Kucherov's heating up, top Crosby anecdotes, and the West playoff race
Nikita Kucherov is once again doing Kucherovian things - a development that should petrify opponents of the healthy and engaged Tampa Bay Lightning.
While the Lightning were embarrassed Thursday night in a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kucherov put on an absolute clinic two days earlier during a 5-2 comeback win over the Ottawa Senators. Both scoring plays he initiated - the Lightning's opening goal and the eventual game-winner - were highlight-reel worthy and a reminder of how extraordinarily dangerous Kucherov can be with the puck.
On the first, the highly entertaining two-time Stanley Cup champion forced a turnover on the half-wall, corralled a pass, and then, identifying free ice, made a beeline to the crease area where he backhanded the puck top corner.
A period later, the right-winger flashed his signature sly playmaking ability by executing a no-look pass to Steven Stamkos. Again using his backhand, Kucherov shoveled the puck from the right corner to the heart of the left circle where Stamkos was waiting to hammer in a one-timer and break a 2-2 tie.
Steven Stamkos scores a power-play goal against the Ottawa Senators to make it 3-2 #TBLvsOTT #GoBolts #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/GaQep6djv5
- nopClips (@nopClips) March 2, 2022
Sports fans who don't know much about Kucherov might opine that the 2019-20 Hart Trophy winner guessed and got lucky on the pass to Stamkos. But he didn't. Part of what makes Kucherov special is his quickness of mind. He makes hard things look easy - to the point of looking fluky.
"We've seen him do it a few times in practice lately," Brayden Point, Kucherov's center, told reporters when asked about the pass to Stamkos. "That's just unreal skill (to) pick up the puck off the boards like that and find a guy right away. He's just so talented, one of the most talented guys in the league. His skill is off the charts, and his vision is off the charts."
The 28-year-old has only appeared in 18 games this season, recording 10 goals and 16 assists to average 1.44 points per contest. In the third game of the season, he sustained an unspecified lower-body injury, which required surgery and kept him out of the lineup for three months. Then, in late January, COVID-19 protocol sidelined Kucherov for an additional three games.
Similar to when he burst onto the scene in the first round of last year's playoffs after missing the entire regular season, Kucherov has hit the ground running. Only Mitch Marner, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Auston Matthews have been more productive on a per-game basis since Jan. 6, and Tampa has been just as effective as its top winger, owning a 13-4-1 record in that span.
If Kucherov remains healthy, he can play a maximum of 47 games. He won't take home an individual award. A third Cup ring, though? Maybe.
Revisiting young Crosby
Kevin Sousa / Getty ImagesSidney Crosby is about as private as an all-time pro athlete can be. Relative to his talent and impact on the sport, we don't really know a ton about the guy personally.
The vault opened up ever so slightly this week with Audible's release of an eight-part audio documentary called "Sidney Crosby: The Rookie Year." As actor and narrator Joe Manganiello put it in an interview with theScore, the documentary is an "insider's view and an insider's experience of one of the great athletes of our time."
Manganiello, a Pittsburgh native and huge Penguins fan, said he gained a greater appreciation for Crosby's mental makeup and his journey from Nova Scotian prodigy to 102-point NHL rookie through the narration process.
"He was a child star, and most child stars don't handle that pressure well in my industry, in the entertainment industry," Manganiello said. "It's a little different with athletes, but still, there are no guarantees in life, and especially in sports. So, to watch him have the kind of success he's had but also be the person that he is, and kind of weather the storm (is impressive)."
Rich Fury / Getty ImagesI've listened to the entire show. It's quite good, although not deeply enlightening.
Here are two anecdotes I found particularly amusing:
Grandma pays up: You probably know about the Crosby family's famous beat-up dryer. You probably know about the Montreal Canadiens drafting his dad Troy. You might even know his cousin Forbes MacPherson played in the AHL.
But it's unlikely you know Crosby's grandma once promised him $1 for every goal he could score in the upcoming minor-hockey season. And, when Crosby racked up 159 goals, grandma yelped with pride.
"I felt so bad for her," Crosby says with a slight laugh in the documentary.
"She had no idea," he adds. "She thought, 'I don't know, he's maybe going to get 20 goals this year. It'll be a nice little gift for him at the end of the year.'"
Dave Sandford / Getty ImagesMario's dog duty: For a brief period during his rookie year, Crosby played on a line alongside Mario Lemieux, who also doubled as co-owner of the Penguins franchise.
The generational stars were housemates, too, after Lemieux invited then 18-year-old Crosby to move into the family home. Naturally, Crosby's teammates poked fun at the odd arrangement. "They're going to give it to you," Crosby says. "But the next question is going to be, 'How is it? What's it like? Can I come over?'"
