The Sports Frog

Very tight at the top this week. And the widest variety of rankings so far. The Sharks retain their position at the top of the table. But by the narrowest of margins; tallying 119 of a possible 130 points. First place votes: San Jose 4, Boston 6, Detroit 3.

1. San Jose Sharks (119) --
2. Boston Bruins (118) --
3. Detroit Red Wings (112) --
4. Chicago Black Hawks (82) +1
5. Philadelphia Flyers (69) -1
6. Washington Capitals (51) +2
7. New Jersey Devils (39) +3
8. Montreal Canadiens (35) -1
9. New York Rangers (33) -1
10. Calgary Flames (22) new

Also receiving votes: Pittsburgh Penguins (15), Anaheim Ducks (10), Vancouver Canucks (9), Minnesota Wild (1). Click here to join the conversation.

1. San Jose Sharks (109) --
2. Boston Bruins (95) --
3. Detroit Red Wings (90) --
4. Philadelphia Flyers (49) new
5. Chicago Black Hawks (45) new
6. Pittsburgh Penguins (41) -2
7. Montreal Canadiens (40) -2
8t. Washington Capitals (39) new
8t. New York Rangers (39) -2
10. New Jersey Devils (18) new

As you can see it is status quo at the top with a fair bit of shake-up after the top three spots. San Jose received 10 of a possible 11 first place votes; the other went to Boston.

Others receiving votes: Anaheim Ducks (17), Vancouver Canucks (15), Calgary Flames (6), Minnesota Wild (1).

Last week's positions are in brackets. San Jose retains the top position, receiving 107 out of a possible 110 points. Chicago falls out of the top ten and Anaheim debuts.

1. (1) San Jose Sharks (107)
2. (3) Boston Bruins (92)
3. (2) Detroit Red Wings (86)
4. (4) Pittsburgh Penguins (63)
5. (6) New York Rangers (57)
6. (7) Montreal Canadiens (56)
7. (5) Vancouver Canucks (40)
8. (-) Anaheim Ducks (27)
9. (8) Minnesota Wild (25)
10. (8) Washington Capitals (18)

Others receiving votes: Chicago Black Hawks (17), Calgary Flames (8), Philadelphia Flyers (6), New Jersey Devils (3).

1. San Jose Sharks (113)
2. Detroit Red Wings (106)
3. Boston Bruins (87)
4. Pittsburgh Penguins (70)
5. Vancouver Canucks (53)
6. New York Rangers (44)
7. Montreal Canadiens (42)
8(t). Washington Capitals (41)
8(t). Minnesota Wild (41)
8(t). Chicago Black Hawks (41)

Others receiving votes: Anaheim (12), Philadelphia (5), New Jersey (2), Buffalo (1), Carolina (1), Nashville (1).

Nobody had San Jose lower than 3rd. Nobody had Detroit lower than 4th. Drop by and discuss 'em with the lads.

Bear with me, this is not a hockey column.

There were only two games on the NHL schedule Monday night: Tampa at Washington and Edmonton at New York.

Now, I live in Tampa, but I live for the Oilers.

Watching these two games at the same time (on two tvs) provided me with a stark example of why the Oilers are the only team i root for in all of sports.

But they aren't just a team to cheer for, they are more like a fine wine.
With the Oilers, you don't just root for a jersey, or a logo, or a town of stereotyped people.
With the Oilers, you know they are going to play a style of game that few others try.
No matter who the coach is, no matter who the players are, if you're an Oiler, you're part of something unique.
That's tradition, in its purist sense.

So, it got me thinking, are us Oilers fans the only people in North America who get to enjoy such loyal love?

What other team, in any sport, can you count on always playing the same way, and always have the same kind of players.

The Steelers, for example, have a strong identity, but their players and system change over time.
For the Yankees and Red Sox, well, a tradition of assholes isn't really what I'm thinking about here.

I don't follow the NBA close enough, so maybe someone can help me out here. But maybe the Pistons have this?

Again, I'm not talking about a history of winning, I'm talking about who plays for them and how they play.

The Mike Shanahan era in Denver isn't what we're looking for. More like the Red Wings recent history of puck possession teams that have dominated the last 10 years. But that's just a portion of their total history and is largely due to Niklas Lidstrom. So what happens when he retires?

Obviously, younger franchises have more of an advantage at defining the entirety of their own narrative.

So if there's something else out there, I'd like to know.
Tell us in the swamp, if you'd be so kind.

"Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I still enjoy playing and competing," Sakic, who won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996 and 2001, said in a statement. "I'm comfortable with my conditioning and my overall health. I'm ready for the start of [training] camp."

Y'know, Ted, maybe it's you.

Ted Nolan won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach Of The Year in 1997 with the Buffalo Sabres. And then was promptly escorted to the nearest exit. And while that came as a bit of a shock, and led to no small amount of speculation as to the "why" of it, when the smoke cleared it was obvious that Nolan infuriated some particularly powerful NHL people; not the least of whom was John Muckler. Following his turfing, Nolan couldn't find a job as a professional hockey coach. Anywhere. "Black-balled" was the term that began to surface; not ironically a Masonic term that comes from an order of people as tight as the NHL's old boys. And then the race issue was raised; Nolan being Ojibway.

Ted eventually resurfaced in Moncton, New Brunswick, coaching the local QMJHL team all the way to the Memorial Cup finals. That in itself is no small accomplishment. If you look at the coaching changes in the NHL this off-season you'll see that the pro teams snatch coaches from Canadian Major Junior quite often. You could make a very good argument that Ted Nolan went back and paid his dues, as it were, and merited further consideration. What doesn't get said is that Ted Nolan ruffled a lot of feathers in Moncton and throughout the QMJHL. Among other indiscretions, he battled publicly with Quebec Remparts owner/coach Patrick Roy; a nasty spat that played out in the media and on the ice. And yet he seemed to have re-established himself as a first-class hockey coach. A decade after being fired by the Sabres, Ted Nolan found himself as the head coach of the New York Islanders. General Manager Neil Smith lasted a mere 40 days trying to work with Nolan. Neil Smith was promptly replaced by Garth Snow who just happens to be the guy that fired Nolan this week.

Ted Nolan had a winning record on the Island. His team was 13 games over .500 which, by Islanders standards as of late, is not that bad at all; given he had relatively little to work with.

Both Garth Snow and Ted Nolan cited "philosophical differences" as the reason that Nolan was out. We rarely learn the true events that go on in an inner sanctum; at least not immediately. But it's safe to assume that they weren't involved in a disagreement over Plato versus Socrates.

"Sorry to be so flip about this whole Russian League thing, but I just don't understand the ominous reaction from many NHL fans towards this new rival. I'm sure with its undeniable funding, it's going to be able to attract players that would otherwise play in the NHL. But it's never going to get top-flight North American talent to pick the CHL over the NHL. It's never going to keep the Ovechkins or Malkins, who go in the Top 5 of an NHL Draft. It's never, ever, ever going to have the goaltending the NHL enjoys. Given its current trajectory, it might as well be the Sloppy-Seconds Hockey League."

The Frog populace who cares about major junior hockey is a small but earnest collection of die-hards. This single story, out of many extraordinary stories from the 2008 NHL draft, merits further consideration. SportsDoc and Oiler were on top of it and you can read the postings here.

David Carle (the brother of an NHL player) is a student at Shattuck-St. Mary's. His brother, not by any means anything less than a fine professional athlete, went so far as to say his sibling was a better player than him. Projected by many to be a first round draft pick last weekend, oh, but life intervened. David was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. You may remember that Reggie Lewis died of it. Several athletes have. Fortunately, Carle was properly diagnosed by doctors beforehand. And Carle made certain that every NHL franchise was informed that he'd not possibly be exploring an NHL career. He made the wrenching decision to tell teams he was out of the picture; withdrawing from the draft. Yet his dream was to be a player in the NHL. This is a decision that will gnaw at you forever.

Oren Koules gets it. And in one of the classiest moves in memory, uses the last Lighting draft pick on Carle. Koules will get criticized for it. He'll be accused of not drafting a 7th round player that may have been of some use in the Tampa minor league system. And much gnashing of teeth. It's not a publicity stunt. It's the life-blood of the game. A brilliant gesture from someone who didn't get there to someone who won't. Yet found a way.

From the distant voice of a guy in Vancouver, a standing ovation. This is the very definition of class. And this is hockey. Tampa is in good hands.

Tampa drafts David Carle in the 7th round.

It's nerve-wracking enough for a player who knows that he's very likely to be selected in the first round. It's flat-out terrifying for players who will sleeplessly spend the next two days waiting for the phone to ring from somewhere, anywhere. It will be heart-breaking for those who never hear their name called. For many it will be the difference between playing professional hockey and having to seek other career options. For hockey fans, it is the equivalent of Christmas morning. For many General Managers, coaching staffs and scouts, it is make or break time. Years of skating in your backyard on a makeshift rink your father made, driven to 5:00 AM practises by your parents in the dead of winter, shooting a million pucks and tennis balls in your driveway; countless sacrifices made by you and for you. It all comes down to this. Tonight.

Perhaps it is fitting that this year's NHL Entry Draft, considered to be particularly rich with talent, is being held in Ottawa; a city that took home its first Stanley Cup in 1903. A town so proud of its hockey heritage and traditions will now be the site from which the future of the game will, one by one, find new homes in which their own legacies may be built.

Unless the solar system suddenly collapses, it is a given that the stellar centerman from the Sarnia Sting, Steve Stamkos, will be selected as the number one overall pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He's already been through this at the junior level, having been drafted at number one by a terrible Sarnia junior team (17 wins, 46 losses) and within two seasons he had taken his team to the playoffs and a 37-29 record; this season posting 92 points in 63 games and picking up a gold medal at the World Junior Championships on the way. Stamkos will join recent number one picks (who include the likes of Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Ilya Kovalchuk) in the revered position of having his name called first. Tampa Bay's General Manager, Jay Feaster, has the easiest job in the world this evening. After that? Well, that's where it gets complicated. The Los Angeles Kings hold the keys to the rest of this draft with a remarkable 15 picks. That, by NHL standards, is a lot of leverage.

Follow the action in this ongoing Swamp thread.

In looking over the Canadian Press sites this morning, I think they're really missing something here with Petr Sykora's game five winning goal.

Yes, all of game five was great. But if it had been Mark Messier who had turned to NBC's Pierre McGuire during the second overtime and had promised to win the game for the Pens, they'd be preparing the bronze for his statue before dawn broke.

But most of what seems to be coming out of Canadia just mentions that Sykora promised his teammates during one of the OT intermissions that he'd win it. That's great. But saying it to the television reporter sitting in between the benches, who then repeats it to everyone on American national television? That's a little different. Maybe they just missed it.

I think most people, those watching NBC, laughed at it given how poorly Sykora and his sometimes linemate, Evgeni Malkin were playing. Credit to the CBC for at least catching on to the US version story.

Whatever, I suppose. Moving on. The game was great. Apparently, it was the third longest final game in history. There's more Wednesday. And there's plenty more discussion going on in the swamp.

Long before the overtime came, game five was a gem; the best of the series.

And I had all kinds of things written about the Red Wings to commemorate their Cup clinching victory. I think just about everyone did.

Everyone will have to wait.

Game five was just too good.

It started four and a half hours before it ended.

Most of regulation was played wide open, both entertaining and skillful. Pittsburgh was skating with nothing to lose, while Detroit was clearly nervous at first, and then maybe a little too loose later. The Wings then composed themselves and put together a masterful third period, roaring back from a 1-2 deficit to take a 3-2 lead late.

But still holding strong to the determination they played with all night, Pittsburgh put together a late rally - led mostly by Marian Hossa - to tie the game three to three with only 35 seconds remaining.

Two and a half overtimes later, and after Marc Andre Fleury had made a total of 55 saves on 58 shots, Petr Sykora channeled the spirit of Petr Klima and sent the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals back to Pittsburgh for game six, Wednesday night.

And while life has been extended on Pittsburgh's 2008 season, the Pens are beat up, and their two best players were barely a factor during the overtimes. Evgeni Malkin, in particular, continued his struggles with another turnover filled game. It could easily be said that the referees had a better feel for the puck on this night than Malkin did - and anyone who saw the game knows that is a comment on both Malkin and two referees who seemed to always be in the way - even almost becoming part of a first overtime game winner for Detroit.

