2020-2021 NHL Season

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Ovechkin now has 713 goals. Needs 5 more to pass Phil Esposito for 6th on the all time list.

Sidney Crosby is in Covid protocol and out tonight for the battle of Pennsylvania.
 
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Pittsburgh beats Philadelphia 4-3 this afternoon. A much needed win after the worst loss for any team this season, on Thursday to the Flyers.
They were up 3-0 at 3:57 of the first period, scoring 3 goals in 1:11s, only to lose 4-3 to Philadelphia at the end.

With Brian Burke as President/ Ron Hextall as GM and Chris Pryor as director of player personal/Head Scouting ,Pittsburgh is in good hands and will build another Championship caliber team in the near future.
 

Don Wassall

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The Penguins maintain possession long enough in an equal strength situation to make 21 passes (!) before Kasperi Kapanen makes a sweet move and scores:

 
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It may be a record.
Thanks for the video Don.

Ovechkin has goal 716 tonight, is two away from passing Phil Esposito for number six on the all time list.

List:
Wayne Gretzky 894
Gordie Howe 801
Jaromir Jagr 766
Brett Hull 741
Marcel Dionne 731
Phil Esposito 717
Alexander Ovechkin 716
 

white lightning

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It may be a record.
Thanks for the video Don.

Ovechkin has goal 716 tonight, is two away from passing Phil Esposito for number six on the all time list.

List:
Wayne Gretzky 894
Gordie Howe 801
Jaromir Jagr 766
Brett Hull 741
Marcel Dionne 731
Phil Esposito 717
Alexander Ovechkin 716


Ovechkin is a stud He will smash that record. All of these guys are the cream of the crop. It's funny as the NBA always tries to say it has the best athletes in the world. It's not even
close. I could name so many sports that are much more difficult athletically with hockey being one of them. Most of the primadonnas in the nba could never last long on the ice. This
separates the men from the boys!
 

Don Wassall

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Sidney Crosby reached the 1,300 career point mark tonight. He's the 8th fastest in league history to get there, though it took him roughly twice as many games as Gretzky and Lemieux, which is partly a reflection of the high-flying, high-scoring era in which those two greats played.
 
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Pittsburgh and Washington are falling apart between the pipes. The East will be won by the team with the best net minder during the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Don are you going to catch any of the NCAA frozen four being played in Pittsburgh next week?
 

Don Wassall

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Don are you going to catch any of the NCAA frozen four being played in Pittsburgh next week?

It's had virtually no publicity here, hopefully it'll pick up this week. I don't follow college hockey so not much interest.
 

Don Wassall

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I was surprised to see the Pens-Sabres game being televised nationally by NBC given how bad the Sabres are. Turning it on just now, I see why. It's a "joint Pride game," meaning both teams are wearing the rainbow colors on everything, even their warm-up uniform numbers, along with "special" versions of the U.S. and Canadian national anthems (I didn't realize Buffalo is in Canada). By "joint" it's essentially a forced propaganda event by NBC and Bettman. Players on both teams had to read prepared statements welcoming the "LBGT+ community" or whatever it's called now, with the letters always changing.

This crap is just as bad as MLB shifting the All Star Game. They're not "fighting discrimination," they're forcing an ideological agenda on people that just want to watch a sports event. My choice is not to watch it. Golf's on CBS so golf it is. Or better yet, there's lots of yard work to do.
 
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At least Pitt won the propaganda game 3-2 over Buffalo. The Sabres hit the post near the end of game.

Tonight Patrick Marleau ties Gordie Howe for the NHL All-Time Iron Man at 1767 games played. He will set the record on Monday April 19 when SanJose plays at Vegas.
Marleau was one of the 3 or 4 fastest men in the NHL during his younger days, while being 6-2/215. For a speed athlete to avoid injury for 23 NHL seasons is unreal.

Alex Ovechkin is up to 730 goals, two more and he passes Marcel Dionne for fifth all time.

Looking forward to the playoffs in May and June.
 

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Disappointed every League is tripping over itself virtue signaling! Even Hockey falls Victim to Globohomo.
 

Don Wassall

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Tonight Patrick Marleau ties Gordie Howe for the NHL All-Time Iron Man at 1767 games played. He will set the record on Monday April 19 when SanJose plays at Vegas.
Marleau was one of the 3 or 4 fastest men in the NHL during his younger days, while being 6-2/215. For a speed athlete to avoid injury for 23 NHL seasons is unreal.

Marleau has indeed been extremely reliable and durable and consistent and deserves the record, but it's one of those records that it's hard to get overly enthusiastic about considering whose mark he broke. Marleau will never be mentioned among the all-time greats. It's kind of like, say, Harold Baines breaking the all-time record for MLB games played.

Anyway, Gordie played an additional five seasons in the WHA, games that don't count when it comes to NHL stats, and didn't retire until he was 52!

Since we both like the Pens, they had a 6-0 lead over New Jersey last night after two periods and yet barely won 7-6. It was the first time in the NHL's 103 year history in which a team scored 6 goals in the third period and still didn't win. Or, the first time in NHL history a team leading going into the third period gave up 6 goals and still won, take your pick. It should have been a Pens blowout, a statement game, but instead the Penguins reverted to their default mode of laziness and lack of discipline instead of closing out their opponent and had to hang on to the very end to get the two points. Tristan Jarry was horrendous in goal and d-man Kris Letang may have been worse.

