Sat and Bik break down the game as the Canucks beat the Maple Leafs 4-1 in Vancouver. Hear from Brett Festerling following the game, Head Coach Rick Tocchet and player at the podium, plus Iain MacIntyre!
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
It was a barnburner in Winnipeg on Saturday night as the Jets prevailed over the Edmonton Oilers 7-5.
"Just disappointed to let them down," Oilers netminder Jack Campbell said following the contest. "A couple I want back, and that would've been the difference."
The 31-year-old allowed six goals on 38 shots against the Jets. He's lost five consecutive starts, allowing 23 goals with a .846 save percentage over this stretch.
"I just know I can be so much better for this group," Campbell continued. "I'm definitely gonna keep working to get there."
Campbell signed a five-year, $25-million contract with Edmonton last summer.
"I think both coaching staffs look at that game as a lot of sloppy mistakes and in the end, they found that extra goal, found the extra save, and they found the two points and we didn't get that tonight," Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said.
Leon Draisaitl recorded his eighth career hat trick to eclipse the 40-goal plateau for the fourth time in the losing effort.
"That's not really the game we want to play," Draisaitl said of the high-scoring affair. "It's obvious we can play that way but that's not the style we want to play."
The Oilers fall to 34-22-8 on the campaign with the loss. Edmonton is fourth in the Pacific Division and is in the Western Conference's top wild-card position.
Ryan O'Reilly, Toronto's top trade deadline acquisition, was unable to return to the game after taking a shot off of his hand in the Canucks' zone late in the second period.
O'Reilly, 32, has three goals and two assists in eight games as a Maple Leaf.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe didn't have an update on the severity of O'Reilly's injury after the game, noting the team would have a clearer timeline on Monday, per Sportsnet's Luke Fox.
Toronto acquired O'Reilly and forward Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues in mid-February in exchange for prospect Mikhail Abramov, forward Adam Gaudette, 2023 first- and third-rounders, as well as a 2024 second-round pick.
Auston Matthews had an injury scare of his own after taking a shot off the side of his knee in the opening frame. He wasn't on the bench to start the second period, but he was ultimately able to return to the ice.
The reigning Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner admitted he was trying to "grind (his) way through it" and that "it didn’t feel too great, but felt fine to play," according to TSN's Mark Masters.
The contest was tied 1-1 early in the third, but Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller scored shorthanded 44 seconds apart to put the game out of reach.
Toronto is in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 38-17-8 record. The Maple Leafs have 19 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
"As coaches, you've got to put your team in the best position to win, and 99.9% of the time, those guys give us the best chance to win when they're on the ice," Cooper said following the game, per Bally Sports Florida. "It just felt, in the third period, they weren't giving us the best chance to win."
Kucherov, Point, and Stamkos are Tampa Bay's top three scorers this season. The trio didn't play a single shift in the third period.
"We have a set of standards here that everybody adheres to, and it's not pick-and-choose; it's everybody," Cooper continued. "It's how it was for today. Like I said, those guys are an extremely important part of our team, but for 20 minutes tonight, I thought the other guys could get it done, and, you know what, they almost did."
The Lightning were losing 4-1 at the start of the final frame and being outshot 30-21. Tampa Bay turned the tide without Kucherov, Point, and Stamkos, outshooting the Sabres 15-4 in the third, but ultimately came up short in the comeback bid.
"Those guys are the reason we have a standard that high. It's because of those guys. Just for a period tonight, that was it," Cooper concluded.
The Lighting have lost four straight games and fallen five points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division.
Makar had spent the last five games in concussion protocol after experiencing delayed symptoms for a second time following a hit to the head last month.
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jeff Carter caught him up high during a win over the Avalanche on Feb. 7. Makar left the game but cleared protocol and returned. However, he then had delayed symptoms and missed the next four contests before returning for a victory over the Blues on Feb. 18.
Makar exited that contest after colliding with Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko, returned to the game, but then landed back in concussion protocol.
