop there they restored a two-goal lead as Ryan Dmowski potted his second of the night off the left with his shot going off the arm of Thunderbirds goalie Philippe Desrosiers and into the net at, “It was a two on one and it was a weird bounce.  Behind the net, he put it out in front went off his foot and I just got it and it went right through his arm. I didn’t even see it go in till I heard the (goal) horn,” said Dmowski. The second period was choppy between penalties, offsides and play stoppages and the fourth line didn’t get the ice time they got some in third and made it count. “You control what you can control. When we got the call we went out and did our best every shift,” Dmowski remarked. Knoblauch is happy with the fourth line contribution. “McBride, Newell, and Dmowski that’s the second game in which they set up and important goal in the third period. They set up the game-winner in our last game before the break (Lehigh Valley) tonight Dmowski picks up with two goals. They deserve more ice time they way they have been playing and contributing.” Then Joey Keane capped his three-point night going in on a right-wing move after Thunderbirds turnover he seemed to be too deep almost behind the goal line sent the shot it went off the right post and off Desrosiers skate and into the net for a 5-2 Wolf Pack lead and the crowd was roaring a the Wolf Pack were pouring it on. “We got all four lines going tonight were able to push deep in their zone and made our shots count once we got that first one by Ryan we took control of the game,” said Keane. Springfield didn’t quit as their forechecking forced Yegor Rykov was hit behind the net by Jack Rodewald to turn the puck over to the Thunderbirds Jonathan Ang who spotted Rodrigo Abols parked in front of the net and flipped his third goal of the season into the net at 16:09 to make it 5-3. The Wolf Pack insurance goal and rarely do empty netters mean something, but this one did. Matt Beleskey outraced two Thunderbirds Ethan Prow and veteran Paul Thompson dove forward falling down with a one-hand swipe put in the insurance tally with 43.9 seconds left for the final score of 6-3. Keane was amazed by effort on the play. “That was unbelievable he was behind those two guys and he hustled past them I didn’t think he had a chance great play by a veteran.” Head coach Kris Knoblauch was highly complimentary of the effort. “That insurance goal was big for us and he fought hard to get it for us. Nobody on the team is happier to see Beleskey score because of what he means to our dressing room. He is such a great team guy everybody on the bench was yelling for him,”. The second period was a tight-checking affair though Springfield had some strong time in the Hartford zone. Jonathan Ang had a quality right-wing bid stopped by Husk just after a Mason Geertsten left point drive was kicked aside by Desrosiers. Springfield finally made an offensive foray count as they tied the game at two. Took the turnover by and came across the Wolf Pack blue line in a quick transition and sent a drop pass to Thomas Schmetisch who walked in off the right point and buried his fourth of the season five-hole on Adam Huska at 16:23. The Wolf Pack came roaring out of the gate grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first period. AHL All Stay Joe Keane did his best Vinni Lettieri impression top of the left-wing circle took the right point feed from his season-long defense partner Mason Geerstan with the blast that was stopped with a left pad save by Philippe Desrosiers, but the big rebound went right to Ryan Dmowmski (Old Lyme/Gunnery Prep) and he fired a 30 footer inside the right post past the left leg of Desrosiers.at 9:25. It was Dmowski’s first of the year and his first goal in two months. “It’s been too long of a while for me,” remarked Dmowski. Then “Ovi” Lettieri showed Keane how it's really done as the two practice mates hooked with Keane’s right point pass and Lettieri sent a rocket into the upper part of the net that the rookie Desrosiers could only wave.  