A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Sources say, it’s early. Insiders confirm, don’t panic.
1. Mikhail Sergachev isn’t much for biting his tongue.
The defenceman used the phrase “pissed off” to describe the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s reaction to 2023’s first-round elimination at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on their own ice.
If pushed, Auston Matthews will admit that the Atlantic Division’s other blue-and-white team has probably become Toronto’s greatest rival right now, surpassing Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa.
Saturday night.
A pair of conference powers off to middling starts. Plenty to prove. More to avenge.
“There’s a little fire in both teams. It was a long summer for us, for sure. A little bit shorter for them — but not by much,” Lightning coach and wily master of the passive-aggressive turn of phrase Jon Cooper told reporters Friday.
“We still feel like we’re one of the kings in the East, and we’re gonna act like that.”
As they should.