Wow, this guy is SO nasty.https://t.co/EasoBPjUUP
— NHL (@NHL) February 27, 2016
Now that's how you end a hockey game.
Anaheim Ducks center Rickard Rakell wove his way through the Edmonton Oilers' zone in overtime Friday, ending the game with some truly dazzling moves.
Rakell's 16th goal was his fifth game-winner of the season. The Ducks have won seven in a row to move within two points of division-leading Los Angeles.
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Sergei Plotnikov just wants to play NHL hockey.
So says his agent, Mike Liut, who told Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his client - who's been a healthy scratch for 19 straight games - is hoping the Penguins can trade him prior to Monday's deadline.
"Sergei wants to play in the NHL, as evidenced by the amount of money he paid to be excused from the last year of his KHL contact," Liut stated Friday. "He understands that this will not happen in Pittsburgh and the Penguins have been attempting to trade Sergei, albeit a difficult task when a player is a healthy scratch for two months.
"If a trade is not available, he will have no choice but to return to Russia."
This comes on the same day Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said Plotnikov had fallen out of favor for suggesting he did indeed want to return to Russia.
The 25-year-old signed a one-year, $925,000 deal with the Penguins last summer that includes $2.85 million in potential performance bonuses.
He recorded two assists in 32 games before being benched.
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The Stadium Series alumni game came at a rather inconvenient time for Steve Yzerman.
"I didn't realize it was going to be on the (trade) deadline weekend," Yzerman said, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com.
And while the Tampa Bay Lightning general manager, who scored for the Detroit Red Wings in the outdoor affair against the Colorado Avalanche, enjoyed the experience, he now faces a busy couple of days.
"All of the player scouting is pretty much done," Yzerman said. "We're going to meet as a group with all of our staff and reorganize for the weekend. Got work to do."
At or near the top of his to-do list is dealing with Jonathan Drouin, who has publicly asked to be traded. Yzerman said earlier in the week he'd like to do something "sooner than later," but reiterated he won't make a trade unless it helps his club's chances this year and in the future.
"My focus is the Tampa Bay Lightning, and obviously that's what we may be able to do with (Drouin)," he said. "We'll see."
The trade deadline is set for 3 p.m. ET on Monday.
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What a GOAL! @ponyhockey wins Section 4AA 1-0 in OT over Hill-Murray! #MSHSL #TheTourney16 @FollowThePuck pic.twitter.com/voI6HUMzXt
— Steve Pesek (@StevePesek) February 27, 2016
Be warned, for what you're about to see is hockey stimulus overload.
This Minnesota high school athlete scored with one of the best individual efforts that you'll ever see, and then proceeded to celebrate inside the team's fan section.
The goal-scorer's name is Noah Cates, and the highly excitable, downright disorderly fanbase belongs to Stillwater - Minnesota 4AA section champs.
- With h/t to Deadspin
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See, Patrick Roy pays attention to analytics.
The Colorado Avalanche head coach and winning goalie in the NHL Stadium Series alumni game versus the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night unleashed a flawless trolling, and also self-deprecating, quip in his postgame scrum.
When asked about the win, Roy told Yahoo's Greg Wyshynski: "Yeah, but our Corsi was not very good, though."
His Avalanche, ranked dead last in Corsi For percentage this season, are once again defying, or at least combating, what possession metrics reveal about performance.
They hold the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
- Statistics via war-on-ice.com
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It was quite the spectacle Friday, as some of the most legendary figures in the game strapped on skates, shin pads, shoulder pads, and helmets to revisit the Detroit Red Wings-Colorado Avalanche rivalry - perhaps the fiercest in NHL history - at the 2015 Stadium Series Alumni Game at Coors Field.
Related: Yzerman, Sakic trade vintage goals at Stadium Series alumni game
The Avalanche defended home ice, or field, with a 5-2 win in the reunion clash, which was markedly well-behaved compared to the standard set throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
Here are some of the best photos from the event:
There was never any pressure, Henrik Zetterberg.
Burnaby's own.
The always colorful Darren McCarty.
Mike Ricci's hair remains glorious. Chris Simon's now non-existent.
Pondering multiple offers for Jonathan Drouin, probably
Pondering the Avalanche's offer for Jonathan Drouin, probably.
An all-time faceoff.
The very-tanned Chris Chelios found one friend inside Coors Field. The rest, not so much.
The obligatory wide shot.
Feeling a little like Semyon Varlamov.
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