March 21, 2026
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What comes next after a wild week in the hockey world?

Sagar09 mins

It was a very interesting week in the NHL in general… and that’s an understatement.

For starters, there were several explosions. Several games were won by four or more goals, and three were won by six or more goals: the New York Islanders vacated New Jersey Devils 9-0 Tuesday, The colorado avalanche made the best of ottawa senators 8-2 Thursday, and boston bruins Saturday, bragging on a grand scale, crushed New York Rangers 10-2.

In B’s case, it was the first time since 1988 that they offered 10 burgers, and the first time since 1979 at home. david pasternak Dished six assists, tying the Bruins franchise record. pavel zacha And Marat Khusnutdinov Both achieved their first NHL hat tricks, marking the first time that two players on the same team did so since Pascal Dupuis and Petr Sikora did so on December 11, 2008. pittsburgh penguins,

game

1:56

Khusnutdinov, Zacha combined to score 7 goals in Bruins’ win

Pavel Zacha and Marat Khusnutdinov scored seven goals each to lead the Bruins to an emphatic win against the Rangers.

All of this scoring comes during a season that has been one of the toughest seasons in terms of scoring in history: more than a quarter of the games (26.1%) have gone beyond regulation, which would be a record in the shootout era (since 2005–06) if the mark holds.

For all the discussion about the “high-scoring 1980s” and other eras, see Where We Are Now. Prior to the 2021–22 season there had been only two seasons in NHL history with at least 200 four-plus-goal wins. There have been at least 200 such games during the past four seasons, with this season being the fifth consecutive.

What else will we see in the rest of the season? Overtime or one-sided victory? Both can be fun for different reasons – but I’ll stick to the close game/overtime train.

in ottawa, Linus Ullmark took leave of absence from team On December 28, there was a wave of wild speculation online about the reason for the absence. Senators GM Steve Staos immediately responded, issue a public statement It said: “Linus is away from our team for personal reasons and has the support of the entire organization. We asked people to respect his privacy, but clearly the lowest kind of trolls and sick people prowling the internet didn’t listen to that request. We are disappointed that outside forces are attempting to disrupt our hockey club.”

It’s rare for a team executive to publicly attack the “cesspool corner” of social media, which was refreshing while the Senators were captain. brady tkachuk there was one abusive response On the subject of journalists.

On Saturday, the Devils defenseman dougie hamilton It was reported he would be a healthy scratch, which led to a back-and-forth facilitated by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, first with Hamilton’s agent JP Barrie:

And then from Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald:

Hamilton has 10 points in 40 games this season, and is minus-7 with 65 assists, breaking his single-season record of 94 (from last season).

Is Dougie Hamilton’s trade to Newark imminent? My “Spidey sense” tells me we’re not at the finish line, but it could see movement ahead of the Olympic break, which is being talked about like an extra trade deadline this season.

And if all that wasn’t enough, a hole was discovered in the Olympic ice rink during test games being played before the Games:

Proceed:
games of the week
what i liked this weekend
Hart Trophy candidates
social post of the week
paste tap

biggest games of the week

Monday, 7pm ET | espn+

The Wings would eventually retire Sergei Fedorov’s number 91 before their game against the Hurricanes. This is long overdue, and it’s good to see that all is well in the Motor City. The game itself is also interesting, with the top team from the Atlantic facing the top team from the Metro.

Monday, 7pm ET | espn+

While the Wings are in first place, the Lightning are also riding the wagon, having won nine in a row. They defeated Philly 7-2 and will face the Flyers again on Monday. The Bolts have two more good tests coming up at the end of the week against the Penguins on Tuesday and the Stars on Sunday.

Thursday, 7pm ET | espn

The Flyers-Penguins rivalry has heated up again, especially since Philly is in third place in the metro and Pittsburgh is just one point out of a playoff spot. You might remember the month of October when these two teams had an intense battle on the ice right before the shootout. The brawl meant that Trevor Zegras, the most prolific shootout performer in NHL history, missed the walk after punches were thrown at him and seven others and the subsequent abuse.

Thursday, 7pm ET | espn+

Like the Lightning, the Sabers are also a wagon, having won 13 of their last 14. Three of their four games this week are against Eastern Conference teams, including the Habs, who they are chasing for third place in the Atlantic.

Other major sports to watch

Tuesday

7 PM ET | espn+

Wednesday

7:30 PM ET | TNT/HBO Max

Thursday

7 PM ET | espn+

9 PM ET | espn+

Friday

7 PM ET | espn+

7 PM ET | nhl network

Saturday

12:30 PM ET | nhl network

7 PM ET | espn+

what i liked this weekend

I’m a big fan of dad’s stuff, and james van riemsdyk Won the season so far for her arrival outfit. JVR celebrated his 4-year-old son’s birthday away from home by wearing a Batman costume at a Red Wings game in Montreal, just like his son did back home. Detroit defeated the Habs 4–0 with JVR’s help.

and gratitude Bobby McMann Also for his pregame arrival last week:

Hart Trophy candidates if the season ended today

Honorable mention goes to david pasternakBecause he has points in eight of his last nine games, and his six-assist game on Saturday was incredible.

He’s definitely on the radar, but my top three from last week will remain in those spots this week:

nathan mackinnon His share in the scoring lead remains intact and now he has 78 points. In the last five innings he had either four points (thrice) or zero points (twice).

connor mcdavid Is tied with MacKinnon, riding an incredible 18-game point streak, including 19 in his last nine games.

McLean CelebriniTeam Canada is still at the top of the standings, with 15 points from its last seven matches, and has 70 points, five points ahead of fourth place. Nikita Kucherov,

game

1:55

Maclin Celebrini scores dirty tying goal, then scores Sharks’ OT winner

Maclin Celebrini scored the tying goal in the third period, then provided the winning assist to William Eklund.

We can look at this week and say that this is where the gap between the Big 3 and the rest of the group started to widen.

weekend social media posts

The Hershey Bears had two viral moments six days apart, for completely different reasons. First, there was their annual teddy bear toss on January 4th, which they crush every year and all the bears go to a good cause:

But then on Saturday, a controversy broke out… during a mite game (players 8 and under). Not really!

The crowd did not know how to react; Half the people were happy, the other half stood there in surprise. It seemed as if both benches had completely emptied as the white team and the blue/black team circled each other and threw haymakers in the spirit of an ’80s rivalry game. Even the goalkeepers got involved.

Why didn’t anyone (at least try) to stop it?

paste tap

I’m a fan and loyal supporter of mascots, especially when they take time out of their day to do acts of kindness big or small like this.

Last week some of the NJ Devil’s friends came to visit, including Carlton Bear, Mr. and Mrs. Mate, Tusky, Yuppie! and REDD of the New York Red Bulls. He had a busy schedule including photo shoots, autograph signings and of course entertaining fans at games. Special shoutout to Tusky, who was in enemy territory at the Prudential Center where the Devils hosted the Mammoths.

But the crew still found time to record a video and send it to Logan, the 9-year-old boy who went viral last summer for calling on mascots to send videos of encouragement during his battle with cancer. Logan is still fighting bravely, has the sweetest family (including twin sister Riley) and jumps with joy whenever he hears about his mascot friends.

To my mascot friends who haven’t forgotten about Logan, sending him constant love, you all are MVPs!

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