In the ninth weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot, the Washington Capitals remained in first, the New York Islanders held onto one third period lead, and the New York Rangers made big moves after a big loss to the New Jersey Devils. All this and more in this week’s snapshot.
First, apologies for the error in last week’s snapshot. I mis-updated the records of the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. Second, the Washington Capitals remain on top. While the New Jersey Devils swept their week, the Capitals had more points to win and they did so to stay ahead of the Devils. Down at the lower end, the New York Rangers have staved off the rest of the division in fourth. The Philadelphia Flyers remain allergic to regulation wins, the Pittsburgh Penguins won a week, and most impressively, the New York Islanders had a lead in the third period and did not blow it. Congrats, Islanders. Sorry, Carolina Hurricanes.
NHL.com
This week is light for three days of the week and heavy on the other four. Make plans on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless you really want either of those games. Keep the other days open. This week is light on games within the division too with just two. One that could mix up the order of the bottom five teams of the division and one potential trap game for the division leaders. As you would expect, those two games are highlighted and in bold:
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 their week at home against San Jose. On paper, this should be simple. On the ice, it was anything but. The Sharks came out and hung with the Caps on their ice. Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring with a last-minute first-period goal. Nic Dowd tied it up just over 13 minutes into the second period. Then the score held. MacKenzie Blackwood and Logan Thompson were in charge as they stopped everything else in regulation. Overtime was necessary and San Jose took it quickly with an unintentional assist from Tom Wilson. With over two minutes left in regulation, Tom Wilson hit Macklin Celebrini with a high-stick. It drew blood so it was a double-minor. This carried over into overtime for a 4-on-3 power play. It ended with Mikael Granlund sending a pass to Fabian Zetterlund for a low one-timer. It trickled through Thompson for a 2-1 overtime loss. Nic Dowd had a verbal beef with the officials afterward and received an abuse of officials penalty.
Friday night saw the Capitals head up to Toronto. After a first period of no goals and 13 shots total from both sides, Nic Dowd opened the scoring with a deflection of a Mathieu Roy shot early on. John Tavares would tie it up past the halfway mark. With neither team giving up much, a bounce would make the difference. It would come when Auston Matthews attempted a pass in his own zone and it off the ref’s skates. Pierre-Luc Dubois jumped on the loose puck for a close shot and Connor McMichael finished the rebound for a 2-1 score. That was the decider in this one. The Caps shut down the Leafs and Aliaksei Protas ended the game with a 3-1 win. Two big points on the road for the Capitals. And the points were enough to secure first place by tiebreakers at a minimum ahead of Saturday’s game.
On Saturday night, the Capitals went to Quebec to play Montreal. It was not that great of a start for Washington. After ten minutes of goalless hockey, Alex Newhook put the Caps down a score. With four minutes left in the first, Cole Caufield put the Caps down 2-0. The Caps needed something to claw back into the game. They would get it just 33 seconds into the second period. That was when Pierre-Luc Dubois beat Sam Montembeault with a slapshot from above the left circle. The score held into the third period. Then Tom Wilson took center stage. He tied up the game over seven minutes into the third; and he put Washington up 3-2 with over eight minutes left in regulation. Not long after that, Josh Anderson interfered with Andrew Mangiapane. This yielded a power play goal for Dylan Strome to further cement Washington’s comeback. They took the game 4-2. Washington ended their week at 2-0-1, a near sweep. They also won their ninth road game in a row. The result also put some distance between them and the Devils along with having the most standing points in the entire NHL.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Capitals will have four days without a game. A nice break. They will then visit Columbus on Thursday and host Buffalo on Saturday. That Columbus matchup may be a tricky one as the Blue Jackets have been able to score in bunches. Same for Buffalo. Then again, neither are all that air-tight when it comes to defense. The Caps can keep trucking on without Ovechkin at this rate anyway. They are hot on the road and they are in first place with 40 points already in early December.
New Jersey Devils
What Happened Last Week: The New Jersey Devils played the first of their two games this week on Monday night. They visited the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. They hit the Rangers with Instagram hockey. The kind of hockey that goes viral on X and Threads and SportsYapper and a random webpage from Angelfire built in 2001. It did not take long for the Devils to score first as Jesper Bratt finished a 2-on-1 himself for an early lead. Minutes later, Dawson Mercer beat Igor Shesterkin to make it 2-0. A series of penalties ended up with a short 5-on-3 for the Devils. It was converted by Dougie Hamilton one-timing a pass from The Big Deal for 3-0. Jack Hughes gave more for the ‘Gram by touching down a Luke Hughes pass and stashing the puck into the net on a turnaround move for 4-0. The Devils did err in Johnathan Kovacevic clearing a puck over the glass. Chris Kreider responded with a PPG for a 4-1 score. No matter, Jack Hughes hit back to punish a Kreider interference call on him for a second PPG and a 5-1 lead. The Devils did give up a lot of shots to a Rangers team desperate to get in the game. Jacob Markstrom nearly got them all. The game ended with more Devils fans cheering at MSG than anyone else. A big win over a rival to start the month. You and I love to see it.
