The hockey world is buzzing at many levels as March rolls into April.
Let’s drop the WaFd Bank Weekly Warmup puck to get the updates and advance looks at the games ahead:
Hats Off … and Off … and Off
Hat tricks have been wild in the NHL over the last month. Eight three-goal games were recorded in February’s four weeks while the hat trick number is 17 for the first 28 days in March.
In fact, there have been eight hat tricks in just the last 10 days to match the previous month’s total, including three Saturday night. Phil Kessel notched his trio in a 4-0 win over San Jose, scoring the last three goals of the game (including an empty-net goal) for what is known as a “natural hat trick” (three straight goals uninterrupted by scoring by either team).
Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe helped the Panthers win on the road Saturday at Dallas, Verhaeghe, a former Tampa Bay forward now with 15 goals for the season after signing with FLA in the offseason, scored three straight goals (including the game winner) for his squad sandwiched around a couple of Dallas scores. Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust made it three times three with a hat trick (including an empty-netter) in a key 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders.
Broadway Stars
The hat trick cannot be finished without discussing New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad, who notched two three-goal games-both natural hat tricks-in two NYR wins over Philadelphia in the last two weeks. On March 17, he scored third of his team’s goals in a 9-0 romp against the Flyers, then followed up with the second “natural” in an 8-3 win over PHI Thursday.
Zibanejad and none other than all-time great Wayne Gretzky are the only two NHL players to record a natural hat trick and three-plus assists in a game twice. There’s more: Zibanejad joins Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros and Pat LaFontaine (all voted as the “top 100 players” by the NHL during its Centennial celebration in 2017) as the only players with six or more points multiple times in a game in a single season.
Zibanejad collected eight goals and eight assists in the last two weeks as part of the Rangers’ scoring tear. Defenseman and teammate Adam Fox (third in the rookie-of-the-year behind fellow young D-man stars Cale Makar of Colorado and Quinn Hughes of Vancouver) has a goal and 11 assists in NYR’s last four games.
Draft Notice
When Kraken general manager Ron Francis drafted Martin Necas (“pronounced NEH-chahss”) as the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft during his GM days with Carolina, he envisioned weeks like this past one. Necas was named as the NHL’s No. 2 star of the week (second only to the aforementioned Adam Fox).
Carolina’s 22-year-old center scored three goals and four assists in four straight Hurricanes wins, including the primary assist on Sebastian Aho’s overtime winner Thursday against Columbus. Necas factored in all four goals in Saturday’s victory over division rival Tampa Bay, scoring the game-winner (GWG) with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.
Francis drafted both Aho and Necas with significant input from European scout Robert Kron (now director of amateur scouting with the Kraken).
“He’s a good skater, he can make plays, he plays with a bit of an edge, which I think for us we’re really excited to getm” said Francis back in 2017. “He was high on our list and as he develops I think he’ll be a real good piece going forward.”
Necas was projected by Francis and Kron as needing a bit more time playing in the Czech Republic (his native counry). Seems like that timeline is on target. Necas ranks second on the Hurricanes with nine goals and 19 assists in 30 games in his second NHL full season.
Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra
In a NCAA tournament that features a multitude of NHL draft picks and future NHLers, three teams from the state of Minnesota advanced to the Frozen Four, set for semifinals April 8.
Minnesota Duluth took the most breathtaking route, beating No. 1 seed in five overtimes Saturday night. It’s the longest game in NCAA tournament history.
Yes, five extra periods, 142-plus minutes total. Frosh Luke Mylymok scored just his second goal of his rookie season to move Minnesota Duluth to its third straight Frozen Four. The Bulldogs have won the last won NCAA men’s hockey titles (2018 and 2019).
North Dakota tied the game with two goals (six attackers, goalie pulled) in the final two minutes. Minnesota thought it had won earlier in OT but the play was ruled offsides. Minnesota Duluth plays UMass in one semifinal while the other semifinal matchup is St. Cloud State against Minnesota State.
The Minnesota teams are 8-2 in the tourney so far-and one of those losses was Minnesota State’s win over No. 1 seed Minnesota Sunday. St. Cloud ousted Boston, the other remaining top seed, to advance. One more fun note: If St. Cloud beats Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth beats UMass, it will be St. Cloud forward Ryan Sandelin (who scored an overtime game-winner Saturday night and had a goal and assist in Sunday’s win) facing his dad and Minnesota Duluth head coach, Scott Sandelin. If that father’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he played for the Minnesota North Stars (now Dallas Stars), Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.
Games to Watch This Week
Monday: Minnesota at San Jose: SJS forward Patrick Marleau will play his 1,757th game and pass Mark Messier as second most games played in NHL history. He trails only Gordie Howe, who played 1,767 NHL games. Marleau can pass Howe as soon as April 19 against Vegas.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: Florida vs. Detroit and Columbus: The Panthers are in a three-way battle with Tampa Bay and Carolina for the top spot in the Central division. But FLA lost a vital teammate during Sunday’s 4-1 over Dallas. Defenseman and captain Aaron Ekblad left the game on stretcher with a serious knee injury. Ekblad leads the Panthers with 25-plus minutes of ice time per game plus 11 goals and 11 assists. “I think he had so many games where he was dominant defensively, but his offensive contribution, joining the attack down, added a different dimension to our power play, significant minutes, matchups, controlling the outcomes of games, you couldn’t ask for anything more,” said FLA coach Joel Quenneville in a NHL.com report. “He stepped up this year in his development and has been a big factor.”