Teemu Selanne has officially rejoined the Ducks for another season at an estimated 3.25 million a year. It’s not really surprising that Selanne, coming off one of his best seasons ever despite battling injuries, would return. What’s more surprising is that he hinted in a Finnish newspaper that he wouldn’t mind playing for another two seasons. A strange statement from a player who retired after the Ducks won the Cup in 2007 only to un-retire and play the reaming 26 games of the season. Selanne has pretty much pulled a Brett Favre ever since then with his constant waffling on whether he will return or not for the following season. He at least has stuck to his word and is less dramatic about it. Additionally, the Finnish Flash has also hinted many times about his desire to be reunited with Paul Kariya. Selanne and Kariya were teammates with the Ducks from 1995-96 to 2000-01. They were briefly reunited with the Colorado Avalanche during the 2003-04 season, before going their separate ways again.

Though Kariya and the Ducks last go around did not end well, I always believe time heals all wounds. The Ducks have plenty of cap space to sign Kariya. It would be interesting to see if they will though, mostly because the Ducks are currently looking at a log jam at the forward position. A Kariya addition would only further clog it. Still it looks likely the Ducks will sign the free agent Kariya, especially if Selanne pushes for it.

As for the defense, General Manger Bob Murray continues to try and make it over. At the end of the 2008-09 season, the Ducks had made strong moves to have a top four of Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Whitney and James Wisniewski. Three of the four went on to win Olympic medals. But now none remain. Pronger was dealt to Philadelphia because it was too expensive to keep him and Niedermayer and the Ducks were also looking to bolster their forwards, ironically something they now have too much of. Given that Niedermayer retired a few months ago, it might have been smarter to have kept Pronger and then either have traded Niedermayer (sacrilegious I know) or signed him to a really low offer, like they did with Selanne in the past. Whitney was traded for another Olympian in Lubomir Visnovsky who is a much better fit in the current Ducks system. The real head scratcher to all of this though is trading Wisniewski.

After the trade I was furious because I like the way Wisniewski plays. While still green in certain areas, he has a great upside and is only 26. Apparently after being rewarded more money in arbitration, the sticking point between Murray and Wisniewski was contract length. Murray said he offered Wiz a good four year deal that was not accepted. I can understand Murray not wanting to have to keep peddling out one and two year deals, so if Wiz doesn’t want to be here long term then you have to do what you have to do. My main problem is they traded him to the Islanders for basically next to nothing. A 3^rd round pick in the next draft is hardly worth anything. More importantly it does nothing to help the Ducks currently as they give up one of their top defenseman for no defenseman in return. Murray says he has other things up his sleeve. He most certainly better, though it’s hard to imagine what that would be as most of the good defensemen are already gone.

The mostly likely scenario is that Murray raids the Canucks and their plethora of defensemen. The Canucks currently have nine D-men under contract, certainly way more than you need. At the top of Murray’s hit list is Kevin Bieksa who is signed only through the end of this year. The Ducks seem to be the front runner for Bieksa’s services but as more time drags on, one wonders if Murray will be able to put together a deal in order to acquire him. Currently the Ducks have three starters penciled in Visnovsky, Sheldon Brookbank and Toni Lydman. Andy Sutton, formerly of the Ottawa Senators, was also acquired but it’s not likely he will make the top six but you never know. Murray had said he was interested in leaving the last two spots open for the young talent. Other than Luca Sbisa, it’s highly unlikely any of the other young talent would be ready to step in. Here’s hoping that Murray is able to find another quality defenseman soon, also stayed tuned for any Kariya news.

The White team (guest) was led by Dan Sexton and Emerson Etem and the Black team (home) was led by Devante Smith-Pelly and Cam Fowler. The White team simple dominated the first 10 minutes of play as the puck was always in the Black end. But wouldn’t you know it the Black team led 2-1 after 10 minutes, basically converting on their only two scoring opportunities. The rest of the game was about even. Goaltending in this game was average at best, to put it nicely. Other than a couple of nice saves it wasn’t pretty. Despite being a mostly friendly game, there were a handful of really great hits. Justin Vaive, who had a few hits, is one big guy coming in at 6’5” and around 210 pounds. He could eventually replace George Parros as the enforcer on the Ducks. He would also bring a more offensive upside to the team than Parros does. Devante Smith-Pelly was a force around the net, hitting people and scoring. The star of the scrimmage and the only player that I can say for certain will be on the opening day roster is Dan Sexton. He was everywhere on the ice and had some nice slap shots and passes. He also scored I believe one goal. I particularly loved his heart and enthusiasm that in a pretty much meaningless scrimmage game, he was banging his stick on the ice in frustration on a missed play. All in all a great game and the Ducks have selected and signed a nice assortment of young players.

Let’s take a look at the possible opening day Ducks roster. The biggest question mark for the Ducks is obviously on defense. Just two years ago the top defensive pair boasted future hall of famers Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. Now with both gone, it’s time for the Ducks to turn a new page on the defensive end. The old men of the group are 10 year vets Lubomir Visnovsky and Toni Lydman. Visnovsky will assume the leadership rule of the defensive unit and Lydman while a great talent, was probably brought in more to coax Teemu Selanne into playing another year. Next is where the real question marks begin. The next spot up for grabs would more than likely be filled by James Wisniewski, who is headed for arbitration for the second year in a row. More than likely that will go well and he will be back. The 4^th spot is more than likely going to go to Sheldon Brookbank who hasn’t really impressed me all that much in his short career. But maybe increased playing time and responsibility will improve his game. The last two spots are up for grabs. It’s rumored and a likely possibility that Luca Sbisa will get one of the remaining spots. Sbisa acquired in the Pronger trade, played eight games for the Ducks before being sent down. Coach Carlyle had wanted Sbisa to receive the maximum amount of playing time possible to further his development which he was not going to get in the Ducks lineup. With Niedermayer retired and the Ducks looking to shake things up, Sbisa should be ready to help fill the void. He was conspicuously absent from prospect camp, which I thought was quite odd. Hopefully this means the Ducks think he’s ready and he will definitely be in the starting six. I don’t think top draft pick Cam Fowler will be ready to grab the last spot so the ducks will more than likely look to acquire another player. There’s always Brett Festerling but I sure hope not.

Offensively, if things go correctly, you could be look at the most stacked offensive collection ever assembled on the Ducks and rivaling some of the all time great NHL teams. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry will return the question is will Bobby Ryan join them? Ryan and the Ducks have hit a standstill in their contract talks but I have hope that it will eventually work itself out. On the second line we may possibly see one of the best second lines ever. Saku Koivu is the only definite coming back to anchor the line. On the one side you could have future hall of famer and 600 goal scorer Teemu Selanne, who I think will come back. On the other side you could have Joffrey Lupul who skated for the first time in a long time the other week. His back looks like it may be fully recovered in time for the start of the season. I know the Ducks and Lupul both hope that it is. Underrated Todd Marchant would anchor the third line with probably Dan Sexton and Jason Blake. The 4^th line is anyone’s guest at this point, until the Ducks management finishes making the roster. But the top three possible lines would give any opposing netminder and defense fits.

The goalie tandem of Jonas Hiller and Curtis McElhinney are as solid as they come. I believe McElhinney is an improvement over former back-up Justin Pogge, though Pogge never really played. I really think that Hiller will bounce from a fairly average year from him. After tearing it up in the Olympics most of that momentum carried over down the stretch for the Ducks. With the number one spot now firmly his and lower expectations coming into this season than last years, I think pressure will be a lot lower for Hiller and his focus will be a lot higher. I am looking forward to the Ducks getting better team chemistry and making a deep run into the playoffs.

Below are a few images from the scrimmage.

As you sit there in your favorite team jersey waiting for it to be October, let’s recap and vote on our favorite moments on the season that was. The 2009-10 NHL season was one of the most thrilling ever, featuring a Stanley Cup playoff race that was wide open. The 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs smashed many ratings records on the way to crowning the Chicago Blackhawks as Stanley Cup champions. Most, if not all, of the twitter tending topics that night were NHL related. Hockey is definitely on an upswing. Some of the points below I didn’t go into as much detail as I would like to have. However, I already wrote about most of it in previous columns, so sometimes it’s hard to re-write. There’s a lot to read and videos to watch, so I hope you enjoy it! (Trust me when I say it’s really long)

To break this article down, in the first part I recap the season of the Stanley Cup Champions, then I go into the biggest surprises, disappointments and awards of the season and other miscellaneous stuff. I end it with voting for the goat and the fight of the season, compiled from the best of those during the regular season from my weekly Between the Pipes column. Which I hope you all come back to read next season.

The 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champions

Chicago Blackhawks

What an unusual season it was for the Chicago Blackhawks. Their offseason certainly wasn’t boring. First you have Marian Hossa signing a huge contract worth 62.8 million dollars over 12 years. That alone brings up many questions like won’t he be 42 by the end of it? How do you even know how he will perform towards the end of the contract? Then the good/bad of the signing, Hossa wanted to play for a contending team and he viewed the Blackhawks as the team with the best chance to do so. Well that’s great but then you wonder, didn’t he think that with the Penguins and the Red Wings as well? How did that turn out? Next up you have Patrick Kane and his cousin assaulting a cab driver for 20 cents. Wait he what? There’s nothing like having one of your top players being involved in a ridiculous incident like that. Still the Blackhawks pressed on and opened the season a talented loaded team with one huge albatross around their neck, what about your goaltending?

Cristobal Huet was the number one goaltender by default, despite not being the number one last season, because the Blackhawks didn’t have enough money to sign Nikolai Khabibulin. As the starting goalie, Huet certainly didn’t make the regular season boring. First you had his 25.29 GAA average against the Flames in October, where he gave up three goals on five shots in seven minutes. Though to speak to the resiliency of the Blackhawks this season, Niemi actually came in and gave up two more goals in the 1^st period to put the Blackhawks in a 0-5 hole at intermission. But the Blackhawks ended up scoring six unanswered goals to win the game in overtime. Then there was the game against the Stars in which Huet gave up four goals on ten shots. Finally he gave up 14 goals over a span of three games, when the Blackhawks finally said the hell with this and made Antti Niemi the starting goalie. He did have some high points, putting together a seven game win streak and posting four shutouts. But he will mostly be remembered for plays like this:

Despite their goaltending issues, Chicago came within one point of the best record in the West. They boasted a balanced scoring attack with six players each having 20+ goal seasons. They also boasted one of the top defensive pairs in the league in Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Antti Niemi started to develop into a number one netminder, hopefully vanquishing the albatross in the process.

The Blackhawks opened the 1^st round of the playoffs against the perennial stepping stone Nashville Predators. The Blackhawks lost the 1^st game at home and then the 3^rd game on the road to find themselves in a 1-2 hole. They seemed disinterested in the series and they weren’t getting the basics right. They managed to win Game 4 but then Game 5 happened. Game 5 was the kind of game that everything just went right, even when things looked bleak. It was the turning point of the series and the Blackhawks season. It was the game in which the Blackhawks got their swagger back. Let’s set the stage. Down in the important Game 5, 4-3, in the final minutes the Blackhawks try a final push only to have Marian Hossa get called for boarding. It appeared that Hossa was already working his curse magic. Instead it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the inexperienced Predators played aggressive on the power play, looking for the kill goal. The Blackhawks were able to get a lucky bounce on the rebound and storm the other way and then pull their goalie to make it five on five. Then in some eerie foreshadowing, Patrick Kane scored the game tying goal off of a rebound in what would be his second most important goal of the playoffs.

After opening the overtime period shorthanded the Blackhawks ended up in the Predators zone and Hossa jumps out of the box and sets up right where Patrick Kane scored the previous goal. The puck once again took a fortuitous bounce and Hossa capped off the impromptu comeback.

In the decisive Game 6 you could tell it would be the Blackhawks year after Brent Seabrook gets an unexpected goal against Pekka Rinne.

From there it was the highly anticipated rematch with the Vancouver Canucks. Personally I found the series to be disappointing, as most of the games were pretty one sided. It had some comical moments though, like when the Canucks self destructed in Game 5 and committed four penalties in the span of four minutes and 40 seconds. There was also Roberto Luongo being himself hot, a 1.00 GAA in the two Canucks wins and cold, 5.25 GAA in the four losses. The soon to be Conn Smythe winner, Jonathan Toews was simply sensational against the Canucks. He was also in the midst of a 13 game point streak in which he amassed 25 of his 29 points.

Next was the highly anticipated match-up between the number one seeded Sharks. The win total of the two teams far surpassed any of the other match-ups in the 2010 playoffs. Oddly enough, it was also the only sweep of the playoffs. I’ll write more about it below in the disappointing section.

Then it was onward to the Blackhawks first Stanley Cup appearance in 49 years to face the Philadelphia Flyers and their 35 year drought. The series was very good and each game had a point in the 3^rd period, except for Game 5, where there was only a one goal differential. I don’t know about you but that’s hockey I want to see. Nobody on the Blackhawks had a truly remarkable series. They won as a team as it should be in hockey, the ultimate team sport. Some players did have remarkable games though, as Dustin Byfuglien did in Game 5 and Patrick Kane did in Game 6. The thing I love most about hockey is watching each player on the team hoist the Stanley Cup and skate around with it. You don’t see anything else like that in any other sport, period. Just the player, the Stanley Cup and the moment. It’s something every player in the NHL hopes to achieve but very few get too. An experience so awesome that it brings tears to those that didn’t get to achieve it, like Jeremy Roenick the great Blackhawk for eight seasons and 20 NHL seasons overall.

You shouldn’t be surprised that the Blackhawks won the series, as we still haven’t had a team with a regular season goal differential of less than a +25 win the cup in the past 20 years, maybe longer (This is my favorite hockey stat). The Flyers had no chance with their +11. It also wasn’t all bad for Huet. As many of you know, Niemi was the first Finnish goalie to win the Cup. Despite not really playing, Huet was also the first Frenchman to win the Cup. Here are some of the Blackhawks celebrating with Jay Leno, gag.

Finally for shits and giggles here are some of the best user comments on Yahoo by fans after the Blackhawks were down 1-2 to the Predators after their Game 3 loss.

