People said that hockey would never make it in Southern California. It’s too warm, they don’t even have a winter. Well tell that to the packed house at Anaheim Ice who came in on a Saturday evening on the final day of prospects camp to watch a friendly scrimmage game between players who will more then likely not make the team this season. California hockey is alive and well so much so that two 1st rounders at this years NHL draft were born and raised in the area. Current Duck 1st round draft choices Cam Fowler and Californian Emerson Etem were at prospects camp. Late rounder Devante Smith-Pelly as well as previous years picks Peter Holland, Justin Schultz, Jake Gardiner, Ryan Hegarty, Nicolas Deschamps, Matt Clark, Scott Valentine and Justin Vaive to name a few. Also on hand was fan favorite Dan “Big Sexy” Sexton. The game ended 8-5 (including an empty netter) but it was a lot closer than it seemed.
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 4th 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 eventually I have hope that it will 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 4th 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.
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 Written by:
Alex Mueller
What’s in a goal? – The only way to win a game in the NHL is to score more goals than the other team. Makes sense right? So teams that have more wins score more goals over time. They would also score more goals than they would yield. If you look at the standings you notice the GF (goals for) and GA (goals against) columns next to wins, losses and ties err scratch that overtime losses, sigh. The teams at the top, this year, like Washington, San Jose and Chicago all have a large positive goal differential. Teams at the bottom like Edmonton and Toronto have a large negative goal differential. What does it all mean though? Is there any correlation to Stanley Cup winners?
Yes, in some ways there is. In the last 20 years we have never had a Stanley Cup winner with less than a plus 25 goal differential in the regular season. How about the loser? Well for the losers there have been various goal differentials. For the most part they’ve all had a positive goal differential too. There are three exceptions. Carolina in 01-02 lost to Detroit and had a 217/217 GF/GA. In 92-93 Los Angeles lost to Montreal with a negative differential 338/340 GF/GA. The Kings gave up a lot of goals that year, only three teams gave up more goals than them that season. In 90-91 the Minnesota North Stars (remember them) had a negative 10 differential 256/266 GF/GA and a 27-39-14 record (yikes!). Of course that year there were only 10 teams in the West so all but two teams got in the playoffs. It’s a good thing the NHL has expanded so things like that don’t happen anymore. Of course it begs the more interesting question, how did they get to the Finals and how sad would it have been if they had won?
So what does all that mean for this season? In the East that means no Cup for Ottawa (negative), Montreal (negative) or Boston (about even). Atlanta (negative) and the Rangers (negative) would also be no if they managed to somehow get in. Philadelphia (about +10) would also be a no. Washington and Buffalo (just over) have the best shots and New Jersey and Pittsburgh are on the bubble with about a +20.
Out West it’s a little more crowded. None of the playoff contenders are negative. Two are about even Calgary (if they get in) and Nashville, so no for them. Detroit is only about a +10, by far their lowest goal differential in sometime, so no for them as well. Vancouver, Chicago and San Jose are the best bets. Los Angeles, Colorado and Phoenix are all on the bubble at around a +20 each.
So that means if we cut out the bubbles teams, though there are still five to seven games left so a lot could change, your Stanley Cup Champions will either be Washington, Buffalo, Vancouver, Chicago or San Jose. Keep in mind last year’s winner, Pittsburgh, had a differential of +25 the lowest in some time and where I got the cutoff point from. Let’s see if the pattern holds true this year.
Goalie Spotlight
Next week, hopefully.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Well I probably could have put a goal or two that Huet gave up but I figured that would be too easy. Dave Bolland, who deserves his own goat props on the play, fans on his rebound attempt and Vermette comes sweeping in and knocks it in his own goal. A shame really, if he had gotten his stick on the other side of the puck he would have saved the goal.
The curse of the strange bounces continues as Owen Nolan casually dumps the puck in but Howard’s misplay coupled with the odd bouncing puck leads to a goal. The Red Wings were up 4-0 in the 3rd at that point, so it didn’t really matter.
Things I like
1. The top four teams from last years playoffs should make the playoffs again this year (San Jose, Detroit, Vancouver, Chicago), while the five through eight seeds will not. Interesting that all those top teams moved on to the second round last year except for San Jose. Furthermore it’s interesting that they again hold the top three spots this year, except for Detroit which is now in 6th.
2. We have races in the points and goals stat categories. Barring any miracle Henrik Sedin should win the assist crown. Alex Ovechkin has an unfair advantage of missing 10 games more than everyone else, though a lot of those were his fault for getting suspended. Despite that he is still right in the thick of things at the top for the points and goal crowns, tie goes to Ovie.
3. That my prediction of the Rangers not making the playoffs this year is becoming a reality. I’ll have to take it because almost all my other predictions are wrong, except for Washington winning their division but who didn’t have that?
Things I don’t
1. Calgary’s playoff chances anymore. With Detroit winning (of course it’s now about Los Angeles and Colorado) it was unlikely the Flames would get in, but they showed almost no drive to want to get in. Losing to teams like Minnesota and the NY Islanders, teams they are better than, is one thing but coming to Boston and dropping a major goose egg of 5-0 is pretty bad. Hard to imagine you could play that bad in a game you must win. Also what is up with the Flames scheduling? They went from Denver to Calgary to Minnesota to Calgary to New York. I don’t see why the two home games couldn’t have been next to each other and then had the Denver and Minnesota games next to each other and then went to the East Coast from there that would have made much more sense.
2. Cristobal Huet yikes! It’s a shame really. The season started out well for Huet, he had a good October, other than the 10/12 game against the Flames, and November. Things started to go downhill after that and they reached the bottom this month. I really think they should make a play for Chris Osgood, otherwise it’s Niemi time.
3. Evgeni Malkin missing games with injuries. He didn’t miss any games the past two seasons and his first in the league he only missed four. This year hasn’t been so lucky for him. He’s fun to watch and the Penguins aren’t really the same team without him. I hope his foot will be ready to go come playoff time.
Stat Line of the Week
03/27/10 Buffalo 7 vs. Tampa Bay 1
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
D. Roy
20:51
3
1
+2
5
0
Back to back weeks of Sabres in the stat line box and both against Tampa Bay. After being called out by his coach for lack of effort in the previous game, Derek Roy responded with his 4th hat trick of his career. He has points in every game this March except four. The Sabres have been hot offensively as of late and it reminds me of the Sabre teams with Dominik Hasek.
Did You Know?
That when Colorado beat New Jersey in the 2000-01 NHL Stanley Cup Finals their combined regular season GA/GF ratio was a positive 278. This was the highest combined ratio, by far, in the past twenty seasons.
Numbers, Numbers
(hey they’re all under 10, go figure)
1 – Number of seasons over 100 points for Henrik Sedin in nine seasons
2 – Number of seasons the Coyotes have made it to the Playoffs this decade
9 – Number of seasons the Red Wings will inevitably make the Playoffs this decade (only 9 because one season was lost due to the lockout)
9 – Number of seasons the Devils have made the playoffs this decade
0 – Number of times the Florida Panthers will have made the playoffs this decade (the only team not to make it)
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
March 25, 1982 Wayne Gretzky set an NHL record for fastest two shorthanded goals, scoring twice in :27 during the second period of a 7-2 Oilers’ win at Calgary.
March 26, 1960 Dickie Moore scored twice and added an assist and Doug Harvey got the winning goal at 8:38 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 4-3 win over the visiting Chicago Black Hawks, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals.
March 27, 2003 Patrick Roy recorded his 66th (and final) career shutout and his 547th victory, tops in NHL history and 100 more than second-place Terry Sawchuk as the Avalanche won 3-0 against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.
March 28, 1974 Islanders’ rookie defenseman Denis Potvin scored to set an NHL record for most goals by a rookie defenseman, as the Islanders lost 4-1 at Los Angeles. Potvin’s 16th of the year broke the record of 15 set by Montreal’s Guy Lapointe in 1970-71.
March 29, 1983 Vancouver’s Stan Smyl scored twice to set a new club record with 88 points in one season, as the Canucks lost 7-4 to Edmonton.
