Jack Finley had a goal and an assist while Declan Carlile’s 5th goal of the season was the game winner in the Syracuse Crunch’s 4-2 win over the Providence Bruins. Cole Koepke and Jack Thompson had the other tallies for Syracuse while Hugo Alnefelt stopped 24 of 26 for his 7th win of the season. With the win, the Crunch stay four points back of the division-leading Cleveland Monsters. They will continue their six-game homestand tonight as they host the Utica Comets.
Other Hockey News
Lightning Pro Scout’s Life-Saving Play [Lightning]
While in Los Angeles scouting a Red Wings/Kings game, Lightning scout Tony Hrkac saved a dude’s life. During an intermission he noticed a gentleman choking. Hrkac performed the Heimlich on him and was able to dislodge the piece of pretzel that was stuck in the man’s throat.
Darren Raddysh records the hardest shot in the NHL [NHL Twitter]
In the game against the Minnesota Wild, Raddysh uncorked a 102.40 MPH shot, the fastest recorded in the league during the three years they’ve been recording NHL Edge data. He’s no stranger to booming slapshots. In 2023 he won the CCM Hardest Shot at the AHL All-Star Skills Competition with another 102 MPH shot. Good luck getting in front of that.
Kucherov hits milestone in win [Bozeman Daily Chronicle]
We kind of brushed over this in the recap, but congrats to Nikita Kucherov for hitting the 500 assist mark. He hit the mark in his 688th game, the third fewest games required by an active player. Only Sidney Crosby (554 games) and Connor McDavid (527) have needed fewer games to hit the mark. That’s pretty solid company.
ESPN Power Rankings [ESPN]
The Bolts moved up a couple of spots to 19 in the World Wide Leader’s latest poll. As for their biggest off-season addition, they went with Jonas Johansson. Not a bad choice.
Yanni Gourde suspended for two games [Davy Jones’ Locker Room]
Old friend Yanni Gourde took a hit to the wallet and will be out for the next two Seattle Kraken games after he was suspended for boarding Mattias Ekholm.
Washington signs Aliaksei Protas to five-year extension [RMNB]
The 22-year-old old forward has had a breakthrough this year and the Caps rewarded him with a five-year extension that carries a $3.375 million AAV.
