Hockey Things: What Caught Our Eye Last Week (March 28 Edition)
It's Monday. Garfield's most hated day, but the day that means it's time to recap some of the biggest stories in the world of hockey that happened this past week:
Penguins Eleven, the forgotten Oceans spinoff
In the modern NHL, it's pretty rare to see any team score 10 goals in a game but 11? That is a feat that until this past Sunday had not been accomplished in almost 20 years.
The Pittsburgh Penguins' 11-2 demolition of the Detroit Red Wings saw them become the first team since 2003 to surpass the 10-goal mark.
On the flip side, the Red Wings became the first team since the 1998-99 Tampa Bay Lightning to allow 10-plus goals in a game multiple times in a season after losing 10-7 to Toronto earlier this year. Rebuilds can be tough, but to give up multiple 10 goal games in less than a month is something that has to sting.
The Oilers gave Ben Stelter a night to remember
The Edmonton Oilers grabbed a big two points in their win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. But the real star of the night was a special newcomer.
Ben Stelter, a five-year-old hockey fan currently battling glioblastoma, had the chance to skate out onto the ice and stand next to Connor McDavid during the national anthems as the Scotiabank Skater.
Stelter was also able to tour the Oilers' locker room, meet the players and even joined Zach Hyman for the post-game press conference after Edmonton's 5-2 victory.
Full credit to the Oilers for giving such an amazing experience to Ben and his family.
The Atlanta Flames made a weekend cameo
Throwbacks are all the rage in the NHL, and the Calgary Flames made sure to take it up a notch.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the franchise, the Flames donned warm-up jerseys paying homage to the Atlanta Flames. The team already pays homage to their time in Georgia with the associate captain's "A" being in the font of the old Atlanta crest, but this was a big step towards honoring the past.
Two years ago, Calgary-based hockey writer Mike Gould proposed the idea of the team doing something to honor the franchise, mocking up concept jerseys and even a 50th-anniversary patch. Since then, Gould and the Flames went about working on how exactly to make something happen.