March 30, 1979 The NHL announced the expansion of the league from 17 to 21 teams, with the addition of four clubs from the WHA – Edmonton, Hartford, Winnipeg, and Quebec City.*
*Ironically there all gone now except for Edmonton.
March 30, 1925 Victoria Cougars of WCHL beat the Canadiens 6-1 to become the last non-NHL team to win the Stanley Cup. Victoria won the best of five series 3-1 over Montreal.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Detroit 2. Phoenix 3. Nashville 4. Atlanta 5. Montreal
Bottom 5
30. Tampa Bay 29. Edmonton 28. Florida 27. Chicago 26. Philadelphia
Playoff hopes looking slim Anaheim took on Vancouver at Vancouver. Despite being a game for their season basically they didn’t really seem to try to hard. The Sedin twins figured into the first three Vancouver goals and it wasn’t until the 3rd, when Anaheim scored there first and only goal. Getzlaf re-injured his ankle when Henrik Sedin fell on it. Just an awesome game, note sarcasm. Anaheim isn’t much of a road team, with only six teams having fewer wins on the road than them, and they showed it in the past two games.
Next was the epic grudge match against Edmonton. Luckily Anaheim won this game because otherwise we’d be looking at some serious issues. George Parros, of all people, got the 1st goal in the game. BTW Parros is really not a good fighter, he’s just big. In the 3rd Perry had two power-play goals in a row to propel the Ducks to a 3-1 lead. Edmonton got a goal in the final minute with a six on three advantage. Let’s face it if you can’t score on a six on three, you have major problems. Speaking of the six on three, you sure don’t see that very often. Former teammate Ryan Whitney got into it with Troy Bodie during and right after the game. Whitney was also standing in the Ducks bench at one point jawing at Bodie.
The Stars at Anaheim were next up and since the game was at Anaheim, they did a little celebration for Teemu’s 600th goal. I was at a game where they honored him with something else about a year or two ago; I can’t remember what it was though shame on me. Anyway Nick Bonino started his second game ever. He also anchors the top line with the injured Ryan Getzlaf out. Bonino was of course not drafted by the Ducks. Which brings up the question, where do all the players the Ducks pick in the first few rounds end up? The certainly don’t make the team. Only Perry, Getzlaf and Ryan are 1st rounders that are actually on the team. Matt Beleskey was drafted by the Ducks but not until the 4th round. Dan Sexton and Rob Bordson are undrafted. Way to go Ducks, you sure know talent when you see it. Anyway the Ducks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd period with a bunch of quick strikes. Getting the first goal of the game was Nick Bonino on the power play. The assists on the goal were Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry. Not to shabby to have your first goal of your career assisted by a future hall of famer. Perry got the game winner with his 27th goal of the year and Dallas scored one goal right after Anaheim’s three and that was it. Curtis McElhinney started his second game in a row, in place of Jonas Hiller, and he has played extremely well. He is now on a three game winning streak, counting the game he won in relief of Hiller. They keep their faint playoff hopes alive against Colorado.
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 Written by:
Alex Mueller
Rise of the Phoenix – I’m not sure how many of you saw the Chicago vs. Phoenix game but talk about a playoff atmosphere, that place was rocking. The weirdest part was the game wasn’t in Chicago, it was in Phoenix. The Coyotes are still dead last in attendance this season, averaging just 11,581 per game, however in this game they sold out the arena with 17,534. This proves that if you win, they will come, unless of course you’re the Avalanche.
The Coyotes are hot and have now won nine in a row. They are also contending for the top spot in the West. It actually makes my head hurt thinking about it because I never would have guessed this in a million years. I’m not really surprised about the Avalanche, the other darlings of the West who have since fallen, because they just had some bad injuries last year and then had some great picks in the off-season and a great goalie acquisition. But the Coyotes gunning for the best record in the West!?! The Coyotes haven’t made the playoffs since 2002 and even more telling, they have never been out of the 1st round as a franchise.
Other than the superb goaltending duo of Ilya Bryzgalov (the current leader in wins and shutouts) and Jason LaBarbera it’s hard to see how they are having this much success. The Coyotes only have one player on the team with over 20 goals, Radim Vrbata who I don’t think strikes fear into opposing goalies. They would have two players over 20 goals if you add on the goals Wojtek Wolski has with the Avalanche. Offensively and defensively they are just a bunch of rag tag blue collar guys. They do have Mr. Everything Shane Doan and sniper Ed Jovanovski, though. It will be interesting to see how the Coyotes do in the playoffs. They don’t boast much experience in the playoffs and the West is especially tough this year. Even if they have a 1st round exit, which seems likely, Phoenix should be proud as they have accomplished a lot this season, including transforming the franchise, no matter the playoff outcome.
The rematch against the Blackhawks didn’t go quite as well. The Coyotes lost 2-0 and were unable to set the franchise record for wins, still nothing to be ashamed of.
Goalie Spotlight
I would like to keep doing this section but I haven’t been in the mood with all the other crap going on in my life.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
We’ve had a few really long goals this year and this would be another. The difference is nobody blamed the goalie (Vokoun) this time, they all blamed the bad ice. Except this goal cost them the win because it forced overtime which the Panthers lost in a shootout.
Crawford goes out of his net to play a puck coming into his zone with Chipchura and Former Duck Boynton chasing after. Crawford fails miserably at whatever he was trying to do and Chipchura makes a nice pass to Marchant who gets the goal. In all the epic fails this year, I think this one is right up there.
In the final minute of the game Quenneville pulled his goalie in a game against Anaheim, despite the fact that Anaheim had position of the puck and no Blackhawks were in sight. Even though it was behind the Anaheim net it was still a bad decision, as two passes later Anaheim had an empty net goal.
Things I like
1. The dominance of New Jersey over Pittsburgh is quite interesting this season. The Devils are 6-0 and have outscored the Penguins 22 to 5. That’s a huge differential. Marc-Andre Fleury only has one game against the Devils this year with a SV% above .900. Johnson had the best performance against the Devils only giving up one goal on 32 shots in a 2-0 loss (the other goal was an empty net). Don’t be surprised to see a lot of Brent Johnson come playoff time with Fleury’s struggles. But averaging less than a goal a game of offense is quite putrid for Crosby, Malkin and company.
2. This should be filed under Things I don’t, since I can’t stand them, but here it is anyway the Detroit Red Wings are hot and trying to keep their consecutive playoff streak alive. Personally I was hoping the Red Wings wouldn’t make it but alas that doesn’t look to be the case. They will be a tough 1st round out for any of the possibilities, Phoenix (inexperience), Chicago (bad goaltending) and San Jose (umm they’re San Jose). Jimmy Howard continues to excel in his first full season. I’m surprised a goaltending needy team didn’t make a run at Chris Osgood. Unless the Red Wings didn’t want to part with him.
3. Teemu Selanne’s 600th goal. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. It’s been a long Hall of Fame career for the Finnish Flash and this was the icing on the cake for his career. I’m also happy that he could at least etch his name on Lord Stanley’s cup once.
4. How about the Washington Capitals clinching their division a week ago and they currently have an over 30 point lead on the Thrashers in the standings. Just a few more wins and the can lock up the top spot in the East. I am looking forward to a Capitals vs. Devils or Penguins conference finals.
Things I don’t
1. James Wisniewski’s suspension. I think eight games are a bit excessive. If the NHL is serious about cutting down on headshots and defenseless hits, I expected him to get suspended. But it wasn’t that bad of a hit and it pales in comparison to the suspension that Ovechkin received, proving preferential treatment for the stars. The biggest problem with the suspension is that Brent Seabrook’s hit on Corey Perry was almost as bad and it was the whole reason that Wisniewski hit Seabrook. Seabrook took out Perry’s head and Perry could not see him coming because his back was to Seabrook. Where as Wisniewski’s hit was able to be seen by Seabrook, even for just a second, and was more of a total body check, thought it was made worse by him leaving his feet. But had he not left his feet, I wouldn’t even have seen anything wrong wit the hit in my own opinion, I’m sure others disagree. It’s the typical double standards garbage by the NHL.