Pitt surprised just about everyone with a great run in March and are a cinch for the playoffs, but after bowing out two years in a row in the first round, fans are keeping their fingers crossed. It may be the last go-round for their aging threesome core of Crosby, Malkin and Letang, but Malkin's been hurt and who knows if he'll be ready for the playoffs, and even then which version of "Geno" will show up? He was awful the first part of the season but was coming on big time before his knee injury.
 
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Don Wassall

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Jaromir Jagr is still going strong at the age of 49 and a professional career going back 30 years. He's an all-time NHL great but the petty fans in Pittsburgh have mostly disowned him because he made a couple comments indicating his unhappiness when the Penguins organization was floundering. Quite pathetic.

Jaromir Jagr leads his club back to top Czech league at 49

https://triblive.com/sports/jaromir-jagr-leads-his-club-back-to-top-czech-league-at-49/
 
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Amazing. Thanks for the Article Don. Jagr was one of the NHL all time greats that Pittsburgh has had. Lemieux/ Crosby/ Malkin and others.


Marleau is amazing more because he was a super speed athlete who never got seriously injured. He may still set the consecutive games played record.

Iam looking forward to the Unpredictable playoffs. The most difficult of all sports.
 

Don Wassall

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Jagr is rarely mentioned among the all-time greats even though he's second on the all-time NHL scoring list. And he didn't get there just by playing a long time, he led the league in scoring five times, including four years in a row in the 1990s. He wasn't just a great scorer, he had an incredibly strong base with legs like tree trunks and at 6'3" and 230 pounds was all but immovable yet he could also fly up and down the ice. He came into the league as an 18 year old rookie and right away played a key role in the Penguins' back to back Cup wins in '91 and '92. It just ticks me off how little respect he gets, in Pittsburgh and in general. Being European (Czech) with a thick English accent might be a big part of it, but he has a fun-loving infectious personality. Girls swooned over him when he entered the league.

Yeah, the most grueling playoffs in sports is soon to begin. The Penguins are really playing well, almost as well and with the same style they had in '16 when they just dominated the league down the regular season stretch run and then through the playoffs. This team isn't at that level yet and plays in a very tough division where Washington, Boston, NYI and Pittsburgh are pretty much evenly matched, so it'll be exciting and stressful when the playoffs get started.
 
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I agree about Jagr. I shouldn’t have put Malkin in the same sentence as Lemieux/Crosby/Jagr.
Malkin is on the decline for sure.
The East is once again the toughest Division. I will be paying attention to the first two rounds of the playoffs to see what team emerges as a Stanley Cup favourite. I have no database to work off of for this kind of NHL format. It will be interesting.
 

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Malkin is only a few notches below the other three. When he's on his game he's a unique offensive talent who's as talented and entertaining as the best of them. He's been wildly inconsistent this season before he was injured. Turning the puck over too much and taking too many unnecessary penalties are his main negatives, more noticeable as he's gotten older and his physical abilities have begun declining, but he should end up as one of the very best Russians to play in the NHL and a surefire Hall of Famer.
 

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Here's some Geno highlights. Having Malkin and Crosby together on the Penguins for a long time after previously having Lemieux and Jagr, well hockey fans here have been spoiled when it comes to great offensive players.

 

Carolina Speed

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Here's some Geno highlights. Having Malkin and Crosby together on the Penguins for a long time after previously having Lemieux and Jagr, well hockey fans here have been spoiled when it comes to great offensive players.

Watched Malkin's highlights. Thanks. I don't know much about Hockey, but what these guys do on ice skates, they have to be some of the world's greatest athletes. Just Amazing!
 

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Jeff Carter had the first 4 goal game of his long and distinguished career tonight and is now just two goals away from 400. He was a great pick-up by the Penguins for the stretch run.
 
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Yes the Penguins front office is one of the best.
It s nice to have the worst team(Buffalo) at home for the last two games of the year. Pittsburgh’s last game of the regular season is Saturday at 3 pm. They don’t have any makeup games either so they have close to a week to rest before the playoffs.
 

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The Vegas-Colorado series is of the highest, intense quality, as is the Boston-NYI series. The damn Islanders beat the Penguins in six games despite the Pens dominating play a good part of the time outside of Game 4. The Bruins have been even more dominant against the Islanders, but the Islanders are masters of taking advantage of their opportunities and now lead Boston 3 games to 2. Vegas-Colorado is 2 games each with Game 5 taking place right now.

Montreal came back and beat the Maple Leafs and then swept Winnipeg, but I'll be very surprised if they make it through the semis. The quality of play in the Montreal-Winnipeg series was a noticeable drop-off from the other three second round series. The Vegas-Colorado series winner should make it to the finals by beating the Canadiens, to face either Tampa or the winner of Boston-NYI. Any of the latter three will make a worthy Finals combatant. Vegas, Colorado, Tampa, Boston and NYI are all really strong teams. There's truly nothing like Stanley Cup playoff hockey, something special to watch.
 
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Jarry gave away game 5 to the NYI then they crushed Pitt in game 6 to win the series. NYI should win the series against Boston, then be off to lose against Tampa.
Fleury has just stole game 5 for Vegas to take a 3-2 game lead in the series over Colorado.The winner of this series gets to beat up Montreal and go to the Cup against Tampa.
Colorado doesn’t have the goalie to win it all, or even get by Vegas most likely.
Tampa is again a juggernaut with a complete team to win it all fairly easily.
 
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