The reigning Norris and Conn Smythe Trophy winner leads the NHL in average ice time at 26:57. Though he's been limited to 46 games this season, Makar ranks among the top blue-liners in points per game with 0.98 by virtue of his 13 goals and 32 assists.
Despite drawing some criticism for his deadline moves, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall believes he found the pieces to help his club compete for a championship.
"I think there's a lot of teams that are capable of winning the Cup," Hextall said, according to NHL.com's Wes Crosby. "Yes, I'd say we're one of them."
Many expected Pittsburgh to be in the market for some of the bigger names available ahead of the deadline due to the team's precarious position in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Penguins are currently clinging to the first wild-card spot, but five chasers are within four points.
The franchise has made the playoffs in 16 consecutive seasons under the leadership of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, but it hasn't won a series since 2017-18.
"We've got a proven group. We've got a hungry group. We've got a group of guys that we all think of as winners," Hextall said. You've got to make the playoffs first. Right now, that's our objective. We'll see where we go from there. I feel good about this team."
Hextall took over as GM in 2021 after previously serving in the Philadelphia Flyers' and Los Angeles Kings' front offices.
Some things get easier with age, but for Sam Gagner, trade deadlines aren't one of them. At 33 years old, he's a 16-season NHL veteran with more than 1,000 games played. But just three years ago he navigated one of his biggest surprises yet.
After two stints and 542 regular-season appearances with the Oilers, he was on the brink of making the playoffs with the team for the first time. Instead - boom - he was traded at the deadline to the Detroit Red Wings, the worst team in the league that season by a considerable margin. Edmonton cleared cap space by trading Gagner and 2020 and 2021 second-round picks for two players who’d dressed for a total of 13 NHL games, including playoffs.
"It was really difficult," Gagner said. "I was in and out of the lineup at that point but still felt like I could work my way into things come playoff time and we were a team that was going to make the playoffs. I had never played a playoff game as an Oiler. It was something I was really excited for. Then you get the call on deadline day and you're getting sent to a non-playoff team, away from your family. It was a difficult thing to process."
Andy Devlin / NHL / Getty Images
Difficult, maybe, but for Gagner it was nothing new. The trade deadline, which closed Friday, has played a part in Gagner's life since childhood. His father, Dave Gagner, played 15 seasons in the NHL for seven teams. He still remembers when his dad was traded from Toronto to Calgary in the summer of 1996. Gagner was 7 years old and his mom had one rule: He couldn't tell the kids at school his dad played for the Flames.
"She wanted me to make friends without using that - even if it took longer," he said.
After returning home from school each day, Gagner's mom would ask if he was making new friends.
"Sort of," he’d reply noncommittally, because breaking into elementary school friend groups wasn't an easy feat.
Then one day, Gagner arrived home flanked by a throng of buddies adorned in Flames gear.
He made eye contact with his mom.
"You told them, didn't you?" she asked.
He was forced to admit he played his ace.
Despite the challenges moving around the NHL might have dealt him as a youngster, Gagner remembers one upside: it bonded his family.
Dave Gagner with the Flames in 1997. Nevin Reid / Getty Images
"My sisters and I and my parents are really close because that's your entire unit, that's who you move around with." It's a closeness he's experiencing again as a husband and father. "I feel the same thing with my wife and my kids now, moving around to all these different places. You just become really close to your immediate family."
Gagner and his wife got their first test of that days before their 2014 wedding when he was traded twice in one day - first to Tampa Bay and then to Phoenix.
"Obviously there's the wedding you're preparing for - that's a major event in your life. There's a lot of excitement around that. Then, the trade comes and you're trying to figure out the logistics of your move and say goodbye to teammates."
Even though Gagner knew from experience that getting traded was part of the gig, he wasn't ready for it when it happened to him.
"You know what you're getting into and you can wrap your head around it, but I still feel like I wasn't fully prepared for it. It's a tough business that way and you don't have control over so many things in your life. I think that's what you learn as you go: You kind of have to let go of control."
