Victor Hedman has his Badger Bob team believing “Yes, we can get the hell out of the basement,” the electric defender collecting a goal, an assist and 6.0 points on Wednesday, the moss-covered Bobs drawing to within 43.8 points of 11th place.The Scrap for the Laughing BagTo avoid both the despised Laughing Bag and the also despised “First to Worst” label, Badger Bob will have to outpoint Concussion Junction by an average of 2.6 points, per day, over the final 17 days of the season; numbers that fall well within the range of possible.
The Battle for the FHL CupThe Wild Ducks outpointed all who seek to dethrone them, an 8.0 point Wednesday bettering the 5.0 netted by the Boulder Flyers and the 4.0 coughed-up by the Polar Bears. As a result, the Ducks overall advantage has swelled to 70.3 points.
The Bout for the MoneyWith only 4 games on Wednesday there wasn’t a lot of money movement. Both the Ice Hogs and Vegas Vipers however did nudge a bit closer; the Hogs currently 14.4 points in back of 3rd place; the Vipers, 18.5.
Semifinals, PlayoffsBoulder Flyers: 18.9
Ice Hogs: 17.0
Andrei Vasilevskiy posted a career-best 54 save win, and in doing so placed his team on the heels of the Boulder Flyers, the Hogs now trailing by just 1.9 points heading into a potential week-turning 12-game Thursday.
THURSDAY LINEUP (Boulder Flyers: 10 players; Ice Hogs: 6 players)
Boulder Flyers: Claude Giroux, Mark Scheifele, Sean Monahan, Dylan Larkin, James van Riemsdyk / John Klingberg, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Zach Werenski / Matt Murray, Corey Crawford.
Ice Hogs: Patrik Laine, Elias Lindholm, Anders Lee, Alex DeBrincat, Ryan O'Reilly / Shea Weber. Not playing (injured): Joe Pavelski, Kyle Palmieri.
Misconducts: 18.0
Wild Ducks: 17.0
The Misconducts continue to lead this David (Smalley) vs. Goliath chess match, but Goliath got the better of Dave on Wednesday, the Ducks and their day-best performance drawing to within a single point.
THURSDAY LINEUP (Wild Ducks: 8 players; Misconducts: 11 players)
Wild Ducks: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Drouin, Artemi Panarin / Brent Burns, Erik Gustafsson, Roman Josi / Curtis McElhinney, Mikko Koskinen.
Misconducts: Steven Stamkos, Justin Williams, Evgeni Dadonov, Paul Stastny, Mikko Rantanen, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins / Ryan McDonagh, Shayne Gostisbehere, Oscar Klefbom / Darcy Kuemper, Martin Jones.
LINK: Standings