It was Lettieri’s 19th of the season at 11:24. “There were a lot good plays and Keane was one of them sliding the puck over to me, He has own spot at the top of the circle gotta get my own there,” laughed Lettieri taking the Ovechkin reference in good stride “no way do I have the shot he has and it's one of those little things he does. That’s why he is one of the greatest goal scorers of all time.” Earlier in the evening Ovechkin surpassed Rangers great Mark Messier on the goal-scoring list and is now five away from the magical 700 plateaux. Knoblauch just smiled about his two All-Star amigos. “The goal Vinni scored and Keaner made the pass to him they practice that play probably 45 times a practice. Every single day after practice that one-timer on the powerplay. Vinni comes up with another big goal,” remarked Knoblauch breaking into a broad wide grin. The Thunderbirds answered back on the powerplay at 13:24 as Ethan Prow’s right point shot was stopped by starter Adam Huska, but came right to Alexsei Heponiemi who sent a smart short pass to an open Dryden Hunt and he banged in his ninth of the year into the open right side at 13:24. It looked if Springfield had tied the game at 15:21 as the Springfield put big pressure on Huska who stopped Rodrigo Abols from 10 feet out and then, Joel Lowry, he never had control of the puck till came barreling off the left-wing and knocked the puck and Huska over the goal line and dislodged the net. The referees ruled the net was off the pegs before the puck crossed the goal line. The hockey gods were smiling. The Pack had three late quality chances to get another two-goal lead Steven Fogarty hit the posy with 2:27 left in the period, then Matt Beleskey with 29 seconds left and Patrick Newell off the right-wing just before the period expired. LINES: Gettinger-Kravtsov-Lettieri O’Regan-Fogarty-Di Giuseppe Jones-Gropp-Beleskey McBride-Newell-Dmowski Hajek-Raddysh Keane-Geersten Rykov-LoVerde SCRATCHES: Nick Ebert (lower body, day to day) Boo Nieves (flu, day to day) Jeff Taylor (healthy) Gabriel Fontaine (shoulder surgery-season ending). NOTES: Rearguard Yegor Rykov likely suffered a broken nose when hit with an errant puck that force the ice crew to come out to clean up a large amount of blood about 10 feet from the Wolf Pack bench in the first period. He didn’t put on a full visor for the rest of the game. We'll see how it is in Springfield tomorrow. -The AHL announced today that next year’s AHL All-Star Classic is in Laval, Quebec. If you haven’t gone to Laval yet make your plans now located just outside of Montreal easily accessible by the Metro Orange line by 25 minutes leaving from the Bell Centre location and arriving at the end of the Montmorency line in Laval with Place Bell Arena across the street from the Metro station. Montreal will also be the site for this summer’s NHL Entry Draft. -Knoblauch’s return from California was interesting, to say the least. “I started in Ontario our plan never showed up. We go to the other airport the plane has mechanical difficulties and we finally leave late. Get to Minneapolis and we miss our connecting flight. It was a long day.” -UCONN picked up an important Hockey East win in New Hampshire beating UNH 7-4. Jonny Evans recorded his second hat trick of the season and five points and freshmen Alexander Firstov had a goal and three assists. UCONN raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first minutes before the Wildcats clawed their way back to tie at three with three power play tallies. The Huskies with two late second period goals pulled ahead and never looked back. The two teams play at the XL Center at 4:00 pm on Saturday and it’s a televised gamer on NESN. Read the full article

