Alone on an Island – The 70′s and 80′s were a good time to be an Islanders fan. Four Stanley Cup victories in a row and 15 straight playoff appearances. But then the 90′s reared it’s ugly head and doom and gloom fell upon Long Island. After their 1^st round loss to the Devils in 1987-88, the Islanders have only made the playoffs in seven of the next 21 seasons. Only once in those seven playoff appearances did they advance past the 1^st round. Now the 2010-11 incarnation of the Islanders is mired in a 13 game winless streak.

During the Islanders heyday Bill Torrey was the GM. His last few bigger deals included Kelly Hrudey for Mark Fitzpatrick, Pat LaFontaine for Pierre Turgeon essentially and the acquisition of Darius Kasparaitis. While they were not that bad, they weren’t all that great either. Torrey left when the Islanders changed management.

Next up was Don Maloney whose deals included trading Pierre Turgeon for Kirk Muller and Ron Hextall for Tommy Soderstrom. Soderstrom never panned out as the Islanders would have liked and Hextall ended up leading the league in GAA. Kirk Muller ended up playing a whopping 27 games total in his two seasons with the Islanders before being traded in a big mess. Maloney was shortly fired.

Then came everyone’s favorite GM Mike Milbury. Milbury was able to help guide the Islanders to three straight playoff appearances between 2001-2004 the first time that happened since 1985-1988. On the down side all of the appearances was they were all 1^st round exits. The Islanders could have been even better if Milbury had an eye for talent. Milbury’s most notable blunders include trading Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish. He also acquired Alexei Yashin for Zedno Chara, Bill Muckalt and the 2^nd overall pick in the 2001 draft, which ended up being Jason Spezza. He also traded Bryan McCabe and Todd Bertuzzi for Trevor Linden. While Linden was a great player, he was definitely on the downside of his career while McCabe and Bertuzzi were just starting their careers. Personally I think a team of Chara and McCabe on defense, a line of Spezza, Bertuzzi and Jokinen, with Luongo in net wouldn’t be that bad. Even with Luongo’s and Jokinen’s problems.

Drafting wise the Islanders haven’t done any better. Bertuzzi and Brett Lindros were drafted under Maloney. Bertuzzi was of course traded before being developed and Lindros was a bust who had a career ending injury. Wade Redden was also a bust but regardless of that, he never even played for the Islanders in the first place.

Milbury didn’t draft much better. His first 1^st round pick of Jean-Pierre “J. P.” Dumont, ended in a contract dispute that saw Dumont get traded. He followed that up with drafting Luongo and Eric Brewer. Luongo played one season with the Islanders and wasn’t given time to develop and Brewer’s short two year run was a disaster. Michael Rupp was picked the next year in the draft and you can guess how that went. Between 1994 to 1998 the Islanders had six draft picks in the top ten spots. Three of them never even wore an Islanders sweater during a game and the other three all played two shortened seasons or less before being traded or they had their career ended by injury. In 1999 the Islanders had four 1^st round picks but rather than write about it, I’m going to let you guess how those panned out. Here’s a hint, they weren’t any better than the previous ones. Then there was the Rick DiPietro pick to start the century off. That actually wouldn’t have been a bad pick if not for DiPietro’s injury problems.

When Milbury finally left Neil Smith took over for a whopping 40 days and then was replaced with current GM Garth Snow. I actually like the last few Islanders’ draft picks of Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey and John Tavares. A good sign is that they are all still on the team. This years pick of Nino Niederreiter seems like he will develop into a great player, though still too early to tell. I also like the recent pick-ups of James Wisniewski and Michael Grabner.

The main thing the Islanders need is a GM with a good eye for talent. I think Garth Snow has that. The next step is to actually let the players develop. So while they aren’t winning now, results can’t be expected to happen overnight. I realize if you are an Islanders’ fan, it seems like you have been waiting forever but just give it a little more time.

Goalie Spotlight

Rick DiPietro – NY Islanders

Since we are on the subject of the Islanders, I figured I would spotlight Rick DiPietro. DiPietro was born in Winthrop, MA and played just one season for Boston University. But what a season it was. He was named to the All-Rookie Team, named to the Second Team All-Hockey East and was awarded the Hockey East’s Rookie of the Year. He also stopped 77 of 80 shots, just one save short of the record, in a quadruple overtime loss to St. Lawrence University during the NCAA regional final. He was also named MVP of the Beanpot tournament, which is a tournament participated in by the four major Boston area colleges. After his one stellar season the Islanders made him the 1^st overall pick of the 2000 draft. Milbury’s desire to draft DiPietro is what prompted him to trade Roberto Luongo.

He played in only 20 games is rookie year and manged just three wins and a .878 SV%. He was subsequently sent down to the Chicago Wolves of the IHL and then the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL. He didn’t fare any better with the Wolves but the next two seasons with the Sound Tigers he progressively improved. He also saw 10 games of action with the Islanders in 2002-03 in which he was slightly better than his last NHL go around. He was called up for good the next season and posted a 2.36 GAA with a .911 SV%.The next three seasons he played 60+ games. The 2006-07 season was his best season and he recorded a career high five shutouts. In March of 2007 DiPietro suffered a concussion which him caused him to miss a few games but he was able to play most of the playoff games that season.

In the summer of 2007 he underwent hip surgery to repair a torn labrum but the next season during the All-Star Game competition in 2008 he injured his hip again. He played most of the rest of the season with his injury. The next two seasons the played a combined total of 13 games mostly due to knee related injuries, swelling and surgeries. This season he is back and presumed to be 100%. He has so far split the goaltending duties with Dwayne Roloson. He has not played well this season. In fact he only played well during a win against Tampa Bay and a loss against the Thrashers. Otherwise he has been mediocre at best. His current numbers are a 3.93 GAA and .870 SV%. DiPietro is still only 29 and has a good chance to play a decade or so if he can stay healthy. It’s important for the Islanders organization that he bounces back this year after all that time and money has been invested in him.

Fights of the Week

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

Darcy Hordichuk vs. Shawn Thornton

Decent fight between these two, advantage Thornton.

Krys Barch vs. Colton Orr

A nice long fight that Orr clearly domaintes.

Kevin Westgarth vs. Chris Neil

Decent scrap despite Westgarth’s balancing issues.

Goats of the Week

Jaroslav Halak – St. Louis Blues

Even great goalies like Halak can make bad judgments from time to time, though if he wouldn’t have hit it accidentally for the 2^nd time it never would have went in. Mostly players are chosen as goats because their blunder cost their team the game. In this case, the Red Wings won by so much it didn’t really matter but I thought it deserved a mention anyway.

Corey Perry – Anaheim Ducks

Perry tries to center the puck in the closing seconds of the game with the goalie pulled but ends up scoring a goal… into his own net, a good 200 feet away.

Things I like

1.Loved the high scoring affair that was Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia. I think we need to have games like that more often. It really showcases the awesomeness and excitement of the NHL. I’m not saying a defensive goalie duel isn’t exciting, it is, but this adds a different level of excitement. Too many games like that would be bad, as the fans would expect them too much.

2. Jerome Iginla has struggled mightily with the Flames so far this season. However since management has told him he wouldn’t have to wave his no trade clause, he has been on fire. I’m not sure why that would make a difference but I guess it has psychologically. Though if he and the Flames had started better, I don’t think the idea of trading him would have ever crossed their mind in the first place. Iginila has six goal in his last three games.

3. The 34 year old Milan Hejduk is on pace to have his best year since 2002-03. He is an integral part of the Avalanche’s offense and power play and brings much needed experience to the young Avalanche forwards.

4. Anytime you shutout the high scoring Capitals, except if your name is Jaroslav Halak, I think you deserve a special mention. So congratulations on making 30 saves goes to Johan Hedberg, a mostly career journeyman and the owner of a just below career .900 SV%.

Things I don’t

1. After the Blackhawks shed a few people off their roster, most notably Dustin Byfuglien, you would think the Canucks would have an easier time with the Hawks. But that is certainly not the case. After losing 2-1 in overtime to the Hawks earlier this year, Vancouver followed it up with an atrocious 7-1 loss at home. The Canucks were dominated in ever facet of the game except at the face-off circle. Not a good sign for the Canucks, especially if they have to meet the Blackhawks in the playoffs again.

