In the sixteenth weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot, the Carolina Hurricanes made a huge trade, five teams won their week, and the New York Islanders are out of the basement. All this and more in this week’s snapshot.
As January enters its final week, the Metropolitan Division received loads of attention. The New Jersey Devils lost Jacob Markstrom to injury and possibly Nico Hischier. The New York Islanders lost Noah Dobson to injury and signed Anthony DeAngelo. The New York Rangers were the center of constant trade rumors out of Vancouver. Then they signed Will Borges to a significantly large extension. Many still marvel that the Washington Capitals keep doing what they have been doing in this season. More seriously and most importantly, the Carolina Hurricanes made a huge trade on Friday night. This is not hyperbole. Huge may be an understatement given the players involved:
Carolina Gets: Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall, Nils Juntorp
Colorado Gets: Martin Necas, Jack Drury, Carolina’s 2025 2nd round pick, Carolina’s 2026 4th round pick.
Chicago: 45% of Rantanen’s salary retained, Carolina’s 2025 3rd round pick – which was originally Chicago’s since the Chicago and Carolina swapped thirds in 2024.
Carolina effectively traded their top scorer in this season in Martin Necas (12th in the NHL as of Saturday morning) and Jack Drury for one of the league’s top scorers in the NHL in Mikko Rantanen (6th in the NHL). It is very odd to see two contending teams move guys putting up well over a point-per-game, much less to each other. Rantanen is on an expiring contract and he will likely demand and command Leon Draisaitl money this Summer. Fittingly, both Draisaitl and Rantanen have the same agents. If that was not enough, they managed to get Chicago to eat a big part of Rantanen’s salary and give Taylor Hall to the Canes for a third rounder that Chicago once owned. Weird for Chicago as they could have commanded more for Hall. Hall is also on an expiring deal. I know that teams retaining salary in a three-team deal tend to not get much but perhaps they should have demanded more in this case to make this deal work. Mostly weird to me is that there are no prospects of note leaving Carolina or any first round picks. Carolina added a top-ten scorer and a former Hart trophy winger as depth. They are rentals and the pressure will be on the Hurricanes to either win it all in 2025 or find the money and, more importantly, the cap space for Rantanen this Summer.
For the sake of this snapshot, the mountain is still a big one for Carolina to climb. They may have upgraded their offense tremendously. They are still 7 points behind the Capitals and it does not look like the Capitals are going to slump anytime soon.
NHL.com
This week’s schedule is light on today and Friday. Some teams are still on the road and returning. Some will hit the road. Volume-wise, it is a lighter week. Everyone has two or three games to play this week. There are four games within the division and three of them involve the Philadelphia Flyers. Those games are highlighted and in bold as per tradition:
Schedules via NHL.com
Here is the week that was and week that will be for all eight teams.
Washington Capitals
What Happened Last Week: The Washington Capitals began a five-game road trip into the Northwest on Tuesday night. Their first stop was in Edmonton. The Capitals, well, did not exactly play their best game. Edmonton kept them to just 14 shots. They even went up 1-0 on Washington with a goal by Leon Draisaitl. But Logan Thompson kept the Caps in it and they got goals despite the few shots on net. Tom Wilson tied up the game nine minutes into the first. Matt Roy made it 2-1 in the second. Pierre-Luc Dubois added a third goal for insurance early in the third. A necessary one as Corey Perry made it 3-2 a minute after Dubois’ goal. Thompson held on and the Capitals got a 3-2 regulation win despite the one-sided play.
Their second stop was back in the Seattle, Washington, United States on Thursday. The Capitals put out a better effort against the Kraken. They also shut them out. Charlie Lindgren was perfect on all 22 shots by the Kraken. The Caps put up 32 and scored 3. Aliaksei Protas got a beneficial bounce early in the second period to put the Caps up 1-0. Ethen Frank made it 2-0 late in the second for a 2-0 lead. Alex Ovechkin sank in a third period empty net goal to complete a 3-0 shutout win. This locked up another winning week for the Caps. They keep on rolling and it seems it is not ending any time soon.