A Yahoo! User Thu Apr 22, 2010 03:02 pm PDT

“I can’t wait next year for the Hawks 50 year anniversary since the last cup we won! We’re not gonna win it this year cause we won’t get out of the 1st round but when they bring those guys from the 1961 cup team come out on their rascals i will stand up and salute them. I hope they make snow tires for rascals. Maybe the Caps will let us borrow the cup next year for the ceremony. We probably won’t make the playoffs next year with a new coach and we play in a division with the Red Wings, Preds, (who are embarassing us) and the Blues and Jackets will be better next year so we might be last in the central. I also can’t wait to hang that central division banner next year. The Caps can have the cup we have the central division! That’s most important.” (This guy feels really stupid right now)

tom c Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:40 am PDT

“I don’t care who wins the cup if Detroit doesnt all I do know is it won’t be CHICAGO….1961…hahaha. Get used to it and the Wings will win another cup or two before you do if ever again…Love hossa now don’t ya…”

Biggest Surprises/Best of the Year

Teams

Phoenix Coyotes – How many of you had the Coyotes getting home ice in the 1^st round and then coming within a game of knocking off the perennial contending Red Wings? Nope nobody did and if you said you did, you’re lying. Apparently Wayne Gretzky was holding them back. Kidding aside this plucky group gave it their all. They even did it with the possibility of being sold at any moment during the season and having to possibly relocate at the end of the season. Ilya Bryzgalov, who had a few previous outstanding seasons, finally became a somewhat household name. He was 2^nd in the league with eight shutouts and he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy. The rest of the squad collectively overachieved. Shane Doan was the leading scorer with a whopping 55 points and only one other player had over 50 points (Matthew Lombardi). Radim Vrbata was the only Coyote to have over 20 goals during the season with 24. Despite losing in the 1^st round, the season was definitely something to build on. More importantly it may have finally sold hockey in the Phoenix desert.

Montreal Canadiens – The Canadiens magic season can be summed up with two words, Jaroslav Halak. If it wasn’t for his emergence the Canadiens would have had just another 1^st round exit. But he did emerge out of the shadow of Carey Price. I’ll admit Carey Price doesn’t cast a very large shadow but Halak had mostly been his backup until this year when they evenly split time in the regular season. Come the playoffs Halak was named the starter but he really didn’t flourish until after he was benched for Game 4 and then he came back with a vengeance. He even faced 134 shots over a three game span against the Capitals, not an easy task. It wasn’t all Halak though, Michael Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec led the Canadiens offensively in the regular season and postseason. Though Gionta and Cammalleri combined for almost half of the 46 postseason goal total with 22 goals. There was also the emergence of P.K Subban who stepped in for the injured Andrei Markov and perhaps even surpassed his level of play. Subban was loved in Montreal for his hustle, determination and skill and hated everywhere else for his big mouth. The 2009-10 Canadiens returned the storied franchise to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1993. Even a 1^st round series win is celebrated like they just won the Stanley Cup in Montreal. I’ll leave with two videos, one the crazy but tame celebration and one not so tame.

Best Game 7

Washington Capitals vs. Montreal Canadiens

I can’t think of a game that had me at the edge of the seat like this one, in quite some time. Despite the Canadiens winning the previous two games, I didn’t really give them much of a chance. First you had the Canadiens taking the early 1-0 lead on the power play, just 30 seconds into the game. But it was still early and the Capitals had plenty of time to come back. Only after the second intermission it was still 1-0 and then you start to wonder, maybe the Canadiens can pull it off. When Montreal scored with about four minutes left in the game to take a 2-0 lead, you realized you were watching history in the making. About a minute and a half later the Capitals finally score to cut it to 2-1 and then you think maybe they can come back. All you know is the final two minutes would be the most intense you’ve ever seen in your life. Then Montreal gets called for a penalty to make 5 on 4. The Capitals pull their goalie to make it a 6 on 4 and you think surely the number 1 offensive team can score a goal with a two man advantage to save their season. But no Halak comes up huge the time runs out and see Alex Ovechkin slumped over to end another season. Relive the final two minutes here.

Best Series

This one was really hard for me to pick so I decided I’ll name four and you can vote. I didn’t include the Stanley Cup Finals because well it’s the Stanley Cup Finals so it would be memorable even if it sucked, which in this case it did not.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings

This was an awesome series that we were sadly deprived of a Game 7. It featured lots of open ice action, some high scoring and sometimes some great saves. Watching Doughty shut down the Sedin twins was also great to watch.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Phoenix Coyotes

This series was also great. The enthusiasm in the Jobing.com Arena (dumb name) was awesome and Detroit matched it. There was a ton of open ice as well in this series and high scoring. Game 7 took a little bit of the luster off of the series. Favorite moment is the Shane Doan face after his Game 2 goal, who could ever forget that.

Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Game 1 was truly spectacular and featured a lot of pretty goals and an overtime win. Game 4 featured the same 5-4 score as Game 1 and another overtime. This series will mostly be remembered for the Flyers and their great series comeback and never give up attitude.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Hard to pick this series over the Canadiens vs. Capitals series but I did because you didn’t really know what you were witnessing at that point, plus I missed a lot of the games because there were so many other series going on. Other than Game 7 (more on that below) I thought this series was pretty evenly matched with great intensity and an always great Montreal crowd. Just love that atmosphere in the Bell Centre.

Biggest Disappointments/Worst of the Year

Teams

Anaheim Ducks – After coming within a game of the Western Conference Finals last season, Anaheim made the off season trade of sending Chris Pronger to the Flyers for Joffrey Lupul and Luca Sbisa. They had hoped to bolster their offense while securing another blueliner of the future for Pronger. They felt the addition of Lupul coupled with the signing of Saku Koivu would give them the offense they needed in order to make another run at the cup. Unfortunately while that looked great on paper, absolutely nothing worked out for the Ducks. Sbisa, while he will probably be on the Ducks blueline for the next decade, at only 19 was not ready for the big leagues especially with the crowded Ducks defenseman corp; he wouldn’t have cracked the top two pairs. Coach Carlyle felt it was important Sbisa received playing time, so down to the minors to dominate he went. Lupul was reunited with the team that drafted him but a happy reunion it was not meant to be. He ended up playing in only 23 games and was out the rest of the year with back spasms and a subsequent herniated disk surgery. While in the long run the trade might look kindly on the Ducks, they essentially traded Pronger and received nothing in return.

Koivu and Teemu Selanne, Team Finland linemates, never really developed the chemistry the team was hoping for when they acquired Koivu. Selanne also suffered two of his worst injuries in his career almost in succession, further dampening the Ducks hopes of a potent second line. Towards the last few weeks of the season, the duo finally blossomed and showed their potential but it was to late. But give credit where it’s due, Koivu was the Ducks MVP for the last two weeks racking up 11 points in the final five games. On the back-end the defensive core seemed to be okay with the trade of Pronger because the Ducks had acquired James Wisniewski and Ryan Whitney last season. Wisniewski played adequately but found himself suspended a few times, causing the group to not be at full strength. Ryan Whitney did not fit in well, especially at the power play point where the Ducks had hoped he would fill Pronger’s skates. He did not and the Oilers and Ducks swapped Olympians with the Ducks receiving Lubomir Visnovsky (further giving me another beyond complicated name to type when I recap the past weeks Anaheim Ducks games). Lack of chemistry and injuries really were the downfall of the Ducks. Next year looks promising though if they can bring back all of the key players next season.

Washington Capitals – There’s an old adage that goes “defense wins championships”. Apparently the Capitals have never heard of it. Coasting through the regular season playing in the weakest division and racking up goals like nobody’s business, these Capitals seemed destined for great things. They were the Goliath of the NHL. But unfortunately for the Capitals, there was also a David lurking named the Montreal Canadiens and their mighty stone Jaroslav Halak. Now don’t get me wrong the Capitals had a 3-1 series lead at one point, so it’s not like they played horribly throughout. It’s just when you play four series in three seasons and they all go to even games and you only win one of them, people start to wonder many things. I don’t blame the Capitals for only getting three goals by Halak in games five, six and seven, because lets face it, the line of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull in their primes probably wouldn’t have scored any more goals either. I more concerned with their lack of heart and their willingness to do whatever it takes to win. I’m also concerned with their defense. Mike Green is probably the premier offensive defenseman in the league but he’s nowhere near the top of defensive defenseman in the league. That’s really where the Capitals need him to be. He just completed his fourth season though, so barring something drastic on his part I really don’t think he will improve. The NHL really needs to do him a favor and stop nominating him for Norris Trophies he doesn’t deserve. The Capitals need to acquire better defensive talent and they need to become a more dynamic offensive team. I will give props to Semyon Varlamov who had a pretty good postseason. Unfortunately not many noticed it. Who knows though, the Sharks had a 1^st round exit last year and made it to the Conference Finals this year. The same could happen to the Capitals.

Worst Game 7

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens

This Game 7 was somewhat reminiscent of last years 2^nd round game between the Penguins and Capitals in which the Penguins destroyed the Capitals 6-2 in the 2^nd round in a hugely disappointing game as well. This time the Penguins were on the losing end. I’m still not really sure how the defending Champions would show up so flat footed at home, but they did. They lost the game 5-2 and were even down in the 2^nd at one point 0-4, yikes. As awesome as this series was, and it was one of the best of the playoffs, this game couldn’t have been anymore anticlimactic. It also showcased none of the things that made the series great, other than Halak playing well again. Marc-Andre Fleury was awful, the Penguins defense was awful, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had no points and the game wasn’t close.

Worst Series

Chicago Blackhawks vs. San Jose Sharks

I alluded to it in the Blackhawks season recap but this certainly was the most disappointing series in some time. Normally you don’t get the 1 vs. 2 match-up very often and considering what we got in the East, I expected so much more from this series. The Sharks had just come off a dismantling of the Detroit Red Wings and the Blackhawks looked strong coming off their Canucks series win. Now none of the final scores had more than a two goal win but you just got the vibe the whole series that the Sharks didn’t have much of a chance, especially after they dropped the first two games at home. The score in those games were a lot closer than the game actually was. Nobody on the Sharks came to play except Patrick Marleau and they never scored more than two goals in a game. You can’t expect to win the series when you average 1.75 goals a game in the series. The Sharks also took a bunch of dumb penalties in Game 4 when it was tied 2-2, basically handing the game to the Blackhawks on a silver platter. Evgeni Nabokov didn’t play well and now I hear the Sharks want to resign him, yikes. He’s a regular season goalie, not a playoffs goalie.

Miscellaneous

Can only happen in hockey

Duncan Keith loses seven teeth – Duncan Keith, or how he’s referred to on the internet Duncan Teeth, showed the world just how tough hockey players are. While trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone on the power play, Keith took a puck to his face from a clearing attempt by Patrick Marleau. Marleau ended up scoring a breakaway goal because Keith was taken out of the play. But showing the true hockey player that he is, Keith returned to the game minutes later. Here’s a nice video on the play and what happened afterwards.

You’ve got to be kidding me

The Philadelphia Flyers come back from an 0-3 series deficit – This feet was made all the more impressive by the fact that they only got into the playoffs on a shootout win in the final game of the season against the New York Rangers. But the Flyers became only the third team in NHL history to comeback, joining the 1975 New York Islanders and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. Not only did they come back down from 0-3 in the series, they also came back down 0-3 in Game 7. Not to mention they had to switch stating goalies in the middle of the series due to injury and they lost their 2^nd leading scorer, Jeff Carter, for a month due to injury. I can’t think of a team that had to battle so much to get so far. Many thought this might be a team of destiny but their destiny ran out in the Stanley Cup Finals. Special acknowledgment goes to Danny Briere for leading the whole NHL in postseason scoring and for having some pretty goals along the way.

Iron Man Award

Craig Anderson – Now here’s a guy that had never been a starter in the league before or played in more than 31 games. He played in 71 games this season for the Colorado Avalanche, almost the same amount of games he played combined in his first five years in the league. He didn’t stop there, as he faced the most shots of any goalie during the regular season with 2233. He was one of the primary reasons the Avalanche rebounded so quickly. In the playoffs he faced the highest shot total of any goalie to play six games and sometimes he faced more than those with a few more games played than him. He finished the playoffs with the highest SV% at .933. Here’s hoping he can keep up the pace next year.

Team on the Rise

Los Angeles Kings – Something is brewing in Los Angeles and it isn’t the latest motion picture. It’s the first legit team the Kings have put together since Wayne Gretzky left town. They’re a young and deep talented team. Anze Kopitar at only 22 has seemingly blossomed into an elite player leading the league in scoring for a good chunk of the time. He did severely cool off towards the end of the season. However, I think this season was just a little preview of what’s to come. The Kings have a great pair of young defenseman in Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. Doughty is something truly special and his skilled were acknowledged with the Norris Trophy nomination. While I don’t think he will win it this year, my vote is on Duncan Keith, I think Doughty might dominate the award in the future like Bobby Orr, Raymond Bourque and Nicklas Lidstrom have in the past. Doughty was simply sensational in the Canucks series. How quickly the Kings can ascend, falls mostly on the shoulders of Jonathan Quick. Quick was a workhorse this season and will probably need to be again next season. He will need to continue to hone his skill in his 3^rd full season if the Kings hope to advance further in the playoffs.

The comeback that never was

Ray Emery – Nobody wanted to take a chance on Ray Emery because of his previous bad behavior but the Flyers desperate for goalie help decided it would be worth the risk. Emery started all of 29 games before suffering a torn muscle. He was later diagnosed with avascular necrosis and was out for the rest of the year. In his absence Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton led the Flyers all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. With the Flyers recently signing Johan Backlund and already having Brian Boucher under contract, its unlikely free agent Emery will return. I don’t think any other NHL team will give him a chance either and I’m not even sure if he is fully recovered to play.

Breakout of the year

Steven Stamkos – I gave it to Stamkos because he had struggled so much the previous year. It’s not easy to come into the league as the 1^st overall pick in the draft. Expectations are high and you are expected to perform. Stamkos rose to the challenge in his second year. Playing along side Martin St. Louis certainly helps but Stamkos is a special talent in his own right. Leading the league in goals in your second season is also an impressive feat. Stamkos will only continue to get better. John Tavares was another number 1 pick this year that put up almost identical numbers to what Stamkos did in his first season. I suspect his second season will end up being his breakout year as well. Craig Anderson would have gotten this nod for the regular season but I gave him another award. Jaroslav Halak would defiantly have gotten this award for the postseason but I already wrote about him.

Rookie of the Year (Calder Trohpy)

Tyler Myers – Besides goalie I think defenseman is the hardest position to learn. It’s not easy to try and stop the speed and skill of the top wingers in the NHL on a nightly basis. Myers was also the only defenseman on the Sabres in the top 80 in defenseman scoring. It’s very rare that there aren’t at least two defenseman from each team in the top 60. Leading all players on your team in ice time is always an honor for any rookie. Myers should compliment Ryan Miller for years to come.

