NHL Surprises- The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

It’s another edition of NHL Surprises. Last week certainly was filled with “eyebrow raising” headlines. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

The Good

Buffalo Sabres

Don’t look now, but the Sabres are starting to pick up the pace in the Eastern Conference. Though, they are still in eighth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 13-16-2, the Sabres have more points than three teams in the Metropolitan Division (Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes) and are tied with the New Jersey Devils. With their win over the Ottawa Senators last night 5-4, the Sabres are 7-3 in their last 10 games, including a four-game winning streak which will be on the line when they travel to Winnipeg to face the Jets. Their leading scorer is Tyler Ennis with 22 points. Recently, he was named as one the NHL’s Stars of the Week for his performance last week. He has six points in his last five games; and, a four-game point streak including three points (all assists) against the Calgary Flames. Lest we forget, the Sabres have player leading in the NHL all-Star balloting this year. As of December 9th, Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons led the popular vote with 803,805, that’s more than double the amount of votes the next player received.

Looks like things are trending upwards for the Sabres; and, they are getting their name out of the Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel sweepstakes!

The Bad

Los Angeles Kings

Stanley Cup hangover or teams just got better and are no longer intimidated by the silver and black of the Kings? Whichever it is, the Kings have their hands full to start this season. Entering Tuesday, the defending Stanley Cup Champions are 15-10-6 with 36 points, good enough for fourth place in the Pacific Division. They are showing the old “Jekyl and Hyde” routine with their home and away records. At the Staples Center, they are dominating their opponents with a record of 11-4-1. However, the Kings are 4-6-5 on the road. Their last four games have been on the road and they are winless have only managed one point. Two of their key contributors, Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik, have one point in their last five games. What’s worse is the team’s captain, Dustin Brown, has zero points in his past five games, while only scoring 10 points and a -6 through 31 games this season.

But what the Kings have shown the fans in the past is: it’s not how you start, but it’s how you finish. The Kings were the last team to get in the playoffs last season, and they would up winning it all. And that’s after being down 0-3 in the first round. Never say never with this team, but they need to tread lightly.

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The Ugly

NHL Players contracting the Mumps

Who would have thought this would escalate to a number of teams in the NHL? First it was started out in October with a couple of players on the St. Louis Blues contracting “mump-like” symptoms. According to Puck Daddy at Yahoo Sports, the team never officially called it the mumps. Then, it has spread like wildfire. At least 15 different players have fallen victim to the mysterious virus. Good explanations of what the mumps are and how they may have been contracted were put into detail by ctvnews.ca and sports.yahoo.com. The latest victim was Sidney Crosby, who was diagnosed with the mumps this past weekend.

Let’s hope this gets under control and we can enjoy the game we love with the players we’ve come to root mump-free.

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