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The Tampa Bay Lightning and Syracuse Crunch acquired goalie Alexei Melnichuk from the San Jose Sharks organization in exchange for Antoine Morand at last week’s trade deadline. The deal was made so the organization could have some goaltending depth. This week it seems Melnichuk is fitting in nicely as he earned the ECHL’s Goaltender of the Week honors. That trade already seems to be paying off.
Alexei Melnichuk of @OrlandoHockey named @WarriorHockey #ECHL Goaltender of the Weekhttps://t.co/M3SFg8mYLG
— ECHL (@ECHL) March 29, 2022
The Bolts beat the Canes 4-3 in overtime last night, with Steven Stamkos getting the game-winner in a three-point night, breaking yet another franchise record in the process. Nikita Kucherov had three points too in a big night for the power play. From Matt’s recap:
Tampa Bay’s power-play coming alive the way it did this evening was exactly the confidence boost this team needed. This season has seen the Lightning special teams dip into mediocrity after years of being in the top five for both units. Over the past several games, both special teams’ units have appeared to revert to what was expected of them entering the season, and that’s bad news for teams that take a lot of penalties.
Steven Stamkos scored the 11th overtime goal of his NHL career and surpassed Martin St. Louis (10) for the most in @TBLightning history.#NHLStats: https://t.co/39UMfA6DGh pic.twitter.com/Vz5fgZPhDW
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 30, 2022
that top line of Stamkos, Point, and Kucherov had 8 of the 12 #Bolts points tonight #GoBolts
— Gabby Shirley (@Gabby_Shirley_) March 30, 2022
Steven Stamkos on the overall effort: “We talked about it in between the second and third that this was probably one of the better games that we have played. Obviously, we were down going into the third but let's not change much. I liked our approach to the game”
— Gabby Shirley (@Gabby_Shirley_) March 30, 2022
The NHL also announced to the general managers at the GM Meetings that the salary cap is going up a million next season. Coming too soon for the Lightning who — news flash — are tight up against the cap.
NHL GMs have officially been told by the league the salary cap is going up $1 million to $82.5 million for next season. @TSNHockey @TheAthletic
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 29, 2022
This is weird. The NHL is seemingly trying to take control of the messaging by having referee Wes McCauley do an AMA on Reddit. Could they just call the rulebook instead?
Upon further review: The NHL is launching on Reddit with an Ask Me Anything hosted by none other than referee Wes McCauley!
— NHL (@NHL) March 29, 2022
Head over to https://t.co/fUGuVME6zD at 4:30p ET on Thursday to submit your questions. pic.twitter.com/04cp7jqbOp
Nathan MacKinnon had a fight a couple nights ago and is now out with a hand injury.
Nathan MacKinnon is out tonight with an upper-body injury, per team. #Avs
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) March 29, 2022
This was a cool read from colleague Taylor Baird on Latin American hockey. Definitely worth a read!
My latest at https://t.co/K2pymPTaJe: LATAM Spring Classic gives boost to Latin American hockey development https://t.co/pqBTOBw96T
— Taylor Baird (@taylordbaird) March 29, 2022