Right off the heels of my update last week (about always keeping an eyes on Wisconsin products and former Badgers) there was quite the happening with two former Badgers last Thursday night. Dany Heatley and Ryan McDonagh both put pucks in right before the horns to force overtime and to win in overtime. Heatley’s Minnesota Wild squad ended up winning in overtime. Just another two Badgers coming up huge. I recommend catching those highlights. Shoot, I may have to celebrate Heatley’s put-in by downing a nice weissbier someday soon…I too should probably freshen up on my German beer styles and regions so I can feel my German blood…or something….
And how about Brian Elliott! Man, I feel like Puckstradamus or something. I dropped him last week, and he’s playing huge for the St. Louis Blues right now. I watched last week’s game when he played against the Philadelphia Flyers and I was pleased with what I saw.
I, like most Badger fans, remember Elliott mining the pipes in the Frozen Four a handful of years ago, and it’s nice to see him resurrect his career a bit. He’s bounced around, and looks like he may have recently played himself into a starting role in St. Louis. He’s 3-0 right now in four games with a save percentage of 93.5%. So, make sure to keep an eye on Mr. Elliott in the ‘Lou. I hope to see him there in early December when I plan on taking a trip to St. Louis.
After mentioning Toronto last week, I just wanted to touch on the Maple Leafs again. In the last five seasons they have not surpassed 40 wins. With five wins in their last eight games, this may be the year they crack the barrier and head into the playoffs. And as a hockey fan, I think it would be great to see the Maple Leafs make some noise this year because of their storied history as a franchise.
Watching their game last night, one of the announcers had quite the affection for former Badger Jake Gardiner. Gardiner was complimented about his style of play and what types of things the rookie can bring to the ice. It was good to hear, but it was not good to see the minor gaffe Gardiner made on defense. With a handful of minutes remaining and trailing by a goal, Mr. Jagr snuck past for a lengthy pass and scored on a breakaway goal to put the Philadelphia Flyers up by two goals late in the third period. I guess that’s how the puck crumbles sometimes…
As for other surprises around the league after these first few weeks, it’s easy to see that some clubs are in trouble early. The Montreal Canadiens have one win, the Columbus Blue Jackets have none to their name and both the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars are atop their respective divisions.
No one is really surprised about Columbus struggling, but it’s hard to grasp that they haven’t posted a win. They do have one loss in overtime though! So there’s a point in the standings! And even in last year’s playoffs, there wasn’t much confidence in them advancing because it seemed they were struggling to get wins. Yes, they took the eventual champions, the Boston Bruins, to a game seven, but it should not have gone that far. Preseason expert opinions really didn’t think the Canadiens had the squad to keep up with their conference and division.
As for Dallas and Colorado, I cannot help but think of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when these squads were playing well. Those were great battles back in the day and I really owe those years and teams to founding my love of watching hockey.
And who can forget some of those playoff thrillers the Dallas Stars were part of, taking games into three or four overtimes. My mom wasn’t too pleased about those battles being on school nights, but a boy has got to do what he has got to do. Thanks for your support, mom.
As I finish up writing this, I look at the clock and realize that the Blackhawks are playing in less than five hours. Sure, that would be enough time to go for a run, read a book or cook dinner, but I am thinking it may be enough time to grab a sandwich and hop the train to downtown Chicago for tonight’s game. Why? It’s Corey Crawford bobblehead night.