Well start growing your hockey beards it’s that time of year. Let’s take a look at the match-ups and try and break it down. In the East, Washington and Pittsburgh are the same seeds they were last year and Philadelphia and Boston flipped their seeds but are still in the same seeding match-up. Also of note is that 5 of the 8 season series between the teams are tied.

If you are curious last year I predicted:

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

1 Washington Capitals vs. 8 New York Rangers

Season Series: 3-1 Rangers

Playoff Series History: 3-2 Capitals

Star to Watch: Alexander Semin, again, because he mustered up a whopping zero goals last year in seven games. If the Capitals hope to go anywhere, he needs to produce something. Marion Gaborik on the other hand has had a fairly disappointing season. He has sometimes been hot but he has also been cold. With Callahan gone, Gaborik will need to step it up.

X-Factor: Deja Vu? The Capitals never make things easy for themselves in the playoffs. In fact their last 4 playoffs series have gone 7 games each. Everyone remembers last season’s collapse. They also went the distance against the Rangers two years ago. How they prepare mentally for this series will determine how far they go.

Goalie Problem: The Capitals said they plan on rotating between Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth. Sound familiar? It should. Last season they planned on rotating between Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov. I think they really ought to go with Varlamov. He had slightly better numbers and he has more experience. As for the Rangers will it’s not a problem when you have Lundqvist and his league leading 11 shutouts.

Fun Fact: The Rangers actually scored more goals than the Capitals, if you can believe it, and they had a better goal differential.

Prediction: The Rangers are just lucky to be in the playoffs this year, of course last year they were just as unlucky to not make it; losing in the shootout in the final game of the season. Washington has tried a new defensive approach this season. While it didn’t seem to be working at certain stretches, the Capitals found themselves back as the top seed. I think the Capitals have found the right balance of what works. Capitals in five or six.

2 Philadelphia Flyers vs. 7 Buffalo Sabres

Season Series: tied 2-2

Playoff Series History: 5-3 Flyers

Star to Watch: Thomas Vanek because he is the Sabres most potent offensive threat. He is also a streaky player and is currently fairly hot. He will need to produce for the Sabres to have a chance. The postseason means it’s Danny Briere time. Watch for him to blow your mind a few times.

X-Factor: Can you say different directions? The Sabres went on a tear down the stretch to make the playoffs and where arguably the hottest team the last month. The Flyers went in the opposite direction… off a cliff and almost cost themselves the division crown. This series will truly dictate if momentum matters.

Goalie Problem: The Flyers goalie situation reminds of a lot of last years, very cloudy. A lot of options but no real good one. They will probably trot out their three headed monster clearly not what they had in mind and a stark contrast from earlier in the the year when Bobrovsky looked to be the guy. What the goaltending produces will determine the Flyers fate. I think it will be either Leighton or Boucher between the pipes. The Sabres counter with Ryan Miller. You might have heard of him. He should be 100% recovered for the series.

Fun Fact: Neither team had any player score over 80 points. They each had only one score over 70 points. Nothing new at all for the Sabres but kind of surprising for the Flyers.

Prediction: Despite the momentum being in the Sabres favor, I’m going to have to go with the Flyers. Though the Sabres clearly have the goaltending advantage, making me somewhat regret my decision. I think the Flyers overwhelming experience advantage will help. Flyers in seven.

3 Boston Bruins vs. 6 Montreal Canadiens

Season Series: Montreal 4-2

Playoff Series History: These teams have never met in the playoffs… jk . 24-8 Montreal. They last met two seasons ago when the Bruins swept them in the 1st round.

Star to Watch: Michael Cammalleri had a down season after an exceptional postseason. How will he do this year. Also the legend of P.K Subban was born last postseason. He has been brilliant at times this season and also played so poorly he was benched. How will he handle himself? He tends to let his emotions get the best of him.

X-Factor: I think these two teams might not like each other. The media in Montreal I’m sure will be at a fevered pitch. While the Canadiens took the season series, they came up flat in their “revenge” game. It should be interesting to see how each team controls their emotions.

Goalie Problem: The Bruins boast the best goalie duo and Tim Thomas should wrap up the Vezina this season. I see no reason why Thomas won’t continue his exceptional level of play. Although Thomas has actually posted some of his worst numbers against the Canadiens this year (3.22 GAA, .907 SV%). As for the Habs well lets just say that Carey Price has some big shoes to fill, as if he needed any additional pressure (See Halak circa last year). I seriously hope that if the Habs lose he plays well, so that he might be spared.

Fun Fact: This is actually the most played match-up between two teams in the NHL. The Bruins had 12 players score 10 goals or more, tops in the league. Both teams are tied for last in winning games after trailing in the 1st period.

Prediction: Really tough to say but I think it’s Boston’s turn to have the kind of run the Canadiens had last year. I think the Bruins just have a better all around team. Plus the Bruins have something to prove after being embarrassed in last year’s playoffs. Bruins in 7.

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning

Season Series: tied 2-2

Playoff History: Zilch

Star to Watch: I’m going to have to say Tyler Kennedy and Steven Stamkos. Stamkos is making his first playoff appearance. He was also pretty cold in the last month of the season. It will be interesting to see how performs. With no Malkin or Crosby, Kennedy has taken advantage of his opportunity and he had a breakout year. He will need to continue to carry the Pens offensive load with Jordan Staal. Those two will need to step up their game for the Pens to advance.

X-Factor: There’s a guy named Sidney Crosby that may or may not play. If he does play, advantage Pittsburgh. Of course there’s always the question of how will he play if he does come back? I think he probably won’t play until the 2nd round if the Pens advance. Strange how he lead the team in scoring when he only played half the season.

