Before we get into hockey games and such, there’s once again a more important topic we need to discuss. We talk a lot about feminism and female issues here at Jewels, to the point that I’m sure some of you wonder why we focus so heavily on it. Well, one of the most obvious reasons is that women occupy a huge portion of sports fandom and yet struggle for representation in media (like they do in a lot of different areas). A few days ago we got a great reminder of why.
Toni McIntyre (@ToniMacAttack) is a Penguins/Stars fan who blogged about the Stars for the Hockey Writers (and was previously a guest on the Jewelcast to help us preview Dallas’ upcoming campaign during the offseason). In what’s an unfortunately common story for many women who try to participate in the hockey blogosphere and on Twitter, she was harassed by a well-known hockey blogger. Unlike a lot of people who, often for reasons completely out of their control, are unable to speak out about the harassment, Toni did take to her Twitter account to document it all. With her permission I collected it into a Storify.
The actions of Steve Lepore were obviously horrific in this instance, and thanks to Toni he was punished for it. But for every Toni there are tons of women out there who are being harassed and don’t feel like they can come forward publicly (and again, for a variety of reasons- from worrying about how their own employers will react to simply feeling too embarrassed or ashamed). The atmosphere in the hockey blogosphere/Twitterverse isn’t exactly conducive toward people feeling comfortable to come forward, either. It remains, like most things on the planet, a space where the vast majority of the most influential members are (white, straight, cis) men. No one can blame them for worrying that they might not be listened to, or that others might try to surround and insulate the accused from their accusers. Hell, it happened with Harrison. For whatever reason it didn’t seem to happen nearly as much with Lepore this time, and his employer reacted extremely quickly in letting him go. These are all good things. But there’s still much more work to be done here.
Usually I plug tonight’s Jewelcast at the end of the post, but this time I want to make sure it’s front-and-center. Tonight, we’ll once again discuss women in hockey blogging (if you’ll recall we did an episode on this subject when the Mooney story first broke) with, yep, women who are hockey bloggers. We’ll be joined by Zoe (@zoeclaire_), longtime Penguins blogger across a number of different sites, currently at Hockey Without Propriety; Brigitte Lynne (@OneGirlOnePuck), formerly of The Royal Half, who’s also a hockey blogging veteran via her own site, One Girl One Puck; and, perhaps most importantly, Toni herself. Just like last time we’re really looking forward to bring you a robust discussion that highlights female voices, and we hope if you’re a female hockey fan you’ll consider calling in and joining the show to discuss your own experiences with us. Check out the episode page here, which has all the necessary call-in information, and we’ll see you tonight at 6 pacific/9 eastern.
Onto the far less important matters of hockey games.
This Week in Games
(here’s all the games involving the Pacific Division from this past week. we’ll talk about the LA Kings’ games in great detail, while the rest will mostly just be scores, unless there’s something that really stood out about them. you’ll also get links to Eric’s awesome recaps which will expand on everything I’m saying in much greater detail if you missed any of them.)
Monday, November 24th
Somehow even though there were four games (which is actually unusually busy for a Monday), not a single Pacific Division team was involved. There was only one team from the Good Conference playing, and it was Minnesota. Okay then.
Tuesday, November 25th
-Nashville Predators 4, Los Angeles Kings 3 (SO): Yes, once again the Kings were playing the Predators, and has apparently become a running joke here that meant yours truly got to do the recap (seriously, I think I’ve done like six recaps total for this blog and half of them are Preds games). At least this game was more exciting than your previous Kings-Perds affair (not a high bar at all, granted), as first year head coach Peter Laviolette has taught his club an exciting new concept he calls “actually forechecking”. Other than a 52-second span, the Kings looked pretty decent in this game. Unfortunately, during that 52-second span the Predators scored two goals. The Kings ultimately had to be content with just a single point, which is better than zero points but worse than two. ANALYSIS! (recap)(gamethread)
-Dallas Stars 3, Edmonton Oilers 2
-Colorado Avalanche 4, Arizona Coyotes 3 (OT): Things started off well for the Coyotes in the desert, as they jumped out to an early 3-0 lead less than eleven minutes into the first period. But it was all downhill from there, as they somehow let the Avalanche (who are quite bad, in case you’ve forgotten) battle back to tie it and ultimately take the game in overtime on an unassisted goal by Danny Briere, who apparently still exists and plays hockey professionally.