2. Teams on the West Coast. The Canucks have lost their last four, the Kings have lost four of their last five, the Sharks have lost their last three and the Ducks have lost their last five. Maybe it’s something in the Pacific Ocean. I will admit the Kings received a couple of questionable calls against Ottawa.

3. After Ryan Smyth’s no goal because he was called for high sticking, I think it’s necessary the NHL invests in additional cameras so they can show more angles. I also think the NHL should grant each coach one challenge during the game. The idea was brought up during the GM meetings but was shot down. I think it’s time we had it. This challenge could be used for goals or penalty calls.

Stat Line of the Week

11/18/10 Tampa Bay 8 vs. Philadelphia 7

I suppose I could have picked a player form another game but I took the easy way out. Stamkos converted all three of his shots into goals for his 3^rd career hat trick. All of his goals were setup by nice passing by his Tampa Bay teammates. Stamkos is almost averaging a goal a game.

Did You Know?

In 1964-65, Red Wings’ Roger Crozier was the last goaltender to appear in all of his team’s games for an entire season. Crozier ended up playing in all but 33 minutes of the Red Wings 70 games that year. A feat that will surely never be done again in this day and age. Of course now they play 12 more games a season. Brodeur came pretty close a few years ago, having played in 78 games.

Numbers, Numbers

0 – Minus games for Toni Lydman thus far this season

0 – Regulation losses for the Blues at home

7.5 – The power play percentage of the Florida Panthers, dead last in the NHL

.945 – SV% of the Blues at Home, tied for 1^st in the NHL

.872 – SV% of the Blues on the Road, last in the NHL

4 – Shutouts by Cary Price in 20 games, the same number of shutouts he had the previous 3 seasons or 134 games

Quotes of the Week

“I don’t know what they were looking for.”

- LW Chris Kunitz, on word he received from officials on what the Toronto crew was looking for when they reviewed his goal in the third period Friday against Carolina.

“It always seems when I make a mistake, we pay for it somehow. I just can’t make those.”

- Sabres goalie Patrick Lalime on his costly turnover that led to Tampa Bay’s winning goal. “If we talk about that I’ll break down.”

Seeing as how you are the goalie, mistakes would be costly.

“I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. I’ve had a great life. I’ve been around a great sport. I didn’t want to be a celebrity, I just want to be myself.”

- Pat Burns, in the days before his death from terminal cancer.

You will be missed Pat Buns.

“What have you guys been doing for 10 years?”

- Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel, when told by a staffer that Saturday’s win in San Jose was the franchise’s first regulation win in HP Pavilion.

This Week in Hockey History

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

November 18, 1979 Vancouver Canucks earned their first ever home victory over Montreal, 5-2. The win snapped a streak of 21 home games (0-15-6) without a win versus the Habs. Glen Hanlon stopped 34 of 36 shots for the win, the 4th straight for Vancouver.

November 19, 1998 Mike Keenan became just the sixth coach to record 500 career NHL victories, and Garth Snow recorded his 5th career shutout as Vancouver won 5-0 at Colorado, to end a 15-game winless streak against the Avalanche, (0-12-3 since December 1995).

November 20, 1988 Blackhawks retired the jerseys of goaltenders Glenn Hall (#1) and Tony Esposito (#35) in a pregame ceremony at Chicago Stadium. Hall had played 15 years in Chicago, and Esposito 10 years. Blackhawks lost 7-4 to the Canucks.

November 21, 1987 King Olav V of Norway watched from behind the Montreal bench, as the Canadiens beat the Devils 2-1 at the Forum. Bobby Smith and Chris Chelios each scored a goal and added an assist in the second period for Montreal.

November 22, 1983 Brian Sutter had five assists to set a new club record for assists in a game, as the Blues won 7-4 over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, to end a 6 game winless streak (0-4-2).

November 23, 1974 Goaltenders Rogie Vachon and Gary Inness traded shutouts as the Kings and the Penguins played to a 0-0 scoreless tie, at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. It was the 25th shutout of Vachon’s NHL career.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Detroit

2. Phoenix

3. Columbus

4. Philadelphia

5. Colorado

Bottom 5

30. N.Y Islanders

29. Edmonton

28. Calgary

27. Anaheim

26. Carolina

So how about those southern teams? – I wrote this about a year ago.

“NHL teams losing money – First Phoenix and now Columbus. The Coyotes troubles are well documented and despite the NHL’s best efforts the Coyotes really should really leave Phoenix. However don’t tell that to Commissioner Gary Bettman he doesn’t want to hear it. Now it is being reported that the Columbus Blue Jackets are losing on average 12 million a year.

Phoenix is dead last in attendance this year and has lost about 30 million in some seasons. Of course with team ownership up in the air many fans don’t want to invest money into a team that may not be there. The Coyotes were also near the bottom in attendance last year.

Columbus is 22nd in attendance capacity this year and was 2nd to last two seasons ago. Columbus is the 32nd largest US metro area not the largest by any means and not that smallest either, but only three teams play in front of smaller markets. The Blue Jackets also have to pay 5 million a year to use the arena. So that really doesn’t help their financial situation.

I think the NHL and Bettman really need to think harder before they place teams and try to keep teams in markets. A successful team depends on two things a large market and a large hockey or sports fan market. Phoenix and Atlanta (another money loser) are two top 12 markets, however neither care about hockey. Atlanta in general isn’t much of a sports market. None of their professional team are in the top 50% of attendance and the Atlanta Hawks are usually at the bottom like the Thrashers. Columbus and Carolina are also small markets with skeptical hockey fan bases, though Carolina fares a little better then Columbus, and then there’s Nashville and Florida(Miami).

For the life of me I don’t know why Bettman thought it was a good choice to put teams in some of these locations. I don’t have a problem, unlike most fans, of Bettman moving the teams out of Winnipeg and Hartford. I just question where he decided to move them to and when he decides to keep them there, even when it is a no win situation. For the life of me I can’t comprehend why Seattle and/or Portland, OR does not have a hockey team. Seattle is the 15th largest market and Portland is the 23rd largest. They both have built-in hockey fan bases and Seattle could really create a nice rivalry with Vancouver. They both do fairly well with WHL attendance. I imagine the NHL would do even better.”

A year later not much has changed. Guess who is dead lost in attendance this season? The Atlanta Thrashers and who is a close second? The Phoenix Coyotes. People use the excuse of well they aren’t winning franchises. True, but how many cups have the Canucks or Capitals ever won? Not to mention weren’t Toronto and Edmonton the worst teams last year and they both sold out like every single game? I agree wining helps and having star players help too. Before Crosby and Malkin got to Pittsburgh things looked bleak. But you really need to have an owner committed to winning in a city that’s on the bubble. It doesn’t seem like any of these cities have owners that do. I also realize that not every season will you play to jam packed crowds. The Blues had some really bad years of turnout before they rebounded this year and last year with about 100% capacity (even thought they didn’t make the playoffs last season). Realistically you should be able to get 85% of the arena full on average. Since the economy is bad a more realistic 75% for this season would do. The Thrashers, Coyotes, Blue Jackets and Islanders are all under 75% capacity. The Coyotes hit rocked bottom the other day when a whopping 6000+ fans came to a home game. This is a team that made the playoffs last season. You also can’t use the ownership situation excuse as a reason because Bettman has stubbornly said they will not leave Phoenix. If fans won’t come out to consistently support their team, the NHL should think of moving the franchises to cities that will.

Goalie Spotlight

Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators

Finnish born Rinne is one of the bigger goalies in the league at 6-5. He started out his career playing for Oulun Kärpät in the SM-liiga league, the top league in Finland. He started out in their junior system before being called up to serve as a backup to Niklas Bäckström. He was apart of the championships team with Kärpät in 2004 and 2005. Rinne was drafted in the 8^th round by the Predators, 258^th overall.

He was then sent to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. He secured the top goalie job with the admirals rather easily, he even played in two game for the Predators in the 2005-06 season. Strangely during that summer he was roughed up by unknown assailants which caused him to miss four months of the following season. His stellar play for the Admirals coupled with Dan Ellis’ fine 2007-08 season enabled the Predators to move starter Chris Mason. Although originally only meant to backup Ellis, Rinne quickly assumed the starting position. He was rookie of the month for February 2009 and he even sent a Predators franchise record with seven shutouts in a season. He ended up tying his own shutout record again the following season.