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Updates on Turris, Larkin, Byfuglien, and Carter; Trade Deadline – February 8

  The Nashville Predators are starting to look like the team many hope they can be, and that’s just largely a function of getting their players back. Viktor Arvidsson has put his injuries behind him, P.K. Subban looks great as always, and now Kyle Turris has returned to the lineup, suiting up on Thursday night. He skated on the second line flanked by Calle Jarnkrok with the newest Predator, Brian Boyle, on the left.

On the topic of Boyle: he was on the top PP unit in Craig Smith’s usual spot.

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Dylan Larkin was back in the lineup for the Wings much quicker than expected. They thought he might be out up to two weeks, or at least one. He was back in six days. 

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Lots of good news on the Arizona injury front as Kevin Connauton, Jakob Chychrun, and Christian Dvorak all skated in the game-day skate. The last on that list was in a non-contact jersey but considering there was a possibility he’d miss the entire season, Dvorak being able to return sometime in the next couple weeks would be a boost to their centre depth. He probably won’t be fantasy relevant for the balance of the season but getting some games under him and a full offseason of training should help a lot for next year.

Chychrun could be back this weekend.

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The Sharks were still without Erik Karlsson on Thursday night but their hope is that he will return before the end of the road trip that wraps up Monday in Vancouver.

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Patrik Laine was moved off the top PP unit in favour of Jack Roslovic. I know this is in response to Laine’s current slump (two goals in 21 games) and it’s undoubtedly temporary but this kind of move never made sense to me. One of the best goal scorers in the league is in a shooting percentage drought, so you take him out of the best situation he has to score? I would better understand moving Laine down the lineup at even strength and playing him with Mathieu Perreault or Adam Lowry.

Sticking with the Jets, Dustin Byfuglien returned but Josh Morrissey missed the contest. The team expects the young blue liner to return this weekend though so don’t worry too much.

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The Kings are not expecting Jeff Carter to play anytime soon though there’s hope he can return to the lineup by the end of their current road trip on Monday in Washington. Michael Amadio took his spot on the second line but honestly, I wouldn’t even be reaching that far. This is a dead zone of fantasy value. The L.A. Kings are the AT&T of fantasy hockey.

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We got an update on Thatcher Demko’s injury and it’s a sprained knee. The team said they expect him to miss 7-10 days, so it’s nothing too serious. Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.

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With no points in six games, a player with a short leash is going to get a tug. That’s exactly what happened as Brandon Pirri was a healthy scratch on Thursday night. So it begins. Again.

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I remember before the season I was debating keeping Kevin Fiala over Viktor Arvidsson in one of my keeper leagues. I am still very high on Fiala but sometimes the obvious choice is obvious for a reason. There’s a fantasy sports lesson to be learned here.

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It was another tough night for John Gibson and Ducks fans as not only did the team lose 2-0 to Ottawa, but Gibson left the game after the second period due to injury. His own defenceman crashed into late in the second period backchecking on Senators forward Matt Duchene and slammed into Gibson. The netminder finished the second but did not return for the third. Updates will be posted when they become available.

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Jonathan Drouin continued his hot streak with a pair of goals in Montreal’s 5-1 win over Winnipeg, adding a pair of assists along the way. He has four goals and 11 points in his last six games. He had a season-high eight shots on net as well. If he can keep consistently shooting as he has been (over 2.5 per game since Christmas, consistent with much of his season), it makes him even more of a threat offensively. He doesn’t have to score 40 goals but shooting as much as he has puts 25 goals in play every year.

Phillip Danault had a four-point game along the way with one goal and three assists. Danault has tied his career-high of 40 points set back in 2016-17 and is now two goals shy of tying a career-high 13. His two-way game is very much underrated, though his upside in fantasy will always be capped as long as he’s not on the power play.

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Matt Duchene scored his 23rd and 24th goals of the season in Ottawa’s 4-0 shutout win over Anaheim. Anders Nilsson posted the clean sheet for the Senators.

How much longer can Randy Carlyle last?

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Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist in Florida’s 3-2 overtime win. He hasn’t taken the next step offensively like many (me) hoped but games like tonight where he stood out offensively beyond just the box stats are what keep reeling us back in.

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Jeff Skinner scored a pair of goals, both in the third period and the second with under a minute left, to help Buffalo salvage a point in their 5-4 overtime loss to Carolina. He had six total shots on goal with a pair of penalty minutes to boot. That’s the seventh multi-goal game of the season for Skinner, one shy of his high in his 37-goal campaign when he had eight multi-goal contests.

Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and an assist to pace the ‘Canes to victory, including the overtime winner.

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More updates in the morning.

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We have about two months left in the season. The trade deadline is just around the corner in a little over a couple weeks and then it’s the push to (hopefully) a fantasy title. Pushing for that fantasy title usually means deftly handling games played and schedules, but it also means taking chances. Most people pushing for a title aren’t in a comfortable enough position to stand pat. They aren’t first place in their roto leagues by 15 points, or they aren’t stacked to the gills in their head-to-head leagues. Most people have to fight for the title.

As I mentioned, this means taking chances. Those chances could include trading for a player who has had a down year to date but has the potential to rebound. I thought it’d be fun to go through some guys I was high on before the season who’ve not performed well to date, but could turn it around down the stretch. These are taken from my Ramblings at the end of September here and here.

