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Quick Strikes: Louis Domingue extends win streak to eight games

The Bolts

Last night the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their modest win streak to three games, overcoming the Buffalo Sabres despite the backup goaltender in net. The game was notable because of a few things, but one of them was Mikhail Sergachev being a sneaky faker on the power play, and the other was Louis Domingue extending his win streak to eight games. See more interesting moments in the game recap, on the front page.

Yesterday there was a lot more analysis of the Slater Koekkoek for Jan Rutta trade. The Blackhawks writers in particular had some interesting things to say, and as always, each team is going to think they won the trade. I’ll pull out the more interesting things each writer had to say, below.

Koekkoek for Rutta – What Did the Blackhawks Get? [The Hockey Writers]

Bowman’s next mission was to get Rutta off the books. He looked like he was going to be an effective defenseman early last season, but there was never any progression. As frustration grew, he was eventually sent down to the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League last month.

On Friday afternoon, Bowman found a taker as he traded Rutta and a 2019 seventh-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Slater Koekkoek and a 2019 fifth-round pick.

Chicago Blackhawks: Trade with Tampa Bay could work out [Da Windy City]

Tampa Bay has an embarrassment of riches in just about every aspect of the game, but especially in defense. They had the reigning Norris Trophy winner in Victor Hedman, along with some other very good defenseman. The acquisition of Rutta is likely just to have a guy as a 7th defenseman for some depth in case an injury or something comes up as they prepare to truly go after the Stanley Cup.

For the Blackhawks, this is likely a trade to obtain some cap space, which they seem to be getting more and more of as time goes on. Koekkoek is a young defenseman who makes less than Rutta but he will be a restricted free agent after this season.

Tampa Bay Lightning Trade Slater Koekkoek to Chicago Blackhawks for Jan Rutta [Last Word on Hockey]

In Rutta, the Lightning get an older player who has shown signs of being an offensive defenseman in the league. This season, he has scored two goals and four assists for six points, adding 12 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers are 49.8 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of -3.1. Those totals are down compared to last season, where he scored six goals, 14 assists for 20 points.

So, um, a blog called the Buffalo Hockey Beat is now writing about how good the Tampa Bay Lightning are: Lightning could become one of best teams in NHL history [Buffalo Hockey Beat]

At their current pace, they would win 63 games, one more than NHL record of 62 the Detroit Red Wings set during their 131-point campaign in 1995-96. They’re also on pace for 130 points, two less than the record of 132 the Montreal Canadiens set in 1976-77.

The Prospects

Syracuse Crunch slide continues with loss in Utica [Syracuse.com]

The Syracuse Crunch were downed by the Utica Comets, 3-2, Saturday at the Adirondack Bank Center.

The loss puts the Crunch on a season-high four-game winless streak and drops the team to 21-12-2-1 on the season. The Comets now lead the 12-game season series, 3-2.

The Game

Imagine tasering the linesmen whenever there was a commercial?

Steve Dangle, one of the most entertaining fans in hockey, is now getting community closed caption submissions for his Leaf Fan Recaps. This is good news!

Reasons why our own Bolts broadcasters have way, way better insight than this one guy from Hockey Night in Canada:

And maaaaybe this guy should retire:

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