Rinne is off to a hot start this season currently 3^rd in GAA (1.58) and 2^nd in SV% (.955). Goaltending mate Anders Lindback, who is actually even an inch taller, is also off to a decent start and they have helped catapult the Predators to one of the best records in the league. The Predators hope it will continue, as they look to make it to the playoffs for the 2^nd straight season and hopefully advance past the 1^st round for the first time in their history.

Fights of the Week

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

Derek Boogaard vs. Shawn Thornton

More of a grappling match, Thornton handles the Boogie man well. He even lands a nice one right in Boggie’s face. The refs break it up to early though.

Deryk Engelland vs. Kevin Klein

I picked this fight mostly because it was funny watching Klein trying to goad Malkin into a fight, which of course didn’t happen.

Goat of the Week

Craig Anderson – Colorado Avalanche

The infamous goalie leaves his crease and bad things happen is back. Anderson leaves to try and beat Brad Richardson to the puck but stupidly clears it off the near boards right to Jarret Stoll who slings it to Richardson who puts it into the wide open goal for his 2nd of three that night. I wouldn’t have played the puck like Anderson did in the first place but I’m not really sure why it took Anderson so look to get back to the net or at least a lot closer then he was.

Steve Mason – Atlanta Thrashers

Mason leaves his crease, but not as far as Anderson did, and makes a bad pass behind his net that Alexander Semin capitalizes on. Semin’s other two goals follow in the clip.

Things I like

1. All those hat tricks. Alexander Semin, John Tavares, Brad Richardson, Steven Stamkos, Rene Bourque, Lee Stempniak and Daniel Alfredsson each had one this week. Though Stempniak and Alfredsson each got their last goal on an empty netter. Only Tavares’ hat trick was in a losing effort. Three hat tricks on Friday and three hat tricks on Saturday is always fun to watch. You might say the days had their own hat tricks.

2. Speaking of Steven Stamkos he has picked up right where he left off left season, lighting up arenas nationwide. As an added bonus, Stamkos gets to stick it to Steve Yzerman nightly who passed over him for a Canadian Olympic roster spot. Of course since Yzerman is now the Lightning GM, I’m pretty sure he’s smiling.

3. Only one team has yet to lose in regulation and that would be the umm… the Nashville Predators? Yes that’s right, the Nashville Predators who are also undefeated on the road. It’s good for hockey in that region if they can sustain it. The goaltending duo of Pekka Rinne and Anders Lindback, their 7^th round selection in ’08, (both mentioned above) are playing exceptionally well. Though I can’t really see the Predators taking the division crown over the Blackhawks and the Red Wings in the long run.

4. Who said the Bruins were Tuukka Rask’s team? Tim Thomas is currently the NHL leader in in SV% (.980) and GAA (0.75) through four games. A good reason why the Bruins were smart not to move him. Nathan Horton has also fit in better with the Bruins then they could have ever imagined. He is 1^st on the team in goals (5) and points (9). Though the Bruins are still one of the lower scoring teams in the league, I would hate to see where they would be without him.

Things I don’t

1. As the Devil turns. Well they say that Devils like it hot but nobody can like it as hot and as uncomfortable as it’s getting in New Jersey. First not winning and then Ilya Kovalchuk is a healthy scratch. Word is then apparently leaked that nobody wanted to sign Kovalchuk except Owner Jeff Vanderbeek. GM Lou Lamoriello denies that but what is he really going to say? Kovy is not a team player and he doesn’t play defense well. Basically he is not a good fit but let’s keep him in New Jersey for life anyway. Makes sense right?

2. The Edmonton Oilers have not won a game since they started 2-0. They’ve had four straight losses culminating in a bad loss to the Sharks 6-1, in which they made many mistakes in their own zone that led to most of the Sharks goals. The Oilers have also said they aren’t sending any of their rookies down to the minors before the nine game window. This will definitely be a learning experience for the rookies and hopefully it won’t do the Oilers in when it comes time to re-sign them all. On the plus side if they don’t end up doing well, Edmonton will get another high draft pick. The Oilers lost again last night but they showed some heart and determination battling back from a 4-1 deficit. They also at least picked up a point for their effort.

3. Colton Orr’s “goal” Tuesday night which basically consisted of him bowling over goalie Florida Panthers’ goalie Scott Clemmensen in the crease and having the puck redirect off of his skate. I can’t believe the refs allowed the goal, it’s not like he was pushed in. It’s a good thing the game was in Toronto because I hate to hear the chants coming from Florida. Orr’s goal was the game winning goal but luckily Phil Kessel scored a goal a few minutes later so if that goal wouldn’t have counted, the Panthers would have lost anyway.

Stat Line of the Week

10/23/10 Los Angeles 6 vs. Colorado 4

Brad Richardson scored equal or more goals in one game than he did in three previous seasons. Though the seasons weren’t full, ranging from 22, 31 and 44 games played, it’s still an impressive feat for a guy who doesn’t score that much especially in about 12 minutes of playing time.

Did You Know?

Wayne Gretzky has the most career NHL three goals or more games with 50. Mario Lemieux is 2^nd with 40. Wayne Gretzky also has the single season mark of 10, which he set twice in 1981-82 and in 1983-84.

Numbers, Numbers

1195 – NHL games for Teemu Selanne to get 610 goals

1063 – NHL games for Bobby Hull to get 610 goals

303 – Goals scored by Bobby Hull in the WHA, which he unfortunately doesn’t really get much credit for

36.5 – The Hurricanes face-off winning percentage, dead last in the league

14 – Years since the Coyotes last won a game in Montreal

Quote of the Week

“Actually, I have better games against better goalies. The way I look at it, I’m better than they are.” — RW Alex Kovalev, when asked if he was glad All-Star Ilya Bryzgalov didn’t start in goal for the Coyotes on Tuesday.

This Week in Hockey History

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

October 21, 2000 Nicklas Lidstrom had two assists for his 500th career point in the Red Wings 5-4 win in overtime against the visiting Buffalo Sabres. It came in the 5,000th game in Detroit’s franchise history.

October 22, 1999 Grant Fuhr became the 6th NHL goaltender to win 400 career NHL games and Derek Morris scored 20 seconds into overtime as Calgary won 3-2 at Florida.

October 23, 1971 Montreal’s Guy Lafleur scored his first career NHL goal. It came against Kings’ goalie Gary Edwards in the Canadiens’ 3-1 win at Los Angeles.

October 24, 1953 Maple Leafs’ Ted Kennedy scored a goal just :08 into a game between Toronto and Boston, to tie the NHL record for fastest goal from the start of a game (set by NY Americans’ Ron Martin in 1932). Leafs lost 3-2 to Bruins.

October 25, 1984 Guy Lafleur scored his 518th and final goal as a member of the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 win over Buffalo. His next NHL goal would come four years later with the New York Rangers.

October 26, 1984 Detroit Red Wings scored three empty net goals at the end of a 7-3 win over Buffalo, at Joe Louis Arena. Danny Gare scored two goals and two assists to lead the Red Wings’ scoring.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Nashville

2. Los Angeles

3. Detroit

4. Montreal

5. Tampa Bay

Bottom 5

30. New Jersey

29. Edmonton

28. Ottawa

27. Phoenix

26. Anaheim

The Devils haven’t advanced past the 1^st round of the playoffs the last three years. They haven’t been out of the 2^nd round since they last won the cup in 2003. Now not all of it is Brodeur’s fault but last year against the Flyers was just a disaster. Two years ago against the Hurricanes we all remember the two goals in the final two minutes of Game 7. Once again not entirely Brodeur’s fault as the first goal was just great passing and the second goal was partially deflected off of the Devils defenseman’s stick. Still you have to wonder that maybe those were not the best signs. This year the Devils and Brodeur (3.18 GAA, .887 SV%) are not off to a very good start. The last game against the Bruins, Brodeur gave up four goals. Some weren’t his fault but a couple of the goals you think in his heyday he would have stopped them. Sure problems plague the Devils in general. First there was the Kovalchuk contract thing, then them not resigning Paul Martin and then the failure to be able to afford enough players but it just seems like the Brodeur and Devils magic has run its course. The Devils play in the tough Atlantic division, so while they may have the talent they may not get the record to show it this season.