Goalie Problem: Mac-Andre Fleury proved me wrong and had a great season. He usually posts worse numbers in the playoffs but he finds a way to win tthe big games, except of course in Game 7 last year against the Canadiens. I’m really not sold on Dwayne Roloson being a playoff caliber goalie but apparently the Lightning are. He has only been to the postseason three previous times. The last time was five years ago with the Sabres.

Fun Fact: The Penguins have no wins when trailing after two periods, with a 0-19-1 record this season. The Penguins led the league in hits and the Lightning had the 2nd fewest.

Prediction: I have to give the edge to Pittsburgh in what should be a widely entertaining series. It could go either way really. But I can’t help but feel that the Penguins didn’t overcome all of those injuries and almost get 2nd place to lose in the 1st round. It just wouldn’t seem right. Penguins in seven.

1 Vancouver Canucks vs. 8 Chicago Blackhawks

Season Series: tied 2-2

Playoff Series History: 3-1 Blackhawks, including the last two seasons in which the Hawks bounced the Canucks in the 2nd round both times

Star to Watch: Toews and Kane had great long playoff runs last season. The question is what will they do for an encore? They find themselves in new territory in being the hunted as opposed to the hunter.

X-Factor: Dustin Byfuglien…. wait what? He isn’t on the Blackhawks anymore. That’s precisely the problem. The Blackhawks will find out exactly why they needed to keep him in this series. He was able to effectively get in Luongo’s head and knock him off his game. The Blackhawks don’t have anyone to do that anymore.

Goalie Problem: Both of these teams feature goalies that have something to prove. Luongo has to prove that he can actually deliver in the postseason. Having great regular seasons, he is coming off arguably his best season ever, is nice but it really only matters what you do in the playoffs. Crawford, while just a rookie, will be under some pressure to duplicate Niemi’s success who Chicago let go. The front office will probably get a lot of slack if the Hawks don’t do well in the playoffs and rightfully so.

Fun Fact: The Sedins are the first brother combo to win the Art Ross trophy back to back. They may also add the Hart trophy to that list. Speaking of back to backs, the Blackhawks hope to do what no other 8th seed has ever done, win the Stanley Cup.

Prediction: Truly one of the more compelling series because of the Hawks just making the playoffs and trying to defend their cup. Through in their recent history and the Sedins claiming more hardware and you have watch should be an awesome match-up. This is the year the Canucks revenge their past losses against the Blackhawks. It will be made all the more sweeter because they are knocking out the defending champions in the 1st round. Canucks in six. (Just to stick it to Chelsea Dagger)

2 San Jose Sharks vs. 7 Los Angeles Kings

Season Series: tied 3-3

Playoff Series History: Zilch

Star to Watch: Drew Doughty was simply sensational against the Canucks last postseason but he had a pretty average regular season. He will need to regain his form to help shut down the Sharks top line. Dustin Penner is also on the watch list for the sheer fact that he needs to do something.

X-Factor: The injury bug rears its ugly head. I can’t help but think that the Kings would be slightly higher if it wasn’t for all their injuries down the stretch. But such is life. Losing your top two scorers is never easy but the Penguins have been able to deal with it, so now it’s the Kings turn. Justin Williams should be coming back to play in the 1st round though. Getting by without Kopitar won’t be easy however.

Goalie Problem: Antti Niemi is back in the postseason just wearing a different jersey. He has turned out to be a great pickup and was red hot down the stretch. He will now use his experience to further propel the Sharks. On the flip-side Jonathan Quick will need to rebound from a fairly poor playoff performance last year. He should be more comfortable having a postseason under his belt.

Fun Fact: The Sharks are playing their 7th different team in as many series. In fact the Sharks have now played every team in the playoffs in the West except for the Wild, Canucks and Blue Jackets.

Prediction: The Sharks top line produced less that last year and in the postseason they don’t always produce at their best. The Sharks are a deep experienced team though, that has seven players with at least 20 goals. The Kings are still getting their feet acclimated to the post season and I don’t think they are mentally where they need to be. Still it should make for an interesting series. Sharks in six or seven.

3 Detroit Red Wings vs. 6 Phoenix Coyotes

Season Series: tied 2-2

Playoff Series History: 2-0 Detroit

Star to Watch: With Zetterberg out it will be Datsyuk’s job to carry the Wings scoring load. He will be matched up with Norris trophy candidate Keith Yandle.

X-Factor: Probably how the Coyotes as a group handle themselves mentally. Here’s a team that rarely makes the playoffs and now they find themselves in on back to back trips. They are also seeking revenge against the team that knocked them out of a hard fought series last postseason. They also might be moving, again.

Goalie Problem: Jimmy Howard now has a year of playoff experience under his belt and Ilya Bryzgalov now has three. Bryzgalov didn’t play all that well last year and he will need to play better for the Coyotes to have a chance. Howard had a down year this year and will need to pick up his game as well.

Fun Fact: Detroit has been to the playoffs the past twenty seasons and 56 times (not including their days as Cougers or Flacons) and Phoenix now seven times including two in a row. The Coyotes have never made it to the 2nd round. I think the Red Wings may have made it out… a few times.

Prediction: This is a match-up between two of the lower hitting teams in the league. I think we will have a repeat of last season, a close wild affair that goes the distance. The Red Wings are all a year older and that isn’t something working in their favor but I think they will prevail anyway. Red Wings in seven.

4 Anaheim Ducks vs. 5 Nashville Predators

Season Series: Nashville 3-1

Playoff Series History: Zilch

Star to Watch: Teemu Selanne has generally been lukewarm at best in the playoffs. This possibly being his last season, again, it will be interesting to see how he plays. The Ducks will need to have the 2nd line continuing to score and Selanne was hot down the stretch.

