Thursday's hockey: Augustine finalist for top amateur athlete; Sens 7 points ahead of Wings
Michigan State sophomore goaltender Trey Augustine (South Lyon) was selected as one of five finalists for the AAU Sullivan Award, given annually to the top amateur athlete in the United States.
The AAU Sullivan Award has been given out since 1930 to the nation's best athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level.
Augustine is the second MSU hockey player since Jeff Lerg in 2007 to be a finalist. Augustine and Lerg, along with Stewart Iglehart (1937), and USA hockey standout Angela Ruggiero of St. Clair Shores (2006), are just the third and fourth hockey finalists in the history of the Sullivan, and none have ever captured the award.
Augustine joins Boise State football standout Ashton Jeanty, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, figure skater Ilia Malinin, and Nebraska volleyball player Lexi Rodriguez. Fan voting ends on March 20.
Augustine is the youngest full-time starting goaltender in Division I for the second consecutive season. Despite missing four games for the IIHF U-20 World Junior Tournament, Augustine leads the Big Ten in wins (17, 10th NCAA), save percentage (.925, 13th NCAA) and goals against average (2.09, 16th NCAA).
The Spartans will face Notre Dame in Saturday's Big Ten semifinal at Munn Ice Arena at 6 p.m.
Thursday NHL games
(At) Ottawa 6, Boston 3: Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist to end a 10-game drought and Linus Ullmark made 22 saves for the Senators' fifth straight victory.
Shane Pinto, Tyler Kleven, Ridly Greig and Claude Giroux also scored to help Ottawa solidify its position as the Eastern Conference wild-card leader. The Senators (75 points) lead the Red Wings (68 points) by seven points.
David Pastrnak scored his 34th goal for Boston. Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov added goals.
N.Y. Rangers 3, (at) Minnesota 2 (OT): Braden Schneider scored at 1:51 of overtime to end New York's four-game losing streak.
Vincent Trocheck and Jonny Brodzinski also scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves.
Marcus Johansson and Frederick Gaudreau had power-play goals for Minnesota in the third period, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 28 shots.
(At) New Jersey 3, Edmonton 2: Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists for his second straight three-point game.
Bratt tied it 2-2 then set up Simon Nemec’s first of the season 1:35 later. Brett Pesce also scored, and Jake Allen made 31 saves.
Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL-leading 47th goal for Edmonton. Evan Bouchard also scored and Connor McDavid had two assists.
(At) L.A. Kings 3, Washington 0: Quinton Byfield had a goal for the fifth consecutive game and Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, Warren Foegele scored, and the Kings won their fourth in a row following a season-high five-game losing streak.
Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals, who had won five straight. Alex Ovechkin did not have a shot on goal despite playing nearly 19 minutes with 8:41 of it on the power play.
(At) Pittsburgh 5, St. Louis 2: Ryan Graves scored 2:17 into the game and Pittsburgh never trailed in a win over St. Louis.
Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar, who were acquired last week in a trade with the Maple Leafs, also scored goals for the Penguins.
Zack Bolduc, Dylan Holloway and Alexey Toropchenko replied for the Blues.
(At) Philadelphia 4, Tampa Bay 3 (SO): Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov scored in the shootout and Bobby Brink had two goals for the Flyers.
Michkov and Tampa Bay's Brayden Point scored the only goals in the scheduled first three shootout attempts.
Ryan Poehling had the other goal for Philadelphia. Gage Goncalves, Zemgus Girgensons and Cam Atkinson scored for Tampa Bay.
Florida 3, (at) Toronto 2: Sam Bennett scored power-play goals late in each of the first two periods and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for the Panthers' seventh victory in eight games.
Defenseman Niko Mikkola also scored for the defending champion Panthers. They lead the Atlantic Division, four points ahead of the second-place Maple Leafs. Toronto has lost four of five.
John Tavares had his 27th goal of the season for Toronto. Max Domi added a goal, and Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 shots.
Vegas 4, (at) Columbus 0: Adin Hill made 27 saves, Nicolas Roy and Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist each for the Knights, who will be in Detroit on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored and Tomas Hertl had two assists for the Golden Knights.
Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two in a row and four of five.
(At) San Jose 4, Chicago 2: Undrafted rookie Collin Graf scored twice and Will Smith had a goal and an assist for the Sharks.
Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves for San Jose, and Tyler Toffoli had an empty-net goal.
Frank Nazar (Mount Clemens) and Ilya Mikheyev scored for Chicago. Spencer Knight had 21 saves.
NHL players without visors dwindling
Ryan O’Reilly has had the conversation a number of times. Family members will often call or text to tell the veteran NHL center again that it is time to put on a visor.
Sticks have nicked O’Reilly’s face. Pucks and skate blades have come perilously close to his unprotected eyes. There have been plenty of close calls.
Those moments haven’t changed his thinking despite the coaxing from loved ones.
“Every time I get a little stick or anything, even a little scrape, they’re always looking at me,’” O’Reilly told The Canadian Press. “But hockey players are creatures of habit. It’s just something I’ve been so used to.”
The 34-year-old Nashville Predators forward is among a handful of NHL skaters without facial protection.