I realize it’s not easy for a seventeen year NHL veteran who has been surround with hockey his whole life, including when he was a kid from watching his dad play. to just stop playing but at some point he will need to make that decision. Dominik Hasek retired only to come back a season later and then retire again. Of course he recently came out of retirement again to play for the Czech Extraliga League and now the KHL at the age of 45. The reason Hasek retired from the NHL the second time was about motivation. Hasek said, “I’m glad I can make my decision. I’m not ready to compete [anymore] on the highest level.” I guess Brodeur is still motivated to compete but when you have two Olympic Gold Medals, three Stanley Cup championships and you hold almost every major goaltending record, what else do you need to prove?

Goalie Spotlight

Brent Johnson – Pittsburgh Penguins

Despite being in his 2^nd year with the Penguins, Penguins fans might wonder who is Brent Johnson and where is Marc-Andre Fleury?

A product of Farmington, Michigan Johnson was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in 1995 with the 129^th overall pick but he never actually played for them. He played for the Owen Sound Platers in the OHL but didn’t produce the best numbers. Next up was the Worcester Ice Cats of the AHL where he fared a little better. In the 1998-99 season with the Blues he finally made his NHL debut. He only played in six gamed but he played well. That year the Blues actually started five different goalies, so it’s amazing he got any playing time at all. He went back to the AHL again for a season before cracking the blues lineup the next season where he split time with Roman Turek. The next season, 2001-02 was the only season where he started over 50 games in the NHL. Producing a 2.18 GAA, .902 SV% and 5 shutouts in 58 games. The following season the Blues actually used seven different starting goalies. He was eventually phased out until he was traded to the Coyotes in a brief stint. He then latched on to the Capitals where he mainly backed up Olaf Kolizig. He was lastly the backup to Jose Theodore until Semyon Varlamov emerged as the number two goalie and then eventually the number one.

Last season Johnson backed up Fleury starting in 23 games. This season he has actually played one more game than Fleury. He is so far undefeated with four wins and a 1.49 GAA and .950 SV%. Since leading the Penguins to a Stanley Cup victory in 2009 Fleury hasn’t quite been the same. It’s not that his numbers are down, they are, but it’s more about the kind of fluky goals he lets in from time to time. So far this year Fleury has struggled as well. If Fleury can’t manage to get it together, Johnson will play an integral part in the Penguins run for another Stanley Cup.

Fights of the Week

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

Colton Orr vs. Deryk Engelland

Colton Orr with experience of over 200 fights in three different leagues was expected to be of no match for Engelland. The fight was fairly even despite Engelland having his view blocked by his dangling helmet for a bit but Engelland in the end had the KO.

Michael Rupp vs. Jody Shelley

A pretty decent scrap between these two.

Chris Stewart vs Zenon Konopka

Real decent scrap just five seconds into the game. Stewart is the Avalanche’s 2^nd leading scorer too. What’s not to love?

Goat of the Week

Tyler Myers – Buffalo Sabres

Last years Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers mishandles the puck and Patrick Kane makes him pay setting up Patrick Sharp for the 1^st goal of the game. A goal that proved costly, as the Sabres lost to the Blackhawks 4-3.

Things I like

1. Thomas Kopecky is leading the Blackhawks in assists and tied for 2^nd in points. Drafted 38^th overall in the 200 draft, Kopecky has never scored more than 21 points in a season. Of course Kopecky is now playing on the 2^nd line with Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, which always helps, so he should at least triple his previous point high. Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd who?

2. Who said the Capitals had no defense? *raises hand* The Capitals have been shorthanded 25 times this season and have so far yielded no power play goals. Whether they can keep it up or not is anyone’s guess. Since losing 4-2 to the Thrashers on opening night, the Capitals have only given up two goals or less in each game since. Credit also goes to Michal Neuvirth who has played well in place of injured Semyon Varlamov, who is now back. Of course last night against the Bruins they did give up three goals in a loss.

3. The Penguins power play actually started the week in my “Things I Don’t” section because their power play was ranked 20^th in the NHL. It’s unacceptable really for a line that boasts Malkin and Crosby and having a man advantage to be ranked that low. But they have since woken up to rise all the way to 10^th place since Sidney Crosby unleashed back to back power play goals in Philadelphia. The Penguins also get the most practice on power plays as they far and away lead the NHL with the most power play opportunities with 40.

4. The Los Angeles Kings, proving that last year was not a mirage, are off to a fairly decent start at 3-1. Jonathon Quick is off to a great start that he needed to have. He has let in just three goals in three games thus far. They are maintaining their well balanced offense and bringing the stars out to games, such as Vince Vaughn and Bristol Palin. Did I actually use Bristol Palin and star in the same sentence?

Things I don’t

1. The Flames reunited top line of Alex Tanguay, Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginila. They had produced no points until their last game against the Oilers. This only happened because Jokinen was bumped down to the 2^nd line probably not what the Flames had envisioned when the required him but Jokinen did help set up a goal on that line. If bumping him down to the 2^nd line and Matt Stajan up is what’s needed to produce points, I think Calgary and the fans will take it.

2. Call me absolutely puzzled with the Joe Thornton deal. In the five postseasons with the Sharks, Thornton has only averaged a point a game just once and has a negative +/- in three of the five postseasons. If I was the Sharks management I would have waited to see what Thornton does in this postseason before I made an offer. Sure he’d be an unrestricted free agent but he doesn’t seem like the kind of player that would play hardball in negations. Plus if he fails miserably in the playoffs, nobody would want him anyway.

3. Luca Sbisa was probably the biggest component of the Chris Pronger trade, as the Ducks were hoping to get a young dominant defenseman to replace the old dominant defenseman. It hasn’t really worked out that way though. For the 3^rd straight year Sbisa was sent down to the Minors. It has to be disappointing for the Olympian, especially since 18 year old Cam Fowler is excelling on the team. I hope next year Sbisa is finally ready.

4. The Shane Doan suspension I thought was a bit much. I didn’t care for his hit on Cam Fowler that broke Fowler’s nose or the hit on Dan Sexton. What bothered me more though is that the ref didn’t call a penalty on either during the game. Doan is, I believe, a first time offender so I think one or two games would have served the purpose. I’ve certainly seen worse hits than the one Doan gave Sexton. The NHL clearly wants to send a message.

Stat Line of the Week

10/16/10 Florida 6 vs. Tampa Bay 0

Bryan McCabe help lead the rout of the Lightning with his four assists in the battle of Florida. Mcabe’s nice pass just two minutes into the game to Corey Stillman help set the tone of the game. Florida has now beaten their last two opponents by a combined 9-0 score.

Did You Know?

The Longest NHL suspension was given to Billy Coutu in 1927 for life. Coutu started a bench clearing brawl at the end of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals at the apparent behest of coach Art Ross, he of the Art Ross trophy fame. He assaulted referee Jerry Laflamme and tackled referee Billy Bell. Two and a half years later the suspension was lifted but Coutu never played for the NHL again.

Numbers, Numbers

10 – Number of wins for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1993-94, the longest wining streak to start a season

15 – Number of games won or tied by the Edmonton Oilers in 1984-85, the longest undefeated streak to start a season

3 – Shorthanded goals against the Colorado Avalanche, currently worst in the league

9 – Total shorthanded goals against the Avalanche last year, 2^nd worst in the league

300 – Career goals by Dany Heatley

2 – Even strength goals for the Wild in the first four games

3 – Even strength goals last night against the Canucks

This Week in Hockey History

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

October 14, 1998     New York Islanders became just the third team in NHL history to shut out the same opponent four straight times (and the first to do so since 1927) when goalie Tommy Salo recorded his 10th career shutout in a 2-0 win at Tampa Bay.

October 15, 2003     Daniel Alfredsson scored twice to become the Ottawa Senators’ all-time leading scorer (with his 492nd career point) in a 4-3 loss to the Kings in Los Angeles. Alfredsson broke the franchise mark of 491 points set by Alexei Yashin.

October 16, 1982     Gil Perreault scored his 15th career hat trick and added two assists, one of which came on rookie Phil Housley’s first NHL goal, to lead the Sabres to a 9-2 win over the Capitals at Washington.

October 17, 1982     Victor Nechayev became the first Soviet-trained player to score a goal in the NHL — he helped the Kings to a 5-3 win over the Rangers, at New York. Nachaev played just three games during his NHL career.

