The Kings played their second straight game in San Jose’s SAP Center on Wednesday night, and the home arena of the Sharks has no shortage of quirks.
When the arena was first designed, there were some notable deficiencies: no luxury boxes and no press seating. While the former was remedied, the latter was not.
Media members and “black aces,” San Jose prospects observing during the playoffs, have often been arranged around the sandbag-laden scaffolding that hangs from the building’s roof. It resembles something from the movie “Sudden Death” and it’s not for the faint of heart. One postseason, a Sharks goalie prospect was overcome by a fear of heights and had to be re-accommodated.
Another spot in the stadium where goalies have trouble finding a comfortable seat is the visiting bench. Limited space usually relegates them to the tunnel that connects the visitors’ dressing room and the ice.
Kings coach Todd McLellan, who has made just one in-game goalie switch this season back on Feb. 5, recalled a game when Detroit visited San Jose back when he was an assistant coach for the Red Wings.
“After the Olympics in (2006), the Swedes had won and they did their party after, and obviously the bulk of our players in Detroit at that time were Swedes,” McLellan recalled.
“We came into San Jose and played our first game after the Olympic break, (Dominik Hasek) was in net and they destroyed us 9-2 that night, they had six power-play goals if I recall,” he continued.
“Chris Osgood was sitting away from the bench in the corner where the backup goalie sits all the time,” McLellan said. “As the score kept going up, he kept getting smaller and eventually we couldn’t even see him because he was ducking down behind the boards.”
MAATTA’S MALADY; GABRIEL FINED
Defenseman Olli Maatta did not travel with the Kings to San Jose after sustaining an upper-body injury early in Sunday’s home game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
He took a strong check into the boards from defenseman Zach Whitecloud and might have hurt his shoulder based on the points of contact, first with Whitecloud and then with the glass.
McLellan estimated Wednesday that Maatta would be out of action for at least 10 more days.
Sharks forward Kurtis Gabriel, who did not play Wednesday, was fined by the NHL and the Sharks were slapped with a conditional fine as well. Gabriel cross-checked Kings defenseman Kurtis MacDermid during warmups Monday. The two former junior teammates with the Owen Sound Attack went toe to toe during the game, a tilt MacDermid won Monday.
NHL OFFICIAL BANNED FOR HOT-MIC CALL ON PREDATORS
In sports the “makeup call” is frequently pointed to by fans, silently acknowledged by competitors but never admitted to by officials. Well, almost never.
NHL referee Tim Peel was caught on a live microphone during Tuesday’s game between Detroit and the Nashville Predators saying that he wanted to assess an early second-period penalty to Nashville even though the play on which he called the infraction “wasn’t much” of a violation. The Predators went on to win the game, 2-0.
Peel, 53, had officiated more than 1,300 NHL games and was set to retire at the end of this season. The NHL expedited his departure on Wednesday, issuing a statement through Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly that stated Peel would never work another NHL game.
NEW DRAFT LOTTERY SYSTEM
Once again the NHL is tweaking the process that determines the top half of its amateur draft order, the league announced Tuesday.
There will be a lottery draw for the top two picks, rather than the top three.
The league established a limit on the number of spots teams can move up, which is now 10, meaning that non-playoff qualifiers that finish in places that would give them, by record, picks Nos. 12 through 16 (the NHL will be adding a franchise, the Seattle Kraken, this offseason) cannot obtain the No. 1 overall pick.
There will also be a limit on the number of times a team can improve its draft position by a lottery draw win, which will be two movements upward within a five-year span.
The first change will be implemented in 2021, with the other two taking effect in 2022.