X-Factor: It will be interesting to watch Shea Weber battle against quick wingers in Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry. This battle will go a long way in determining who wins the series. The Ducks’ playoff experience also outweighs the Predators’ by a considerable margin.

Goalie Problem: Pekka Rinne was probably the best kept goalie secret of the season. If it wasn’t for Tim Thomas he would have gotten more recognition but since he played in Nashville probably not. He should get a Vezina nod for his production. On the other side Jonas Hiller was having one of his best seasons before he got vertigo and well that’s been pretty much it. The Ducks have relied on pickups of Dan Ellis and Ray Emery to backstop them this far. Ellis will probably get the bulk of the load with Emery still recovering from his injury. Ellis has only been in the playoffs one other time as a member of the Predators. He was on their team for a few other postseason appearances but he never played in any of those games.

Fun Fact: The Ducks have the 2nd best power play and the Predators have the 5th worst. The Ducks have the 5th most penalty minutes and the Predators have the 2nd fewest. Both of these teams are tied for 4th in wins when leading after the 1st.

Prediction: The Predators are 0-5 in getting out of the 1st round and I don’t see that changing. The Ducks are red hot and they are loaded with prime time players that excel in the playoffs. Still I think it’s likely all the home teams will win. Ducks in seven.

My Stanley Cup prediction is Washington over Vancouver. Washington will probably play Boston in the conference finals and assuming Vancouver can beat Chicago, I really only see San Jose and Anaheim as threats. It’s highly unlikely it will be 1 vs 1 but you never know.

Second during the Canucks vs. Ducks game, Curtis McElhinney was cut badly by a slapshot and fell to the ice and the Canucks scored on the rebound with McElhinney unable to make a play. Since it happened so fast, I realize that the ref probably didn’t notice what had happened and that is fine. The problem is a replay can clearly tell you what happened. Under the rules I guess you can’t go to a replay in that situation even though you should be able to. There is no reason why every goal shouldn’t be reviewable. Also it brings up the perfect reason to have coach’s challenges like they do in football. One goal can greatly effect the outcome of a game, or swing momentum, so they should not be taken lightly. One or two coach’s challenges for both teams would be sufficient. The challenges should be allowed to be used on any goal or penalty. There was a situation in another Ducks game where they ruled Jason Blake had touched the puck with a high stick and then bounced the rebound into the net. The ref ruled no goal because of the high stick. The replay however showed that it may not have been played with a high stick. At that point it can’t be overturned but a coach’s challenge would allow it to be reviewed for the correct call.

Some might say allowing coach’s challenges would slow the game down. But goals that may have been kicked in are reviewed and honestly how long does that take? It doesn’t take that long and I think that making sure the correct call was made is more important than how long it takes. Hockey is the fastest sport there is and slowing it down a bit would help make sure the right calls are made.

Goalie Spotlight

Kari Lehtonen – Dallas Stars

Lehtonen was born in Helsinki Finland and like the other great Finnish NHL players he started his career in the SM-liiga league. He played for Jokerit and during the 2001-02 season he started out as the backup but ended up taking the starting job and the Urpo Ylönen trophy, given to the best goalie. He followed that up by wining the MVP trophy in the postseason en route to winning the title and he had one more stellar year before coming to North America. In the 2002 NHL Entry Draft he was selected 2^nd overall by the Atlanta Thrashers. Making him the the highest drafted European goalie and Finnish player ever.

He played for the Chicago Wolves, the Thrashers’ AHL affiliate, in 2003-04 but was called up for four games. He won all of those games and posted a 1.25 GAA and .953 SV%. Despite his impressive performance he was sent back to the Wolves for the rest of the season and all of the following season, though that was because of the NHL lockout. Lehtonen was slated to become the Thrashers’ starting goalie during the 2005-06 season but suffered a groin injury when Nathan Horton slammed into him on opening night. He came back later that season but in April but was injured again when Chris Dingman collided with him. The Thrashers started five different goalies that season. Lehtonen tried it again and played in 68 games for the Thrashers. During this season he set many Thrasher franchise records, of course the Thrashers weren’t that old at this point. Nevertheless he broke the shutout streak record and, became the Thrashers’ all time winningest goalie. He also started the Thrashers’ first playoff game ever.

2006-07 was the only season in which Lehtonen start over 50 games for the Thrashers. He was injured partially in 2007-08 and played about as much the following season. At this point the Thrashers had drafted Ondrej Pavelec and the writing was on the wall for Lehtonen. He didn’t play at all for the Thrashers in 2009-10, except for four games with the Wolves affiliate. He was traded to the Dallas Stars in early 2010, where he ended up playing 12 games for the Stars. Lehtonen has the difficult task of following after Marty Turco, who was with the Stars the past nine seasons. So far this season he is off to a pretty decent start with the Stars, posting a 2.59 GAA and .915 SV%. He has yet to record a shutout so far. He is currently injured since December 8^th with back problems and Andrew Raycroft has been filling in. The Stars are hoping Lehtonen will play a big part for them, as they hope to return to the playoffs. If not, they do have many young goalie prospects waiting.

Fights of the Week

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

Tim Jackman vs. Kyle Clifford

Not your normal fight by any means but still fun to watch.

Jared Boll vs. Cam Janssen

A decent scrap that would have been better if more shots connected.

Brad Staubitz vs. Kyle Clifford

This was one of those one sided fights.

Goats of the Week

Jason Spezza – Ottawa Senators

I’m not really quite sure what Spezza was doing. It looks like a no look pass, which is never a good thing to do in overtime and Bryan Little demonstrates why that is. Little picks up Spezza’s gift and takes it down to the other end for the breakaway goal.

Jonathon Quick – Los Angeles Kings

In this installment of when the goalie leaves his crease… Quick goes out to play an incoming puck which is fine but his decision of where to play it was not. Mikko Koivu says thank you very much.

