Another week, another round of what’s trending across the world of hockey and in the NHL. From coach firings, adventures on Twitter and surging teams out west, here’s a look at some of the biggest stories across the league over the past week to get you ready for the next seven days ahead.
Trending the net: Steven Stamkos trolls with Twitter like, Penguins overhaul front office
Jonathan Bernier is set to return to the NHL on a tear while Alexander Semin exits on a whimper.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Trending Up
Los Angeles builds 10-point lead in the Pacific
The Kings finally took their first loss of December, a 2-1 loss on an overtime goal against the Sabres Saturday evening, but their points streak remains alive and well. Since Nov. 23, Los Angeles has gained 15 of 18 possible points and has built a 10-point lead in the Pacific Division, topping the second-best Arizona Coyotes with a game in hand. Before their loss to Buffalo over the weekend, the Kings were rolling on a six-game winning streak and were looking to match their season long seven-game streak that helped them start the year.
Backstopped by Jonathan Quick, the Kings have allowed more than three goals just once since the start of their point streak. In fact, the Kings lead the league in fewest goals allowed this season, sitting at an even 60. With their league leading 32.6 shots-per-game, it's no wonder the Kings have surged as the NHL's hottest team over the last few weeks.
The Steven Stamkos like heard around the world
Steven Stamkos is either a master troll or a master of the fat finger syndrome. Either way, Stamkos lit the hockey world aflame earlier last week after he liked a tweet from TSN linking to a story on if the Maple Leafs should pursue the Lightning captain.
Steven Stamkos’ only like on Twitter: pic.twitter.com/bTbFdNvZrQ
— Pension Plan Puppets (@PPPLeafs) December 9, 2015 Since Wednesday, Stamkos has un-liked the tweet and called the whole incident an “accident” but the debacle was not his first. In the summer of 2014, Stamkos also liked a tweet from The Hockey News on a story if the Toronto-born player would pull a LeBron James and return to his hometown team. Furthering the narrative, Stamkos remains unsigned coming into the final half-year of his contract with the Lightning, fulling the fires even more.
Coincidence, trolling, or was this just a mistake almost all humans come into contact with at least once in their lives?
Jonathan Bernier's AHL stint has done wonders
The Maple Leafs probably didn’t expect goaltender Jonathan Bernier to record three shutouts in his conditioning run to the AHL, but 70 shots and no goals later as of Sunday afternoon, here we are. Since being sent down to Toronto’s minor team in the Marlies at the beginning of the month, Bernier has gotten his season back on track after going 0-8-1 in nine starts with the Maple Leafs with a save percentage just over .900.
Those numbers are not acceptable for any starting NHL netminder, so the Leafs sent Bernier to the AHL on a conditioning stint to help him find his game. Bernier will get one more start Sunday night but regardless of the outcome, it seems that the goaltender has found himself in a groove.
Jonathan Bernier 3 shutouts in 3 starts with Marlies 3 shutouts in 113 starts with #Leafs
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) December 12, 2015 Trending Down
Penguins problems come to a head with firing of Mike Johnston
It's hard to imagine with the offensive talent the Pittsburgh Penguins boast that they'd be in the bottom half of the Metropolitan Division in the middle of December. Yet the Penguins have disappointed all season long, from Sidney Crosby's scoring woes and his lack of chemistry with new teammate Phil Kessel to the defensive core that seems to belong more to the AHL than NHL. Pittsburgh's problems finally became too much that the organization fired head coach Mike Johnston late Saturday morning and replaced him with the bench boss of their Wilkes-Barre minor league team in Mike Sullivan.
It's hard to pinpoint if Johnston was really the problem in Pittsburgh or if the mismatched pieces brought in on an attempt to win now are to blame. It's not that the Penguins aren't talented, but they might have just a bit too much and in the wrong places. A top-heavy roster of talented individual players does not make a team a Stanley Cup contender. As the seasons have rolled by, the cracks have become more and more apparent in Pittsburgh's facade as another year of missed opportunities seems more and more inevitable by the day.
Alexander Semin officially bows out from the NHL
All breakups are hard, no matter how much -- or little -- love there was in said relationship. We have probably seen the last of Alexander Semin in the NHL after an 11-year professional career filled with mixed success after Montreal put the Russian forward on unconditional wavers last Monday. The 31-year-old was a staple on the Washington Capitals for seven seasons until the franchise let him go after the 2012-13 season. Since then, Semin hopped from the Hurricanes then to the Canadiens, with each season since seeing a decline in points from his 84-point career high in 2009-10.
Our own Pat Iversen made the point earlier in the week that Semin and the NHL just need to move on from one another, and if reports are true that the forward has taken a deal with the Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, good on him. While his NHL career may have ended on narratives of laziness, Semin can start anew in the KHL and continue to play a sport he so clearly loves.
I do not think these memes mean what hockey teams think they mean
I enjoy memes as much as the next Internet user, yet somehow once brands and corporations get a hold of them, they most often turn to disaster. Last Wednesday, the Carolina Hurricanes got shut down by the Stars on Twitter for trying to pull a fast one on Dallas with one of the year's most popular new phrases.
.@NHLCanes uhhh....don't think that phrase means what you think it means.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 9, 2015 While clearly a joke on the part of the Hurricanes, I have had enough of the Netflix and Chill meme to last a lifetime. There are many better memes to use, from the classics to some of the more under-appreciated ones of the year that were overshadowed. Do better in 2016, NHL Twitters.
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