Forumas

The Philadelphia Flyers were busy during their four-day break in the schedule.A week after firing Ron Hextall as the club’s general manager http://www.officialcanucks.com/authenti … vat-jersey , the Flyers named Chuck Fletcher as the man in charge.“At the conclusion of a rigorous review of GM candidates, Chuck Fletcher clearly stood out from the field of talented and capable executives we considered,” Dave Scott, chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor and Flyers governor, said in a statement released by the club.Article continues below ...“Chuck has earned success throughout his impressive NHL career and offers the right mix of expertise, business acumen and leadership qualities that the Flyers need today as we work to achieve our ultimate goal, the Stanley Cup championship.”Fletcher spent nine seasons as the GM of the Minnesota Wild and was fired last year. Now, he’s running an 11-12-2 team that heads into Thursday night’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets — with a one-game winning streak.Philly ended a two-game losing streak with a 4-2 win at Pittsburgh last Saturday night and look to even the season series with the Jackets, who beat the Flyers 6-3 in Columbus on Oct. 18.The Jackets are coming off a wild — and rather bizarre — 9-6 home loss to the Calgary Flames that was a rather historical game for coach John Tortorella.Not in a good way.“They had 11 scoring chances and they scored nine goals,” Tortorella said after his team’s second straight loss. “I have never been in a game like this.”Sergei Bobrovsky allowed eight goals on 26 shots before being relieved in the third period — Cam Atkinson’s hat trick and extending his points streak to 11 straight games wasted as the Jackets fell to 15-10-2.“We played a really good first period, then for whatever reason sat back and let them play,” Atkinson said. “I don’t think we checked hard. We made it a really easy game for them, and they just capitalized.”With his new team 28th in the NHL allowing 3.52 goals per game, Fletcher is intent on improving the defense.“It’s not the ideal situation. It’s not a normal situation when you have a GM coming in midway through the season,” said D-man Shayne Gostisbehere.“Anything in life, you only get one first impression, so you obviously want to be on your game. Hopefully, we can string some wins.”Anthony Stolarz Youth Brandon Sutter Jersey , the latest in the ever-growing list of goaltenders for this team, got his first win since 2016 against Pittsburgh.Bobrovsky, who fell to 10-9-0 with Tuesday night’s loss, has dominated the Flyers, his old team, since leaving going 11-3-1 with a 1.98 GAA and .931 save percentage. He is expected to face Stolarz, a draft pick the Flyers received when they traded Bobrovsky.Calvin Pickard was in goal for the Flyers in the Oct. 18 loss, with Atkinson scoring twice for Columbus.The Jackets blew a 4-1 lead Tuesday night.“I fought all night long as far as, should I take (Bobrovsky out)? all night long, because you could see,” Tortorella said. “But some of them were deflected and there was some crazy … it was just one of those nights. He didn’t look comfortable, but I just decided to see if he could play through it.”“That game was a fluke,” said Jackets captain Nick Foligno. “You’re going to see the real Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow in the way we’re going to play. We have to.”Atkinson’s streak is the second-longest in club history, trailing only a 13-gamer by Ryan Johansen. Atkinson has 13 goals and six assists during his streak and his hat trick was his club-record sixth of his career.New Flyers assistant coach Rick Wilson officially joined the team on the ice for practice Wednesday. The 68-year-old Wilson also worked for Fletcher in Minnesota. WASHINGTON (AP) — The calendar said December. The intensity felt like late spring.The third meeting this season between longtime rivals Pittsburgh and Washington featured tight checking, strong goaltending and more than a few punches. The Penguins won 2-1 on Wednesday night, yet the Capitals appreciated the ferocity with which the game was played.“It was a good game, especially this time of year, one with playoff mentality Brendan Leipsic Jersey Kids ,” Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said. “We haven’t had one of those since Vegas.”Holtby was referring to the 2018 Stanley Cup finals, when the Capitals beat the Golden Knights to earn their first championship.Washington came in with five straight wins and a 12-2 record since Nov. 14.“Obviously, you don’t want to end up on the losing side, but I think we did a lot of good things tonight and both teams played really well,” Holtby said. “It’s one you can really learn from.”Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins. They were scuffling along with a 15-12-6 record before playing one of their best games of the season.“We’ve got to build on it,” Crosby said. “It’s a divisional game, a rivalry, a team that we’ve seen a lot, so these kind of intense, emotional games seem to bring out the best in us. We understand we need that same intensity, same desperation every night if we want to win.”It was the third meeting this season between the rivals, each of which has been decided by one goal. Pittsburgh has won two of them. In this one, Crosby had a hand in both Pittsburgh goals and logged more than 22 minutes.Facing Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals is all the motivation Crosby needs to bring his game to a higher level.“When you play these rival-type games, there’s an elevated level of emotion associated with it,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “My experience of being around Sid is that he’s at his best in those situations.”Rust broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period with his sixth goal in five games, and the Penguins held on behind goaltender Matt Murray, who stopped 31 shots.“They’re a heck of a team,” Murray said. “They won last year for a reason. They gave us all we could handle.”Ovechkin was held without a goal for the first time in seven games and had his career-high run of games with a point end at 14.In addition http://www.officialcanucks.com/authenti … ser-jersey , Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov had his streak of eight straight games with an assist come to an end, one shy of the franchise record.Lars Eller put the Capitals up 1-0 at 6:38 of the second period, pushing the puck past Murray after taking a lead pass from Tom Wilson.Crosby tied it less than three minutes later, deflecting a pass from Evgeni Malkin into the right side of the net with Pittsburgh on the power play.Rust made it 2-1 with just over a minute left in the period, hacking away at the puck in front of the net before it finally popped Holtby.In the third period, Holtby snagged a shot by Malkin on a breakaway to keep Washington within striking distance.Twice over the final 20 minutes, Kuznetsov took shots that slipped through Murray’s legs, only to be swatted away by Pittsburgh defensemen an inch before sliding past the goal line.Early on, it was apparent that this wasn’t just another midseason game. With less than a minute elapsed, Wilson and Pittsburgh defenseman Jamie Oleksiak shed their gloves and got into a fight. Oleksiak was helped off the ice with a cut on his cheek, and both players received five-minute penalties. Oleksiak did not return.Four minutes later, Ovechkin and Kris Letang traded blows behind the Pittsburgh net before being sent to the penalty box for roughing.The scoreless first period featured more penalty minutes (18) than shots on goal (17).NOTES: The Capitals’ run of 14 straight games with at least three goals ended. … Crosby took over the team lead in points with 38. Crosby, Phil Kessell and Malkin all entered with 36. …. The Capitals fell to 9-4-3 when taking at least 30 shots. … Pittsburgh has earned point in seven of nine games and 12 of 16. … Crosby has 35 goals and 63 assists in 73 games against the Ovechkin-led Capitals. Ovechkin has 46 goals and 37 assists in those games.UP NEXTPenguins: Host Minnesota on Thursday night.Capitals: Host Buffalo on Friday night, a rematch of Saturday’s game won by Washington in overtime.