The Colorado Avalanche strengthened its hold on the top spot in the NHL with a 4-0 road win over the Dallas Stars yesterday. Colorado leads the Florida Panthers 72 points to 69 points, having played one less game against the Cats, who will finally return to the ice on Wednesday.
In other Super Bow Sunday games, the Ottawa Senators posted a 4-1 over the struggling Washington Capitals; Jeff Skinner scored four times to power the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-3 victory over the hapless Montreal Canadiens; and the Pittsburgh Penguins doubled the New Jersey Devils by a 4-2 count.
There are four games on tap tonight with the one of most interest to Panthers fans being the Toronto Maple Leafs first visit to Climate Pledge Arena, where they will face the Seattle Kraken.
Olympics
In the Women’s tournament, Canada opened the semifinals with a dominating 10-3 win over Switzerland to advance to the Gold Medal game. South Florida time. Marie Philip scored twice and Sarah Nurse dished out four helpers in the rout. Canada awaits the winner of the United States and Finland, which will get underway at 8:10 a.m, South Florida time.
On the Men’s side the eight-team (seeds 5-12) playoff round is set for tomorrow. The games are as follows:
Slovakia vs. Germany (winner advances to play the United States)
Canada vs. China (winner advances to play Sweden)
Czechia vs. Switzerland (winner advances to play Finland)
Denmark vs. Latvia (winner advances to play Russia)
AHL Checkers
After his posting his first professional shutout on Saturday, Spencer Knight numbers in Charlotte are looking pretty impressive. Knight is now 3-1 with a 2.00 GAA and .934 save percentage.
Logan Hutsko is tied for the team lead in scoring, with AHL veteran Scott Wilson, with 28 points. Hutsko leads the Checkers in assists with 20.
Cole Schwindt is fourth on the team in goals (11) and points (25).
Aleksi Heponiemi has put up 23 points in 29 games on six goals and 17 assists (second most on the team).
Grigori Denisenko (9G/9A), Henry Bowlby (7G/11A) and Chase Priskie (4G/14A) have all produced 18 points.