Their third stop was a return to Canada; they visited Vancouver on Saturday night. Kevin Lankinen was in full form for the Canucks and kept the Capitals off the board for the first 40 minutes. Within those first 40 minutes, it was the Quinn Hughes show. He scored twice. First, a backhander over 12 minutes into the first period. Second, a wrister over a minute into the second period. Washington would get on the board over twelve minutes into the third period when Pierre-Luc Dubois scored. The Capitals finally put a puck past Lankinen. Would they get a second in the remaining seven minutes and change? No. They would not. The Capitals lost 2-1 in regulation. Still a winning week on a typically difficult road trip.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Washington Capitals will wrap up their trip in this week coming up. They will visit Calgary on Tuesday night. They will return to the Eastern side of the continent on Thursday to stop in Ottawa. Washington will return home on Saturday to host a very good Winnipeg team. The Capitals, again, keep getting results, keep getting points on the board, and they just have to maintain this pace. They can even afford a bad week here and there. Not that they seem willing to do that. They are not only on track to getting the first ‘X’ in the league standings but perhaps the first ‘Y’ too.
Carolina Hurricanes
What Happened Last Week: Carolina began a busy week of four games in six nights on Monday in Chicago. They were a bit stunned at the start. The Blackhawks hung with the Hurricanes in the first period. More importantly, they put the Canes down two. Philipp Kurashev scored about halfway through the first, and Tyler Bertuzzi scored later on. The Canes put up the pressure and clawed their way back into the game. A shorthanded goal by Seth Jarvis early in the second got Carolina on the board. Jesperi Kotkaniemi tied it up later on. However, Ryan Donato put the Canes down one with 19 seconds left in the period. Harsh. Carolina kept owning the puck. They would tie it up in the third. Jordan Staal made it 3-3 with over six minutes left. Overtime was needed. There, Sebastian Aho finished it early to give Carolina a 4-3 comeback OT win over Chicago. Still two points in the standings. Clearly, they liked what they saw out of Taylor Hall too.
The Hurricanes went south to Dallas on Tuesday night. It was a defensive battle in the Big D. The high shooting Canes were kept to 19 shots and the Stars just had 23 on net. The goals were also sparse. There was no scoring until Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored with fewer than three minutes left in the second period. Dallas tied it up halfway through the third period with a backhanded shot by Thomas Harley. This lasted for 24 seconds. A deflection off Kotkaniemi made it 2-1 for Carolina. That goal stood up as the final one, giving the Hurricanes a close, regulation victory.
On Thursday, the Hurricanes returned home to host a recently-hot Columbus team. This game had loads of scoring. Columbus hit first and second with first period goals by Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko. Then Carolina decided to own the second period. In a 24-3 shot period favoring the Canes, they scored five straight goals. It started with a Seth Jarvis PPG at 2:48, ended at 11:34 with Jordan Martinook, with goals by Eric Robinson, Jackson Blake, and Sebastian Aho in between them. What was crazy was that two of those three Blue Jacket shots went in after that torrid run of goals. James van Reimsdyk and Dmitri Voronkov each scored on tip-ins to make it a 5-4 game. Would the third keep up? In a word: no. Carolina would not concede. Jesperi Kotkaniemi added an insurance goal to reduce the pressure and Jarvis added an empty netter to seal up a 7-4 win. Carolina also sealed up a winning week and second place for this snapshot with this win too. It would be the last for Martin Necas and Jack Drury too.