Quick wasn’t done though. A mere 10 seconds after the Kings tied it, Quick goes behind the net to stop the puck but instead does not and Cal Clutterbuck says thanks.

Marc Savard – Boston Bruins

I don’t really blame Savard for this miscue as he was just fighting for possession along the boards and it wasn’t his fault the defenseman wasn’t there. Still it will make this section and I loved Thomas’ reaction after the goal.

Things I like

1. The Penguins are a lot better than _______ (insert any team name here, except maybe the Flyers) and Sidney Crosby is a much better play than ________ (insert any NHL player name here). Marc-Andre Fleury has rebounded very nicely since his awful start and has a SV% of .942 during the just ended 12 game winning streak. Evgeni Malkin came back from his injury and scored two power play goals against the Flyers. Jordan Staal might possibly be coming back soon as well.

2. Besides sharing the last name with a popular fashion company, Logan Couture is having a tremendous “rookie” season. I put that in quotes because he played 25 games last year but he is still considered a rookie this season. Couture had a five game point streak recently snapped. He is currently the rookie leader in goals and points. With Thornton and Marleau getting up there in age, the Sharks will be glad they have Couture and Joe Pavelski to lead them in the future.

3. The Kings had a November they would like to forget and Quick had a game he would like to forget against Minnesota. They both redeemed themselves though. The Kings have now won four of five and also picked up a point in the aforementioned game against Minnesota. Quick was instrumental in the Kings blanking the Red Wings 5-0 on the road. Quick stopped all 51 shots in the win and had many great saves. Even better news was that Willie Mitchell was able to rejoin the Kings’ lineup.

Things I don’t

1. The Ducks recently found themselves with a two goal lead in the 3^rd period three games in a row, which they then squandered in the 3^rd period three times in a row. All three of them went to a shootout. They won two of them and lost one to the Canucks. Some of it has do to with inexperienced defense, sum of it to bad luck and some of it to attacking less. In the 3^rd period against Vancouver they were out shot 15-2. You won’t win many games that way. They rebounded in a big way against Minnesota and there is hope the new faces will continue to gel.

2. If you had to pick on team with the most pressure on them this season, I’m pretty sure you would pick the Capitals. The Capitals started out with there usual high scoring offense and added some improved defensive skills for a winning combination. Lately though things have gone south. The Capitals have now lost six in a row. Coach Bruce Boudreau said of the recent slump, “I don’t have an answer right now. It’s unfamiliar territory. I think we have a lot of people feeling sorry for themselves.” The Capitals have also surprisingly been shutout twice in the last three games. Though they were also shutout two times in a three game span the previous month. But losing really is new territory for them. They have only loss two or more games three times this season. Their current six game slump is the aforementioned third time. The latest 7-0 drubbing at the hands of the Rangers was a new low though. Alex Ovechkin was so frustrated he actually fought. The Capitals have out shot all of the opponents they have lost to (some by a wide margin) so they aren’t getting manhandled. This season we already had a superstar, Sidney Crosby, of a struggling team drop his gloves to fight against the Stars. The Penguins responded by first losing to the Ducks the next game and then they promptly reeled off 15 victories in the next 17 games. Eerily the Capitals next opponent is also the Ducks. So will the Capitals lose to them as well and then reel off 15 victories in the next 17 games? We shall soon find out.

3. I don’t care for all this “controversy” over Linus Omark’s shootout spin-o-rama. Disrespectful? Please. To who? The Lightning? I don’t see it. Unless it’s done right in front of the opposing team or it’s some kind of inappropriate gesture like a middle finger, I say bring it on. The more character and color a player brings to the game the better, I say. I would have loved it if he did a snow angel first and then took a shot.

Stat Line of the Week

12/12/10 Anaheim 6 vs. Minnesota 2

Corey Perry and the Ducks top line in general were on fire against the Wild. Perry figured into everyone of the Ducks’ goals except for one. He also had his first NHL career hat trick. His goals came on even strength, penalty shot and power play. Hard to imagine it took him six seasons to get his first hat trick.

Did You Know?

In 1999-2000 the Detroit Red Wings became the first team in NHL history to have players score their 300th (Fedorov), 400th (Shanahan), 500th (Verbeek) & 600th (Yzerman) career NHL goals while playing on the same team.

Numbers, Numbers

544 – Games played (now 545) by captain Rick Nash, The Blue Jackets franchise leader in games played now

7 – The now ended streak of number of wins for Corey Crawford, just one win shy of tying the Blackhawks franchise rookie record for consecutive wins

2 – Wins by Antti Niemi over his former team this season

19 – Games of Sidney Crosby’s current scoring streak

27.17 – GAA for Steve Manson against Calgary where he had two goals allowed on four shots before being yanked

5 – Goals scored by Henrik Sedin, the only player in the top 20 in scoring who doesn’t have double digits in goals

Quotes of the Week

“We have a situation where we are going with young players, and I’m not going to deviate from the plan to rebuild through the draft. I’m not going to trade our young prospects, whether they are in Bridgeport, junior hockey, college hockey or in Europe, for a quick fix.”

—GM Garth Snow, before the Isles fell to an NHL-worst 5-17-5 with a 5-4 loss Saturday to Atlanta.

Kudos to Snow for sticking with that. The players they have drafted recently should come together, they just need time.

“It’s not an easy pill to swallow. But I can’t beat myself up. It takes time. The game feels really fast, too fast. They’re going 100 miles an hour and it’s like my feet are in cement.”

—Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban on his struggles after missing three games as a healthy scratch.

“He slashed me twice and I just turned around and go. If I saw it was a tough guy maybe I don’t go, but I saw he was a normal player, so I go.”

- Thrashers center Alex Burmistrov on his fight with New York’s John Tavares in Saturday’s win over the Islanders.

