In today’s News & Notes, Anton Blidh has been recalled from the Providence Bruins, Brendan Lemieux has been suspended and the NHL’s Three Stars of the Week have been announced.
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Bruins Recall Blidh
The Boston Bruins have recalled Blidh from the AHL. The 23-year-old forward has played in 20 NHL games in his career thus far and has recorded one goal and two points in that time. Primarily a bottom-six forward at the NHL level, Blidh is actually one of the Bruins’ scoring leaders in Providence with a modest two goals and six points in 11 games, ranking him at third in points on the team.
#NHLBruins recall Anton Blidh from @AHLBruins: https://t.co/QYENEwWTrD
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 5, 2018
Blidh has done his part in Providence and played a hard-nosed energy role with the team. Last season, he scored 11 goals and 26 points in 71 games and was rewarded with a one-game call-up last season when the Bruins were dealing with a number of injuries.
Though the Bruins injuries are piling up again early on in 2018-19, the team’s forward group is relatively healthy. The recall of Blidh appears to be more a move predicated on shuffling lines than to fill an injury need. Whether or not he gets an extended look or not is yet to be seen but he should get an opportunity at some point to skate with the big club to try and force his way into the lineup consistently.
Brendan Lemieux Suspended
The NHL has suspended Winnipeg Jets’ forward Brendan Lemieux for two games for his hit to the head of Florida Panthers’ forward Vincent Trochek. Lemieux, the son of former NHL-forward Claude Lemieux, was handed a match penalty for the interaction.
PITTSBURGH, PA – OCTOBER 26: Winnipeg Jets Left Wing Brendan Lemieux (Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire)
Lemieux was expected to be reprimanded for these actions and the NHL made sure to handle this accordingly. When asked about the initial match penalty after the game, Jets’ head coach Paul Maurice seemed to be fully behind the officials’ decision.
Related: Lemieux Suspended 2 Games
“Yup. The refs got it right. You give up three on the PK, you’re not winning,” said Maurice. “Just keep them on the ice. That’ll be a starting point. Listen, I’ve got no complaint about the reffing. I don’t like the call on Scheifele but nobody cares. The penalties that Brendan took, Brendan deserved.”
NHL Stars of the Week
The NHL has announced their three stars of the week for the week ending on Nov. 4.
The third star of the week was Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point who led the NHL with six assists and was second in the league with eight points. The 22-year-old was able to score one goal and five points in an 8-3 victory against the New Jersey Devils during the week, making him the youngest player in Lightning history to record a five-point game (22 years, 231 days).
Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson (James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports)
The second star of the week was Vancouver Canucks’ forward Elias Pettersson who tied for first in the NHL with four goals last week and was third in points with seven. Petterson has had a red-hot start to his career with nine goals and 15 points in nine games. He’s looked every bit the player the Canucks thought he would be when they took him fifth overall in 2017 and he was rewarded for his efforts last week as a result.
The first star of the week was Calgary Flames forward Sean Monahan who had four consecutive multi-point performances during the week. The 24-year-old is up to eight goals and 18 points in 15 games this season which puts him on pace to beat his career-high 31 goals (a feat. he’s accomplished twice) and 64 points from a season ago. If he can maintain this pace, Monahan would score 43 goals and 98 points in a full 82-game season.
