NHL Rewind: Devils fire Lindy Ruff, Predators remain red hot with eighth straight win

Another week of NHL action is in the books, and there was almost too much hockey to keep up with. Luckily, the weekly NHL Rewind is here to get you caught up with the biggest stories.

On Monday, the NHL saw another coaching change when the New Jersey Devils chose to fire Lindy Ruff after a terrible weekend in California. New Jersey will now try to keep its season on life support with a new coach behind the bench, but it might be too little too late.

Elsewhere, the Nashville Predators stayed hot with a huge win over the Colorado Avalanche, and Cody Glass played the role of hero. Also, the Pittsburgh Penguins took another step backward, and Matt Rempe continued his tour of the NHL’s toughest enforcers.

Let’s take a look back at the biggest stories and best highlights from the week that was in the NHL.

Goal of the week: Tommy Novak schools Bowen Byram

The Nashville Predators are rolling these days, and it’s partially from the amount of depth scoring they’re getting on a nightly basis. One player who has elevated his game in the last couple of weeks is Tommy Novak, but he took it to another level Saturday.

In Nashville’s 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, Novak took a stretch pass from Juuse Saros (not a typo) and entered the Avs’ zone with a couple white jerseys around him. That’s when he hit Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram with a forehand-backhand move before ripping a laser beam past Alexandar Georgiev.

That goal was Novak’s 13th on the season, and he was rewarded handsomely for his efforts Monday. Amid rumors that Novak might be on the move ahead of the trade deadline, the Predators announced they have signed Novak to a three-year, $10.5 million contract.

Robbery of the week: Charlie Lindren snatches a goal from the Coyotes

The poor Arizona Coyotes just lost 14 games in a row, and now they have Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren stealing goals from them. That’s exactly what he did in the third period of Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Yotes.

In the third period, Washington was trying to protect a two-goal lead when Arizona got a glorious scoring chance. A broken coverage left Lawson Crouse all alone in front of the crease, and he had a country mile of space with the puck on his stick following a point shot.

Crouse went to his forehand and tried to flip the puck into an empty cage, but Lindgren went Inspector Gadget and stretched out his arm to make the glove save.

A goal in that situation might have turned the tide for the Coyotes, but Lindgren made sure that didn’t happen. The Capitals went on to win 5-2 and remain in the Eastern Conference wild card race.

Devils fire head coach Lindy Ruff

As it turns out, New Jersey Devils fans were about a year early on those “Fire Lindy” chants. Following a dreadful weekend that included an unacceptable loss to the Anaheim Ducks and a drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, the Devils fired Ruff Monday.

The Devils entered the 2023-24 season with Stanley Cup expectations, and for good reason. They had — and still have — one of the most talented forward groups in the NHL. They also had Dougie Hamilton patrolling the blue line with young stars like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec waiting in the wings. However, that just hasn’t come together, and it cost Ruff his job.

Ruff shouldn’t take all the blame for this season. The goaltending has been bad, and injuries have taken a toll on the lineup. Having said that, New Jersey still has the skill to be a playoff team, and it is currently eight points out with 21 games left.

The Devils did have a chance to turn their season around over the weekend, but that went awry in spectacular fashion. New Jersey lost a game in which it outshot Anaheim 55-23, and Jack Hughes missed a penalty shot in the closing seconds that would have tied the game.

Two days later, on Sunday, the Kings shut down the Devils’ potent attack for a 5-1 win. It wasn’t pretty, and it was enough for GM Tom Fitzgerald to make a move.

Ruff, who just signed a contract extension last summer after taking the Devils to the second round of the postseason, leaves the team with a 128-125-28 record. Now, as the trade deadline nears, the Devils have some more big decisions on their hands.

Predators win eighth straight, Cody Glass nets hat trick

After getting demolished by the Dallas Stars at home on Feb. 15 and getting their trip to see U2 at The Sphere taken away, the Nashville Predators have refused to lose. With an impressive 5-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, the Predators have now won eight in a row.

It seems like a different player has stepped up for Nashville in every game throughout this win streak, and it was Cody Glass on Saturday. After battling injuries and a slow adjustment to the new coaching staff, Glass entered the game with just two goals, but that number quickly grew.

