[News Roundup] Sunday, December 3rd, 2017

[Cheese]

Today in Hockey

December 3, 1929 – The Bruins beat the Canadiens 3-1, the first win of an NHL record 14-game winning streak and a 22-game home winning streak, at least for the time being. Those records would be beaten by the 1992-93 Penguins, who won a silly 17 games in a row, and by the 2011-12 Red Wings, who just edged Boston by winning 23 home games in a row.
December 3, 1970 – Claude Ruel resigned as coach of the Canadiens. And what a mistake that was (presumably at least). Al MacNeil replaced him and ended up leading the Habs to a Stanley Cup championship five months later. Maybe MacNeil was the better coach, but you have to think that Ruel would have had a great shot at his second title with Montreal in three years (won in 1969) if he stuck around. Interestingly, MacNeil ended up coaching just one more NHL game (306) than Ruel (305), but won 34 fewer games (138). So it’s probably safe to say that Ruel would have earned himself another ring if he toughed it out.
December 3, 1984 – The Islanders won their 500th game in franchise history, and it took them only 980 games to reach that mark. And that may not sound too impressive, winning only about half their games, but keep in mind that ties are not factored in, so they probably had a high winning percentage, and also factor that most new teams were not very good to start. In fact, reaching that milestone in 980 games was just four games slower than the record, as the Bruins accomplished that feat in 976 matches.
December 3, 1999 – In a 7-4 Senators loss to the Devils, Ottawa’s Kevin Dineen picked up a misconduct penalty to become the fifth player in league history to get 300 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes in his NHL career. Way to go! But just think of how many goals he could have scored in those 2,000 minutes…
Flames Thoughts: Oilers appear to be in Calgary’s head

Derek Wills


Trailing the Oilers 6-1 early in the third period, the Flames made things mighty interesting. Sam Bennett tallied twice while Micheal Ferland and Johnny Gaudreau each scored once to turn a five-goal game into a one-goal game. Shortly after cutting the Oilers’ lead to 6-5, the Flames top two offensive players, Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, got a long two-on-one with a chance to tie it. Gaudreau, fourth in the NHL in assists, used Monahan, tied for fifth in the league in goals, as a decoy and missed the net with a shot. That was the Flames’ best chance to square the score in the final eight minutes.


Cult of Hockey game grades: Edmonton Oilers dominate Calgary over 40, then barely hang on for 7-5 win

Kurt Leavins

Heart attack, much?
The Edmonton Oilers ran the Calgary Flames’ show for two periods, and even took a 6-1 advantage early in the 3rd Period. That included taking a 1-0 lead for the 1st time in eight consecutive games. All seemed to be well. But then they only hung on by the skin of their teeth over the last 15, for a 7-5 win. Yep, “Retro-80’s Night”, as the score escalated on both sides, over the course of 60 minutes. Fun but ugly.
The two points are huge, as this was a 4-point game against a club seven points ahead of the Oilers before the night started. Now, that gap is just five. It is a massive win, for the Oilers, as they try to scrap their way back into a playoff spot. Vancouver beat Toronto, though, so the point gap between Edmonton and a wild card spot is still six.
Calgary Flames underrated centreman: Sean Monahan

Ramina Shlah

You can’t help but marvel at Johnny Gaudreau this season. He’s been easily the Calgary Flames best player. But you can’t forget about Sean Monahan, who’s been quietly racking up the points as well.
Before the season started, Monahan was ranked by NHL.com as a top-20 centre. Except he barely made the cut. He was ranked at No. 20. But so far, he’s been easily in the top five best centres about a quarter into the season.
Down Goes Brown Saturday Storylines: Will goaltending sink Oilers?

Sean McIndoe


The Battle of Alberta is always fun. It peaked during the mid- and late-’80s when the Flames and Oilers were the two best teams in the league and spent every game punching each other, but even in recent years when both teams have been awful you could usually count on something fun happening.
This year’s teams veer closer to “awful” than “best in the league,” which isn’t necessarily how we thought it would look heading into the season. The Oilers’ troubles have been well-documented, although at least they’re getting timely scoring from the blue line these days. The Flames have been better, but are still inching along in win-a-few, lose-a-few mode.