–Vancouver Canucks 2, New Jersey Devils 0
–Anaheim Ducks 3, Calgary Flames 2: You know that thing Arizona did, blowing a 3-0 lead to a bad team at home? Well the Ducks almost did the exact same thing on the exact same night, but luckily for them Calgary’s 2nd goal didn’t come until there were just 26 seconds left to play in regulation. The Ducks were able to hold on and just barely beat the Calgary Flames, and man it’s a good thing they’re so close to Disneyland cause I bet they all wanted to go there after that.
Wednesday, November 26th
–Los Angeles Kings 4, Minnesota Wild 0: Uh, okay then. I’m not going to lie to you, I did not have high hopes for this game going in, what with it being a road back-to-back against one of the best puck possession teams in the NHL this year and all. Darryl Sutter’s baffling last-minute decision to start Martin Jones (who had just played the previous evening in Nashville, and it’s not eve like he was all that great letting in 3 goals and all) didn’t help either. But, because this is hockey and hockey is often stupid, all those things somehow resulted in the Kings cruising to an easy victory. The Kings struck for all four of their goals in the opening frame, ultimately chasing Darcy Kuemper from the Minnesota crease after he had faced just ten shots. I’m not sure how much blame he deserves given the fact that the Wild were seemingly allowing an odd-man rush on every other shift, though, but hey, whatever. (recap)(gamethread)
–Calgary Flames 2, San Jose Sharks 0: Boy, the Sharks really find new ways to reinvent “rock bottom”, don’t they? Seemingly every week I sit here and type some variation on “this is as bad as it can possibly get for the Sharks”, and then they’re just all like “nope, actually we can still do super-embarrassing things like get shutout by the Calgary Flames at home!”
Thursday, November 27th
-Nashville Predators 1, Edmonton Oilers 0 (OT): Yes, this is what the NHL gave you for American Thanksgiving, everyone: a Nashville-Edmonton game that was scoreless through 60 minutes. Bon appetit, America! Perhaps offering this one lone game on the schedule was some kind of meta NHL way of pointing out how stupid/disrespectful/insensitive/insulting it is to have a holiday celebrating how the indigenous people of a land were nice to you once after you then basically committed genocide on them, in which case: well played, NHL, well played.
Friday, November 28th
-Chicago Blackhawks 4, Anaheim Ducks 1: Hey, thanks Chicago! Why did we ever hate you guys, anyway? You’re alright by me!
–Vancouver Canucks 5, Columbus Blue Jackets 0
-St. Louis Blues 4, Edmonton Oilers 3: Poor Edmonton. They were *this close* to breaking two streaks: their streak of total futility against their fellow Western Conference clubs (yep, they’re still winless against their own conference in fourteen games this year; all six of their wins this year have come against the East, which is allegedly another collection of top-flight professional hockey teams) AND their overall eight-game losing streak (though they did get a loser point in some of these games, so huzzah?). The Oilers had two different one-goal leads in this game, but Alex Pietrangelo scored from basically parallel with the goal line 12:25 into the 3rd to square things up at 3. In overtime, the Oilers were close to at least getting things to a shootout when Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 13th (!) of the season with just 40 seconds left to play, sending them home with their ninth straight loss. #WinlessintheWest thus continues into December, which is quite frankly insane.
Saturday, November 29th
–Calgary Flames 3, Arizona Coyotes 0: “Well, this just happened to the Sharks too, so how bad can it be?” said someone on the Coyotes who hasn’t seen San Jose’s record in a while.