Gagner said Edmonton felt like home, but despite the tough goodbyes he's always been able to find the positives in getting traded.
"There's excitement in moving to a new city," he said. Even his surprise move to Detroit in 2020 was put to good use by the right winger, whose superpower has turned out to be his ability to adjust his game as the league changes around him.
"I was able to add different elements to my game. I became a pretty good part of our penalty killing there, which I didn't previously have an opportunity to do in the NHL."
Jonathan Kozub / NHL / Getty Images
That approach has given Gagner the longevity to break into the top 10% on the NHL's career games-played list after signing with Winnipeg this season. But fatherhood changed things yet again. Gagner is now dad to three children - his oldest son is about the same age Gagner was at the time he used his dad's day job as a flex to make friends in Calgary. With each move, he considers the impact on the family he's building.
"It's gotten harder. My oldest son is now in Grade 2 and has friends at school and has become a part of the community, so it's always more difficult," he said.
Knowing what he now does about a lifetime in the NHL, if he could tell his younger self one thing, it'd be to welcome the adversity.
"I think as my career has gone on, I've started to understand that the adversity I've gone through has always led to greater things. As you're going through that it's hard to think of it that way but adversity's a great teacher. It teaches you a lot about yourself. If you're able to find a solution it's a great feeling and it helps you become a better person. Some of the trades that are unexpected - you just have to learn to adapt. As you go through life, those experiences are only going to help you become better."
Jolene Latimer is a feature writer and video producer at theScore.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Shea Theodore scored in the fourth round of a shootout to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.
Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist, and Jack Eichel also scored for Western Conference-leading Vegas, which won for the eighth time in 11 games (8-1-2). Adin Hill had a career-high 46 saves.
“Tonight was kind of a playoff-type game,” Hill said. “I’m glad we got the win. They have some good players and a lot of skill in their lineup. They’re a fast team.”
Coach Bill Cassidy said the Golden Knights weren’t initially ready to handle the Devils’ speed, which showed as they were outshot 16-4 in the first period as Vegas fell behind 2-1.
“Tonight we weren’t prepared to play, but Adin sure was,” Cassidy said. “It was a great performance. Good for Adin, he was really on tonight.”
Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt and Miles Wood scored goals for New Jersey, which is 9-2-2 in its last 13 games. Akira Schmid had 25 saves.
After an overtime period in which New Jersey outshot Vegas 8-0, the first seven shooters in the tiebreaker were stopped before Theodore beat Schmid for the win.
Wood tied the score 3-3 with 7:07 left in the third as he converted the rebound of his own shot in front after a centering pass from Jesper Boqvist.
Eichel had given the Golden Knights the lead 3:47 into the third as beat Schmid through the five-hole after a pass from Marchessault on a 2-on-1 rush.
Marchessault got Vegas on the scoreboard first 7:48 into the game as he got his 400th career point (178 goals, 222 assists).
Bratt tied it 1-1 on a power play as he got his 25th of the season with 4:44 left in the first and Mercer put the Devils ahead with 28 seconds left in the opening period as he scored for the eighth straight game.
“I liked the way we started the game,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “But their goalie made a couple of big saves.”
Marchessault tied it 2-2 with his 19th of the season with 7:10 remaining in the second.
NOTES
Mercer’s eight-game goal streak is the longest in the league this year. ... The Golden Knights have won eight straight games at home, with their last loss coming Jan. 19, a 3-2 defeat to Detroit. ... Knights forward William Carrier left the game near the end of the first period with what Cassidy called a “lower body injury.” Cassidy he’d have a better idea of Carrier’s status on Saturday. ... It was the Knights’ fourth overtime in their last six games. ... The Devils remained one of only two teams — along with Toronto — that hasn’t been shut out this season.
UP NEXT
Devils: At Arizona on Sunday to finish a three-game trip.
Golden Knights: Host Montreal on Sunday to finish a three-game homestand.
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