The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders by a score of 4-1 in Game 2 of their series. Tyler Johnson performed well as he potted two goals and an assist while Jonathan Drouin notched the game-winning goal, his first of the playoffs. For the Islanders, Nikolay Kulemin scored the only goal that was assisted by Thomas Hickey and Alan Quine. Ben Bishop bounced back with the win, stopping all but one of the 20 shots he faced for a .950 save percentage. Thomas Greiss took the loss, allowing three goals on 30 shots for a .900 save percentage.
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The Washington Capitals lost their lead in the series last night as they fell 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marcus Johansson scored the only goal for Washington. Carl Hagelin scored the first goal for the Penguins from a pass from Nick Bonino while Eric Fehr got the game-winning goal. It was Fehr’s second of the playoffs and assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz. Matt Murray was phenomenal in net as he stopped all but one of the 24 shots he faced for a .958 save percentage. Braden Holtby played well but took the loss as he ended the night with a .943 save percentage.
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For those of you who didn’t watch the NHL Draft Lottery, don’t worry, anarchy didn’t break out. The Edmonton Oilers didn’t win the lottery and were actually bumped down to the fourth pick. Instead, the Toronto Maple Leafs won and now own the first overall selection in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. While some people are disappointed that the Leafs won, I think a deserving team got the pick. The Leafs may have “tanked”, but I think they did it right and should get rewarded. Even though they knew they were going to be bad, they signed decent players in free agency and did a great job of playing the kids and staying competitive. Auston Matthews only makes them more competitive sooner. The Winnjipeg Jets will draft second overall and the Columbus Blue Jackets will draft third. Here is the full order.
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Winnipeg Jets
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Edmonton Oilers
- Vancouver Canucks
- Calgary Flames
- Arizona Coyotes
- Buffalo Sabres
- Montreal Canadiens
- Colorado Avalanche
- New Jersey Devils
- Ottawa Senators
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Boston Bruins
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The NHL announced on Saturday that the finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy were Loui Eriksson of the Boston Bruins, Florida forward Aleksander Barkov, and Kings’ center Anze Kopitar. The Lady Byng Trophy is annually given to “the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the nominees and it’s a tough call as to who will win. My money would be on Kopitar but it’s nice to see Barkov and Eriksson as finalists.
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Detroit Red Wings forward Joakim Andersson has signed a two-year contract with Örebro of the Swedish Hockey League. After playing with the Red Wings for five seasons, Andersson leaves with 15 goals and 21 assists in 205 career games. In the first-round loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, he played in all five games. The 27 year-old forward was set to become an unrestricted free agent but looks to continue his hockey career elsewhere.
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While the Detroit Red Wings are building a brand new arena, many fans aren’t happy about what the stadium’s name will be. On Thursday, it was announced that the arena would be named Little Caesars Arena after naming rights were sold to Mike Ilitch. Julien Nadeau, long time fan, was so outraged that she started her own petition to change the name to Caesars Colosseum.
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