The Prospects
The Tampa Bay Lightning are commencing a four-game road trip, so we’ll lead with some prospect news today. In the words of a wise former editor, nine games is a fluke, TEN games is a streak. But we are here to celebrate nine victories in a row for the Syracuse Crunch today, and to note a special landmark: Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Connor Ingram had his first professional shutout this past weekend against the Belleville Senators.
Sens get Crunch-ed in 6-0 loss to surging Syracuse. “A week off proved to be of zero benefit to the Belleville Senators as they were hammered 6-0 by the red-hot Syracuse Crunch in an AHL contest Saturday night at Yardmen Arena.” [Intelligencer.ca]
Syracuse Crunch extend winning streak to nine games with shutout of Bellevile. “At the 7:35 mark, Jamie McBain powered a slap shot through traffic from the blue line while Taylor was screened down low. Volkov and Matthew Peca assisted on the power-play goal. Late in the frame, Stephens potted his second of the game on a shorthanded breakaway with the help of Dominik Masin.” [LocalSyr.com]
FIRST PROFESSIONAL SHUTOUT!
A huge congratulations to our backstop, @CBIngram1! pic.twitter.com/2uMdTHKdz3
— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) December 10, 2017
What did Mr. Ingram do to celebrate? Saima found out for us:
Goaltender Nic Riopel of the Adirondack Thunder always garners high praise from fans, and this past weekend was no exception. Here’s a lovely story from the bleachers:
Very cool moment between @Riopel_N and a fan over in Section C, called a little kid over and asked if he wanted his stick. Ripple autographed it before he went out for warmups. Got a nice applause from the crowd. Stick taps. Nicely done sir!
— Seth Cooper (@Seth_Coop) December 9, 2017
Maybe if more players like Nick loved their fans the way he does, more people would attend hockey games
— Gerry Rosser (@rosser_gerry) December 10, 2017
And here are a few tweets that the Tampa Bay Lightning twitter celebrated — and let the World Junior Championship roster speculation begin!
🚨 Brett Howden (@B_Howdy21) drives the net and looks to put the Warriors up 5-3. After a review the goal counts! pic.twitter.com/N87Z725LS3
— Moose Jaw Warriors (@MJWARRIORS) December 10, 2017
🚨🚨GOAL!🚨🚨
Now THAT was a WJC quality snipe! pic.twitter.com/gMqiHkiNKe
— Soo Greyhounds (@OHLHoundPower) December 10, 2017
Is Taylor Raddysh playing his final game with @ErieOtters today in LDN? It’s possible for the highly coveted RW,with @iihf_wjc next and #OHL trade deadline soon to follow…#erie https://t.co/87zHkgjbKo pic.twitter.com/WTVEjunY7h
— Victor Fernandes (@GoErieHockey) December 10, 2017
So, does Taylor go? I think it’s a no-brainer.
The Bolts
All boxes checked on Lightning home stand sweep; now, back to the road. “You don’t often see a coach making shadow puppets on the wall with his hands at the start of his postgame news conference, but that’s where the Lightning is these days after sweeping a four-game home stand with Saturday night’s 4-3 overtime victory against the Jets.” [TBO.com]
For Lightning, Building the Thunder begins with getting kids to love hockey. [Fox Sports Video]
For the @TBLightning, Building the Thunder begins with getting children to embrace and love the game of hockey. #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/0KTLTQxAV1
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) December 10, 2017
Lightning’s Stamkos looking recovered and remarkable. “Throughout the summer and the beginning of training camp, you saw what was coming. He was very dedicated to coming back at the standard we are used to seeing him at. He just took off from Game 1 and it’s been fun to watch him come back like this,” Hedman said. [Winnipeg Free Press]
(I always love when each Canadian team comes through Amalie, sees that Stamkos is doing really well, and writes an article about his injury recovery in hushed, reverent tones. FEAR US MUHUHAHAHAHA.)
The Game
So this happened. “The Pittsburgh Penguins pulled some nostalgia out of their hats on Saturday, as they hosted noted Harry Potter actors James and Oliver Phelps. If those names don’t ring a bell, the pair of identical British twins played ginger brothers Fred and George Weasley in the famous worldwide franchise.” [SBNation]
Weasley twins in the houseeee.
Welcome to the game @James_Phelps, @OliverPhelps, and @daniel_logan! pic.twitter.com/bk3xk0AQHG
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 10, 2017