2. Well I won’t say I didn’t tell you so (I did), but San Jose has started their annual slide to mediocrity. Their latest offense was losing to the Oilers 5-1, which ups their losing streak to six games. Someone should tell the Sharks they are losing a month early though, as it’s not April yet. Evgeni Nabokov’s poor Olympic showing seems to have carried over to the Sharks. Not a good sign for the Sharks as I’m not sure Thomas Greiss is up for the playoff challenge, but who knows. At least the Sharks finally snapped their losing streak against the Wild.
Stat Line of the Week
03/18/10 Buffalo 6 vs. Tampa Bay 2
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
J. Pominville
18:16
3
0
+3
7
2
Ever hear of Jason Pominville? Well I haven’t but other than Ryan Miller, Derek Roy and Tyler Myers, I couldn’t name any Buffalo Sabres. But the Sabres have found some offense as of late and in this game Pominville picked up his 2nd career hat trick.
Did You Know?
That after Selanne the next active player with a shot at 600 is Mark Recchi with 560, Mike Modano with 556 and Keith Tkachuk with 537. None of these players seem likely to get it though. At Recchi’s current scoring pace he would need another three seasons or so to get it. Modano would also need another three seasons at his current pace. It’s unlikely either will play another three. Tkachuk is most likely retiring at the end of this year, so barring some miracle he won’t get it either. Jerome Iginla with 441 has the best shot to reach it next, but he isn’t getting any younger.
Numbers, Numbers
The Teemu Selanne edition, in honor of his 600 goals
97 – Career game winning goals
76 – Goals scored his first season, the most of any season
3 – The number of times he has scored over 100 points in a season
216 – Power-play goals, 10th all time
16 – The lowest amount of goals he has scored in a season that he played more than 30 games in.
46 – Goals against the San Jose Sharks, the team he has scored most on
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
March 18, 2000 Ray Bourque became the first defenseman in NHL history to score 400 career goals. His milestone came in a 4-3 loss against the visiting Atlanta Thrashers.
March 19, 1991 Brett Hull became the third player in NHL history to score 80 goals in a season, in a 2-1 Blues win over the Caps, at Landover, Maryland. Hull joined Gretzky and Lemieux as the only players in NHL history to accomplish the feat.
March 20, 1969 Boston’s Bobby Orr set a new NHL record for defensemen with his 21st goal of the season (breaking the mark set by Flash Hollett in 1944-45). It came at 19:59 of the third, on Orr’s 21st birthday, in a 5-5 tie against the Black Hawks, in Boston.
March 21, 1983 Darcy Rota scored two goals to become only the second player in Canucks’ history to score 40 goals in a season. It came as Vancouver defeated Pittsburgh 7-3.
March 22, 2004 L.A.’s Luc Robitaille picked up an assist to set an NHL record for most career points by a left wing with the 1,370th of his NHL career (passing John Bucyk) as the Kings lost 2-1 to the visiting Edmonton Oilers.
March 23, 1983 Mark Messier became the third player in Edmonton Oilers history to score 100 points in a season, when he picked up a goal in a 7-4 loss to the Jets, at Winnipeg.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Phoenix 2. Washington 3. Detroit 4. Montreal 5. Nashville
Bottom 5
30. Tampa Bay 29. Ottawa 28. NY Rangers 27. San Jose 26. Minnesota
After choking forever after the Olympic break, Anaheim beats the top two teams in a row in the Western Conference. Proving that if they actually tired hard enough they can beat anybody. Proving that since the Ducks aren’t trying hard enough, most of the time, the coach needs to go. Of course I have wanted Carlyle to be canned for awhile now, so I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, on with the recap.
Bobby Ryan starts Anaheim’s scoring off with his 30th goal of the season. He is the only Duck besides Teemu Selanne to score 30 goals in back to back seasons. Seabrook ties the game. Marchant scores an easy short handed goal when goat of the week Crawford stupidly handles the puck way outside his net. Then all hell broke loose as Seabrook hit Perry and then Wisniewski hits him back. After Chicago ties the game the Ducks show some heart and in the 3rd to win the game. In a weird play Sopel goes up to play a puck high, Perry gives him a nudge, Sople oversells the nudge and then everyone goes after Perry. Except that Perry made a nifty pass to a wide open Koivu, who nets the game winner. Bobby Ryan adds the empty netter. Hiller had some nice saves in the game and made 39 in all. If Corey Perry wasn’t Corey Perry (a jerk) I’m not sure the Ducks would have won.
Next were the Islanders in a game that was probably harder than it needed to be. Park scores for the Islanders and then less than a minute later Beleskey scores to tie the game. Then we reverse and Anaheim scores first with Visnovsky and then about a minute later Okposo ties it up. Then things start to get hairy as the Islanders score on the power play and Hiller is pulled. Hiller rarely gets pulled but most of the goals he let in were pretty lame. After giving up another goal things looked bleak in Duckville, but Anaheim clawed their way back with their new look never give up attitude. A power-play goal off of Jason Blake inches the Ducks closer. With the goalie pulled Visnovsky scores again with the magic touch and with help from some pretty awesome screens in front. In overtime Koivu takes a turnover and beats Biron on a one on one breakaway. Selanne had some really nice chances in the game to get 600, but alas it was not to be.
Next up was Colorado and a game that for once everything just seemed to go the Ducks way. Capping off the final game of a seven game home stand, the Ducks increased their winning streak to four games. They jumped out to a four goal lead and Teemu Selanne had the game winner for his 600th goal, which was fittingly on the power-play. Troy Bodie even had a nice shorthanded goal. Colorado started to claw back and cut the deficit to 4-2, but Anaheim put the game away with a Ryan Getzlaf power-play goal to seal the 5-2 win.
Calgary was next up in a huge game at the Saddledome. Anaheim was able to tie the game up in the 2nd period but a few minutes later Corey Perry’s costly turnover allowed Rene Bourque to come in alone and beat Jonas Hiller. Perry was none to please about it, nor should he be, as he took his frustrations out on his stick. Hagman scored later for the Flames and the Ducks just either didn’t shoot when they could or they just missed their chances. They had some that is for sure but they just couldn’t connect. Hiller has been pretty streaky in goal this season. Some games he makes some awesome saves, other games he just isn’t on and looks frustrated. That pretty much does it for Anaheim’s playoff chances. While they aren’t mathematically out, they pretty much are. A true shame with all that talent, Olympic talent, they just can’t get it together.
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 Written by:
Alex Mueller
Post Olympic Thoughts – Ryan Miller and Jonas Hiller had amazing runs as Olympic goalies for their respective countries.
I hate that Marc-Andre Fluery and Jonathon Quick won medals even though they did absolutely nothing. Same can be said for Tim Thomas but at least he stepped onto the ice, even if it was in garbage time.
Russia was hugely disappointing but then again they did lose to a talented Canadian team in the tournament. BTW I did mention how Russia wouldn’t win because they were the favorites in my last column.
I feel bad for the USA in some respects as they went in to the goal medal game undefeated. But it is hard to beat any team twice in a tournament like this especially twice on the road, hats off to their accomplishments.
As for NHL thoughts, seriously watch out for Colorado and Chicago, though the Blackhawks do have that goalie problem. Both will be really tough outs come playoff time. San Jose is all smoke and mirrors they will find a way to bounce early again. Not sure what to make of the Los Angeles Kings yet. They have a lot of talent, but they have almost no playoff experience on the roster. Also one night they look like world beaters, the next night they don’t show up. I’m iffy about Vancouver still. The beasts of the East are Pittsburgh and Washington. Washington has the same problem as Chicago though, goaltending. New Jersey has all the talent necessary but they haven’t been able to pull it all together, they may be running out of time.
One of the surprises this year has been the Ottawa Senators. Nobody expected them to do much of anything this year especially after they traded Dany Heatley. But here they are fighting Buffalo for the division crown. Consistency in net has not been Ottawa’s strong point over the years. Ray Emery had started the majority of the games in the 06-07 season, only to make way for Martin Gerber the next year, who gave way to Alex Auld next and finally this year it seems to be Brian Elliott.