  Jake DeBrusk

Before the season, I was very much gung-ho on DeBrusk in the anticipation of top power-play minutes. That Ryan Donato (remember him?) earned those minutes early on worried me but I was still drafting DeBrusk. He’s still on pace for a 20-goal campaign but his ice time has been declining of late. He still has those top PP minutes, and the question is whether he can turn it on down the stretch.

The problem with the decline in ice time is that there’s a similar drop in his shot rate as he’s now below two shots per game over his last 11 games. It’s not only a function of his ice time drop, but over the last four weeks, his shot attempt/minute rate has gone down by about 20 percent.  

What gives me hope is Boston’s upcoming schedule. Out of their next 20 games through the third week of March, they only have nine games against teams currently in a playoff position (with only a few of those games are against top defensive teams) and their next four games are against Colorado, Chicago, Anaheim, and Los Angeles. At best, those teams have one good defensive line which should be swallowed up by Boston’s top line, allowing DeBrusk and his line mates to run wild on the depth. The latest trends concern me, but if DeBrusk is going to turn his season around, I expect to see it in the next handful of games, and then fantasy owners can make their decision.

  Anthony Mantha

It hasn’t really been a bad year for Mantha. His 82-game pace right now is about 25 goals, he’s just missed some time with injury. All the same, he has multi-shot games in eight straight contests heading into Thursday night’s action. His ice time per game is all over the place (over his last 10 games he has as many games under 15 minutes as over 20 minutes) but he’s consistently getting to the net, and that’s what matters.

Mantha has often been skating on the second line for Detroit, especially since he returned from injury last month. The likely trade of Gustav Nyquist and injury to Tyler Bertuzzi currently leaves the top line wide open aside from, I guess, Justin Abdelkader for some reason (as a small aside, the Red Wings sure don’t catch enough from the media for this awful contract). Mantha is on the ice for more goals per minute when playing with Larkin than he does with Frans Nielsen, although the gap isn’t much. More than anything, a promotion to playing with Larkin should lead to more consistent high-end ice time rates than he has endured lately.

  Rickard Rakell

It’s been a brutal year for Rakell. He had averaged 24 five-on-five goals over the previous two seasons and would be on pace for eight this year had he been healthy all season.

Injuries have been a factor with the Ducks all year, but it looks like they finally have their typical top line of Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry back together. That trio averaged nearly three goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five last year. Whether Perry is up to speed is up for debate (and unlikely) but at the least the conditions are there for Rakell to rebound. His issues this year are almost all driven by shooting percentages, but it is worth noting that his individual expected goal rate is a four-year low (via Corsica), and considerably lower than the previous three seasons. Does this change with Perry back in the lineup? We’ll see.

This is one player that has a lot of uncertainty. The Ducks are terrible in almost every facet. That doesn’t mean the top line will be terrible, but can they recapture the production of last season? Time will tell. I think it’s worth the gamble if you need to push for a title win or a playoff spot.

  Oscar Klefbom

The Oilers are a favourite punching bag of many, and rightfully so. All the same, Klefbom is an excellent talent and he still plays on a team that boasts Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He cannot be ignored.

The question for Klefbom is where he fits. He just returned from injury, but Darnell Nurse has maintained his role on the top PP unit. They’re going to ease Klefbom back into his minutes but when he’s back to full gear, he should be back to 24-25 minutes a night.

When McDavid has been on the ice with Klefbom over the last season and a half, the Oilers generate about six percent more shots and though it hasn’t led to more goals (it’s close), I will usually bet on the side of volume. Give it another week or so for Klefbom to get some games under him and then see if he can be had for cheap in your leagues. He’s a guy that can be had for the price of a fourth or fifth defenceman with the upside to be a number-2 over the next two months.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-updates-on-turris-larkin-byfuglien-and-carter-trade-deadline-february-8/

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 1 - PIT - Lies?

