Deen’s Daily: Askarov is the Real Deal; Devils Stingy Defense; Avalanche’s Home & Road Splits

Is Yaroslav Askarov the best San Jose Sharks goalie this season? And yes, I’m including Mackenzie Blackwood in this question. The Detroit Red Wings are in trouble after another loss to the Habs. Speaking of Montreal, guess who scored on the power play again? The Avalanche are 35 games into the season and have played 19 on the road. Here’s what their home and road splits look like.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — December 22.

Colorado Hockey Now

The Avalanche are back at home tonight to take on Kaapo Kakko and the Seattle Kraken. In their first 16 games at Ball Arena, the Avs already have one fewer regulation loss than they did in 41 appearances at home a season ago. Here’s what their home and road splits look like through the first 35 games of 2024-25, courtesy of Colleen Flynn.

Around the NHL

San Jose Hockey Now: What an unbelievable performance by young Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov on Saturday. The 22-year-old made 39 saves in just his third start since being acquired from Nashville over the summer. Askarov nearly broke a franchise saves record during the game, which San Jose fell 3-2 in OT to Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. It begs the question, is Askarov the best goalie to suit up for Ryan Warsofsky’s club this season?

Montreal Hockey Now: The Montreal Canadiens played the Red Wings for the second time in two nights and came away with another victory. Only this time, it was a lot more one-sided. This might be an easy question to answer, but guess who scored on the power play again for the Habs?

Detroit Red Wings: Tough, tough weekend for the Red Wings. They’ll have one more chance on Monday to right the ship before entering the holiday pause with what could be a disastrous week if St. Louis beats them. The Red Wings only have 13 wins through 33 games and are sixth last in the entire NHL. Just an absurd record for a team expected to make a jump. Just how bad has it gotten in Hockeytown?

New Jersey Hockey Now: The Devils’ stingy defense once again gave up limited shots in what ended up being a successful night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But seriously, Sidney Crosby’s club got an insanely low number of shots on goal against goalie Jacob Markstrom. Before the game, Crosby also shared his thoughts on Devils star center Jack Hughes.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Catch Pittsburgh’s angle of the loss here. And as is usually the case after each Pens game, Dan Kingerski has the report card assessment of their performance.