HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Authorities say nearly two weeks have passed without a sign from a woman who was reported missing in Highlands County. Margaret “Helen” Becker, 81, was last seen at a CVS in south Sebring around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16. The last person to see Helen told deputies she appeared […]

Airbnb is giving a few people a chance to spend a two-month sabbatical in the Bahamas in an attempt to boost the Caribbean island damaged last year by Hurricane Dorian.

Scott Thomas Photography Still, it’s not all bad news. Since last we met the Syracuse Crunch did not win a game. Normally, that would be cause for a tremendous amount of concern. This week, however, it’s only a matter of slight concern. Yes, three games ended up with the Crunch on the wrong side of the score, but they did manage to pick up a couple of points. With only 14 points separating first place and last place in the North Division, every point the Crunch can pick up will be important moving forward. So even though they probably played well enough to win at least one of the games (looking at you Binghamton), to walk away with two points keeps them in the race for another week. Despite not finding the win column the Crunch only dropped a point in the playoff race. They are only three points out of the fourth and final spot for the playoffs. It helps that the teams they’re chasing didn’t have a great week. Rochester, Utica, and Toronto went a combined 0-8-1-2. Some solid play happening in the North. The Crunch were able to shore up their defensive game a bit, only allowing nine actual goals (and a shootout one). Three goals a game isn’t great, but compared to the defensive effort they’ve displayed for most of the year it’s an improvement. Unfortunately they weren’t able to keep the offense going. That’s pretty much the story of the season. They just can’t get everything to click at the same time. The All-Star break should act as a reset for the season. Things just seem to have been disjointed through the first few months, especially with their schedule. It seemed like they were either not playing enough or playing too much. With a couple of days to clear their heads and a pretty routine schedule for the rest of the season they need to find their groove and start turning the one point games into two point games. Standings Coming and Going: What a run it was for Mitchell Stephens and Luke Schenn. With the Lightning’s break over both were “recalled” by Tampa Bay. As expected, neither actually played for the Crunch. They got a little bit of rest and the Bolts saved some money on the salary cap. Syracuse also sent down a couple of players that didn’t suit up as Zach Fucale and Alexey Lipanov were returned to Orlando. Jimmy Huntington, who had been sent to Orlando (and actually played) was recalled. Injuries: Remember how excited we were when Scott Wedgewood made a surprise start at the end of last week? Those were good times, great times even. The euphoria lasted all of 84:05 as he suffered what appeared to be another lower body injury during the second period of Wednesday’s game against Laval. While this one doesn’t seem as bad as the last injury that kept him out for a few weeks (which also occurred in Laval), it was a shame that it happened so soon after his return. Per reports he should only miss one or two weeks, which would put him in line to be ready again after the All Star break. Hopefully he is 100% ready to go and the Crunch can lean on him down the stretch. In those 84 minutes he looked really sharp and the team is going to need a reliable goaltender as they claw their way back into the playoff race. And maybe, just maybe he should miss that flight to Laval prior to the game on April 8th. It wouldn’t behoove the team for him to pick up a hat trick of lower body injuries in Canada, especially that close to the playoffs. Another injury to keep an eye on would be Dominik Masin. He left the game against Rochester in the third after colliding with his net. He went to the dressing room and didn’t return to the game. Not much is out there on what happened so it is possible that he was removed as a precaution. A week off may be enough to get him back in the line-up. The Games Wednesday, January 22nd at Laval: 3-2 (OT) Loss (Recap) (Box Score) (Highlights) Friday, January 24th vs. Binghamton: 4-3 (SO) Loss (Recap) (Box Score) (Highlights) Saturday, January 25th vs. Rochester: 3-2 Loss (Recap) (Box Score) (Highlights) Players of the Week: Spencer Martin: 3 Games, .914 SV%, 3.06 GAA: Probably a little weird to bestow an honor on a goalie that appeared in three games and didn’t pick up at least one win and had a GAA above 3.00, but frankly Martin was one of the best players the Crunch had last week. Especially since he went into the week probably thinking he’d be lucky to see action in one game. Subbing in for the injured Wedgewood he was greeted with shots early and often (93 in total) and made most of the saves. In all three games he gave the Crunch a chance to win and made big saves at key moments of the game. At this point, that’s all head coach Ben Groulx is looking for out of his goaltender. Cal Foote: 3 games, 2 goals, 1 assist. In a week where the offense sputtered a little with only seven total scored the young defenseman had a hand in almost half of them. He scored in back-to-back games for the first time all season, both goals coming on well placed wristers. Foote doesn’t have a shot that’s going to blow the doors off of anyone, but his wrist shot is pretty quick and accurate, perfect for shooting through screens. The Road The Road is one of the desolate books I’ve ever read. It was good, but, oh my was it not full of sunshine and rainbows. It’s such a bleak post-apocalyptic novel, Cormac McCarthy didn’t even bother to give the protagonists (The Man and The Boy) names. While the Crunch haven’t had to battle roving marauders or travel through a world covered in dust and ash, they have struggled on the road. In 22 games away from the War Memorial Arena they have compiled an 8-11-2-1 record and a -12 goal differential. Lack of offense is the number one cause of their less than pristine record. On the road they’ve scored 65 times (2.95 per game). At home (in 23 games) they’ve scored 87 times (3.78 per game). For a team that has its struggles keeping the puck out of the net, averaging less than three goals a night doesn’t allow them to outscore their defensive problems like they’ve been able to do at home. Speaking of allowing goals, their home/road split has been pretty close. They are allowing 3.61 goals per game at home and 3.54 on the road. Since we’re being optimistic here, the numbers do indicate that they’ve been slightly better defensively away from the city of Syracuse. Which doesn’t really jibe with the next number that is wildly out of whack when it comes to their home/road splits. Penalty killing. Overall they are at 82.6% (12th in the league) and at home they are sixth in the league with an 86.3% kill rate. On the road they plummet to a pedestrian 79.0% (23rd). It’s not as if they are grouchy after their long bus rides and taking an obscene amount of penalties as compared to when they get to sleep in their own beds. On the road they average 4.55 times short handed per game as opposed to 4.13 at home. Unfortunately, the AHL doesn’t breakdown shot totals by home and away categories so at this point it’s hard to tell if there is a drastic difference in that category depending on where the Crunch are playing. Nor can we tell save percentage by building to see if the goaltenders are struggling extra hard away from familiar goal creases. Hopefully they can address whatever is ailing them because four of the next five games are on the road. If they want to have any hope of staying close, or god forbid, gaining ground in the playoff race they’re going to have to find a way to start winning in other team’s buildings. Upcoming Games After another long break (six days) the Crunch are back in action on Friday. Moving forward the schedule becomes a bit more regular and Syracuse should be able to get into a bit more of a rhythm. They finish off January, a month that started off with a promising 8-2 win against Toronto, with a chance to finish it at .500. Currently they are 4-5-1-2 in the twelve games they’ve played. A victory against Rochester would close the book on the month on a positive note as they would have picked up at least a point in five of the last six games. That’s not nothing in a division as close as the North. Friday, January 31 at Rochester Americans, 7:05 pm Saturday, February 1st vs. Providence Bruins, 7:00 pm

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports Three away games finish out the month. Last night the Tampa Bay Lightning lost in overtime to the Dallas Stars, 3-2, with both goalies tried their best to impress each other and not allowing a goal until midway through the second period. In the middle of the second, Nikita Kucherov Steven Stamkos finally managed to tip one past Ben Bishop to open scoring. The Stars, formerly an offense-heavy team, found a tiny bit of their old fire in their first goal since January 16 too. Stars snap a very long team goalless streak on that strike by Gurianov - first team goal in 133:21.The last time they scored was in the 2nd period of the Buffalo game on January 16th.— Owen Newkirk (@OwenNewkirk) January 28, 2020 The more you know. The Bolts did not win this one, but earned an overtime point on the strength of a second Stamkos goal late in the third. Burns: 3 Things we learned from an overtime loss in Dallas [Tampa Bay Lightning] The Lightning did their goaltender no favors with the number of breakdowns committed against the Stars. Vasilevskiy allowed two goals on breakaways, both to Jamie Benn, one to give the Stars their first lead at 9:06 of the third period and the other in overtime on a 2-on-0 rush. And yet his play in net was still considered heroic because of the many more opportunities the Stars had to take control of the game and both points from the Lightning. The rest of January is taken up by away games at the LA Kings (10 PM game), Anaheim Ducks (10 PM game), and San Jose Sharks (10:30 PM game). Are you staying up for these? There is...not much going on post All-Star Break. We’ll have some recaps from the AHL All-Star game coming out today, but while you wait, here are a few interesting things to think about. What did you predict going into the season? Here’s Diana Nearhos’s mea culpa, and it’s probably a lot more accurate than mine: Re-visiting those NHL preseason predictions [TBTimes, paid content] As for the real reason we’re all here, the Stanley Cup. I originally predicted the Lightning would go through the Capitals to win a series against the Avalanche. I am going to stand by that one, though I see so many possibilities — a repeat Blues-Bruins series flipped in Boston’s favor doesn’t even seem far-fetched. Geo took a look at what the Bolts might do at the trade deadline, and somehow forgot to mention trading Vasilevskiy for Henrik Lundqvist (don’t kill me I was joking): Where and how the Lightning could upgrade their roster [Raw Charge] When you go down the roster, and look beyond it into the AHL, you can definitely point to some shortcomings with this year’s group. That’s true for every team. In a salary cap world, it’s impossible to look at a team and go “Yeah, there’s no way to actually upgrade this team at all.” But for the Lightning, it’s not the big pieces (barring any unforeseen injuries) that we should be worried about. It’s more at the edges and fringe of the roster that there could be some upgrades. Lightning strikes first-ever naming rights deal for Brandon practice facility [BizJournals, paid content] Tampa General Hospital has expanded its sponsorship of the Lightning to include the Ice Sports Forum, which is now TGH Ice Plex. A team spokesman confirmed it is the first time the team has sold the naming rights to the practice facility. The name plays off of TGH’s nearby facility, the TGH Brandon Healthplex. The naming rights deal is an extension of an existing multiyear partnership between TGH and the Lightning, and financial terms were not disclosed. At Amalie Arena, TGH’s sponsorship deal includes an in-ice logo, dasher boards, morning skate show entitlement and various other elements. NBC ranks the Tampa Bay Lightning second in its power ranking, mentioning that the team is “flat-out dominating.” They probably saw that Jets game, eh? NHL Power Rankings: Stanley Cup contenders entering second half [NHL on NBC] 2. Tampa Bay Lightning. They are flat out dominating teams again. Two years ago the Capitals finally broke through after years of disappointment. Last year it was the Blues. Maybe this year it is the Lightning. Got anything interesting for us? Please share! And look out for Trace’s recap of the AHL All-Star Game later today. Last but not least: Gemel Smith was suffering with his depression in silence until Patrice Bergeron stepped in to help. In support of #BellLetsTalk on Wednesday, Michael Farber has more on the importance of not suffering alone: Viewable worldwide: https://t.co/Au8hP2nPqD pic.twitter.com/ShzQSWHntN— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) January 28, 2020