Pokecheque wrote:
It was Ian Cole who kneed Brock Nelson and they just announced he won't face any supplemental discipline. Most Avs fans I've talked to actually thought that was a dirty play and he should've gotten at the very least one game.
Nelson played (and scored) the next night vs AZ, so I think that figured into the NHL's Wheel of Random Justice determination of no further action. Thankfully neither got really hurt on the play, but it could have been bad for either. I'm never sure if the league should suspend players for something that "could have been bad". I usually think so, but then, most hits could injure, and certainly fights, so where would you draw the line?
Isles with a nice win the following night vs the Desert Dogs, 3-1. Ho-Sang with his first NHL goal in over a year. He made a lot of really smart, simple plays, rather than trying to always be Barzal 2.0. Even Barzal is toning down his skating all over the place just to control the puck. Trotz is clamping down a bit on the over-handling of the puck, and getting everyone to play responsible hockey. Who knew these are the things an NHL coach should do??? Certainly not Isles fans, at least since the days of Arbour.
Scary/funny moment late in the third vs the Coyotes- puck was behind Lehner's net and he tried to move quickly from left to right post, but for some weird reason tried skating fully backwards to do it, instead of sliding across. He caught an edge (karma for bad form?) and fell on his back. It felt like an eternity, late in a 2 goal game, but was probably 0.5 seconds before he scrambled onto his chest and faced the play. He got up before any shots could come in, but wtf was he doing? It's funny because he got away with it, but that's the kind of bumble that costs a team a big game, at least in Isles history. Like DiPietro looking down at his pads when the puck was dropped and Lecavalier shot right off the faceoff and scored on him.
After the game Ho-Sang praised Komarov for teaching him better play in the D-Zone. Maybe the
culture club are really making a difference!
Thursday in Vegas. Sunday in Dallas. Then home. Few games due to the holiday break.
Side note. Someone on Lighthouse pointed out an article that tracks GMs histories as to how many trades they make and when. Lou is most active between Jan 1st and the deadline. It will be interesting to see what he does with a team that is currently exceeding expectations, and sitting in Metro 2, albeit in a very tight race, and with the Atlantic currently having a hold on the 2 wild card spots. Impending UFAs are still Lee (almost certain to sign since they made him Captain and I don't think Lou would do that without being sure he'd stick around), Eberle (likely too expensive and may be traded), Nelson (usually disappears for long stretches and typically needed a GPS to find the D-zone, but has looked consistent and quite defensive under Trotz), Lehner (signed for 1 year and has been inconsistent so far), Filppula (signed for 1 year and has exceeded all expectations), Kuhnackl (signed for 1 year and has met the relatively low expectations given to him), and Sbisa (signed for 1 year and has thankfully been relegated to the press box for most of the season). So Lou has options. The question is if he goes for it with who he has, or if the evaluation period has shown him anything he doesn't like and he starts moving players.