St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube wasn't impressed with his team's work ethic following a 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.
"We have a lot of guys that aren't skating and aren't competing hard enough," Berube said in his postgame press conference.
The Blues' seven penalties in the contest didn't sit well with the bench boss.
"Yeah, PK killed off seven penalties, I mean two 5-on-3s. It's ridiculous, the penalties. We can't go to the box that much," he said.
St. Louis was arguably the better team at 5-on-5, owning 58% of the shot attempts and 57% of the scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. However, the Sharks produced 66% of the expected goals and outshot the Blues 38-23 at all strengths.
The loss dropped St. Louis to 2-1-1 on the season.
Montreal Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi is taking full accountability for his costly penalty during Thursday's 6-5 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
Kotkaniemi, 20, was called for unsportsmanlike conduct midway through the second period for expressing his frustration toward the officials after Canucks netminder Braden Holtby tripped him with no penalty called. Vancouver scored on the ensuing man advantage to take a 3-2 lead.
"It was just a really dumb thing to do for a young guy," Kotkaniemi said, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu. "That probably cost us a win, possibly cost us a win tonight. For sure we'll learn from that."
Head coach Claude Julien is hoping his young center can use Thursday's incident as a stepping stone in his development.
"There's no doubt that sometimes players get frustrated," Julien said. "He's a young player, and when you're a young player and you take on a ref - he hasn't earned his stripes yet in the NHL, if you will. He has to be more disciplined than that. That's certainly something he can learn, take a lesson from what happened today."
Kotkaniemi made up for his blunder by burying his first goal of the season to tie the back-and-forth affair with under 10 minutes to play in regulation. He also added an assist earlier in the game and posted a season-high Corsi For of 69.57%, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"It looks like he's definitely going to miss some time," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said following his team's 3-1 loss, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Keefe added that more tests are required to determine the extent of the injury, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton.
Thornton appeared to jam his wrist while absorbing a hit from Oilers forward Josh Archibald along the boards early in the third period.
The collision occurred less than two minutes into the final frame. Thornton left for the dressing room shortly thereafter and didn't take another shift.
Thornton has one goal and one assist in five games with his new club after signing a one-year contract in the offseason. The 41-year-old collected both of his points in a victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
The Capitals committed "player violations of the league’s COVID‑19 protocols which involved social interactions among team members who were in close contact and who were not wearing face coverings."
No other NHL clubs are being probed for flouting the same rules, reports TSN's Darren Dreger. Washington was labeled as "TBA" on the league's daily COVID-related absences list Wednesday, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
The Capitals are the first team to violate the NHL's COVID-19 protocols this season.
The Ottawa Senators and franchise winger Brady Tkachuk aren't prioritizing contract talks in the early stages of the 2021 NHL season.
"I love it here. I love the people here, love the community," Tkachuk said during his media availability Wednesday, according to TSN. "But ... we haven't really been talking about that and we don't know how the salary cap is going to look for the next couple years. Honestly, I don't think that's the focus right now on both sides.
"Our only goal right now is to do what we can every single day and make (the) playoffs."
Tkachuk's entry-level contract is set to expire after this season. Ottawa drafted him fourth overall in 2018.
The 21-year-old, who's quickly evolved into a leader on the up-and-coming Senators, is playing top-line minutes early this season. Tkachuk has registered 92 points and 491 hits in 145 games during his career.
Ottawa is projected to have over $34 million in cap space next season, according to CapFriendly. However, the club currently has just 12 players signed.
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We started the week hot and would like to keep that momentum rolling into the weekend.
The next two days are relatively quiet for the NHL with just 11 games scheduled, but there are still a couple of spots that offer us good value.
Here's what we'll be betting:
Oilers (+135) @ Maple Leafs (-155); Jan. 20, 7 p.m. ET
The Oilers have had a miserable start to the season, and that's opened up a rare value opportunity to back a team that's typically overpriced in the market. I'm not particularly high on Edmonton this season, but this matchup features two similar squads that are being priced very differently based on small sample sizes.
The Oilers never could get things going in a two-game set against a very sound Canadiens team; we saw that coming from a mile away, backing the Habs in both games. Montreal matches up well with Edmonton, consistently ranking among the league's best teams at five-on-five under head coach Claude Julien. The Canadiens have especially excelled at suppressing offense, ranking top 10 in expected goals against in three seasons under Julien. The Maple Leafs have ranked 21st, 27th, and 28th in that category in those three years.
Edmonton also struggled mightily on the power play in two games against Montreal, going a combined 0-for-10. This was the league's best unit a year ago, so we have to give it the benefit of the doubt with a sample size too small to make any definitive judgements. The Maple Leafs play a style far more conducive to success for the Oilers, giving up numerous high-danger chances while getting below-average goaltending.
This line is a bit too high for my liking, and I don't love the idea of backing a struggling Oilers team I've been down on since before the season started. But at this price, I'll place the bet, close my eyes, and hope for the best.
Pick: Oilers (+135)
Wild (-130) @ Ducks (+110); Jan. 20, 9:30 p.m.
John Gibson stole a 1-0 win on Monday when these teams met for the first time this season, giving the Ducks their first victory of the campaign. The Wild owned 67.56% of the expected goal share in that game, posting a 3.69 xGF to Anaheim's 1.77. Gibson pitched a shutout despite that disparity, saving all 11 high-danger shots he faced.
Being thoroughly outplayed has been a common theme for the Ducks early in the season. They've owned just 34.78% of the expected goals share through three games, by far the worst mark in the league; the Jets are second-worst with 40.16%. The Wild, meanwhile, are second-best in that regard with a 58.69% mark, and they top the NHL with a 61.36% rate at five-on-five.
This will be another lopsided game. With the balance of play so distorted, I'd make this bet 10 times out of 10 at this price and hope Gibson doesn't steal the show once again. While that's always a possibility, no bet is without risk,
Pick: Wild (-130)
Flyers (+105) @ Bruins (-125), Jan. 21, 7 p.m.
By now, you've heard all about how the Bruins have yet to score a goal at five-on-five this season. You've probably heard people question whether this team has fallen off a cliff or if it can get back on track without David Pastrnak. All of it works in our favor here, as we get Boston at a small discount - smaller than I would have liked, but still sufficient to lock the Bruins in as a bet.
You can be certain that positive regression is coming for Boston. The Bruins have run into some excellent goaltending early in the campaign, facing MacKenzie Blackwood twice and Semyon Varlamov once. Those two lead the NHL in goals saved above average through the first week of the season, and it isn't particularly close.
Rank
Goalie
GSAA
1
MacKenzie Blackwood
4.80
2
Semyon Varlamov
4.79
3
Juuse Saros
3.95
4
Brian Elliott
3.16
5
John Gibson
2.92
Simply put, the Bruins have been stonewalled by a pair of hot goalies. They owned 57.71% of the expected goal share at five-on-five in their season opener against the Devils and a 60.61% mark in Monday's 1-0 loss to the Islanders. Boston's fortunes are going to level out real soon.
For the Flyers, however, regression looms large. Philadelphia has enjoyed a 3-1-0 start to the season despite being one of the league's worst teams at five-on-five thus far. The team has been considerably outplayed, owning just 44.42% of the expected goals share. This is a great sell-high moment for Philadelphia and an equally good time to buy low on the Bruins.
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, loves a juicy puck line, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
The NHL has postponed games between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers scheduled for Thursday and Saturday due to COVID-19 concerns, according to The News and Observer's Luke DeCock.