Welcome back to the Nightly Roundup! The NHL Trade Deadline was one of the more exciting in recent memory. The Flyers took over sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division. AND the NBA was rather packed last night as well. Let’s relive the day that was, February 26^th, 2018…

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in a shootout last night up in Montreal. It was the first shutout recorded by Petr Mrazek as a Flyer and the team’s six-straight win. Combined with a Washington loss in Columbus, the Flyers moved ahead of the Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

While the scoring was non-existent for the first 65 minutes of play, the Flyers and Canadiens at least provided us with a lot of entertainment. Max Pacioretty and Shayne Gostisbehere spared no time in renewing their budding rivalry as Pacioretty tripped Ghost thirty-one seconds in before some pushing and shoving forced the two to take roughing penalties each.

Both teams took their licks and committed penalties but both Mrazek and MTL’s Charlie Lindgren shut down any offensive chances. Still, the Flyers pushed on, nearly scoring multiple times in third, especially on a late power play. The extra frame seemingly compressed the entire game into five minutes as both teams had incredible opportunities but were stifled by even more incredible goaltending. Claude Giroux almost pumped in the game-winner until this outrageously good save by Lindgren:

Giroux and Phillip Denault would both get dinged for roughing after the post-whistle scrum but they’d be inconsequential with 19 seconds left—although the Flyers had an offensive chance in the final seconds and Konecny didn’t shoot!

Mrazek stood on his head through the shootout taking an aggressive approach to the Montreal shooters. Because of Mrazek, the Flyers outlasted the Habs to win on Sean Couturier’s sixth-round goal.

It’s pretty crazy that the Flyers end up in first place on a day where the rest of the division traded to load up (see below). Hextall made the move he needed to in trading for Mrazek last week and signed vet Johnny Oduya off of waivers from Ottawa earlier Monday. Hextall and the rest of the staff show absolute confidence in the roster they’ve built and don’t want to mortgage tomorrow for today.

NHL Trade Deadline

One of the more hectic deadlines I can remember began on Sunday when the Bruins acquired Rick Nash from NYR, the Maple Leafs got Tomas Plekanec from MTL, and the Blue Jackets got Mark Letestu from Nashville. Here’s a rundown of the notable deals from Monday:

• Ian Cole was sent from Ottawa to Columbus days after arriving with the Sens from Pittsburgh. Columbus would also acquire Thomas Vanek from Vancouver. With a rather young team and, by far, the worst offense of playoff contenders, CBJ adding experience and a talented goal scorer could be what helps them hang on in the increasingly competitive Metro
• The other major Eastern Conference acquisition was the Lightning’s trade for Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller from the Rangers. Tampa had to send Vladislav Namestnikov (one of their top scorers), two prospects, their 2018 first rounder, and a conditional 2019 first rounder so NYR gets a bit of a consolation prize along with the picks they got for Nash. Tampa, on the other hand, is going all in for a Cup run. The Lightning edge Toronto 4-3 in a shootout last night.
• Nasmestnikov’s name had been thrown around for a potential deal for OTT D Erik Karlsson which would have put Tampa in another stratosphere. In other words, we can only imagine what Ottawa was asking for as Karlsson remains in Ottawa
• Over in the West, both Winnipeg and Vegas loaded up. Winnipeg grabbed Paul Stastny from St Louis, further loading up a very talented forwards group in WPG. Vegas snagged Tomas Tatar from the Red Wings using some of the draft picks they had acquired back at the 2017 Draft. The Vegas front office believes in their guys and Tatar adds another young to this squad. Vegas fell to LA in OT 3-2 last night which could very likely be the Knight’s first-ever playoff foe.
• Evander Kane moved from Buffalo to San Jose as the deadline came to a close. The Sharks are still pretty banged up but sit in a good spot to make the playoffs. As San Jose gets their guys back, they could chomp things up (couldn’t resist).

NBA Scores

• Celtics beat Grizzlies 109-98–Boston has rebounded a bit post-All-Star Break as they’re pressing up on Toronto. Kyrie led the charge putting up 25 points.
• Toronto thumps Detroit 123-94–There are streaks where guys are shooting lights out, and there’s Toronto. The Raptors shot 52.5% from the floor last night which was led from 20-point efforts from both Lowry and DeRozan shooting a combined 11 for 19 from the floor, 6 for 9 from three, and 12 for 13 from the charity stripe.
• Warriors beat Knicks 125-111–KD, Steph, and Klay all put up 20+ as the Warriors won again. What else is new?
• Rockets win 13th-straight 96-85 over Utah–The Rockets cared so little about how badly they shut down the Jazz that CP3 high-fived James Harden’s mom during the final seconds of play.

Championship Week is starting to open up for College Basketball and we’re starting to get more-and-more stories from Spring Training. Make sure to stick along with us at The Thunderblog to break down everything as it unfolds!

(cover photo via)