Category Archives: NHL

By : Mike Rifkin On Friday Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness has stepped down. It has also been announced that assistants Todd Nelson, Derek Laxdal, and John Stevens have been fired. In three seasons as the Stars coach Bowness had a record of 89-62-25. Bowness led the Stars to the Stanley Cup Finals inContinue reading “Reach For The Stars”

By: Mike Rifkin The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. On Saturday night the Toronto Maple Leafs were defeated by the two time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Maple Leafs have notContinue reading “Leafs of Change”

By: Mike Rifkin The New York Rangers trailed 3-2 with 5:45 left in the third period when Mika Zibanejad scored to tie the game at three and sent it to overtime. In overtime with the Rangers on the power play Artemi Panarin scored sending the Rangers to the second round for the first time sinceContinue reading “Top Players Come Through”

By: Mike Rifkin The Tampa Bay Lightning’s quest for a third consecutive Stanley Cup continues as they defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game Seven. Nick Paul who the Lightning acquired from the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline produced both Tampa goals. In the seven game series Paul had two assists to goContinue reading “Trade Deadline Acquisitions Coming Through”

By: Mike Rifkin Despite being down 2-1 in their First Round series to the Pittsburgh Penguins there are some positives for the New York Rangers. One of the biggest positives has been the play of the young players. One of the major discussions prior to the series was the lack of experience with the RangersContinue reading “The Kids Are Alright”

By: Mike Rifkin The best playoffs in all of sports the Stanley Cup Playoffs are here. Here are my first round predictions with stats from the regular season meetings.  FLAMES VS STARS CGY 2-0-1 vs DAL Matthew Tkachuck/ Andrew Mangiapane 2 goals/1assist each vs DAL Markstrom 1-0-1 : 3.33 GAA/.878 Save percentage vs DAL –Continue reading “Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Predictions”

By : Mike Rifkin For the first time in their franchise’s history the Vegas Golden Knights have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vegas was considered a Stanley Cup favorite prior to the season. They went from expansion team to going all in.  Vegas made a lot of interesting decisions throughout the season the first wasContinue reading “Vegas Golden Knights Statement Address”

By: Mike Rifkin In Wednesday’s loss to the Golden Knights, Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin scored twice giving him 50 on the season. It is the ninth time in Ovechkin’s career that he has reached the 50 goal mark, the only other two players in NHL history to have achieved this were Wayne Gretzky and MikeContinue reading “The Great Eight Hits 50 Again”

By: Mike Rifkin As we enter the final two weeks of the NHL regular season we know the eight teams in the Eastern Conference. We do not know who will be playing who (Preview will be up before the playoffs begin) but here are players who need to have a good playoffs for their teamContinue reading “Players To Watch/Under Pressure Eastern Conference Teams”

By : Mike Rifkin With their 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators the New York Rangers have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017. On February 8th 2018 the Rangers front office wrote a letter to the fan base explaining that the team was going to go through a full rebuild. Continue reading “Back In The Playoffs”