Tampa Bay Lightning

Kent Johnson (photo: nhl.com)

The fears were confirmed. The Columbus Blue Jackets placed center Kent Johnson on the injured list on Sunday, announcing that his season will be over after shoulder surgery this week.

The 21-year-old native of British Columbia suffered the injury in Wednesday’s game against the Rangers. Until then, he played 42 games in which he produced six goals and 16 points.

Appears Kent Johnson’s injury may have happened on the last faceoff after the second ENG. MSG feed didn’t get good look at it. But Bally’s feed did. Johnson in obvious discomfort here. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/ZkG3Uc22Mw

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) February 29, 2024

Johnson, who was the fifth pick in the 2021 draft, has played 130 games in the NHL so far, scoring 22 goals and 59 points.

Columbus also announced that goaltender Elvis Merzlikins’ upper-body injury is still being evaluated on a day-to-day basis. Goalkeeper Jet Greaves was called up from Cleveland of the AHL.

2024-03-04 08:18:08
#worst #fears #confirmed #top #draft #pick

Juraj Slafkovský (photo: X/NHL)

Five games were played in the NHL on Wednesday, and only one of the two Slovaks played in the end. While his streak was over, his team’s was not.

Highlights of the night

• Slafkovský lost an eight-game point streak, Ružička did not play
• Toronto won its fifth game in a row
• Arizona lost its 11th straight game
• Chicago lost 10 of its last 11 games
• Matthews conquered the 50-goal goal
• McDavid scored in his 20th straight home game

MTL – BUF 2:3
Slafkovský lost streak, Canadiens didn’t Slovak forward Juraj Slafkovský didn’t extend his respectable point streak to nine games. His teammate on offense, Nick Suzuki, also lost a ten-game point streak. However, Montreal did not lose the losing streak. In the first game after the three-day off, he lost to Buffalo 2-3 to record his third straight loss and fifth in the last six duels. Twice he led after goals from defenders Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble. Joshua Roy passed on both. Sam Montembeault faced 23 shots, outdueled by Zemgus Girgensons, Jeff Skinner on the power play, and Alex Tuch on the power play. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen helped to the second win in the last three meetings with 29 saves. Slafkovský also threatened him once, who played exactly 21 and a half minutes. He also scored a minus point, one point and six penalty minutes. For the first time in his career, he was sent off three times – twice for holding, once for hooking. The Sabers used one exclusion to level the score at 2:2. Related:
Slafkovský set another record. It resulted from his bad habit, the expert claims

Tucha’s winning goal in a weakened state:

Stars of the duel: 1. U. Luukkonen (BUF), 2. J. Roy (MTL), 3. A. Xhekaj (MTL)

CHI – PHI 1:3
Konecny ​​picks up another Blackhawks loss Travis Konecny ​​scored a goal to extend his scoring streak to seven games and set up Philadelphia’s 3-1 win over Chicago, which lost its 10th game in 11 games. Travis Sanheim and Garnet Hathaway also had goals, while Samuel Ersson helped prevent a third loss in the series with 21 saves. Colin Blackwell was the only one who found the recipe for it. Arvid Soderblom left the game with 30 hits.

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Konecny ​​decided the win after this penetration:

Stars of the duel: 1. T. Konecny (PHI), 2. T. Sanheim (PHI), 3. C. Blackwell (CHI)

ANA – CBJ 4:7
Columbus lost a four-goal lead, the Ducks finally beat after a long time Columbus lost a four-goal lead in the second period, but scored three more goals in the third period to avert disaster and beat Anaheim 7-4. Sean Kuraly and Zach Werenski each scored two goals, Johnny Gaudreau and Boone Jenner had a goal and two assists, Jegor Činachov also scored and Jack Roslovic and Alexandre Texier each had two assists. Daniil Tarasov covered 27 shots out of 29. Since he was hit in the face by the blade of a hockey stick through the grid in the mask in the second period, Elvis Merzlikins also stood in the goal for four minutes. He conceded two goals from two shots. While the Blue Jackets won their second of their last three games, the Ducks lost their fourth of their last six. Their goals were provided by Troy Terry, Alex Killorn and Mason McTavish twice. Terry also added two assists, three were collected by Pavel Minťjukov. John Gibson made 20 of 26 shots – Jenner sealed Columbus’ first shutout win over Anaheim since Jan. 7, 2020. The Californian team won the previous five duels in a row. With his fifth multi-goal game in his career, Werenski set a new club record among defenders. The previous shared with Seth Jones.

Stars of the duel: 1. B. Jenner (CBJ), 2. T. Terry (ANA), 3. Z. Werenski (CBJ)

ARI – TOR 3:6
Matthews and Nylander two goals, the Coyotes fell again. Ružička did not play. Arizona failed to avert its 11th loss in the series when it lost to Toronto 3:6 on home ice. Slovak striker Adam Ružička watched the second game in a row as a spectator from the stands. Auston Matthews confirmed his scoring form with two goals, William Nylander also scored twice, and the Maple Leafs enjoyed their fifth win in the series and ninth in the last 11 games. Bobby McMann and John Tavares had a goal and an assist each, Mitch Marner assisted three times, TJ Brodie and Timothy Liljegren twice. Iľja Samsonov faced 26 shots, of which Matias Macceli, Barrett Hayton and Dylan Guenther defeated him. Karel Vejmelka left the duel with 30 hits. The Coyotes had their four-game winning streak snapped in back-to-back games. Toronto beat them for the first time since February 11, 2020. Matthews already has 51 goals and set a new American record when he broke the 50-goal mark in the season in the 54th game. The previous record was held by him (2021/22) and Kevin Stevens (1992/93) with 62 duels.