October 18, 2000     18-year-old rookie Marian Gaborik scored twice in the final 2:28 of the game to lead the Minnesota Wild to their first victory in team history, 6-5 over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.

October 19, 1980     In a pre-game ceremony at Chicago Stadium, Stan Mikita’s uniform #21 was retired by the Black Hawks. It was the first Hawk jersey to be retired. Chicago then won the game 8-4 over the Washington Capitals.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Toronto
2. Washington
3. Detroit
4. Chicago
5. Tampa Bay

Bottom 5

30. Buffalo
29. Ottawa
28. New Jersey
27. Minnesota
26. Phoenix

Goal Controversy – The Washington Capitals franchise record streak came to an end against the Canadiens. They only lost in overtime but apparently the Capitals thought it should never have gone to overtime, as they had a goal that was disallowed. I don’t really care what the initial call was, if you’re going to plow the opposing team’s players into their own goalie, you’re going to score goals all the time. Of course you can’t do that, nor should you be allowed to. I have no idea what Ovechkin was thinking on that play or why anyone on the Capitals actually thought that goal should have counted.

Minor Trades – A few minor trades happened before the Olympic roster freeze. The best trade was the one the Blackhawks made with the Wild. The Blackhawks received Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy and the Wild received Cam Barker. Advantage goes to the Blackhawks for sure in this deal. Barker has been a disappointment and Blackhawks want to clear space for next season. Johnsson has a higher salary but he is a free agent next year so the Blackhawks will definitely let him walk. They also get a prospect in Leddy, not to shabby. As for the Wild well they better hope Barker’s change of scenery improves his game, especially if Leddy becomes a decent talent.

Goalie Spotlight

Marc-Andre Fleury – Pittsburgh Penguins

Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall in the 2003 NHL entry draft. His nickname of flower is a derivative, fleuri, of his last name.  Fleuri means flower in French. He started his career playing for QMJHL for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in 2000. In 2003 he was named to the All-Star second team and he helped lead Canada to a Silver medal in the World Junior Championship. This was enough success for the Penguins to make him the first pick. Cape Breton later retired Fleury’s number. Fluery was the youngest NHL goaltender in the league in 2003 and he was named rookie of the month. Due to financial difficulties Pittsburgh did not want to pay Fluery his bonus. Since they didn’t want him getting the chance to earn it they let him play in the 2004 World Junior Championship. He led Canada to another Silver medal and then he was sent back to Cape Breton where he tore it up. After that he was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) where he only played in the playoffs. Since the 04-05 NHL season was canceled, Fluery stayed playing in the AHL.

Fleury got his chance to be the starter in the 05-06 season when Jocelyn Thibault was injured. He ended up beating out Thibault and Sebastien Caron to become the number one goalie. All was not well however, as the Penguins finished last in the conference and allowed a league worst 316 goals. Despite this the Penguins saw his talent and rewarded him with a two year extension. The 06-07 season featured a much improve Penguins team that made the playoffs. Fleury was able to post his first NHL SV% above .900 (.906) and his first GAA below 3.00 (2.83) behind a better team. He became the only other goalie besides Tom Barrasso to win 40 games for the franchise. The Penguins ended up losing to Stanley Cup Finalist Ottawa in the first round in five games.

Fleury sat out most of the 07-08 season with an ankle sprain allowing Ty Conlkin to start much of the year. When he came back from the injury he was 22-4-1 including the playoffs up until the Stanley Cup Final. Fleury’s career moment, up until this time, was probably his 55 save effort in triple overtime that forced a game 6. In game 6 he ended up sitting on the game winning goal and accidentally pushed it in, which was his lowest career point. He signed a seven year deal in the off-season. In the 08-09 season Fleury was able to stay healthy and start a majority of the games. His numbers dipped from the previous season but they were still an improvement over the 06-07 season. He picked up his game in the postseason and was instrumental in most series particularly the opening round series against the Flyers. The Penguins found themselves with a rematch against the Red Wings in the Finals. Fleury made many huge saves including a diving stop in the final seconds of game 7 to help the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.

So far the current season has not been one of Fleury’s strongest, though he did start out the year 8-0. He has yet to record a shutout this season, which would be a first for his NHL career if he doesn’t end up posting one. However, the Penguins are at the top of the standings and fighting the Devils for the division crown. Even if he hasn’t played his best hockey, Penguin fans know Fleury always saves his best for the postseason.

Fights of the Week

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

Colton Orr vs. Cam Janssen

These two fought briefly in the 1st period before being thwarted by the refs. They came back with a vengeance in the 2nd. Some decent shots in between the filler.

Nate Thompson vs. Matt Martin

A decent fight between two guys who don’t fight all that much. Martin gets the slight edge.

Aaron Rome vs. James Sheppard

Rome is a pretty good fighter when he can’t see. I’m surprised the refs didn’t break up the fight immediately because of that.

Goat of the Week

Steve Montador – Buffalo Sabres

Montador, a former Duck, loses an edge playing the puck behind the net and coughs it up in overtime. Brandon Sutter had a pretty pass to Sergei Samsonov who puts it behind a not ready Ryan Miller. You have to be more alert Miller even if it was Montador’s fault.

Things I like

1. Earlier in the year we thought we would get two or three teammates in the top 6 scoring at the end of the year. We still might but instead of it being a couple of Sharks it looks like it will be a couple of Capitals. Ovechkin is in 1^st and Backstrom is in 3^rd. Fellow teammate Semin isn’t too far behind in 12^th place.

2. Jonathan Quick is leading the league in wins. I don’t think anyone could see that coming. He tied the Kings franchise record for wins in a season with 35. He should easily shatter that before the season is done. He also gets a trip to Vancouver. It’s unlikely he will play much being the 3^rd goalie but he will pick-up some valuable experience. In four years he will probably be the number 2 guy behind Miller.

3. The Kings and Oilers ten round shootout. I’ve written about the shootout here before and I know many fans have their arguments of why they do and don’t like it. But watching a ten rounder is always fun and suspenseful.

4. The top eight players in +/- consists of five Washington Capitals and three Vancouver Canucks. I think that says a lot about top teams and lines in the league.

Things I don’t

1. The Devils are still slumping and Ilya hasn’t been the goal scoring machine the Devils had hoped, with only one goal in six games. He does have four assists though. The Devils struggles can also be attributed to Martin Brodeur struggling as of late. In the month of February his SV% was .871 which is lower than his career and regular season averages. He even got pulled in the regular finale before the Olympics against Carolina. Both Ilya and Brodeur are heading to Vancouver, so much needed rest is not what they will be receiving.

2. Giguere’s good fortune lasted only two games in Toronto. He lost his next two games, after his two game shutout streak, giving up a combined 7 goals. No more games until after the break so he should be able to get in plenty of practice with his favorite goalie coach.

3. No NHL hockey for two weeks. Sure there is Olympic hockey but it’s not the same.

Stat Line of the Week

02/14/10 Anaheim 7 vs. Edmonton 3

Getzlaf returned from his ankle injury and was the main catalyst for the Ducks big victory of the Oilers. Scoring two powerplay goals he helped reverse the trend of the Ducks struggling with their powerplay on the road. He also sent a strong message to Steve Yzerman of Team Canada to keep him on the Olympic squad.

Did You Know?

In honor of the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team drubbing Slovakia 18-0, I give you the most lopsided NHL game. In 1944 the Detroit Red Wings beat the NY Rangers 15-0. Syd Howe would record a hat trick in the final six minutes of the game. The Rangers only won six games that season and will go down in history as one of the worst teams ever.

Numbers, Numbers

2.08 – GAA of Tuukka Rask the current league leader and currently a back-up goalie

43 – Alex Ovechkin’s +/- the current league leader

163 – PIM for Cam Janssen, number two in the league currently

0 – Points scored by Cam Janssen so far this season

This Week in Hockey History

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

February 11, 1988 Toronto’s Borje Salming became just the fifth defenseman in NHL history to get 600 career assists. The milestone came in a 4-3 Maple Leafs win over the visiting New York Islanders.

February 12, 1929 Montreal Canadiens’ goalie George Hainsworth recorded his 15th shutout of the season (and the 42nd of his career) in a 2-0 against over the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

February 13, 2002 Dominik Hasek recorded his 60th career shutout, and Scotty Bowman became just the 2nd coach to win 400 games with Detroit, in the Red Wings 2-0 win over the Wild at Minnesota.