As the game stretched on, the number of Red Wings who looked still like they were ready to end this game were plenty, while the number of Penguins who were still putting together productive shifts were becoming fewer and fewer as time went on. But Fleury was able to keep his team alive long enough for Sykora to come through on his pledge to win it.

Few Penguin forwards played well, in fact, and Sykora was one who clearly struggled. Yet they live on to fight. Until Wednesday. I can't remember the last time a Cup was awarded on visitor's ice. It could happen Wednesday. But if the Pens come out and play again with the same desperation they played with on Monday night, it is possible the Cup could be awarded on visiting ice Saturday, instead of Wednesday.

If nothing else, the series is officially good now. And we'll get at least one more night to enjoy it.

Continue reading "Game 14!" »

Continue reading "Entertain Me, NHL" »

Continue reading "08 Cup Contender - Anaheim Ducks ?" »

"O'Bryne told police the items belonged to his girlfriend, but "he could not name whose purse it was" while detained outside the bar, according to an arrest report.

Police said the purse and cell phone were valued at $645. All but $20 was recovered, the report shows."

"It is super scary whenever you get contact with an ice skate," said Panthers coach Jacques Martin. "It was a good decision on his part to skate towards the bench. I think that saved some time and our trainers were right there to put pressure on it."

Panthers defenceman Steve Montador recalled seeing Zednik in a state of shock as he got to the bench.

"He looked pale, he was obviously standing and to a degree, coherent. But he didn't look as focused as you or I right now. He was staring at nothing," Montador said. "That's a pretty brave guy to realize what's going on: Grab your neck and get off the ice."

• I'll just keep banging on this drum... if the Southeast division is as bad as everyone thinks it is, then how/why does it keep beating teams at the top of the standings. Last night, Atlanta beat Detroit on the Wings' home ice, and Washington swept their season series against Ottawa.
• Goal of the night: check out Alexander Semin's first tally of last night's game. For the first time all season, Semin looks healthy, and now that the Caps have lost Michael Nylander, they'll need a healthy Semin and a production Backstrom to take Nylander's place on the points sheet.
• Given his performance in last year's playoffs and his play over the past two games where Ottawa has given him a chance to show he's a real #1, I just don't see how can Ray Emery be the goalie of the present for this Ottawa team. They've got to take their chances with Gerber or someone else. Emery plays just too small in his net, and gives up too many soft goals that'll kill a playoff series.
• After last night's loss to Atlanta, much is being made today about Chris Osgood's performance since he signed his new contract:

  "Just prior to signing his three-year contract, goaltender Chris Osgood gave up nine goals in 157 shots. Since then, in two starts including Tuesday, Osgood has given up nine goals on 45 shots."

  I, for one, am not seeing this as more than coincidence. Osgood's play hasn't been particularly poor, the Wings are just in a bit of a rut right now. And Osgood was so good early on in the season, its impossible to think he could have continued all year at that pace.
• Kari Lehtonen really deserved a shutout vs the Wings last night, and he would have earned it if Atlanta had played any defense on Detroit's only goal. Lehtonen had already made two or three great saves before the puck bounced out near the point and onto Niklas Kronwall's stick. Lehtonen made 46 saves on the night, many of them difficult ones.
• Following up on Lehtonen's 46 save night, one interesting trend about the surging Thrashers, they are almost always outshot. In only 7 games this season has Atlanta recorded more shots on goal than their opponent. They are 6-1-0 in those 7 games, and 15-21-2 in games when they are outshot. In two games they've matched shot totals, 10/23 @TOR and 10/30 @MON. Both were ATL victories. The seven games they've outshot their opponent this season: FLA(2), TB, OTT, PIT, BOS, and STL. The only loss when outshooting opponent was one of those games against Florida.
• Last night's home win over San Jose was really a good indication of how far the Coyotes have come this season. Back in novemeber, they lost three straight games by a combined score of 1-15. All three losses were at the hands of the Sharks. But ever since mid December, the Yotes have found their game. A big reason for the turn around: improved team confidence and improved goaltending. That third loss to SJ came on November 15th. Ilya Bryzgalov was picked up off waivers on November 17th.
• With Anaheim's 4-2 win over Dallas last night, the Ducks are now 10-2-2 since acquiring Doug Weight and getting Scott Niedermeyer back in the lineup. They've also won 7 straight at home. While Niedermeyer has been a big help, don't overlook the impact Weight has made on this young group of forwards. He's had 8 points in 14 games with the Ducks, but the biggest benefit has been to Todd Bertuzzi's game. Big Bert has a goal in each his last three games, points in 9 of his last 11 games.
• Jose Theodore has started six straight games now for the Avs. COL is 4-2-0 in those six and in both losses, Jose gave up a combined total of 3 goals. In December, Peter Budaj got his chance to be the #1 when he got 7 straight starts. The Avs went 5-1-1 in those seven. So who knows how the decision are being made in Avalancheville. Either way, they're getting good goaltending.
• Stat of the night: Colorado's power play entered last night's game having converted on 4 of its last 56 chances (7.14%). To their rescue was Tampa's penalty kill which allow both goals to Colorado on the PP. The third goal of the game was an empty netter.
• Kris Beech scored last night in his return to Columbus, just a week after being put on waivers by the Blue Jackets.
• The Canucks are 0-15 this season when trailing after 2 periods.

• Despite some very improved play since being called up in mid December, the Ducks have sent down Bobby Ryan to the AHL. Anaheim keeps making these minor moves, but they are adding depth and veterans and gearing up for another long playoff run. It's been a while since the NHL has seen even a contender for back to back titles, but Anaheim is doing just that.
• Even for Toronto, this whole trade Sundin thing just bothers me. You know, you're basically running the guy out, don't you?
• The Panthers acquire Magnus Johansson from Chicago. He just sounds like he came from the World's Strongest Man Competition. Only he's 5'10, 180lbs.
• After being shut out Tuesday night at home against Carolina, the Bruins went practicing without pucks on Wednesday. They are back in action tonight against Montreal, in what they are calling a pivotal game.
• The Sabres are still without a win in their last 7, and will throw out Jocelyn Thibault tonight against the Sens. Meanwhile, Ottawa swears they aren't looking ahead to Saturday's matchup against Detroit.
• If things weren't bad enough on the injury chart for the Hurricanes, now they've got at least 4 guys dealing with the flu.
• Here's an interesting comment out of Columbus about how they're not protecting teammates on the ice nor putting up a fight when they get blown out:

  I asked coach Ken Hitchcock about this Wednesday. He chewed on it for a second, then said: "I haven't been happy with our competitive level."
  
  Not a bad quote. Not a dead-on yes or a dead-on no, but take it as you will.

• Meanwhile for the Jackets, they've called up prospect Derick Brassard
• The Kings held a 15 minute closed door meeting on Wednesday. They were blown out at home 0-7 against Nashville and host the eternally struggling Maple Leafs tonight.
• Mikko Koivu was ready to return tonight against Detroit, but the Wild don't have an open roster spot to give him. They do have a new owner though.
• Bobby Clarke, still an ass
• A number of Flyers are on the road back to active duty. Tonight, Simon Gagne will play.

• For all the grief I gave Dominick Hasek early in the season for looking old and slow, I've got to give it to him now for getting his game going. Following Detroit's 3-0 shutout of Dallas on Saturday, Hasek is 8-1-1 and has a 93.99% save percentage in his last 10 starts.
  
  I guess it also helps that he's faced over 25 shots in a game just one time in those 10.
  
  Detroit is just rolling, in general. Sunday in Chicago, they finished up a 3 games in 4 days stretch by outscoring their three opponents by a combined 10-2. And two of those games were on the road.
• The NHL needs an automatic rule that if you hit another player while he's being completely restrained by linesmen, you're gone for the game, your team needs to kill off a major, and you're suspended for at least 5 games. That, and kill the automatic rules for instigators and maybe players like Steve Downie won't cheap shot players like Jason Blake. Strangely, the NHL is not suspending Downie. At least the Flyers' GM isn't supporting this kind of thuggishness.
• Ottawa continued its struggles against the Southeast conference on Saturday, after going to OT with the last place Lightning. The Sens needed to come back from a 1-3 deficit to force OT, and benefited from some very soft goaltending by Johan Holmqvist.
• In that Ottawa game, Vinny Lecavalier scored one of the nicest goals I'll see all year (here).
• Phoenix is on a roll. They won 5 of 6 on a recent road trip, went 0-2-1 upon returning home, and have now put 4 straight wins together following Saturday's victory over Anaheim. The Coyotes have also taken 3 of 4 from Anaheim this season.
• Edmonton won their 11th shootout game of the year Saturday against the Rangers. Considering they are 1-2 in overtimes this year, and 11-2 in shootouts, that means in games decided in regulation time, the Oilers are 6-17 in 60 minute contests.
• The Hurricanes are struggling. They are 1-3-1 in their last 5 and have a ton of injuries. Through their first 42 games, they have lost 111 man-games to injury.
• Mikko Koivu's leg is finally improving.
• How do you bruise your spinal cord?
• Caps captain Chris Clark is finally practicing again.
• Teemu Selanne is close to making a decision about his playing future.

• I'm glad it's over and that it was a success. The whole thing was definitely something that makes the game more accessible to the casual fan, and that's a nice change for the NHL.
• But the hockey itself was, save for a handful of instances of near brilliance, something that reminded me more of a men's league pickup game than a contest of professional athletes.
• And while the score was only 1-1, there were three solid posts (2-1, Buffalo) that all could have easily been goals. There was a decent amount of physical play, and a lot more contact than what was in the Heritage Classic.
• But for the most part, this was spectacle and not substance. It was a novelty, and a fine one. But I wouldn't expect this to become a regular event, because like in any blind date, what seems sweet and cute now can easily turn into annoying and needless once you get settled back into your element. Then again, this is the NHL, so they'll probably beat the idea into the ground.
• I think it was fitting, too, that the league's new novelty was ended with the game's old novelty (a shootout). In five years, we'll be watching an outdoor game in Beijing that ends with a John Tavares shootout goal that flies over the top of Jonathan Bernier's mask and into the back of a 10 foot high net.
• Finally, I chuckled every time I saw a player at the end of a shift, look up to the sky expecting to see a scoreboard there. God was not giving replays on this day.

• All of the photos are just fantastic.
• The Pittsburgh Post Gazette had a nice running blog going; even though the weather made it hard to get out of the stadium.
• Most, if not all of the MSM response I've seen has been positive. But leave it to a Rangers writer to not be on board of the love fest.
• The AP tells us how hockey is introduced to real tailgating.
• JS Giguere thinks they could play an outdoor game in Southern California. And really, it couldn't have less stoppages to fix the ice than what we had on Tuesday, right?
• The fans in Buffalo and Edmonton are some of the best in hockey. Minnesota and Michigan would be a nice place to see another game played outdoors, but it'll be hard to match the atmosphere of these first two.
• I'm curious in seeing how the Pens and Sabres handle reality again. The Pens play Thursday at home against the Leafs and the Sabres are off until Friday, when they host the Sens. Back in 2003 with both teams off two days rest following the Heritage Classic, Montreal went on to lose 5-2 at home to the Canucks and Edmonton started flat in Columbus before rallying to record a 3-3 tie against the Blue Jackets.

• Mike Keenan, never kind to goalies, is making things tense in Calgary with one of the better goalies in the league.
• Most of Canadia and the northern portion of US continues to trash the Southeast division, but they're writing the book on how to beat the Senators. Last night, Washington capped off their third straight win against the Sens and has now outscored Ottawa 15-10 in three games this season. Ottawa has lost just 10 games in regulation so far this season, and 5 of those has come against a Southeast division opponent.

I watched more NHL than college football yesterday.

What happened in Buffalo with the outdoor game in Rich Stadium between the Sabres and Penguins with 73,000 in attendance and snow falling? Cool. Extremely cool. Shockingly cool from a league that has made as many mis-steps as the NHL has since Wayne Gretzky retired.

So, props to the NHL and NBC or whoever it was that came up for the idea for that game yesterday. (Pens win in OT in a shoot-out) Nice counter-programming, as it turned out.

For actual game analysis in these parts, head to the Swamp where a decent thread broke out - check it out on page five for great game pictures from Swamp hall-of-famer Diamond who was lucky enough to be in attendance (or wait for Oiler to get somthing up in these spaces). As an extremely casual hockey observer, the best I can offer is this:

The NHL would do well to push Sydney Crosby as fast as it can to be the face of its league. Not only is his play the equal to the hype and reports, he interviews extremely well.