This Week in Hockey History

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

December 09, 1988 New Jersey’s John MacLean scored three goals in his second consecutive game (for his third career hat trick) as the Devils won 6-5 over the visiting NY Islanders.

December 10, 1997 Michel Petit became the first player in NHL history to score a point for 10 different teams, when his first assist of the year helped the Phoenix Coyotes to a 3-3 tie at Chicago.

December 11, 2000 NHL officially appoved the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to Wayne Gretzky and partner Steve Ellman.

December 12, 1992 L.A. Kings rookie goalie Robb Stauber ran his record to 9-0-1 (and his winning streak to a team-record tying seven straight) when the Kings beat the Blues, 6-3 at the Forum.

December 13, 2001 Patrick Lalime became the Ottawa Senators all-time leader in career shutouts, with his 14th as a member of the team, a 6-0 win against Phoenix. Lalime broke the mark of 13 held by Ron Tugnutt. Martin Havlat a hat trick for the Sens.

December 14, 1997 Teppo Numminen became the Coyotes’ franchise all-time leader in assists by a defenseman, when he picked up the 250th of his career in a 3-3 tie against the Red Wings, in Phoenix. Numminen broke the mark of 249 set by Fredrik Olausson.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Pittsburgh

2. Atlanta

3. Nashville

4. Philadelphia

5. Los Angeles

Bottom 5

30. N.Y Islanders

29. New Jersey

28. Columbus

27. Ottawa

26. Washington

SHOOTOUT VICTORY

The following teams are shopping this holiday for a shootout victory this season.  As Wild, Oilers and Bruins are 0-3 this season and the Canucks and Islanders are 0-2. The Wild wish there was a power play on the shootout as they have only scored 3 goals in their 3 shootouts.

The offensively challenged Oilers and Bruins are worst off as both teams have only 2 goals in their 3 shootout losses.  The top two picks of the 2010 NHL Draft have been successful for those teams as Taylor Hall is one for one and Tyler Seguin has the only two goals for the Bruins in three attempts.

Though only in two shootouts each the Canucks only have two goals and the Islanders have none.  The goalies of those two teams have not done any better as Roberto Luongo has given up five goals on all five shots this season.  Dwayne Roloson has only stopped one of his three shots faced but ironically Ricky DiPietro has given up only one goal on his three attempts faced.

The goalies of the three shootout losses teams have been atrocious also.  Niklas Backstrom has given up six goals on the 11 shots faced, that is not going to give any team a chance to win.  Early season favorite for the Vezina Tim Thomas has stopped six of the nine attempts he faced, so that goes on the offense to have someone other than Seguin to score. His counterpart Tuukka Rask gave up two shootout goals on the two shots he faced.  The Oilers were glad to see Nikolai Khabibulin return as he at least stopped one of the two shots he faced, while Devan Dubnyk was awful giving up five goals on seven shots.

So in the month of December all these teams are asking for is a victory in a shootout to give them a chance in the standings as we have seen in the last couple of the seasons the shootout can be the difference in making or missing the playoffs.

POWER OUTAGE

Some of the top teams are having a difficult time scoring with the man advantage this season and will be shopping around on ways to improve what could be a deadly weapon. Philadelphia, Montreal and Pittsburgh are seeded 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th right now in the Eastern Conference but ranked 16^th, 11^th and 12^th respectively on the power play. All those teams have dangerous offensive talents and normally ranked in the top five in power play percentages.

Out West the Los Angeles Kings had the seventh ranked power play last season and have the 23^rd ranked one this season.  The surprise Dallas Stars, who lead the Pacific Division, have the 17^th ranked power play and the upstart St. Louis Blues who sit in a playoff spot now in the West are ranked 26^th in power play percentage.

All of these teams mentioned have offensive talent just have not found the right combination on the man advantage.  For most of these teams finding that right combination can be the difference in being a good team and a great team and for some being a playoff team and playing golf in the spring.

FIRST GOAL FRENZY

Scoring the first goal in a game is important in many levels and shown that all 30 NHL teams have a winning percentage of .500 or higher when scoring first.  That being said some teams have horrible winning percentages when they give up the first goal and will be shopping this holiday season for the all important first goal.

The New York Islanders have had a tough time to start the season, not to mention a 14-game losing streak and a coach firing, they are 0-13-2 when they give up the first goal.  The Devils have had a tough time scoring goals, NHL worst 1.81 goals per game, as they are 2-12 when trailing early.  The Canucks are 12-1-1 when they score the first goal of the game and conversely 2-7-2 when they don’t. Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators are fringe playoff teams and both only have two wins when they give up the first goal.

Look at the top of the standings with teams like Washington (9 wins when giving up first goal), Pittsburgh (7 wins), Philadelphia (6 wins) and Detroit (4 wins) shows that good teams that can bounce back from giving up the first goal of the game. But these teams would like for the holiday some games where they do not have to bounce back and take the early lead.

The Avalanche are currently right around the final playoff spot. While it’s way to early to be discussing playoff spots, it’s not a bad position for a team that is not even close to 100% to be in. When the Avalanche get everyone back and healthy, they could make make a major push up the standings after the all star break as they hope to build upon last year’s playoff exit.

Goalie Spotlight

Ondrej Pavelec – Atlanta Thrashers

Ondrej Pavelec is a native of Kladno in the Czech Republic. Kladno is actually the birthplace of many famous NHL stars such as Jaromir Jagr and Tomas Plekanec. Pavelec led the Czech Republic under 17 team to a 2^nd place finish in the 2004 Junior World Cup. He was part of the 2010 IIHF World Championship gold medal team but Tomáš Vokoun was the starting goalie. He was also on the 2010 Olympic team.

