A fairly light night in pre-season hockey action yesterday with just four games taking place.
The Night that Was:
-On the same day that the NHL announced that the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers would play in this year’s Winter Classic, the two clashed in the most memorable exhibition game of recent memory. Or the second-most memorable. Both however, involved Wayne Simmonds.
Sean Avery and Simmonds really got into it in the first when Tom Sestito ran Andre Deveaux from behind into the end boards. The ensuing scrum paired off the two agitators, and as they were down on the ice, Avery sucker-punched Simmonds. Afterwards, the two refused to leave each other alone, as Simmonds reportedly used a homophobic slur towards Avery. The matchup would go on all evening between the two, and should make for an interesting regular season matchup.
There was a hockey game played however. Jaromir Jagr, Danny Briere, and Claude Giroux all came away with three-point nights for the Flyers as Philadelphia won 5-3.
-The Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 last night. Dennis Wideman, Cody Eakin, and Mathieu Perreault had goals for the Caps who also got three assists out of Chris Bourque, and a 22-save effort from Michal Neuvirth. Curtis Sanford made 32 saves for Columbus as Vaclav Prospal scored for the Jackets.
-Make it back-to-back games with a goal for Tyler Seguin. Last year’s second overall pick scored against the Montreal Canadiens last night and Chris Clark added one too as the Bruins beat the Canadiens 2-1. Tuukka Rask outduelled Carey Price, making 31 saves to Price’s 30, as Mike Cammalleri had Montreal’s goal.
-Winnipeg scored a big exhibition win last night, downing the Ottawa Senators 3-1. Mark Scheifele’s impressive camp continued with the opening goal of the game and Troy Bodie would also score before another 2011 draftee, Mika Zibanejad, would score for Ottawa. Ben Maxwell scored the third goal for the Jets.
What’s on Tonight?
Six games on the exhibition schedule tonight: Dallas visits Florida, the Maple Leafs hit Ottawa, Pittsburgh finds themselves in Los Angeles, the Blues take on the Wild, the New York Islanders will face the Calgary Flames, and the Phoenix Coyotes take on the youthfully resurgent Edmonton Oilers.
News and Notes:
-Brendan Shanahan was at it again on Monday. Shanahan handed out two more suspensions that caught the attention of the league and it’s followers: Minnesota Wild forward Brad Staubitz was suspended the balance of the pre-season and three regular season games and Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski was suspended for the rest of the pre-season and eight regular season games. Both are linked to Shanahan’s video explanations.
-As we discussed earlier, the Winter Classic will pit the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers against each other this year, in Philadelphia. The NHL also announced the return of 24/7 on HBO.
-Jonathan Cheechoo was placed on waivers yesterday by the St. Louis Blues. Cheechoo had gone to camp with the Blues hoping to resurrect his NHL career.
-With Andrei Markov’s questionable injury status, the Canadiens gave Chris Campoli a one-year, $1.75-million contract.
-And just because: Tom Sestito was placed on waivers today by the Flyers. Doubtful that it’s entirely to do with yesterday. Mark Parrish was also placed on waivers by Ottawa today.
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