February 14, 1994 Wayne Gretzky picked up two assists to record a 100-point season for the 14th time in his career (extending his NHL record) as the Kings lost 3-2 to the Bruins at the Forum.

February 15, 1989 Chicago’s Jeremy Roenick tied a club record for rookies, with four points (a goal and three assists) as the Blackhawks won 7-4 over the visiting Washington Capitals.

February 16, 1980 Boston’s Jean Ratelle picked an assist to give him 1,220 career points, passing Jean Beliveau and moving up to No. 7 on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Bruins won 5-3 over the Rockies, at Colorado.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Los Angeles
2. Washington
3. Ottawa
4. Carolina
5. Phoenix

Bottom 5

30. Toronto
29. NY Islanders
28. Edmonton
27. Florida
26. Detroit

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks got the win at home against the Oilers in a much closer than it should have been game 3-2. This was the 11^th straight win for the Ducks at home, a franchise record. Bobby Ryan had two goals and Marchant had the game winner.

If a goal is scored and no one notices does it still count? The answer is yes, as Toronto noticed that Tory Bodie tipped in Scott Niedermayer’s shot. The refs counted the goal and rewound the clock. Of course it didn’t really matter as the Flames basically dominated the rest of the game and scored three goals, led by Jerome Iginila, after that. Real nice of the Ducks to show up to a hugely important playoff type game.

The Ducks then played the Oilers again, this time at Edmonton. The Ducks erupted for seven goals in the 7-3 win. The powerplay was clicking scoring four goals. Ryan Getzlaf made his return to the lineup with authority, scoring two goals and two assists. The Ducks made a statement in this game and it’s a good thing, since they won’t be playing again for awhile. I’d like to think the Ducks have a good chance to make the playoffs. The problem is there are seven teams within seven points of each other, all vying for the last two playoff spots. Or five teams within four points. Even if the Ducks get hot, there is no guarantee two other teams won’t.

As for the Thrashers, well what can you say; this team bleeds talent like no other. I still can’t wait for them to leave Atlanta. I think that will solve most of their problems. But that’s a topic for another discussion. It’s great they will have two 1st round picks in this year’s draft. Let’s hope they get some quality talent they can actually keep in Atlanta, for once.

Goalie Spotlight

Tomas Vokoun – Florida Panthers

So who are the league leaders in shutouts? That would be Martin Brodeur and Tomas Vokoun each with seven so far. Vokoun is one of those unheralded guys in the league. He doesn’t get much fanfare but goes out and puts up some decent numbers.

The Czech born Vokoun was drafted in 1994 by the Montreal Canadiens, he played only one game for them and gave up four goals in one period. Between 1994 and 1994 he played in Czechoslovakia, for the ECHL and AHL. He was then chosen by the Predators in the 1998 expansion draft. He split time between the Predators and the IHL his first two seasons, though he mostly played for the Predators. It wasn’t until the 2002-03 season, after Mike Dunham was traded, that Vokoun became the starter.

After he became the starter he posted solid numbers on a regular basis and set many franchise records. Of course at this point the franchise was only about five years old. He holds the franchise record for wins in a season (36), all-time wins (134), all-time losses (147) and goaltender games played (340). During the lockout year he went to play for the Finnish league SM-liiga. He led HIFK Helsinki to an 11-4-4 record with a .940SV%. However in the playoffs he folded big time with an .846SV%, worst in the league.

From 2006 on Vokoun suffered health issues ranging from blood-clotting to thumb surgery. During this time back-up Chris Mason emerged as the starter. Subsequently Vokoun was traded to the Florida Panthers, for draft picks, right before the 2007 draft. He made the All-Star team his first year with the Panthers and 2^nd time overall he was selected. Vokoun made headlines this season when he was hit in the head with his own teammates, Keith Ballard, stick. Vokoun is posting decent numbers again this season and he is hoping to backstop the Panthers into the playoffs this year, a feat he almost accomplished last season.

Fights of the Week

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

Rick Rypien vs. Chris Neil

I good high intensity battle one of the few fights Rypien hasn’t dominated that he was in.

Tanner Glass vs. Matt Carkner

Carkner makes Glass his punching bag.

Dominic Moore vs. Zach Bogosian

Bogosian gets in a sneaky upper cut and that was the end of that.

Jody Shelley vs. Colton Orr

Shelley knocks out Orr with his 2nd punch.

Goat of the Week

Patrick Lalime – Buffalo Sabres

Lalime doesn’t play much backing up Ryan Miller and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon after this play. The puck did take a funny bounce off the boards but you have to be prepared, Lalime wasn’t and it bounced off his skate into the net.

Things I like

1. Great game between the Penguins and Capitals before the Super Bowl. Alex Ovechkin had a hat trick and assisted on the game winner in overtime and Sidney Crosby had two goals. Despite NBC’s constant drooling over Crosby and Ovechkin, they managed to mention former Hart trophy winner Evgeni Malkin. Hey NBC doesn’t winning the Hart Trophy mean your some kind of skilled hockey player?

2. Speaking of Ovechkin he notched his 500^th point this week in 373 games the fastest to 500 since Eric Lindros did it in 352 games. You remember Lindros right?

3. There are only two teams that have 7 players above 35 or more points each. One of them is the Washington Capitals which I’m sure most of you would guess but I bet you can’t guess the other one. I’ll give you the answer later in the column.

4. The Maple Leafs are getting Jiggy with it. After debuting in Toronto with a shutout, Jean-Sebastien Giguere decided to follow that up with another shutout. He made 30 saves again. His shutout streak came to an end against San Jose though, as he gave up three goals in a losing effort. If he had shutout the Sharks, I’m sure they would be celebrating in Toronto like they just won the super bowl, jk.

Things I don’t

1. NHL scheduling quirks, the Maple Leafs and Devils played each other in three of the last four games. Is that really necessary? How about a little more space in between games NHL?

2. NBC explaining why you fight in a hockey game during the Penguins vs. Capitals. Please stop NBC. Next NBC will explain why you try and score goals, ugh.

3. I’d like to give my condolences to Brian Burke who lost his son Brendan Burke. He died in a car accident driving on a snowy road. As a former Mid-Atlantic resident, I know how difficult it can be to drive on snow and ice. A person should never have to outlive their children.

Trivia: The answer to the other team besides the Capitals would be the Los Angeles Kings.

Stat Line of the Week

02/06/10 Toronto 5 vs. Ottawa 0

Well there were many fine performances this week but I chose to highlight Schenn’s performance. A 5^th overall selection, by the Maple Leafs, in his second season he is starting to develop into what the Maple Leafs had hoped when they drafted him. He was on the ice for four of the Maple Leaf’s five goals and he scored two of them himself.

Did You Know?

Patrick Roy is the only net minder to give up an opponent’s 500th career goal more than once. The players who have scored their 500^th on Roy are: Steve Yzerman in 1996, Joe Mullen in 1997 and Brendan Shanahan in 2002.

Numbers, Numbers – the streak edition

14 – The Washington Capital’s current winning streak.

11 – The winning streak by the Ottawa Senators which came to an end against Toronto.

10 – The losing streak by the Boston Bruins which came to an end against Montreal.

16 – Would be the games points streak by Alex Ovechkin if he scored against the Islanders on 1/26 but he didn’t so it’s now six games.

10 – The current winning streak for home wins for the Anaheim Ducks

This Week in Hockey History

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

February 04, 1987 Wayne Gretzky scored his 50th goal of the season, to lead the Oilers to a 6-5 win over the North Stars at Minnesota. It was Gretzky’s eighth straight 50 goal season.

February 05, 1996 Colorado’s Patrick Roy became the 4th goaltender in NHL history to win 10 or more games with two teams in one season, when the Avalanche had a 4-2 win over the visiting Canadiens. Roy had won 12 games with Montreal before being traded.

February 06, 1993 Mike Gartner scored four goals and an assist (including a first period hat trick) to lead the Wales Conference to a 16-6 win over the Campbells, at the All Star Game in Montreal. Pierre Turgeon had three goals & two assists in the game

February 07, 1987 Cam Neely scored his first career NHL hat trick as the Bruins won 8-5 over the Maple Leafs in Boston.