• A few nights ago, on Calgary's pay per view, one of Cow-town's bonehead announcers made a comment about how could three of the NHL's points leaders not come from the Southeast Division, since it's so weak. This kind of thing seems to be a common perception amongst a great number of Canadian viewers. But they just aren't watching. The Southeast has three of the best players in the league, and they'd be putting up these points no matter where they played. Washington is in last place in the SE, but they were the only team to beat Ottawa when the Sens were rolling early in the season and the Caps took the Wings to a shootout last night in Detroit. So, please, Canadians learn before you speak. Jealousy is no excuse, except for our pity on you.
• Jason LaBarbara returned to action last night and gave up three early goals. At least he was honest in blaming himself.
• Religion in hockey? Not so much. The Detroit News takes a look into why hockey players in general aren't open about their religious beliefs.
• With Martin Erat returning after missing his last two games with a neck injury, the Preds will juggle their lines tonight Minnesota, in hopes of ending their 3 game losing streak.
• MSG failed to announce Wayne Gretzky when the Yotes played there on Sunday. Well done, blueshitheads.
• The Lightning will once again try a new pair of wingers to skate with Brad Richards. This time its Karlsson and Darche. How's that Modin for Denis trade working out, Tampa? Oh, and what happened to skating Jason Ward with Richards. He's not much of a finisher, but he works as hard as anyone and can skate with Brad.
• While the Lightning's new lines will travel to Atlanta tonight, the Thrashers are splitting things up too. Reechi will skate will Kovalchuk on the top line and Hossa will move back to the second line with Kozlov.
• The Leafs will begin tonight to see if they can live with Brian McCabe.
• Carey Price is starting again, despite the fact that Cristobal Huet has been ready to play for at least two games now.
• More line shuffles: The Rangers are moving Gomez back with Jagr.

• No the Bruins and Devils weren't playing on Long Island last night. With all the snow covering Boston, the actual crowd that made it to the game was reportedly around 1500. The paid attendance was 12,064.
• The Minnesota Wild has its players sleeping in separate rooms as they've been hit by the flu bug. They may not even be able to dress 18 skaters tonight against Anaheim.
• Nice story on a former top prospect, Kris Beech, who is now enjoying success skating on the first line in Columbus.
• It sounds like Scott Niedermeyer is ready to make his Ducks season debut either tonight or tomorrow night, but Anaheim first needs to make a roster move in order to clear cap space for him. Expect a trade sometime today.
• Fernando Pisani has a goal in each of his last two games and points in three straight after returning to the Oilers from an condition that no human should have to endure.
• The Oilers are 9-1 in shootouts this season, led by two of the best shootout performers in the league: Ales Hemsky and Sam Gagner. If you get a chance to see the 19 year old Gagner take a shootout, he's worth it. In last night's Detroit broadcast, the announcers were talking about how Sam's dad, a former NHL great, was in the business of building backyard rinks in Canadia. So young Sam has been practicing his shootouts in the backyard for a long, long time. He may just be the best in the league. Here's one youtube video of Gagner and there's plenty more in the extra links to the right.
• The Flyers signed 22 year old Mike Richards to a 12 year, $69 million dollar contract yesterday. Richards is a young leader and a nice forward to have around, but 12 years? He and Rick DiPietro are going to have a lot of really nice lunches together in about 7 years.

• With the Lightning in Toronto for tonight's game, the Canadian press is writing about what many in the US already know: Vinny Lecavalier is the best player in the NHL right now. He was last year too, even though the league failed to recognize the Rocket Richard Trophy winner as even a finalist for the Hart Trophy. The voters apparently decided that two goaltenders (Brodeur, Luongo) deserved to be nominated for an award that would end up going to a 19 year old who saw less than a period's worth of ice time on the penalty kill al l season. Sid had a good year last year, but he's yet to achieve as complete of a game as Lecavalier has been playing at. Ironically, this Globe and Mail story about Vinny accidentally calls him 'Crosby'.
• Something interesting about Alex Auld's game saving debut with Boston, as the Bruins defeated the Leaves on HNIC Saturday: Auld wore his goalie mask from Phoenix instead of one of those awful, white ones that goalies usually end up forced to wear after being traded.
• Fantasy hockey note: Dustin Byfuglien is a 246 pound defenseman who's been skating the wing on Chicago's top line lately. In the Hawks' 2-3 loss to Calgary last night, he skated over 17 minutes last night and scored his 7th goal of the season. Byfuglien has some offensive talent (8 points in 6 games) but the ability to stick a forward on your roster's defense is his most valuable fantasy asset right now. Here's one hoping he sticks on that Havlat and Lang line.
• Rarely do players from an NHL draft have such an immediate impact on the league in that same year, but CBC put together 12 teams who have benefited greatly from this year's crop.
• Carolina played back to back games Saturday and Sunday, and although they split those games 1-1, the Hurricanes' new second line of Cole Whitney and Cullen came alive. Cole had 3 goals and an assist, Cullen had 3 assists, and Whitney had 2 goals and an assist over the weekend.
• Jarret Stoll and Raffi Torres were both healthy scratches for the Oilers in Saturday's 3-4 loss to the Blues. Both will be dressed tonight in Dallas.
• Corey Perry only played 11 minutes Saturday night in the Ducks 2-4 loss in Nashville. Perry was benched for much of the third period.
• After alternating goalies for almost the season's first 25 games, Jose Theodore has started 4 out of the last 5 for Colorado and may be nailing down the starting job. The Avs have won 3 of those 4 games.
• Another team will movement on the goaltender front is Detroit. Dominick Hasek started three straight for the Wings. All three games ended in victories, thanks in part to Hasek and in part to a defense that limited opponents to under 20 shots in each game. Chris Osgood will start tonight in Nashville as the Wings will play their third game in four nights.
• One unintended consequence of the Pens' release of Mark Reechi is that Jordan Staal may be homeless as a result. What will he do?

• In case you missed it, Scott Niedermeyer has decided to return to the ice for Anaheim. The Ducks are 13-12-4 right now and are in a tie for 8th place in the conference. Niedermeyer is still under suspension from the team and won't be paid while he gets into shape - which they expect to be a 7-10 day period. When healthy, the Ducks top four defensemen will be Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermeyer, Francios Beauchemen, and Matthieu Schnieder. Gulp.
• One game after facing the pressures of playing with Wayne Gretzky sitting on the other bend, Sidney Crosby skated last night in the city that Wayne made famous. Crosby assisted on three straight third period goals to lead the Pens to a 4-2 victory over Edmonton. Crosby has only been held pointless in two of his 27 games this season.
• Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, who's been strong lately, was injured last night and its unknown if he'll miss any time. Manny Fernandez is already hurt, so this could force 20 year old Tuukka Rask into a full time role.
• Steve Downie skated just under 5 minutes last night.
• The Flyers' 3-1 win in Minnesota last night was their fourth straight road win.
• After tying the score are 3 at home last night against Colorado, the Blue Jackets in the Avs traded goals 41 seconds apart to again tie the score and then Columbus took the lead 30 seconds later to take the final, 5-4 lead.

"Bertuzzi was asked 1,300 questions under oath, and, according to a proposed amended statement of claim filed on Moore's behalf in an Ontario court, Bertuzzi stated at his discovery that Crawford pointed to Moore's name and sweater number on a board in the Canucks dressing room and told his players, "He [Moore] must pay the price."

• Ray Emery was sharp in last night's 3-4 shootout loss to Tampa. Emery's still letting in a few goals he shouldn't be, but that'll always be in his game. He also took a bad slashing penalty late in the third period when the Sens were still down 1-3. And while he's lucky Tampa wasn't able to capitalize on that power play (in part because they were playing conservative with a 2 goal lead), Emery did do a good job at keeping his composure when the 17,000+ in attendance starting chanting his name - noting that one area (composure) of his game that has improved over the years.
  
  Considering Martin Gerber's recent struggles, Emery has a chance here to take back the starting job. Ottawa plays again tonight in Sunrise, so we'll see who gets the call in net. The Ottawa Citzen is reporting it'll be Emery again. Could be a big night in determining who the starter will be for the next few months.
• When Detroit beat Montreal last night it was a victory for a 42 year old goaltender over a 20 year old.
• Wade Belak scored his first goal since December of 2003 in last night's Toronto win.
• Young future star Eric Johnson was a healthy scratch as the Blues lost 1-3 in Calgary. It was the second straight game EJ was scratched as a result of his coach's disappointment in Johnson's defensive play.
  
  Also scratched again for the Blues was young David Perron, who may find himself playing for Team Canada in the World Juniors. Perron has been a healthy scratch in four straight.
• The Blues played last night's game without a backup goaltender following Legace's pregame knee injury.
• While there hasn't been an official announcement, the Flyers are expected to dress Steve Downie tonight in Minnesota. Downie recently finished his 20 game suspension for charging Dean McAmmond in the preseason.
• Kari Lehtonen is expected to start tonight for Atlanta. Lehtonen made his return from a groin injury on Dec 1 and shut out the Islanders 4-0 in Nassau. Don Waddell said he'll rotate goaltenders until a clear #1 emerges. That shouldn't take long. Lehtonen is a top talent when healthy.

Lot of action last night, just not enough time to get to it all.
• The St Louis Blues are hot! Winners of their last three, they are 7-3-0 in the last 10 and tied with Chicago for 2nd place in the Central with two games at hand on the Hawks. Brad Boyes has led the charge with points in six of his last seven games and goals in five of those seven games. In last night's 4-3 win in Buffalo, Boyes scored an amazing game winner with just 58 seconds remaining to cap a three goal third period for the Blues. Boyes looked to have put in a rebound for the go ahead goal but it was just sitting near the goal line as he circled behind the net and jammed the puck in from the other side. With every team at least two games over .500, and only 10 points separating first and last place, the Central might just be the best division in hockey.
• St Louis won last night without David Perron in the lineup. The impressive rookie was a healthy scratch as a result of missing a team meeting on Tuesday.
• Kari Lehtonen made his first rehab start last night in the AHL.
• The Wild got Pavol Demitra back on the ice last night in their 3-1 win vs Phoenix. Demitra missed 11 of their last 13 games with a groin injury and skated almost 18 minutes last night. He did skate with Marion Gaborik throughout the game but was pointless and didn't record a shot on or off goal.
• Havlat needed just 43 seconds to score in his comeback from a shoulder injury. On his first goal, Havlat put in a nice backhand top shelf on Johan Holmqvist - who was sitting deep too far on a 2 on 1 when he should have been challenging the shooter more and trusting his defense to take away the pass. The NHL should give a nice assist to composite sticks on Havlat's first goal, as this kind of shot would not have been possible 10 years ago.
• On Patrick Sharp's goal, Patrick Kane beat three different Lightning players coming through the neutral zone. By the time he'd gotten to the circles, the two remaining Tampa players were collapsing to Kane, leaving Sharp wide open on the other side of the ice. Not even halfway through his rookie season, Kane is already a player that opposing teams are well aware of.
• Finally, Tuomo Ruutu was mistakingly arrested after he matched the description of a buglary suspect.

  "He was released after indulging an officer's request for an autograph.
  
  Ruutu, a native of Finland drafted by Chicago in 2001, described the whole event -- including the ride in the police car -- as "a fun incident."
  
  "I was just in the wrong spot at the wrong time," Ruutu said. "It happens to me all the time."

  No word on whether or not this was the reason also for the Hawks demoting Ruutu to the third line.

Back after a thanksgiving vacation.
• Before last night, the last time the Flyers and Bruins met, Boston center Patrice Bergeron was the victim of a Randy Jones face-first boarding incident. So with tensions already high, Bruins defenseman Andrew Alberts fell to his knees in the second period to steady a wobbly puck near the side boards in the neutral zone. Flyers winger Scott Hartnell was lining Alberts up for a hit as he went to his knees and Hartnell had time to adjust his route to not take Alberts out in such a vulnerable position. While Hartnell did turn slightly before making contact to indicate hesitation, he did not do enough to avoid crushing Alberts' head on the lip that sticks out on that part of the boards. The entire series of incidents has left NESN announcer Jack Edwards questioning the entire city of Philadelphia.
• The Flyers scored all 3 of their goals on the power play, where they were 3 for 4 on the night. 20 year old Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask stopped 20 shots against the Flyers and was good enough to pick up the second win of his career.
• Edmonton's 3-1 win against Columbus last night was a bit surprising in that 1) they won in regulation; something they haven't been able to do in 6 games prior, 2) Dwayne Rolosson was in net for the win, something he's only done once since late October, and 3) it came against a Ken Hitchcock coached team, something the Oilers have always struggled with.
• The Blue Jackets are a strange team. They are playing well within their division with a 5-4-2 record against some of the best competition in the league right now. They are also 4-0-2 against the weaker Pacific Division, but are struggling with the other tough division in their conference, the Northwest (1-4-0). Columbus just seemed to put forth these kind of flat efforts against teams they should be beating, like Edmonton last night.
• The Dallas Stars have won 6 straight games since overhauling their GM position. Mike Smith has been in net for 4 of those wins, while the supposed #1 goalie Marty Turco has been in net for 2, including last night's 3-2 OT win on Long Island. Turco's first goal allowed was one he'd like back, after he ranged far out to the blue line to play a puck that Richard Park beat him to and skated in alone for an easy goal.

• Quite a weekend for the Minnesota Wild. On Thursday night, they continued their dominance over the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-2 road victory in spite of a very below average effort of their part. Nicklas Backstrom was even pulled after two periods, while leading 3-2, and replaced by Josh Harding to start the third period. Harding stopped 14 of 14 shots to save the victory.
  
  Then, on Friday night the Wild finished their 4 game road trip with a 2-6 loss in Vancouver. Now, any time you give up 6 goals to this Canucks team, there's something weird happening. Josh Harding got the start but didn't make it out of the first period after giving up 3 goals in the first 12 minutes. Also in that game, Canucks defenseman Mattias Ohlund took a two handed chop to the back of Mikko Koivu's leg and cracked a bone that has Koivu out of action for at least a week. Ohlund was later suspended for 4 games by the NHL.
  
  So on Sunday night, in their first game back home and in their third game in four nights, now playing without Pavol Demitra, Wes Walz, and Mikko Koivu up front, Minnesota got two goals from the little used Aaron Voros - Matt Foy - James Sheppard line to beat Colorado 4-1 and take a 1 point lead over the Avs in the Northwest Division standings.
  
  Foy's goal was apparently his first in more than two years.
  
  The Wild are back in action on Wednesday at home against Vancouver.
• Detroit needed another strong performance from Chris Osgood on Sunday night just to stay in their game against Columbus and have a chance to win the shootout. Osgood faced 40 shots on goal, and had to deal with a Blue Jackets team that was flying up and down the ice. After another shaky performance from Hasek on Saturday night in Detroit's 3-5 loss to Chicago, I'm surprised Detroit fans aren't calling more for Osgood to be the declared the #1. I bet if it was anyone but Osgood, they would be.
• Notably for Columbus, Nikolai Zherdev had a tremendous game against Detroit and almost won the game on two or three different occasions in the third and overtime periods. It was a solid performance for him and linemate Rick Nash.
• The NY Rangers went 4-0 in their most recent 4 game road trip that concluded on Saturday with a 4-3 win in Pittsburgh. One big reason for their recent surge is they've seemed to have figured out how to score goals. Jaromir Jagr was finally split up from Scott Gomez's line, as the two clearly have little chemistry together. Jagr is skating again with Marcel Hossa, a player he's finished last season and was very successful with. Jagr is actually moving through and playing with a number of players like Brandon Dubinsky, Steve Avery, Brendan Shanahan, but not Gomez. That trick seems to have failed, but the Rangers are winning as a result.

"According to the Hash research department, scorned quarterbacks are 38-7 in games against their former teams over the past 12 seasons."

• You will not find a better played, more entertaining 0-0 hockey game than what Edmonton and Vancouver played last night in British Columbia. Both Mathieu Garon and Roberto Luongo were quite literally off their ass last night making brilliant save after save. This isn't futbol. 0-0 can be fun. Ties can be too.
• In that Oilers/Canucks game, Raffi Torres lost the puck during his shootout attempt. The NHL currently wipes a strip down the center of the ice clean with a zamboni just prior to the shootout. Why? To make the ice smoother and cleaner so the puck doesn't jump? Then why not do more than just this narrow strip. Most skaters take a wide angle on a goaltender during the shootout because it's easier to score that way. So why is the 'clean strip' so narrow. Torres took his initial strides wide and then as he came back across from the rough to the fairway, the puck hopped and fired itself right off of Torres' stick and harmlessly into the corner. Although, I can see the NHL's reasoning on this. I mean, these whole things are ridiculous, so why not add more ridiculousness to the ordeal, right?
• Certainly as a direct result of my posting a link to an article praising Vinny Lecavalier's maturity yesterday, #4 put together a 5 point night that featured two very well dressed goals last night at home against the Canes. Vinny was back skating with Marty St. Louis, and those two just have developed an amazing ability to get each other the puck in good spots (see last night's breakaway goal). With his 3 goal, 2 assist effort, Lecavalier is now the NHL points leader. And to think he wasn't even a Hart Trophy finalist last year despite playing at a similar level.
• Brad Richards got five minutes for what? I'll have to check hockeyfights.com to see if that makes the front page.
• Jamie Langerbrunner played his first game of the season for the Devils last night after taking time to recover from offseason sports hernia surgery. He scored 35 seconds into the game and then scored again halfway through the third period. That was easy®.

• Dominik Hasek looks done to me. I mean, he's almost 43 years old. And in watching him give up 4 quick goals in the second period of the Blues game last night, he's still playing the same as he always did, but he's just not anywhere near quick enough to pull off the kinds of saves he used to. Hasek was there last night, sitting way back in his net like he does and letting shots go in that he just shouldn't. And the clincher was Jamaal Mayers slap shot blast from the left circle that beat Hasek, again sitting back in his net, short side high. When Chris Osgood came in, he had to make a number of key saves just to keep it a 2 goal game. Osgood is the better option for Detroit right now.
• After a slow start, Jiri Hudler isn't really being asked to do much more than generate offense, and that seems to suit the 23 year old Czech just fine for now. Hudler has points in 4 of his last five games and is creating plays for Detroit.
• The Wings outshot the Blues 30-16 for the game, and 17-7 in the second period. But they were outscored 0-4 in that second period. After the game, their plane got stuck in the mud at the airport and they were forced to sleep in St Louis overnight. Luckily, they have until Saturday night to ponder that and their two game losing streak. The Wings will host the Hawks, a team they've already lost to three times this season.
• As bad as the goaltending looked in last night's Carolina Atlanta / Florida game, I'm surpised the score was only 3-2. Craig Anderson vs Johan Hedberg. No wonder the game wasn't on television.
• The Flames were poised for a big effort against Minnesota last night, so they have to be a little disappointed they needed two fluky goals to pull out a third period salvage of the 1-0 lead they took into the final period. The Flames have had a lot of success historically against the Wild and their style of play, and Calgary was playing the last of a three game home stand while trying to end a 5 game losing streak. For the Wild to take an early third period lead off two Mikko Koivu goals should be an embarassment for Mike Kennan's bunch. They were outshot 13-5 in the third, after building a 23-15 shot advantage over the first two periods.
• Alexander Frolov had an incredible game and third period for LA, as the Kings staged their second straight third period comeback only to lose to Anaheim in a shootout. Frolov assisted on all three goals and was a force especially in the third. He spun off three defenders to set up the Kings' second goal of the game to start the rally and then almost set up a game winning goal late in the third when he made a move behind the net to set up another great scoring chance that Giguere had to make a sprawling save on.
• A nice piece from Gary Shelton about how Vincent Lecavalier has matured on and off the ice and become a contributing member of society in Tampa. Cheers to Vinny, still only 27 years old and one of the best of NHL.

• Columbus really struggled with the puck last night at home against Nashville. Adam Foote and others has some real issues keeping the thing in at the blueline, and the forwards had little or no breakout going whatsoever. Still, they were about even in shots with Nashville and dominated the faceoff circle. The game was 2-1 for much of the affair until a weird goal by JP Dumont put the game away with 8 minutes left. The Jackets have lost 4 straight now and are really struggling at a bad time. All 4 losses have been against divisional opponents and they have three more upcoming this week.
• Scottie Upshall only needed 11:25 of ice time to net two big goals for the Flyers on home ice.
• In their pre-game interviews last, the Coyotes seemed to be okay with the idea that they were playing the SJ Sharks in the second of three games in six days against each other. After being dominated and losing by a score of 5-0 last night, they've been outscored 9-1 so far in the first two, they might be singing a different tone by the time they return home to face the Sharks again on Thursday night. This whole thing was supposed to make the travel schedule easier for West Coast teams, but with a home game against Dallas on Wednesday squeezed in between the SJ games, I just don't see how this is supposed to be easier. Good luck Phoenix.
• Evgeni Malkin was moved to Jordan Staal's line last night to help the youngster break out of his sophomore slump. Staal's, not Malkin. He's not human.
• It looks like Martin Gerber is going to be the guy in Ottawa a little longer.

• For my generation, a true sign of your own advancing age is when guys you used to play Sega hockey with start being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mark Messier, Al MacInnis, Ron Francis and Scott Stevens all got the honor over the weekend in Toronto. They even skated a bit.
• Hockey in Chicago is officially alive! Sunday night's game against Detroit was the first of seven added home games to be broadcast on tv this season; in a move to change the long policy of the Will Wirtz regime to not show home games on tv. The Hawks beat the Wings 3-2, lead by solid goaltending from Khabibulin, and ended Detroit's nine game winning streak. The Wings have 4 losses this season, and three of them have come at the hands of the Blackhawks. Sunday's loss was also the first of the season for Chris Osgood.
• While Peter Budaj was in net for Sunday night's 4-2 win over Minnesota, the play of Colorado's Jose Theodore this season has been impressive. In 7 games this season, Jose has a 92% save percentage and a 2.23 GAA. He's been active at the top of his crease, challenging shooters, and has looked very confident. He's playing as well as any goaltender in the league right now. But the Avs seem to be sticking to their every other game rotation.
• Another impressive netminder I got to see this weekend is Atlanta's Ondrej Pavelec. Just 20 years old, the young Czech has been filling in nicely for the often injured Kari Lehtonen. Ondrej plays big in his net and moves laterally very well for his size - or any size really. After firing Bob Hartley after their 0-6 start, Atlanta has gone 7-4 since and Pavelec's play is a big reason why. He stole two games for the Thrashers last week, vs Washington and at Florida.

Work has gotten in the way lately, but I wanted to drop in two notes.
• Everyone likes to trash the Southeast Division, but aside from having some of the best players in the world, they are also the only division that seems to be able to beat the Ottawa Senators. Going into last night, the Sens had set a record for recording 26 points in 14 games. But after last night's loss to Washington, the Sens hold a 13-2-0 record on the season. Both losses have come at the hands of a Southeast Division opponent. Carolina is the only other team to have beaten the Sens this season.
• Eric Lindros has officially retired as a player, has become a philantropist, and is moving forward with his future plans with the NHL. Bobby Clarke thinks Lindros is a HOFer but others are heatedly divided. The swamp is throwing this around here. Chime in.

• Tampa Bay is desperate right now to find someone who can stop the first shot. They are a team that will keep the puck in the opponents' end of the ice for long stretches and then give up a quality scoring chance on the break out back up ice. And right now, those chances are going in the back of the net far too often. Since the Bolts won the cup, goaltending woes have long been a public criticism but at times haven't really been the #1 problem with the team. Right now, they are. I've not seen it this bad since before the Lightning started winning Southeast championships in the early 2000's. When does Karri Ramo, a big 6-2 215lbs goaltender who fills a lot more of the net, get a chance?
• Some talk out there about the Lightning making a coaching change, but I'm not necessarily buying it. The Lightning's road woes can be linked to goaltending play right now, and last night's rare home loss was due to a tired third period effort, something common for teams returning home in the first game off a long road trip.
• Khabibulin was strong in net for Chicago last night, as the Hawks beat the Blues.
• Patrick Sharp showed great finishing skills - one on a deke and one on a wrister from the slot - on both of his shorthanded, third period goals last night.
• After 2 straight home losses and five overall losses in a row, the Wild came out firing against Calgary last night. They took an early lead and road their strong system play to a solid win. Niklas Backstrom was strong in his return to the net after missing a couple games to a groin injury. In his second game back from injury, Marion Gaborik was making plays all night but the Wild lost Pavol Demitra to a leg injury and did not return.
• I don't remember seeing Jay Bouwneester jumping up into the play as deep into opponents zone as much as he is this season. But then, I don't watch a lot of Florida Panthers hockey. Bouwmeester has 2 goals but just 3 assists this season.
• Who are these people playing defense on the Canucks? And how are they still winning with them?
• The Ducks are just a much better team now that Matthieu Schnieder is playing again. Anaheim won their first road game of the season last night in Arizona.

• Marty Turco was out of position on two of the three goals he let in before being pulled. The Stars fought back to tie the game in the third and then took the lead on a 5 on 3 chance only to see Chicago tie things back up 2 minutes later. The Blackhawks dropped in the game winner with 21 seconds remaining to win. The goaltending for Dallas just wasn't good.
• Dan Boyle's expected struggle adjusting to his late arrival to this NHL season was on display last night in the Devils' second goal of the game. He hesitated on a neutral zone puck going into his own end and turned a 2 on 1 Devils chance into a 2 on 0 Devils goal. Boyle skated 20.5 minutes and was a -3. Welcome back!
• Johan Holmqvist has been bad lately. The Lightning's defense isn't helping much on the road, where they've been soft, but in his last three games, all losses, Holmqvist has given up 5, 3, and 4 goals. Many of them were stoppable shots too. With a save percentage of 88.5% on the season and 89.3% last season, one has to wonder how soon Marc Denis or Karri Rammo will get their shot.
• The Panthers were scoreless through the first two periods last night against Carolina until their special teams took over. Aided by 7 minor penalties by Carolina in the third period alone, Florida scored 4 total goals in that final marker, 3 of which were on the PP and the other was 4 on 4.
• Ken Hitchcock is doing a heckofajobbrownie in Columbus. The Jackets are playing strong defensive hockey and getting enough goals to be competitive. They're 7-3-1 on the season after last night's win in LA. They lead the league in GAA per game (1.80) and Pascal Leclaire is the fantasy sleeper of the first part of the season. He is second in the NHL in SV% (95.3%).
• Saku Koivu isn't stepping down from his stance about not being able to speak French. I really do think that people up there are crazy enough to think that Saku should have learned French first instead of English first.
• Reebok is turning back the clock on their state of the art uniforms.

• More great news for the Oilers defense, who are already missing their top two members. They are now missing their top three, as Matt Greene was forced out of last night's game with an ankle injury. It's unclear yet how much time he may miss. Edmonton, your new #1 defense pair is Steve Staios and Denis Grebeshkov!
• Ales Hemsky is always being prompted to shoot more, but quite often when he does, he tries to be too fine with his shot placement. On display last night, Hemsky fired 4 shots that missed the net, had one more blocked, and failed to register a shot on goal in 20 minutes of ice time.
• Petr Sykora is essentially a power play specialist right now with the Pens, but he's turning out to be still quite valuable in that role. For the season, Sykora is averaging 14.5 minutes a night - 3.5 of which comes on the PP. Last night in Minnesota, at even strength Sykora was skating with Staal and Christensen and then half way through the third period Sykora was inserted on the top PP line and scored the game winner off a pass from Crosby.
• Atlanta came out strong against Montreal last night, outshooting the Habs 13-2 in the first period and outplaying Montreal for much of the game. But as the final minutes ticked down, Montreal rallied and tied the game late in the third on a power play. The Canadiens recorded 16 shots on goal in the 3rd period, added 4 more in the OT and held Atlanta without a shot and just two missed attempts in the OT. Price was strong in goal for the Canadiens.
• The Thrashers also intend to hire a full time head coach at the end of their current road trip. They play Ottawa on Thursday and then finish the trip in Tampa on Saturday night.
• Fredrik Sjostrom is making an impact with Phoenix. In his third NHL season, the Yotes first round (11th overall) pick in 2001 is finally scoring on a regular basis - although it is still early. He has a history of scoring a lot of points in junior hockey, but that has yet to translate over to the NHL game. He netted the game winning last night in St Louis and had a hat trick in his first game of the year, Oct 11 at Nashville. Maybe he only scores on the road?
• James Mirtle has more on the Yotes surprisingly not so bad start to the season.

• Tampa's Dan Boyle returned to the lineup for the first time this season last night. He skated just 10 shifts for 11.5 minutes - 5.5 on the PP. Paul Ranger, Shane O'Brien, and Filip Kuba continue to pull the weight of the minutes while Boyle returns to full strength.
• Vincent Lecavalier has been a much more physical player this season than in years past. He registered 5 hits last night against the Rangers and leads the Lightning with 22 hits on the season. He's been throwing his weight around in every game I've seen him play in, especially of late, and even went two straight games last week with a fighting major. Vinny has 30 PIM to go with his 12 points (6-6) in 10 games.
• The Sharks were down 1-2 more than halfway through the third period last night in Dallas before scoring 3 goals in three minutes to win 4-2. San Jose played well throughout, but just couldn't put the puck in the net until late in the game. Devin Setoguchi scored his first two goals of his career off passes from Joe Thornton. Setoguchi started the game skating with Patrick Marleau but was moved over to skate with Thornton and Mihalek in the third period.

• After nearly one month of play, James Mirtle has projections up of who's improved or declined from last year's totals.
• Mentioned during last night's ANA - EDM broadcast was news that Mathieu Schneider was skating again.
• During a differnt broadcast last night was a pregame interview with Brian Rafalski in which he mentioned how it was nice to skate in the Wings system and how it was one he was somewhat familiar with from his time in Europe during the lockout. Rafalski, a Michigan native, is enjoying strong start to his Wings career. With 10 points (2-8) and a +5 in 12 games, Brian is skating almost 24 minutes of ice time per game and earning his $6 million a year / 5 year contract.
• Mike Modano is 37 years old now and is averaging just 17 minutes a game so far this season, but with two points tonight he will become the all-time points leader for US born players. The Stars host the Sharks tonight.
• Sidney Crosby and Evegeni Malkin skated on the same line for much of Saturday night's game.
• Carolina's Ray Whitney is 35 now and still productive (12 points in 12 games), but the Canes have another small playmaker in their lineup this season in Jeff Hamilton. The 30 year old, 5-10 180lbs Yale graduate bounced around the between the AHL and NHL while in the Islanders organization before joining the Blackhawks for 70 games last year. He signed with the Canes during this offseason and is now their power play quarterback. Hamilton skated 20 minutes on Friday night, 7 of which came on the power play. The Canes have been going primarily with 5 forwards on their PP this year and Hamilton's production is a big reason why. The Canes have not yet surrendered a short handed goal this season, despite their 5 forward PP lineup.
• Dominik who-sek? The Wings are now 5-0 when Chris Osgood starts.
• Eric Duhatschek discusses if Henrik Zetterberg is the best in the game and how incredible it is that this current line of Z, Datsyuk, and Holmstrom were all late round draftees.

• There's no stopping Brad Richards this season. Working hard to bounce back after a decent but not point productive 2006-07 effort, Richards is proving again he deserves that pricey contract he got a couple years ago. The Lightning played back to back nights over the last two days. In the first game, at Washington Brad skated just over 27 minutes and had two assists. Then last night, at home against the Flyers, he skated another 23 minutes and logged two goals and an assist in the Lightning's 5-2 win. For the season, Richards currently leads all forwards in ice time per game, averaging almost 24 and a half minutes a night. He's got 11 points in 8 games so far, and has not scored in only two of those games.
• Chris Osgood was off to a good start this season with the Red Wings, and now that Dominik Hasek will be out indefinitely ( which for Hasek usually means until a week before the playoffs start ), Osgood will get a chance to be the #1 in Detroit again. Are Wings fans ready to forgive? Detroit called up youngster Jimmy Howard in case not.
• The Wild are struggling right now. After going 7-0-1 in their first 8 games, Minnesota has now lost two in a row. Even though last night's was a shootout loss, they gave up 5 goals in both those games. In their first 8 games of the year, they had given up a total of 10 goals combined.
• Not much insight here, but the Thrashers are so bad right now, they were shut out by Nashville last night.
• It's hard for me to believe the Bruins are giving Andrew Ference so much ice time. He led the Bruins last night in their 3-1 win over Chicago with 26.5 minutes. The last time I remember seeing Ference, he was the weak link in Calgary's defense season after season. I haven't seen him play yet this season, but I'll have to now that he's getting top minutes.
• Rick Nash continues his strong start. He registered 9 more shots on goal in the Jackets' 3-0 win last night. Nash has scored a goal in each of his last 5 games and has thrown 23 shots on goal in those 5. In addition to those 23 shots, he's also had 6 more blocked in those games and missed the net 2 more times.
• While the Leafs have again started the season in turmoil, they're off to a bit of a strange fantasy hockey start. They are scoring a lot of goals, but mostly in 5 on 5 situations. And they are giving up a lot of goals, but mostly in shorthanded situations. That has resulted in a team stats lineup that looks like they are the Detroit Red Wings. Nik Antropov is a +11. Hal Gill a +7?!

• Simon Gagne skated just 5 shifts and was a -1 last night before leaving the game with dizziness.
• A trade to Philadelphia seems to have been the right move for former Oiler and Duck Joffrey Lupul. Against the Panthers last night, he skated close to 22 minutes and recorded a goal and an assist in the Flyers 3-4 loss. Lupul's 5th on the Flyers in ice time right now, and second among forwards. He's also skating 2.5 minutes a game on the PP and almost 2 minutes a game on the PK. With 9 points (3-6) and a +4 in the first 8 games of the season, the change of scenery has so far been a success for the Alberta native.
• Another player who's benefiting from a change in scenery this season is Calgary's Adrian Aucoin. After toiling in Chicago for two years and finishing a -35 in those two seasons combined, Aucoin is logging the 2nd most minutes in Calgary and put in 25.5 minutes last night with 2 assists against the Wild. Aucoin has 6 points and is a +8 in 10 games this season and is on pace to better his career best 2003-04 season (13-31-44 +29).
• Sami Salo returned to the ice for Vancouver and skated over 22 minutes in his season debut. Salo had missed the Canucks first 9 games with a wrist injury.

The last time the [Lightning] won a game scoring fewer than three goals was April 6, 2006, when Sean Burke beat the Penguins 1-0.

Last season, the Lightning was 0-30-1 in such games.

• Should have been 2006-07 rookie of the year Paul Stastny (Malkin won the official award) had a strong preseason and has started the regular season on a scoring binge. He's got 4 goals and 4 assits in the Avs first 3 games, including last night's 1-4-5 +3, 4 takeaway, 7/13 faceoff performance.
• Last year we saw 1998 1st overall pick Vincent Lecavalier elevate his game to the elite level and become one of the top 10 best players in the world. This season, we might see a similar rise from 1997 2nd overall pick Patrick Marleau. The San Jose Shark captain amazingly just turned 28 despite his 10 years of NHL experience. The Sharks have improved their depth with the full-time contributions of youngster like Torrey Mitchell, Steve Bernier, and Joe Pavelski - thereby freeing up Marleau to skate wing on the top line with Jonathan Cheechoo and the man drafted ahead of him in '97, Joe Thornton.
• If you catch a New Jersey Devils game this season, be warned, you might not recognize them. I got to see them play opening night in Tampa and almost spit up my free family pack soda when I saw them forechecking 2 and hanging a third forward along the opponents' blueline. Whatever the world is coming to, Devils center John Madden hopes the unleashing will result in a strong offensive season. Madden already has two goals this year.
• Rick Nash has 2 goals and 2 assists through his first 2 games with Columbus. Will this finally be the season he becomes the 50 goal force he's has the talent to become?
• Jeremy Roenick is 37 and a half years old, but he's skating just over 11 minutes a night for the Sharks through their first three games. Roenick has added two goals so far, and hasn't looked too far out of place at all.
• Francois Beauchemin is looking at a 50 point season while playing 30 minutes a game if Scott Niedermeyer does not come back to the Ducks. Beauchemin had a great 2/3's of a season with Anaheim in 2005-06 but lost ice team last year when Pronger came over from the Oilers. Now back in the top two, Beauchemin plays half the game and spends time on the 1st power play and penalty killing unit. He's a physical hitter with a good shot who should be at the top of the fantasy charts if Niedermeyer retires.
• Nashville's left for dead roster has been surprisingly plucky through two games. The Preds are 2-0 and have been led by new captain Jason Arnott and former first round pick David Legwand. This team is deeper than most realized and although they lack big name scoring punch, it looks like they'll be a real pain to play against this season.

"The CBC gave Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean the security of a seven-year contract, but his Coach's Corner partner, Don Cherry, didn't fare nearly as well.

Cherry revealed yesterday that he's working on a deal that goes week to week. He says the network can fire him at any time without a settlement.

"It amused me that he got a seven-year contract," Cherry said of MacLean. "Because mine is seven minutes [the approximate length of Coach's Corner]."

Cherry's contract, negotiated in 2006, is for two years. But he says it can be cancelled immediately, without severance, if the CBC feels he has made an inappropriate comment on air.

"To tell you the truth, that's the way I wanted it," he said. "I had been on shaky ground a year or two earlier. I just thought, if they don't want me, I don't want them. And I don't expect to get paid if I'm not there."

Continue reading "2007 Hockey sleepers to watch" »

"It was a cheap shot," he said. "There is no part in the game for hits like that.

"A guy cannot defend himself and you take a 40-foot run and jump and hit him. Hopefully, the league takes a look at it.

"Those are the hits we don't want in our game. You don't want to see stuff like that, we're not out there to kill each other."

"We think everybody should play everybody at least once," said Ottawa Senators president and CEO Roy Mlakar. "Whether that's home and away, we'll need to see more evidence that that's the direction the majority wants to go in. But we're willing to change."

The vote at the next owners' meeting will require two-thirds majority to pass and Bettman was confident he would get it after conducting a straw poll Tuesday.

...While the room agreed the unbalanced schedule had to go, there still isn't consensus on the right option to replace it. Here are some options:

-Drop to seven games against each divisional opponent play each team in the other conference once. That would mean a team from the West would play in each Eastern city at least once every two years;

-Or drop to six games against each divisional opponent and play a home-and-home with every team in the other conference. That would guarantee a visit each year from each team in the league.

"There's much more of an opportunity now to stand out on New Year's Day," Flood said.

"We're going to have an airplane in the air for aerial shots, much the way we do at a Sunday night football game," Flood said. "We'll be taking high and wide shots to show the 70-plus thousand people surrounding this sheet of ice.

Never let it be said that Las Vegas does not do things bigger and better than other cities -- even pissing contests.

Harrah's Entertainment's announcement today that it plans on partnering with AEG to build an arena behind its Bally's and Paris properties on the Las Vegas Strip means that the town now has two huge competing arena projects, but still no NBA or NHL team to fill either of the two arenas.

The proposed Harrah's/AEG arena would be on 10 acres off Koval Lane, only one block from the center of the Las Vegas Strip. AEG, which also owns and operates the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Galaxy and several other sports properties, brings a lot of weight and makes the prospects for a proposed $9.5 billion arena project in downtown Las Vegas very suspect.

(Yes, that dollar figure is correct -- $9.5 BILLION.)

Speaking from personal experience, many Las Vegans were dubious about the prospects for the downtown arena materializing and this would certainly appear to be another nail in its coffin. The Harrah's/AEG arena would not need approval by the Las Vegas City Council as it sits outside of the city of Las Vegas in unincorporated Clark County (like all of the Las Vegas Strip).

Now the billion dollar question -- will the city actually be able to attract an NBA or NHL team and surmount the issues that either or both of those leagues may have with a team in Las Vegas? There are only so many fights, concerts and special events Harrah's and AEG could book to justify what will almost certainly be a project that will cost at least $500 million.

• The big news has certainly been the prospective sale of the Nashville Predators to Jim Balsillie (Mr. Blackberry).
  
  Should the deal go through, the Preds would likely move to Hamilton, which is in Southern Ontario - kind of near Toronto but there are so many people who live outside of Toronto that you're likely to meet 10 people from the burbs before you actually meet someone actually from Toronto. The hopeful city of Hamilton has already put together a ticket deposit drive that has resulted in more season ticket reservations than the Nashville club has.
  
  The possible move has recently drawn the approval of Wayne Gretzky, but it has also left the existing franchise in a rather motionless state while the rest of the league is in the midst of a very important period of the offseason.
  
  Commissioner Gary Bettman says that talk of the franchise moving is 'premature', and since I don't believe him, it's easy to blame the fact that Nashville recently traded away their captain and a top winger to Philadelphia for a 1st round draft pick on the news of the pending sale. It's possible Nashville couldn't resign them anyhow, but even if that's true, Bettman should be forced to justify being booed in California for it.
  
  And the Hamilton-Nashville issue has also left star forwards Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg in contract limbo.
• The NHL handed out its postseason awards last week, and Sidney Crosby pulled off a hat trick - earning the most points in the league trophy, the most valuable player trophy, and the mvp as voted on by the players trophy (Art Ross, Hart, and Pearson for those who say aboot). Crosby is the youngest player to have ever won the Pearson and/or the Art Ross, and his 2006-07 campaign also earned Crosby the honor of being the youngest player to have ever led a North American sports league in scoring. Now that's a nice stat.
• The NHL Entry draft is this weekend, starting Friday night at 7pm ET. For more info on the players available, check out TSN's Top 60 prospects and mock draft. Or just stop into the swamp and check out our own Max Webster's views.
  
  The Globe has their own prospects preview here, while Globe senior writer Eric Duhatschek admits this year's draft class is a little sleepy. And since there doesn't seem to be a lot of talent available, some think there will be a number of trades and other moves made this weekend.
• The Boston Bruins have a new head coach.
• 22 year old Nathan Horton is not a name many know, mostly because he plays professional ice hockey in Sunrise, Florida. But Horton just signed a 6 year deal worth $24 million, and is on his way to becoming one of the better, goal-scoring power forwards in the game.
• The free agent market officially opens up on July 1st. EJ Hrdaek lists his top 5 FAs (two of them are Sabres). James Mirtle has a much more exhaustive run down of the free agents on his site.
• Old man Brendan Shanahan seemingly wants to finish his career with the Rangers.
• The League has made some minor rule changes.
• Finally, Ducks captain Scott Niedermeyer is considering retirement.

It might be argued that the effect of the Nashville Predators' pending sale and possible move has finally spilled out to the on-ice product.

On Monday, the Predators and Flyers negotiated a deal to trade the rights to two key Nashville players who were about to become unrestricted free agents on July 1st.

But, both Hartnell and Timonen are veterans who will be likely looking for a paycheck that Nashville could not afford. So the Predators shipped their rights to Philly for the same 1st round pick that was part of the package given up this spring to land Peter Forsberg.

Timonen was also previously the team captain, a role that will likely go to Forsberg if the franchise can keep him around.

One could even argue now that the future of this franchise rests just as much in the hands of Forsberg as it does Canadian billionaire and prospective new owner Jim Balsillie. Whether or not the 34 year old Swedish superstar decides to retire looms over this team, no matter if they are in the city of Nashville, Tennessee or Hamilton, Ontario.

The hearings are the latest development in a yearlong dispute between a group of retired players and Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association.

The latest flare-up came this week when Joe DeLamielleure, like Upshaw a Hall of Fame guard, said he took literally a newspaper quote from Upshaw that he'd like to "break his damn neck." DeLamielleure said he feared for his and his family's safety.

The Anaheim Ducks are the new champions of the National Hockey League, the first time ever a team from California has taken home the Stanley Cup. In case you dismiss that fact (as I initially did), they've been playing hockey in the Golden State since 1967.

By defeating the Senators, the Ducks continued the drought for our good friends north of the border. A Canadian team hasn't hoisted the Cup since the Canadians did so in 1993.

The San Diego Tribune throws a little salt in the wounds of the San Jose Sharks by proclaiming this the first Cup in SoCal's history.

Up north of the border, The National Post's Mark Spector offers a quality read, getting the hard part out of the way first: "Anaheim won this Stanley Cup in a surprisingly tidy five games for one reason: They were the better team-- up, down and sideways." Then he dives into the reasons that Ottawa did not win. One of those issue being a botched play by defender Chris Phillips, which will likely haunt him for some time.

Canada, I don't get your hate, but I sure do think it's funny.

So you've lost the Stanley Cup. Again. Well, not all of you. Seems there are a few people in Toronto that are quite happy about this result.

And while nothing can give excuse to Gary Bettman self-promoting his smugness with "I guess hockey is doing pretty well in California?", this all does seal the cap on the undeniable truth that the National Hockey League really is a sport in the United States. Hard to believe. But Canadians just can't really pretend it doesn't exist down here anymore.

First we stole their teams. For a while, when the dollar was good, we stole their players. But now, this one has done it; we've stolen their Stanley Cup. We've urinated on it, chewed gum with it in church, and introduced it to our younger sister. Nothing will ever be the same!

Are you really that upset that the game isn't 'yours' anymore. Was it ever? And if it really was, and we really stole it, isn't that why you guys have the Memorial Cup to pay attention to?

When your kids go off to college (or, I'm sorry, University is it?) do you turn on them as well if they take a road you don't entirely approve of?

Tampa Bay, Raleigh, and Anaheim - all defeating on their way to glory: Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. In your face, pride!

At least you all still sing your national anthem better than everyone else. I really like that about you guys. It's cute in a naive kind of way to see that real nationalism is still alive in the world today.

McDonald's two goals, his third and fourth of the Stanley Cup final, were scored exactly a minute apart in the second period, turning a 1-0 Ottawa lead into a 2-1 disadvantage that forced the Senators into catch-up mode.

Finding anyone who knew the NHL championship was even happening proved challenging.

"I predict Ottawa will win it in three."

This is the third time in 14 seasons a California club has a shot at the Cup. The matchup of a small-market U.S. team and a club from Canada pushes this series far off the mainstream sports map. It won't be on network television until Game 3, and most American newspapers have decided to cover it from afar, if at all.

Continue reading "2007 Stanley Cup Finals - Anaheim Ducks" »

Continue reading "2007 Stanley Cup Finals - Ottawa Senators" »

It certainly appears the NHL's "Southern strategy" will soon have its first casualty as a Canadian billionaire (the founder of RIM, which makes the Blackberry) has apparently made a bid to purchase the Nashville Predators.

Nashville managed to draw only about 13,815 fans a game despite a season that saw the Predators contend for the President's Cup. Add in another first-round flameout despite the acquisition of Peter Forsberg and it seems hockey has not managed to take root in Tennessee.

What does this all mean? With no obvious American cities to relocate to (Pittsburgh's daliance with Kansas City aside, moving from Nashville to Kansas City is not much of an upgrade) and a Canadian owner based in the Hamilton, Ontario area, there could be another NHL franchise in Canada's Golden Horseshoe.

There are a lot of stumbling blocks before moving to the Hamilton area though, even if RIM's recent purchase of a huge piece of land in Cambridge, Ont. could be a precursor to a new arena, which would be required for relocation to Hamilton.

There's also the matter of territorial issues with franchises in Toronto and Buffalo, which both would look at a franchise in Hamilton as eating into their markets, despite the possibility of some sweet rivalries.

Add it all up and it says the smart money is on relocation to Winnipeg, which already has a world-class arena and a rabid fanbase ready to embrace an NHL team. The suddenly resurgent Canadian dollar and recent labor deal, which resulted in some fiscal responsibility -- two things which led to the Jets moving to Phoenix -- mean that an NHL team is viable and in fact likely to succeed in Winnipeg.

This is liable to be THE story of the offseason in the NHL and is likely to take a couple of twists and turns before the moving vans finally ship the Predators somewhere where they'll get the support they deserve.

We're discussing this right now in The Swamp.

The Sabres won a remarkable 14 games when they were either trailing or tied after two periods in the regular season and already in this series they have scored two wins when they have come from behind.

"This game goes along with our season," Ruff said. "We've had a lot of victories when we were down and out, but then we tie it and pull it out.

"I don't like it, but ..."

Continue reading "Free Shane Doan!" »

1. In Canada, they apparently debate in their Government legislative bodies the merits of who's worthy to represent their country in international ice hockey competition. And, even more apparently, they do a really bad job at it.
2. One of the greatest players of this generation, and perhaps in all of hockey, is denying rumors that he may have to have career ending hip surgery. Mats Sundin has a torn hip labrum, but has not been advised he needs surgery and is pissed off that this story leaked to the press.
3. The NHL announced their list of award finalists on Tuesday. Sidney Crosby, Martin Brodeur, and Roberto Luongo are the finalists for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the game's Most Valuable Player. That's been a four player race all season, and Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier is the odd man out, even though he is a finalist for the Lester B. Pearson Award (which is essentially the Hart Trophy, but voted on by only the players).

• The Ducks won the season series 3-0-1, outscoring Vancouver 14 to 6. Giguere started all four games for ANA.
• Ducks GM Brian Burke was the man responsible for bringing the Sedin twins to Vancouver and helped build the team that is there today
• The Canucks are banged up after their grueling seven game series with Dallas.
• Anaheim hasn't played since last Thursday, and during the regular season only played 4 games when they had 3 or more days off (1-1-2). So how they'll respond to the long layoff is a big question.
• Anaheim was 23-10-14 in 1 goal games this year, 18th best in the NHL. Vancouver was 30-11-7, 3rd best. But the Ducks were an awful 4-10 this year in shootouts, so their 1 goal game record deserves to be better.
• The Canucks had the best home penalty kill in the league (89.6%) and the Ducks had the best road power play in the league (21.1%)
• The Ducks had the second best road penalty kill in the league (86.7) and the Canucks had the 5th worst home power play in the league (15.6%)
• Vancouver had the 3rd lowest number of 5 on 5 goals in the league (121), accounting for only 55.7% of their total goals.
• The Canucks had the 4th best winning % in the league when scoring first (34-6-4). The Ducks weren't bad either if you ignore their shootout losses (34-5-9)
• One line scoring teams like Minnesota and Vancouver are exactly the kind of teams the Ducks matchup well against.

• 3 of their 4 matchups this season went into overtime
• The Sabres won all 4 games, but only once in regulation
• Kevin Weekes was in net for NYR in 3 of those 4 games, Miller started 3 of 4 for BUF
• These two haven't faced each other since Dec 1
• The Rangers' power play was 7 for 24 against Buffalo (29%)
• Buffalo's home penalty kill % (78.4) was the second worst in the NHL during the regular season
• New York's regular season road and home records were identical (21-15-5)
• The Rangers' defense corps has gone underrated and has played well. They are big (all over 6 feet, average weight 215lbs) and will try to punish the smaller Sabres forwards.
• In their last 33 games, including playoffs, the Rangers have given up more than 3 goals in regulation just thrice. They have gone 21-6-6 over that span.
• The Rangers' playoff scoring has come primarily from their top two players, Nylander (8) and Jagr (7). They control the puck extremely well and skate extra long shifts to work against defensive matchups.
• The Sabres did a good job keeping the Islanders' top scorers from scoring. Only one NYI skater had more than one goal for the entire series (Hunter)
• Buffalo's scoring, meanwhile, comes from their entire 18. Only Spacek and Hecht failed to register a point in the first round and 10 skaters had at least 3 points in their 5 games against NYI.
• Buffalo was 5th in the league in 1 goal games during the regular season, with a 25-9-7 record. The Rangers were 20th, at 20-14-10.
• Buffalo had the NHL's best record when giving up the first goal (18-11-5), but also had the best record when leading after the 1st period (25-3-0)

"You can write your story now," Tortorella said to a reporter who asked about fatigue. "I'd do the same thing over again."

In NHL playoff history, 210 teams have gone up 3-1 in a best-of-seven series. Only 20 of those teams have gone on to lose the series.

• Two afternoon games, NYR at ATL and PIT at OTT, and two night games, TB at NJ and NYI at BUF.
• The Thrashers have decided to bench goaltender Kari Lehtonen in favor of Johan Hedberg. The Rangers lead 1-0 and could effectively put this series away with a win today.
• Tortorella likes what he saw in game one and plans no changes. Everyone is writing off Holmqvist's poor game one effort to nerves, so tonight's game two is huge for both Johan and Tampa.
• Rick DiPietro felt fine after he practiced on Friday and could start tonight in Buffalo.

• The Islanders have cleared DiPietro to practice, and he could be in net for game 2.
• The Wings and Sabres dominated their 8th seeded opponents in game one.
• The Sabres may be without Daniel Briere for their game two on Saturday night.
• The top line for the New York Rangers led the way to a 4-3 road victory in what turned out to be a rather entertaining game.
• Tampa Bay goaltender Joham Holmqvist admittedly did not play well, but he was allowed to stay in the game because coach John Tortorella had decided that Karri Ramo - a rookie who's played in all of 70 NHL minutes in net - would be the team's backup goaltender.

• Anaheim's J.S. Giguere is happy in his current backup role and its not yet known who will start in net for the Ducks tonight. Giguere has been away from the team as he's been attending to the health of his newborn son.
• Sharks sniper Jonathan Cheechoo is listed as day-to-day but "extremely doubtful" for tonight's game due a knee injury he sustained in game one after a Scott Hartnell hit that earned the Predator winger a 5 minute game major penalty. And yes, the Sharks are pissed off about it.
• The Canucks are trying to fill holes in their roster for tonight after Wednesday night's 4 overtime marathon. They could be without Ryan Kesler, Brent Sopel, Matt Cooke, and Alex Burrows tonight.

• The Thrashers won 3 of 4 from the Rangers this season, but 2 wins came in OT. New York also lost both meetings on home ice.
• Atlanta finished the second half of the season with just a 20-17-5 record, which included a 12-4-1 stretch run that helped them clinch their first ever playoff birth and Southeast Division crown.
• New York was just 17-18-5 when playing with 1 day of rest. Atlanta was 25-14-5.
• The Thrashers win a lot of games when they are outshot (27-12-9). They finished just 13-16-1 this season when they outshot their opponent. The Rangers outshot their opponents on average 31.5 to 28.4.
• Since Sean Avery made his debut with the Rangers on Feb 6th, New York had a record of 17-6-6. Avery had 20 points in those 29 games.

• The season series was tied 2-2, with each home team winning twice.
• The Flames had one of the worst road records in the NHL, 13-20-8 - although they did win four straight on the road down the stretch on a crucial 4 game road trip. Prior to that run, the only other road wins they had were against: STL (twice), EDM (twice), COL, LA, PHX, VAN, and OTT.
• Detroit lost just 4 games in regulation at home (29-4-8, the best in the NHL).
• For the second year in a row, Mikka Kiprusoff played in 74 regular season games.
• The Flames power play worked at a 37.5% rate against Detroit this season. They were 5 for 10 at home and 1 for 6 on the road.
• The Wings outshot opponents 33.8 to 24.6 this season and outshot the Flames 36.3 to 20.8 in their four head to head matchups. They were outshot in only 16 games this season and were just 8-7-1. The Flames were 24-21-7 when outshot.
• The Flames aren't an overly big team (6-1, 204 average) but their defensemen are all over 6 foot and at least 200 pounds. 7 of the 14 forwards on the Wings roster weigh less than 200lbs. And Bertuzzi, who's out for at least game one, is by far their biggest skater (245). After him, the next biggest forward is Robert Lang at 217.

• The Devils finished the year 1-2-1 against Tampa Bay. They lost at home in regulation once, and the other home game in a shootout. Their only win came in Tampa on Jan 26.
• The Lightning gave up the most # of goals in the regular season of all playoff teams.
• The Devils gave up the least # of goals in the regular season of all Eastern Conference playoff teams.
• Holmqvist was 2-1 for TB vs NJ; Denis was 1-0.
• The Lightning finished the season with just a 11-9-2 record. The Devils were just 12-7-3 over that same stretch.
• Jason Ward has been a huge addition to the Lightning's recently improved second line. He has 7 points in his last 9 games and has skated over 20 minutes in 8 of those 9 games.

• The Sabres held the series lead 3-1-0 vs NYI this season. Ryan Miller started all four games for Buffalo. DiPietro started the first three for NYI (1-2-0) and Mike Dunham started the final matchup, but was pulled for Wade Dubieleicz.
• Buffalo's power play converted on 26.1% of chances versus NYI. The Sabres Home PP was 7th best in the NHL (21.2%). Their road PP was 6th worst (13.7%)
• The Islanders were just 18-17-6 on the road this season.
• Dubielewicz started the teams' final 5 games, and won their last 4 straight. Those 5 games were his only starts of the season.

• There have been only 8 sweeps in the last five playoffs (75 series played).
• 7 over 2 and 8 over 1 seed upsets are not just probable, they are likely. 5 times over the last 10 seasons, an 8 seed has defeated a 1 seed. And since 1997, one of the 7 seeds has beaten the 2 seed in every season.

• The Pens were 3-1 this season versus Ottawa, but two of those wins came via shootout. The Sens were 0-1-1 on home ice vs Pittsburgh.
• Head to head this season, each team's power play converted at 20% or higher against the other. The Pens scored 2 PP goals in 3 of their 4 meetings.
• The Sens dominated the shots per game average in their head to head matchups, 34.8 to 22.5.
• Ottawa scored the 2nd most goals in the NHL this season, with 288. Pittsburgh scored the 3rd most goals, with 277
• Pittsburgh was 27-6-9 with 1 day off in between games this season. Ottawa was 30-17-5.

• Nashville held the head to head advantage this season 3-1, but one of those wins came in a shootout. SJ was 1-2-1, losing both games in Tennessee.
• Head to head this season, the Sharks power play was dominant against the Preds, converting on 23.8% of chances.
• Nashville was 21-5-2 this season when holding the shots advantage, but just 27-17-5 when being outshot. The Sharks outshot their opponents in 50 of their 82 games this season.
• The seven Predators defensemen on the roster weigh, on average, 200 pounds. Three of the seven are listed at under 200 pounds.
• The Sharks forwards average 215 pounds and 10 of those 14 are listed at at least 215 pounds.

• Head to head record was 2-2, with each home time winning twice (MIN won in a shootout once).
• All four games were decided by 1 goal.
• Backstrom only started one game vs ANA, 11.12.06 @ ANA (L 2-3)
• Anaheim was 27-4-8 with 1 day off in between games this season. Minnesota was 28-14-2.
• The Wild were just 19-19-3 on the road.

• Each team finished 2-1-1 head to head, both with a shootout win and with all wins coming on home ice.
• The final score of all four games was 2-1
• The power plays for both teams head to head were each about 10%.
• Luongo played in 76 of his teams' 82 games this season. Turco played in 67 and his healthy going into the playoffs - something he hasn't always been before.
• The Stars are a small team (average weight is 197lbs) , but the Canucks aren't very big either (203lbs) and don't have any big wingers other than Taylor Pyatt (6-4, 220)

Continue reading "Minnesota Wild Goaltender Niklas Backstrom" »

I can't believe I am making a hockey post. On the list of athletes fighting, goalies rank below baseball scrums and above Nascar drivers. (Drivers aren't actually athletes and fight in a style similar to drag queens.) So goalies shouldn't fight. Apparently Ed Belfour didn't get my memo.

Florida Panthers goalie Ed Belfour was arrested at a popular South Beach bar early Monday after a scuffle with a police officer.

Belfour and teammate Ville Peltonen were at the bar when security guards from the club asked police to make Belfour leave, police said.

The 41-year-old hockey player refused and walked toward the officer "in a fighting stance" and pushed him, a Miami Beach police report said.

Belfour pulled away from the officer trying to arrest him and grabbed his shirt. The hockey player then fell forward on the ground, kicking and refusing to place his hands behind his back, the report said.

Belfour had slurred speech, blood shot eyes and smelled of alcohol, police said. He was charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer without violence.

Grab the shirt, without violence.... I rest my case.

1pm - NYI at PHI - The Islanders have two games remaining, have to win both, and need help from the Leafs tonight to make the playoffs. The Flyers have lost 4 in a row and are just 2-4-1 against the Islanders this season. A New York loss would eliminate them from the race.

1pm - CHI at DET - Final game of the season for Detroit, who have locked down the #1 seed in the Western Conference. They've got one game to make their claim for the President's Trophy. Buffalo has two games remaining and share the same point total (111) as Detroit.

1pm - BUF at WAS - The Sabres also have the #1 Conference seed locked down and are playing for the President's Trophy today and tomorrow. Over the past 20 seasons, six winners of the NHL's best record have gone on to win the Stanley Cup. The Sabres have never won it; the Wings have won it 17 times, and thrice over the last four seasons. There's also a chance that the Sabres will get Tim Connolly back into the lineup tonight and his return could mean the departure of impressive rookie Drew Stafford.

