tomh009

Very much true. But for sure we are not a championship contender this season. I don't think we would be even if we got a rental player or two.

Good to hear that they are back on the ice!

Getting Drouin, Mete and Kotkaniemi back will be a roster change of shorts. It’s possible that their return, plus backup goaltending from Primeau, might be enough to get us into the playoffs. Might. A lot will depend on how our divisional rivals play for the rest if the year.

So, how long before he can get additional conditioning? 😀

Yes. All the stats say that we are controlling the game and getting scoring chances. The score says we’re not able to put the puck behind Bernier.

Shots, chances and Corsi % are lopsyin our favour, but the score, not so much.

Thanks! Am traveling (and in the wrong time zones) so missed that altogether.

Shot total not so high (32-27 for Rochester) but Rochester scored three PPG on five opportunities to blow out the score. Still, even without those, you can't win if you don't score a goal.

Is Primeau still the backup? He already played in Laval (and Kinkaid was the backup there).

Things are quite mum in Finland.

A week later ... Today: Buffalo (33 games): 2 points ahead of the Habs Habs (32 games) Tampa Bay (30 games): 1 point behind Florida (31 games): 1 point behind Toronto (33 games): 1 point behind We do look like a solid bubble team!

I would very much like to see this.

14 shots in the shootout, before Cleveland missed one and Weise scored the third goal for the Rocket.

I think you may have misread at least some of us. As for me, I would love to have a contending team. More immediately, I would love to have a new top defenceman pull on the CH sweater. And yet. If I imagine myself in the role of an NHL GM, it's not an easy task to excel. It's much easier to do a Chiarelli and run a team into the ground. But building a winning team is much more challenging, as the other GMs are not exactly going to be bending backwards to help you. UFA signings can be a boost if you can attract them -- but you need to have something to make your team attractive (recent winning record, low tax rate, low media/fan pressure, nice weather etc). So I continue to cheer for this team through their struggles. I continue to hope that Bergevin will be able to pull off a deal that significantly improves the team (and not a rental). And in the end, it's just a hockey game, life is too short for me to stress about whether they win the cup or not.

Barber has played well this year but I suspect is unlikely to be a longer-term NHL player (he played for Hershey for four years, with only three games for the Caps). Evans has been hot recently and might have NHL potential.

The Twitter feed says accidental collision (for Lindgren). Hopefully nothing major. A nice comeback with three goals in the third to win 4-3. Evans with two goals and an assist, he seems to have found his game again: nine points in the last six games.

Sorry, I was wrong on that: Lindgren started the game, Kinkaid took over after Lindgren allowed the first goal. Injury?

2-1 Springfield in the second. Contrary to the Rocket’s usual goalie rotation, Kinkaid is taking a second straight start, so maybe they really are trying to get him into shape for playing with a CH sweater again.

Because the other guys have been worse (and some have games in hand).

D stats scoresheet for tonight's game: Fleury (11:37 TOI): 64% CF, scoring chances 5:2, high-danger chances 1:1, 0 Leskinen (10:21): 62%, SC 3:2, HDC 1:2, -1 Petry (19:45): 53%, SC 10:7, HDC 5:3, +1 Chiarot (22:58): 52%, SC 10:7, HDC 3:3, +1 Weber (20:31) 46%, SC 10:9, HDC 2:5, +1 Kulak (20:13) 46%, SC 13:11, HDC 4:6, 0 Solid TOI for Chiarot! Weber giving up too many high-danger chances but not terrible. Leskinen's numbers are far better than Olofsson's so far. But he and Fleury still not getting that many shifts in the second and third, whether because of the goal against or because Juliet wanted to play the top two pairs.

Sixth at the moment, but only two points behind Mikheyev in fourth.

Well! I never ...

Was he the only D on the ice? Four forwards (plus Leskinen) got a -1 on that goal.

A chain of events, as usual.

Weber lost Makar, yes, but Thompson should have prevented Graves from getting to the rebound. There is enough blame for both to get a decent share.