The Devils began a five-game homestand on Friday night against Seattle. The Kraken were coming off a 5-2 win over the Islanders. The Devils took it to them early in terms of shots and the run of play. Yet, Andre Burakovsky torched Luke Hughes and then Jacob Markstrom for the game’s first goal. Luke Hughes would respond minutes later with a shot off Philipp Grubauer’s shoulder and mask for an equalizer. The Kraken would go up early in the second period when Eeli Tolvanen found Shane Wright open in front for a PPG. Once again, the Devils tied it up minutes later with a break. Jesper Bratt shot the puck, it hit Ondrej Palat, and then Adam Larsson for the 2-2 score. The score held into the third period. It took 53 seconds for the Devils to break through. A rebound from a Brenden Dillon shot was picked up by Vince Dunn. Who lost the puck behind Grubauer and Timo Meier tapped in a loose puck. The Devils went up 3-2. Seattle made some pushes but Markstrom and one agonizing miss by Brandon Montour held through. The Devils prevailed for a second win out of two games. They took care of business. With Washington beating Toronto, they will remain in second place for another week. They do have a little room over third place, though.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Devils will have four games over the next seven days. At least they are all at home. Which is a bit of an issue as the Devils’ home record is not that great. Still, they have a chance to boost it with those four games. They will host Colorado tonight, host Toronto for a Newark rematch on Tuesday, host Los Angeles on Thursday, and then end their homestand with a Saturday afternoon game against Chicago.
Carolina Hurricanes
What Happened Last Week: The Carolina Hurricanes opened their week at home against Seattle. Pytor Kochetkov returned to the crease. The Kraken went into Raleigh with three winless games. This would be favorable. Then the game started and Jaden Schwartz scored 19 seconds into the game. Eric Robinson tied it up minutes later for a 1-1 score through the first period. In the second period, Seattle went up thanks to Eeli Tolvanen. That held until Joshua Mahura getting a delay of game for smothering the puck. This was punished by Martin Necas for a PPG. The 2-2 score lasted for five minutes. Yanni Gourde broke the tie for Seattle. Close to five minutes later, Brandon Tanev scored an insurance goal for a 4-2 deficit. The Hurricanes struggled to attack consistently given their 19 shots in the game. It was one of Those nights in a 4-2 loss to Seattle.
Carolina tried to make things right against Colorado on Thursday night. The Canes flummoxed their opposition with a 15-6 shot first period. The Canes faithful were also flummoxed by it being a 1-1 game in the first. Arrturi Lehkonen scored first. Eric Robinson tipped in a Brent Burns shot to tie it up. The second period saw the Canes get rewarded more for their efforts. Seth Jarvis scored a PPG to break the deadlock and Jack Roslovic made it 3-1 a bit over two and half minutes later. Colorado did threaten a surprise comeback in the third period. With over five minutes left, Valeri Nichushkin made it a one-goal game. Fortunately for the Canes, Colorado took a too many men on the ice call with fewer than three minutes left. Martin Necas converted the power play for a 4-2 lead. Which was necessary as Nichushkin scored on the next shift. The Hurricanes had to hold on. Which they did and relaxed a bit after Andrei Svechnikov put in an empty net goal for a 5-3 win. It was not always easy but the Hurricanes did make it right. With the Friday night wins by Washington and New Jersey, Carolina was locked to finish third in the division for this snapshot. But they could get closer on Saturday.