Carolina’s first opponent after their big Friday night trade: a road game in Long Island on Saturday. They got off to a strong start. Jack Roslovic and Sebastian Aho each scored within the first ten minutes to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead. The issue: they did not expand on it. It ultimately went away. Late in the first, Alexander Romanov scored his first of the season to make it 2-1. The 2-1 score stayed in place through the second period. Over six minutes into the third, Anders Lee chipped in a backhander on a rebound for a 2-2 game. This score stood up and overtime was necessary. In the fourth period, Andrei Svechnikov looked to set up a Cane in front. He missed and gave the puck to Brock Nelson, who started a 2-on-1 rush. Nelson kept it and torched Pytor Kochetkov on the shot to win it for the Islanders. Which meant the Canes lost, 4-3. Disappointing as that was, they went 3-0-1 in the week, which is great. The point earned means they are two ahead of the Devils. Yet, still seven back of the Capitals.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Hurricanes will have three games to get further acclimated with Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall. Oh, and to keep on securing their postseason future. They will visit the Rangers on Tuesday night. Given the Rangers’ recent form, that will not be so simple but playing Carolina at all is never simple for their opponents. Chicago will get to visit Raleigh on Thursday for a game and to see how Hall is doing. Then the Canes will host Los Angeles on Saturday. The Kings have been struggling recently but they may snap out of it by then. The Canes remain in a great spot. They just need to maintain. Assuming that is what ownership and management want after such a big deal.
New Jersey Devils
What Happened Last Week: The New Jersey Devils started last week on Sunday afternoon against Ottawa. Fresh off a sad, disappointing, and possibly illness-driven performance against Philadelphia, the Devils came out hard against Ottawa with a 17 shot first period. No goals, but progress. So it seemed. Then the Devils offense died for the next two periods. They conceded the first goal to Zach Ostapchuk in the second period. Tomas Tatar immediately answered back to tie it up. But early in the third, Artem Zub scored past a Nathan Bastian screen to break the tie. The Devils, down a goal, had 2 shots in the third period. It was another dreary loss. And a costly one as the Devils would slip to third place after Monday.
On Wednesday, the Devils hosted Boston. The Devils honored legendary head coach Jacques Lemaire and changed their forward lines to get something different out there after a bad weekend of games. At first, it seemed that the slump would continue. A bad giveaway by Jesper Bratt yielded a play for a goal for Morgan Geekie in the first period. The Devils would get a much needed spark in the second period. A turnaround shot by Dawson Mercer tied up the game. The Devils took the lead thanks to power plays. Nico Hischier punished a Justin Brazeau goalie interference call that took Jacob Markstrom out the game for 2-1. Charlie Coyle’s hook of Jonathan Kovacevic led to Stefan Noesen jamming a puck past Jeremy Swayman’s toe for 3-1. 12 seconds later, Justin Dowling (!) found Mercer in front of the net for a 4-1 lead. The Devils cruised in the third thanks to Jake Allen filling in well for Markstrom. They added one more goal in punishing a Vinni Letteri high sticking call. Hischier tipped in a Dougie Hamilton shot. 3 PPGs, 5 goals, and a big 5-1 win. The win was costly, though, as Jacob Markstrom was injured by Justin Brazeau and left the game. He will be out for 4-6 weeks with a MCL sprain. This is a significant injury as Markstrom was a key reason why the Devils were competitive through most of their slump.
The Devils went to Quebec on Saturday night to play Montreal. They had a chance to win the week. They did so. The Devils struck first when Jesper Bratt darted down the middle of the zone late in the first and set up Nico Hischier to stash in a goal. A couple of minutes later, Bratt shoveled a shot from the circle that beat Jakub Dobes for a 2-0 lead. Montreal would claw one back early in the second when Nick Suzuki buried a one-timer feed from Cole Caufield. The Devils went up by two goals again when Tomas Tatar finished a tough shift by putting in his own rebound after re-directing a Dougie Hamilton shot on net. Unfortunately, this lead would not hold up. A cross-check to Hischier’s hip by Suzuki led to a bad pass back to a Canadien. On the rush, Caufield took a drop pass from Suzuki, toe-dragged past Bratt, and ripped a shot in to make it 3-2. In the third, Hamilton iced the puck. The Devils lost the faceoff to Suzuki, who passed it back to Kaiden Guhle, who passed it to Alexandre Carrier at the center point. His shot beat the traffic and Jake Allen to make it 3-3. Dobes stood up big and so the score stayed for overtime. The Devils would take it. After a pass went just behind Michael Matheson, Timo Meier won the puck and played it up to Jack Hughes for a breakaway. The Big Deal finished it 1-on-1 to give the Devils two points in a 4-3 win. The Devils won the week at 2-1-0. They did some harm to the wild card opponents of Montreal as the Canadiens got a point. The hope is that Hischier’s injury is not too bad.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Devils have only two games to play this week. This week means some of those games in hand others have on the Devils will get used. The games are important. They will take on their rivals in the Philadelphia Flyers twice in a non-consecutive home-and-home. They will go to Philly on Monday and then host them on Wednesday night. Rest up, it is a busier week after this one.
