Saturday will be full of NHL action as 28 of the 32 teams are in action today prior to the three-day holiday break. The action kicks off with the Stars and Predators at 2:00 PM and wraps up with Calgary in Los Angeles at 10:00 PM. Hmm. Seems to be today would have been the day to stagger the starts of all of the games and try their little Red Zone-esque experiment.
Monsters take Crunch in overtime, 4-3 [Syracuse Crunch]
Phil Myers (in his 200th AHL game), Jack Finley, and Declan Carlile scored for the Crunch, but it was Trey Fix-Wolansky’s overtime goal that proved to be the difference. With the win, Cleveland extends their lead over Syracuse in the North Division to four points.
Haydn Fleury making the most out of his opportunity [Lightning Insider]
He’s doing everything he can to keep his spot in the line-up. You gotta give him credit for that.
One gift for every team this holiday season [Bleacher Report]
A national spotlight for Kucherov would be a welcome gift indeed.
Macklin Celebrini ejected from Canada’s win [The Athletic]
The presumptive number one pick next summer was ejected for boarding in Team Canada’s 6-3 pre-tournament win against Switzerland. Now he’ll wait to see if there is any supplemental discipline for the hit.
Ranking the top 25 prospects at the World Juniors [The Athletic]
Wow, they’re going to look bad when Isaac Howard (not ranked) lights the tournament on fire over the next two weeks.
Vegas signs Ben Hutton to 2-year extension [Fox 5 Vegas]
The 30-year-old defenseman is staying in Las Vegas for two more years at $975,000 per season. He has 8 points (1 goal, 7 assists) in 28 games this season.
Av’s Girard resumes practicing [SportsNet]
Samuel Girard has entered the follow-up phase of the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program and has been cleared to resume practicing with the team.
Commissioner Bettman upholds Perron’s six-game suspension [NHL.com]
As has been the case this season, Commissioner Gary Bettman denied the NHLPA’s appeal for a reduced suspension for David Perron, ruling that “Mr. Perron’s actions were not merely careless or reckless, they were intentional”. Nor did he buy the argument that the initial contact was the arm and the stick rode up to Artem Zub’s head.
