The Bolts
Superstar forward Nikita Kucherov was named the NHL’s first star this week! Fun fact: he’s the first Bolt to earn this honor since goalie Anders Lindback in 2014. [Raw Charge]
Speaking of Kucherov, Coach Jon Cooper has nothing but praise for the young right winger. “He makes everybody around him better. He’s one of the most dynamic players in this league.”
Since we’re already on the Kucherov hype train, he was recently named the best Russian to ever play in the CHL’s Canada-Russia Series. The top 10 list features four current Bolts – Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Nesterov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and of course Nikita Kucherov. [Sportsnet]
Now onto sad news. Former Lightning forward Jonathan Marchessault scored the first goal of the night for the Panthers. Overall, the Lightning put in a solid effort against the Panther but they simply couldn’t solve goaltender Roberto Luongo. [Raw Charge]
The Bolts continue to focus on growing the sport of hockey in the local community. “The Tampa Bay Lightning will participate in USA Hockey’s Try Hockey For Free Day this Saturday, November 12 at multiple ice rinks across the state, as part of Come Play Hockey Month.” [Tampa Bay Lightning]
The Lightning prospect pipeline is thriving with young talent. Taylor Raddysh leads the the Ontario Hockey League in scoring with 39 points in 15 games so far this season. [Tampa Bay Lightning]
Goalie prospect Connor Ingram left quite an impression on Fred Brathwaite, Hockey Canada’s goaltending consultant. “We really like him [Ingram] for Team Canada. He looks like he’s never really that frustrated. He’s a guy who can always make the big save at the right time and that’s something we want to see.” [Kaloomps This Week]
The Game
Jacob Trouba ends his holdout and signs a two-year, six million dollar contract with the Winnipeg Jets. It’s still unclear whether he will stay with the team or be traded sometime this year. [Arctic Ice Hockey]
The Las Vegas something Knights have finally set a date to tell us about their official name and logo. Here’s hoping the Black/Crimson/Flamingo/Whatever Knights deliver something special after building up all of this anticipation. [Vegas is Hockey]
Good news for Canucks fans: They held a lead for five whole minutes. Bad news for Canucks fans: They lost their ninth consecutive game and are just one loss shy of tying their franchise record. [Vancouver Sun]
Hockey Night in Canada’s Punjabi broadcast continues to deliver memorable moments. For those of you unfamiliar with Punjabi (a language spoken in parts of India and Pakistan), the song playing in the background loosely translates to, “If you mess with one of us, I’m coming for you,” which is the perfect soundtrack for the Toronto-Vancouver line brawl.
There’s a hockey fight & then there’s a hockey fight in Punjabi. #TORvsVAN #HockeyNightPunjabi pic.twitter.com/N7UjVcq7GY
— Hockey Night Punjabi (@HkyNightPunjabi) November 6, 2016
That line brawl resulted from a hit on Daniel Sedin by Nazem Kadri. Bob McKenzie explains that if you have an issue with the legality of that hit, you should take it up with the general managers instead of the Department of Player Safety. [TSN]