Do you feel lied to? I got to say I don’t feel lied to. I know we had a coach and GM who both sold us on the idea there would be competition for roster spots and here we are looking at an opening night roster that looks awfully similar to last season. Were we lied to? This is hazardous territory for an optimist. I risk coming across like I just defend the organization at every turn. Perhaps I am less prone to join the pity aboard the latest hashtag fire this guy bandwagon. At that point, I minus well just apply for an PR position. Admittedly I was late to the Fire Housley Party and history shows the earlier you hopped on that one the smarter you appear. I was proposing ways the Sabres could make the playoffs well into February last season. You could’ve argued the season was over in December or January even with the win streak. Life is just too full of truly awful shit for me to then turn to my favorite sports team and say: “You lied to me! You Suck!” Marco Scandella is a bad player but he’s also a douchebag in real life. I would love for him not to be on my favorite hockey team, but do I feel like dragging myself along the hot, sharp rocks of pessimism after spending my day trying to figure out why Congress has decided party over country is the new norm? No. You see, no matter how bad this Sabres team gets I am going to look at them optimistically. Yeah, I’ll sprinkle in both the realism and the pessimism a lot of days, but the base ingredient will always be optimism because why would I watch sports to be more miserable? You take sports too seriously and it just becomes another source of misery which is bad for the stuff that actually matters in your life.

That was a rant, but it was also a long way of saying I think we’re underestimating this roster. They can be 100% the same players as last year and still be good. There are too many variables in this game to insist results will be the same; especially with a new coach. That’s leaving out the fact that although the win streak was a statistical anomaly on par with the first of the Meg, it doesn’t happen unless you got the horses to do it in the first place. Spoiler Alert: The Meg gets skewered by Jason Statham at the end. The same happened to the first half beast of the Buffalo Sabres last season. Even as the skewering was occurring last year we beat a Penguins team, which by the way also looks strikingly similar to last year’s club minus Phil Kessel, wait for it… twice! The Sabres beat the Pens twice last year including once when Pittsburgh was gunning for a playoff spot. Tonight was the first night of what I think will be a surprisingly good Sabres season. Here is a fact: the Buffalo Sabres had not won a season opener since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season. Tonight they hung a 3-1 multi-goal loss on the Pittsburgh Penguins not only winning their season opener; but taking advantage of an opposing team very much not having a good night. That alone is a beautiful if it is a sign of things to come.

There is so much I could say about just being thankful for a great Sabres broadcast crew, new 50th Anniversary promos and throwback highlights but I said I don’t want to look like a Kool-aid drinker. The only big lie tonight was me casting dispersions that I’m anything other than a big old sucker for this club. They were fun from the word go in this first game! Five minutes in the Pens gave up a defensive zone turnover and Casey Mittelstadt turned the play around. He maneuvered the puck to Conor Sheary who sniped one past Matt Murray to put the visitors up 1-0! I thought I was seeing things that first period as Buffalo skated circles around the home team. There were more chances too. The yet untitled Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart line looked dangerous. They looked dangerous and repeatedly connected on passes you can’t imagine will not lead to goals much longer. This game was also breakaway after breakaway. Apparently Kris Letang and the Pens defense has not been the same brick wall of old; it seemed like every time you turned around a fourth liner was taking a one-on-one shot with the goalie. Of course the first couple times it was Girgensons and Okposo so of course no conversion. In the third Olofsson got a similar opportunity and almost sunk it but we’ll get there.

Something happened in the second period that was very on narrative for Sabres twitter of the last several days since Training Camp ended: a Sobotka flub. Our old pal Vlad put his glove on the puck and gave Pittsburgh their first powerplay opportunity of the game. I would tell you this was evidence of the lie of the coaching staff we talked about earlier, but Jason Botterill backed up his guy in a pregame interview making it very clear the philosophy of this team is veterans first. To call the roster competition promise a lie is misleading, it was always about the veterans whether we knew it or not. I’m not pleased about it either but hopefully these incidents on the ice teach them a lesson. Evgeni Malkin did that task scoring an equalizer on the resulting powerplay. When you concede a goal to the Pens, especially an equalizer you have to be careful not to let the game get away from you. Luckily tonight the Sabres did just that and although the counterattack surely came, the defense held up. Namely Henri Jokiharju’s regular season Sabres debut showed his potential. He can get pucks out of the zone... AND he wins puck battles. This defensive depth was effective and fun tonight but geez the time on ice still reeked of a decade of futility. I would say I don’t know who will take all these defensive minutes once Ristolainen is inevitably traded but that’d be stupid: there’s at least 4 guys just on that side of the defense who can take those minutes. The Sabres survived the Pens and even started to dominate. Casey and Conor connected on the powerplay this time with a little over five minutes left in the second. I nearly dropped my Hard Cider: Sheary got a rebound and redirected it around Murray like he was doing some kind of Jeff Skinner impression. Retaking the lead was fun but what happened in the last minute of that middle frame was downright arousing.