Goalie of the Year (Vezina Trophy)

Ryan Miller – Goaltending has only gotten better over the years and there were a lot of strong contenders. Tuukka Rask came in a strong second but he played in 24 fewer games so I’d like to see what he can do with a full season under his belt. Miller had the 2^nd best GAA at 2.22 and the 2^nd best SV% at .931. Both were behind Rask. He faced the 4^th most shots and had the 4^th most wins. So while he wasn’t first in any major statistical category, he was 1^st in taking over a game. He isn’t perfect though as he did make a few of my Goat of the Week awards this season. But as the entire World witnessed in the Olympics, he can put on quite a good show. This past January I saw Miller play live against the Ducks. He didn’t start the game, Patrick Lalime did. But the Ducks chased Lalime after the first 10 minutes after he gave up four goals. Though the Ducks did manage to score one goal on Miller, the whole entire feel of the game seemed different when he came into it. It was if he told the Ducks this isn’t going to be easy anymore. It wasn’t. I hope that Miller doesn’t suffer the same fate Dominik Hasek did in Buffalo. That is to go cupless.

Player of the Year (Hart Trophy)

Sidney Crosby – Now before we start this, I am not a diehard Sidney Crosby fan. I think he is a great player but I do not worship the ground he walks on. Furthermore, I honestly don’t think he is the most talented player on his team. I think Evgeni Malkin is. Two years ago Malkin would have easily won my player of the year award (I know my award isn’t that prestigious). So why does Crosby get it when Alex Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin had just as good or even better seasons? Well first off, Malkin didn’t have the same year he had in the previous two seasons and a lot of that was due to injuries. So basically Crosby had to carry the Penguins on his back. The other important thing to remember is Crosby doesn’t really have anyone else on his line. Sure Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin are good players but they aren’t great. Sedin has his brother Daniel Sedin on the same line and Ovechkin has Nicklas Backstrom and sometimes Alexander Semin. Crosby is the line all by himself. He also scored 51 goals which was not only tied for 1^st in the league but his own personal best. He had never even reached 40 goals in any of his previous seasons. He was also red hot in the 1^st round of the playoffs before coming back down to earth against Halak. I don’t think he has reached his full potential yet but I felt he was the best player on the ice this season.

Vote for the best of the season

Some were hard cuts particularly in the Goat category, so many goats this season. But I narrowed it down to three fights and five goats. There is no playoff goats so no Dan Boyle own goal or Halak stupidly playing the puck way beyond his net.

Fight of the Season

Cam Janssen vs. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond

David Koci vs. Brian McGrattan

Rick Rypien vs. Cam Janssen

Goat of the Season

Nikolai Khabibulin misplays the puck in the final minute of the game against the Flames to give them the win.

Tim Thomas mishandles the puck allowing the Penguins to get the win in overtime.

Keith Ballard taking out his own unsuspecting goalie

Ivan Vishnevskiy loses the puck off his stick and into his own empty net

Antoine Vermette comes sweeping in and knocks it in his own goal.

Antti Niemi has really been the anchor of the Blackhawks of late. Though the numbers don’t back it up, he really has been the only Blackhawk playing well in the past few games besides Marian Hossa. Almost all of the goals he has let in as of late, have not been his fault. The defense of the Blackhawks, one of their strengths throughout this season, has been bordering on atrocious as of late. Their inability to get the puck out of their own zone and their constant turnovers in their own zone, has contributed to three goals in the last two games. If you want you can chalk up the goal off of Versteeg’s back as the defense’s fault as well in Game 4, as well as the empty net goal that Duncan Keith didn’t play properly off the boards and a Claude Giroux goal with nobody on him. Well shoot that’s six of nine goals or 2/3 of the goals in the last two games chalked up to sheer defensive stupidity. The defense must play better.

I’m still not really sure why they blew the whistle in overtime of Game 3 after the goal that wasn’t. It wasn’t a goal but the rebound by Jeff Carter was a goal. The refs should have let the play continue and then at the next stoppage, which in this case was the Carter goal, reviewed the previous action like they did earlier in the game when the no goal was overturned. Of course they wouldn’t have needed to review the initial no goal because Carter’s goal would have nullified that. This pretty much sums up the inconsistency of the officiating in this series. On the eventually game winning goal, what were the Blackhawks’ defenders doing? Two Flyers right in front of the net with nobody on them, enabling Giroux to net the game winner on a deflection. Then came the debacle known as Game 4 for the Blackhawks.

The first two Flyers goals were caused by bad plays by Niklas Hjalmarsson in the Chicago zone, who Niemi won’t be sending any Christmas cards to anytime soon. The next Flyers goal can be attributed to awesome passing on the Flyers end or horrible defense, again, by the Blackhawks with nobody  anywhere near Giroux and Antti Niemi playing way to far out of his net. You can take your pick. Next was the goal off of Versteeg’s back to basically set-up a 1-4 deficit for the Blackhawks to try and overcome on the road. Certainly not impossible but not something you really want to have overcome.

From a Flyers point of view I say things are looking pretty good. While they lost the first two games, they only lost by one goal in each game. They went to overtime in Game 3 but they won and they basically crushed the Blackhawks in Game 4 except for a late rally by the Blackhawks in that game. The Flyers are just out hustling the Blackhawks on loose pucks and icings. It just seems like the Flyers want it more. Another thing the Flyers have done well is neutralizing the Blackhawks’ top line and Dustin Byfuglien. Byfuglien only has 1 assist so far in the series. He also has four PIM to Pronger’s only two (not including Pronger’s game misconduct). The four PIM for Byfuglien came all in Game 3 when the Flyers effectively got under his skin. Byfuglien’s main asset this postseason, especially in the series against the Canucks, was getting under the opponent’s skin and forcing them to take dumb penalties. He has not been able to do that this series, though I agree the refs have not been kind to the Blackhawks in regards to calling penalties. He also hasn’t been able to effectively get under Leighton’s skin and screen him. The majority of the Blackhawks’ goals this season has come from their net presence, which they have yet to establish in this series. In hindsight the 2-0 series advantage by the Blackhawks was probably more of an advantage for the Flyers. The Flyers seem to enjoy playing from behind and being the underdog. Where as the Blackhawks can get a bit cocky with a lead.

Keys for today and the rest of the series:

Blackhawks:

1. Continue to tinker with line changes to find the right combination. Coach Quenneville was successful in Game 4 as the 3rd period surge came as a result of the line changes in that game. Coach Q will continue to tinker in Game 5.

2. They must establish more of a net presence on all of their lines. Leighton needs to work harder and they need to be better positioned for rebounds.

3. The defense absolutely must play better. They need to not be so careless with the puck in their own zone. If they need to take icings to get the puck out of the net, then do so. It’s better than give it right to the Flyers.

Flyers:

1. Chris Pronger must continue to play as dominate as he has. He’s averaging major minutes and that likely won’t change.

2. Continue to get the balanced scoring from all lines. The Flyers have yet to have any player score more than one goal in a game. All lines and players are contributing.

3. Michael Leighton must continue to play better. His play and confidence has improved greatly since Game 1 but with Chicago’s line changes and with having two of the possible three games at Chicago, Leighton will be challenged more. He must rise to the challenge.

Game 1 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs was nothing short of an awesome showcase for the excitement that is the NHL. It had everything you could possibly ask for. A rocking crowd, lead changes, lots of goals, a close game and little known players stepping into the spotlight. In fact no team ever had a lead greater than one goal, you really couldn’t ask for anything more. It also had some questionable things, such as a seemingly skewed refereeing job. The top story of the night however was goaltending.

I went back through the past 50 years of NHL history and unless I’m wrong, I could not find any other match-up where both (not one goalie, both) starting goalies had no playoff experience prior to their current playoff run. If that’s true you’re watching history in the making. It also explains why we had such a high scoring affair. Both Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton looked pretty shaky, especially early on. Some of the shots that went in, probably wouldn’t have been a goal in the earlier rounds. Niemi seemed to get better as the game progressed and made some critical saves later. To wit he allowed four goals in the 1^st half of the game and only one goal in the 2^nd half. I honestly couldn’t believe it when Niemi raced out of his net, almost to the top of the face-off circle, in the 2^nd period with two Blackhawks and one Flyer chasing after the puck. It made me think of Halak’s huge blunder in Game 5 against the Flyers, which reversed the momentum in that game. Luckily for Niemi nothing bad happened but he really needs to not do that again.

The 1^st goal of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final was a pretty lame goal to christen the series with. Niemi blocked the initial shot only to bat it off of Niklas Hjalmarsson’s head and into the net. I like that the Blackhawks didn’t let them phase them as they marched right back down to tie the game 1-1 on Troy Brouwer’s goal.

It wasn’t much of a surprise to me that the Blackhawks scored a shorthanded goal on only their 2^nd shorthanded situation of the game. Chicago lead the league in shorthanded goals in the regular season and they currently do so in this postseason. They pretty much dominated this Flyers’ power play and I believe they had more scoring chances on it then the Flyers did. Dave Bolland got the short handed goal which Leighton probably should have stopped. The Flyers did get the equalizer on their next power play and knotted the game up at 2 a piece. Daniel Briere put the Flyers ahead in the closing seconds of the 1^st period following up his own shot.

About a minute into the second Patrick Sharp led a breakaway down the ice but decided to keep it and scored on another shot that Leighton probably should have stopped. Sharp tied the game at 3-3. Then some guy named Blair Betts, seriously I’ve never head of him before, brought the Flyers back in front 4-3. This goal was on Niemi as he could have and should have played the puck behind the net better to give position to the Blackhawks. Instead a few seconds Betts had the goal off the post. Kris Versteeg tied the game at 4, by cleaning up in front of the Flyers’ net.

Hossa nets his second assist on the night, both on Brouwer goals, with a sick little pass from behind the net. Leighton then gets pulled for Brian Boucher after he hits that magic number five, the number most goalies seemed to get pulled at. The score was now 5-4. Danny Briere then emulates Hossa with his own little nifty pass to Arron Asham who ties the game 5-5 for our 5^th tie of the night. Thomas Kopecky got the game winning goal after waiting out Boucher and with help from Brent Seabrook and Bolland keeping it in the offesnive zone.

Key Players: Briere broke his mini three game slump to have a huge game with a goal and three assists to pace the Flyers. Brouwer had two goals and an assist to lead the Blackhawks. Marion Hossa had two nice assists.

Not so Key Players: The Blackhawks top line of Jonathan Toews, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Kane produced no points and a -9 rating. Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter were there own woeful -8 and also produced no points. I can’t even recall either captain, Richards and Toews, doing much of anything significant. Both will really need to step it up and get their lines out of their current funks.

Then there’s the referring. I like how there weren’t any calls in the 3^rd period, just let them play. What I didn’t like is that the Blackhawks had four penalties and the Flyers had none in the game. Hard to believe the 2^nd most penalized team in the league in the regular season did not commit a single penalty. I saw a few high sticks and holds that probably should have been called. The 20,000 or so “refs” in the stand sure saw some as well. I’m hoping we get better called games in the rest of the series.

As for the physicality of the game, I have to say I was expecting a little bit more. Early in the 1^st period Byfuglien was mixing it up with Chris Pronger and Asham but they didn’t but heads as much later on. Part of it was it just being the 1^st game, the other part was Chicago never really got their offense set, especially on the top line, for Byfuglien to do his thing and cause problems. Game 2 should be interesting to see how this dynamic progresses.

The goaltending is what really makes this series. Both of these teams are pretty even on all aspects of their game and they’re both really deep. If you want to see just how even these teams are, check out Game 1′s shots on goal. Both teams had 32 shots a piece. The team that ultimately wins Lord Stanley’s Cup is the team that gets the better goalie play between their two inexperienced netminders. Niemi got the better of the 1^st game, but not by much. The Flyers have a slight advantage, as they believe they have two goaltenders that they can confidently insert into the game. The Blackhawks have to rely solely on Niemi, as I’m pretty sure they have no confidence in Cristobal Huet. The Flyers have a decision to make in who should start the next game. Personally I would go with Boucher as he played better and seemed more composed. It’s obviously not an easy decision for the Flyers to make. Game 2 is set for Memorial Day May 31^st at 8pm ET.

This Day in Hockey History

May 29, 2002 Dominik Hasek recorded his 10th career playoff shutout in the Red Wings 2-0 win over the Avalanche at Colorado, in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.

Well that was fast, a sweep and a five game series in the conference finals. Of course last year it was a sweep (Penguins) and a five game series (Red Wings) so I guess I shouldn’t complain because the 2009 Stanley Cup Final was one of the most entertaining in some time.

In case you are wondering and I’m sure you aren’t, I correctly picked 2 of 7 series in the East and 6 of 7 in the West. So even if I get the Stanley Cup Finals prediction wrong, I will still finish above .500.

WCS 2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. ECS 7 Philadelphia Flyers

Season Series: 1-0 Flyers in a 3-2 win

Playoff History: 1-0 Blackhawks, the only time they ever met was in 1971 in the quarter finals which the Blackhawks swept.

Cup Drought: Flyers 35 years, Blackhawks 49 years

Past Stanley Cup Experience: Flyers (Chris Pronger) Blackhawks (John Madden, Marian Hossa) I don’t think I missed anyone.

GF/GA History: The Flyers were a +11 during the season and the Blackhawks were a +62. Since we haven’t had a team win the Stanley Cup in the last 20 years with a less than +25 differential, it doesn’t look good for the Flyers. This is also the largest differential since the Detroit Red Wings (+64) beat the Carolina Hurricanes (Even) 4-1 in the 2001-02 Stanley Cup Final.

Stars to Watch: I mentioned that Jonathan Toews would have to step it up big time in this playoffs for the Blackhawks to reach their Stanley Cup aspirations. So far he has, leading the team in assists and points and a few sick passes to boot. He will need to continue his current pace. For the Flyers I’m going with Danny Briere. It’s important for the Flyers to get secondary scoring and Briere had been providing a lot of that with an eight game point streak out of nine games. The last three games he had 0 points and a -1. He will need to step it up for the Flyers to have a chance.

X-Factor: Marion Hossa has so far been mostly productive with 11 points in 16 games. But he only has two goals so far. If he really thinks that “third times the charm” and he really wants to win a cup, I want to seem he prove that on the ice. His shooting percentage is a paltry .039%, 2nd worst on the team. For the Flyers I’d like to see how Jeff Carter’s foot holds up. He seems good so far increasing his ice time in Game 5 and scoring two goals. If he can continue that, it will be a huge boost to the Flyers.

Goalie Problem?: The funniest thing about this goalie match-up is that the biggest question for both the Blackhawks and Flyers over the years was can they find the right goalie to led them deep into the playoffs? Now it could be argued it’s one of their greatest strengths. Michael Leighton vs. Antti Niemi, two guys who were not the starting goalies at the beginning of the season. Heck Leighton wasn’t even on the team on opening day. But here they are, two of the hottest goalies around. The Flyers actually boasted two hot goalies this postseason with Brian Boucher as well. Leighton is 1st in playoff GAA and SV%, Niemi is 3rd and 5th respectively (I ignored goalies with only 1 game played). The looming question is can they keep it up? I think they both will. I still think Niemi is more tested seeing as how he has played more games but he has also faced more offensively skilled teams. The key though is how many bodies will be in front of them? Whatever defense can keep the zone more clear will obviously give their goalie the advantage.

Fun Facts: Only three Flyers and two Blackhawks were alive when the Flyers last won the cup. The 1974–75 Flyers were the last Stanley Cup champion to be comprised entirely of Canadian born players.

Prediction: I don’t like the Flyers that much but bias aside I really think the Blackhawks have the more talented team. It’s amazing the Flyers even made the playoffs limping in with a 5-8-2 record down the stretch. Of course the team they beat right before that 5-8-2 stretch was none other than the Blackhawks. Then again the reason that Chris Pronger was acquired was to lead them to the Stanley Cup Finals and he did that. Though it was also to shut down the likes of Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin, players he never ended up facing in the postseason. It’s funny how things work out sometimes. One thing this series will be is physical. I’m really looking forward to Byfuglien and Eager mixing it up with Pronger, Asham and Hartnell. Generally you don’t see many fights in the playoffs but I think this series will have a few. Dustin Byfuglien will need to continue to excel at the little things he does so well, in order for the Blackhawks to have the advantage. I’m thinking Blackhawks in five or six.

Numbers, Numbers

10 – The +/- rating for the Flyers’ Claude Giroux 2nd in the postseason

5 – Power play goals for Jonathan Toews tied for the postseason lead

9 – Power play assists for Mike Richards 1st in the postseason (Kane and Toews are 2nd with 8 each)

4 – Game winning goals for Danny Briere and Dustin Byfuglien 1st in the postseason

5 – The number of shutouts for the Flyers, almost half of the 11 total for the whole postseason

3 – The number of shots by defenseman Ryan Parent in 16 games played

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

May 24, 2000 Claude Lemieux scored his 80th career playoff goal and Alexander Mogilny scored the game-winner, his first career playoff game-winning goal in the Devils 2-1 win against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

May 25, 1989 Calgary Flames beat the Canadiens 4-2 to win the 1989 Stanley Cup Championship. It was the first time since 1928 that the Canadiens lost the final game of the Finals on home ice (Rangers won at the Forum against the Maroons in ’28).

May 26, 1966 Chicago’s Bobby Hull was named the winner of the NHL’s Hart Trophy, as the league’s MVP.

May 27, 1994 Stephane Matteau scored the winning goal at 24:24 of overtime to lead the Rangers to a 2-1 win over the Devils, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in New York. Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals vs Vancouver.

May 28, 2003 Goalie Parick Roy announced his retirement after 18 NHL seasons with Montreal and Colorado. Roy retired as the NHL’s all-time leader with 1,029 regular season games 551 wins, 247 Stanley Cup games, 151 playoff victories and 20 playoff shutouts.

May 29, 1993 Wayne Gretzky set a Stanley Cup record, with his 8th career playoff hat trick, and added an assist to lead the Kings to a 5-4 win at Toronto, in Game 7 of the Campbell Conference Finals. The win advanced the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals.

How do you say disappointing? – So the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs were shaping up to be some of the best playoff action in quite some time. The 1st round was just awesome. No sweeps and all games tied at 1-1. The 2nd round was for the most part pretty decent. Then we get to the Conference Finals where the awesome playoff momentum should surely carry over. I mean if the the previous rounds were close surely the next round would be the closest and most evenly matched right?

Wrong you are good sir. In the West San Jose looked nothing like the team that dismantled Detroit, not even close. Chicago looks like it was bored half the time in the 1st two games. San Jose now has the dubious distinction of four straight 100 point seasons and no Stanley Cup hardware to show for it. The only other team that did that would be the New York Islanders. Of course after their four years of ineptitude, they rattled off four straight championships. Something tells me that won’t be happening to the Sharks though, because there are simply way to many teams now.

In the East we got a match-up we weren’t expecting at all. But I was still excited because you had one team, the Flyers, coming off an improbable 0-3 comeback and another, the Canadiens, coming off of two straight thrilling Game 7 upsets. So naturally this would make for a great series right? Wrong again. The first two games weren’t even fun to watch unless you were a Flyers fan. Game 3 wasn’t much fun to watch either, unless you were a Canadiens fan. Game 4? Well that one was fun to watch except for the fact that the Canadiens signature this postseason, their defense, ended up costing them the game with two mistakes. One was a skate malfunction and really that’s just crappy luck, not much you can do with that. The other was a bad pass that Philly also converted.

Before we get into it congratulations go out to the Edmonton Oilers for getting Taylor Hall, he will be awesome for years to come. Yes they didn’t pick him yet but if they don’t, they have lost their minds.

7 Philadelphia Flyers vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens

I wish I could write more on this series but for some reason I can’t recall much of it.

What we learned: You really can’t predict the East, so stop trying.

Things I like: I like the way the Flyers rebounded in Game 4. It was a really crucial game on the road that they weren’t really expected to win after getting shalaked in Game 3. The 2nd period was key for them as they out shot the Canadiens 13 to 1.

I find it ironic that the Flyers biggest problem the last few years (Martin Biron, Robert Esche, Ron Hextall) was finding a quality goaltender to lead them to the Finals. Yet this year they can plug in any washed up goalie and watch him play phenomenally, weird.

Things I don’t: Why does Halak have such problems playing in Game 1′s? He didn’t play in Game 1 against Washington but he was pulled in both Game 1′s in the 2nd and 3rd round. He gave up six goals each time too. I’d like to think he hasn’t played the team yet so he has to feel them out. The problem is he isn’t a rookie and he has played these teams before.

Montreal actually out shot the Flyers in every game but game 4, which is weird because they only out shot the Penguins in two of the seven games and only once in the seven games against the Capitals, but they aren’t scoring much. The main issue is they don’t have any bodies in front of Michael Leighton. As Dustin Byfuglien has shown for the Blackhawks, having a net presence is important and helps you score goals.

Montreal is a mind boggling 1 for 16 on the power play in this series, that’s just awful. You won’t win many games if you can’t convert on the man advantage. They even had a 5 on 3 which they didn’t convert. Of course a lot of this goes back to my point of establishing a net presence, the Canadiens haven’t so the power play is suffering.

Likely Winner: Flyers, of course I didn’t think Montreal would come back down 3-1 to the Capitals. I also didn’t think the Flyers would come back down 3-0 to the Bruins. So maybe I should pick the Canadiens.

1 San Jose Sharks vs. 2 Chicago Blackhawks

Normally I break down the series and give my prediction but it’s over so… let’s recap it. Congratulations to the Blackhawks for making their first Stanley Cup Final since 1992.

This series reminded me of the Stanley Cup final in 2008 when the Penguins just looked lost the 1st two games and then came out and played well in the rest of the series. The same can be said for the Sharks, who were lost in the 1st two games and found in the 2nd two games. The problem is they didn’t win either of the 2nd two games, so series over.

The Sharks never scored more than two goals in any game against the Blackhawks. Now a lot of that is because of the sterling performance put in by Antti Niemi. But regardless, you still won’t win many games if you average 1.75 goals a game. The Sharks total lack of composure in the 3rd period of Game 4 really hurt them. It was tied 2-2 but they took 3 fairly dumb penalties in the period while the Blackhawks took none. Wouldn’t you know it the game winner was scored on the power play by the Blackhawks.

I think it’s time for the Sharks to do a complete overhaul on Defense. Evgeni Nabokov while he didn’t play horribly is not the goalie who will lead you to the Stanley Cup. He is also not getting any younger. Speaking of which the Defense is not getting any younger either. Only two of the top six defenseman are under 30. Come playoff time, you really need some fresh legs back there. The secondary scoring was non existent. Joe Pavelski who was so great against the Avalanche and in the first half against the Red Wings, failed to really show up against the Blackhawks. Other than Patrick Marleau nobody really showed up against the Blackhawks offensively.

Let’s not take anything away from the Chicago Blackhawks though. This was a team rebuilt from nothing in the draft. Also let’s face it when one of your key pieces, Dustin Byfuglien, was drafted in the 8th round you have an eye for talent. The Blackhawks have a great defensive core and are three lines deep in scoring talent. The checking line can also score at times. The only thing they were missing was solid goaltending, but they have found that in Antti Niemi. Let’s not forget to mention Duncan Keith losing most of his teeth and coming back out on the ice. Now that’s a hockey player.

Numbers Numbers

-11 – Joe Thornton’s plus minus rating for the Stanley Cup playoffs

9 – Number of goals for Joe Pavelski in the first 8 games

0 – Number of goals for Joe Pavelski in the second 7 games

5,625,000 – Cristobal Huet’s salary this season

826,875 – Antti Niemi’s salary this season

.953 – Halak’s SV% in games 5 through 7

.877 – Halak’s SV% in games 1 through 4

1 to 1 – The ratio of points to penalty minutes for Chris Pronger, the first time it isn’t in favor of PIM in his postseason career

3 – The number of shutouts for Michael Leighton in four games against the Canadiens.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

May 17, 1979 Ken Dryden became the first goalie in NHL history to score a point in the Stanley Cup Finals. He drew an assist on Jacques Lemaire’s goal at 17:10 of the third period, to give the Canadiens a 4-1 win over the Rangers in Game 3 of the Finals.

May 18, 1997 Wayne Gretzky extended his NHL record with his 10th playoff hat trick, and the Rangers scored three times on their first 4 shots for a 5-4 win at Philadelphia, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

May 19, 2000 Patrick Roy tied an NHL record with his 15th career playoff shutout (set by Clint Benedict in the 1920′s) and rookie Martin Skoula had 2 assists as the Avalanche won 2-0 over the visiting Dallas Stars, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

May 20, 2000 Craig Berube scored the game-winning playoff goal (his third goal in 86 playoff games) at 12:58 of the third period as Philadelphia won 3-1 at New Jersey, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

May 21, 1979 Montreal beat NY Rangers 4-1 in Game Five of the Finals, to become the 1979 Stanley Cup Champions. The win gave Montreal its 4th straight Cup, one short of their record five (1956-60).

If the Flyers win tonight then I’ll be back relatively soon with a Stanley Cup Finals preview.

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens

What we learned: Halak mostly still has it.

Things I Like: Other than a really bad game 1, probably due to exhaustion, Halak has been back to his three game wonder days against the Capitals. Only difference is that the Penguins are a little more versatile than the Capitals.

I love the atmosphere of the Bell Centre, just awesome. From the consistent chants to the chorus of boos it the kind of atmosphere I wish every NHL arena had.

Marc-Andre Fleury hasn’t always been on the top of his game in the regular season or the postseason. But he did just pitch his first shutout of the postseason in game 3. Also every postseason he starts to get hot and help carry the penguins, that shutout must just be the catalyst to his hot streak. He truly earned his shutout as a lot of the saves early in the game were pretty awesome.

Things I Don’t: Besides Michael Cammalleri, who continues to be red hot, the Canadiens are having some offensive woes. Top guys aren’t really delivering when they need to. After having an awesome start in the Capitals series, Tomas Plekanec has cooled considerably and has only one assist in the past four games including the game 7 against the Capitals. Scott Gomez has only one goal in the postseason and that was in game 1 against the Capitals. These guys need to step it up for the Canadiens to have a chance. The one bright spot for the Habs is that P.K Subban has stepped in nicely for the injured Andrei Markov.

Likely Winner: Penguins

8 – Goals by Michael Cammalleri tied for 2^nd in the league

3.03 – Team GAA for the Canadiens the worst of the remaining teams, that probably surprises you so go ahead blame Carey Price

6 Boston Bruins vs. 7 Philadelphia Flyers

What we learned: Philadelphia can really only beat New Jersey and the Bruins had everyone fooled.

Things I like: The Bruins  regular season scoring problems was apparently a clever ruse to make people think they couldn’t score. Averaging a healthy 4 goals a game the Bruins are also getting real balanced scoring. In all three games no player has scored more than one goal.

I love the high flying open ice of the series. Asham, Satan, Briere, Krejci have all had nifty move goals or breakaway goals. I may have missed some others. In some cases this series reminds me of the Canucks vs. Kings series.

Things I don’t: The Flyers aren’t getting manhandled by the Bruins but at the same time they aren’t winning. We already know they can’t beat the Penguins in the post season but now they aren’t showing much fight against the Bruins. It’s been a season of ups and downs for the Flyers and most of the ups came against the Devils. They really need to pull out one win to have more confidence for next year.

Brian Boucher who was phenomenal against the Devils has cooled considerably against the Bruins. In game 1 he faced a ton of shots and had some nice saves, so he was still admirable in defeat. But the last two games he has been about average and he really needs to get it going for the Flyers to get a win. Boucher’s SV% is .874 against the Bruins and was .939 against the Devils.

Likely Winner: Bruins

2.34 – Goals a game average for the Bruins in the regular season

2.89 – Goals a game average for the Bruins in the postseason

4 – PIM so far this postseason for Chris Pronger an all time low that’s for sure

1 San Jose Sharks vs. 5 Detroit Red Wings

What we learned: Sometimes you win by losing.

Thing I like: Last year the Sharks got bounced in six games to the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks were by no means your typical 8^th seed and even though it was embarrassing for the Sharks, I don’t think it was that bad. Losing for them was a good thing it made them learn they weren’t where they need to be yet, that were a little over confident and it made them work harder. It has so far paid off this year. The same thing will probably happen to the Washington Capitals next year.

Joe Pavelski is on fire, so much so that at this point it doesn’t matter that Thornton and Marleau aren’t. They both were awesome on the overtime breakaway winner in game 3 though, so that more than makes up for their other shortcomings.

Things I don’t: Detroit got probably hotter than anybody down the stretch to make the playoffs. Having said that, they probably overworked themselves to much to get into the playoffs. Then to go up against a team with something to prove after a seven game series against the Coyotes, also didn’t help much. They’ll be back next year thought they might pick a few games in the meantime.

Jimmy Howard isn’t quite ready to led his team in the playoffs but he is getting there. This is all valuable experience for him. He should be a solid bet between the pipes for the Wings for the next decade.

Likely Winner: Sharks

4 to 3 – The last three scores of the Wings vs. Sharks series, talk about tight

9 – Goals by Joe Pavelski, the league leader in the playoffs so far

2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. 3 Vancouver Canucks

What we learned: These teams just aren’t peaking at the same time.

Things I like: Dustin Byfuglien needed to be the sparkplug in this series and so far he has. In game 3 he was truly was playing his best in his element. He screened Luongo, he goaded Canucks and he gasped scored a hat trick. If he keeps it up the Canucks don’t have much of a chance. He is the ultimate X-Factor.

After a bad game 1 Antti Niemi has bounced back with stong efforts in games 2 and 3. The Blackhawks Stanley Cup hopes lies mainly on his shoulders and I like how he has performed so far. Everyone has bad games it’s how you bounce back from them that matters. Niemi’s strong saves in a hectic 1^st period in game 3 really help set the tone for the Hawks in the game.

I liked Marian Hossa’s enthusiasm after he scored his goal in game 3 with his “yeah baby” yell. He has been mostly quiet thus far and I’d like to see if that goal helps energize him and get him more involved.

Roberto Luongo is a quote machine. From his first round gem of “I only play when it matters” to this round’s “Momentum is overrated” I’d love to know what he’d say in the Stanley Cup round if given the chance to play for it.

Things I don’t: The referring this Stanley Cup playoffs has been spotty at best. In game 3 of the series a couple of Blackhawks basically pushed Luongo into the net and it was called a good goal. They reviewed it and it was still a good goal. Byfuglien and the other Blackhawk weren’t pushed in by any Canucks and it’s ludicrous to count the goal when Luongo had no chance to make a play. Not to mention in another series, I can’t remember which, a similar goal was disallowed. Consistency is something refs should strive for as is not allowing goals that clearly are not legal.

The Sedin twins have been neutralized by the Blackhawks top defensive pair since game 1. Since the top line provides most of the offense for the Canucks that poses a huge problem. Coach Vigneault needs to get more creative on his line changes and perhaps even split up the twins.

What I mostly hate is how the Canucks brought their A game in game 1 and the Blackhawks didn’t show up. The Blackhawks brought their A game in game 3 the Canucks didn’t really show up. In game 2 the 1^st period was all Canucks and the 3^rd period was all Blackhawks. I’d like to see both teams just bring their A game for the whole game just once. That’s what everyone wants to see.

Likely Winner: Blackhawks

.932 – Antti Niemi’s SV% in games 2 and 3 combined

0.5 – Combined PPG average of the Sedins against the Blackhawks

1.5 – Combined PPG average of the Sedins against the Kings

Goat of the Week

Kevin Bieksa – Vancouver Canucks

Kris Versteeg gets credited for the goal but Bieksa was the one that actually knocked it in. Bieksa was at a bad angle but he could have done a better job in knocking the puck in a different direction. Having said that he was rushed by Versteeg which made him panic and forced him to react quicker.

Warning: The video is highlights of the whole game but the goal is the first clips in the reel. This was the only video I could find that had the overhead replay of the goal.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

April 29, 1986 Rookie Claude Lemieux scored the winning goal at 5:55 of overtime as the Canadiens won 2-1 over the Hartford Whalers, at the Forum in Game 7 of the Adams Division Finals. Montreal advanced to the Conference Finals vs NY Rangers.

April 30, 2003 Anaheim’s Mike Leclerc scored a power play goal with 1:47 remaining in regulation, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere recorded his first career playoff shutout, in a 1-0 victory over the visiting Dallas Stars, in Game 4 of the Western Conf. Semi-Finals

May 01, 1992 Buffalo’s Pat LaFontaine became the first player in NHL history to score a goal in each of his team’s first 7 playoff games in one year. The milestone came in a 3-2 Sabres loss at Boston, in Game 7 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.

May 02, 1971 Bobby Hull scored a goal and added two assists to lead the Black Hawks to a 4-2 playoff win over the New York Rangers, in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals at Chicago Stadium. Black Hawks advanced to the Finals vs Montreal.

May 03, 1994 Don Sweeney scored the winning goal at 9:08 of overtime as the Bruins won 6-5 over the Devils at New Jersey, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The win gave Boston a 2-0 lead in the series.

May 04, 1972 Bobby Orr scored a goal to break the career record for defensemen playoff goals. #17 came in only his 47th playoff game. He broke the mark set by Detroit’s Red Kelly (16) in 94 playoff games. Boston lost to the Rangers, 5-2 at New York.

May 05, 1977 Montreal’s Bob Gainey scored twice to lead the Canadiens to a 2-1 win over the Islanders at New York, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals. With the win Montreal advanced to the Finals against Boston.

1 Washington Capitals vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens

Season Series: split 2-2

Playoff History: They have never played each other, well there’s a first time for everything.

Star to Watch: Alexander Semin because he needs to step his game up to the next level in the playoffs for the Capitals to have a chance at the Stanley Cup.

X-Factor: With Saku Koivu and Alexei Kovalev gone Tomas Plekanec is the man in Montreal. He produced a goose egg in three games in last years playoff. He will need to play well for Montreal to have any chance.

Goalie Problem: Both teams have problems and they both might go with a two headed monster in net. But I think in Montreal’s case they stick with Jaroslav Halak. He’s certainly played better down the stretch and earned it. As for the Capitals they said the plan on rotating between Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov. I say go for it because if there is any round which you can afford to experiment it would be this one. Have them play every other game and go with the hotter one.

Fun Fact: Washington has scored 101 more goals this year than Montreal.

Prediction: The Washington Capitals should sweep the Canadiens unless Varlamov/Theodore truly suck it up.

2 New Jersey Devils vs. 7 Philadelphia Flyers

Season Series: 5-1 Flyers

Playoff History: 2-1 in favor of the Devils, last meeting was in 2004 which the Flyers won in the 1^st round.

Star to Watch: Ilya Kovalchuk because the spotlight is on him. He was acquired for the playoffs and now it’s his time to shine. He has only played in four games in the postseason before but he’s surrounded by a group that’s been there before. I expect the Devils to continue to jumble their top two lines to find a good fit for everyone including Ilya.

X-Factor: Can Chris Pronger stay out of the penalty box? He sure had a problem doing so in Anaheim at key moments. However, last year was the first year he averaged under one PIM a game in his postseason career.

Goalie Problem: The Flyers employed a three headed monster in goal this season and lost two of its heads to injury and were left with just Boucher. This is his second stop in Philly and he was last in the playoffs with them in 2002 where he only played in two games. He played well in the must win against the Rangers.

Fun Fact: Philadelphia had the 2^nd highest PIM this season while New Jersey had the 3^rd lowest. I smell fights though.

Prediction: Well despite the advantage of the Flyers in the regular season, the Flyers have played poorly down the stretch and are lucky to have made the playoffs. The Devils are still mad about being bounced in the 1^st round the past two seasons. I think they and Brodeur have something to prove, Devils in six or seven.

3 Buffalo Sabres vs. 6 Boston Bruins

Season Series: Boston 4-2

Playoff History: 5-2 Boston, though Buffalo has won the last two meetings the last one being in 1999 in the 2^nd round.

Star to Watch: Well slim pickings in the star category but I’d have to say Michael Ryder. Marc Savard is injured, Phil Kessel is gone and it’s up to Ryder to lead them in playoff scoring like he did last year.

X-Factor: How will Calder candidate Tyler Myers hold up? Myers was phenomenal playing for the Kelowna Rockets in the playoffs last year and he will need to deliver again.

Goalie Problem: Neither of these teams have one, unless you consider choosing between Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas a problem. Personally I call that a luxury.

Fun Fact: If Tuukka Rask plays most/all of the round, this match-up will feature the top two goalies in GAA and SV% this season.

Prediction: Buffalo in five games because the Bruins just don’t score enough and goals will not be plentiful on Ryan Miller.

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Ottawa Senators

Season Series: split 2-2

Playoff History: Bad blood between these two. They didn’t meet last year as Ottawa didn’t make the playoffs but they met the previous two years in the 1^st round and here they are again. The first time the Senators beat the baby faced Penguins who vowed revenged next year. They got their revenge with a sweep and supposedly tanked on purpose to draw the Senators in the first round.

Star to Watch: Evgeni Malkin because he hasn’t been healthy lately but when he has been in the lineup he’s still been effective. The key to the series (but mostly other series) might be how often he can play.

X-Factor: Can Kris Letang (3) and Brooks Orpik (2) both score more goals in the postseason than they did in the regular season? Probably.

Goalie Problem: Mac-Andre Fleury hasn’t played all that well the last month except for three games. But playoff off time is generally when Fleury shines so he should rebound nicely. If not we might see some of Brent Johnson. Brian Elliot gets some much needed experience for Ottawa.

Fun Fact: The winner in each of the two previous playoff meetings went on to lose in the Stanley Cup Finals first to the Ducks and then to the Red Wings, will that happen again?

Prediction: Pittsburgh should win this probably in five games but possibly a sweep. The Senators are probably one of the weakest five seeded teams in some time.

1 San Jose Sharks vs. 8 Colorado Avalanche

Season Series: split 2-2

Playoff History: They have met three times in the playoffs before, the Avalanche hold the series lead 2-1. They haven’t met since the 2004 playoffs when San Jose bounced them in the 2^nd round.

Star to Watch: Patrick Marleau, people rag on Joe Thornton a lot, but where the hell does Marleau disappear to in the playoffs? He has 11 points in 19 games and a -2 the past two seasons. With the addition of Danny Heatley he does have a little less pressure but now he has no more excuses.

X-Factor: With all that Colorado youth I’m sure they’ll have no pressure and continue to play as normal. That might be a probably if San Jose ratchets up the intensity but Adam Foote, Milan Hejduk and Stephane Yelle have sure been here before.

Goalie Problem: Craig Anderson has been overworked this year and it’s by far the most amount of games he as ever played in the NHL in one season. Subsequently he started to wear out at the end. He was stupidly not rested in a meaningless game against the Kings. Way to go management. Evgeni Nabokov will need to put last year’s playoff debacle against the Ducks behind him and play better.

Fun Fact: San Jose has only been past the 2^nd round once. Colorado has been past the 2^nd round six times. San Jose has been around four more years as a franchise.

Prediction: Honestly this is probably the hardest series to predict. I can actually see the Avalanche beating the Sharks. Whatever happens, it’s going seven games but I’ll just say Colorado for the hell of it. Prove me wrong San Jose.

2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. 7 Nashville Predators

Season Series: Chicago 4-2

Playoff History: None, then again the Predators haven’t been around that much.

Star to Watch: Jonathan Toews because he really needs to have a breakout campaign in the playoffs for Chicago to reach where they want to go. Anchoring Hossa, Kane and/or Sharp should help him reach his potential.

X-Factor: The Predators have never been out of the 1^st round and they sure would like too. I’m sure the fans in Nashville really don’t care.

Goalie Problem: Antti Niemi has played really well down the stretch with a .927 SV%, except for the game against St. Louis. If he keeps it up we won’t see Huet. Nashville is a good first round opponent for Niemi as they aren’t exactly an offensive powerhouse. He only faced Nashville once this year and wasn’t stellar with an 800 SV% and a 4.00 GAA.

Fun Fact: Chicago has been to the playoffs 54 times and Nashville four times, not including this year.

Prediction: Chicago in five. I expect big things from Chicago this year; then again they made it all the way to the conference finals last year. Chicago just has way more talent than Nashville. I’m amazed Nashville finished as high as they did.

3 Vancouver Canucks vs. 6 Los Angeles Kings

Season Series: Vancouver 3-1

Playoff History: 2-1 Los Angeles and not since the 2^nd round in 1993 when the Kings made it to the Stanley Cup finals.

Star to Watch: Way too many to mention here. I’ll have to say Anze Kopitar vs. Henrik Sedin in the head to head center match-up, fun times indeed. Henrik obviously has the experience advantage and his new Art Ross hardware.

X-Factor: We have the inexperienced defense of the Kings, minus Scuderi and O’Donnell of course, vs. the banged up Canucks defense. I think we will be seeing some high scoring games.

Goalie Problem: What has happened to Roberto Luongo? If Luongo can regain his form the Canucks may go for, if not they could get bounced in the 1^st round.

Fun Fact: The only win this year that Los Angeles had over Vancouver, the Kings scored eight goals on Luongo.

Prediction: Well this will probably be the most fun of all the first round series and another hard one to predict. It should go seven but I guess I’ll take the Canucks.

4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. 5 Detroit Red Wings

Season Series: split 2-2

Playoff History: Only met one other time in 1998, Detroit won in the 1^st round.

Star to Watch: Shane Doan returns to the playoffs with the Coyotes for the first time since 2002. He’s the only one left from that team as well. Doan will need to step it up for the Coyotes to have any chance at all.

X-Factor: How much do the Red Wings care? I mean they’ve been there done that a few times before. Phoenix on the other hand has not accomplished anywhere near as much. Between their ownership problems, their surprising season and not making the playoffs in eight years it should make for an interesting dynamic. At least fans finally came out to support the Coyotes. I’m looking forward to the WhiteOut.

Goalie Problem: Jimmy Howard doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience and neither does Ilya Bryzgalov. While Howard has none, Bryzgalov did play a few games for the Mighty Ducks including three consecutive shutouts.

Fun Fact: Detroit has been to the playoffs 55 times (not including their days as Cougers or Flacons) and Phoenix five times, not including this year.

Prediction: Try as I might, I can’t see any scenario that the Coyotes beat the Wings. Then again I couldn’t have seen any scenario in which the Coyotes would obtain over 100 points. Lightning can strike twice but in this case I think the Wings experience wins out, so Detroit in six.

As for Stanley Cup Final prediction I say the Washington/Pittsburgh winner against Chicago. I’m not sure who I would pick and I know it’s a cop out not to pick a winner and to also not pick between Pittsburgh and Washington but it really depends on how the goaltending for Washington and Chicago fair in order to pick. Part of me wants Chicago to lose in the finals so that Marion Hossa can be on the losing side three years in a row. The hilarity that would ensue for everyone but him, I know Schadenfreude, I’m a bad person.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Matt Cooke vs. Evander Kane

Well we had a few KOs this season but this one might take the cake. I’m guessing Matt Cooke will want a rematch next year.

Trevor Gillies vs. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond

A decent back and forth fight with a weird start.

Micheal Haley vs. Rod Pelley

A decent back and forth fight with some good punches.

Goat of the Week

Marc Staal – New York Rangers

Marc Staal’s bad pass attempt to another Ranger, I can’t identify, who wasn’t even looking for the pass sets up Mike Richards breakaway goal.

Things I like

1. Ten years of over 100 points for the Red Wings. That is consistency and it’s really tough to do in this day in age of the game.

2.  The Boston Bruins scored three shorthanded goals all during the same penalty. To think that Boston had problems scoring all year, they just needed to be shorthanded. Although they were the 29^th shorthanded scoring team so maybe it was just an anomaly.

3. Seven teams in the Western Conference had 100 points or more. Wow. Yet many people wonder why I and many others think the West is the superior conference. Of course you get a point now for an overtime loss but you used to get a point for a tie which a lot of these games could have ended if there wasn’t a shootout.

4. Standing Ovations for Mike Modano (maybe retiring), Keith Tkachuk (retiring) and Teemu Selanne (maybe retiring) during their final home games. Of course two of those three players made up a phenomenal line on the Winnipeg Jets. Tkachuk and Selanne teamed with Alexi Zhamnov in the early to mid 90’s. I didn’t see them play because who televised Winnipeg Jets games (and I was like 12 haha) but I did have their hockey cards. Scott Niedermayer also might have played his last game but he’s a defenseman so no one cares. I’m just kidding but my gut tells me Selanne and Niedermayer will both be back.

Things I don’t

1. NBC did one of those patented NBC moves. Only one game had a game that meant something to both teams, the New York Rangers vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. You can argue that Detroit and Chicago meant something but only whether they would move up a spot or not, which is not a big a deal as winner gets into the playoffs. So NBC shows the Capitals vs. the Bruins, ugh. And people wonder why the NHL can’t get a bigger following in the states, bonehead moves like that is why. Now I know that the Caps game was at 12ET and the Rangers vs. Flyers game was at 3ET but I’m pretty sure they could have moved the game up if they wanted to show it.

2. When NBC was going over the standings and possible playoff matches they had the Flyers vs. the Capitals and then they said of course the Rangers could win and get in instead. Of course they failed to mention that if the Flyers won they wouldn’t play the Capitals because they would leapfrog the Montreal Canadiens and the Canadiens would then play the Capitals. I guess that would have required too much research on their part. Between NBC’s sheer stupidity and no one carrying versus I can’t think of a time the NHL had worse broadcasting partners. Unless of course you count that FOX glow puck debacle.

3. Four teams in the West that didn’t make the playoffs finished at or above the 88 points the 7^th and 8^th seed Flyers and Candiens had in the East. Hmm… doesn’t seem fair. Of course Detroit shouldn’t even be in the West seeing how they’re even more East than Atlanta is.

4. Ranges in the shootout, I mean Gaborik wasn’t even one of the first three shooters and Lundqvist picked a bad time to suck in the shootout after playing an awesome game.

Stat Line of the Week

04/11/10 Pittsburgh 6 vs. NY Islanders 5

Crosby made a run for the records he could get and while he came up short on the points record, he did end up tying Ovechkin for 2^nd. He also ended up tying Stamkos for the goal lead at 51.

Did You Know?

The playoff beard tradition was started by the New York Islanders in the early 1980’s. It seemed to work as they won four cups in a row in the 80’s.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

April 08, 1937 Referee Clarence Campbell officiated his first Stanley Cup match in Game Two of Finals, a 4-2 win for Detroit over the Rangers. Campbell, who became third league president in NHL history in 1946, gave out three penalties.

April 09, 1980 Bob Sauve recorded first shutout in Sabres playoff history, 6-0 over Vancouver in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round. Gil Perreault scored a goal and added two assists.

April 10, 1982 L.A. Kings staged their famous “Miracle on Manchester”, scoring 5 goals in the third period to tie the Oilers, then winning 6-5 on an overtime goal by Daryl Evans. The win gave the Kings a 2-1 lead in the best of 5 series vs Edmonton.

April 11, 1994 Tom Barrasso stopped 32 shots for his 21st career shutout as Pittsburgh clinched the Northeast Division title with a 4-0 win at Ottawa. Jaromir Jagr led the scoring with three assists.

April 12, 1960 Montreal’s Maurice “Rocket” Richard scored his 82nd (and final) NHL playoff goal in Game 3 of the Finals against Toronto. Canadiens beat the Leafs 5-2, and won again two nights later for the 1960 Stanley Cup Chamionship.

April 13, 1997 Mario Lemieux picked up two assists in his final career regular season game (until his comeback in 2000-01) as the Penguins lost 7-3 at Boston. The two assists gave Lemieux 122 points, and his 6th NHL scoring championship, in his 12th season.

Rankings

Based on the likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup

Top 5

1. Washington
2. Chicago
3. Pittsburgh
4. New Jersey
5. Detroit

Bottom 5

16. Montreal
15. Nashville
14. Ottawa
13. Philadelphia
12. Phoenix

Having a defensemen, though does not produce the point totals of a forward, that contributes in the fringe categories (plus minus, power play points, PIM) is usually the difference between a good team and a championship team.  Although most of the top list players are taken, they are still targets for your team to acquire during your leagues trade deadline.  It might even be worth to trade a scoring depth forward for a top line defender.

As we saw in the NHL Fantasy Rankings for Goalies there were some surprise goalies, which will make a huge fantasy impact down the stretch.  That is the same feeling among the best blue liners in the league as time winds down on the NHL and Fantasy seasons

Here are the Olympic Break rankings for defensemen:

1. Mike Green, Washington:  14-46-60-+28- 29 Power Play Points
2. Duncan Keith, Chicago:  11-42-53-+23-26:47 TOI/G
3. Drew Doughty, Los Angeles:  11-34-45-24 Power Play Points
4. Chris Pronger, Philadelphia:  8-34-42-+22-63 PIM
5. Dan Boyle, San Jose:  11-34-45-22 Power Play Points
6. Tomas Kaberle, Toronto:  6-40-46-24 Power Play Points
7. Christian Ehrhoff, Vancouver:  11-20-30-+24-19 Power Play Points
8. Tobias Enstrom, Atlanta:  6-36-42-+7-16 Power Play Points
9. Shea Weber, Nashville:  11-24-35-17 Power Play Points
10. Joe Corvo, Carolina:  12 Pts in 33 GP-25:13 TOI/G
11. Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh:  8-29-37-35 PIM-21 Power Play Points
12. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit:  6-29-35-+20-25:43 TOI/G
13. Mark Streit, Islanders:  8-23-31-40 PIM-6 Power Play Goals
14. Dion Phaneuf, Toronto:  10-14-24-54 PIM-5 Power Play Goals
15. Keith Yandle, Phoenix: 10-20-30-+11-15 Power Play Points
16. Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim:  6-31-37-21 Power Play Points
17. Anton Stralman , Columbus:  6-23-29-20 Power Play Points
18. Stephane Robidas , Dallas:  10-23-33-7 Power Play Goals
19. Cameron Barker, Minnesota:  5-10-15-7 Power Play Points
20. Lubomir Visnovsky , Edmonton:  10-22-32-17 Power Play Points
21. Kurtis Foster , Tampa Bay:  7-21-28-32 PIM-16 Power Play Points
22. Andrei Markov, Montreal:  3-15-18-11 Power Play Points
23. Mark Giordano, Calgary: 10-15-25-63 PIM-12 Power Play Points
24. Zdeno Chara , Boston:  5-28-33-72 PIM-175 SOG
25. Filip Kuba, Ottawa:  3-25-28-11 Power Play Points

Despite the awful starts the Hurricanes and Maple leafs had the Oilers have almost caught up to them or more accurately slid down to them. When Dwayne Roloson, 40, left in the off season the Oilers hoped to upgrade their position. So they signed Nikolai Khabibulin, 37 slightly younger, who had just led the Blackhawks to the western conference finals. Unfortunately that didn’t really workout as planned. Khabibulin has for the most part been disappointing and made a couple of gaffes in the beginning of the season that cost the Oilers some games. He also has been on the injured list since the middle of November. Personally I think it’s for the best, they really need to find their goalie of the future and not just rotate old guys. Unfortunately he is signed for another three seasons after this season. Right now the Oilers are going with Jeff Deslauriers. He hasn’t performed all that well, though he has only started in 32 games in his NHL career thus far. Personally they should be playing Devan Dubnyk they drafted him 14^th overall in 2004, time to give him his shot. While he hasn’t exactly lit it up in the AHL, everyone deserves a chance.

Offensively other than the reemergence of Dustin Penner not much has gone right for the Oilers. Alex Hemsky was playing well, again, but he is gone for the season with his torn shoulder. Nobody else strikes fear into opponents. I think they really should go after somebody via free agency or a trade. IIya Kovalchuk is a possibility via one of those options. Whether he would want to play in Edmonton is a different story. It’s defiantly worth a shot though and it would give Edmonton the kind of pure scorer they have lacked. It’s also time to start bringing up the young guys to see what they have. Charles Linglet has played well for the Springfield Falcons, he should be brought up and given a good luck.

Needless to say what they are doing now is not working. It’s time for a shake-up and to get the youth movement going.

Goalie Spotlight

No time this week.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Rick Rypien vs. Brandon Prust

Your Rick Rypien fight of the week, these two went at it again a period later, this fight was better though.

David Koci vs. Brian McGrattan

8^th fight between these two, great punches by both.

Paul Bissonnette vs. Darcy Hordichuk

This fight would have been better if the camera guy didn’t miss half of it. Nice final punch by Hordichuk.

Chris Neil vs. Eric Boulton

Eric Boulton had the edge in this one.

Dave Steckel vs. Zenon Konopka

Nice tussle, Konopka connected with some nice punches.

Goat of the Week

Stephane Auger – Referee

For his pre-game chat and questionable calls against Alex Burrows in the Vancouver Canucks game against the Nashville Predators. The video has the 2^nd more atrocious call.

Things I like

1. The Philadelphia Flyers have finally responded to their new coach and have started to turn their season around. They always had the talent it’s just a matter of piecing it together. Except for the game against Ottawa Michael Leighton has played well during the winning streak. Mike Richards and Chris Pronger both have 5 game point streaks currently.

2. Despite the fact that the Sabres have Ryan Miller I’m still surprised they have been in 1^st place in their division for so long. Buffalo is the only division leader without a points scorer in the top 25.

3. Watch out for the Islanders NHL. 7-2-1 in their last 10 and winners of four of their past five, the Islanders seem to be coming together. This includes a total dismantling of the Red Wings last night 6-0. Former 1^st overall pick of the draft Rick DiPietro has also made his return to the island.

Things I don’t

1. The controversy surrounding Alex Burrows and Ref Auger. Just some bad calls in general, I think I could see if he called holding the stick but diving it certainly was not. Either way it was incidental and the interference call was just horrible. I would have called diving on Joel Ward. I also don’t care for the NHL’s failure to punish Auger at all, yet they fine Burrows for shame NHL. This kind of stuff ruins the integrity of the game.

2. Evgeni Malkin hasn’t scored a goal in nine games dating back to his hat trick against Ottawa. He has only 5 goals in 19 games in December and January. The Penguins also still have the 2^nd worst powerplay.

3. The Chicago Blackhawks who seemingly were manhandling the wild 5-1 after two periods, only to give up four goals on seven shots in the 3^rd period forcing the game into overtime. The Blackhawks then ended up losing in the 8^th round of the shootout, 6-5. You have to play the whole 60 minutes Chicago.

Stat Line of the Week

01/08/10  Buffalo 3 vs. Toronto 2

Tyler Myers rookie campaign has been a successful one thus far in Buffalo. He scored two goals and added an assist, all on the powerplay, having a hand in all the Sabres goals. Myers is 5^th in the league in rookie scoring.  A feat made all the more impressive because he is a defenseman. He also leads all rookies in assists.

Did You Know?

That Curtis Joseph is the only goalie in the top 10, for wins all-time, that has never won a Stanley Cup. His best finish in the postseason was the Eastern Conference finals with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Numbers, Numbers

2,500 – Dollar amount for the fine on Alex Burrows for talking out about the referring of Stephane Auger.

0 – Games suspended or amount fined for the pre game talk and questionable calls by Stephane Auger.

454 – Wins by recently retired Curtis Joseph, 4^th on the all-time list.

94 – Goals allowed by the New Jersey Devils the only team not to reach 100 yet.

45 – Saves by Henrik Lundqvist out of 45 shots, yet he still lost in the shootout.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

January 07, 2000 Joe Sakic became the Colorado franchise all-time leader in games, when he appeared in his 814th career game with the team, a 4-1 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens. Sakic replaced Michel Goulet, and picked up two assists in the game.

January 07, 1989 Vancouver’s Tony Tanti scored his club-record 10th hat trick and set a new team record for fastest 3 goals (6:46), as the Canucks defeated Pittsburgh 7-5. Tanti also added an assist

January 08, 1988 Flames’ rookie Brett Hull scored twice and added two assists as Calgary beat the Islanders 7-4, to extend their home undefeated streak against New York to 8 games (6-0-2).

January 09, 1993 New York’s Mike Gartner became the first player in NHL history to get 25 goals in each of his first 14 seasons, when he scored twice for the Rangers in a 4-3 loss at Philadelphia.

January 10, 1992 Washington Capitals set a team record with three shorthanded goals (including two in :18) during a 7-4 win over the Kings, at Landover, Maryland. Kevin Hatcher led the scoring with two goals and two assists.

January 11, 1941 Dave “Sweeney” Schriner had a goal and three assists, and Turk Broda recorded his 23rd career shutout as the Maple Leafs beat the NY Americans, 9-0 in Toronto. It was the Leafs’ second consecutive penalty-free game — a first in NHL history.

January 12, 1994 Winnipeg’s Teemu Selanne scored his 100th NHL goal in a 3-2 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres. The milestone came in Selanne’s 130th career game, the second-fastest 100 goals in NHL history. (Bossy scored his first 100 goals in 129 games).

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. Philadelphia
2. San Jose
3. Buffalo
4. Chicago
5. Vancouver

Bottom 5

30. Edmonton
29. Toronto
28. Atlanta
27. Pittsburgh
26. Los Angeles

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks have finally gotten healthy and have a four game winning steak going because of it, their longest of the season so far. Anaheim’s second win in the streak was against the St. Louis Blues, a team near them in the standings. Rookie Matt Beleskey scored his second goal in as many games to help propel Anaheim to victory 4-2. The Ducks were actually down 2-1 in the 3^rd but rattled off 3 goals. Beleskey’s was the game winner and the Ducks also scored an empty netter to seal the deal.

Next up was the Predators another team the Ducks are trying to catch up to in the Standings. This game saw the return of Teemu Selanne, from a broken hand, who scored the games first goal. Ryan Getzlaf also scored his first goal since coming back from his injury. The Ducks took their 3 goal lead into the 3^rd period and saw their lead cut to 1, but they were able to hang on for the win, 3-2.

Next up were the Blackhawks coming off their stunning defeat against the Wild 6-5. Despite being out shot 43 to 11 the Ducks somehow managed to eek out a victory 3-1. Hiller was phenomenal on the road helping to steal the victory for the Ducks. Perry, Koivu and Selanne (empty net) added the goals for the Ducks. The Ducks have about a month before the Olympic break to make up a lot of ground in the standings.

