04-18-2019, 07:49 AM
Twenty-three years after Fox’s glowing puck made its debut Womens Steven Stamkos Jersey , the NHL’s next big technological advancement will be on display this weekend during All-Star festivities.NBC will showcase puck and player tracking as part of its broadcast of the skills competition Friday night and then as the centerpiece of a digital-only broadcast of the All-Star 3-on-3 tournament Saturday night. It’ll be the first chance for American hockey fans to get an up-close look at the system that could be in place as soon as next season.With each player and puck fitted with a microchip, the amount of available information could be overwhelming. Look for everything from bubbles over players’ heads to skating and shot speed to ice time and even a small trail behind the puck as NBC takes tracking technology in hockey for a test drive.“Eventually it’ll go to possession time and more advanced (data), but right now it’s mainly focused on speed, shift time, distance traveled, mph on the shot and virtually connecting players on a goal,” NBC Sports producer Steve Greenberg said. “We’re scratching the surface here, and what we’re able to display this weekend is not what we’re going to be able to display next year and in the future, but it’s going to be able to be a really good first look at what these chips are going to be able to give us.”The NHL privately tested puck and player tracking in two regular-season games in Las Vegas earlier this month, but this will be the first time the data is available for public consumption. While other types of tracking technology were tested at previous All-Star games and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, this is something of a dry run for the radio frequency system the NHL has been working with developers to perfect.Much like the glowing puck was criticized by purists, there’s the danger of overloading fans with too much, too fast. NBC will experiment with how much puck and player tracking data can and should fit onto a TV broadcast.“It’s a balancing act,” NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood said. “Think about years ago when the yellow line came in for the first down in football. It’s now universal. There are going to be elements that’ll become universal in hockey telecasts based on what we learn over the next period of time.”Kenny Albert, who will call the puck and player tracking-heavy telecast available on NBC Sports’ app and online, likens this to the kind of ball-tracking technology that has become ubiquitous in golf coverage. He was with Fox in the 1990s when the glowing puck was perhaps ahead of its time but thinks fans are ready for puck and player tracking on TV.“We live in an age of information overload and people want stuff like ice time and the mph on a shot for example or how fast a player’s skating,” Albert said. “I have two teenage daughters and I don’t think anybody in that generation now just sits there and watches TV. They want information, whether it’s looking at their phone, their iPad Tyler Johnson Jersey , their computer, and there’s so much information out there.”Eventually, once the NHL implements player and puck tracking, fans will be able to take a deep dive into all the numbers and there will be an element of real-time sports gambling. But Commissioner Gary Bettman and other league executives have pointed out that the first goal was always to make it TV-ready.“The most obvious thing that (viewers will) probably notice is just sort of the correlations tied to speed,” NHL senior vice president of business development David Lehanski said. “It’s kind of the thing everybody talks about: how fast the game is, how fast the players are, how fast the puck moves.”KARLSSON CONUNDRUMSharks defenseman Erik Karlsson missed the final three games before the break with a lower-body injury, but there’s somehow still a chance he takes part in All-Star Weekend in San Jose. Obviously, coach Peter DeBoer said, the organization would love to have Karlsson on the ice in its home arena, but not at the risk of making it worse.“If there’s more damage to be done, no one in their right mind would play,” DeBoer said. “So I think it’s pretty simple.”Karlsson returned to California for tests, and defenseman Brenden Dillon said it’s a positive for the team to play it safe with the two-time Norris Trophy winner. Karlsson has fit in well with San Jose after an offseason trade from San Jose and gives the Sharks the look of a Stanley Cup contender with the deepest blue line in the league.“He’s an unbelievable talent and a guy that’s fit in our locker room great too,” Dillon said. “It’s something where collectively as a group we realized that it was going to be a little bit less whether that’s in minutes or situations … I think for everybody it’s kind of been a little bit less is more and understanding the kind of common goal. So far, so good.”SINKING CAPSThe defending champion Washington Capitals have lost six in a row for the first time since the disastrous 2013-14 season that led to the firing of general manager George McPhee and coach Adam Oates. After players-only meetings didn’t solve the problem, the latest gut punch was allowing a goal with 1 second left to cough up a two-goal, third-period lead to the Sharks on Tuesday in what turned into an overtime loss.