hockeywords.com 07 Nov 2021

by Marcello Savastano

In the week in which the exchange that brought Eichel to Vegas took center stage, we begin our weekly journey between the North American sports halls right from the Pacific Diviosion where Edmonton remains in command by winning all 3 races while the fight for the playoffs promises to be very interesting with teams like Anaheim and Los Angeles that are proving much more competitive than they might have seemed at the beginning of October and that will try to undermine the same Golden Knights who are currently limping through convincing victories like the one against the Senators ( 5-1) to thunderous falls like the 4-0 suffered in Toronto.

In the meantime, the only team to keep up with the Oilers is Calgary, which closes the week with a peremptory 6-0 over Rangers and after a couple of seasons finds its lighthouse in Gaudreau, already scoring 14 points.

Still to the West but further inland, the Central begins to take shape more with Colorado struggling and losing both clashes against Columbus while the Blues get 3 points out of the 4 available and hold the top of the standings. 

Chicago and Arizona remain very late which, however, in the night gave a sign of awakening by obtaining the first victory of the season by overcoming the Kraken. It is still difficult to predict which teams will be sucked into the fight to earn the post season but even if Winnipeg fails to find the right pace, in a couple of months the teams involved could be different.

Moving east we cannot start with the night clash between the two most launched teams of the Conference: Florida and Carolina. Both reached this challenge unbeaten in regulation time and it was Florida who won by inflicting the first disappointment of the season on the Hurricanes.

Carolina still remains firmly in the lead of the Metropolitan with 18 points but two games less than the Rangers chasing at 15 but nothing is still clear in a division where the rear, Pittsburgh, has 11 points and despite the various injuries she managed to bring at home the derby against Philadelphia. 

Good week for the Blue Jackets who score full points in two races whileWashington remains stuck at the post, scoring only one point in two games.

The Atlantic division instead sees Toronto raise its head and chase Florida thanks to a row of 5 wins (Vegas, Tampa and Boston the victims of the week) while Buffalo jams, putting only one point on the 7 available in the farmhouse and losing tonight against the Detroit revelation that begins the season with a few more points than expected and at the moment remains in the group of contenders for a place in the playoffs unlike Ottawa and especially Montreal that after the masterpiece season that brought her to the Stanley cup final she is facing a real earthquake that culminated in the week with the downgrading of Caufield to the minors, a move that in addition to annoying the player will not have found many Habs fans agree .