Columbus Blue Jackets
What Happened Last Week: Columbus started off their four-games-in-six-nights on Monday in Long Island. The Blue Jackets came into this game hot and it seemed like that would continue. They struck first with a quick power play goal by Kirill Marchenko that punished an Anders Lee penalty and put the Jackets up 1-0 over five minutes in. However, the Isles blitzed Columbus with three goals in the first six minutes of the second period. Bo Horvat tied up the game within the first minute. While killing a Casey Cizikas penalty, Simon Holmstrom rushed and finished a shorthanded goal to give the Isles the lead. Minutes later, the Isles punished an Adam Fantilli penalty with a PPG by Horvat for a 3-1 lead. From then on, nothing else went in. Columbus’ point streak ended with the 3-1 regulation loss. It had to end sometime.
Columbus went up to Toronto on Wednesday night. Not the easiest place to rebound but the Blue Jackets absolutely did that. Thanks to the man of the night, Adam Fantilli. While killing a Zach Werenski penalty, Fantilli finished a shorthanded rush to put the Jackets up 1-0 in the first. Past halfway through the second, James van Reimsdyk made it a 2-0 game. Fantilli scored less than two minutes later for a 3-0 lead. Nearly six minutes into the third, Luca Del Bel Belluz made it a 4-0 game for Columbus. Toronto would interrupt a shutout for Elvis Merzlikins. Auston Matthews did so before halfway through the final period. But it was too little, too late. Frustrated with the effort, Craig Berube pulled their goalie incredibly early. Fantilli put in an empty netter with over eight minutes left. He completed the hat trick. Columbus won 5-1 in a place where only nine other times the Maple Leafs lost in regulation.
Columbus followed that win in Toronto by going to Raleigh the next night. They started off very well. They went up 2-0 on Carolina in the first two periods with goals by Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko. Then the second period happened and the Blue Jackets were nearly dominated. They absolutely were on the shot count as it was 24-3 to Carolina. Columbus also got beaten for five straight goals. Seth Jarvis converted a power play then Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake scored within a minute and Sebastian Aho scored shortly thereafter and Jordan Martinook finished the flood of goals. Why nearly? Because Columbus scored on two of their three shots. Which were actually tip-ins by James van Reimsdyk and Dmitri Voronkov. The Blue Jackets, somehow, made it a one-shot game going into the third period. Unfortunately, they would not get that shot. Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored a big insurance goal and Jarvis ended the game with an empty net. The Blue Jackets lost 7-4 in a game that could have closed some of the gap between them and Carolina. Alas.
The Blue Jackets returned to Ohio on Saturday to host a struggling Los Angeles team. It was a tougher game than it seemed to be on recent form. The Kings never went away in this one. Zach Werenski opened the scoring just before halfway through the first. Only for the Kings to tie it up over three minutes later thanks to Phillip Danault. In the third period, Dante Fabbro broke the 1-1 tie early in the period. It seemed like Columbus was going to hold on to that 2-1 lead. Los Angeles pulled their goalie. A denied clearance led to Los Angeles getting the puck in close and Quinton Byfield finished the play to tie it up with 1:05 left. Overtime was necessary. With over a minute left, Ivan Provorov sent a neutral zone pass to Kirill Marchenko. Marchenko, seeing a lane, charged in, pulled off a power move to get to the net, and rounded the goalie for the game winner. A wonderful play to give Columbus a 3-2 win at home. The Blue Jackets split the week in terms of results. They remain in fourth with a three point lead over the Rangers.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Blue Jackets will be going on the road and so they will just have two games to play. They even have four days to prepare for it. The catch: it is a back-to-back. They will visit a very good Las Vegas team on Thursday and then go to Salt Lake City on Friday. The Blue Jackets could become a victim of being idle in the standings should they drop one or both of those games. We shall see.