Elliott was drafted in the 9th round by Ottawa in the 2003 draft as the 291st pick overall, or the next to last pick of the draft. Because of his extremely low drafting, not much was expected of him. He ended up playing for the University of Wisconsin-Madison after being drafted for four years. The first two years he was not the starter. In the 05-06 season Elliott became the starter and took full advantage of his opportunity. He was a finalist of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, awarded to the men’s top collegiate hockey player, posting a 1.55GAA and eight shutouts. He also led the Badgers to the NCAA National Championship that year. After his stellar collegiate career, Elliott was signed by the Binghamton Senators of the AHL and played the end of their 06-07 season.
He was invited to the Ottawa Senators training camp but was reassigned to Binghamton. He was recalled by the Senators for one game only, which he won against the Thrashers. He played the whole season at Binghamton and the following 08-09 season. That would be his last season at Binghamton and he went out with a bang like in college. He was named AHL goalie of the month for December and he started in the AHL All-Star game. He finished up the 08-09 season in Ottawa starting 30 games. This season he has split time with Pascal Leclaire. However, Elliott has started more games than Leclaire and has posted better numbers. He also had a nine game undefeated streak in January and February.
Looking to make a playoff run, the Senators hope that Elliott continues to improve his game. They also hope that Elliott is the answer to their goalie of the future problem. At just 24 years old, Elliott could bring much needed stability to an always changing position for the Senators.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Silver medal winning Quick goes out to play a puck behind the boards and well I have no idea what he was trying to do. He weakly stops it with his badly positioned stick then it takes a funny bounce and J.P. Dumont scores an easy goal as the puck bounced to him.
In the final minute of overtime Ryder tries to get back on defense and slides to block the pass which he does, unfortunately he keeps sliding and takes out Tim Thomas leading to a wide open net and giving the Maple Leafs an easy win.
Things I like
1. Ryan Miller’s huge ovation in Pittsburgh, even bigger than Sidney Crosby’s. It’s nice when fans acknowledge accomplishments even when it wasn’t from someone on their team or in this case since it was for Team USA it kind of was.
2. The Phoenix Coyotes will to live and surprise everyone. Despite no one coming to games and not having an owner, the Coyotes will continue their quest for the cup. For the first time in forever the Coyotes were buyers at the trade deadline. They made seven deals at the deadline including picking up Wojtek Wolski for Peter Mueller (no relation) and Kevin Porter.
3. Speaking of Peter Mueller, he has so far flourished in his new home in Colorado, picking up four points in three games thus far. Sometimes a change of scenery does a player good and I definitely thought that would be the case in this situation. Colorado has an abundance of young talent, including top tier talent at the center position. Mueller makes for a better fit in Colorado than in Phoenix where he will also get more time to develop. So far he has flourished picking up 6 points in 4 games for the Avs.
4. The Florida Panther’s David Booth making his comeback with a Gordie Howe hat trick. Booth took on the man who knocked him out Mike Richards in a fight that was, well not much of a fight. Kudos to Booth for wanting a measure of revenge, as long as he has now moved on from it.
5. Sean Avery, of all people, mocking Maxine Talbot’s retaliation fighting. Was quite funny, if you haven’t seen it yet, and it even made Talbot laugh.
Things I don’t
1. After riding the pine during his Gold medal win Marc-Andre Fleury is what you might call rusty. He was supposed to start against the Sabres but showed up late to practice, hard to imagine, so his punishment was not starting. He did start the next game against the Rangers and gave up 4 goals on 12 shots, yikes. It will take awhile for Fleury to get back into the groove.
2. The Ducks losing their first 4 games back in true Ducks fashion. You can read about it in the last section if you like.
3. Marc Savard’s concussion by Matt Cooke’s elbow. Hits to the head are never good and while you’d like to ban them, accidents will still happen. The NHL should look into better helmets like the NFL is doing.
Stat Line of the Week
03/06/10 Colorado 7 vs. St. Louis 3
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
C. Stewart
17:14
3
1
+2
6
0
Former 1st round pick in the 2006 draft, Chris Stewart is having a break out year. The game against St. Louis could be considered his break out game as he notched his first career hat trick. His final goal came on a penalty shot that he was awarded when Erik Johnson tripped him. He also added a helper on T.J. Galiardi’s goal. Watch out for this young and deep Avalanche team.
Did You Know?
The latest a Stanley Cup Finals has gone is till June 24th in 1995. Of course that was the owners’ lockout year that cut the season short. The latest for a non-lockout threatened season would be June 19th in 1999 and again in 2006. I for one, hope it never gets any later, as Hockey in July is quite absurd. June is already bad enough as it is.
Numbers, Numbers
1786 – Shots by the Avalanche last in the league
2211 – Shots by the Blackhawks first in the league
10.7 – Shooting percentage by the Avalanche, tied for 2nd in the league
7.5 – Shooting percentage of the Bruins, last in the league
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
March 04, 1991Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Ron Francis, Grant Jennings and Ulf Samuelsson from the Hartford Whalers in trade for John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski.
March 05, 1953 Gordie Howe scored twice and added three assists to lead the Red Wings to a 7-1 win against the Rangers, at the Olympia. With the five points Howe broke his own NHL record for most points for a single season (86).
March 06, 1993 Playing in his final NHL game, Jets’ veteran defenseman Randy Carlyle scored the only goal of his 17th NHL season to get his 500th career point. It came in a 4-2 Winnipeg loss at Toronto, where Carlyle’s career had begun in 1976.
March 07, 2002Teemu Selanne scored his 400th career NHL goal in the Sharks 5-2 win against the visiting Ottawa Senators. It was also San Jose’s 300th victory in franchise history.
March 08, 1997 Mario Lemieux picked up an assist to become the first player to get 100 points in the 1996-97 season, as the Penguins won 3-2 in overtime over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. It was the 10th 100-point season of Lemieux’s NHL career.
March 09, 1990 NHL President John A. Ziegler Jr. terminated the suspension of Detroit Red Wings player Bob Probert after Probert served one year without pay of his combined expulsion and suspension.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Carolina, yes really 2. Vancouver 3. Philadelphia 4. Pittsburgh 5. Washington
Bottom 5
30. Edmonton 29. NY Islanders 28. Florida 27. New Jersey 26. Buffalo
Anaheim Ducks Watch
So the Ducks traded Ryan Whitney to the Oilers for Lubomir Visnovsky. This is funny because I remembered when Whitney was acquired and how it was a huge deal that they got a young defenseman of the future to eventually replace Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. They also gave up Chris Kunitz who is a fairly decent goal scorer, let’s not forget. One season worth of games later and Whitney is history. The timing is even more hilarious because Whitney just won a Silver medal. All in all not a bad move by the Ducks because Whitney didn’t really pan out like they had hoped and Visnovsky is a decent player. I’m glad they didn’t trade Wisniewski and I hope the resign the Wiz when the season is out. Backup goalie Justin Pogge was also dealt. You might remember Pogge best for being called up and sent back every time Giguere was injured and right after he was traded. He basically sat on the bench and never played, you will be missed Pogge. In other news I am so happy they got rid of Nokelainen. A 6th round pick was probably the best they could do.
So you’d think that a team boasting 7 Olympic medal winning players, 6 now without Whitney though if this was last year they would have had 8 with Pronger, could win some games and make the playoffs. Of course if you’re the Ducks that’s a huge challenge. The Ducks first opponent back from the break was Colorado. The Ducks also had an eleven game winning streak at home going, but not anymore as they fell 4-3. Jason Blake had a nice powerplay goal to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. Selanne made it 2-0 with goal number 598. This goal was special because Selanne was about a mile offsides, with someone else I think it was Koivu, but the linesman said everyone was fine, umm okay. Then came the case of the stupids. Bad penalties and bad defense gave the Avalanche the opportunity to tie up the game and then take a 4-2 lead. The Ducks crept with in one on a four minute powerplay. Right before the third goal and afterwards they had numerous chances to get another goal. Ryan had a nifty move that missed somehow, Getzlaf had a wide open net that he some how missed and then he later fumbled a pass when he was wide open in front of the net. Truly they are Olympic heroes… not. I think some others also botched some chances. Either way tough loss to swallow considering that A) they were hot going into the break B) they had a 2-0 lead C) you’d figure they have some Olympic momentum with all those medals D) there home streak was snapped and E) everyone else that needed to lose did and they could have been just one point shy of the 8th and final playoff spot. Seriously Anaheim wake up! Kudos though to the recently recalled Dan Sexton who was everywhere on the ice and he should be on the Ducks for good now.
