Trending the net: Panthers goaltenders on the rise, Stamkos saga reaches end

Washington, Calgary and Florida are the league’s hottest teams heading into the week of Christmas, while Toronto’s goaltending situation just got a lot worse.

by Mary Clarke

Dec 21, 2015, 4:00 PM UTC

Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the National Hockey League, teams were jockeying for position with lots of intrigue. We’ll stop before we get too far ahead with these rhymes, even though it can be extremely hard sometimes. For real, though, heading into a short week of NHL action with the Christmas break on the way, we’re closing in on the halfway point of the season. To get you caught up before the start of this week’s hockey action, let’s dive back into last week’s trending storylines.

Washington, Calgary heat up on different ends of the standings

The NHL's latest hot team of the week are the Washington Capitals, who have won their last four games over the last week. They've now rounded off their last 10 games coming into Sunday with a 8-1-1 record. The Capitals have been hard to contain, with the juggernauts of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov topping Washington in points with each over 28. Washington's streak could not have come at a better time, with the league leading Dallas Stars sitting quite stagnantly at the top with a 2-1 week.

At the other end of the league standings, the Calgary Flames finally had their first loss of December against the Blues on Saturday the 19th, in a 3-2 defeat in St. Louis. Calgary's success has done less for their league-wide standings, but their 7-2-1 record over the last 10 games has essentially put them in a four-way tie for second in the Pacific Division with San Jose, Arizona and Vancouver, at 32 points. The remainder of the division isn't far behind, with only the Kings sitting pretty at the top with a 10-point lead. The comeback kid nature of the young Flames has sparked the best 10-game record in that division outside of Los Angeles to keep them in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Luongo, Montoya backstopping Panthers to Atlantic run

For Florida, their offense is taking a backseat to just plain good goaltending. Sure, the Panthers put up five goals twice in as many games against Metropolitan Division opponents, but the real reason Florida is thriving is the play of their two netminders, Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya. Luongo has been particularly impressive recently, with only his four goals let in on Sunday against the Canucks matching his worst of the month back on Dec. 6 against New Jersey.

Only that preposterous '10-'11 Tim Thomas season ranks higher than the year Luongo is currently putting together. pic.twitter.com/eBhX9kQ5zh
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) December 20, 2015

The Panthers themselves have jumped to fourth in the Atlantic thanks to their recent 7-3-0 run. They're somehow within four points of the first place Canadiens, who have lost their cushion since losing Carey Price.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Jamie Benn trade off as top scorers in the league

The St. Louis Blues owe a lot of their recent success to the scoring of young Tarasenko, who has a five-game goal streak since Dec. 12. Tarasenko took the top scoring spot from Benn on Saturday with his 21st goal of the year, a gorgeous deflection that was made possible by the quick hands of the young forward.

.@tara9191 takes the @NHL scoring lead with Goal No. 21. #CGYvsSTL https://t.co/vcPsZrxca9
— NHL (@NHL) December 19, 2015

Benn had the last laugh, however, as the Stars captain scored twice in the team’s 6-2 win over Montreal, reclaiming the top spot in the league at 22 goals. It’s such a refreshing change of pace to see the young Tarasenko challenge Benn’s goal scoring, instead of the top names we hear year after year.

Goaltenders across the league took a beating, especially in Toronto

Strangely enough, most of these happened within the same night of hockey. First Maple Leafs goaltender Garret Sparks left his game against the Sharks on Thursday after sustaining a lower body injury on this goal from San Jose.

Sparks left the game after the 2nd goal. Not suer what the injury is pic.twitter.com/yEyVfoLi3T
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 18, 2015

Sparks was then evaluated to be out for at least three games, putting the Maple Leafs in a tight spot with starting Jonathan Bernier, who has not been good for Toronto this year. The organization did get help in signing Ray Emery to the Marlies, while Bernier gets time in the NHL covering for Sparks and also injured netminder James Reimer.

Then, New York Rangers goaltender Antti Raanta took a puck to the head in their game against Minnesota not long after Sparks went down Thursday night. The netminder left the game and eventually was re-evaluated to be day-to-day with a head injury.

Raanta was down for a long time and has now left the game after taking a Scandella slapshot straight on the forehead pic.twitter.com/5IbzpDovSF
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 18, 2015

Not a good week for goaltender injuries, at all.

The Steven Stamkos saga reached its peak in Toronto, and crashed days later

First, it was the "Sign Stamkos" signs printed by a local radio station that owns part of the Maple Leafs' arena ... that were then banned by said arena ... the same one that welcomed the Toronto native home on Tuesday. The Stamkos narrative after his Twitter debacle reached its tipping point with this story, hitting its peak despite the Lightning captain having no effect on the team's win in Toronto.

Then, finally, Stamkos broke his silence and announced to the world that everything written about his feuds with head coach Jon Cooper and his desire to leave the Tampa Bay organization was dead wrong. Since then, Stamkos has gone on to score three goals over this past weekend, picking him out of his slump and reaffirming his spoken commitment to the Lightning organization. Until your next slip up then, Stamkos.

Tim Peel continues to be the Tim Peelest referee of them all

The referee many fans and media members believe to be the worst in the league got his name back in the headlines last week. Instead of a botched call, Peel literally could not get out of his own way during a Canucks-Red Wings game and was instead hip-checked between two players as Vancouver was advancing down the ice.

Tim Peel in everyone's way. (thank you @sportsnetmurph) pic.twitter.com/9NcvwJWrf8
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 19, 2015

when you have no choice but to hip check Tim Peel pic.twitter.com/424Z93EMl0
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 19, 2015

His inability to get out of the way of the rush looks quite comical slowed down, but Derek Dorsett was not a fan of Peel's, after the referee may have spoiled what could have been a prime chance for the Canucks.