New York Rangers
What Happened Last Week: The New York Rangers started their week on Sunday in Montreal. Their hot form means they are in a wild card race and so any Atlantic Division opponent is going to matter more. This was a goalfest for 40 minutes. The two teams traded off goals to start. Alexis Lafreniere opened the scoring after halfway through the first. Brenden Gallagher tied it up with a tip in of a Christian Dvorak shot. NY answered that with a Will Cuylle solo effort to end the first at 2-1. In the second, Dvorak tied it up for the Canadiens. The Rangers retook the lead with a PPG by Mika Zibanejad past halfway through the second. Montreal made it 3-3 thanks to Nick Suzuki. Over a minute later, Chris Kreider tipped in an Adam Fox shot go up 4-3. The scoring dried up in the third period. However, Montreal got the one they needed. Juraj Slafkovsky tied up the game with less than eight minutes left. Overtime would be needed. Patrik Laine ended it to give the Rangers a 5-4 OT loss. New York’s point streak continued, but this was not an ideal result given both teams are scrapping for the wild card. Better than zero points, though.
The Rangers returned to Manhattan on Tuesday to host Ottawa. Any worry that an overtime loss would cool off New York went away on Tuesday night against the Senators. It took almost the whole first period, but Alexis Lafreniere opened the scoring with fewer than two minutes left for the Rangers. The Rangers would add to that in the second period. Arthur Kaliyev made it 2-0 within the first few minutes of the second. The score held until the third period. Matt Rempe scored just a few minutes into it for 3-0. A massive melee seven minutes into the period during a Rangers power play yielded a 5 on 3 for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin and Will Cuylle scored to punish the Sens with back to back power play goals. The Senators had nothing against Igor Shesterkin. A huge 5-0 win in the wild card race to continue the Rangers’ hot run.
The Blueshirts’ week ended on Thursday against their rivals in Philadelphia. This game was close for a period. Owen Tippett scored on a deflection early in the first. Despite their efforts, that would be the only goal the Flyers would score on Igor Shesterkin. The Rangers tied it up with a deflection by Braeden Schneider nine minutes into the first. A little later, Adam Edstrom tipped in a Ryan Lindgren shot to make it 2-1. The Rangers would never look back. K’Andre Miller made it 3-1 in the second. Filip Chytil tipped in a shot for 4-1 in the third. An empty net shorthanded goal by Adam Fox late in the third made it 5-1. Noah Cates unwisely slashed Vincent Trocheck after that. That yielded a PPG for Reilly Smith, adding one more for the touchdown. It was a 6-1 rout for the Rangers. It was another fabulous week for the Rangers as they went 2-0-1. They are now in fifth and the feelings are good.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Rangers will get to see the massive trade from Friday first-hand. The Rangers are hosting Colorado on Sunday and Carolina on Tuesday. The teams may look different but they are difficult all the same. The Rangers’ regulation-lossless streak will be at risk. After then, they will have three days to prepare for a trip to Boston on Saturday. A big game for the wild card positioning; not something the Rangers can take lightly.
Philadelphia Flyers
What Happened Last Week: The Philadelphia Flyers started a three-game-in-four-night week on Tuesday night at home to Detroit. Sam Ersson and Alex Lyon were the main players in this one. The goalies kept the score real low. Philadelphia did strike first with a backhander by Joel Farabee over five minutes into the second period. Detroit answered that 30 seconds into the third period by Ben Chiarot. That would be it for scoring in regulation. Even overtime seemed to stay even. Then, in the final minute of overtime, the Flyers broke through. Rasmus Ristolainen, of all players, scored in overtime with 26 seconds left in it. The Flyers got an important second point in a 2-1 victory.