On Saturday, the Canes visited Long Island. The game started well enough. The first period saw the Hurricanes go up a score after Scott Mayfield interfered with Andrei Svechnikov. Svechnikov would convert that power play for 1-0. Then the game went pear-shaped in the second period. The Canes were limited to just two (2) shots in the second. Jean-Gabriel Pageau tied it up. After an Anders Lee high-sticking penalty, one of those two shots would go in. By Svechnikov for a second PPG of the day. Yet, the Isles hit back hard. Oliver Wahlstrom tied up the game not even a minute after the Canes went up 2-1. Maxim Tsyplakov put Carolina down one. A late period goal by Bo Horvat put Carolina down 4-2. What did the Canes do? They owned the puck. They out-shot the Isles 19-2 in the third period. They put in that work on Ilya Sorokin. The issue was that Sorokin handled all of that work. Carolina got some late hope from a Jesperi Kotkaniemi goal within the final minute. But it was too little, too late amid all of the rubber put on Sorokin. The Carolina Hurricanes lost 4-3 to an Islanders team that, let me check this, maintained a lead in the third period. The Canes were set for third place. But going 1-2-0 meant they lost some ground on the Devils and Capitals.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Hurricanes will have a short week in Raleigh. They will host San Jose on Tuesday and Ottawa on Friday. On paper, these should be wins. But counting out an opponent in this league is a Bad Idea. I mean, Seattle did beat Carolina last week. We shall see whether Carolina avoids the trap in either one of their pair of games coming up. We shall also see if they get some help.
New York Rangers
What Happened Last Week: The New York Rangers, after finally ending a losing streak, hosted their hated rivals in the New Jersey Devils on Monday night. The Devils reminded them how bad it could get. It took just 90 seconds for Jesper Bratt to finish a 2-on-1 counter-attack rush to put the Rangers down. It took minutes later for Dawson Mercer to make it 2-0. The Rangers were getting shots. They were not getting much of anything past Jacob Markstrom. Penalties filled the second period and, at one point, they went down two men to the Devils. Dougie Hamilton converted the 5-on-3 for a 3-0 deficit. The Rangers finally got a break when a delay of game call on Johnathan Kovacevic yielded a Chris Kreider PPG. The shutout was busted. But at 4-1, it was a big hole for the Rangers. It was made bigger when Jack Hughes scored on the penalty Kreider took on him for a 5-1 deficit. The Devils held true through the third period and the Rangers got nothing past Markstrom. Maybe they could try instagram hockey? I hear it works. A 5-1 loss to a hated rival to open the week. Plus, on a night with just three games in the league, a lot of people saw that loss. Oof.
With the time off between the games, the rumor mill swirled and it all came to a head on Friday afternoon. New York Rangers GM Chris Drury tried and tried and tried to get Jacob Trouba out of Manhattan in the offseason. It did not work then. It happened today, though. The team captain was sent to Anaheim for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth round pick in 2025 (the lowest of the three Anaheim owns). Yes, Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek proposed that for 100% of Trouba’s contract. That’s some negotiation from the Little Ball of Hate. That cleared $6.9 million in cap space for this and next season. Drury promptly used that space for next season to pay Igor Shesterkin. They reportedly gave the goaltender a contract extension worth $92 million over eight seasons. It was made official on Saturday. He will be the league’s highest paid goaltender next season. Drury did resolve a massive question mark regarding Shesterkin’s future. He also shook up the locker room by moving the team captain. Will it work? Will there be some damaging second-order effects? We shall see in time.
The Rangers’ game against the Pittsburgh Penguins took on more importance given Monday’s loss and the moves made earlier in the week. They can at least claim victory on this night. After a goalless first period, the Penguins struck first with a goal by Blake Lizotte. This deficit lasted just over a minute. Artemi Panarin scored to tie it up. With seconds left in the second period, Panarin made it a 2-1 game. A big moment – but the lead would not last. Philip Tomasino tied up the game in the third period. Reilly Smith broke the tie to give the Rangers the lead just before the halfway mark. Amazingly, Chris Kreider got a secondary assist on the play for his first helper of the season. On December 6. Vincent Trocheck sealed up the win with a late third period goal which gave Panarin a third point. The Rangers got a badly needed win, 4-2, after their big moves. They split the week in results. With advantages in games played, regulation wins, and regulation and overtime wins, the Rangers do not need a lot to stay in fourth. This win was enough for this week’s snapshot for example.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Rangers will be busy for this week coming up. They open the week with a back-to-back set at the Garden with Seattle and Chicago today. They will then go up to Buffalo on Wednesday night. Then on Saturday, they will host Los Angeles. On paper, the games will get harder as the week goes on. The Rangers need to not worry about opponent quality. They need to get more results and now.