-Chicago Blackhawks 4, Los Angeles Kings 1: I hate the Blackhawks. I hate Brad Richards and his stupid chipmunk-looking face. I hate Patrick Kane (but I love his next contract!). I hate Jonathan Toews and that most people think he’s better than Anze Kopitar when every bit of empirical evidence (and even NON-empirical evidence, jesus christ they even have the exact same number of Cups!) says that, at best, they’re even (and they’re not, Kopitar is better don’t get me wrong). I hate the fact that their blue line is so amazingly good when ours is basically one good pairing and then lots of garbage. I hate them. So much. And I’m done talking about them or this game now. (recap) (gamethread)
–San Jose Sharks 6, Anaheim Ducks 4: So uh if the Sharks only played the Ducks in every game would they go 82-0? Seriously. Cause this is twice now they’ve come into games against the Ducks this season playing like absolute trash then basically crushed them. Okay, to be fair, the Ducks did make a rather valiant comeback attempt after trailing 5-1 (and if you’re the one person surprised the Sharks almost choked away something, I’d like to welcome you to your first day here on planet Earth!). But still. The same team that just got shutout by the Calgary Flames comes back and scores five non-empty-net goals on the Ducks? Sure, whatever.
Sunday, November 30th
-Detroit Red Wings 5, Vancouver Canucks 3
This Week in Standings
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week | 5v5 CF% |
| 1. Vancouver | 24 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 33 | 14 | 75 | 66 | +9 | 7-3-1 | 9-4-0 | 2-1-0 | 50.85% |
| 2. Anaheim | 25 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 33 | 11 | 68 | 66 | +2 | 7-3-3 | 7-3-2 | 1-2-0 | 50.53% |
| 3. Calgary | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 32 | 12 | 78 | 64 | +14 | 6-3-2 | 9-5-0 | 2-1-0 | 43.51% |
| 4. Los Angeles | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 29 | 11 | 65 | 57 | +8 | 10-3-1 | 2-4-4 | 1-1-1 | 51.30% |
| 5. San Jose | 25 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 26 | 9 | 68 | 70 | -2 | 3-4-2 | 8-6-2 | 1-1-0 | 52.48% |
| 6. Arizona | 24 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 21 | 7 | 57 | 74 | -17 | 4-5-2 | 5-7-1 | 0-1-1 | 47.89% |
| 7. Edmonton | 24 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 54 | 82 | -28 | 4-8-1 | 2-6-3 | 0-1-2 | 50.75% |
For the first time in a while, there was some actual movement in the Pacific Division standings, as the Canucks’ 2-1-0 week combined with the Ducks having a bad 1-2-0 week was enough for Vancouver to tie them in points. The Canucks thus passed them for top of the table as a result of playing one fewer game (plus they have 2 more ROWs anyway). The Flames meanwhile went 2-1-0 yet again and sport the division’s only double-digit positive goal differential, and they are still garbage. Los Angeles posted another one of those lovely 1-1-1 picket fence weeks, but that at least moved them another point clear of the Sharks. Speaking of San Jose, they treaded some more water, going 1-1-0. And at the bottom of the table, the Coyotes and Oilers were both winless, as they’ve begun to really settle into their roles as this year’s cellar dwellers.
This Week in #fancystats
(all stats are total attempts, not percentages. thanks to extra skater war-on-ice. note that they decided to remove the “close” situation as stat nerds everywhere have decided it actually isn’t all that important, but will be adding score-adjusted stats soon, which will be great and I’ll work them into this feature when they do. anyway….)
