February 8, 2026

[DetroitGM]

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To quote the bowl of petunias: Oh No, Not Again

Anyway, let's start with the easy stuff: Tampa beat Carolina 3-2, the Rangers beat Flyers 3-1, Oilers beat Stars 3-2, while the Jets and Bruins tied 4-4. All fairly normal.

The Hawks also beat the Avalanche 3-2 and it was also fairly normal, in that Colorado has lost another player... the good news for them is that he's a 3rd pairing defenceman, relatively easy to replace, and also he'll be back in time for the playoffs. The bad news is that he's suspended for the maximum 25 games.
On the bright side for Colorado, the player he injured was Nicklas Backstrom, one of the top forwards on a team potentially chasing the Avalanche.

Meanwhile, there's Calgary vs Nashville, which just started and oh, it's 1-0 Calgary. Ryan Suzuki scoring 47 seconds in. I wonder if that's foreshadowing?
About six minutes later, Nathan MacKinnon made it 2-0, but Serron Noel got the Preds one back a minute after that. After one period, it's 2-1.
Taylor Beck evened things up eight minutes into the second, Sam Bennett put the Flames back in front five minutes later, then Beck tied it up again, before MacKinnon made it 4-3 with ~90 seconds left in the second, which is how the period ended.
Nashville started the third strong, as Brock Boeser tied it, then Mikkel Boedker gave them their first lead of the game. Unfortunately for them, Suzuki, Bennett, Marco Kasper, and David Farrance each scored over the course of roughly 8 minutes, and Taylor Beck's hat-trick goal late in the third was simply not enough, the game ending 8-6 for Calgary.