Philadelphia Flyers
What Happened Last Week: Philadelphia started their short week with a home game against Florida on Thursday night. As in the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Who are no longer slumping. This was apparent when the Panthers opened the scoring three minutes in by Evan Rodrigues. And did it again from Niko Mikkola minutes later. Then the second period started and the game went sideways. It started with Aleksander Barkov scoring a PPG three minutes in for a 3-0 deficit for Philly. They would claw back into the game with a PPG by Tyson Foerster at 7:13. At 9:31, Nick Seeler made it a one-shot game. But Scott Laughton interfered with Matt Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe made it 4-2 at the 13:35 mark. Only for Owen Tippett to score on back-to-back shifts – 17:41 and 18:01 – to tie up the game going into the third period. Philly would even take the lead thanks to Garnet Hathaway. But the game slipped from Philadelphia. Gustav Forsling tied it up with just over five minutes left. With 2:28 left, Joel Farabee took two penalties and Forsling took one. On the resulting power play, Sam Reinhart broke the tie for a 6-5 score with 1:59 left. Emil Andrae took a tripping penalty a bit later and Tkachuk ended the game with a power play empty net goal – Florida’s fourth PPG of the night – for a 7-5 loss for Philadelphia. The Flyers did well to come back at all but to lose it they way they did – and in regulation – had to sting.
Philadelphia went up to Boston on Saturday to begin a weekend back-to-back set. It started off splendidly for the Flyers. Matvei Michkov put up a brace in the first period. He scored a PPG to punish a Mark Kastelic tripping call and he got an even strength goal late in the period. However, Boston would get on the board early in the second period. Trent Frederic scored a power play goal to punish a Cam York penalty. York would redeem himself with a score within the final five minutes of the second period. The Flyers were up 3-1. Then they blew it. Yes, they blew it. Frederic scored over five minutes into the third to make it a one-shot game. Brad Marchand provided that one-shot to tie it up with over five minutes left in regulation. The Flyers survived a late Sean Couturier penalty to go to overtime. But they would fall when Pavel Zacha finished a feed from David Pastrnak. The Flyers lost 4-3 in OT. They got a point. Yet, they did themselves no favors by going 0-1-1 as they remain in fifth in a tight bottom of the division.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Flyers will have four games over the next seven days, like Columbus and New Jersey. Their week starts today when they host Utah to finish their back-to-back set started yesterday. The Flyers will visit Columbus on Tuesday night for what should make for an interesting matchup given the standings. Philly will head back home for a Thursday night game with Detroit. Their week ends in Minnesota to play the Wild on Saturday. That last one will be tough. But if the Flyers have designs on a wild card spot, a winning week here would continue to help that cause.
Pittsburgh Penguins
What Happened Last Week: The Pittsburgh Penguins opened their week with a home game against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. The Panthers brought the shots. The Penguins, somehow, held serve with goals. The Penguins opened up the scoring with a quick two goals around midway through the first period. Owen Pickering and Evgeni Malkin scored 72 seconds apart for a 2-0 lead. Matthew Tkachuk did get Florida on the board late in the first for a 2-1 score. Pittsburgh went up 3-1 in the second period with a goal by Kris Letang. The Penguins took a seemingly commanding 4-1 lead early in the third thanks to Marcus Pettersson. The Panthers then roared back to tie it up in the third. In just five minutes too. Sam Bennett made it 4-2, Adam Boqvist made it a one-shot game two minutes later, and Matthew Tkachuk converted a power play on a tip in to punish a penalty (Blake Lizotte, high sticking) issued about a minute after Boqvist’s goal. 4-4. The Penguins blew a three-goal lead. And the shot count of 41 to 15 showed who was in charge of the run of play. Yet, the Penguins would prevail in overtime. A stop on defense led to a 2-on-1 rush led by Bryan Rust. Rust buried the shot to make it a 5-4 win for the Penguins. A big two points in spite of how the game went in general.
The Penguins began a back-to-back set to end their week when they visited the New York Rangers on Friday night. The Rangers sought to make a big change and they did so earlier that day. The Penguins handled it fine at first. They held the Rangers to a 0-0 score in the first. They even scored first thanks to Blake Lizotte. However, Artemi Panarin blasted a slapshot past Alex Nedeljkovic for a 1-1 score. With seconds left in the period, Pittsburgh took a potential backbreaker of a goal from Panarin to go down a score. They would have a response in the third thanks to Philip Tomasino, who is certainly making his mark in his first few weeks with the organization. Alas, the Penguins suffered a rebound goal by Reilly Smith to go down 3-2 with just over ten minutes left. The Penguins could not beat Igor Shesterkin a third time. Vincent Trocheck beat Nedeljkovic for a fourth time in the night to have the Penguins lose 4-2. A notable loss as a win could have A) kept the Penguins going forward and B) clawed the Pens up past the Rangers. Alas.