Well I generally document Anaheim’s problems on a weekly basis. I will sum it up with injuries, not being able to win key face-offs, dumb penalties, inconsistent goalie play, poor penalty killing and not clearing the zone when they have the opportunity. Selanne, Giguere, Koivu, Wisniewski, and Lupul have all been injured. Various other minor players have also been bitten by the injury bug. Lately they have been blowing 3^rd period leads which happened in a stretch of three games in a row. They are 2^nd in the league in giving up the most goals in the 3^rd period. They need to have that killer instinct and shut teams out in the 3^rd period when they have a lead. One bright spot for the Ducks is their power play. After struggling in the beginning of the year, they now have the 3^rd best power play in the league. The Ducks need to start doing the little things better and get everyone back healthy and playing consistently.

Philadelphia had high expectations after being bounced in the playoffs two years in a row by the Penguins. Chris Pronger in the eyes of the Flyers was that missing piece to get in the way of Crosby and Malkin and they gave up a lot to get him. Pronger has played well though. His +/- is near the top of the league and his scoring pace is higher than his previous two seasons. So we can’t blame Pronger. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are on the same pace for points this year as they were last year. They did lose Joffrey Lupul and his 25 goals a year but Danny Briere is healthy this year and picking up that slack. So what’s the problem? Well I haven’t watched all that many Flyers games, so I can’t say with certainty. Having Simon Gagne, and his 30+ goals, injured for much of the year hasn’t helped the Flyers. Ray Emery’s numbers are worse than the man he replaced, Martin Biron. In the most recent game against the Canadiens Brian Boucher, subbing for Emery, gave up 3 goals on 13 shots, yikes. So goaltending which has generally been the Flyers Achilles’ heel is still a problem. The penalty killing could be improved as well.

Carolina has the honor of having the worst record in the league. They also went 14 games without a win in one stretch, ouch. Starting goalie Cam Ward has been out for a month so far. Neither of his backups are performing well. In fact the Hurricanes have the worst SV% and the 2^nd worst GAA. Eric Staal has really struggled this year and is just recently starting to play better. Veteran Rob Brind’Amour is also struggling. Carolina’s powerplay is 2^nd to last, which is never a good sign. The Hurricanes are also tied for 2^nd with the Ducks in giving up the most goals in the 3^rd period. Hmm… let’s see, bad powerplay, check, struggling 1^st line, check, starting goalie injured, check, giving up tons of 3^rd period goals, check. It’s hard to win games when those things are happening. On the bright side the Canes have won 2 in a row, although they have done that two other times this year only to go on losing streaks again. They should be getting back Cam Ward this week, which should help the Hurricanes immensely. Of course Ward will need to work off his rust.

All these teams have the talent to make a run for the playoffs. The season is only a third of the way done, so there is still plenty of time to turn it around. However if things don’t start to improve expect changes to be made. Whether it’s dealing some players, or following the Flyers lead and making a coaching change, shakeups will occur. Expectations for these teams are too high this year to sit around and be content with being in last place.

Goalie Spotlight

Miikka Kiprusoff – Calgary Flames

Kiprusoff is a Finland native and was selected in the 5^th round by the San Jose Sharks in the 1995 entry draft. Before joining the Sharks in 2000, Kiprusoff was already an established international star. Kiprusoff led TPS in the Finnish league SM-liiga to gold in 1995 and 1999. He won the Urpo Ylönen trophy, for best goalie, in 1999 a year after fellow NHLer Tim Thomas (Goalie Spotlight Week 7) won it. His numbers in the postseason that year were a 9-1 record, 3 shutouts, and a 1.55 GAA. He also led Finland to silver placing finishes in the 1999 and 2001 World Championships and in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Kiprusoff moved to North America in 1999 and played for the Kentucky Thoroughblades in the AHL, and made the All-star team his first year. He played briefly for the Sharks during the 00 to 03 seasons. In the 2001 playoff series against the Blues, Kiprusoff became the 1^st Finnish goaltender to win a playoff game. Having lost the starting goalie spot to Evgeni Nabokov, the Sharks traded him to the Flames in 2003 for a 2^nd round pick.

Rejuvenated by the trade to the Flames, Kiprusoff was named defensive player of the month for December of 03. Despite battling injuries he led the Flames to the postseason for the first time in eight years. He also led the league in GAA with a 1.69 mark, setting the tone for a stellar career with the Flames. This was the lowest GAA in the modern era and 24^th best all time. He went on to lead the Flames to the Stanley Cup Finals, including beating his former team along the way, against the Tampa Bay Lightning where they lost a close series in 7 games. The year after the lockout, Kiprusoff won the Vezina (best goalie) and Jennings (lowest team GAA) trophy. He set the record for most wins for a Flames goalie with 42 and then broke it himself 3 years later with 45 wins. Other Flame franchise records he holds include: Most shutouts in one season (10), most shutouts all time (30) and most games played in a season (76).

Despite losing in the 1^st round the past 4 years, the Flames look poised to go deep in the playoffs this year. With Kiprusoff, captain Jarome Iginla, and new additions from last year Olli Jokinen (fellow Finlander) and this year Jay Bouwmeester the Flames have a great core. Off to a great start this year the Flames hope it can land the Stanley Cup in Canada for the first time since the Canadiens brought it home in the 1992-93 season.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Didn’t like that many fights this week and I’m strapped for time.

Matt Bradley vs. Daniel Carcillo

Technically not a fight as Bradley didn’t get any penalty minutes. Carcillo punches Bradley right as he drops his gloves. Carcillo racked up 29 minutes in penalties with the check and fight.

Brian McGrattan vs Raitis Ivanans

The 5^th bout between these two, dating back to their AHL playing days, had some slow moments, but still pretty decent.

Goat of the Week

Brian Elliott – Ottawa Senators

Brian Elliott for giving up this fluke goal off the glass to Ryan Getzlaf, you might want to position yourself better Brian. No harm done as the Senators won in the shootout.

Things I like

1. Happy Birthday to the Montreal Canadiens who had their 100^th anniversary on Dec. 4^th. I’m sure their fans would like their most recent teams to rival their past success but you can’t have everything.

2. People say that the Sharks have the best line, but they would be wrong. The Devils actually have the best line. Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, and Jamie Langenbrunner (when he’s on the line) have a combined +/- of +43, tops in the league for a forward line.

3. Alex Ovechkin says he won’t change his style of play. Good for him I say, he only knows how to play one way and he isn’t going to change that. He plays with passion and I really don’t find his style that reckless.

4. The Carolina Hurricanes got their first road win of the season against the defending Stanley Cup champs of all teams, extracting some revenge from last years playoff sweep.

Things I don’t

1. Teemu Selanne is injured for about 4-6 weeks in what could very well be his last season. This is a huge blow to an already injured and struggling Ducks team. It will also affect how high Selanne can climb on numerous scoring records. Here’s hoping he doesn’t call it quits after this year.

2. Keith Ballard, a.k.a goalie annihilator, has taken his next victim in Craig Anderson. Ballard knocked Anderson out of the game when he slid towards the net and sent Anderson’s head to the goal post, at least he didn’t send him to the hospital though he is still day to day. Maybe Ballard was tormented by goalies as a kid. If you’re keeping track at home that’s two starting goalies down and 28 to go for Ballard.

3. Hard to imagine but the Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play is 28^th overall, yikes. With all the talented scorers on that team you figured they could find the net more.

Stat Line of the Week

12/03/09  Capitals 6 vs. Panthers 2

Mr. Duco racked up 27 minutes of penalty minutes on four penalties on one play against Alexandre Giroux and was ejected from the game. He was getting Giroux back for the elbow he laid on Dmitry Kulikov. Personally I didn’t find Giroux’s hit all that bad. Lesson to be learned don’t mess with the Duco. You can see both hits below.

12/05/09  Capitals 8 vs. Flyers 2

The Capitals Swede racked up 5 points, 3 assists on the powerplay, against the Flyers. Ovechkin who?

Box Score of the Week

This won’t be a regular feature, I just thought it was too interesting to pass up. In the Flyers vs. Islanders game, if you look below, 4 players each scored 2 goals back to back without anyone else scoring in between. If they had scored 3 goals each that would have been 4 natural hat tricks in a row. I have no way to look it up but I’m pretty sure the below has never happened before.

1st Period

Philadelphia  9:47, Mike Richards 12 (power play) (Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell)

Philadelphia  15:14, Mike Richards 13 (shorthanded) (unassisted)

2nd Period

Philadelphia  4:21, Jeff Carter 10 (power play) (Danny Briere, Matt Carle)

Philadelphia  7:04, Jeff Carter 11 (Danny Briere, Kimmo Timonen)

NY Islanders 10:52, John Tavares 12 (power play) (Jeff Tambellini, Kyle Okposo)

NY Islanders 14:55, John Tavares 13 (power play) (Matt Moulson, Kyle Okposo)

Philadelphia  17:29, Claude Giroux 4 (power play) (Mike Richards, Chris Pronger)

3rd Period

Philadelphia  2:35, Claude Giroux 5 (Scott Hartnell)

Did You Know?

Speaking of penalty minutes Randy Holt holds the record for most penalty minutes in one game with 67 set in 1979. He also has the record for most penalty minutes in a period since he got all 67 of those in the 1^st period in a game against the Flyers. 45 minutes came on a bench clearing brawl at the end of the period instigated by Holt. He doesn’t hold the record for most penalty minutes for a season though. That record goes to Dave Schultz with 472 penalty minutes set in the 1974-75 season.

Numbers, Numbers

0 – Number of overtime losses for Vancouver.

14 – Number of goals scored by the Capitals in the 2 games Ovechkin was suspended.

103 – Career shutouts for Martin Brodeur tying Terry Sawchuck’s NHL record.

15 – Career shutouts by Ryan Miller who was in the other goal when Brodeur tied the record.

13 – Anze Kopitar’s goalless game streak

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

December 03, 1999 Ottawa’s Kevin Dineen picked up a misconduct penalty to become the fifth player in league history to get 300 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes in his NHL career. The milestone came during a 7-4 Senators loss at New Jersey.

December 04, 2001 Peter Bondra scored his 400th and 401st NHL goals to become the 5th active player to score 400 goals with one team in the Capitals 5-2 win against the visiting New York Rangers.

December 05, 1988 Detroit’s Steve Yzerman set a new team record with a goal in his ninth straight game, a 7-2 Red Wings’ loss at Montreal. Yzerman broke the team record of goals in eight straight games set by Gordie Howe in 1952.

December 06, 1995 Colorado Avalanche obtained goaltender Patrick Roy and Mike Keane from the Montreal Canadiens, in exchange for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky and goalie Jocelyn Thibault.

December 07, 1977 New England Whalers’ Gordie Howe scored his 1,000th professional goal (counting the NHL and WHA) in a WHA Whalers’ game against Birmingham.

December 08, 1999 Pavel Bure scored his 12th career hat trick in the third period to lead the Panthers to a 6-1 win at Phoenix. Panthers set a team record with five goals in the final period, as Mikhail Shtalenkov won in his first start with Florida.

December 08, 1967 Two months into their first NHL season, the “California” Seals officially changed their name to the “Oakland” Seals.

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. Washington
2. Chicago
3. Phoenix
4. Boston
5. Minnesota

Bottom 5

30. Philadelphia
29. Columbus
28. Tampa Bay
27. Florida
26. NY Rangers

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks suck, there I’m done. Anyway the Ducks were leading 1-0 against the Stars when they let the Stars score 3 unanswered goals in the 3^rd including an empty netter. It was a tough loss for the Ducks who played a good game. To make matters worse Selanne broke his hand in a game he almost sat out because of the flu. Corey Perry’s point streak also came to an end; I think I may have jinxed him. Then there next game against Minnesota taking a 2-1 lead into the 3^rd the Ducks were able to make it 4-2. Then they gave up two goals in the final 5 minutes to force overtime, which they of course lost in the shootout. Against Ottawa the Ducks decided to lose differently. They never led in the game and every time the Senators would score, they would tie it within a minute. They then lost in the shootout again.

Next up was the Dallas Stars, again, and the Ducks started off the game in typical Ducks fashion slow. The Stars were up 3-0 before you knew it and it seemed like another loss. But then Joffrey Lupul, who has been on fire since coming back from his injury, scored when Turco made the save on the breakaway but couldn’t put on the breaks as he slid behind the goaline. In the 3^rd period instead of sucking as usual, the Ducks dominated the Stars outshooting them 14 to 2 and recently called up rookie Dan Sexton scored 2 goals to force overtime. In the overtime the Ducks continued to dominate and Saku Koivu scored on a 3 on 1 breakaway. All in all a very entertaining game and the Ducks scored 4 unanswered goals, which hopefully gives them something to build upon.

His edge is what makes Ovechkin a special player and I also don’t see this suspension taking it away, should be fun to watch this week, now onto the Pucking Awesome Hat Trick and the top three story lines I am watching this week.

Flyers Fallout:  

A sexy preseason pick for the Cup have not looked anything like it and the recent slide caused John Stevens his job, as Peter Laviolette takes over the fading Flyers.  The once powerful power play has been nonexistent in the recent four game slide going an abysmal 0 for their last 17 man advantages.

The undisciplined play has also been catching up to them giving up six power play goals along this current losing streak. The Ray Emery experiment has taken a turn for the worse as Emery has a 5.36 goals-against average and .814 save percentage in his last five starts.

The Flyers now turn to the theory that changing a coach can change the culture of the team, but unlike the Stanley Cup Champions a year ago this team seems to be lacking the maturity of a team destined for greatness. I will be watching the fallout this week as Laviolette tries to turn this talented team around and ask them to grow up or the next thing to change will be the core roster.

DiPietro Recovery:  

I don’t know if it is a recovery from injury or the Islanders trying to recover some return on the tremendous investment on the often injured goalie.  When healthy there is no denying the pure talent of Rick DiPietro but with only five starts in the last two years the brass on Long Island were expecting more from the goalie they signed to a monster 15-year contract back in September 2006. 

Although he shares the birthday with a Pucking Awesome writer it seems that this contract has been a bust up to this point, though he has 12 years on the back end to make it up to the organization.  Now comes the good news for Islanders fans after practicing with the team for about a week and a half the former number one overall pick suited up for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday. 

In all reports he looked like he had been off for the last 11 months giving up three goals on 13 shots.  In his post game interview DiPietro stated “It’s been a long time since I played in a meaningful game. Nerves, excitement.  These guys have been great. It was good to get back in there and shake the rust off. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”  I will be keeping my eye on the valiant return of Rick DiPietro not only for the sake of the Islanders organization but for the goalie trade wheels that will be circling this club that will have three NHL starting goalies.

Game Of The Week:   Wild at Coyotes

The week gets started off right this week as the two hottest teams facing off Monday night, oh yes the Phoenix Coyotes and Minnesota Wild face off at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes are one of the best stories of the early season. In their current four-game winning streak 10 different Coyotes have scored a goal and Ilya Bryzgalov has been outstanding with a 1.75 GAA and has been outstanding at home with a 10-3-0 record.