Matthews’ 50th goal of the season:

Stars of the duel: 1. A. Matthews (TOR), 2. W. Nylander (TOR), 3. T. Brodie (TOR)

EDM – BOS 2:4 1T
EDM – BOS 2:4 after the 2nd period we will add…

Stars of the duel: –

Slovaks in action

Player

Time

G

A

B

+/-

TM

S

Mrs

J. Slafkovský (MTL)

21:30

0

0

0

-1

6

1

1

2024-02-22 04:49:40
#Slafkovský #lost #series #set #record #Ružička #stand

Adam Ružička (repro photo: X/Arizona Coyotes)

On Friday, only one game was played in the Canadian-American NHL. Although the Slovak attacker’s team also played in it, he did not intervene in the action.

ARI – CAR 1:5

Carolina snaps Coyotes losing streak, Ružička does not play Piotr Kočetkov made 30 saves to lead Carolina to a 5-1 victory over Arizona, which has lost its eighth straight game. Five different players – Jordan Martinook, Jalen Chatfield, Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teräväinen and Michael Bunting – scored for the Hurricanes, who won their sixth game in their last eight. Martin Nečas and Jack Drury recorded two assists each to be the only multi-point players in the duel. Dylan Guenther took care of the home team’s only goal, reducing the score to 1:2. Karel Vejmelka scored five goals from 26 shots and was replaced by Matt Villalta in the 47th minute. He made four saves in his NHL debut.

Slovakian forward Adam Ružička, who was the Coyotes’ least used player in his first two games after the change of location, did not feature in the starting line-up this time. He was replaced in it by Michael Carcone.

“We started really well, which is always great to see. And then our goalkeeper also performed really well. He made some really good saves,” said the winning team’s coach Rod Brind’Amour after the match, whose players opened the scoring after just 16 seconds and were already leading 2-0 in the fifth minute.

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His counterpart, Andre Tourigny stated: “Obviously, the way we started the game was unfortunate. I think it wasn’t because we didn’t play well, but we have to be a little more consistent in the little things, which is up to me. That is my responsibility.’

Thanks to an assist, Jordan Staal tied Jeff O’Neill’s 416 points for sixth on the team’s all-time list. Ron Francis (1,175), Eric Staal (775), Kevin Dineen (544), Sebastian Aho (525) and Brind’Amour (473) are ahead of him.

Martinook opened the scoring after just 16 seconds of the game:

Stars of the duel: 1. M. Nečas (CAR), 2. S. Jarvis (CAR), 3. P. Kočetkov (CAR)

2024-02-17 05:39:54
#Bad #news #NHL #Adam #Ružička

Šimon Nemec (photo: X/New Jersey Devils)

The New Jersey Devils hit the bull’s eye when they drafted Nic Hischier and Jack Hughes first overall. Now overseas, it is also being decided whether it is not too early to conclude that he also hit the black mark when drafting defenders Luke Hughes and Šimon Nemec.

“At this point, I think you could start to say that the Devils really hit it off with those two picks as well. Both were used as defenders. The Devils needed to shore up the defense after dealing with offense and productivity with other top picks,” stated Alex Potts of All About The Jersey.

Potts recalled that Luke Hughes made his debut in the NHL at the end of last season and this season he definitely established himself fully. However, that was also expected of him, and so he just lives up to expectations.

However, in the case of the German, it was not known for certain whether he would be ready for the best league in the world at this point. However, after being called up to the first team, it only shows that he does not want to return to the AHL and that his drafting can be a huge success for the team.

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Potts also pointed to advanced stats from this season for both of them, in which the German overall outperformed Hughes in every aspect – an overall rating percentile of 87 vs. 68, offensive 78 vs. 58 and defensive 81 vs. 76.

“The German has a fantastic defensive impact and quality scoring production despite not being pigeonholed as an attacking defender. He’s solidified his role on the team with his play, and there’s no way Lindy Ruff and co. they could send back to Utica while playing,” noted the overseas author.

Both have quality numbers in positional play and expected goals. At the time of Potts’ analysis, Hughes was 14th among defensemen with at least 100 minutes played with a CF% of 58.25, the German was 28th with a CF% of 55.22. In xGF%, the German was 13th at 57.53 and Hughes was 22nd at 56.52.

“These are unbelievable numbers. Yes, both of them are attracted by being in a strong team, at least analytically, but it is not only the merit of their teammates. They also benefit. To be in the top 30 in positional play among 248 defensemen and to be in the top 25 in expected goals on the same roster is pretty remarkable,” Potts stated.

“Defenders take longer to develop than forwards, but they’re both here and playing so well. This is obviously massive progress for the team now and for the long-term future. They become part of the core and at their age they can be here for a very long time. When you have two such strong players anchoring the defense, a duo that can only get better, it’s extremely promising. So far, it looks like both of these elections are going to be wild successes and we couldn’t ask for more from them.”

2024-01-09 08:30:38
#Unreal #numbers #Devils #hit #black #case #Hughes #German