The league instituted a rule change ahead of the 2013-14 season that stated all players with fewer than 25 games of experience at the time “must wear a visor properly affixed to their helmet.”
The dwindling list of competitors without “windshields” to suit up in the NHL this season includes O’Reilly, Dallas captain Jamie Benn, Minnesota defenseman Zach Bogosian and two enforcers, the Islanders' Matt Martin and Toronto's Ryan Reaves.
The 35-year-old Martin hasn’t dressed since the mid-January because of injury, while the 38-year-old Reaves cleared waivers last week and was demoted to the American Hockey League.
The clock, in short, is ticking on players of the visor-less vintage.
“My mom is always telling me to put it on,” Benn said. “But I’m not going to change my ways.”
The NHL has had significant eye injuries in the past, perhaps most notably when Toronto's Bryan Berard, who wasn’t wearing a visor, took an accidental high-stick from Ottawa's Marian Hossa in March 2000. The blueliner was effectively left blind in his right eye – Berard could only distinguish between light and dark – but eventually returned and played seven more professional seasons.
Bogosian said despite the risks, he “wouldn’t know any different” when it comes to his unimpeded view.
“Something I’m used to,” said the 34-year-old. “There’s certainly some close calls, but I don’t really think about it.”
A couple of scary moments prompted Predators coach Andrew Brunette to don a visor partway through his playing career.
“We didn’t know any different,” said Brunette, who started playing pro hockey in 1993. “You could say it was a little bit of the culture.”
Players in junior, the NCAA and the AHL wear visors or full cages, so why take the gear off under the hockey’s brightest lights?
In an interview earlier this season, Reaves said he was stopped by teammates before his first NHL game with the St. Louis Blues in October 2010.
“I had a visor going out for warm-ups,” he recalled. “David Backes and Cam Janssen said, ‘If you want to be a tough guy in this league, you can’t wear a visor.’ They ripped it off my helmet and I never put it back on.”
“I’ve taken a few sticks by the eye,” Reaves added. “My mom, all the time, wants me to put one on.”
Benn captured the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer in 2014-15. He’s mostly made his money with pucks on his stick. He can’t recall why he became anti-visor.
“Thought it was cool, I guess,” said the 35-year-old forward.
Dallas center Matt Duchene, who also played alongside O’Reilly in Nashville, has respect for the old-school approach.
“The game’s fast and stuff happens out there,” said the 34-year-old Duchene, who remains eligible to play minus a visor. “You’ve got to protect yourself, but I love to see (them) with no visor.”
He also cautioned: “You can fix everything south of your eyes.”
O’Reilly didn’t feel pressure to shed the visor when he entered the league with the Colorado Avalanche in 2009. But there might have been a subconscious motive.
“Maybe it helped me look a little tougher than I actually am,” he joked. “Maybe I felt I had a little more grit to my game taking it off.”
Flames' Zary suspended two games
Calgary forward Connor Zary was suspended two games without pay Thursday for elbowing Vancouver defenseman Elias Pettersson during the Canucks' 4-3 shootout victory over the Flames.
Zary was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play at 11:19 of the first period Wednesday night. The suspension will cost the 23-year-old Zary $8,993 in salary.
After the 20-year-old Pettersson knocked Nazem Kadri off his skates just as Kadri unloaded the puck and crossed the blue line, Zary retaliated with a blindside hit that led to the penalty.
Devils' Hamilton out for rest of season
New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton is expected to miss the rest of the NHL regular season with an undisclosed lower-body injury, the team said Thursday.
Hamilton has been out since getting hurt March 4 at Dallas. He left after skating just seven shifts.
The Devils won’t have No. 1 center Jack Hughes for the rest of the season and the playoffs after he underwent shoulder surgery. New Jersey is solidly in third place in the Metropolitan Division and on track to make the playoffs after missing last season.
Hamilton, 31, was on pace for a career year offensively before getting injured. He had nine nine goals and 31 assists for 40 points, averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time in 63 games.
The Toronto native is the Devils' highest-paid player, making $9 million annually in the fourth season of a seven-year, $63 million contract.
Wild-card playoff race
Atlantic
▶ Florida 85
▶ Toronto 81
▶ Tampa Bay 79
Metropolitan
▶ Washington 94
▶ Carolina 82
▶ New Jersey 78
Wild-card spots
▶ Ottawa 75
▶ Columbus 70
Non-playoff teams
▶ New York Rangers 70
▶ Montreal 69
▶ Detroit 68
▶ Boston 68
▶ N.Y. Islanders 65
▶ Philadelphia 64
▶ Pittsburgh 64
▶ Buffalo 56
Michigan hockey
Monday
Senators 2, Red Wings 1
Wednesday
Red Wings 7, Sabres 3
Grand Rapids 2, Hartford 1
Friday
Red Wings at Hurricanes, 7
Milwaukee at Grand Rapids, 7
Madison at NTDP U18, 7
St. Cloud State at Western Michigan, 7
Saturday
Madison at NTDP U18, 7
Notre Dame at Michigan State, 6
St. Cloud State at Western Michigan, 6
Sunday
Golden Knights at Red Wings, 1
St. Cloud State at Western Michigan, 6 (if necessary)