Next up was Phoenix who the Ducks seem to have a problem with, I have no idea why. The Ducks lost 4-0 in a game I couldn’t watch and therefore didn’t. Just as well, as I think I would have hurled. I have nothing else to add to that game.
Next up was Montreal and I got to watch the game online in French, Oui oui! The Ducks clearly listened to my tweet as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Hiller had a stretch of awesome saves in the 3rd. The Canadiens got within one goal, or but, and Bobby Ryan had a chance to ice the game with an empty-netter but he misses by about six inches. He should have made it because A) he was past the blue line B) no one was on him and C) wouldn’t you know it the Canadiens manage to tie it up a few seconds later, ugh. Corey Perry, in true Perry fashion, punches a celebrating Markov right in the face, funny but also dumb. Luckily it didn’t end up a powerplay for the Canadiens. I think the last 30 seconds of the game sums up the Ducks season quite well. But wait Duck fans, it only gets better from here! With a 1-0 lead in the shutout in the third round all Hiller needs to do is stop Montreal and they win. He stops the shot but of course he doesn’t know where the puck is and he starts sliding back and moves his arm and the pucks falls off from his arm, or wherever it was, into the net, prompting a big you have got to be kidding me. The Ducks promptly lose in the next round. I really don’t know what to make of these last three games; I’m at a loss for words. I’m also starting to lose hope that they will make the playoffs, if there ever was hope to begin with.
Next up was Columbus and I just can’t bring myself to recap it. The Ducks lost 5-2, they suck and that’s all there is to it. No I will recap it a little the Ducks found themselves down 3-0, Hiller was pulled and things looked bleak. I still watched and the Ducks cut it to a 3-2 lead and I was into it again. A couple of dumb penalties by the Ducks, what else, late in the game sealed the victory for Columbus. Even though they lost 5-2 it wasn’t as thought Columbus played that much better. The Ducks out shot the Blue Jackets 38 to 20 and had way better scoring chances. Mathieu Garon was just on for the Blue Jackets with some amazing saves.
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
‘Tis the season to underachieve? – So who are this years biggest underachievers? Some might say Vancouver or Detroit. Detroit is due for a bad year after all their years of success and Vancouver, while a decent team, is a team I think is overrated. Some “experts” picked them to go to the finals this year. Really? At any rate both teams are only a few points out of playoff spots. The biggest disappointments would be, by far, Carolina, Philadelphia and Anaheim. All of them made the playoffs last year and they were all pretty much expected to build upon their success last year. Philadelphia has really tumbled lately, all they down to 13th place, and just recently fired their head coach. Carolina and Anaheim are bottom feeders. So what has happened?
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 3rd period leads which happened in a stretch of three games in a row. They are 2nd in the league in giving up the most goals in the 3rd period. They need to have that killer instinct and shut teams out in the 3rd 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 3rd 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 2nd 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 2nd to last, which is never a good sign. The Hurricanes are also tied for 2nd with the Ducks in giving up the most goals in the 3rd period. Hmm… let’s see, bad powerplay, check, struggling 1st line, check, starting goalie injured, check, giving up tons of 3rd 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.
Kiprusoff is a Finland native and was selected in the 5th 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 1st 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 2nd 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 24th 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 1st 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.
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 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 100th anniversary on Dec. 4th. 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 28th 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
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
M. Duco
5:57
0
0
-1
1
27
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
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
N. Backstrom
19:50
1
4
+1
2
0
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)
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 1st 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.
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
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 3rd 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 3rd 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 3rd 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.
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
I’d just like to say at the top of this column, Keith Ballard you’re an idiot. There’s no reason to do that in any game, especially in the 1st period of a game. I wouldn’t have let him play anymore. In case you missed it you can see it here.
NHL Point Standings System – It sucks. In all seriousness I think it’s a joke you get a point for losing. Why reward failure? You lost? Here have a point. I like the old way where if you lose in overtime you get nothing, if you win you get two points and if you tie you each get a point. Somewhere along the line the NHL decided it didn’t want ties. That kind of makes sense because no one comes to any sporting event to watch a tie game. However football has ties, though it mostly never happens. Of course football doesn’t have 5 minute overtimes they go the full 15 minutes of a quarter. Not sure why the NHL shortened its overtime to 5 minutes. I mean you would get a lot less ties if you let the game go another period worth of time. It would be more exciting too. The shootouts are an exciting way to break the tie. It’s just a bit unorthodox to end a team game in a 1 on 1 situation. I mean what if after one overtime, the NBA went to a 1 on 1 between their best players? I’m just glad the playoffs don’t have shootouts as the multiple overtimes provide some of the most thrilling games. I’ll never forget the 4 overtime classic between the San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars in 2008. If they want to keep it as it is, then award no points for overtime or shutout losses. You could also award no points for an overtime loss but a shootout loss could be worth one point since that is a different format.
But the way I see it the NHL has 9 possible options for games that are tied after regulation:
A) Keep it the way it is (5 min. OT with shootout same point system)
B) Keep it the way it is but no points for any loss
C) Keep it the way it is but only one point for shootout loss
D) Go back to the old way (tie after overtime, no points for loss, no shootout)
E) Change the OT to 20 min., ties, no shootout, no points if you lose in OT
F) Change the OT to 20 min., ties, no shootout, one point if you lose in OT
G) Change the OT to 20 min., shootout if still tied no points for loss
H) Change the OT to 20 min., shootout if still tied, one point for either loss
I) Change the OT to 20 min., shootout if still tied only point for shootout loss
Now these are all the possibilities, I may have missed one; I’m not really in favor of most of them, since we are trying to eliminate points for losing. I understand the NHL wants to award 1 point for something just to make it more interesting. My personal choice is the last one, I. It would give the game a chance to end more likely in a non shootout. But it would still have the shootout if necessary since it’s exciting. You don’t reward failure in the overtime but you do in the shootout. However at the point the losing team has played a strong hockey game and I don’t really believe the shootout is part of a game, it’s more like a supplement to a game.
Evgeni Nabokov was born in Russia but where he was born has since become Kazakhstan, the place made famous by the Borat movie. As such he has played internationally for both nations, something that normally doesn’t happen. He has also been the main cog in goal for the Sharks during their prosperous and at the same time under achieving decade.
Nabokov was taken in the 9th round in 1994 by the Sharks. He was mostly drafted because of the highly successful and long career his father, Viktor Nabokov, had in Russia. In 1997 he made his way stateside to play for the Kentucky Thoroughblades and the Cleveland Lumberjacks in the AHL and IHL. After successful seasons there, he was called up in 2000 to play with the Sharks. In the first start of his career he dueled with Patrick Roy to a 0-0 tie. Not bad for your first start, something I’m sure he will never forget.
In the 00-01 season when starting goalie Steve Shields went down with an injury, most thought Miikka Kiprusoff would get the starting nod. The Sharks highly regarded Kiprusoff but decided he needed more seasoning in the AHL so they gave the nod to Nabokov, and they never looked back. Nabokov posted impressive numbers and won the Calder Trophy, for rookie of the year, and made the All-Star game in 2001. Ironically Nabokov and Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames, are now foes in the western conference and the playoffs. They have each won a playoff series against each other (Nabokov in 08, Kiprusoff in 04).