February 08, 2004 Joe Sakic scored a hat trick to lead the Western Conference to a 6-4 win over the East, in the NHL All Star game played in Minnesota. Daniel Alfredsson led the East with two goals and an assist.

February 09, 1971 Vancouver Canucks ended their team-record 11 game home winless streak (0-10-1) with a 6-3 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres. Rosaire Paiement led the Canucks with a team-record four goals (his first career hat trick).

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Washington
2. Ottawa
3. Los Angeles
4. San Jose
5. Vancouver

Bottom 5

30. Edmonton
29. Boston
28. NY Islanders
27. Buffalo
26. NY Rangers

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks seem to have the Red Wings number at home lately and Wednesday was no different. They Jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, prevailing 3-1. Hiller was sensational stopping 46 of 47 shots. The Ducks were firing on all cylinders with Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf leading the charge.

Next though they had to play the Kings in back to back games. They haven’t won the 2^nd game in any of the back to backs this year and this time was no different. They quickly feel behind 4-1 only to crawl back and tie the game 4-4. Dustin Brown scored the game winner on a wide open net, a goal that was poorly defended by Anaheim. They gave up another goal after that and ended up losing 6-4. Memo to NHL book teams playing back to back games as little as possible. I’m pretty sure it can be done.

Next up was the Kings, wait didn’t I just type that, o wait that’s right the NHL doesn’t know how to schedule; either that or this is baseball. It was a great fast paced game with lots of chances. After the 1^st which was tied 1-1 and saw Teemu Selanne net number 597, the Ducks dominated the 2^nd period. Saku Koivu netted the game winner when he scored the puck and then himself. Surprisingly there was no scoring in the 3^rd and the Ducks prevailed 4-2 and got those much needed two points. Unfortunately Ryan Getzlaf sprained his ankle and it didn’t look pretty. X-rays at this point are negative and I hope they stay that way.

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.

This is quite strange to me. Let’s look at each team briefly.

Goaltending – The Ducks have Giguere, though in decline he still plays admirably, and Hiller, not as hot as last year but still decent. The Kings have John Quick who is in his 2^nd full time season and had an okay year last year. His numbers this year are decent but nothing spectacular. One would think advantage Ducks.

Defense – Though the Ducks lost Pronger they still have Neidermayer, Whitney and Wisniewski. The Kings have Doughty, in his 2^nd year, O’ Donnell, a journeyman, Johnson and Scuderi rounding out the top 4. They lost Kyle Quincy to the Avalanche. I would think once again advantage Ducks.

Offense – Ducks have Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan, Selanne, Koivu, and Lupul. Hard to argue with that bunch, it would take to long to list their accomplishments. The Kings counter with Kopitar, who is amazing, Brown, Williams, Smyth, Stoll and Frolov. Most of these guys are a few years into playing or journeyman. Most of them are really developing fast. This category I would only give a slight edge to the Ducks.

But as you can see, what looks good on paper and what actually performs well are two different things.

Yes the Ducks also gave the Maple Leafs their first win of the season in a 6-3 lost. However the game wasn’t like the score would have you believe. This was honestly one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. Not including fighting and game misconducts the Ducks committed 15 penalties. That’s right 15. The Maple Leafs had 8 not including fighting and game misconducts. Now that’s kind of a big disparity. The Maple Leafs scored 5 of their 6 goals on the powerplay including two 5 on 3. I didn’t see the whole game but I saw most of it. I can tell you that at least 3 penalties called on the Ducks were not penalties. The Maple Leafs scored on all those penalties. I really don’t like it when refs decide games especially when they aren’t viewing the play from the right angle to make the correct call. I wish the NHL had coach’s challenges like the NFL has, or at least instant replays for penalties, not just goals.

On a side note I’d like to point out that the Ducks put together a thank you video montage of every former player who comes to town for a visit. I’m not just talking about the key past players, I’m talking about everybody. A very classy move I think by the organization.

Goalie Spotlight

Ilya Bryzgalov – Phoenix Coyotes

I figured this week we would take a look at one of the hottest goalies in the league.

Ilya Bryzgalov was born in Togliatti, Russia, one of many fine NHL players to come from Russia. He has a decorated international career that includes a silver medal at the 2000 World Junior Championships, a bronze medal with Russia at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and a gold medal in the 2009 Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships. You might say he scored the hat trick of medals.

Bryzgalov was drafted by the then Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2000 and had success with them. Though mostly used as a backup to Jean-Sebastien Giguere he did start some playoff games towards the end of his tenure with the Ducks. He tied the playoff record for most consecutive shutouts by a rookie with 3. He was also a part of the Ducks cup winning team in 2007. Though he didn’t play in any of the Stanley Cup Finals he did start, and won, in previous rounds. After the Ducks failed to trade Bryzgalov he was picked up on waivers by the Coyotes. His numbers the past two seasons as the Coyotes starter weren’t anything spectacular but they were in line with his career numbers.

Off to a fast start this year, he is near of the top of the NHL in GGA, SV%, and he currently leads the league in shutouts with 2. Not bad considering the most shutouts he has ever had in a season has been 3. Whether or not his numbers stay at that level will be dependent on how well the Coyotes play around him. A perennial loser, recently, the Coyotes are off to one of their best starts ever. Time will tell how well Bryzgalov and the Coyotes will finish.

Fights of the Week

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

Colton Orr vs. George Parros

Best part of the fight is when Orr shoves the referee down to the ice. He got a game misconduct for that. Honestly the refs deserved it after their performance.

Steve MacIntyre vs. Brian McGrattan

Nice long fight with a lot of good punches, edge to McGrattan and his fists though.

Tim Conboy vs. John Scott

Talk about a mismatch, though it’s not as much of height disadvantage as it seems. I’ve seen worse discrepancies. A lot of wrestling in this fight.

Brad May vs. Tanner Glass

Good fight between two heavyweights in a good close game.

Goat/Trick Shot of the Week

Jeff Schultz and Ondrej Pavelec

Back to back weeks of the Goat/Trick shot of the week combined. Jeff Schultz, Capitals, was just the clearing the puck down the ice and just got a few lucky bounces. Ondrej Pavelec, Thrashers, just misplayed it with his glove.

Things I like

1. We have a Dustin Penner sighting. Penner, who helped the Ducks win the cup in 2007, is also off to his best season ever. Near the top of the league in Goals and Points, Penner has adjusted his game to a more aggressive style under new coach Pat Quinn and it’s paying off.

2. Relatively unknown Matt Carle is off to a great start. Playing for his third team and his 2^nd go around with the Flyers, Carle is tops in scoring for defenseman. He also has a stellar +7.

3. I mentioned Anze Kopitar a few weeks ago but he deserves mention again for his phenomenal play. The scoring race should go down to the wire between him and Ovechkin (I guess Gaborik too). Sorry Malkin and Crosby.

Things I don’t

1. Chris Osgood is not having a very good year. It’s tough to blame all of Detriot’s woes on Osgood since they defiantly have other issues. Last year Osgood didn’t have a great year either but he rebounded come playoff time when it mattered most. He might not get a chance to rebound in the playoffs this year though.

2. The Carolina Hurricanes are not following their surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals with a strong start. Eric Staal has really struggled this year. If the Hurricanes hope to have any success this year, he will need to get back on track.

3. The officiating in some of the games, rivals the NFL officiating on their worst days. I really feel bad officiating in football and hockey games can really turn games more so then in basketball or baseball.

This Week in Hockey History

New Feature starting this week, I will pull a few of the interesting events in hockey history from the week. I hope you like history!

October 26, 1990 Wayne Gretzky became the first player in NHL history to hit the 2,000 point milestone, with an assist as the Kings lost 6-2 to the Jets at Winnipeg. He upped his career stats to 684 goals, 1,316 assists, for 2,000 points in 857 NHL games.

October 26, 1984 Detroit Red Wings scored three empty net goals at the end of a 7-3 win over Buffalo, at Joe Louis Arena. Danny Gare scored two goals and two assists to lead the Red Wings’ scoring.

October 26, 1996 Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek picked up his 100th career NHL victory in a 6-3 win over the visiting Hartford Whalers. Hasek became the first European-trained goaltender to win 100 games.

October 26, 1969 Philadelphia Flyers tied St. Louis 0-0 at the Spectrum, with Bernie Parent and Jacques Plante earning the shutouts. It was the 69th career shutout for Blues’ Plante and 7th of Parent’s career.

