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We've got ourselves a series afterall, sports fans!
Dustin Tokarski and the Montreal Canadiens scrapped, battled and scratched their way to a 3-2 OT win inside MSG on Thursday night. Carey Price's rookie under study made 35 saves for his first ever NHL postseason win.
PK Subban told the Canadiens' website after the 3-2 OT win that he has known for years that Tokarski is a special goaltender.
“I’ve seen him perform at some elite levels, especially at the World Juniors [in 2009], and I’ve seen him put on some pretty spectacular goaltending performances. The way he played tonight on this stage shows you what he can do at this level,…
“It’s a big boost for our hockey club. He made some saves where we were kind of looking at each other like, ‘Guys, we’ve got to wake up. He’s giving us an opportunity to continue to have success and we have to back him up.’…
Tokarski has made 62 saves on 67 shots in his past two games. His .925 save % is very impressive. Tokarski has proven he’s ready for his chance to shine under an even brighter spotlight.
My jaw hit the floor when I watched Tokarski perform grand larceny on this Marty st. Louis point blank, back-door attempt. the rookie denied the grizzled vet when the odds were against the Habs. Money!
Welcome to the show, kid!
The Rangers held a 1-0 lead on a goal by Carl Hagelin until Andrei Markov tied the game.
Then, Danny Briere injected himself into the narrative of the Eastern Conference Finals by scoring one of the most important goals of his career. Briere is now tied for fifth among all active players with Henrik Zetterberg in that category.
Thanks, CBC
Thomas Vanek assisted on Briere's goal which gave the Habs a temporary 2-1 lead. Briere's playoff scoring heroics are stupendous. His 53rd career playoff goal was a thing of beauty.
Briere's career NHL playoffs: 53G, 63A 116 points in 121 career playoff games #prettygood
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) May 23, 2014
The Canadiens have needed OT to decide a winner so far in the 2014 Playoffs, heading into the extra frame again on Thursday after Chris Kreider tied it off Alexei Emelin's skate with 28 seconds remaining in regulation.
In OT, Alex Galchenyuk scored on Henrik Lundqvist to give the Habs the 3-2 win.
The series is now 2-1 in favor of the Rangers.
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Habs tough guy Brandon Prust will be getting a call from NHL Player's Safety on Friday for this hit-n-run on Rangers center Derek Stepan.
Derek Dorsett and Dan Carcillo were not cool with the Prust hit on Stepan so they took the law into their own hands. Dorsett got his clock cleaned by Prust and Carcillo lost his cool and got thrown out of the game for abuse of an official (Rule 40 in NHL rule book).
I will be shocked if Carcillo side steps a hearing.
Thanks, CBC
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The Buffalo Sabres will now have three first round picks in the 2015 Connor McDavid entry draft. They will naturally have their own first rounder. They own the St. Louis first rounder in 2015, and today comes news that the NY Islanders have announced that they will indeed be holding on to their fifth overall pick in the 2014 entry draft, which means that the Sabres will take ownership of their 2015 first rounder.
Garth Snow opts to retain his first round selection in the 2014 NHL Draft rather than head-man it to Tim Murray. Curious move? Not so much. Snow is under serious scrutiny right now by what’s left of the eroding Islanders’ fan base. Snow has to try and pull a rabbit out of his magic goalie mask in an attempt to correct the course of his spiraling hockey club. I've been told that Snow doesn't want John Tavares to demand a trade. Imaging the crap storm of controversy that would be created if/when JT walks into Snow's office and says "get me the hell outta here". Kinda hard for Snow to sell hockey to hipsters in Brooklyn with Johnny T's agent demanding a trade to a contender. Its imperative that the GM shows his franchise player that he is in fact committed to winning and now. The Isles will be moving into the beautiful Barclays Center in Brooklyn after the upcoming season. Snow has to get his team back into the playoffs however he can. Perhaps he’s going to invest the 2014 fifth overall pick in power forward Michael Dal Colle or into D Hayden Fleury. The Islanders sent their conditional first round pick to Buffalo along with pending UFA Matt Moulson on October 27, 2013 in exchange for UFA to be Thomas Vanek. Snow’s attempts to re-sign Vanek to a long term deal threw a huge monkey wrench into his 2014-15 roster.
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Jaroslav Halak can unpack is suitcase. Finally.n Its time for Halak to cash in his frequent flyer points. He's agreed to terms on a four-year contract with the NY Islanders.
