Let’s get right to it.
Lightning lose 4-2 [Raw Charge]
Not a great first 40 minutes, but they rallied in the third and came close to pulling off a pretty good comeback. Nikita Kucherov continues his chase of his own record as he picked up two more points.
Who is the most underrated player of all time [Daily FaceOff]
They name Kuch as one of the most underrated players of his generation, but also throw some other pretty good names out there as well.
Why Victor Hedman is so crucial to the Lightning’s success [Tampa Bay Times]
Big Victor is back and a key cog in the Lightning defensive machine.
Lightning assign Bennett MacArthur to the Allen Americans [Allen Americans]
An interesting move as the Lightning assign MacArthur to the Americans. He had spent most of the season with the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, the Orlando Solar Bears, where he had 1 goal and 2 assists in 12 games. It gives him a fresh start on the season after he’s been a healthy scratch a few times with the Solar Bears.
Official Team USA roster for World Juniors [USA Hockey Twitter]
The Ice Man is heading to Sweden. Isaac Howard is officially part of Team USA as they head to Gothenburg for the 2024 Men’s U20 World Junior Championships. Go get ’em, Ike.
Crunch 2, Comets 0 [Syracuse Crunch]
Tristan Allard and Shawn Element provided the offense while Hugo Alnefelt stopped all 18 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season. The win snaps a three-game losing streak.
Twelve Days of Crunchmas [Spotify]
Move over Mariah Carey, we have a new Christmas classic to listen to.
The reason Chychrun went down the Dallas tunnel [Jakob Chychrun Twitter]
We all had some fun the other night at the sight of Ottawa’s Jakov Chychrun heading down the tunnel mixed in with a bunch of Dallas Stars players at the end of the game. No, he wasn’t traded during the game, he was instructed to head that way to see the Stars’ doctor due to a cut on his face (fair warning – the photo of the cut is on the link above)
Canada’s 7 franchises teaming up to fight ALS [ESPN]
All of the franchises north of the border are banding together to support the ALS Super Fund in honor of those who have passed with the neurological disease like Borje Salming.
Hurricanes put Antti Raanta on waivers [Canes Country]
It hasn’t been a great season for Raanta (.854 SV%, 3.61 GAA) but you have to wonder if another team might take a flyer on him considering his experience and relatively cheap contract ($1.5 million that expires at the end of the season). With Frederik Andersen still on LTIR it’s the Pyotr Kochetkov show in Carolina.