“I think it doesn’t matter how many meetings we have,” captain Alex Ovechkin said after his hat trick against San Jose wasn’t enough. “It’s all about us and we know how to play hockey. We know when we play the right way we’re going to get success.”GAME OF THE WEEKThe Buffalo Sabres get an early test in the second half of the season when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday in each team’s first game after the All-Star break.LEADERS (through Tuesday)Goals: Ovechkin Victor Hedman Jersey , 36; Assists: Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay), 56; Points: Kucherov, 78; Ice time: Drew Doughty (Los Angeles), 26:41; Wins: Marc-Andre Fleury (Vegas), 27; Goals-against average: Robin Lehner (N.Y. Islanders), 2.02; Save percentage: Lehner, .931. LAS VEGAS (AP) For the Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights, the third time was indeed a charm against the Edmonton Oilers.William Karlsson got the 100th point of his career with his 30th goal of the season as the Golden Knights beat the Oilers 4-1 Thursday night.Vegas improved to 14-1-1 against Pacific Division teams in its inaugural season, while avenging its two losses, which both came against the Oilers. The 8-2 loss at Edmonton on Nov. 14 still ranks as the worst loss in Vegas’ 57-game history.Article continues below ...”They owned us pretty well, they dominated us the first game in Edmonton, and then they beat us in overtime back here the last time, and you want to beat the team,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ”It was a big game, it’s a divisional game for us again tonight. It’s a team we haven’t beaten yet, so the guys wanted to come out and play hard tonight.”Ryan Carpenter, Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula also scored for Vegas, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots to improve to 18-6-2 and move seven wins shy of 400 for his career.”That was a good one, from start to finish Yanni Gourde Jersey ,” Fleury said. ”The guys played great, we were able to get some goals by different guys. A lot of guys chipped in and everybody played well defensively in the zone. A lot of blocked shots, and we didn’t give them too much, so it was nice.”Leon Draisaitl scored Edmonton’s lone goal, his 17th of the season, and Cam Talbot finished with 24 saves.After totaling five points in the first two meetings, Edmonton All-Star Connor McDavid was limited to just two shots, as the Golden Knights eliminated the league’s fastest player’s speed in the neutral zone, where he’s most effective.”Obviously he’s one of the best players in the world, so it’s a pretty cool thing to keep him to two shots,” Vegas defenseman Brad Hunt said. ”It’s a tribute to the guys who played against him all night.”The Oilers, who are have been rumored to be sellers as the Feb. 26 trade deadline approaches, have now lost five straight and continue to descend in the Western Conference standings.”I think it’s clear we have to create (better) habits and those details have to become a habit for us,” Oilers forward Mike Cammalleri said. ”We need a real effort from us. Our coaches do a great job preparing us.”The Golden Knights scored a power-play goal for the 11th time in 12 games, going 1-for-2 with a man advantage. Edmonton, which ranks 30th in the league with its power play, was 0 for 1 in its lone attempt with an extra skater.Carpenter opened the scoring when he tapped home a rebound with just under seven minutes remaining in the first period.A little more than four minutes into the second, Marchessault was in perfect position in front of the net to redirect Nate Schmidt’s wrist shot from the point, past Talbot stick side.Karlsson picked up his milestone point when he beat Talbot with a sneaky backhand that slipped under his arm with 7:13 to go in the middle period.Haula Auston Matthews Jersey , who was a late scratch from Tuesday’s game versus Chicago due to the flu, scored his 22nd goal of the season after standing in front and one-timing James Neal’s pass from behind the net at 4:15 of the third to make it 4-0.”I don’t want to give us too much credit, I think we can be a lot better, that’s why I kind of take a step back,” Haula said. ”I like to be critical. As a line I think we can do a better job in getting to the net and creating some more shot opportunities.”Draisaitl spoiled Fleury’s shutout bid when his wrist shot from the side sneaked through top shelf with 7 1/2 minutes to go.”It’s too bad, we really wanted Flower to get that shutout, I think he deserves that, he’s played a lot of games and he’s played really well obviously, so that was a bummer,” Haula added. ”Other than that, two points great, now we move on.”NOTES: The Golden Knights are now 23-3-0 when scoring first and their .884 win percentage when recording the opening goal leads the NHL. … Deryk Engelland, who was born in Edmonton, set a new career-high in points for a season with 18 after his assist. … Draisaitl now has points in 11 of his last 13 games, with six goals and 11 assists. … Vegas improved to 21-4-2 at home, one win from matching the NHL record for the most by an expansion team in its first season.UP NEXTOilers: At Arizona on Saturday.Golden Knights: Host Montreal on Saturday.