Since Nabokov has been the Sharks starter he has amassed many of the Sharks franchise goalie records and a few more all-star appearances. Though he did have a down year in the 05-06 season and was regulated to a backup role for a bit. He was also the first goaltender to score a power play goal in 2002. In 2008 he won gold with Russia in the IIHF World Championships and was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Nabokov and the Sharks would like to add a Stanley Cup to their resumes, which has proven to be quite hard the past few years. Nabokov numbers in the playoffs have been fairly consistent with his regular season numbers. If anything it has been the Sharks offense that has sputtered come playoff time. Particularly heartbreaking for the Sharks was losing 3 of 4 overtime games to the Stars in the second round of the 2008 playoffs. Including the 4OT thriller I mentioned above. Nabokov is off to another fine start this year, as are the Sharks. Hopefully it will translate into a better postseason success this time around in an extremely tough western conference.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
This fight is nominated because these two fought about 8 minutes earlier and they wanted to fight some more even before the face-off and the refs moved them away from each other. After the puck was dropped they went straight for each other. Bonus points for the enthusiastic announcing.
This fight is made better by the soundtrack. Seriously who picked the PA music for the fight?
Goat of the Week
Keith Ballard, see up top. He can win Goat of the Year.
Things I like
1. Teemu Selanne on the power play is gold. Teemu had 2 more goals on the power play against the Blackhawks. He now needs just 2 more to tie Joe Nieuwendyk for 10th place on the all-time list.
2. Zach Parise continues to provide solid results, yet stay relatively under the radar. The 5th leading scorer last year Parise continues to lead the Devils in points and goals this year. He also has a +19 for the year, tops in the league. He could work on his shooting percentage though.
3. Cristobal Huet (Goalie Spotlight in Week 3) had won 7 straight games for the Blackhawks until his streak was snapped by the Ducks. It’s a nice turnaround for the always under pressure Huet who lost his starting job last year and didn’t play all that well at the beginning of the year. He and Antti Niemi have formed a nice tandem for the rising Blackhawks.
4. Marian Hossa, or Maid Marian as he likes to be called, scored two goals (one shorthanded) in his debut against the Sharks. Not a bad way to work off the ring rust. I’m betting the Blackhawks hope he doesn’t bring his Stanley Cup curse with him.
Things I don’t
1. Is it me or is it cold in here? No wait that’s just Anze Kopitar. The former NHL leading scorer has only 3 assists in the past 9 games. “Kope” also has an appalling -6 in that span. Losing Ryan Smyth obviously didn’t help but superstars find a way to raise their game. In a related note your off my fantasy team “Kope”.
2. Craig Anderson has really begun to cool, after his hot start helped propel the Colorado Avalanche. Anderson has only won 2 out of his last 9 starts. His GAA is 3.75 and his SV% is about .879 during that span. As he goes so do the Avalanche as Peter Budaj is not considered much of an option. The Avalanche might want to give him a breather though as he has played the most games of any goalie in the league. Even Martin Brodeur has had more nights off. Of course Anderson shut me up with his shutout against the Lightning on Monday night.
3. Ales Hemsky is gone for the year, a really tough break for an already slumping Edmonton Oilers team.
4. Phoenix is still dead last in attendance by a mile. I realize the future of the team is hazy but, regardless if they go elsewhere at the end of the year, management can’t take away the enjoyment you had when you went to the game.
Did You Know?
I’ll try something new this week and see how long it lasts. Hopefully this will last longer than tweet of the week did.
Bobby Orr has the single season record for +/- at +124. He is however second on the all time +/- career list to Larry Robinson who had +730 to his +597. Nicklas Lidstrom is the only active player in the top 70. His mark sits at +414 as of this writing.
Double did you know if you read this week in hockey history. You will find out Mario Lemieux has a brother, I sure didn’t know that.
Stat Line of the Week
Another new one
11/28/09 Penguins 8 vs. Rangers 3
Skater
TOI
G
A
+/-
SOG
PIM
S. Crosby
19:59
3
2
+4
5
0
Nice line for Sidney Crosby who recorded his 4th career hat trick. Not sure why the Rangers left Stephen Valiquette in for all 8 goals. I know they wanted to give Henrik Lundqvist the night off, but it seems a bit much.
28 – The number of chances the Carolina Hurricanes have left to get their first road win.
2 – Number of game Alex Ovechkin was suspended for his knee hit
5 – Number of game Georges Laraque was suspended for his knee hit
0 – Number of games Keith Ballard was suspended for whacking his own goalie and sending him to the hospital
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
November 26, 1983 Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky began an NHL-record 17 consecutive game assist streak, at St. Louis. It came in the midst of his NHL record 51-game point scoring streak (during which he scored 153 points). Oilers lost 8-6 to Blues.
November 26, 1999 Jaromir Jagr scored a natural hat trick (the 5th of his career) in a 7:01 span of the first period and added an assist for his 900th career point, and Tom Barrasso recorded his 35th career shutout in the Penguins 5-0 win against visiting Ottawa.
November 27, 1943 Montreal beat the visiting NY Rangers 6-3 to extend the Rangers losing streak to 11 games since the start of the 1943-44 season, the worst start to an NHL season by any team in league history. Rangers ended the streak with a tie the next night.
November 27, 1997 Michel Petit became the first player in NHL history to play for 10 different teams, when he made his first appearance with the Phoenix Coyotes in a 4-1 loss to Dallas.
November 27, 1984 Alain Lemieux (Mario’s brother) scored his first career hat trick to lead the Blues to a 6-1 win at Vancouver. Lemieux played 119 NHL games with the Blues, Quebec Nordiques & Penguins, and scored 28 goals and 44 assists.
November 27, 1969 Detroit’s Gordie Howe became the first player in NHL history to score 1,700 career points, when he picked up two assists in a 5-1 win against Los Angeles. Howe reached 1,700 points in 1,567 NHL games.
November 28, 1982 Ron Sutter made NHL history when he played in his first game, with the Flyers. It was the first time in league history that five brothers from the same family all played in the NHL. The Flyers tied the Canucks, 5-5 at Vancouver.
November 29, 2003 Chris Chelios became the 11th NHL defenseman to score 900 career points, when he picked up an assist as the Red Wings beat the Blues, 2-1 in St. Louis.
November 30, 1977 Phil Esposito scored a hat trick and Wayne Thomas had his 7th career shutout, as the Rangers won 4-0 at St. Louis. The three goals gave Esposito 605 in his career, one more than Bobby Hull, and second most in NHL history (behind Gordie Howe).
December 01, 1997 Montreal Canadiens became the first team in history to play 5,000 NHL games, when they took on the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a 1-0 loss, in Montreal. The loss gave the Canadiens a record of 2,625 wins, 1,603 losses and 772 ties since 1917.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Chicago
2. Nashville
3. Atlanta
4. New Jersey
5. Pittsburgh
Bottom 5
30. Carolina
29. NY Rangers
28. Toronto
27. Edmonton
26. Colorado
The Ducks played the Hurricanes on 11/25.They were able to beat them in regulation, though they sure found a way to make it suspenseful. After Teemu Selanne scored with about 90 seconds left to make it a 3-1 game you figured it was basically over. But then Carolina scores with 60 seconds left. You could hear the crowd deflate in Anaheim after that. But the Ducks hung on to win. Next was a tough game against the Chicago Blackhawks who just soundly gave the Sharks a thumping. But much to everyone’s surprise, the Ducks shut out the Blackhawks and their loaded top lines with a 3-0 win. Giguere was great in getting his first shutout of the season.
Next up was Phoenix who the Ducks seem to have problems with. Regulation was not enough to decide a winner and neither was OT so the game went into a shootout. The Ducks lost the shootout and have now lost 3 shootouts in a row to Phoenix. Including the shootout last year where if they would have won, they would have been the 6th seed instead they dropped to the 8th seed.
Next up was round 1 of the freeway series against the cross town rival Los Angeles Kings. I have to say that Evgeny Artyukhin takes some of the dumbest penalties around. In this game he took three offensive zone penalties. This is also not his first game taking bad penalties. I have no idea why Teemu Selanne requested him on his line. The Ducks lost the game 4-3 when the Kings scored the game winner in the final 2 minutes. A really tough game to lose for the Ducks, as they played really well for the most part. I also have to say this was one of the most exciting games so far, the scoring chances on both sides were quite exciting. Corey Perry kept his streak alive with a goal and an assist.