The Flyers visited Madison Square Garden on Thursday night to take on the Rangers. This game was close for just one period. Owen Tippett opened the scoring with a deflection early on. Despite the efforts, Igor Shesterin closed off anything else the Flyers would try to get in the net. The same could not be said for Sam Ersson. Braden Schneider tied up the game with a deflection and Adam Edstrom scored on a tip-in of a Ryan Lindgren shortly thereafter to put the Flyers down 2-1. A goal from K’Andre Miller in the second made it 3-1. Filip Chytil added in another tip-in for 4-1 early in the third. The Flyers could not get going. An early goaltender pull during a late power play yielded an Adam Fox empty netter for 5-1. Frustration surely led to Noah Cates slashing Vincent Trocheck. That only led to a PPG by Reilly Smith for 6-1. A brutal loss that hurts the Philadelphia cause for the wild card. And it sent the Rangers up at the Flyers’ expense.
On Friday, the Flyers had a chance to make things up in Long Island. It seemed that they would when Tyson Foerster scored over 14 minutes into the first period. Then the Flyers got hit with a quick double by the Islanders before the end of the first. Anthony Duclair scored to tie it up and Bo Horvat made it 2-1 just under a minute after that. The Flyers could not recover from the turnaround. Rather, they could not beat Ilya Sorokin. Brock Nelson added an insurance goal in the second period. The Flyers’ lack of an answer meant they lost this game 3-1. Dropping another game within the division hurts. As did going 1-2-0.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Flyers have another week where they will play three games in four nights. All of them are within the division too. The Flyers will host the Devils on Monday. While they beat the Devils not that long ago, the Devils may not be ravaged with an illness so it may be a different story. The two will play each other again on national television on Wednesday night. That one will be in Newark. The Flyers will head home shortly thereafter to host the Islanders on Thursday. Yes, the Flyers will get a chance at revenge. Another bad week though, and they could fall further.
New York Islanders
What Happened Last Week: The New York Islanders opened their week against Columbus on Monday. Would the Isles cool off Columbus? Yes. Even though the Blue Jackets went up early with a power play goal by Kirill Marchenko that punished an Anders Lee penalty over five minutes in. The Isles had more than just a response for that. In the second period, they dropped three on the Blue Jackets. Within six minutes too. Bo Horvat tied up the game within the first minute. While killing a Casey Cizikas penalty, Simon Holmstrom finished a shorthanded rush to give the Isles the lead. Minutes later, the Isles punished an Adam Fantilli penalty with a PPG by Horvat for a 3-1 lead. From then on, nothing else went in thanks to Ilya Sorokin. The Islanders got a big win within the division, hurting Columbus’ point count while helping their own.
On Friday, the Islanders hosted Philadelphia. They would get revenge for last week’s loss to them. Like with the Columbus game, Tyson Foerster scored first to put the Isles down a score. Unlike the Columbus game, the Islanders answered on the scoreboard within the first period. Anthony Duclair tied it up and Bo Horvat put the Isles up 2-1 just less than a minute later. The flip in the score going into intermission did not lead to much of a response from the Flyers. Not that Ilya Sorokin allowed anything. Brock Nelson buried another shot in the second period to make it 3-1. Philly owned the shot count in the third with 16 shots and none went in. The 3-1 score held up for another regulation win for the Isles. Another win within the bottom half of the division that hurts a direct competitor. A winning week and a three-game winning streak were also results of this one.
