Total Eclipse of the Splash

 

Listen, I understand that spending a week in January in the Midwest can bring anyone down a bit, so I'm not going to make light about the Canucks fighting some seasonal depression as noted in the headline, but I would like to call out the reverse side of the "West Coast swing". Oh no, we have to stay up late to catch the end of the game against the Ducks? Well, in Vancouver, you better hope the games are on the weekend, because otherwise your kids won't be home from school until the 2nd period if the game is on the East Coast. 

A Monday game at 430 in the afternoon is crazy, is all I'm saying. 

(Tweet of the Moment is no more, because social media is a hellscape, and not every team is yet on BlueSky. I still like a random, quick peek at hockey online, so now, we are looking at team home "splash" pages and turning that into whatever this is. Welcome to 2025) 

Bizarre Buffalo hat trick; hockey history

 Ryan McLeod got his first career hat trick tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes. That is a great achievement for a team that hasn't had many good nights, and against a team that is actually pretty good! Let's enjoy some video of his capstone goal

 

Oh, do you see what happened there? McLeod scored his first two goals like the quality hockey player he is, and then because the Sabres can't have anything nice as they are a franchise based out of Buffalo, he got the third goal in about as strange a manner as possible.

After the empty net, full length shot rang off the post, McLeod was free and clear for the rebound and ol' Sasquatch Brett Burns did a flying Paul Bunyan maneuver and hacked his stick in half. That is a penalty shot, and given that the 'Canes had already pulled their goalie, it was an awarded goal for Buffalo.

But who goes in the stat book as the goal scorer? We already know that it was McLeod, given that you made it this far in the article, but McLeod never touched the puck. Tage Thompson was the last one to touch it, as he was the one who fired it down the ice in the first place. Ultimately, the scorers decided that, since it would have been McLeod's penalty shot, he should get the resulting goal, voila, hat trick.

Thompson, by ringing the post, wasn't credited with a shot on goal. Nor was McLeod, despite the credit for the goal. And in the third period, neither did anyone wearing a Sabres jersey. 

The Sabres' goals outnumbered their shots. Because there were no shots. It was the first time in recorded history that a team scored a goal in a 20 minute period while not recording a shot. Only in Buffalo could you score a game clinching goal and still have universal agreement that the offense needs work. 

Congrats to Ryan McLeod though, that's certainly one you will always remember

Tweet of the Moment

I'm going to have to workshop that one. It looks like Elon took away the ability to embed Tweets, so until teams start getting on other platforms, I guess we are looking at Facebook posts? I don't have much to say about this, except St. Paul isn't exactly a coffee hot spot. Being back to the grind would be a great pun for the Kraken.

Tweet of the Moment

 

BRING ON THE MONTY MAGIC 🪄 pic.twitter.com/QFkiXsb6ry

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 26, 2024

Alas, the great migration away from X has begun in droves in the hockey writ community. I was an early departure, when Tweetdeck was shuttered. The utility was greatly reduced, and now many fans, at least the type that may end up here have moved on and are probably continuing to find my posts on Mastadon. Yeah, Mastadon, if that tells you what I think of Twitter's utility nowadays. But now, facing practical and political headwinds, it's to the point that the teams are establishing a social media presence on other services. I might start putting posts up on Blue Sky, since that seems to be where the action is. Wait, the teams are all going to Threads? Good luck embedding a Thread. Anyways, here is some Monty Magic, which sounds like a restraining order waiting to happen.

Tweet of the Moment

 

Eyes on D-Boss.@sheetz x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/bBKxs7ZiM0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 8, 2024

All eyes on Dylan Larkin, who has been a thorn in Toronto's side throughout his career. WATCH as he looks from side to side! MARVEL as he passes a couple of times! GASP as he skates a wide circle through center ice! Oh, watch him during the game. I get it now.

Cheers!

 

Hmmmm......

The Golden Knights need the "Full Boat" to handle Connor McDavid

 

Bruce Cassidy, pictured above, sees confusing Connor McDavid with maritime metaphors while playing in a desert as an important strategy.