Sometimes it’s hard to remember we haven’t even hit the halfway mark in the NHL season. Nights like Thursday do a great job of reminding fans about that.
NHL scores 2014: Blue Jackets rally for overtime win, Blackhawks defeat Bruins
Parity is now a thing in the NHL.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Considering how poorly the Sabres, Flyers and Blue Jackets have played so far this season, it's been easy to assume they'll remain cellar-dwellers for the rest of the season. Instead, all three teams showed they may have plenty of gas in the tank to make a serious run up the standings by the end of the season.
Buffalo has won eight of its last 10 after a big win against the upstart Calgary Flames as the criminally underrated Jhonas Enroth shut down the opposition.
Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds continued to lead the scoring pace for the Flyers in a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils, with each player scoring a goal. It was one of the few times a Flyers goalie hasn't been tested too much this season, and they took advantage.
And the Blue Jackets rode a hot goaltending performance from Sergei Bobrovsky and a continued scoring streak from Nick Foligno to an overtime win over the Capitals. All three teams proved again that there's plenty of room for movement up the standings by the end of the eyar.
All the NHL Scores
Blackhawks 3, Bruins 2
Buffalo 4, Flames 3
Flyers 4, Devils 1
Blue Jackets 3, Capitals 2 (OT)
Lightning 2, Hurricanes 1
Three things we learned
1. Columbus is starting to find its way through injury hell. Often times when teams suffer a massive string of injuries they require some nightly bailing out by their netminder. With Sergei Bobrovsky between the pipes, the Blue Jackets appear more suited to survive injury scares than most teams. Instead, Bobrovsky has not played like a Vezina Trophy winner over the last few weeks. He’s finally starting to turn it around, and the results are huge: Columbus has now won five straight.
2. Don't look now, but the Sabres are playing themselves out of the McDavid derby. With a win over Calgary on Thursday, Buffalo has now won eight of its last 11 games. They're just a couple more wins away from having more points than the Dallas Stars, Arizona Coyotes, Flyers and Blue Jackets. If that doesn't confuse the heck out of you then nothing will.
3. Vladimir Tarasenko had the goal of the-Imma let you finish, but Bobby Ryan scored the best goal of the season on Thursday. I mean, just look at it. It's the clear winner, no matter what Blues fans will tell you.
(H/T @MyRegularFace)
Impact Moment
Dennis Seidenberg's hit on Jonathan Toews sparked discussion for most of the evening, for a couple of reasons.
(H/T @PeteBlackburn)
First, the hit was dangerous enough to keep Jonathan Toews out for the remainder of the game. But apparently it wasn’t enough to keep him off the ice directly afterwards, though. Which begs the question: whose responsibility is it to make sure Toews gets off the ice after a potential head injury? The coaches or the player himself?
More questions were raised after Bruins coach Claude Julien’s postgame press conference.
Julien thinks onus is on Toews to be in better position on Seidenberg hit. "Our guys need to finish their checks."
— Dan Cagen (@DanCagen) December 12, 2014 Yes, Julien has been pretty consistent with this line of thinking over the last few years. That doesn’t necessarily make him right. Players don’t need to finish their checks if the opposing player is in a vulnerable position, and the onus isn’t always on the players to protect themselves from dangerous hits. There has to be some give-and-take there.
Stat of the Night
Fun with numbers: Sabres are 7 points back of Boston for the wildcard. They're also five points ahead of last place Edmonton. #Parity
— Joe Yerdon (@JoeYerdon) December 12, 2014 That has to drive people in Buffalo bonkers.
Post to Post
- The Hurricanes scored on themselves and lost.
- Ryan Garbutt is suspended for three games for slew-footing Dustin Byfuglien.
- Finally, Boston is going to get the 2016 Winter Classic. Again.
See More:
