Category: NHL

Song of the Day — 3.21.19

The Penguins are in Nashville tonight to take on the Predators which provided the inspiration for this song choice. In 2014, legendary rock band Foo Fighters recorded their Sonic Highways album to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Each individual song on the album was recorded at a studio in a different city.

During the making of their album, one of the stops was in Music City where they recorded the song “Congregation” at Southern Ground Studio in Nashville. The studio is owned by Zac Brown, lead singer of country music performers Zac Brown Band. Brown joins in with Foo Fighters on the track as well.

During their stop in Nashville to record “Congregation,” Foo Fighters drummer Dave Grohl played an hour long acoustic set at the famed Bluebird Cafe. His performance is documented in a special video series that was released to accompany the Sonic Highways album.

I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville in 2016 and it is one of the finest American cities I have ever been to. It’s reputation is built on music and it shows all through the heart of the city. Open air bars with live music playing all day long is one of the great joys of visiting Nashville. Country music is undoubtedly the star genre in Nashville, but you don’t have to look hard to find something that suits your tastes. If you are ever planning a trip and need a destination, I cannot recommend Nashville enough.

Evgeni Malkin hits a milestone

On Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the much hated Washington Capitals 5-3 in a spirited affair between two teams jockeying for playoff positioning. For the most part, it was your run of the mill Penguins/Capitals game, filled with big plays by big names and resident trash boy Tom Wilson doing what he does.

Midway through the game, the Capitals found themselves leading 2-0 and controlling the game for the most part. Just 1:48 of gametime later, it was the Penguins who found themselves in front following a flurry of goals. Jake Guentzel scored the first followed by Sidney Crosby scoring a pair within 61 seconds of another. With an assist on the second Crosby goal, fellow Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin reached 999 points for his NHL career.

In the third and final period of play, the Penguins scored a fourth goal to double their lead late in the game. This time is was Phil Kessel cashing in on the power play but the bigger news was who got one of the assists. It was once again Evgeni Malkin showing up on the scoresheet, meaning, the Russian reached the 1,000 career point plateau in his illustrious NHL career.

By reaching the mark, Malkin becomes just the fourth Penguins player all-time to hit 1,000 career points. He falls in behind Mario Lemieux, teammate Sidney Crosby, and Jaromir Jagr. All three of those names before him are either in the Hockey Hall of Fame or on their way there in the future. Malkin is sure to join them in Toronto as well.

If you’re a fan of Pittsburgh Penguins, you know how much Malkin has meant to this city and this franchise. If you’re not a fan of the Penguins, you still have to respect what he’s done since breaking into the league back in 2006.

Listing Malkin’s career accomplishments put into perspective how great of a player he has been:

  • Three time Stanley Cup champion
  • Hart Trophy
  • Art Ross Trophy
  • Conn Smythe Trophy
  • Rocket Richard Trophy
  • 1,000 career points

He’s an icon in Pittsburgh and one of the best players to get play the game of hockey. The best part about all of this is, he’s not done yet. This has been a up and down season for Malkin, at time straight up frustrating, but he’s fought through the struggles and looks to be finding his game at the most important time for the Penguins. Let’s hope he can add a few more bullet points to that list before he hangs up the skates for good.