NHL Friday: Panthers ice Ovechkin, Capitals

Kassian ended up sitting out the first five regular season games with a suspension, while Gagner missed the first month of the season and had to wear a protective face shield when he returned to the lineup.

On Friday night the teams faced off in Vancouver, and during a scrum in the third period Kassian seemed to asking Gagner about his face shield. You know … the one that Gagner has to wear because Kassian bashed him in the face with a stick.

Or maybe he just felt like pointing at his crotch.

Either way, he wasn’t exactly thrilled that the referees didn’t stop the play when Cory Schneider thought he had the puck covered on Pittsburgh’s first goal.

It nearly cost them.

Fleury ended up stopping 37 of the 39 shots he faced, and perhaps none was bigger than that one.

Gudbranson was given a match penalty for the hit, while Fehr has yet to return to the game.

(Gif via Japers’ Rink)

When it comes to the latter, he had a great opportunity to impress Dan Bylsma, the coach of team USA, on Friday night in Pittsburgh.

Then this happened less than a minute into the game.

There’s hot, there’s on fire and then there’s what Alex Ovechkin is doing. The best goal scorer in the world has 48 goals in his past 50 games, and a hat trick against the Panthers on Friday would give him 50 in 50. Washington has won five of its past six games, with Ovechkin netting six goals in that span. With 26 goals in 29 games this season, Ovechkin isn’t just thinking about 50 in 50, as he’s currently on pace for 73 goals.

While he was all business heading into Friday night’s matchup, saying he wasn’t thinking about his retirement before what could be his final game in Pittsburgh, it’s still worth asking. Still, the 41-year-old Jagr, who will be 42 by season’s end, could be singing his swan song Friday night in the Consol Energy Center in front of a home crowd that he brought two Stanley Cups.