Monday, November 30th, 2009 Written by:
Eric Sutter
The line that a player is on significantly affects their fantasy value. A talented player could be buried on a third line and relegated to a check role, while a checking player could get a spot next to the Sedin’s and become a fantasy hero. Let’s break down some of the best fantasy lines in hockey today and hopefully these players are on your team and if not go out and try to acquire them.
San Jose Sharks Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau: The Sharks made fantasy owners feel like they’re in heaven by putting all their top guns on the same line.
This line has lived up to the hype as they have contributed 20 points in the month of November. Heatley, in his first season in San Jose, has fit in nicely with team high 18 goals, Joe Thornton leads the NHL in assists with 30 and Patrick Marelau is playing for a contract with 17 goals and 31 points in first 28 games.
Anaheim Ducks Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan: Another west coast team putting all of their eggs in one basket. Even though the team has been struggling for wins, this line has not been struggling to contribute to fantasy teams.
Corey Perry is in the midst of a franchise best 18-game point streak. Bobby Ryan had 7 goals in the month of November and Getzlaf has been an assist machine with 23 assists in 25 games. This line was the hottest line in November contributing 35 points in the month.
Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin: I know Semin is hurt right now and that is not helping fantasy owners right now, but put these dynamic players together and fantasy nirvana happens. I also know that any line that has the league’s top goal scorer will make the other line mates instant scorers, just ask the fill-in guy Chris Clark. Bruce Bourdreau has bought into the philosophy of having his superstars all play together and they have contributed 20 points together this season.
Pickup of the Week:Tomas Plekanec Canadiens C:
The Canadiens have been hit with the injury bug, one player taken advantage of the increase playing time is center Tomas Plekanec. The 27-yer-old center has filled in for Scott Gomez on the top line and has 14 points (3G, 11A) in his last 13 games including chipping in 3 power play points.
The Czech forward has been a steady producer with three straight 20 goals he has even been a career plus player (+28). Although Scott Gomez has returned to practice and seems ready to play and will hurt Plekanec power play time, I don’t think it will hurt his production for he was producing with second line minutes before the injury.
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
4CYB77H3PU88
O San Jose – As we just pass the quarter mark in the NHL and we look at the standings, who has the best record in the NHL? None other than the San Jose Sharks. Of course the Sharks finished with the top overall record last year and ended up being bounced in the 1st round. Now we still have a good chunk of the season left but if I was this team I don’t think I would want to finish with the best record in the league or even the 2nd or 3rd best. This team has had really high expectations the last few years and this past year was their biggest. They have not gotten past the 2nd round since the 03-04 season and I think the lower they fly on the radar, going into the playoffs, the better. Would I really suggest tanking games in the Shark Tank? Yes I would. Current honors held by the Sharks this season including no losses at home and tied for the most goals scored with Washington (though Washington has played one less game). They also have three players in the top 7 for points (see things I like below). The Heatley acquisition has worked out well for them this year. Question is come playoff time will they advance further? Last year the West was pretty tough but this year it has gotten even tougher. Depending on how the rest of the season goes they could even possibly play Detroit in the 1st round, which you know will not be an easy round. Time will tell how well the Sharks play in the postseason as it’s never easy to predict postseason success, especially when it comes to this team.
Goalie Spotlight
No goalie spotlight due to the holidays this week, it’ll be back next week.
Okay fight if you can get past the fugly uniforms, a lot of spinning in this one too.
Trickshot of the Week
David Perron for his neato stickhandle between the legs goal against the Islanders.
Things I like
1. Well up to Monday night’s games three of the top 5 point scorers were on the Sharks. That’s impressive anyway you slice it. The last time we had three teammates in the top 5? The 00-01 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins had Jaromir Jagr 1st with 121 pts. and Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka tied for 4th with 95 pts.
2. Don’t look now but Nashville has won 6 in a row. What you didn’t notice? Well neither did I, until I looked it up. Despite the winning streak they are only tied for 7th place in the conference. It’s a mighty tough year out west this season.
3. Don’t look now again but the Panthers have strung together a nice winning streak. You probably didn’t notice since they were so far down in the bottom. Alas they are still pretty much down at the bottom despite going 5-0-2.
4. Corey Perry’s 15 game point streak, keep it coming since he is on my fantasy team.
Things I don’t
1. Well I hate to say I told you so but the Rangers have now fallen out of the top 8 spots in the conference, after spending a good portion on top. Of course it’s still really early. But all things considered, I don’t think they have skilled enough players to make the playoffs.
2. Georges Laraque’s hit on Niklas Kronwall, play the puck George not the knee.
This Week in Hockey History
Special thanks to the Hockey Hall of Fame site for making this section a little easier to do.
November 19, 1929 Pittsburgh’s Johnny McKinnon and Toronto’s Hap Day each set a new NHL record for goals in a game by a defenseman. They had four each as Pittsburgh beat Toronto 10-5. The current record of 5 goals is held by Ian Turnbull. Day also had an assist.
November 20, 1999 Washington Capitals set an NHL record by going 12 consecutive games without allowing a power-play goal, in a 3-0 win at Boston. Craig Billington recorded his 100th career victory (and 8th career shutout).
November 20, 1999 Steve Yzerman picked up an assist to become the 7th NHL player to reach 1,500 career points. The milestone came in the Red Wings 2-1 loss at Edmonton. Yzerman joined Gordie Howe as the only NHL players to score 1,500 points with one team.
November 22, 1972 Penguins set an NHL record with five goals in a span of 2:07 during a 10-4 win over the Blues, in Pittsburgh. Scoring were Bryan Hextall, Jean Pronovost, Al McDonough, Ken Schinkel & Ron Schock, on goalie Wayne Stephenson.
November 22, 1967 34-year-old Scotty Bowman was named as the new head coach of the St. Louis Blues, replacing Lynn Patrick, who resigned. It was Bowman’s first head coaching job in the NHL. He lost in his debut behind the bench that same night, 3-1 to Montreal.
November 22, 1986 Wayne Gretzky scored his 39th career hat trick and added two assists, to give him 500 career NHL goals. The milestone came in a 5-2 Oilers’ win over the Canucks in Edmonton. Gretzky’s 500 goals came in just 575 games.
November 22, 1985 Gil Perreault scored three goals (in a span of 4:01 in the third period) as the Sabres beat the Quebec Nordiques 7-5. It was the 18th (and final) hat trick of Perreault’s NHL career.
November 23, 1991 Boston’s Ray Bourque became the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record 700 career assists. #700 came in a 7-4 Bruins win over Buffalo.
November 24, 1926 Detroit Cougars (before being re-named the Red Wings) recorded their first win in franchise history 1-0 over the Black Hawks at Chicago. Frank Frederickson scored the game-winner, while Hap Holmes recorded the first shutout of his rookie season.
November 24, 1989 Mario Lemieux improved his career penalty-shot record to a perfect 5-for-5 when he scored against Bob Mason (and added two assists) in a 7-4 Penguins’ win at Washington.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. San Jose
2. New Jersey
3. Chicago
4. Nashville
5. Florida
The Ducks got a much needed win against Tampa Bay on Thursday, of course they never make anything easy. After leading 3-0 the Ducks let the Lightning back into the game as they scored three unanswered goals and forced overtime. The Ducks were able to salvage the win when Scott Neidermayer scored on the power play about a minute into the OT. The Ducks are having a hard time putting together a solid 60 minutes of consistent hockey.
They followed up with a loss to the Sharks 3-2. A tough loss in a very tight game they needed to have. Towards the end of the game they were unable to secure the puck in the Sharks end in order to pull Hiller. They finally got Hiller out of the crease with about 15 seconds left. The power play, which had been struggling, is now clicking. The bad thing is they haven’t played defense that well and they are now struggling to score even strength goals.
The Ducks won the game against the Flames on Monday night, of course they win in true Ducks fashion but giving up a goal in the final 20 seconds of the game to the Flames to force overtime. The Ducks ended up winning in the shootout, when Teemu Selanne had the only shootout goal. It’s nice they got the win but the problem is the Flames also received points. Even if the Ducks keep winning the overtime games, if they play western conference teams that also receive points this will affect their playoff chances and positioning.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
Does anyone else find this funny? – Alex Ovechkin has missed the past 6 games, yet he still leads the league in shots on goal. Hey Alex, we know you’re a prolific scorer but you might want to try passing the puck a little more.