Pittsburgh’s back-to-back ended on Saturday with a home game against Toronto. The Penguins would pull away in this one. They opened the scoring with an early PPG from Rickard Rakell in the first period. Mitch Marner answered that just under two minutes later. Yet, Bryan Rust provided a difference maker later on in the first period to have the Pens go into the second period up 2-1. In the second period, a Kris Letang interference call was punished by William Nylander for a 2-2 score. This was held until the third period. There, Auston Matthews took a high-sticking call at 4:24. Michael Bunting scored a power play goal at 5:34 to put the Penguins up 3-2. They would manage to hold onto it. They put themselves at a real risk when Rust took a high-sticking penalty with just over two minutes left. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, Blake Lizotte put in a shorthanded empty net goal to secure the win. Then Toronto pulled their goalie again and Letang added a second shorthanded empty net goal for the Pens 14 seconds later. Pittsburgh won 5-2 over a very good Toronto squad. That should lift the morale. It also lifted the Penguins into sixth with a 2-1-0 week.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Penguins will get two days off before playing three games in five nights. The Penguins will host Colorado on Tuesday, visit Montreal on Thursday, and visit Ottawa on Saturday. With the Pens righting their ship with a winning week, they may be able to win a second week. Something their own season needs if they want to move on up in the standings.
New York Islanders
What Happened Last Week: The week began for the New York Islanders by visiting Montreal. Of note, Patrik Laine made his long-awaited debut with the Canadiens given his injury. It would matter as Patrik Laine scored the game’s first goal; a power play goal to punish a second period high-stick by Hudson Fasching. The Isles would tie it up just before the final minute of the second period thanks to Anders Lee. Amazingly, the score held. No third period loss of a lead! No blowing it in the third! What about overtime? Ah, that. Nick Suzuki put back a rebound of a shot that hit off an Islander skate to beat Ilya Sorokin. A 2-1 OT loss for the Isles. Another night, another single-point night for the Isles.
The Islanders returned back to Belmont to host Seattle on Thursday night. This would not be a single-point night. The Kraken, losers of four straight, shifted their lines, reset their mindset, and put the Isles to the sword. Tye Kartye tipped in a Vince Dunn shot to open the scoring for Seattle early on. Oliver Bjorkstrand punished a Scott Mayfield delay of game call with a tip-in of a Dunn shot of his own for a 2-0 lead. Dunn decided enough with the helpers and scored himself on a slapshot early in the second period for a 3-0 lead. When Noah Dobson took a high-sticking call against Bjorkstrand, Shane Wright punished that with the first non-Dunn-related goal for the Kraken of the night. The Isles were down four. In the third period, they would get on the board. Dobson scored with over eight minutes left and Maxim Tsyplakov made it a 4-2 game with under five minutes to go. Enough to make it interesting. But the Kraken do not blow leads in the third period like the Isles. They held true and Jaden Schwartz sealed up the Islanders loss with an empty netter, 5-2. The fans at Belmont were not happy. And why would they be with that loss?
The Islanders ended their week by hosting Carolina on Saturday. Just when you think the Islanders are cooked, they go out and do something like this. Andrei Svechnikov put the Isles down in the first period with a power play goal, a situation caused by Scott Mayfield interfering with Svechnikov. In the second period, the Isles hit back and hard. Jean-Gabriel Pageau tied up the game over six minutes into the second. A high-stick by Anders Lee yielded a Svechnikov PPG to put the Isles down 2-1. They flipped that. Oliver Wahlstrom tied up the game less than a minute after the Isles went down a score. Maxim Tsyplakov put the Isles up 3-2 late in the second. Bo Horvat added a goal with just over a minute left. Yes, the Islanders scored four goals in the second period. Problem: the Islanders had a lead in the third period. And they were facing the one team that personifies “shot volume” in Carolina. Solution: Ilya Sorokin masterclass. He stopped 18 out of 19 shots in the third period. I am sure it was taxing as the Isles had just two shots themselves. But Sorokin was locked in as he could be. Jesperi Kotkaniemi put a scare with a goal to make it 4-3 with 49 seconds left. But the Isles held on. They managed to maintain a third period lead. A 4-3 win does not move the Islanders above seventh. But it does keep them in pace with the Penguins, Flyers, and their hated rivals in the Rangers. The Devils and Capitals say “thank you” for the regulation win over Carolina too.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Islanders will have three games for this week once more. They will visit Ottawa tonight to complete a back-to-back set for the weekend. The Islanders will return home for Los Angeles on Tuesday and Chicago on Thursday. Please try to learn from the Carolina win. Third period leads do not need to be blown. Help yourselves. For your own mental health’s sake. And your fans. And Butchie.
