Sean Johnson, Senior
Photo Courtesy Of: ESPN.com
With the 2020 NHL All-Star Game only two weeks away, there has been a lot happening throughout the NHL, from new teams moving up in the power rankings and players reaching new milestones to coaches of different teams being fired. For the first time in over 30 years, the St. Louis Blues will be hosting the All-Star game, and this year’s All-Star jerseys are sparking a lot of controversy. The home jerseys are fairly simple-- a solid white with the team logo in the center and a few light gray, horizontal stripes in the background. After the NHL unveiled these jerseys, fans of teams whose logos have a darker color scheme seemed content with them, while Flyers and Penguins fans were not, since the tint of their teams’ logos on the All-Star jerseys was changed, and there is no real definition to the logo in the center. Nonetheless, fans around the league are excited to see the best players from each of their teams battle it out in the 2020 Skills Competition and All-Star Game on January 24th and 25th at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Many new NHL teams have been moving throughout the power rankings these past few weeks. One of those teams is the Tampa Bay Lightning, who just moved up six spots in the weekly Super 16 power rankings to number six. This jump in the rankings can be accredited to the Lightning’s eight game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins moved up two spots, and the Arizona Coyotes jumped three spots. On the other hand, the Carolina Hurricanes (No. 12) and Philadelphia Flyers (No. 15) each fell five spots in the power rankings. Despite the Flyers’ struggles as of late, center Kevin Hayes scored a shorthanded breakaway goal late in the second period recently to beat the Capitals, who have the best record in the league. This win broke the Flyers’ four-game road losing streak. Even though the Flyers’ poor performance in their road trip moved them further down in the Metropolitan Division, this home win against the best team in the league is just the spark the Flyers’ needed to finish strong before the All-Star break. On a more somber note, San Jose Sharks team captain Logan Couture fractured his ankle on Tuesday during a game against the Blues, which will force him to miss several weeks.
There have been numerous coaching changes for many different teams throughout the NHL so far this season. Head coach of the Nashville Predators Peter Laviolette was fired on Monday, making him the sixth coach to fired/dismissed from a team this season. Laviolette had been head coach of the Predators since 2014 and had lead the team to a Presidents’ Trophy, two Central Division titles, and a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2017. Though Laviolette was fired due to the team’s poor performance and Laviolette’s contract being up soon, coaches like Bill Peters of the Calgary Flames and Jim Montgomery of the Dallas Stars were let go for different reasons. Bill Peters was fired by the Flames in November on multiple accounts of racial and physical abuse of his players over the past decade, and since letting him go, the Flames have pushed upward in the Western Conference standings. Similarly, Jim Montgomery was fired by the Stars organization for “unprofessional conduct” in his role as head coach.
In terms of milestones being reached this year in the NHL, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored his 30th goal of the season last night against the Jets to become the first US-born player to score at least 30 goals in each of his first four NHL seasons. Also, the Dallas Stars (25-14-4) earned their fifth straight comeback win with a 2-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, matching the longest runs of consecutive comeback wins in their history. The Stars most recent game against the Kings featured forward Jamie Benn and right winger Blake Comeau both scoring goals just 37 seconds apart in the second period to secure the victory.
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