4pm - PHX at LA - A battle for the ultimate tee-time. These two teams are in last place, separated by just one point. Exciting!

4pm - VAN at SJ - The Sharks are currently in 5th place in the conference and are slated to meet Nashville in the first round. A win tonight with an Anaheim loss would give San Jose the Pacific Division, the 2nd seed, and a probably first round home-ice matchup against Minnesota (who they would likely destroy). A win today with a Nashville loss would at least give SJ home ice for their first round matchup, regardless of what Anaheim does. A loss could drop SJ into 6th place if Dallas wins their Sunday game. For Vancouver, they sit atop the Northwest Division with just a one point lead over Minnesota. But the Canucks have this game and a Sunday afternoon game in Phoenix to earn the 1 point they need to secure the #3 seed. The Canucks are 2-1-0 vs SJ this season, but the Sharks have won 5 straight, are 8-1-1 in their last 10, a nd 14-4-3 in their last 21.

7pm - TB at ATL - What was supposed to be a one game battle for the Southeast Division is now rather meaningless. The Lightning were certainly looking ahead to this game last night when they took the ice at home against the Panthers and have lost the division because of it. A win tonight and they still could finish 6th in the Conference and secure a first round matchup against Atlanta - a much more favorable proposition when faced with the alternative if they lose tonight (New Jersey).

7pm - OTT at BOS - The Sens missed a chance to secure first round home ice on Thursday when they lost to the Pens 3-2 at home. Both Ottawa and Pittsburgh are tied in points with 103, but Ottawa has one more win then Pittsburgh and currently holds the 4th seed. Those two will face each other in the first round, tonight will only determine who will play on home ice first.

7pm - ANA at CLB - The Ducks need just one point to secure the #2 seed in the West but will have to do it without their starting goaltender J.S. Giguere, who will be out attending to his wife and newborn son (non life-threatening medical condition). The Ducks are 1-1-1 vs Columbus this season. A loss and a SJ win would drop Anaheim to 5th place.

7:30pm - NYR at PIT - The Pens need a win and help from the Bruins to jump the Sens and earn the 4th seed. The Rangers need a point to ensure they keep their #6 seed and first round matchup with Atlanta. This is probably a much more important game for the Rangers considering a loss for them with a Lightning win would mean the Rangers would have to face the Devils in the first round.

8pm - STL at MIN - The Wild need a win and two straight losses from Vancouver to move up from 7th to 3rd in the standings.

9pm - NAS at COL - Believe it or not, the Avs are still in the race in the West. They trail the Flames by 3 points, with each team scheduled to play tonight and tomorrow. Colorado has gone 8-1-1 over their last 10 and 14-3-3 over their last 21 to stay alive in this race. 37 year old Joe Sakic has led the way, with 43 points in 33 games since the All-Star break. The Avs are 2-1-0 vs Nashville this season. A win tonight coupled with a Calgary loss or tie, would set up an amazing season ender versus Calgary at home on Sunday at 9pm.

10pm - EDM at CGY - Since trading Ryan Smyth, the Edmonton (junior) Oilers have won exactly one game. They've taken another one to overtime. 17 other times they've lost. They've been outscored 68 to 21 over those 19 games. They've been shutout 6 times over those 19 games. This has been one of the worst years for Edmonton in a long time. And against Calgary this season, they are just 2-5-0. Tonight, they have a chance to stick it to their provincial rival and force the Flames to play a winner take all contest Sunday night against Colorado. A similar scenario occurred on Friday when the Florida Panthers caught Tampa Bay looking ahead one game. Calgary needs to make sure they take care of business tonight or they could find themselves on an early vacation.

Both teams are coming off Thursday night losses.
TOR is 20-13-5 with 1 day off, MON is 20-16-3 with 1 day off.
TOR is 5-3-2 in last 10, MON is 7-3-0 in last 10.
TOR is 10-8-3 in last 21, MON is 13-8-0 in last 21.
TOR is 20-15-5 at home, MON is 16-21-3 away.
TOR is 3-1-3 vs MON this season, MON is 4-2-1 vs TOR this season.
(Thank you Gary Bettman for making the most simple - in theory - of stats quite difficult to reason out. They've played each other 7 times, that much I can tell you.)
TOR is 2-0-1 vs MON at home this season, MON is 1-2-0 at the ACC.

"We're completely frustrated as a team. Embarrassed," Carolina center Eric Staal said. "We wanted to be in the playoffs. We wanted to defend the Cup we won last year, and we didn't get it done tonight. It's unacceptable for the guys we have in this room and the amount of talent we have. Everyone feels just terrible."

"You can look at 102 points any way you want but it's my responsibility is to give us the best possible chance of winning," Lamoriello said.

Julien, who was informed of his dismissal on Monday morning by Lamoriello, was not immediately available for comment.

"I sat down with him this morning and in my mind he certainly understood," said Lamoriello.

"I look at the league and I know they want to get the young kids out front, the Sidney Crosbys, the Alexander Ovechkins and all that, and I understand that," Tortorella said. "But Sidney doesn't kill penalties, Sidney's not on the ice in the last minute, protecting a lead.

"And I'm not running down Sidney. I think he still needs to go through the process and I think (Penguins coach Michel Therrien) is going to do that with him, and eventually he will be put in all those situations.

"But this guy here, I don't hesitate to put him anywhere, anytime, and he has made some huge plays for us.

"Obviously, for us to win 41 games with the lack of balance in our scoring, he's a huge part of why we're in the hunt here."

"There's not much to say," added Mats Sundin. "That's a heartbreaker to lose a game like that."

''I worry about what would happen if there wasn't a way to let out the frustration with a fight,'' said Roenick. ''Because let's face it, there is absolutely no respect in the game any more, with the way guys are taking runs at people and with the cheap shots and the late hits. Guys are getting hurt. If you take fighting out all of a sudden these guys are going to take even more liberties because they don't have to be accountable for themselves.

''I think somebody is going to get hurt more from a vicious hit from a guy not being worried that he has to drop his gloves and get his ass kicked.''

Primeau agreed with JR and has a solution.

''It has to go hand in hand,'' said Primeau. ''If you're going to outlaw fighting, you absolutely have to outlaw any kind of stick infraction. So if you're saying, for example, that fighting is a 10-, 15- or 20-game suspension, then a reviewable high stick has to automatically be a 10-, 15- or 20-game suspension.

''Because sticks are just going to get higher when guys know there is no recourse or retribution.''

"I'm going to try to get that one too," Modano said. "I'd hate to go a whole summer and be four or five points away."

CAR at NJ - A 1pm EDT start, the Devils kept back a late Canes surge on Thursday night in the first of a home and home that will finish up this afternoon. Carolina is still without 2006 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cam Ward.

TOR at MON - HNIC features two teams who each skated on Friday night. The Leafs are 3-1-2 against Montreal this season and are a point ahead of the Habs in the standings, despite having played one less game. Montreal is 4-9-0 in the second of back to back games this year; Toronto is 3-5-2.

BOS at NYR - The Rangers are arguably playing the best hockey of these five teams, and have earned points in 8 of their last 9 games, moving into a 9th place tie with Toronto. The Rangers are 7-3-2 in the second of back to back games and have taken six straight from Boston.

NYI at FLA - Both of these teams have lost 2 in a row, and while the Panthers streak has left them 7 points out of 8th, their playoff chances seem to be about as possible as the Islanders' chances do right now in light of the recent struggles on Long Island.

• PIT at NJ - The Pens travel overnight to east New Jersey against the rested Devils. Not much at stake here, other than both teams could use points. The Pens have proven they can play with NJ, but their ability to hold leads is becoming as much of a mental issue now as anything physical.
• NAS at DET - Second of a back to back, home and home series. Detroit won last night in Nashville. See, these two teams do play each other every night.
• CGY at COL - Biggest game of the night; a must win for the Avs, who find themselves 10 points behind 8th place Calgary now. Colorado not only needs the 2 points here, but they need to keep this game out of overtime as well.

• Ottawa at NYR - The Rangers take their 7 game point streak into tonight's home matchup against the 4th place Senators.
• Florida at Carolina - The Hurricanes may have to continue their fight for the playoffs without the services of goaltender Cam Ward; who's out indefinitely after being cut by the skate of Brad Isbister on Sunday. John Grahame will be the starter now and if the Canes don't make the playoffs, it'll mark the first time in like forreallyever that both conference finalists from the year before failed to make the playoffs.
• NYI at Montreal - The Habs are 2 points out of 8th place and the Islanders are 2 points in front of 8th. NYI will be tested on the road, in their first game since the Simon suspension.
• Detroit at Nashville - Battle of the Central, part 863. I really do think these two play each other all the time, it's only more noticeable than all the other overplayed divisional rivalries because these two don't really have anyone else in their division.
• Minnesota at Vancouver - The race for 1st place in the Northwest continues. These two teams are separated by just 2 points in the standings but the loser of this race may end up in 7th or 8th place while the winner finishes 3rd. The Wild have won 3 in a row and are starting a 3 game road trip while the Canucks play their first of 3 at home. This is the last regular season meeting between the two.

The National Hockey League has determined what the punishment for clotheslining a player with a stick is. And that is, at least 25 games:

"The suspension amounts to one of the longest in NHL history counting 15 regular season games and as many as 28 playoff contests if the Islanders advance all the way to the Stanley Cup.

"If the Islanders fail to make the post-season, or play fewer than 10 playoff games, Simon will serve additional games at the start of the 2007-08 regular season making the suspension a minimum of 25 games."

As someone who does not pretend to know the standards and practices of hockey, I think the guy got off lightly. For the perspective of people who know the game, check the Swamp.

Continue reading "More On Chris Simon and the NHL" »

There's perhaps more to Rick DiPietro's 56 save effort last night. There's perhaps more to the Rangers spirited and thrilling shootout victory over the Islanders that pulled them up to just 2 points out of a playoff spot.

Last night's NYI vs NYR game brought back a few thoughts of what would happen if the NHL more regularly featured one game, on one night, across all of North America.

See, the NHL is a regional sport. There's no equivalent to America's Team. And while most of English speaking Canada has to deal with hearing about the Leafs, few actually like the team. Obviously in the US, no one team's popularity supersedes its geography. Loyalties live and die by kilometers and miles.

In line with that thinking, the NHL (under the supreme leadership of Gary Bettman these last 14 years) regularly fuels the regional fire.

But what would happen if one night a week, one game was played? How bad of an idea would it be? Sure, we already have Hockey Night in Canada, and that's a great experience. There are few things in the sport better than watching a full slate of games. Except maybe watching just one. Having the hockey world focus on one. Having all 146,999 tv outlets that cover the sport take a day off and leave the work to one. Sunday Night Baseball. Monday Night Football. Wednesday Night Hockey.

Sure there will be dud games, just like there are in MNF and SNB. But then there will be games like last night's Islanders - Rangers match. Both teams fighting for a playoff birth; one slightly more inspired than the other. Both teams regional rivals, on an international stage. The game wasn't a great one. But it was damn good. And since it was the only one, all eyes were focused on Madison Square Garden. It turned out that the whole thing was pretty great.

Over at Airing of Grievances, Jackie Chiles goes on a rant about douchebag sports fans at an Islanders game he attended. Among the many issues he gets off his chest, this is #1 (with my bold for emphasis):

"The guy with gray hair who was proudly displaying his brand new Ryan Smyth jersey. For those not in the know, Smyth is a big-time player who just got traded to the Isles, last night was his frist game with the club, and he will be a free agent at the end of the year and just may only play 19 games or so in an Islander uniform. But this guy with the gray hair -- and no, it was not a kid with some disorder, it was a grown ass man -- is not only sporting another grown man's name on his back, which I understand is more acceptable at the arena than in the general public, but he's brought a jersey of a guy who may be less than even a footnote in Islanders lore. Yup, solid idea right there. How exactly does someone make that decision and think it's a good idea?"

This is an area where sports fans disagree. Some fans think that sporting a jersey from your favorite squad is a great way to honor it. Other fans think that your manhood should be questioned if you sport the name of another man on your back.

This has the makings of a decent Swamp discussion.

The Penguins' game at Toronto last Saturday, the featured match-up in CBC Hockey Night in Canada's 7-10 p.m. window, helped CBC attract its largest audience of the season, 1.65 million viewers. Telecasts of Penguins games locally on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh are up 74 percent over last season.