Predators 4, Kings 3 (SO)
Corsi: Predators 54-Kings 49 (overall), Kings 36-Predators 36 (5v5), Predators 20-Kings 16 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Predators 46-Kings 32 (overall), Predators 30-Kings 22 (5v5), Predators 17-Kings 10 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Muzzin (+10), Williams (+8), Doughty (+7). Worst: Toffoli (-10), Pearson/Kopitar/Greene (tied, -9)
NSH Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Wilson (+9), Jarnkrok/Josi (tied, +6). Worst: Jokinen (-8), Roy (-7), Ekholm (-5)
Kings 4, Wild 0
Corsi: Wild 57-Kings 41 (overall), Wild 46-Kings 32 (5v5), Kings 3-Wild 3 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Wild 46-Kings 31 (overall), Wild 38-Kings 26 (5v5), Wild 3-Kings 2 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Lewis (+6), Toffoli (+2), Carter/Gaborik (tied, +1). Worst: Williams (-10), King/Clifford/Richards (tied, -9)
MIN Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Brodziak (+9), Fontaine/Coyle/Spurgeon (tied, +7). Worst: Granlund (-5), Pominville (-3), Parise (-2)
Blackhawks 4, Kings 1
Corsi: Kings 57-Blackhawks 48 (overall), Kings 45-Blackhawks 39 (5v5), Blackhawks 4-Kings 0 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 44-Blackhawks 41 (overall), Kings 35-Blackhawks 34 (5v5), Blackhawks 3-Kings 0 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Kopitar (+8), Carter (+6), Pearson/Clifford/Doughty (tied, +5). Worst: Nolan/King (tied, -3), Richards (-2)
CHI Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Seabrook (+4), Keith (+3), Saad/Hossa (tied, +1). Worst: Oduya (-11), Nordstrom/Kane (tied, -5)
Next Week in the Pacific
(this is exactly what it sounds like: the next week’s schedule for all 7 Pacific Division teams. all times are pacific because, um, duh.)
| Team | 12/1 | 12/2 | 12/3 | 12/4 | 12/5 | 12/6 | 12/7 |
| LA | – | vs.BOS (7:30) | – | @ARI (6:00) | – | vs.PHI (1:00) | – |
| VAN | – | @WSH (4:00) | – | @PIT (4:00) | – | @TOR (4:00) | @OTT (4:00) |
| ANA | vs.BOS (7:00) | – | vs.PHI (7:30) | – | @MIN (5:00) | – | @WPG (Noon) |
| CGY | vs.ARI (6:00) | – | vs.COL (6:00) | – | vs.SJ (7:00) | – | |
| SJ | – | vs.PHI (7:00) | – | vs.BOS (7:30) | – | @CGY (7:00) | @EDM (6:00) |
| ARI | @EDM (6:30) | @CGY (6:00) | – | vs.LA (6:00) | – | vs.BOS (5:00) | – |
| EDM | vs.ARI (6:30) | – | @WPG (6:00) | – | – | – | vs.SJ (6:00) |
On the surface, the upcoming week’s schedule looks pretty damn favorable for the Kings. First they get a Boston team that will have played the previous night in Anaheim, and that’s followed up by an Arizona team that will be playing their third game in four nights (I bet you’re thinking “it’s about time we got a break!” and I know!). However, after what happened this past week- where the Kings went into Minnesota on a road back-to-back and stomped the Wild, then hosted Chicago on their road back-to-back and, uh, got stomped- who the hell even knows anymore. Either way, the Kings wrap up their week with an afternoon game against the Flyers, and if you haven’t been paying attention to the East the Flyers are an absolute garbage fire on defense and in goal (great forwards though!).
Meanwhile, the Canucks will continue their seemingly never-ending tour of the East with four meetings against alleged professional hockey teams. Anaheim will play four games against a bunch of teams. Whatever, none of that’s remotely interesting. The Flames will welcome in the woeful Coyotes for the back half of their home-and-home with the Desert Dogs, followed by a truly epic match-up between last year’s Colorado Avalanche and this year’s Colorado Avalanche. Finally, their week ends with another shutout victory over the Sharks (come on, you already know that’s happening). Speaking of the boys in teal, the Sharks also have home games against the Flyers and Bruins before hitting the road for a home-and-home against the Flames & Oilers (and please god let the Oilers go into that game on Sunday still winless against the West and now riding a 12-game losing streak).
The Oilers and Coyotes will play the War to Settle the Score: Who is the True Trash of the Pacific???? And who really cares about what else they’re doing.
That’s all for another edition of TWIK. Don’t forget about tonight’s Jewelcast.