Rasmus Dahlin scored a dangle goal that will surely be in this season’s highlight pack next Spring. Sam Reinhart and our Swedish wonder-boy skated into the zone on another surprising breakaway and passed it. Dahlin deked, dangled and put it top shelf. Samson was still going in hard thinking he’d have a rebound to tap in. No sir, this was just a grade-A certified beauty. Going into the second intermission I fought off the feelings this could be a rout. You figure the Stanley Cup caliber counterattack the Pens were known for would show up. It just never came. The breakaways just kept coming and now the big names were starting to get them. Victor Olofsson bounced one off the post! Albeit no Sabre scored on a breakaway in one of the most breakaway heavy games I’ve seen in a while. As the minutes dragged on it became more and more real. Then one soft penalty gave the Pens one last shot. Fans had booed them and were filing out of the building and… they didn’t capitalize. The Sabres took care of business and won this game 3-1 in regulation. I’m sure we’re in for several games this team loses against inferior competition this season but it’s nice to hope this could be the standard for the coming months. Let’s jut enjoy this. Conor Sheary scored his fifth goal against his former club and his second multi-goal game against them! Real Penguin killer, eh? This was the first Sabre season-opening win since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season when Brian Flynn and Steve Ott were on this team. It was the first win in a coaching debut since 1997! That last stat is a little irrelevant, but I thought Krueger deserved some love after the hell we’ve been given him. When the Sabres lost in a shutout in the season opener last year I said I never take first games of the season too seriously. I’ll hold any declarative statements for another day but gee, this game gave me hope!

All of the 50th anniversary stuff on the broadcast got me thinking: I ought to do something special for this season. So here’s my idea: every divisional game this season, the first being next Wednesday against Montreal, I ask all you guys what was the most significant game the Sabres played against them. I think it could be fun to look back on some history. I’ll be at the home opener on Saturday and the Fan Fest starting at 5 beforehand. Shoot me a DM, drop a comment here or send a carrier pigeon to me if you want to meet up. If you are even remotely inclined to do such a thing you should also drop a like and share this blog around. This postgame stuff happens after every single Sabres game if you’re new here. Sometimes I can’t get it done same night but always before the next game. I hope you enjoyed what you got tonight. I can’t wait to see where this goes! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. For the record, that Season Preview I did for Southtowns Tickets was submitted before the final roster and paper moves. The collective angst of Sabres twitter hadn’t blown up to DEFCON 4 at that point; it was more of a dull roar when I wrote that article.

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

What We Learned: Is it time to worry about Vegas?

The Vegas Golden Knights are finally starting to struggle. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Having 95 points is, from what I understand, a lot for an expansion team with 10 games left on the schedule.

The Vegas story this year has been an amazing one, because this is a team that by all rights shouldn’t be as good as they have been and is, in fact, shaming most of the league’s GMs for giving away so many players who are having such good seasons. Call it luck or a confluence of positive circumstances or whatever else you like, but the Golden Knights have been a smashing success.

All season, people have championed not only their powerful home ice advantage, but also their ability to turn unsung heroes on other teams — William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Jon Marchessault, David Perron, Erik Haula, Colin Miller, Nate Schmidt, etc. — into legitimate scoring threats. It doesn’t hurt that Marc-Andre Fleury, already one of the more likable guys in the league, is also having a whopper of a season.