Pavelec was drafted in the 2^nd round by the Thrashers in 2005. He then played for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the QMJHL. Both seasons he was a first team All-Star and won the Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy for best goals-against average. He was only the fourth player ever to repeat as a winner and the first one to do so in 20 years. He also won the rookie of the year award and the top defensive rookie of the year award. When the Thrashers signed Pavelec they sent him to the Chicago Wolves in the AHL. In 2007-08 he help lead the Wolves to the Calder Cup.

In 2007-08 he also played in seven games for the Thrashers and then twelve games in 2008-09. It wasn’t until 2009-10 that he stayed on Thrashers for the while season. He split time with Johan Hedberg that season. Posting a 3.29 GAA, .906 SV% and two shutouts. This season he is the number one goalie for the Thrashers. He did have a well documented scare when he collapsed on the ice on October 8^th. The doctors determined the cause of his collapse was neurocardiogenic syncope, a type of fainting spell. He received a concussion and lost consciousness after his head hit the ice. So far this season Pavelec is off to a tremendous start. In just twelve games started he has two shutouts, a 1.62 GAA and a .949 SV%. He is currently in 2^nd place for SV% behind only Tim Thomas. The much improved Thrashers are hoping to make the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. Pavelec will play an integral part in that quest and he will also try to solidify his spot as the number one goalie in Atlanta for the next decade.

Fights of the Week

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

Matt Hunwick vs. Evander Kane

Decent scrap between these two, with the advantage going to Kane.

Shawn Thornton vs. Eric Boulton

This fight had its slow moments but was pretty good overall.

Cam Janssen vs. John Scott

Not many times will you see Cam Janssen outsized by this much. I particularly liked him telling Scott to bring some more halfway through the fight.

Goats of the Week

Andy Sutton – Anaheim Ducks

Sutton tries to pass that puck up and out of Anaheim’s end but ends up just passing it right to Patrick Sharp who scores the eventual game winning goal.

Erik Johnson – St. Louis Blues

Johnson was looking to pass or possibly shoot again on the power play but instead did neither, as Jamie Benn picked his pocket and went down the ice for a shorthanded goal that tied the game.

Things I like

1. Dustin Byfuglien is having a career year so far. I figured he would have a breakout year, if given an increased role and playing time. Not only is leading the Thrashers in goals and points, he is leading the NHL with five game winning goals. If the Thrashers actually make the playoffs, I think he should be in the running for the Hart trophy. Of course even if they did make the playoffs, he would never get nominated. Either way it’s the best trade the Thrashers have ever made and a great job by the Blackhawks for finding him in the 8^th round.

2. Antti Niemi hasn’t had the best off-season or season so far but beating his former team surely brought some satisfaction to him. It was one of his best performances of the season. Unfortunately he was unable to follow that up with a strong performance against the Canucks. But the Canucks just outplayed the Sharks, who were also shorthanded on the forward position.

3. The Penguins are red hot winners of seven straight. Sidney Crosby has a 13 game point scoring streak and Marc-Andre Fleury has considerably picked up his game from the start of the season. Fleury during the streak has won six games with one shutout and a .953 SV%. This was the team that was envisioned when the Penguins bolstered their defense this past off-season. Watch out once Evgeni Malkin gets into a groove and Jordan Staal gets back.

4. Corey Crawford currently has a five game winning streak going. Before the season is over, he may just win the stating job from Marty Turco. Not including the five goals he gave up to the Blues last night, which were mostly redirects, Crawford’s numbers during the streak have been impressive. He had a 1.21 GAA and a .951 GAA.

Things I don’t

1. If the Tampa Bay Lightning are to show they are serious about being a playoff team and contending for the Southeast division title, they will need to play way better against the top dog Washington Capitals. So far they have been outscored 12-3 in two games against the Capitals, including the latest 6-0 blowout. A goal right off the face-off three minutes into the game does not help to set a good tone for the game. It was already 5-0 halfway through the game. You can’t give the Capitals breakaways or 5 on 3 power plays, those are automatic goals. Here’s hoping the Lightning have a better effort when they get the Capitals at home later.

2. After crowning the Central Division the best this year, St. Louis has faltered and it looks to be the Red Wings division, again, after beating the Blue Jackets in back to back games. I’d like to see somebody give Detroit a run for its money. Skate blade related injuries are always the worst and it looks like Mike Modano will be out for at least two months after being cut by R.J Umberger’s skate. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for the 40 year old. Perhaps they can design a skate blade that retracts once it’s off the ice. I’m sure they can find a way to do it. At any rate it seems like the Blackhawks are starting to gel, so we might get a race for the division crown after all.

3. I briefly mentioned the struggles of the West Coast teams here last week. The good news for the Los Angeles Kings is they have mostly been competitive in their last eight games. The bad new is they aren’t winning any of their games. They obviously miss Alexei Ponikarovsky and Willie Mitchell, both on IR, but they also miss secondary scoring. Jarrett Stoll was my choice for the Kings team MVP in the beginning of the year but lately he hasn’t done much. Stoll had an eight point scoring streak at one point and a nine point hit streak. He hasn’t been as physical lately and he has only one point, a goal, in his last six games. The blueline needs to pick it up as well. Drew Doughty received a penalty call in the 2^nd against the Ducks and promptly eight seconds after he got out of the box he received another bad tripping call, this time the Ducks scored on it. You just can’t do stuff like that.

Stat Line of the Week

11/27/10 Colorado 7 vs. Minnesota 4

Since being drafted in 2002 by the Blue Jackets, Greg Mauldin had only played in 15 career NHL games in seven seasons. He has mostly played in the minors and in Europe. But with all the Avalanche injuries lately, Mauldin was able to step up and contribute in the win in Minnesota. He had two goals, career goals two and three, to go along with two assists. Mauldin should continue to see increased playing time.

