Welcome to Hockey After Dark, a nightly recap of the NHL playoffs made possible by insomnia, playoff anxiety, and my BFF caffeine. Come for the topical social commentary, and stay for the sporadic in-depth analysis littered with obscure literary references. If you enjoy the snark, feel free to follow me at @DXTraeger.
Penguins & Flyers Don’t Play, Each Lose a Player Anyway Because…Hockey
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers don’t resume their cross-state lovefest until tomorrow night, but both teams apparently lost vital cogs in their respective machines.
The Penguins will be without the services of uber pest Patric Hornqvist. Mr. Six-Pack Abs was declared “Out” by head coach Mike Sullivan due to the dreaded (and indecipherable) “Upper Body Injury.”
Philadelphia’s loss was much more pronounced, with Radko Gudas doing Radko Gudas things even when Radko Gudas isn’t even trying to do Radko Gudas things…
…yes, well, Gudas backed into an unsuspecting Sean Couturier and apparently crunched the Flyers’ center’s right knee.
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The above video, posted by WPVI’s @JamieApody, shows the affectionately known “Coots” immediately throwing his stick in anger before being helped off the ice and into the trainer’s area.
The injuries present roster issues for both teams, but given Philly’s general weakness down the middle, losing Couturier would throw the Flyers’ familiar line combinations into utter chaos.
Nolan Patrick could move up to play alongside former center Claude “I Have More Arrests Than Goals Since April 30, 2014” Giroux, or perhaps Giroux, the Flyers’ captain, could move back to his former position to try and minimize the otherwise necessary trickle-down line alignments.
Any which way, the Flyers are slated to make upwards of four roster changes to try and jump-start their play according to #NotAHomer Sam Carchidi.
For their part, the Penguins put Dominik Simon on the top line along Sidney Crosby in practice Tuesday, but expect Sullivan to use countless iterations tomorrow night, including (but not limited to) Kessel alongside Malkin, Zach Aston-Reese bouncing around the top three lines as a Patric Hornqvist VERY-lite, or even moving Riley Sheahan up from the fourth line and rolling three lines instead of four.
Regardless of whom suits up, expect a desperate Philadelphia team as the puck drops for Game 4 later tonight.
Staal Brother Karma Exists as Eric Staal is Cross-Checked to the Face With No Call
Remember back when Marc Staal savagely attacked the recently-concussed Sidney Crosby in the back of the skull and not a single penalty was called and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety did nothing?
Marc’s older (and much more talented) brother Eric felt the brunt of karmic retribution for the lesser Staal’s transgressions on Tuesday night, when Eric was brutally cross-checked in the face by the Winnipeg Jet’s Josh Morrissey.
No penalty was called (although the new peeps at the DOPS might still throw the book at Morrissey), and the Wild, desperate for an offensive opportunity to tie the series, never got the 5-on-3 scoring chance they deserved. As such, the opposing Jets, would go on to win the game 2-0 and now control the series, 3-to-1.
Tuesday was a double-whammy for the Minnesota Wild as franchise playoff points leader, Zach Parise, was likely ruled out for the playoffs with a freaking fractured sternum.
Yes, the same kind of injury you’d expect someone in a horrible car accident to have, Parise got from a hockey game. Holy. Cow.
Marc-Andre Fleury Tops the Conn Smythe Leaderboard After Helping the Las Vegas Golden Knights Sweep the Los Angeles Kings
When the Golden Knights drafted Marc-Andre Fleury during the expansion draft, the brand new NHL team’s brand new fans rose and gave the former Penguins netminder a resounding and memorable standing ovation.
A little less than 10 months later, Las Vegas fans are cheering their goalie for stonewalling the always-difficult Los Angeles Kings en route to a first round sweep for the rookie franchise.
In the four games, Fleury gave up 3 goals and had a ridiculous .977 save percentage.
The Golden Knights’ Brayden McNabb finished a pretty passing play in the 2nd period for the game’s only score, and Fleury recorded his second shutout of the series (12th playoff shutout of his stellar career) to move his new home team into the second round.
So begins the apparent “I-15 Rivalry” out in the Western Conference.
And now…
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