The Rangers’ Jacob Trouba received a two-game suspension for elbowing Pavel Dorofeyev of Vegas.
When the Rangers take on the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, they won’t have captain Jacob Trouba with them.
The veteran defenseman will serve a two-game suspension, the league announced this afternoon, for elbowing Las Vegas Golden Knights player Pavel Dorofeyev during Friday’s game.
Late in the second period, Trouba looked to catch the 23-year-old left winger up high with his elbow off a tied up at the face-off dot, but at that moment, the play was not called for a penalty.
Despite this, the league sent him for a hearing this afternoon, and he will now miss the next two games.
The Rangers, who trail the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division by just two points after dropping six of their previous ten games, will undoubtedly be devastated by Trouba’s departure.
Our backend is heavily reliant on that, according to head coach Peter Laviolette. “He faced other teams’ best lines with his physicality, leadership, and defense. We will definitely miss him, but he will return in a few days, so that is a piece missing.”
To make his debut with the Rangers, the team has recalled defenseman Connor Mackey from the AHL’s Hartford Wolfpack.
Red-hot offense leads the Bruins into the All-Star break atop the NHL standings.
This article about the Bruins leading the NHL in scoring heading into the All-Star break first aired on NBC Sports. Boston
Many teams in the NHL are overjoyed that the All-Star break is finally here. Most likely, the Boston Bruins are not among them.
Although the Bruins will benefit greatly from the nine days off as a mental and physical reprieve from the rigors of the regular season, this team is currently utterly dominating its opponents.
On Saturday afternoon, the Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 6-2 away from home. Leading the offensive onslaught with two goals and an assist was David Pastrnak. James van Riemsdyk (one goal, two assists) and Pavel Zacha (two assists) both had strong performances.
Boston dominated the first quarter of the game.
The Bruins have won six of their previous eight games heading into the All-Star break. With a 31-9-9 record that leads the league, they have a seven-point lead over the Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
Bruins center Charlie Coyle told reporters after the game, “That’s what you want in that final game, you know (the break) is right around the corner, but you want to make sure we focus and do all the right things, play with good habits still.” “Having a strong game makes you feel lot better at the half. You can take a little more pleasure in the break after a victory like that.
The Bruins’ offense has been on fire since the conclusion of the holiday break, after faltering to score goals on a regular basis during the first few months of the season. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins lead the league with 73 goals in their 17 games from December 27 to Saturday. They also rank eighth in scoring chances with 470. At 28.9 percent, Boston’s power play also has the sixth-best success rate over that time.
It makes sense that this team will be evaluated primarily on its performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Over the past 15 years or so, the Bruins have consistently had outstanding regular season results. Success in the postseason has proven to be much more elusive.
Nevertheless, the Bruins deserve a lot of credit for leading the league standings going into February. After the Bruins lost so many talented players in the offseason and didn’t have the salary cap space to replace them, very few people predicted them to be leading the league at this point in the season.
The Bruins will play again at TD Garden on February 6th when they host the Calgary Flames.
