Edzo’s Kentucky Derby Magic, Reichel Hurt During AHL Playoffs? And Other Blackhawks Bullets
There was only one game on the NHL schedule last night, and Carolina hammered the Devils again. The Canes got goals from five different players — none of whom were named Sebastian Aho — in a 6-1 demolition. Carolina now has a strong 2-0 lead in the series, but they’re headed to Jersey for the third game.
Tonight there is only one game on the schedule again. Edmonton will look to even their series in Vegas in a big Game 2.
- For those who care about such things, Eddie Olczyk is picking Two Phil’s (12/1) and Reincarnate (50/1) in today’s Kentucky Derby.
- Lukas Reichel was noticeably missing from the scoresheet(s) in Rockford’s second-round sweep at the hands of the Texas Stars in the AHL postseason. It appears he was playing hurt in the series. Reichel and the rest of the IceHogs met with the media on Friday for the last time this season and head coach Anders Sorensen did say he was playing through something. The tweet quoted below by Ethan says Reichel will not play for Germany in the World Championships because of an injury.
- However, IceHogs forward Rocco Grimaldi (AHL contract) will reportedly play for the United States in the upcoming World Championship.
- Hockey Canada officially announced their opening roster for the upcoming World Championship. On the list: potential No. 2 overall pick Adam Fantilli. He played a supporting role at the World Juniors in the winter, so we’ll see where he slots with NHL players in this tournament. Fantilli won the Hobey Baker Award as the top NCAA player this season at Michigan.
- The Godfather, TSN’s Bob McKenzie, released his top 12 prospect rankings ahead of the draft lottery on Monday. Fantilli is second behind Bedard. But, in a fascinating twist, he has USA forward Will Smith now ranked third overall, ahead of Leo Carlsson and Matvei Michkov. Apparently Smith’s dominance at the U18 World Championship made a strong impression.
- After he was thrown to the ice by Sam Bennett during Game 2 of their series, the Maple Leafs will apparently be without rookie forward Matthew Knies for at least the next two games — if not the rest of the series (if it takes more than those two). This is a tough blow for a Leafs team that’s already down 2-0 in the series heading to Florida. Knies, who played college hockey at Minnesota this season, scored his first professional goal earlier in the playoffs.
- The NHL announced the three finalists for the Jack Adams Award, and at least two of them shouldn’t be a big surprise. Jim Montgomery led the Bruins to the best regular season in NHL history and Lindy Ruff head his home fans chanting that he should be fired early in the season, only to later hear those same fans chanting an apology. The third finalist is Dave Hakstol in Seattle, who’s done a marvelous job.
Finally, yesterday was a fun day at Wrigley Field. Matt Mervis made his major league debut, and his first big league hit was an RBI single with two outs — off a lefty. So many great scenes yesterday.
