I had the privilege of attending the Grey Cup with my dad on Sunday
evening in Toronto, and what a game it was, as his Ottawa Redblacks
edged the favored Calgary Stampeders 39-33 in overtime to win the city's
first CFL championship since 1976.
Ottawa's hockey team is charging too -- up this week's Power Rankings:
The Blackhawks survived the
circus trip, going 3-3-1 and taking three out of four points in SoCal over the weekend without injured captain
Jonathan Toews.
I'm running out of words to describe some of the saves
Carey Price makes. He had a number of beauties in Detroit on Saturday night.
The
league's highest-scoring team was shut out at home by the Senators on
Sunday night. At some point you know the scoring will have a market
correction.
Backup goalie
Philipp Grubauer
has a .936 save percentage in five starts this season. I wonder if
former Caps GM George McPhee will look for him in the Las Vegas
expansion draft.
Sidney Crosby has 15 goals in 16 games, including Saturday night's
last-minute game-tying goal in a 4-3 shootout win over New Jersey.
The Senators have won four straight, all with rock-solid
Craig Anderson in net.
Kyle Turris' winner on Saturday against Carolina was an absolute beauty.
Ben Bishop has lost his last three starts and
Andrei Vasilevskiy
has won his last two while sporting an NHL-best .951 save percentage on
the season. It might be time to give the kid a bit more of a role.
The
charging Blues have won five of six games and are starting to look like
the contender they truly are. Having the league's second-ranked penalty
kill also helps.
Cam Atkinson leads all Blue Jackets scorers with 20 points in 20 games, and is easily on pace for a career season.
Filip Forsberg leads the team with 16 points, but I still can't believe that last season's 33-goal scorer only has two goals.
Bruce Boudreau's club is still No. 1 in goals against -- just like his Ducks were last season in Anaheim.
Proud papa
Jeff Carter
is having himself a season with a team-leading 19 points (10-9) in 22
games. The Kings, meanwhile, have won a season-high five in a row.
Backup goalie
Jonathan Bernier, who beat the Sharks on Saturday, is 4-1-1 with a .933 save percentage.
Joonas Donskoi and
Mikkel Boedker have combined for four goals. That's not going to cut it.
Oof.
The Oilers were swept in a home-and-home with the Coyotes over the
weekend. The ups and downs continue for this young, talented team.
The
Devils have dropped five of their past six games. They head to Winnipeg
next, followed by road stops in Chicago and Nashville.
Despite being nominated for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year last season,
Gerard Gallant is out of a job
just 22 games into this season. It's unfair, but it's hardly surprising
given the rumblings we heard from the Panthers' new regime. He was
never their guy. I hate that about this business.
The Bruins snapped a three-game losing skid with a win over Tampa Bay on Sunday. But the B's are still just 24th in scoring.
The Stars are 26th on the PK. Shoring that up would help make a difference in all these close games.
The top-ranked PK unit gave up its first power-play goal against since Oct. 30 on Sunday in a win over Florida.
Auston Matthews versus
Connor McDavid, Part Deux, on Tuesday night in Edmonton. Giddy-up.
The Jets are 23rd in goals against. That's the area they've got to shore up to be the team I think they can be.
The
Flyers are still last in goals against per game (3.30) and it's as much
about their team defensive coverage as anything else.
The Wings are 25th in goals scored per game (2.32) -- which, given their forward depth, surprises me a little.
Talk about a special-teams disaster: The Flames rank 30th on the power play, 29th on the penalty-kill.
Since
getting waxed 7-2 by the Rangers on Nov. 15, the Canucks have gone
3-1-1 and given up more than two goals just once during that stretch.
Back-to-back wins over McDavid and the Oilers. Not too shabby.
This just doesn't look like a playoff team. Again. So where do the Avalanche go from here?
The league's lowest-scoring team has scored two or fewer goals in 12 of 13 games this month.
With two wins in 11 November games, you have to wonder how much longer new ownership will be patient.
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