Daily Faceoff Morning Report — 03/22/22
The Daily Faceoff Morning Report will be released on weekdays, recapping the key news and events from the day before.
We will highlight injuries that will affect today’s games, hot streaks, cold streaks, and anything relevant for everyone from the casual hockey fan to the Fantasy Hockey grinder.
A busy trade deadline
With over 30 trades completed before the trade deadline on Monday, check out our trade tracker to see every deal that occurred over the last several days. Our Matt Larkin breaks down the winners and losers of a busy trade deadline day. Here are some of the more notable acquisitions from yesterday:
- Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Rickard Rakell from Anaheim Ducks
- Carolina Hurricanes acquire Max Domi from Columbus Blue Jackets
- New York Rangers acquire Andrew Copp from Jets, Tyler Motte from Canucks
- St. Louis Blue acquire Nick Leddy from Detroit Red Wings
- Colorado Avalanche acquire Artturi Lehkonen from Montreal Canadiens
- Minnesota Wild acquire Marc-Andre Fleury from Blackhawks, trade Kaapo Kahkonen to Sharks
- Anaheim Ducks acquire Evgenii Dadonov from Vegas Golden Knights (being reviewed by NHL)
There’s nobody hotter than the Bruins
The Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime on Monday, improving to a league-best 12-2-1 since February 19th. Jeremy Swayman (G) rebounded from his first loss in a month and made 26 saves on 28 shots for the Bruins. Swayman has a .930 SV% in that span and leads all goalies with nine wins (9-1-0). Brad Marchand (LW) scored two goals, including the overtime game-winner, and now has four goals in his last three games.
What a finish from Brad Marchand for the OT winner.
Bruins beat Montreal, 3-2. pic.twitter.com/qqpv4fwnep
Erik Haula (C, LW) assisted on both of Marchand’s goals to snap a six-game pointless streak. In his last 34 games, he has two stretches of six-game pointless skids, both preceded by a stretch of 12 points (4 G / 8A) in 15 games and more recently 8 points (3G / 5A) in 6 games. Haula has greatly benefited from playing with some elite linemates in that span and has shown the ability to produce semi-consistently when given the opportunity.
Despite only having one win to show for it (1-0-2), Jake Allen (G) has given the Canadiens solid goaltending since returning from injury, starting in all three games and recording a .928 SV%. Joel Armia (LW, RW) scored a shorthanded goal for the Canadiens, giving him goals in consecutive games and four points in his last four games (2G / 2A) along with six hits and 11 shots.
Talbot tops Thompson in goalie duel; Wild beat Golden Knights 3-0
The news of Marc-Andre Fleury (G) joining the Minnesota Wild didn’t unnerve Cam Talbot (G) as he made 28 saves to record his second shutout of the season. Nicolas Deslauriers (LW, RW) only saw 10:23 time on ice in his Wild debut, over a full minute less than what he was averaging in Anaheim, but still had a big night with a goal, three shots, and six hits.
Logan Thompson (G) got his third consecutive start for the Vegas Golden Knights and had another strong performance, saving 35 of 37 shots in the loss. Thompson has a 2-1-0 record and .945 SV% in those three games. With the loss, the Golden Knights have now dropped 12 of their last 18 games (6-11-1) and sit in the second Wild Card spot, one point ahead of the Dallas Stars who have four games in hand.
Avalanche defeat Oilers 3-2 OT
The top guns showed up for Colorado as Nathan MacKinnon (C – 1G / 1A), Mikko Rantanen (C, RW – 2G/ 0A), and Cale Makar (D – 0G / 2A) all had two points on Monday night. MacKinnon has points in all but one of his last 17 games (13G / 12A / 25PTS) and has the second-best point-per-game pace on the season (1.42), trailing only Connor McDavid (1.47).
Now THAT is a Mack attack if we've ever seen one. 🤩
Nathan MacKinnon ends it for the @Avalanche with this @TwistedTea OT winner! pic.twitter.com/0jxUooT4AF
Kailer Yamamoto (RW) had two points (1G / 1A) in the loss for the Edmonton Oilers and now has two-point games in four of his last five contests (4G / 4A / 8PTS). He is averaging just under 19 minutes of ice in those five games and has 14 hits and 11 shots on goal. The Oilers haven’t seen anything near this type of production from Yamamoto since the 2019-20 season but he seems to have developed some promising chemistry with Evander Kane (LW, RW) and Connor McDavid (C).
Forsberg keeps the good times rolling for Nashville
Filip Forsberg (LW) had four of his five points (2G / 3A) in the third period in a 6-3 win for the Nashville Predators over the Anaheim Ducks. Forsberg has 17 points (8G / 9A) across a seven-game point streak. Roman Josi (D) is playing at a level that is hard to fathom. He now has 24 points (4G / 20A) across a 10 game point streak and leads all players since February 9th with 33 points (5G / 28A) in 17 games. Josi is on pace to finish the season with 101 points in 80 games which, if he’s able to maintain, would be the first 100-point season for a defenseman since Brian Leetch had 102 points in 1991-92. Matt Duchene (C, RW) scored two goals and also extended his point streak to 10 games (11G / 8 A / 19PTS).
Oh, you fancy, huh @Matt9Duchene? ✨ pic.twitter.com/KEwn2QuQNJ
— NHL (@NHL) March 22, 2022John Gibson (G) allowed five goals on 30 shots and has had a miserable time between the pipes lately. He has lost seven consecutive starts (0-6-1) and no goalie has performed worse than him since February 11th (five-game minimum), in which he has put up a 2-10-1 record along with a dreadful .854 SV% and 4.88 GAA.