That none of the players on this team will get much love for individual awards a few months from now is, perhaps, reflective of whatever alchemy they’ve forged together. However, you can basically write Gerard Gallant’s name in for Jack Adams right now, in pen. And it’s probably a toss-up between Steve Yzerman, David Poile, and George McPhee for GM of the Year.

However, those who’ve been paying attention have probably noticed that the stories about the Knights’ home cooking are a little less frequent these days. The “aren’t they amazing?” video packages aren’t so common anymore. All talk of what a tough out they’re going to be have faded. And that’s because it’s starting to look like teams have figured them out. Since Feb. 26 (and not including yesterday’s game against a sliding Calgary side), they have just three regulation wins in 10 games. They’re losers of four straight in T-Mobile Area, the once-proud home of the Vegas Flu.

But anyone can lose four straight at home. Anyone can lose 6 of 10. It happens. Earlier this year, the Lightning lost 5 of 7. Nashville opened the season winning just 5 of 12. But the problem for Vegas is that in terms of their “process,” they’ve been trending down for a while now. Their numbers in the last 16 games — that is, since Feb. 13 — look pretty bleak at 5-on-5: They’re 16th in shot attempts, 19th in shots on goal, and 27th in expected goals. The only reason they’re even plugging along a little bit is that Fleury continues to be spectacular, by and large, and they’re still getting plenty lucky in shooting the puck.

Moreover, this comes at a time when their power play remains quite good, running seventh in the league at 24.4 percent, neck-and-neck with Tampa. Their PK, however, has crashed and burned, running 74.4 percent and seventh-last in the NHL. Their kill is suddenly worse than Ottawa’s, after spending the previous 55 games at 82 percent. And that’s reflected in the underlying numbers; they’re giving up more attempts, more high-danger chances, etc., and to no one’s surprise when such a thing happens, that’s turning into more goals in the back of their net.

Over this period, they’re plus-3 in actual goals but minus-5.3 in expected goals at full strength. Outperforming their poor play to that extent is the only reason the wheels haven’t well and truly fallen off, and one has to logically start wondering how much longer Vegas can last.

Again, in the grand scheme of things this may look like a blip on the radar. It’s 16 games of playing poorly, and their record in that time is still 9-6-1. This is basically the definition of being a bit lucky, but the thing with Vegas is that this is a slippage of quality that’s led to the worsening results. Other teams that outperformed expectations for a big chunk of the season then regressed — your Torontos and Minnesotas and Calgarys and Colorados and Floridas — were those with sub-50 percent underlying numbers that never really impressed you to watch them but won anyway thanks to a lot of shooting luck and, often, surprisingly good goaltending.

Not so with Vegas. Basically all their underlyings were well above 50 percent for a good chunk of the year and have only started to slip in the last month-plus. The reasons for this aren’t quite clear to me; have teams simply figured out their PK and 5-on-5 schemes? Are injuries to some key players catching up with them a bit (and in doing so exposing the team’s long-gestating depth problems)? Could this just be “one of those things?”

The answer to all those questions, I think, is “probably.” It’s a combination of factors that can’t be wholly explained except to say the NHL season is long and teams that don’t have a ton of top-end talent and depth eventually get figured out, and when guys like James Neal and Reilly Smith get hurt, that exacerbates the issue.

I’ve said all year that Vegas got a better team than they had any right to if other GMs were smart about their expansion draft approach, and a number of guys are having career seasons in what not-so-coincidentally are contract years. I’ve also said all along that they were a lot like last year’s Blue Jackets, which were pretty good for most of the season but made a lot of hay by absolutely pounding on bad teams and getting lucky against good ones. I’ve seen little to dissuade me from either take to this point.

The question, then, becomes what this team looks like come playoff time. They’re still all but assured to win their division — San Jose ended Saturday night six points back with an extra game played — but they’re also probably going to face the better of the two wild card teams. Right now that could be Colorado, Dallas, or Anaheim. The Stars are sliding a bit lately as well (3-3-4 in their last 10) and Colorado is coming on strong (6-1-3). That would be a tough out for the Golden Knights, home ice or not. It couldn’t be a surprise if they, like last year’s Blue Jackets, lost in the first round despite getting a lot of hype all season.

