The NHL has named its three stars for the previous week, with goaltender Corey Crawford taking top honors. Crawford earned two shutouts for the Chicago Blackhawks last week, and recorded a .919 save percentage. Unfortunately, Chicago is still just 7-6-2 on the season after dropping last night’s game against Montreal 2-0. They’ll need more solid performances from Crawford going forward if they’re to really climb towards the top of the standings.
Josh Bailey and Martin Jones took home second and third respectively, after impressive weeks of their own. Bailey had an incredible seven assists last week and now has 15 on the season, and Jones led the Sharks to three straight wins. Both the Sharks and Islanders have climbed out of early holes to establish themselves as relevant playoff possibilities once again.
- Matt Calvert will be out three to four weeks with an upper-body injury according to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen. Calvert was injured in Saturday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and has been placed on injured reserve. Losing Calvert will test the Blue Jackets’ forward depth even more, as they’re already without Lukas Sedlak and Cam Atkinson for the time being. The team has not made a corresponding move yet, and will take on the New York Rangers tonight.
- Auston Matthews is a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight as he deals with “soreness” according to head coach Mike Babcock. If Matthews does miss the game, it would be the first time in his career he failed to suit up. In 97 career regular season games, Matthews now has 50 goals and is showing he could be even more dominant than anyone expected when he was selected first overall. The Maple Leafs can’t afford to lose him for very long though, as their slide continued with a 6-4 loss at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
- Unfortunately for the fans in Stockholm, Carl Soderberg may not be in the lineup when the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators play NHL regular season games in Sweden later this week. The Swedish-born forward did not travel with the team, instead staying at home in Denver with his pregnant wife. Since the couple is expecting the baby on Tuesday, he hasn’t yet been ruled out for the back-to-back games.
Aside from the goal scoring, what’s striking about Matthews so far, is his strong play in all 3 zones.
His ability to steal pucks and anticipate passes is stunning. I can’t take my eyes off him when he’s on the ice, he’s the complete package.
Matthews has that very rare combination of size to go along with high end skill. These types of players are difficult to play against because you just aren’t sure how to defend them. What is really scary? Matthews is only going to get much stronger & that has to be a nightmare for the rest of the league. Toronto has a great one in Matthews plus, has one of the best coaches in the league to guide him as he learns more about the NHL style game.