Did You Know?

That Claude Lemieux is the only player to score a goal five different ways in a game. He scored an even strength, power play, short handed, penalty shot and empty net goal against the New Jersey Devils on December 31^st 1988. Sidney Crosby came real close against the Flames recently. Had he made his penalty shot, he would have scored the five different ways with only four goals because of his empty net shorthanded goal.

Numbers, Numbers

10,000^th – Flames franchise goal scored by Curtis Glencross against Philadelphia

448 – Consecutive games played by Jay Bouwmeester, the longest active streak in the NHL

4 – The number of games Crosby doesn’t have a point in so far this season

3 – Alexander Semin hat tricks this season

3.48 – Goals a game scored by the Avalanche, tops in the NHL

171 – PIM by the Panthers, the lowest in the NHL by far

7 – Straight games with a point for Avs rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk

Quotes of the Week

“It was time. We weren’t able to smile there for a good month.”

- Goalie Rick DiPietro after the Islanders ended a 14-game winless streak (0-11-3) with a 2-0 win Friday against New Jersey.

“It’s frustrating, I’ve never seen anything like it where you get shut out so many times. It’s pretty tough to take.”

- Luke Schenn said after a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs are now averaging barely two goals a game, scored just once on the weekend and have eight goals in an 0-7-1 road losing streak.

“Considering nobody on the team bought me anything, it was nice to get a goal.”

- D Keith Ballard, who celebrated his 28th birthday by recording his first point as a Canuck with 3:22 left in a 6-1 win over San Jose.

This Week in Hockey History

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

November 25, 2001 Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 41 shots to record his second consecutive shutout (the 25th of his career) and Pavel Kubina and Tim Taylor scored shorthanded goals 57 seconds apart in the 1st period as Tampa Bay won 4-0 over the Hurricanes in Carolina.

November 26, 1999 Detroit’s Larry Murphy became the fourth player (and first defenseman) in NHL history to appear in 1,500 career NHL games. The milestone came in a 4-2 win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers. Murphy picked up two assists in the game.

November 27, 1965 Detroit’s Gordie Howe scored his 600th NHL goal. It came in a 6-2 Red Wings loss to Montreal. Howe also got a major penalty that night for elbowing J.C. Tremblay. Howe became the first NHL player to get 600 career goals.

November 28, 1954 Boston’s Leo Labine scored three goals (in a span of 4:22) and added three assists in a 6-2 win over Detroit, at Boston Garden. Labine picked up five points in the second period to tie an NHL record.

November 29, 1962 Rangers’ Andy Bathgate scored his 229th career NHL goal to become New York’s all-time leading scorer, breaking Bill Cook’s record for Rangers’ goals (228) in a 5-0 win at Detroit. Gump Worsley got his 23rd career shutout.

November 30, 1996 Mario Lemieux had a goal and three assists for his 1,400th career point and Ron Francis added a goal and two assists for his 900th career assist in the Penguins’ 6-2 win over Boston. Lemiuex became the 9th NHL player to score 1,400 points.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Pittsburgh

2. Detroit

3. Atlanta

4. Phoenix

5. Chicago

Bottom 5

30. N.Y Islanders

29. Los Angeles

28. Toronto

27. Ottawa

26. St. Louis

The NHL season will hit its quarter mark in the next couple of weeks.

Some teams have limped their way into the first stretch while others have sprinted towards that first pole marker.  Before I review the three hottest teams out of the gate and break down their staying power, let’s hand out some awards.

MVP is Lightning’s Steven Stamkos, who leads the league in both goals (15) and points (28).

Best goalie is the Bruins’ Tim Thomas who just suffered his first loss of the year in his 10^th start (8-1-0) and leads the league in save percentage (.957) and shutouts (3).

Rookie of the year we stay in the nets and give it to Flyers Sergei Bobrovsky who has 10 wins in his first 13 career starts and is near the top of the league in both save percentage (5^th) and goals against average (7^th).

Now let’s break some hot teams down Pucking Awesome Hat Trick style.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

The Flyers are starting to prove doubters of their amazing Stanley Cup run wrong early on this season.  My rookie of the year, Sergei Bobrovsky (22), is responsible for much of their fledgling success. But, they can also attest to the deep crop of forwards they can field each night.

Seven skaters already have double digit points, with more than half of them having 15+ points.

The team as a whole is second in the league in goals per game (3.41), and the once struggling power play has found its stride scoring at 21.9 %, good for seventh in the league.  Their penalty kill has not been too shabby either ranked sixth in the league (86.8%).  Only the Canucks and Lightning also have both their PP and PK ranked in the top ten like the Flyers.  Also, only the Canucks and Kings are ranked in the top ten in both goals for and goals against like the surging Flyers.

The emergence of Claude Giroux as a superstar in the league has also paced the Flyers.

The former first round draft pick has 18 points in 17 games with four power play goals, three shorthanded goals and three game winning goals so far this season. His development along with the continued hot play of the Briere-Leino-Hartnell line has created matchup problems for opposing defenses.

Speaking of defenses, no team in the NHL can match the Flyers top six defenseman as the +20 third pairing of Andrej Meszaros and Sean O’Donnell combined.

The depth of both the defense and offense is the reason why I believe the Flyers have staying power. Yes, they will need to figure out the “problem” of having three healthy goalies by the end of the month, but in my mind isn’t that a good “problem” to have.

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LOS ANGELES KINGS

The Kings have come out of the gate blazing leading the Western Conference with a 12-3-0 record and undefeated in the City of Angels (8-0-0).

This blossoming team has benefited from some solid goaltending as the Kings lead the league in goals against (1.87). Jonathan Quick is 10-1-0 and is third in the league in both GAA (1.52) and save percentage (.944) proving that his time in net is not winding down even with top prospect Jonathan Bernier on the roster. They always say your best penalty killer is your goalie and that is proven true as the Kings have the best penalty kill in the league (92.2%).

