“It’s hard to separate (Paul) Stastny from Steen, but I like the direction they gave us in the third period when we needed it and I certainly liked the way they practiced today. They set a very competitive direction today at practice, which was really good to see. There were a lot of people having to work awful hard to keep up to that line today. It was good to see.”
Most recently, Tkachuk exploded for a five-point night in the Knights’ 9-4 rout of the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday. The offensive dynamo had a hat trick and added two assists, making it his second 5+ point night (he registered six points against the Guelph Storm on November 6).
Among the players Central Scouting believes could go in the first round in June are London left wings Matthew Tkachuk (6-foot-1, 195 pounds) and Max Jones (6-3, 205), and defenseman Olli Juolevi (6-2, 179), as well as Mississauga centers Michael McLeod (6-2, 188) and Alexander Nylander (6-0, 179) and right wing Nathan Bastian (6-4, 208).
Brandon Bollig and Jonathan Toews played on the Chicago Blackhawks together for years. They won a Stanley Cup together. They’re probably on good terms, even though Bollig plays for the Calgary Flames now.
Rookie Chris Wideman, the subject of numerous fan appeals on Twitter when he started the season as a healthy scratch for 10 of the Senators first 13 games, has now played four of the last five and looked good doing it.
Tampa Bay counters with Ben Bishop. The Lightning’s No. 1 stopped 30-of-31 shots against in his last outing, and has been a straight-up monster of late, even if the results in win/losses haven’t necessarily been there.
Steven Stamkos scored a go-ahead power-play goal in the third period, Ben Bishop stopped a personal five-game losing streak and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Thursday night.
Two London Knights hold the third and fourth positions on the list once again, with left wing Max Jones sitting third and left wing Matthew Tkachuk again being ranked #4.
The St. Louis Blues are off to a strong start to the season at 5-2-0, but their recent six-game road trip proved costly. Paul Stastny, the team’s top center sustained a broken right foot on Oct. 16 and has been placed on injured reserve. He will be re-evaluated in five weeks.
Vitale was placed on injured reserve on Monday, but it wasn’t announced until Wednesday that the 30-year-old forward suffered a fractured orbital bone in a fight with Boston’s Kevan Miller.