October 25, 1988 Toronto Maple Leafs scored four goals on just four shots in the second period of a 4-3 win over the NY Islanders. In the game the Leafs were outshot 34-18. Ed Olczyk led the scoring with two goals.

October 24, 1991 Paul Coffey scored his 310th career goal, to tie Denis Potvin as the highest goal scoring defenseman in NHL history, in a 4-2 Penguins’ loss to the Devils, in Pittsburgh.

October 23, 1982 Boston’s Normand Leveille suffered a career-ending cerebral hemorrhage during the first intermission at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum. Bruins lost 3-2 to the Canucks.

October 22, 1957 Chicago rookie Bobby Hull scored his first career NHL goal in a 2-1 win over the visiting Boston Bruins.

October 22, 2002 Patrick Roy played in his 971st game, to tie Terry Sawchuk’s NHL record for career appearances by a goalie, as Colorado tied 3-3 against the visiting Edmonton Oilers.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Pittsburgh
2. Colorado
3. Washington
4. Los Angeles
5. Buffalo

Bottom 5

30. Toronto
29. Florida
28. Minnesota
27. New York Islanders
26. Anaheim

Ducks Watch

The Ducks are in a bit of a funk. After spotting the Stars a 3-0 lead the Ducks finally got 2 goals to make it a game, including Getzlaf’s first of the year. But it was too little to late as the Ducks couldn’t muster any more goals and the Stars added an empty netter. They followed it up with a tough loss to the Blue Jackets, and I do mean tough. The offense finally started to click and they played well overall but they lost another game by 2 goals including the empty netter. Though the Ducks got one fluky goal the Blue Jackets scored two fluky goals, and if that wasn’t bad enough Giguere re-injured his groin muscle and will probably need some extended time off. I’m not going to discuss the Maple Leafs game in this section as I pretty much already covered it in the top section. They started off real slow last year and then reeled off like 15 games in a row with a point, so I’m not that worried.

Trap Games – The Penguins know what this is all to well. After beating the Rangers and Islanders in tough division match-ups the Penguins were probably looking forward to their next division match-up against one of the Eastern Conference favorites this year the Flyers, who are also their bitter rival. Unfortunately Phoenix was in between those games, and the Penguins probably didn’t think much of the lowly Coyotes, who played their hearts out. The Penguins overall played a sloppy game and gave the Coyotes nine power plays, which they converted on two of, which was the difference in the game. Overlooking teams will be a problem this year for a few teams especially the defending champs.

Young Teams – There are a lot of young teams on the rise this year including the Islanders, Coyotes, Avalanche and Kings. The Los Angeles Kings I figured were a year away from making the playoffs but the young guns have really blossomed (see one of the things I like below) and they seem to be a lock for the playoffs this year. Their defense and goaltending are still question marks though.

Last Minute Scoring – There has been an abundance of game tying or game winning goals in the last minute of regulation. I, for one, am not complaining. The game tying goals lead to the always exciting overtime and penalty shootout.

Goalie Spotlight

Last week I did a feature on Colorado Avalanche net minder Craig Anderson. This week Jean-Sebastien Giguere heads into the spotlight.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere – Anaheim Ducks

Normally I won’t be spotlighting a “backup“goalie but Giguere is not your typical backup. He has led the Ducks to a Stanley Cup championship in 2007 and was one of only five players to win the Conn Smythe trophy, for playoff MVP, on the losing team in 2003 when the Ducks lost to the New Jersey Devils in the finals. He is currently splitting time backstopping the Ducks with Jonas Hiller.

You may wonder how did a goalie with an impressive resume end up splitting time? Statistically the 08-09 campaign was one of his worst. You would have to go back 10 years to when he was a backup for the Calgary Flames and just breaking into the league to find a worse year. Despite this, he was named the Western Conference starting goalie for the All-Star game, further proof that fan voting doesn’t generally reward those that truly deserve to start. In December of 2008 Giguere’s dad, Claude, passed away which further added to his difficult year, a tough thing for anyone to have to go through. This enabled Hiller to get more playing time which he fully took advantage of, becoming one of the hottest goalies last year.

This is an important year for Ducks management to decide what goalie they want to go with in the future. Giguere has one year left on his contract after this season and it’s a huge cap hit of 7 million. Hiller will become an unrestricted free agent after this year, and will command a big raise. While I’m sure management would want to keep both financially it is not feasible. Both goalies have a lot to prove this year, and will be sure to make every game they start count.

Fights of the Week

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

Derek Dorsett vs Frazer McLaren

Dorsett spent half the fight on McLaren’s back, never really seen that before. After McLaren finally got him off he landed some pretty good punches.

Zack Stortini vs Triston Grant

A pretty well balanced fight, but the edge goes to Stortini, and very loooong, as far as hockey fight length standards go.

Colton Orr vs. Donald Brashear

What weekly fight recap would be complete without a Brashear fight? Brashear won overall but Orr had a nice punch that knocked off Brashear’s helmet.

Trick Goal of the Week

Corey Perry – Perry on a shorthanded breakaway tried to score but was stopped by Tim Thomas. The rebound off Perry’s head however was not, which caught Perry and Thomas both by surprise. Dennis Wideman’s look of disbelief pretty much summed up the 6-1 loss for the Bruins, it was just that kind of night.

Goat of the Week

Braydon Coburn – Coburn, I guess, attempted to clear the puck, which bounced off unsuspecting Ray Emery and into the net. The goal was credited to defenseman Alex Goligoski. “It certainly was the easiest goal of my career considering that I didn’t even touch it,” Goligoski said. It ended up being a costly goal for the Flyers in a tight game.

Things I like

1. Anze Kopitar is really developing into an elite player in his 4^th season in the NHL for the Los Angeles Kings. Generally a just below a point a game scorer, look for him to improve that ratio and be in the mix for the scoring title all season long.

2. Ilya Kovalchuk is one of the few bright spots on the Atlanta Thrashers. IIya led the Thrashers in points the past two seasons and will undoubtedly do it again.

3. Teemu Selanne had 4 goals in back to back games, including the only goal in a shootout vs. the Flyers. At age 39 the “Finnish Flash”, who had 76 goals 17 years ago as a rookie, has not lost his knack for scoring.

Things I don’t

1. The Edmonton Oilers luck or lack thereof. Those who read this column last week know that Nikolai Khabibulin was named Goat of the Week for his misplaying of the puck in the final minute of a game against Calgary, which cost them that game. Thursday in the final 2 seconds of a rematch against Calgary the Flames were able to redirect a puck in for the tying goal. The Flames then won in the shootout.  At least the Oilers got a point in this game, but losing two games at home to your division rivals, in that fashion, cannot be easy to stomach.

2. Washington Capitals were considered to be an elite team this year and in many ways they are. However after winning the first two games they have now lost four in a row all by 1 goal, though two of those losses were in the shootout or overtime. Elite teams find a way to win some of those games. So far the Capitals have shown that they are not in that class yet.

3. Toronto is the only winless team left besides the Islanders. However the Islanders have 2 more overtime loses so they have 2 more points. Lowly Toronto has just 1 point and did I mention this is Toronto, Canada home of the Hockey Hall of Fame? Just, disgraceful.

4. Calgary for giving up a 5 goal lead to the Chicago Blackhawks. They at least salvaged a point losing in overtime, but that’s a huge flop. At least the Blackhawks started to chip away in the 1^st and didn’t score all their goals in the 3^rd.

Rankings

Top 5

1. Pittsburgh
2. New York Rangers
3. Los Angeles
4. Philadelphia
5. Calagry

Bottom 5

30. Toronto
29. New York Islanders
28. Florida
27. Minnesota
26. Carolina

Ducks Watch (My team)

After two embarrassing games the Ducks demolished the Bruins on the road, which is a good start to a tough East Coast road trip for them. The Ducks received a good balanced contribution from everyone including Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne. After committing nine penalties and giving up two power play goals to the Flyers things looked bleak for the Ducks. However Selanne who was already hot  from last game became red hot and scored two goals in the end of the third period sending the game into overtime where he eventually won it in the shootout. The Ducks then dropped a tough game to the Rangers where you could tell they were fatigued most of the game, from playing back to back games. The loss was even more disappointing considering that Henrik Lundqvist was not playing for the Rangers.