UPDATE 4:45 PM
Brenden Shanahan and the Department of Player Safety have decided to give Shawn Thornton a 15 game suspension for his acts of violence against Brooks Orpik
Here is the video explanation:
There was not a magic number of games that Shanahan could have suspended Thornton to please everybody.
I don't think this is much of a punishment given the explanation by the league.
The NHL deemed the event an "act of retribution", not a "hockey play that went bad", and "not a spontaneous reaction"
Basically the NHL just set the ceiling for first time offenders. No matter how egregious an act you commit it will only be at most a 15 game suspension. Some standard.
The league was in a spot where they could have really sent a stern message and changed the course of their discipline. To nobody's surprise they failed to do so. Business as usual for the Department of Player Safety.
Suspend Thornton for the year and this kind of event NEVER happens again.
Also worth noting from the suspension video are the players on the Bruins bench pointing and egging Thornton on to go down the ice to attack somebody.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins held on to beat the visiting New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Friday night. The Penguins jumped out to an impressive 3-0 lead and then watched the Devils seize control of the game for the final 2 periods.
The Penguins were able to hang on and Marc Andre Fleury was the reason why. Here are the game highlights:
Here is the possession chart, which I believe accurately depicts how the game went:
The story of the game was Marc Andre Fleury holding the fort down despite being under siege. The Devils attempted 84 shots in the game to the Penguins 41. Not exactly a recipe for success on most nights if you are the Penguins.
Marc Andre Fleury is now 12-2 at home with a 1.67 GAA and a save percentage of .942%.
There were no #Jagrbombs on Friday night but the icon had 2 assists in what could be his final game in Pittsburgh as an active NHL player.
Megnatron continues to do nothing to dispel the notion that he is worthy of being a regular NHL player. Size, speed, and the willingness to go to the dirty areas. Sounds like a quality bottom 6 guy to me.
The Penguins released their Stadium Series jersey, what do you think about it?
The Red Wings are suffering from the injury bug right now as you can see below in the injuries section but most disappointing has to be the injury to Captain Henrik Zetterberg.
The Shawn Thornton ruling is expected to be given out today at some point. An update will be provided when that ruling is made official.
I just want to take a minute to congratulate Rochester Red Wings GM Dan Mason and Sabres/Amerks Owner Terry Pegula on putting on a fabulous event at Frontier Field in Rochester, NY last night.
Frozen Frontier was an outdoor hockey game that was played at the local minor league baseball stadium and had the Rochester Americans play against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Amerks found themselves down 3-1 but fought back to take a 5-4 lead. Grand Rapids tied the game with .3 seconds left. The Amerks eventually won in the shootout. Perfect game that had something for everybody.
Packed house #Panorama #ROC pic.twitter.com/gJcgJjJcvD
— Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) December 14, 2013The Frozen Frontier event will include RIT men’s and women’s hockey, as well as local Div III hockey teams. Next weekend will include two full days of high school hockey games. People that complain about the amount of outdoor games that are being played probably don’t realize what a great event it is for the entire community, not just the main event team.
Line Combos
Projected lineup for the Penguins:
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis Jokinen-Malkin-Megna Conner-Sutter-Vitale Adams-Sill-Kobasew
Maatta-Letang Despres-Niskanen Engelland-Bortuzzo-Dumoulin
Projected lineup for Red Wings:
Abdelkader-Datsyuk-Alfredsson Nyquist-Franzen-Bertuzzi Miller-Andersson-Tatar Cleary-Glendening-Samuelsson
Kronwall-Ericsson Quincey-Smith Kindl-Lashoff
Injuries
Brooks Orpik remains out of practice and thus out of the lineup with concussion symptoms that stem from the Thornton incident. Brooks Orpik skated away from the team yesterday but that does not mean that much progress has been made. Sidney Crosby skated in March of 2011 and did not return to game action until November of 2011.
The Red Wings are a battered group right now.
Henrik Zetterberg is out of action until at least December 28th with a herniated disc in his back.
Starting goaltender Jimmy Howard will miss 2-4 weeks with a grade 1 MCL sprain. Stephen Weiss is now nursing a groin injury and will be out indefinitely.
Promising youngster Danny DeKeyser is out with a shoulder injury and has missed action since November 20th.
Darren Helm is expected to miss the next 7-10 days with a shoulder injury.
Power Play
The Pittsburgh Penguins still have the best power play in the NHL. It currently sits at 25.9%.
The Red Wings power play is 10th overall at 19.6%.
The Penguins are tied for 10th in the league with 112 power play opportunities
The Red Wings are also tied for 10th overall with 112 power play opportunities.
Penalty Kill
The Penguins are 2nd overall in the NHL on the PK with 87.1%
The Red Wings are 8th overall with 85.4%.
The Penguins are 2nd best in the league with only being shorthanded 93 times
Detroit is tied for 26th overall with 123 times shorthanded.
Fenclose%
The Penguins are 5th overall at 54.2%
The Red Wings are 15th overall at 50.2%
Even Strength Save %
The Red Wings are 12th with an EVSV% of .926%. However, starting goaltender Jimmy Howard will be out for a few weeks with a grade 1 MCL sprain.
The Penguins are ranked 22nd overall with .921%. Marc Andre Fleury is at .926%.
Trends
Red Wings are 1-4 in their last 5 overall
Red Wings are 1-4 in their last 5 vs. Eastern Conference
Red Wings are 0-4 in their last 4 Saturday games
Home team is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings
Penguins are 5-2 in the last 7 meetings
Stats are courtesy of covers.com
Thanks for reading!
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