IN THE ZONE - Berra's sick "bicycle save" and Weber's relegation

Anaheim Ducks

This week started like the last one ended. Anaheim lost their first game of the week with 1-3 with Viktor Fasth between the pipes. Luca Sbisa had a lot of ice time (19:23) and registered 7 hits. He left the ice with a bad -2 rating this night. On Wednesday, they welcomed the New Jersey Devils at Honda Center for the first of two home games. Jonas Hiller got the start and they lead the game until late in the third, but had to accept a 4-3 defeat in overtime. On Friday coach Bruce Boudreau decided only a few minutes before the game to start with Jonas Hiller against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The game was fast and hard fought. The Ducks won in overtime with 1-0 and Jonas Hiller was elected 1st star of the game. On Saturday the Ducks were in Phoenix to face the Coyotes. Victor Fasth was injured again and will be out for four weeks. Unfortunately, also Luca Sbisa was injured and will be missing up to eight weeks. Jonas Hiller got the start again and he was brilliant. He made 42 saves this night and was elected 2nd star of the game. The Ducks won 4-2 against the Coyotes.

Calgary Flames

This week was a Swiss week in Calgary. Reto Berra and Sven Bärtschi showed the fans, the general manager and the coach that it was the right decision to put them on the lineup. Reto Berra played all three games for the Flames. On Monday against Winnipeg, Bärtschi scored his 7th assist and then Berra won the game for his team in the shootout (5-4). He made 43 saves and was honored as 2nd star of the game. On Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Berra had only 16 saves (including a sick "bicycle save" - see video below) and the Jackets came out on top after 62 minutes. Calgary had to accept a 1-2 defeat in overtime. On Friday, Calgary played at home against the Florida Panthers and this was the Swiss game of the week! Sven Bärtschi scored his 2nd goal of the season and had 15:11 of ice time. Reto Berra decided the game in shootout again and paved the way to Calgary’s 4-3 win over Florida. Sven Bärtschi told the media that it was a great win for the team he was not surprised of Reto Berra’s performance, as he was called „The King of Shootouts“ in Switzerland. Calgary earned 5 out of 6 possible points this week with hard work and great performances by our Swiss players.

Minnesota Wild

In Minnesota it was a Swiss week too. The Wild won their first game on Monday with 2-1 against Winnipeg and Nino Niederreiter got his usual 15:38 minutes of ice time and left the ice with one shot on goal and two hits. On Tuesday, the Wild played against Montréal and lost 2-6. Nevertheless, there was a little highlight for Niederreiter: he scored his fourth goal of the season. In the second road game of the week, they faced the Ottawa Senators. It was a hard game and Nino Niederreiter made seven hits. At the end, Minnesota won 4-3 and earned another two points. On Saturday “El Niño” scored his fifth goal for Minnesota with great assistance of Parise and Scandella. It was a game in which Minnesota was always one goal behind. Nevertheless, they were able to tie the game and win it 3-2 after shootout. A successful week for Nino Niederreiter (2 goals) and his team (6 out of 8 possible points).

Montréal Canadiens

The Habs had quite a decent week. They came out strong against Nino Niederreiter’s Wild (6-2) on Tuesday. Then, in the weekend-games, they put up two 3-2 victories against both Ovetchkin’s Capitals and Crosby’s Penguins. Forward Max Pacioretty scored five goals this week, including a natural hat trick against the Wild. Due to the return of Emelin to the Habs’ lineup (and maybe some minor mistakes from his part), Diaz‘ ice time dropped down to an average of 17:55 over these three games. In the game against the Penguins he added an assist, totaling eight assists overall. His shot-blocking has been quite good, keeping seven shots from going to the net. Montréal is 4th in the Atlantic Division with 28 points and a 13-9-2-record.

Nashville Predators

The Predators started the week on Tuesday in Detroit. After their big win on Saturday they carried the energy on and beat the Red Wings 2-0 at home. Roman Josi blocked four shots and fired one shot on goal. On Thursday the “Preds” played against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto took the lead in the first period, but Nashville answered this with three goals in the second. In the end they celebrated a 4-2 victory and Roman Josi received over 25 minutes of ice time. Back in Nashville, they had a bad evening against the New York Rangers with only 17 shots on goal compared to 34 by the Rangers! Nashville lost 0-2 at home and Roman Josi ended this game with a -1 rating. Over the week, the Predators earned four points out of three games.

New Jersey Devils

After a long break, Damien Brunner’s New Jersey Devils played on Wednesday against Anaheim. The Ducks lead the game until the end of the 3rd period, but then Brunner’s team tied the game and turned it around in overtime (4-3). Brunner did nothing for this win and has only registered one hit in almost 13 minutes. This was the reason for his coach to put him on the healthy scratch list for the upcoming game. Without Brunner, the Devils won in overtime again (2-1) – this time against the Los Angeles Kings – and earned two points. On Saturday, Brunner was back in their lineup against the San Jose Sharks and got 13:31 of ice time. But again his performance was bad. The Devils lost the game with 1-2 and Brunner had a -1 rating and two give-aways. For the Devils, it was a good week – but not so for Damien Brunner.

Philadelphia Flyers

After the loss on Friday, the Flyers found their way back to a winning streak. Mark Streit and his team won all of their games this week at home and earned another six points. First, they celebrated a solid 5-2 victory on Tuesday against Ottawa. Mark Streit had four shots on goal in 19:57 minutes of ice time. On Thursday, the Flyers also beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 with Streit scoring his seventh assist of the season. And to complete the week, they played against Streit’s former team, the New York Islanders and sent them home with a 5-2 defeat. Although Streit only added one assist to his stats this week, his team is on their way back to accomplish their goal: making the playoffs.

Vancouver Canucks

Yannick Weber’s week couldn’t have started worse. The Vancouver Canucks put him on waivers and was not picked by any NHL-team during these 24 hours. Whereas Swiss media reported about an interest from Switzerland (SC Bern and Genève-Servette HC), Weber finally decided that he wants to stay in North America. Thus, he will play in the AHL with the Utica Comets and hope that he will maybe get another shot on NHL-level with the Canucks. In his first game for the Comets last night, Weber already scored the game-winning-goal in powerplay and showed the Canucks - who are struggling with their powerplay - that he actually might have been an enforcement.

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