Halak, 28, split his eighth National Hockey League season between the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, compiling a 29-13-7 record in 52 games. He was traded from St. Louis to Buffalo for Ryan Miller Steve Ott on March 1, 2014 Bufalo GM Tim Murray then traded him to Washington for Michal Neuvirth. Halak never played a game for the Sabres.
The Islanders acquired Halak from Washington in exchange for the team’s fourth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft on May 1. That fourth-round pick had been acquired in a trade with Chicago on February 6, 2014 in exchange for forwards Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Peter Regin.
Montreal selected Halak in the ninth round (271st overall) of the 2003 NHL Draft. On the international stage, Halak represented Slovakia at two Winter Olympic Games, three World Championships and two Junior World Championships.
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Former Boston Bruins AGM Jim Benning was sworn in as the new GM of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. Benning just completed his eighth season with the Bruins. Peter Chiarelli was quick to snap up Benning as his AGM after the Buffalo Sabres had fired their scouting staff in the summer of 2006. Benning is one of the best talent evaluators in the NHL today. Like his peer Rick Dudley (AGM Montreal) on all Benning knows where to find the next wave of great young players. He also knows how to construct successful trades (see Tyler Seguin and Dan Paille trades) and free agent signings. Benning’s Bruins defeated the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010.
Benning joined the Bruins after twelve successful seasons in the Buffalo Sabres organization, including eight seasons as that team's Director of Amateur Scouting. Benning’s fingerprints are all over the draft acquisitions of Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Paul Gaustad, and Ryan Miller. Benning managed the Buffalo scouting staff and guided them at the NHL Entry Draft.
Suffice to say, Benning knows a thing or two about identifying and securing tomorrow’s difference-makers today.
You want a winner? I’ll show you a winner. As a key member of the Sabres and Bruins, Benning had a combined 47 of 109 players drafted play in the NHL. That’s a 43% success rate. Nearly 50% of the players he drafted have made it to the NHL. That’s an astounding closing ratio. That’s why Trevor Linden wanted Benning to be his new GM in Couuver. Former Canucks GM Mike Gillis can’t boast of Benning’s success at identifying, drafting and developing the future core players of the organization.
Linden told the Canucks website:
“Jim recognizes that there’s a lot of work to do and I think we’ve got some big decisions to make heading into the draft and certainly the summer. We’re going to get to work on that, obviously the combine is next week and the great thing about this situation is Jim is able to start immediately with us, so he’ll be in Toronto for the combine with us. …The draft is first and foremost, but we’ve also got our minds turning to the coach search and working through that. That may be impacted a little bit by teams still playing, so we’re going to have to work around that a little bit, but I think having a general manager work with me to select a coach is really critical.…
Benning will nail the combine and entry draft aspects of his job description. He will also turn a lot of heads with his unrestricted free agent signings. Lets face it, the Canucks were a yard sale in 2014-15. John Tortarella and Mike Gillis were not a cohesive coach-GM unit, and therefore the on-ice performances suffered terribly. Benning now has a chance to right the wrongs. I get the felling that Benning will be using the 2014 entry draft to select forwards who can add scoring, character, grit, and organizational depth.
In my opinion, Benning needs to upgrade his goaltending immediately. Eddie Lack (1617-5, 2.41 GAA and .912 save % in 2013-14) played well under duress when Roberto Luongo was injured in January. I like Lack’s style, however, I’m not sure that he’s a number one goalie who can win one or two rounds in the playoffs. I’m not certain how Benning feels about Lack, or his back-up tender Jakub Markstrom. If Benning and Linden are intent on waiting 2-3 years for a return to the playoffs, then they should anoint Lack and Markstrom as their goalie battery and give the kids some time to develop in the NHL. If the plan in to right the wrongs and make the playoffs again in 2015, then Benning may want to turn to a goalie that he’s known for over 15 years. That goalie is Ryan Miller, whom Benning drafted in the fifth round (138th overall) in 1999. Benning invested heavily in scouting Miller to be the heir apparent to Dominik Hasek’s throne in Buffalo. The plan paid off for all parties involved. Miller thrived in AHL Rochester and then starred in Buffalo for ten seasons. Miller is a pending UFA and will not be re-signing in St. Louis due to Doug Armstrong’s decision to play the tandem of Brian Elliott and young stud Jake Allen next season and beyond. Elliott just signed a three-year contract extension this week in St. Louis. Miller is the odd man out there.
Benning must be curious to see what’s new with his old Buffalo buddy Miller.
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Tyler Myers wants a do over. His turnover with 3 and change to play in 2-2 game today vs. Finland ended up in the net. Canada eliminated
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) May 22, 2014