NEAL RIDES HOT HAND IN VEGAS
Despite off-season surgery, forward has been offensive force for Golden Knights
James Neal was sitting in his dressing room stall and talking about his hands. Well, to be specific, he was talking about his right hand.
The Vegas Golden Knights forward, who heading into Friday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings had five goals in his first three games, has so far been the hottest sniper not named Alex Ovechkin this season. It’s not all that surprising, considering Neal was a 40-goal scorer not that long ago (2011-12).
And yet, just look at that gnarly hand.
A cellphone-sized bump protrudes on the top of Neal’s hand and a fresh-looking scar runs up his wrist. It’s the result of the surgery he underwent in late July to repair a broken hand he suffered in the Stanley Cup final.
“It was major surgery,” said Neal. “I needed a plate and screws and they had to do a bone graft of my wrist. I mean it’s nine weeks of not doing anything and you get into the first week of August and I’m just getting out of a cast. You’ve got to let the bone heal. That was the biggest thing, letting the bone heal. I couldn’t move my hand because you don’t want the plate to shift.
“That was the most frustrating part, not being able to do anything.”
Despite not knowing if his hand would be the same and despite spending most of the summer off the ice (“tried to get a tan in my backyard,” he joked), Neal and his bionic hand have been torching opposing goaltenders so far this season.
Part of it is because the injury forced him to focus his training on different parts of his body.
“Honestly I just worked out on my legs,” he said. “I just did my leg work because I couldn’t skate and I couldn’t hold my stick, so I just did a lot of lower-body work, just tried to focus on getting faster and stronger there.”
So far, the results speak for themselves. With three game-winners, Neal — along with goalie MarcAndre Fleury — is a big reason why the Golden Knights headed into Friday night’s game as one of only two undefeated teams.
STARTED FROM BOTTOM
Before the season, New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes told Postmedia News he wanted young players “to come in and take people’s jobs and push for ice time.” We read this to suggest New Jersey — the fourth-worst team last year — would be a rebuilding team that would not win many games.
That still might happen. After all, two of New Jersey’s wins have come against lower echelon teams Buffalo and Colorado. But thanks to early Calder Trophy candidate Jesper Bratt (six points) rookie defenceman Will Butcher (five assists) and 22-year-old Miles Wood (two goals), the undefeated Devils might be better than we initially thought.
That’s with No. 1 overall picks Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall looking for their first goals before Friday.
YAK IS BACK
It’s only been a week, but the winner for the most improved player of the year goes to Colorado’s Nail Yakupov, who has already matched his goal output (three) from last season when he played for the St. Louis Blues.
It’s too early to say whether the first-overall bust has finally figured things out, but three goals and five points in four games — while averaging 121/2 minutes of ice time — is a heck of a start. At the very least, with a $875,000 cap hit, Yakupov is turning into one of the biggest deals of the season.
A NICE DISTRACTION
Bench Matt Duchene? That was the suggestion former Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg made in regards to Duchene’s trade demands, telling a Swedish broadcast that the team should “put him in the stands” if he doesn’t want to be in Colorado.
Good thing that didn’t actually happen. With two goals and five points in four games, Duchene has helped the Avs to a 3-1-0 start before Friday’s game and improved his trade value in the process.
SAD STARTS
While the Devils, Avalanche and Golden Knights are off to surprising starts, the opposite is true of the Canadiens and Sabres.
Both have been downright brutal. Montreal (1-3-0) has a power play that is 0-for-14 and the team has managed four goals in four games. Buffalo (0-3-1), the only winless team in the Eastern Conference, has been outscored 17-9 in four games.
Not surprisingly, the only time either team picked up a point in the standings was against each other in a game that went to an overtime shootout.
NORRIS RACE DEBATE
Erik Karlsson is still recovering from off-season surgery and did not travel with the Senators on their western road trip. In other words, the Norris Trophy remains (temporarily) up for grabs.
One player who has taken advantage of Karlsson’s early absence is Blues defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who heading into Friday night led all players in ice time and was tied for the NHL scoring lead with eight points in five games.
POWERED PLAY
It’s not just Ovechkin who is scoring at a rate not seen since the 1980s. The Blackhawks potted 10 goals in a game, while the Maple Leafs have won games by scoring seven and eight goals. It’s early, but scoring has risen from 2.77 goals per game in 2016-17 to 3.15 so far this season.
A big reason for the increase could be the amount of power-play opportunities teams are receiving. With referees cracking down on stick work — 147 of the 481 minor penalties were slashing infractions — power-play opportunities have increased from 2.99 in 2016-17 to 4.26 this season.
The result? Of the 309 total goals, 72 were scored (23.3 per cent) on the power play.
I needed a plate and screws and they had to do a bone graft of my wrist. I mean it’s nine weeks of not doing anything . ... You’ve got to let the bone heal.
FLOWER POWER
Fleury has won three Stanley Cups, but despite twice recording 40 or more wins in a season, he has never won a Vezina Trophy or even been a top-five finalist.
Part of the problem was Fleury played on a team stacked with stars and was expected to win games. That isn’t the case anymore now that he’s in Vegas.
Fleury, who entered Friday’s game with a 1.32 goals-against average and a .963 save percentage (second among NHL goalies), was a major reason the Golden Knights began the season with three straight wins. If he keeps it up, expect him to get some love from voters at the end of the season.
“Flower’s been unbelievable. He’s kept us in every game,” said teammate James Neal. “When you get a goalie like that in the expansion draft, you’re going to have chances at winning games.”