EDMONTON
Youth Dion Phaneuf Jersey , Alberta (AP) — Mikko Koskinen is off to a nice start in his return to the NHL.Koskinen made 40 saves for his first career shutout, Drake Caggiula scored twice and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Thursday night.The 30-year-old Koskinen became the sixth goaltender in franchise history to record at least 40 saves in a shutout performance. Not bad for a player whose previous NHL experience consisted of four games for the New York Islanders during the 2010-2011 season.After playing primarily in the KHL, Koskinen signed with Edmonton as a free agent this summer. He earned a 5-3 victory in Nashville last Saturday in his only other appearance while backing up Cam Talbot.“He was outstanding,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “That is what good goalies do. He hasn’t played much, but he was able to stay confident. It’s pretty impressive to see him come out with two performances like that.”Koskinen said he always wanted to come back to the NHL and prove himself.“It was always on my mind,” the 6-foot-7 goaltender said. “I had opportunities, like, three, four years ago, but I always decided to stay. I thought I could still get better there (in St. Petersburg)
Drew Doughty Jersey , and my setup there was great.“But I always had it in my sight, to come back and try to be a goalie here.”Jason Garrison and Alex Chiasson also scored for the Oilers (7-4-1), who have won four of five.Cam Ward made 25 saves for the Blackhawks (6-5-3), who have lost four straight.“I don’t know if the frustration level is high,” Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. “At the end of day, though it doesn’t look good on the scoreboard.“But for the most part, we’re involved and we’re in the game giving ourselves a chance to win for the majority of 60 minutes.”Koskinen made 15 saves during a scoreless first period and Edmonton jumped in front 18 seconds into the second. Caggiula showed some deft hands in front, spinning around and then shoveling home his third of the season while being knocked to his knees from behind.Koskinen made some exceptional stops to keep Edmonton in front, denying Toews on a short-handed breakaway with six minutes left in the middle period, and then Alex DeBrincat in tight later on during the same sloppy Oilers power play.Edmonton went up 2-0 with 37 seconds left in the second. Garrison scored on the power play for his first goal with the Oilers.Edmonton added to its lead with a short-handed tally in the third. Jujhar Khaira did a good job to get it to Caggiula
http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-dustin-brown-jersey , who froze Ward on a deke before scoring at 6:49.Edmonton got another midway through the third when Chiasson scored his fifth goal in his last six games.NOTES: It was the second of three meetings between the teams this season. Edmonton beat Chicago 2-1 in overtime last Sunday. … Blackhawks star Patrick Kane returned to the lineup after missing Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in Vancouver with an illness. It was the end of Kane’s 258-game regular-season Ironman streak.UP NEXTBlackhawks: Visit Calgary on Saturday.Oilers: Visit Detroit on Saturday. George Parros is a busy man early in the Stanley Cup playoffs thanks to a rash of questionable hits around the NHL.The vice president of player safety’s department suspended Toronto Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri three games for boarding Boston forward Tommy Wingels in what the league called a hit made in the name of retribution and Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty one game for an illegal check to the head on Vegas forward William Carrier.With two suspensions, two misconduct ejections for boarding that resulted in injuries, plus Capitals winger Tom Wilson’s hit to the head that knocked Columbus center Alexander Wennberg out of the game, it has been a rough start to the playoffs – and there have only been eight games played. In 1,271 regular-season games, there were a total of 37 game misconducts and 22 suspensions.The NHL has made a concerted effort to rid its game of fighting and questionable hits, wanting to keep skilled players on the ice and boost scoring. In the postseason, goals are usually harder to come by and the adrenaline of the moment brings hard hits that cross the line; a year ago, Penguins star Sidney Crosby missed a game with a concussion after a cross-check to the head from the Capitals’ Matt Niskanen.Kadri was tossed from Toronto’s Game 1 loss at Boston for boarding Wingels, and Blue Jackets winger Josh Anderson was thrown out of their overtime victory at Washington for a hit from behind that injured Capitals defenseman Michal Kempny.A game misconduct will likely suffice for Anderson
Jake Muzzin Jersey , but Kadri wasn’t as fortunate and will miss Games 2, 3 and 4.”I certainly wasn’t trying to hit him when he was down like that,” Kadri said after Thursday night’s game. ”Obviously, if he’s still standing up, I think there’s nothing wrong with that, but he ended up falling and reaching for the puck, and I’m not sure what happened after that.”What happened was another Bruins goal on the ensuing power play that made it 5-1 in the first game between the bitter rivals. Down the East Coast, Wilson’s hit on Wennberg allowed the Blue Jackets to tie the score in a game they won in overtime. Wilson blamed himself for costing Washington Game 1 by taking a bad penalty at a critical moment.”I’ve got to be better and maybe pass up on that hit,” Wilson said. ”We’ve got the lead there so maybe a big hit’s not needed. It’s the playoffs. Trying to finish your checks, and unfortunately I took a penalty.”Wilson was suspended two preseason games for interference and then for the first four regular-season games for boarding but had cleaned up his game since. Part of that stemmed from meeting with Parros in Calgary in the fall and educating himself on what’s acceptable and what the NHL looks for.”We had a meeting
Jeff Carter Jersey , me, him and Parros, and went over videos and just what they were looking at when he was being considered for suspensions and fines and other examples throughout the league,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said.Parros spent almost a decade as an NHL enforcer and finished his career with 159 fights and 1,127 penalty minutes. When he took over the league’s player safety department last September, he said he intended to crack down on ”non-hockey plays” that have nothing to do with affecting the course of the game.Some of the hits may alter series because of the resulting injuries.Carrier, Kempny, Wennberg and Wingels are all day-to-day with ”upper-body” injuries – the customarily vague description in the NHL – with their statuses legitimately uncertain moving forward. Columbus general manager Jermo Kekalainen called Wennberg ”doubtful” for Game 2 Sunday at Washington and considered it a ”dangerous hit” by Wilson that the league deemed wasn’t worthy of further punishment.Doughty, a Norris Trophy contender and Los Angeles’ top defender, was suspended for Friday night’s Game 2 against Vegas for what the league called an avoidable hit to Carrier’s head. Kadri’s hit came after Wingels crushed Toronto forward Mitch Marner
http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-jonathan-quick-jersey , but the timing and force of the hit made it worse.”The bottom line is, you always have to be disciplined at all times and emotions are a part of the game, but it’s got to be controlled,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.Kekalainen disagreed with officials giving Anderson a five-minute major and a game misconduct for his hit on Kempny, which was definitely a minor penalty but seemed less egregious than Wilson’s later. That didn’t stop Capitals coach Barry Trotz from voicing his displeasure with Anderson’s play.”I thought there’s clearly numbers there,” Trotz said. ”Trying to get that out of the game.”—
