Here’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from a busy few days in the NHL.
We’re debuting a new feature here at Puck Prose, something I enjoyed doing at previous sites on the FanSided network, and something that I think will work incredibly well here, especially given the frantic nature of this season with games on every single night.
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So, to explain exactly what this feature is, we’re going to take a look at the Good, the Bad and the downright Ugly from the latest action across the National Hockey League and we’re going to kick off the first edition by taking a look at the last few days, dating back to Saturday and covering Monday’s games – we’ll cover Tuesday in a separate edition later.
And, I mean, we’ve got a lot to cover with OT heroics, a wild, wild game on Sunday, the debut of some more very fresh Retro Reverse jerseys and a whole lot of goals and unforgettable action with some player drama thrown in for good measure.
We are going to aim to do this at least a couple of times a week so, without further ado, let’s delve right into The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from the last few days in the NHL – hope you enjoy!
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly in the NHL
The Good
Retro Reverse Uniforms – We’ve seen a handful of Retro Reverse jerseys debut in the opening few weeks of the 2020-21 NHL season, including a few this weekend. And there is no doubt that the honor of having the best belong to the Minnesota Wild, who wore their incredibly fresh-looking white jerseys with green and yellow sleeves and trim for the very first time on Saturday.
It proved to be a good-luck charm too as defenseman Jonas Brodin scoring the game-winner in Overtime as the Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3, despite being without a host of key players in the ilk of Matt Dumba, Marcus Foligno, Marcus Johansson and Kevin Fiala. It was a huge win for the Minnesota Wild and they sure as hell looked good doing it in some of the best Retro Reverse Jerseys we have seen so far this season.
Speaking of which, the Pittsburgh Penguins also wore their Retro Reverse Jerseys for the very first time on Monday when they played the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. And, while they didn’t have the same luck as the Minnesota Wild after losing 3-1 to the Blueshirts, these uniforms also looked pretty impressive and more so during action than they did when they were first revealed back in the offseason. Simple yet clean, the Penguins paid homage to their stellar past with these jerseys but they will be hoping for better days in these uniforms after a tough loss to open the week.
OT Heroics – We witnessed history on Saturday when three No. 1 overall picks in the NHL each scored an Overtime goal, the first time that has ever happened in the rich history of the National Hockey League. This rare and impressive feat happened because Sidney Crosby scored the game-winner for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 5-4 win against the New York Rangers, Alex Ovechkin scored in OT for the Washington Capitals against the Boston Bruins and Connor McDavid also recorded an OT game-winner for the Edmonton Oilers in their big win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
What was even more eye-catching was the fact that all three goals were scored within a 15-minute stretch, and that wasn’t all as Florida Panthers rookie Aleksi Heponiemi became just the fourth player in NHL history to score an Overtime goal on their NHL debut, joining Kirill Kaprizov, Tim Sweeney and Nick Knott. Not bad at all and it was a pretty good night for Overtime heroics on Saturday.
Goals – We’ve been treated to a mouthwatering feast of attacking displays so far in 2020-21, and that was none more evident than over the weekend. A total of 71 goals were scored on Saturday night alone, while the craziness only continued on Sunday night when the Ottawa Senators and the Edmonton Oilers combined for 13 goals in what was a crazy game of hockey, including combining for eight goals in the first period alone.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were the stars of the show for the Oilers after combining for 11 points with Draisaitl recording six assists, and it really was a wild, wild few days in the National Hockey League with goals galore. And we’re here for all of it.
Zdeno Chara – We have to give Zdeno Chara a special mention here given that it was an emotional weekend for the future Hall of Famer who faced his former team in the Boston Bruins for the first time since signing for the Washington Capitals during the offseason, and it turned out to be an eventful couple of games.
Not only did the Capitals beat the Bruins in Overtime on Saturday (see above), but Chara also scored against his old team on Monday by dispatching his trademark slap shot from the point. It would have been a weird moment for Chara, and it was certainly strange seeing the hulking defenseman light the lamp wearing a Washington jersey rather than the Black and Gold of the Boston Bruins.
The Bad
Ottawa Senators – It hasn’t been a great start to the 2020-21 season for the Ottawa Senators, who are bottom of the North Division with a 1-8-1 record. Granted, this was always going to be a tough year for the rebuilding Sens, but no one thought it would have been this bad.
And it was a rough weekend for Ottawa who were beat 8-5 by the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, ensuring that they currently rank 31st in the entire National Hockey League in Goals Against Per Game, averaging 4.80. I mean, they have been that bad that they could have been placed in The Ugly category, although that is reserved for a special someone today, but you have to think that the Ottawa Senators could well end up putting together a worse season than the Detroit Red Wings did last year, which just didn’t seem possible. They do say that it only gets uglier before it gets better…
COVID-19 – We have a feeling that this will crop up under The Bad category in this feature quite a few times this year. After combining for two hugely entertaining games in a back-to-back set on Saturday and Sunday, which was split, the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils both found themselves on the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol list this week and will be shut down for the foreseeable as a result. It means that the East Division will be thrown into chaos from a schedule point of view, while we also miss out on the chance for a little while at least to watch the Devils and the Sabres, who were both incredibly good entertainment value in the opening weeks of the season.
New York Islanders – After making the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019-20, big things were expected of the New York Islanders this season and, while still very early days, it hasn’t been a great start for Head Coach Barry Trotz’s team. They have dropped four straight, including two games to the Philadelphia Flyers over the weekend, and they are now seventh in the East Division with a 3-4-2 record. In the famous words of the great Pete Campbell from Mad Men, “Not great Bob, not great.”
The Ugly
Tony DeAngelo – We were thrown some early drama on Sunday when it was revealed that the New York Rangers had placed defenseman Tony DeAngelo on Waivers. It came as a shock given that the Blueshirts had signed the offensive blueliner to a two-year, $9,600,000 contract in the offseason in the wake of a career-year in 2019-20 with 53 points (15 G, 38 A) in 68 regular-season games.
However, DeAngelo got off to a horrific start in 2020-21 with one assist in six games with a plus / minus rating of -6, while he was also benched for two games and had suffered a few on-ice meltdowns. That, coupled with his erratic and disturbing behaviour on Twitter, put him on notice with the Rangers and, after getting in an altercation with goaltender Alexandar Georgiev in the wake of the 5-4 OT loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, enough was enough.
And, although Tony DeAngelo was not claimed on Waivers, New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton stated on Monday that the defenseman had played his last game for the franchise and will now remain at home until a trade or another solution is reached. Yikes. That’s it for our first edition of our The Good, The Bad & The Ugly feature! We hope you enjoyed it and we will be back later with another edition!