Manager-less Team No Match for Top of the Rock

Top of the Rock was rocking and rolling, rallying off four straight wins before the league’s best team, Steve’s Great Team, halted a season-best streak. After a subpar performance in week 18, the boys hit the ice seeking revenge and took their recent frustrations out on the Manager-less team, who are basically just saving face at this point of the campaign.

The Rock stumbled out of the first day for the second consecutive week and found themselves on the losing end of Monday night, 27.50-9.50. The 18.00 point deficit did not panic anybody because an 85 point night on Tuesday swung the matchup in their favor, a position they refused to surrender the rest of the week.

The Manager-less team continued to claw away, lowering the difference to just 8.50 points after Thursday. It was the closest they ever got to reclaiming a lead, an opportunity that only continued to fade away as the weekend progressed. By the final buzzer, the Rock had turned an 18 point deficit into a 69.00 point win, something precious at this point of the season as teams jockey for playoff seeding.

Thanks to a 16-3-0 record in shots blocks, Top of the Rock continues to be the top team when it comes to preventing opponents from finding their goalie. When their netminders are pressed into action, they have responded by leading the league in shutouts. After 19 weeks, the Rock does not rank dead last in any categories.

Three teams collected 300 points in their week 19 contests, with two of them securing victories and the other failing to win. Steve’s Great Team remains the team to beat with a sparkling 16-3 record and an impressive 363 points in their most recent matchup. Their opponent, Dirty Sanchez, was once the cream of the crop but have found themselves stuck in third place thanks to a recent resurgence from Top of the Rock.

The Stoned Assassins were close to the exclusive 300 point club, missing the mark by just two points. The remaining two teams, Icing, and Manager-less scored over 250 points in their loss which meant there were no significant blowouts in week 19.

In week 18, Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog became the team leader in best player awards, claiming his fifth title. Less than seven days after losing the award, Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm reclaimed the throne, one he had held in back-to-back weeks. Lindholm used his 32 points to become the second player to earn five best players awards. The chance to collect the most awards falls into his lap since Landeskog opted to have surgery and sit out the rest of the regular season. For now, people will marvel at Lindholm’s point total from week 19, which included four goals, two assists, two power-play points, six shots, seven hits, and two blocked shots. He finished the week with a plus-three rating to cap off his performance.

Lindholm’s week was so impressive that he even outscored the best goalie of the week, Anton Forsberg, from the Ottawa Senators. Forsberg collected 31.50 points despite picking up a single win during the matchup. He suffered two defeats; however, he only gave up five goals while making 85 saves. Week 19 marked the second time Forsberg won such an honor and only needs one more win to tie Linus Ullmark (Boston) with three.

One of the team’s original draft choices, Adam Larsson (Seattle), has had a very subpar year with the expansion of Kraken. Larsson produced just 1.50 points in this week’s matchup, mainly from his one shot on goal, one hit, and two blocked shots. He finished his weekly duties with a minus-one rating.