Columbus Blue Jackets
What Happened Last Week: The Columbus Blue Jackets opened their much busier week with the division’s only game on Sunday night. They went to Chicago and put down the Blackhawks. Connor Bedard opened the scoring with a PPG, but the Blue Jackets hit back. Ivan Provorov did not take long to tie it up and Kent Johnson gave Columbus the lead over 11 minutes into the first period. Chicago did tie it up again in the second period with another early period PPG. This one by Craig Smith. This was answered quickly once more with a goal by Sean Monahan to make it 3-2. This held until the third period. This time, Columbus struck early with a goal by Dante Fabbro. A tip-in PPG by Chicago’s Nick Foligno made it a one-shot game. But Kirill Marchenko put back a turnover in the slot to make it 5-3 for Columbus. Dmitri Voronkov sealed up the win with a 6-3 result in Chicago. A great way to start the road trip, penalty kill aside.
Columbus went to Calgary on Tuesday night. A very emotional night as Johnny Gaudreau was a part of both organizations. He is dearly missed.
As for the game, it was all Calgary. The Flames neutered the Columbus offense by keeping them to just 16 shots on net. Also: no goals. Dan Vladar stopped them all. Once again, the Columbus’ PK was beaten. Rasmus Andersson punished a Justin Danforth slashing penalty for the game’s opening goal midway through the second period. That goal was enough. More would come late. A Dante Fabbro trip on Blake Coleman within the final five minutes of regulation led to a Kevin Bahl PPG for a 2-0 deficit. An empty netter by Yegor Sharangovich made it a 3-0 loss for the Blue Jackets.
The trip continued into Edmonton for the Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets faced the return of Zach Hyman and an Oiler offense primed to score. Kevin Labanc did give Columbus an early lead with a deflection of a Mikael Pyyhtia shot. Only for Hyman to equalize close to halfway through the first period. It all fell apart for Columbus in the second period. Leon Draisaitl broke the deadlock early. The Blue Jackets challenged the goal and failed. On the resulting power play, Mattias Ekholm converted it to make it 3-1. Hyman made it a brace in his return minutes later for a 4-1 score. Damon Severson provided a goal halfway through the period to make it somewhat competitive. Only for Edmonton to pull away further when Jeff Skinner scored with 90 seconds left in the second. Cole Sillinger did pull the Jackets within two in the third period. But the Jackets would not get closer. Dmitri Voronkov’s hooking penalty in the third yielded a PPG by Draisaitl for a brace. The Blue Jackets lost 6-3. The Canada trip is not an easy one and Columbus found that out the hard way in Alberta.
The week ended for Columbus in British Columbia on Friday night. The Blue Jackets came out strong in the first period. They out-shot Vancouver 17-2 and went up 2-0 in the first period. The goals came from Mathieu Olivier and Damon Severson. The problem was that Vancouver had answers in the following periods. Brock Boeser got the Canucks on the board early in the second period. Kiefer Sherwood tied it up with a minute left in the second. Pius Suter put Vancouver up 3-2 early in the third and the Canucks never looked back. Jake DeBrusk tipped in a Quinn Hughes shot for a PPG and insurance goal to punish a Sean Monahan slashing call on Quinn Hughes. An empty netter from Suter secured his brace and a 5-2 loss for Columbus. Their great first 20 was followed by a lackluster 40. The Blue Jackets went 1-3-0 for the week and remain in last in the division.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Blue Jackets get to play four games for another week. This time it is stretched out over seven days instead of six. The Blue Jackets will visit the mighty Winnipeg Jets on Saturday to end their five-game road trip through Canada. A very tough game on its own. Tougher knowing how poor the trip went in Canada. The Jackets will return home to host Philadelphia on Tuesday and Washington on Thursday. Both are games within the division that could make some noise. Columbus’ week will end on Saturday night with a home game against Anaheim. They are in a position where moving up can happen with some results. Getting them is easier said than done.
That was the ninth Weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot of the 2024-25 season. You read the post about what happened and what’s next. Now it is your turn. When will the Washington Capitals lose on the road? Can the New Jersey Devils get more wins at home? Who shall prevail among the bottom five teams in the division? And can the Islanders maintain some third period leads in the coming week? 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.