In theory, there’s still time for them to turn this around and go back to being what everyone thinks of them being. But they’re quickly running out of track and, perhaps, answers.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Losing Kevin Bieksa for a month strikes me as a blessing in disguise.

Arizona Coyotes: Put another way, Antti Raanta is looking to run out the clock.

Boston Bruins: How do they keep winning like this?

Buffalo Sabres: They’re really gonna try to sign Casey Mittelstadt here. If Mittelstadt is smart, he runs it to Aug. 15, 2021.

Calgary Flames: They’re gonna miss again. You gotta make changes this summer.

Carolina Hurricanes: Ah, trying to cheap out on a GM search? Good stuff. For the record, $400,000 a season is mid-tier assistant GM money, not actual NHL GM money.

Chicago Blackhawks: These guys hadn’t lost to the Sabres since 2009. That’s where we’re at now.

Colorado Avalanche: Another attempt to discredit the MacKinnon for Hart campaign. Shameful!

Columbus Blue Jackets: They just keep winning. Which is what they should have been doing all year.

Dallas Stars: The good news is they keep getting enough points that all this losing might not matter so so so much at the end of the season, but also you probably don’t want to gamble like this.

Detroit Red Wings: This kind of apologia has to get wearisome to write after 70 games.

Edmonton Oilers: Hahahaha, what a headline.

Florida Panthers: Turns out it probably doesn’t matter if you get super-hot at the end of the season if you were horrendous for the first four months of it.

Los Angeles Kings: Sometimes you just get shut out on 38 shots by a backup goalie. It’s a weird sport, man, I dunno.

Minnesota Wild: Devan Dubnyk picked up his 200th career win on Saturday. Here’s a guy with a .916 career save percentage despite playing on the Oilers for a long time. Not bad!

Montreal Canadiens: “Would the Canadiens be better off tanking the rest of the way?” What kind of question is this? They’re a point above the bottom five and they went into the year thinking they were a playoff team. Who cares?

Nashville Predators: These guys gotta be scary, man.

New Jersey Devils: They are about to do it.  Down five points, Florida’s gotta be cooked, even with the games in hand.

New York Islanders: Moving Tavares to the wing? Just trade him now. Good lord.

New York Rangers: Yeah I can see their future: It’s a real dark place.

Ottawa Senators: In my medical opinion, getting hit in the head with a frozen rubber thing moving close to triple-digit miles per hour is bad.

Philadelphia Flyers: If you’re ever down in the third period, you better hope like hell you’re playing Carolina.

Pittsburgh Penguins: If they can finally get Brassard going, look all the way out.

San Jose Sharks: Gotta tell ya, the Sharks are looking real good lately.

St. Louis Blues: Would losing Vladimir Tarasenko for the last few weeks of the season be bad?

Tampa Bay Lightning: I want a Lightning/Bruins series very very very badly.

Toronto Maple Leafs: I don’t know if it’s good or bad that the Leafs have been around this long and this third-in-their-own-division season is probably going to be their best in franchise history.

Vancouver Canucks: Yeah this team is an embarrassment, full stop.

Vegas Golden Knights: One team Vegas really doesn’t want to play in the first round? Minnesota.

Washington Capitals: This is a fun twist.

“Winnipeg Jets: Lost in how good the Jets have been: Last summer’s Dmitry Kulikov contract has been pretty bad.

Play of the Weekend

For me? This was a good goal from Luke Schenn.

Gold Star Award

As expected, Keith Kinkaid is sealing up this Devils playoff appearance. We all saw it coming.

Minus of the Weekend

Drew Doughty has played 30 minutes in two of the Kings’ last three games. That’s too many minutes!

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User “wilfred” is on top of things.

To Ottawa: Price

To Montreal: Ryan Gaborik Anderson Perron Ott 2nd 19 *Perron and Ott 2nd are for Montreal to pay for Prices 13m signing bonus before the trade is made

Signoff

Oh, not in Utica, no. It’s an Albany expression.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All stats via HYPERLINK “http://www.corsica.hockey/”Corsica unless otherwise noted.)