Glass opened the scoring by sliding a puck underneath Alexandar Georgiev off the rush in the first period.

In the second period, Glass doubled his season total when Tommy Novak found him all alone in the slot. Glass didn’t miss his glorious chance and buried it for his second of the game.

Finally, in the third period, the Avalanche pulled Georgiev for the extra attacker. The Predators got the puck to Glass, and he fired it down the ice and into the empty net for his first career hat trick.

In his postgame interview, Glass got emotional as the crowd cheered him loudly. It was an impressive game from Glass, who the Predators hope can build upon that performance and get some confidence back down the stretch.

As for the team as a whole, the Preds are red hot and have established themselves as the clear favorite to land at least the second wild card spot. What a difference a couple weeks and a missed concert can make.

Penguins endure disastrous weekend

If the Predators are on one end of the Vibes Meter, the Pittsburgh Penguins are on the other. Pittsburgh began its desperate fight to remain in the playoff race in Calgary on Saturday, and things did start off well.

The Penguins took a 3-1 lead early in the third, but the wheels came off rather quickly. Nazem Kadri brought Calgary within one just over 10 minutes into the final frame when he flew around a pair of Pens for a beautiful goal.

About 30 seconds later, Pittsburgh elected to abandon the front of its own net, and Blake Coleman was all by himself for the tying goal.

Even then, the Penguins had the chance to get to overtime and salvage one point. That went out the window with 50 seconds left in regulation when a disastrous turnover allowed Yegor Sharangovich to bury the game-winner over the shoulder of Tristan Jarry.

The next day, Pittsburgh had to try to bounce back against the Edmonton Oilers. … That did not go well.

Edmonton mauled a demoralized Penguins team, 6-1. Connor McDavid had a pair of points, including the goal that got the Oilers over the goal line and into the end zone.

Now that they’re 10 points out of a playoff spot, the Penguins probably need to take a hard look in the mirror with the trade deadline just a few days away. Pittsburgh probably needs to look toward the future, and that seems to be what the team is doing as the Jake Guentzel trade rumors head up.

Rempe vs. Reaves

Matt Rempe, a 6-foot-7 rookie for the New York Rangers, has already made a name for himself just eight games into his NHL career. Rempe has already gone toe-to-toe with some of the NHL’s toughest customers, and he added to that list following a controversial hit against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

In the second period, Rempe took a healthy run at Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren. It was a thunderous hit, and it wasn’t deemed to be a penalty. It was right on the line of clean and illegal, and Toronto definitely took issue with it.

In the third period, Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves got the attention of Rempe, and the two had a heavyweight bout at center ice in Scotiabank Arena. Neither player went down, and officials stepped in to end the fight.

Rempe has quite literally pulled no punches after making his NHL debut on Feb. 18. The question now is whether this kind of punishment is sustainable for the 21-year-old.

Appointment viewing this week

Oilers at Bruins | Tuesday, March 5: Connor McDavid vs. David Pastrnak. I could really end the pitch there, but I won’t. These teams have high hopes for the postseason, and they are trying to find their game at the right time of the year. Winning this game would help accomplish that goal.

Red Wings at Avalanche | Wednesday, March 6: This matchup was in this section earlier this year, but when these two teams are nationally relevant, it will be here every time. These two teams need to exhibit high levels of hate for one another in big games. It’s in their DNA, and I can’t wait to see what happens Wednesday.

Capitals at Penguins | Thursday, March 7: Neither of these teams are currently in a playoff spot, but we must cherish every Crosby vs. Ovechkin matchup we get. Those two may be on mediocre teams, but they still have a lot of juice and seeing them on the ice together is one of hockey’s great joys.

Canucks at Golden Knights | Thursday, March 7: Does anyone want to see a heavyweight battle of teams atop the Pacific Division? Tune in Thursday for this one. This could be a second-round matchup in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Stars at Kings | Saturday, March 9: The Stars have already made one trade deadline upgrade, and they are taking on a Kings team that is probably looking to do the same. By the time these two squads meet Saturday, the lineups might look a little bit different.