Over the Boards: Luongo bumps Belfour, Bolts and Isles let it ride
The three winningest goaltenders in NHL history are all Quebec-born: Martin Brodeur (691) Patrick Roy (551) and now Roberto Luongo, who passed Ed Belfour on the all-time list with his 485th career win on Monday. “I’m not one for milestones, but it’s nice to get those recognitions,” Luongo told the Miami Herald. VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: Jeff Blashill’s job as coach of the Detroit Red Wings seems safe. His contract expires this season, but GM Ken Holland offered up some positive comments on Monday. “I think he’s done a great job,” Holland said. “You look at the standings, and it’s hard to think anybody has done a great job when you see where we are in the standings. But he’s playing our young players … The young players have grown under his watch. I’m big on experience. This is his fourth year in the NHL and there’s no doubt he’s a better coach today than he was four years ago.”
BOLTED TIGHT: The Tampa Bay Lightning, on a 13-game points streak, have a chance to go the entire month of February without a regulation loss. They did the same in December (13-0-1). That’s a big reason why GM Julien BriseBois didn’t feel the need to make a trade at the deadline. “I hope I sent them the same message they’ve been sending me: calm, confident,” he said of his players. “We have a very good team. We have faith in the players we have there. We have, I think, answers for what our opponents will throw at us.”
ISLES SMILE: The surprising Islanders were another team that did not make a move at the deadline. “We weren’t going to get into a situation where we sacrificed what our plan is, because we feel very good about this hockey team,” GM Lou Lamoriello said minutes after Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline. “You have to be extremely careful at this time because whenever you add somebody, it takes away from somebody else and somebody moves into a different spot. Whatever we potentially could have done would not have been the best thing. It might have looked like we were doing something, but you don’t do something for the sake of doing something.”
THE GREAT OUTDOORS: NBC said Saturday night’s Stadium Series game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly averaged nearly two million viewers, making it the most-watched NHL regularseason game in five years, excluding Winter Classics.
DOWNED JET: The Jets have lost defenceman Josh Morrissey until at least April with an upper-body injury suffered Sunday. Nathan Beaulieu, acquired from the Sabres for a sixth-round pick on Monday, will replace Morrissey on the top defensive pair with Jacob Trouba.