At some point, Crosby adopted a puppy, and one night after a game - with Lemieux's wife and kids already sleeping - he walked into the house and immediately smelled feces. Uh oh.
"I came around the corner, and there's Mario," Crosby says of the stoic legend, with the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up and necktie undone.
"He's there cleaning up this mess," Crosby adds, "and I'm thinking to myself, 'This cannot be happening ...'"
West Conference raceHeading into Friday's slate of matchups, there are four Western Conference teams comfortably in a postseason spot based on points percentage.
The Colorado Avalanche (.764), St. Louis Blues (.660), and Minnesota Wild (.644) are all well on their way to securing playoff berths in the Central Division. Meanwhile, it'll take a wild turn of events over the final third of the regular season for the Calgary Flames (.670) to lose their comfy spot in the Pacific.
That leaves the Los Angeles Kings (.591), Edmonton Oilers (.582), and Vegas Golden Knights (.582) to jockey for the other guaranteed division spots. The Pacific team that falls off the pace will then vie with the Dallas Stars (.594), Nashville Predators (.593), and Anaheim Ducks (.545) for the two wild cards.
John Russell / Getty ImagesSo which of these six teams chasing a playoff spot is facing the stiffest test? It's the 30-20-4 Predators, current occupants of the first wild card.
Nashville's not only in the middle of a rough patch, having gone 3-6-1 in its last 10 games, but the club also ties the Kings and Stars for most back-to-back sets down the stretch with five. (The Golden Knights, Ducks, and Oilers have four, three, and two, respectively.) Two of the Preds' back-to-backs are in late April, giving them five games in their campaign's final seven days.
Nashville is also facing the highest quality of competition. The team's scheduled to meet a top-10 side in the NHL (based on current points percentage) in a whopping 13 of its final 28 games. At the other end of the spectrum, Vegas will meet just five top-10 teams in their final 28 games while L.A. has only six in 27.
The Predators play 16 of their final 28 contests on home ice. Perhaps that can be their saving grace - though they're a pedestrian 15-10-0 at Bridgestone Arena.
The kicker: Nashville has an exceedingly difficult stretch to close out the season. Six of the squad's final seven games are against the Flames (twice), Blues, Wild, Avalanche, and Lightning - all top-10 clubs.
Even though HockeyViz shows they have a 78.4% probability of making the playoffs, it's still going to be an uphill battle for the Preds.
Parting thoughtsJack Johnson: On Tuesday, the 35-year-old defenseman became the 363rd player to appear in 1,000 NHL games. Johnson, a plodding, mistake-prone blue-liner with iffy underlying numbers, has been a punching bag for multiple fan bases over his career. Yet it's not hard to root for a guy who's lasted this long, who is by all accounts loved by his teammates, and who has endured economic hardships thanks to his own greedy parents. Johnson, now with the juggernaut Avalanche, deserves that commemorative silver stick just as much as the 362 others who have reached 1,000. Enjoy the spotlight, Jack.
Jack Johnson stan account. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/s0DlFqe6ju
- Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 2, 2022
Kyle Davidson: The Chicago Blackhawks officially named Davidson general manager earlier this week. The young executive immediately used the word "rebuild," which smartly removed any guesswork from the public discourse. Overall, his top priority is figuring out if Patrick Kane and/or Jonathan Toews should be part of the team's long-term future. However, those conversations can wait until the offseason. The more pressing situation is Marc-Andre Fleury. The goalie will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and was promised by the previous regime that he would be involved in any trade-related discussions. So Davidson must slide on his salesman hat. Chicago's in desperate need of draft picks and prospects, and a few playoff-bound teams could use an upgrade in goal. Convincing Fleury to move on would be a huge first win for Davidson.
Kyle Davidson said his wife, Angelica, recently told him (after he was a little short with her), "You might be the GM of the Chicago Blackhawks but I'm the GM of this house."
- Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) March 1, 2022
Isabelle Khurshudyan: I wanted to echo some of my colleagues by praising Khurshudyan, the terrific Washington Post foreign correspondent who previously covered the Washington Capitals. She's in Ukraine reporting on something far more important than sports. Here's to Khurshudyan, fellow journalists, aid workers, and, of course, innocent Ukrainians staying safe.
Greetings from Odesa, the city where both of my parents and their parents were born. I've been wanting to visit here for years. I wish my first time in this beautiful place wasn't under these circumstances. pic.twitter.com/TNxwsaB1Fs
- Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) March 4, 2022
Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).
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