The Wild have turned their season around with a five-game winning streak and been riding a white hot top line of Center Mikko Koivu and linemates Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen. They have combined for 23 points during their current winning streak and that is with Miettinen missing three games due to the swine flu. 

The week gets kicked off in style as one of the hottest lines in hockey faces one of the hottest goalies in a surprise scary good match up, I will be watching how about you?

A Tale of Two Cities – Detroit and Pittsburgh will be forever linked in hockey lore because of playing each other in back to back Stanley Cup finals and having some of the highest ratings in some time in those games. This year both teams started out in opposite directions. They have now both reversed directions since those starts. Of course Pittsburgh, with Evgeni Malkin back, has seemingly stopped the bleeding.

Detroit started out 3-4-2 not a bad record but being Detroit you would expect more. Of course they had to open up the season overseas in Europe, which is always tough on any team. Pavel Datsyuk started out slowly, with only 4 pts in the first 7 games, which didn’t help matters. They also had huge injuries to Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen, two key players who are still out. Detroit has now won 6 of 7, their only loss in that span was to umm.. Toronto. Yes you read that correctly, perhaps they fell asleep. Datsyuk has since shaken off his slow start and Zetterberg has been his usual productive self. Goaltending is still iffy. Chris Osgood hasn’t really looked all that sharp and neither has his replacement Jimmy Howard.

Pittsburgh started out red hot and had the best record in the NHL. They also had a perfect 7-0 road record. Things were looking good. Then Malkin got injured and they lost 5 of 6 games, before rebounding with a tough win against Boston and then a win against Anaheim. Also starting in the last week of October their defenseman started dropping like flies. It started with Sergei Gonchar, then Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik, and Alex Goligoski followed. I can’t imagine many teams playing all that well without their top four defenseman. In fact I’m sure many teams wouldn’t win for a long time or until one of them came back. I think Malkin has a great chance to win his first Hart trophy this year as evident by the slump the Penguins suffered while he was out. Though I do realize the missing defensemen also contributed to that, Malkin is the Penguins rock. While Crosby is talented, he tends to be streaky, Malkin is generally more consistent.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think both will end up in the playoffs and both will be one of the top seeds. I also think that another rematch is possible. Although I personally don’t want to see the same teams three years in a row, I mean Marion Hossa won’t even be on the losing team if that happens. The Devils and the Sharks might have something to say about it, as they currently hold the top spots in the standings. But neither has had much postseason success recently, and of the course the Sharks playoff problems are well documented. Now teams can and have come out of nowhere to go to the Finals but, generally speaking, teams have been on the brink for a few years before they finally get there. It should be an interesting finish to the season.

Brendan Shanahan – I like to bid a fond farewell to Brendan Shanahan as he retires from the NHL after 21 seasons. Shanahan finished his career 23^rd in points (1354) and 11^th in goals (656). He is also the only player in NHL history to amass more than 2,000 penalty minutes and 600 goals. Like Joe Sakic he will be missed.

Goalie Spotlight

Tim Thomas – Boston Bruins

Tim Thomas has the distinction this week of being in the goalie spotlight and also the goat of the week (see below).

Tim Thomas was the winner of the Vezina Trophy (top goalie) and the William Jennings trophy (best GAA for a team) with Manny Fernandez last year. However it took a long time for success and recognition to come to Thomas at the professional level. He won the Vezina trophy at the age of 34. He was the oldest first time winner in 43 years since Gump Worsley did it at age 36 in the 1965-66 season for the Montreal Canadiens.

Michigan born Thomas played at the University of Vermont. He was a two-time All-ECAC Conference selection and a two-time NCAA East All-American. He also holds many Vermont records including; games played (140), wins (81), and minutes played (3,950). He is also second in the NCAA Division I record book in career saves (3,950). Thomas was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994 but nothing ever came of that. He finished up his four years of playing at Vermont. After playing briefly in ECHL and IHL, Thomas made his way to Finland where he played for HIFK in the SM-liiga league. He led them to the championship that year.

He signed with the Edmonton Oilers in 1998 and joined their AHL affiliate only to end up in Finland again. He came back to the states to play for the Detroit Vipers only to end up in Europe again this time playing in the Swedish league. He then signed with the Boston Bruins but elected to play a year in the SM-liiga Finnish league again. He then came back to the states to play for the Bruins affiliate the Providence Bruins. He played a few games for the Bruins too during the stint and ironically his first NHL win came against the Oilers, the team that drafted him. He returned to Finland for the 4^th time and racked up a league high SV% and broke the league shutout mark for a season. He led his team to a 2^nd place finish that year. Finally done with Finland, Thomas came back to the Bruins (both Providence and Boston.) Due to injuries to two goalies he was supposed to backup in different seasons, Thomas emerged as the number one goalie. His last two seasons were his statistical best in the NHL and he was also named to the All-Star game both times, the first time as a replacement and the second time as a starter.

Thomas led the Bruins to their best record in some time in the 08-09 season and despite suffering a tough 7^th game lost in the 2^nd round to the Hurricanes, expectations are high this year in Boston. Boston has struggled this year but Thomas for the most part has held up his end. Already recording 3 shutouts this season Thomas should easily pass his career high of 5. Look for Thomas to continue leading his team in the chase for a playoff spot.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

Some really good fights this week to choose from. I narrowed it down to four though, two with bloodshed.

Rick Rypien vs. Brad May

High intensity fight, I love the way Rypien fights with his fists of fury. Brad May is getting older and you can tell. May gets his head caught in his jersey.

Brandon Prust vs. Adam Mair

Pretty decent fight, the refs should have let them go longer though. Prust lands some nice blows to the face at the end.

Matt Bradley vs Aaron Voros

Stick around until 40 seconds to see Bradley sporting the crimson mask.

Brian McGrattan vs Colton Orr

McGrattan gets a nice bloody nose for his troubles. Bonus points for his blonde Mohawk.

Goat of the Week

Tim Thomas for letting in a goal in the final second against the Penguins (Bill Guerin) and then giving up the game winning overtime goal (Pascal Dupuis) after misplaying the puck badly.

Trick shot of the Week

Rick Nash in his shootout winning goal against the Ducks, started to lose his balance, but he was able to regain it and score the game winner anyway.

Things I like

1. As noted above watch out NHL, Detroit is starting to heat up, Hockey’s version of the Death Star or the New England Patriots.

2. Carolina won! Sure, barely in a shootout but a win is a win. Next up they can try for a road win.

3. The Phil Kessel addition in Toronto. Sure the Maple Leafs gave up a lot to get him and they had to wait a bit until he played, but he has been productive since entering the lineup. He has 8 pts in 7 games and is one of the few players on the team with a positive +/-.

4. Chris Pronger has been quite a force in Philadelphia. Leading all defenseman on the team in scoring and 2^nd on the team in the all important +/-. Not sure why Anaheim didn’t keep him and dump Scott Neidermayer or make Scott take a huge pay cut like they make Teemu Selanne take.

5. Corey Perry (ongoing) and Ryan Getzlaf (snapped) both had 11 game scoring streaks. The longest for two teammates since Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had 13-game streaks in 2007.

Things I don’t

1. There have been a lot of blowouts this week and I am not a fan of them. It makes games harder to watch on TV and in person. Obviously if one team is playing better, that’s the way it goes but I still don’t have to like it. We had Vancouver (8) vs. Colorado (2), Atlanta (7) vs. Los Angeles (0), Detroit (9) vs. Columbus (1), Philadelphia (5) vs. Ottawa (1).

2. If Boston has hopes of making the playoffs again, David Krejci is going to have to step it up. Having lost Kessel to Toronto and Marc Savard to an injury, Krejci is needed more to prove that last years successful season was not a fluke.

3. If the playoffs started today only one Canadian team would be in it, Calgary. I’m sure that doesn’t sit well with most Canadians and I think that would only make it harder for them to win their first cup in 17 years. Good thing it’s still early.

This Week in Hockey History

Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.

November 12, 1931     The first NHL game was played at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Black Hawks won 2-1 over the Leafs.

November 12, 1910    At the annual meeting of the National Hockey Association (a forerunner of the NHL) a new rule was passed changing hockey’s playing time from two 30 minute periods to three 20 minute periods (with two ten-minute intermissions).

November 13, 1947    For the first time in NHL history, the league initiated the policy of having players raise their sticks to signify the scoring of a goal. Montreal’s Billy Reay became the first to do so as the Canadiens beat Chicago, 5-2 at the Forum.

November 13, 1934    St. Louis’ Ralph Bowman scored the first penalty shot goal in NHL history. It came during a 2-1 Maroons win over the St. Louis Eagles. It was Bowman’s first NHL goal, and just the second penalty shot attempt in NHL history.

November 13, 1992    Goaltender Pat Jablonski recorded the first shutout in Tampa Bay Lightning history (and the first of his NHL career) to lead the Lightning to a 1-0 win over the Ottawa Senators, in Tampa Bay.

November 14, 2001    Patrick Roy became the first goaltender in NHL history to win 200 games with two teams (Montreal and Colorado) when the Avalanche won 1-0 against the visiting Minnesota Wild. It was Roy’s 54th career shutout.

November 15, 1973    Boston’s Bobby Orr had three power play goals and added four assists to become the first NHL defenseman to score seven points in one game, as the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 10-2.

November 15, 1995    Rookie Alex Hicks scored on the first shot in his first career NHL game, then added another goal along with an assist to lead the Mighty Ducks to a 7-3 win over the Avalanche, in Anaheim.

November 17, 1979    Rookie Wayne Gretzky played against Gordie Howe for the first of four times in their NHL careers. Gretzky went scoreless while Howe picked up one assist in the Hartford Whalers’ 4-0 win over Edmonton.

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. San Jose
2. New Jersey
3. Detroit
4. Chicago
5. Calgary

Bottom 5

30. Carolina
29. Edmonton
28. St. Louis
27. Anaheim
26. Edmonton

Ducks Watch

The Ducks are in last place in the western conference and that doesn’t sit well with me. They lost the first game on an east coast road swing against the Devils. They looked like they were still on west coast time, they didn’t play well. They lost a heartbreaker in the shootout to Columbus. True they still got a point but they played well and they should have won. They don’t do real well in shootouts, not sure why, but they don’t.

Then they had their playoff rematch against Detroit. They played well but somehow every time they had tied the game and had momentum, Detroit would literally come right back and score. Tied at 4-4, Hiller allowed 2 horrible goals in a row which cost them the game. Also of note were the first few horrible penalties the Ducks took. The refs are never fair to the Ducks but these aren’t to be blamed on the refs these are just stupid penalties. Only two types of good penalties; ones that prevent goals and breakaways and ones that stick up for your teammates, these were neither. I find it disturbing that GM Brian Burke says that coach Randy Carlyle won’t be going anytime soon, he is a proven winner. All I know is the since the Stanley Cup win, all the Ducks ever do is start slow and take dumb penalties. If that isn’t a sign of undisciplined coaching I don’t know what is. A coaching change did wonders for Pittsburgh. I think it would here as well.

Next up the defending champs again and they made sure the Ducks stayed winless on this road trip. While Corey Perry’s point streak continued (12 games now), Ryan Getzlaf’s (11 games) did not. Getzlaf also uncharacteristically was in a fight against Bill Guerin, a man 15 years older than him. Of course when you take 3 penalties in the first 8 minutes of the game, you don’t exactly give yourself a great start. Worse though was the fact that Pittsburgh was without its top 4 defensemen and the Ducks could only manage 2 goals. This team is too talented to be in last place in the conference. They need to wake up and start doing the little things better. They turn the puck over way to much in their own zone and of course all those dumb penalties. Now comes a long home stand and make or break time for their seasons playoff hopes. In a related note, I’m shopping for some brown bags with eyeholes in them.

So far, my MVP is Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar who, whose high marks in goals and points scored is leading his team to surprising, but early on season playoff talk.

Buffalo Sabres Ryan Miller is a big reason his team is leading the division. The best in the league in Goals Against Average (GAA) (1.77), save percentage (0.939) and tied for lead with 12 wins, Miller is a safe shot for best goalie.  

Best defenseman goes to the Philadelphia Flyers as-good-as-advertised Chris Pronger, who is fourth among defensemen scoring with 17 points and an amazing +13 while playing a league high 27:01 minutes a game. 

Awards aside, let’s get to the Hat Trick —or the three storylines I am following this week in the hockey world.

1) Win, Lose or Draw

From the highs of the New Jersey Devils, who have won eight games in a row, to the lows of the Carolina Hurricanes dropping 12 in a row, the rest of the season might not be much different for these two. Between the Zachs (Parise and Zajac) and rookie Niclas Bergfors, each player on the line has eight points in the last seven games, making the Devils as hot as their mascot suggests.

But a healthy Martin Brodeur and an improving Patrik Elias could makes things even scarier for their opponents. Brodeur has a 1.48 GAA and .942 save percentage in the last seven games, and it’s just a matter of time for Elias to get going, though he has yet to gain a point in the four games since returning from injury.

The woeful Hurricanes are a team devastated by injuries. With the losses of top flight goalie Cam Ward and top line center Eric Staal, Carolina is relying on the likes of Manny Legace in net. How has this team gone from Eastern Conference Finals appearance last season to the bottom of the NHL? 

Though the revolving door to the infirmary has not helped, every team is dealing with injuries. But their depth has to be called into question. Banking on Eric Cole (one goal), Chad Larose (0 goals) and Sergei Samsonov (two goals) to be top line scorers was a mistake. Having a defense based around offensive defensemen Joni Pitkanen (-12) and Joe Corvo (-9) was another one. Although the Hurricanes finally won on Sunday, I will be watching these two teams going in opposite directions

2) AHL Report:  

Here at Pucking Awesome, we also keep you up to date with what is happening on the farm teams. The two hottest teams in the AHL are the Rochester Americans (13-2-1) and the Texas Stars (11-2-2). The Florida Panthers-affiliate Americans are led by 22-year-old goalie Alexander Salak. The Czech rookie is 10-1-0, while being near the top in all goalie categories. 

The Dallas Stars-affiliates have given up only 31 goals in 17 games this season. The goalie tandems of Matt Climie and Brett Krahn have shut opponents down with a 1.85 and 1.38 GAA respectively.

3) Game of the Week: Bruins at Sabres, Friday

Northeast division rivals Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres will face off this week for the second time this season. The first matchup went to the defending division winners as the Bruins defeated Jhonas Enroth in his NHL debut, 4-2. This time around the goal-starved Bruins will most likely be facing Ryan Miller, and that is not a good combination for Boston who has been shut out three times this season.

Milan Lucic could return to the Bruins this week, but he has been told he can’t fight, making this division rivalry game a good measuring stick for him.