The Bolts
The trio of Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat, and Brayden Point are the Tampa Bay Lightning’s swiss-army knife. [Tampa Bay Times]
“Maybe not when it comes to scoring, but Palat, Point and Gourde are often the Lightning’s best line. The words tenacious, relentless, tireless and smart are used by those describing the Lightning’s second line.”
Victor Hedman is a man of many talents. One such talent we discovered on Saturday is his dominant face-off ability. [Raw Charge]
“With his faceoff win, Hedman increased his career Faceoff Win percentage to a staggering 100%. Well done Victor.”
“We expect a really tough road trip and tough points to go in and take.”
Practice day | Victor Hedman: pic.twitter.com/G6cHZPQyM6
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) November 6, 2017
Raw Charge’s Three Stars of the Week are in! [Raw Charge]
“While Gourde struggled to begin the week, he has made improvements practically every game since then. Whether through better decision making, hard work, or both, there’s no doubt he has grown as an NHL player throughout the past week.”
Team USA will be looking for their third Gold Medal in a row in this years’ Four Nations Cup tournament that will be played at AMALIE Arena. [NHL dot com]
“The Americans will get another chance to show their superiority on the world stage this week at the 22nd installment of the Four Nations Cup, which starts Tuesday, November 7 at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel and runs through Sunday’s Gold Medal and third-place games at AMALIE Arena.”
The Prospects
Brett Howden and Callen Foote faced off with their WHL teammates against Team Russia in the Canada/Russia Series, a six-game tournament where top prospects from Russia play two games against each othe three leagues in Canada; the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL.
Game One saw the WHL rout Russia 7-0 in Moose Jaw (in Howden’s barn). Howden had a goal, an assist and was a +3. Foote was unable to put anything on the scoreboard but still ended the night a +3. [CHL]
Prospect Report: Long story short, the prospects scored a lot of points last week. Click here to see how each player fared last week.
Crunch Corner: The offense is starting to pick it up… Just in time for the defense to begin to falter. [Raw Charge]
“Remember a few weeks ago when it seemed as if the Crunch couldn’t buy a goal if they wanted to? That seems to be a thing of the past, for now at least. While the defense is a different story that we will get into a little later, the offense certainly made the trip north of the border. In three games, the Crunch were able to net 10 goals from five different players.”
The Game
Who’s been the hottest goalie in the NHL in 2017-18? Bleacher Report ranks their top-six hottest goalies to start the season. [Bleacher Report]
“4. Andrei Vasilevskiy. No team has scored more goals per game this season than the Lightning. Vasilevskiy has had plenty of run support, but his team is better with him than without him. Backup Peter Budaj is 0-1-1 so far with a 4.00 goals-against average.”
It doesn’t matter what Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock and former Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice were yelling about, but they were yelling and it was hilarious for everyone, minus their players. Ear-muffs for the kids who can read lips
Mike Babcock is in a mood right now pic.twitter.com/Jk4GXgr8Zr
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) November 7, 2017
Maurice not a fan of that call. pic.twitter.com/xxEeJxe3tW
— Ryan Browning (@DJ_Biff_WPG) November 7, 2017
What could the Pittsburgh Penguins have given up if they were in either the Ottawa Senators’s or Nashville Predators’ positions in the Matt Duchene for Kyle turris for a million futures trade? [Pensburgh]
“With UFA arleady looming in summer 2019, this might have been a good thing for the Pens. Ditto center Kyle Turris, who quickly signed a $6.0 million annual deal with the Predators for the next 6 years. Can the Pens afford a $6.0 million offensive minded 3rd line center (which is Duchene’s cap hit too)? Perhaps but probably not an ideal situation.”
Highlight of the Night: Clayton Keller keeps on a two-on-one and it was cclearly the right choice. Keller uses some slick hands to freeze Holtby (he may or may not have used a bobbling puck to his advantage) then snipes it through the space between the pad and the blocker. Nice goal. [Reddit]
