This week’s roundup also features steeplechase drama and an astronaut being brought back down to Earth with a bump1) Nashville Predators’ Pekka Rinne joins the short list of NHL goaltenders with an eye for finding the opposing net thanks to this effort against Chicago Blackhawks. He’s the first since 2013, when Mike Smith just beat the buzzer for Phoenix Coyotes.New York Islanders’ Billy Smith, back in 1979, is credited with the earliest example, as the last player on his team to touch the puck before Colorado Rockies’ Rob Ramage passed to empty ice and watched forlornly as it made its way to an unguarded net. However, Ron Hextall shot and scored for Philadelphia Flyers in 1987 – and also contributed...
The Flyers’ new googly-eyed mascot embodies everything that’s good and bad about the author’s hometown. But mostly the badPhiladelphia is home to the undisputed king of professional sports mascots: the Phillie Phanatic. No less esteemed a source than Wikipedia reveals he is “widely acknowledged as one of the best ballpark mascots” and “arguably the most recognizable mascot in all of North American sports”.You can imagine the horror, then, when he got a new sibling this week: Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers’ new mascot, is a horrifying bearded man-Muppet hybrid whose eyes are permanently rolling in their sockets, presumably from years of drug use. He is a nightmarish frat boy who communicates only in bro-friendly gestures – the guy who was loudly...
For the snakebitten expansion Golden Knights, a bunch of near-misses added up to one big defeat to the Washington CapitalsFirst thing’s first: The Las Vegas Golden Knights were close.No Stanley Cup final series can be reduced to mere millimeters, but when so many small distances conspire to create such a large difference, it’s difficult not to notice them. The most obvious was The Save – Washington Capitals’ goaltender Braden Holtby’s sprawling stick stop against Alex Tuch with two minutes left in Game 2. The Capitals were up 3-2, but down 1-0 in the series. They hung on for the win. Continue reading...
The nebulous interference rule, a point of controversy all year long, is a ticking time bomb that threatens to spoil a team’s Stanley Cup hopesThe NHL playoffs begin on Wednesday, as the remaining 16 teams get set to begin what they hope will be a two-month journey towards the Stanley Cup. It’s a great time to be a hockey fan. But this year, there’s a cloud hanging over everything. A controversy over the league’s goaltender interference rules has flared up periodically all season long, especially down the stretch. And that has fans wondering when – not if – a key game is going to be determined by an interference call that everyone hates. Related: 'It's the best game in the...
The Philadelphia 76ers have moved up to pick first in this week’s draft. But sports teams are often blinded by the prestige of a No1 selectionEngland World Cup teams, New Year’s Eve parties and DC Comics movies. The list of massively hyped things that almost always disappoint probably starts with those three. But right behind them on the list has to be No1 overall draft picks. Having that No1 overall draft spot is the goal of every fan whose team falls far short of the actual goal of winning a championship. It’s where franchise saviors and generational talents are supposed to be found. The NBA even promotes its annual draft lottery order reveal as a major, live television event, complete...