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 23rd in points (1354) and 11th 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.
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 4th time and racked up a league high SV% and broke the league shutout mark for a season. He led his team to a 2nd 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 7th game lost in the 2nd 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.
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.
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 2nd 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.
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.
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
Injuries – When you think of injuries Football is probably the sport with the most serious injuries. You tend to notice when a player gets injured, especially a QB, and most of the injuries are season-enders. It is a physical game. Baseball generally doesn’t have too many injuries; it is more of a finesse game. Basketball not as many either but when they do happen they are more impactful because there are less guys playing on a team then in any other sport. Hockey is the second most physical sport, after football, yet I don’t normally think of to many injuries. Those that do happen generally last for only a few games. One of the more serious injuries, I remember, from last year was when Teemu Selanne was lacerated with his own skate and was out about 6 weeks.
This year though hockey players seem to be dropping like flies. Over 100 players are currently injured in some capacity. There are some big names too. Ilya Kovalchuk, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Eric Staal, Marc Savard, Marian Hossa (though he was injured before the season started), Mike Modano, Johan Franzen, Sheldon Souray, David Booth, Andrei Markov, Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias, Evgeni Malkin, Roberto Luongo, Daniel Sedin. A more complete list by team can be found here. As you can see these are some big names that are valuable to their team. The biggest to go down, besides Malkin, is Alex Ovechkin. Of course no one will say how severe it is but you have to hope it isn’t for long. (It seems like he might be ready to go this weekend.) Not only will about a million people’s fantasy teams be screwed but because he is one of the NHL’s most talented and marketable stars, it’s a blow to the league as well. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery to all those injured players.
Ryan Miller is an American born hockey player from East Lansing, Michigan. Miller was drafted in the 5th Round, 138th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1999 NHL Draft. Collegically he played for the Michigan State Spartans where he set an NCAA records for career shutouts with 26. He was the winner of the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top NCAA hockey player, in 2001 when he led the country in wins, winning percentage, save percentage (an NCAA record .950 mark), goals-against average and shutouts (an NCAA record 10).
After a stellar college career, Miller split time between AHL affiliate Rochester Americans and the Sabres from 2002 until 2006. It wasn’t until the 06-07 season that Miller was called up permanently to be the Sabres starting goalie. Miller started playing for the Sabres 2 seasons after Dominik Hasek, arguably one of the top Sabres goalies of all time, had left them. Hasek also retired for the first time in Miller’s first season of being called up.
Since be named the number starter in 2006 Miller has put up decent numbers. Last year he finally blossomed into one of the NHL’s top goalies. He posted his career best numbers in GAA, SV%, and shutouts. The Sabres narrowly missed the playoffs last year, though that can be contributed to Miller being injured for a stretch. This year he is off to another fast start in the top 3 for GAA and SV% and the Sabres playoff chances once again rest on his shoulders.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Slim pickings in good fights this week, so these fights are nominated for other reasons.
Sidney got in a fight, I’m sure you all wanted to see it. It’s funny how desperate the refs were in trying to stop the fight before it started and then after it did.
Wisniewski cleans Doan’s clock with a vicious and dirty hit, Yandle comes over to avenge Doan. The hit is better then the fight. Wisniewski was suspended two games for the hit.
Here is Doan avenging himself. Fight was pretty even and nothing special. At least Doan did a better job avenging himself then Yandle did.
Goat or Trick Shot of the Week
I couldn’t find anything worth mentioning this week.
Things I like
1. Steve Stamkos is really coming into his own in his 2nd year. High expectations for last years number 1 overall pick; Stamkos is currently leading his team in points and leading all forwards on the team in Plus Minus. He also has a six game goal scoring streak going, tops in the NHL this season.
2. I honestly feel that this will be the most wide open NHL race in quite some time. Now it wouldn’t surprise me if the Penguins end up in the Finals again, and it’s probably likely, but who else makes the playoffs and how far they go should be quite interesting. I know we are in for some surprises and I’m pretty sure that the most of the bottom spots 6-8 will come down to the last week of the season.
3. Colorado is a perfect 4-0 at home, on the road not so much but they are a respectable 6-3-2. They have however lost 2 games in a row, so it will be interesting how they play in their next game. Now 3 losses in row isn’t the end of the world but for a team that wasn’t expected to do anything, you hate to see them start on a downward spiral.
Things I don’t
1. Toronto may have a win, but they still don’t have a win at home. At least Phil Kessel is back, maybe that will help. The epic Toronto vs. Carolina game is this Friday Nov. 6th, be there.
2. Steve Mason is not following up his rookie of the year award with stellar play. He is currently in the bottom 5 of GAA and SV% yikes. Columbus still has a somewhat decent record, despite this. They are however the only team above .500 that has allowed more goals then they have scored.
3. The sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to the NHL. Not enough room to get into it here, but I don’t think this was the right move.
This Week in Hockey History
October 29, 1949 Harry Lumley became the first goaltender to record 20 shutouts as a member of the Red Wings as Detroit won 1-0 win over the Canadiens at Montreal. The winning goal was scored by rookie winger Steve Black.
October 29, 2003 Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux became the 6th player in NHL history to reach 1,700 career points (and the second-fastest, after Gretzky) with an assist in a 4-4 tie against the visiting New York Islanders.
October 30, 1943 Montreal’s Bill Durnan signed his first NHL contract and made his NHL debut in a 2-2 tie against the Bruins, in the Habs’ season opener in Montreal. It was the start of an NHL-record 14 game unbeaten streak (12-0-2) for the rookie goalie.
October 30, 1971 Fred Glover became the 1st man in NHL history to coach 2 NHL teams in one season, when he was named coach of the L.A. Kings just 12 days after being fired by the Oakland Seals. He lost in his Kings’ debut, 5-1 to the visiting Chicago Black Hawks.
October 30, 1943 Toronto Maple Leafs Gus Bodnar set an NHL record for fastest goal by a rookie in his first game, by scoring just 15 seconds into his NHL debut. He later added another goal and an assist as the Leafs beat the Rangers 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.
October 30, 1998Pittsburgh Penguins set an NHL record by scoring their 9th and 10th consecutive power play goals in a 2-2 tie against Vancouver. They broke the record of 8 straight power play goals scored by Buffalo in 1991-92.
November 01, 1945 Gordie Howe (at age 16) signed his first professional hockey contract, with the Omaha Knights of the United States Hockey League.
November 01, 1924 Boston Bruins became the first U.S. team to join the NHL when they (and the Montreal Maroons) officially received their NHL franchises.
November 03, 1987 Marcel Dionne became just the second player in NHL history to score 1,700 career NHL points, when he scored a goal for the New York Rangers in a 5-3 loss at Calgary.
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
1. Pittsburgh
2. Colorado
3. San Jose
4. Washington
5. Buffalo
Bottom 5
30. Toronto
29. Carolina
28. Florida
27. St. Louis
26. Minnesota
Ducks Watch
The Ducks snapped their 4 game losing streak with a sound thumping of the Canucks 7-2. After falling behind 0-2 the Ducks reeled off 7 unanswered goals. Proving that they are better then they have played and that they still have a potent offense. Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan each contributed 2 goals. The Ducks followed up with a tough shutout loss to the Coyotes in Phoenix. Even though they lost they were still able to pick up a point. My Stanley Cup Finals prediction was Pittsburgh vs. Anaheim and if that happens, there’s a chance, it won’t disappoint judging by their regular season encounter Tuesday. A very entertaining match up that was well played by both sides. Anaheim didn’t get any points but the still walked out a winner in my book, only losing by a goal. Corey Perry is on a tear recently and had another 2 goals. Overall their level of play has improved tremendously.
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 Written by:
Alex Mueller
Some key things to look for during the season:
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.
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.
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 4th 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 1st and didn’t score all their goals in the 3rd.
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.