The Islanders had the fortune to host a new-look Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. It seemed like the Isles would suffer early on. They conceded goals to Jack Roslovic and Sebastian Aho within the first seven minutes. But the Isles got on the board with Alexander Romanov’s first of the season late in the period to make it 2-1. On this night, the Islanders hit the Hurricanes with their own medicine: blowing a one-goal lead in the third period. Anders Lee tied up the game with a backhander over six minutes in to make it 2-2. The score held up through regulation and overtime was needed. There, a bad pass by Andrei Svechnikov sprung Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri on a 2-on-1. Nelson kept it and fired a laser past Pytor Kochetkov for the win. The Islanders came back to win 3-2 for their fourth in a row. A regulation would have been better but four wins in a row is four wins in a row. They are now in seventh place and right on the tails of Philadelphia.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Islanders will have three tricky games coming up. The Islanders will host Colorado on Tuesday. They were a difficult opponent with Rantanen and they will likely will still be a tough opponent with Necas. The Islanders will go to Philly on Thursday night and hope to avoid being the victims of revenge after getting it this past Friday. On Saturday, the Isles will go to Tampa Bay, which is another tough place to play (Bolts are 15-6-1 at home) against a team that is capable of doing a lot of damage on the scoreboard. They are in good form; we shall see if that continues into this week.
Pittsburgh Penguins
What Happened Last Week: Pittsburgh was on the road all week, continuing a trip that will end at the end of January. On Monday, they hit California by playing the Kings. The Penguins went ahead and never looked back against a slumping Kings team. The scoring opened around halfway through the first period when Kevin Hayes got a favorable bounce to convert a power play in close to the net. Sidney Crosby doubled the lead with a tip in of a Mayt Grzelcyk shot. In the second period, Evgeni Malkin made it 3-0. Los Angeles finally got on the board late in the second. Adrian Kempe scored a 5v3 power play goal to get the Kings to 3-1. However, Cody Glass dashed any hopes of a comeback with a tip-in goal of a Hayes shot with a minute left in the second. Up 4-1, Pittsburgh could see out the game. They added a fifth goal with a backhander by Anthony Beauvillier. The Pittsburgh Penguins won big 5-1. Any win for the Pens at this point is big given how tight it is in the standings.
The Penguins went to Anaheim on Thursday. The Penguins did very well in Los Angeles. They did not do so well in Orange County. John Gibson shut them down almost entirely. The Ducks kept scoring and never let the Pens into the game. Mason McTavish scored close to halfway through the first period. Alex Killorn made it 2-0 in the final minute of the period. Michael Bunting gave the Penguins hope in the second. He converted a power play to make it 2-1. But Gibson was in an excellent form and the Ducks hit back in the third. McTavish restored the two goal lead early in the period. Frank Vatrano made it 4-1 minutes later. Killorn completed the game with an empty net goal. Pittsburgh lost 5-1 in Anaheim. That one stings considering what they need to keep doing (getting points) and how they just beat the Kings 5-1.
The week ended for the Penguins on a Saturday afternoon in Seattle. This did not go well for the Penguins. After a goal-less first period, the Kraken struck first with an early second period goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand. No matter. Sidney Crosby tied it up over two minutes later. The issue became Joey Daccord. He did not let anything else in. Seattle went ahead late in the second due to two mistakes by Pittsburgh. Cody Glass slashed Jaden Schwartz and Kris Letang cross-checked Matt Beniers during that penalty kill. In the 5-on-3, Vince Dunn unloaded a slapshot for a 2-1 lead. Seattle extended it in the third. Eeli Tolvanen scored over five minutes into the third. Beniers added further insurance with just under seven minutes left. Again, the Pens did not beat Daccord before or after Crosby’s goal. They lost 4-1. Their week ended at 1-2-0 and they fell to last in the division. This trip has proven to not be an easy one.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Pittsburgh Penguins will be done with their trip in this week coming up. They will visit the Bay Area to take on San Jose on Monday. That ends their California commitment. On Wednesday, the Penguins will visit Utah for a nationally televised game. Saturday will see the Penguins back at home to take on a Nashville team that has seemingly figured some things out. Nothing is easy and the pressure may remain on the Penguins to salvage this season. I write may since the team could just have a fire sale for its roster and accept its current fate. We’ll see.
That was the sixteenth Weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot of the 2024-25 season. Will Washington just keep doing it? Is it Cup or Bust for the Canes and, if so, how bad do they want first place? Are the Devils done slumping? Who will cool off the New York teams? Does Pittsburgh give it up? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the eight teams in the week that was and the week ahead in the comments. Thank you for reading.