Offensively, they have benefited from having two lines that can score at anytime. The top line that features Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Scott Parse has 31 points combined. While, the second line of Jarret Stoll, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams has 39 points between them all.  Justin Williams needs to stay healthy for this team to have staying power.  The 29-year-old has not played more than 50 games in a season since 2006-07 and in that year had 30 goals.  When healthy, the former first round pick of the Flyers is a dangerous goal scorer to have on your second line.

The team has been dealing with some injuries on defense, including losing superstar Drew Doughty for six games due to a concussion and lost veteran defenseman Willie Mitchell to a fractured left wrist. But, with their hot goalie play and the return of both Doughty and hard hitting Matt Greene they seem to be ok on the backline.  The Jonathan goalie tandem is the main reason I feel that the Kings have staying power.  The one thing you have to worry about is their offensive depth. As they are depending on frequently injured forwards like Williams and Smyth. They have already lost Alexei Ponikarovsky to injury.

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Like the Flyers, the Montreal Canadiens are trying to prove that their run to the Eastern Conference finals was not a fluke. So far, they are not disappointing and even more impressive is they are doing it without playoff hero Jaroslav Halak.

The trade of Halak to the Blues this off-season was a highly debated topic around the league as once again golden boy Carey Price was given back his starting job. Price was even booed in his first pre-season start in Montreal as fans and experts alike continued to question the move.

Price, the only goaltender in hockey history to be named CHL Goaltender of the Year, World Junior Championship’s tournament MVP and win the AHL Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, all in the same year, has responded.  The 23-year-old is 10-5-1 with a .923 save percentage and 2.18 GAA and has two shutouts already this season.  The former fifth overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft will be the key to this team having staying power for the entire season.

The usual dominant power play has been dormant while the usual dormant penalty kill has been dominant. The Canadiens rank second in the league on the PK (88.9%) but rank 20^th on the PP (14.5%). Much of the non-success of the power play has to be pointed toward the injury of Andrei Markov. The veteran has only played in seven games this season and injured his knee again. Not good to have the player that has 194 career power play points not in the lineup.

I think this team has limited staying power and like I said will depend a lot on Price, now even more so with the injury to Markov.  Another important key to them having staying power is to get more production out of their other playoff hero Michael Cammalleri, who only has four goals in the first 16 games.

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

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

Goalie Spotlight

Brent Johnson – Pittsburgh Penguins

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

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

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

Fights of the Week

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

Colton Orr vs. Deryk Engelland

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

Michael Rupp vs. Jody Shelley

A pretty decent scrap between these two.

Chris Stewart vs Zenon Konopka

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

Goat of the Week

Tyler Myers – Buffalo Sabres

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

Things I like

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

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

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

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

Things I don’t

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

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

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

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

Stat Line of the Week

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

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

Did You Know?

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

Numbers, Numbers

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

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

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

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

300 – Career goals by Dany Heatley

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

3 – Even strength goals last night against the Canucks

This Week in Hockey History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rankings

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

Top 5

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

Bottom 5

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

Next up the deep position of Left Wing and the sleeper filled position of Right Wing

Fantasy LW Rankings

1.)    Alex Ovechkin

2.)    Daniel Sedin

3.)    Iyla Kovalchuk

4.)    Zach Parise

5.)    Patrick Marleau

6.)    Alex Semin

7.)    Henrik Zetterberg

8.)    Patrick Sharp

9.)    Lou Eriksson

10.)  Taylor Hall

11.)  Jussi Jokinen

12.)  Wojtek Wolski

13.)  Michael Cammalleri

14.)  Alexandre Burrows (IR)

15.)  Simon Gagne

16.)  Ryan Clowe

17.)  Thomas Vanek

18.)  Alex Frolov

19.)  Patrik Elias

20.)  Kris Versteeg

Honorable Mention:  Tyler Ennis

===========================================================================================

Fantasy RW Rankings

1.)     Martin St Louis

2.)    Patrick Kane

3.)    Dany Heatley 

4.)    Corey Perry

5.)    Marion Gaborik

6.)    Rick Nash

7.)    Jarome Iginla

8.)    Bobby Ryan

9.)    Daniel Alfredsson

10.)   Nikolai Zherdev

11.)  Marian Hossa

12.)   Nathan Horton

13.)   Ales Hemsky

14.)   Phil Kessel

15.)   Daniel Briere

16.)   Kyle Okposo

17.)   Shane Doan

18.)   Jason Pominville

19.)  Johan Franzen

20.)  Martin Havlat

Honorable Mention:  Jordan Eberle

1.) San Jose Sharks

Rear-view Mirror: The Sharks rolled their way to a second straight Western Conference title and advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004. They then lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.

The addition of Dany Heatley (39G-43A-82P) added to an already potent line consisting of Joe Thornton (20-69-89) and Patrick Marleau (44-39-83). On the backend Dan Boyle (15-43-58) paced the Sharks logging 26.12 of ice time per game, 4th in the league, and he was also 4th in the league for defensemen in scoring. The Sharks were the 4th highest scoring team in the league, they had the 4th best power play and the 5th best penalty kill at 85%.

Evgeni Nabokov recorded his best SV% (.922) of his ten year career and he also faced the most shots (2168) of his career. His GAA (2.43) was right around his career average but, along with backup Thomas Greiss , it was good enough as a team to finish 8th in the league.

In the playoffs the Sharks were led by Joe Pavelski (25-26-51) who had a breakout postseason with 17 points. A very welcome changed from a Sharks team that sometimes struggled to score in past postseasons. The Sharks pretty much owned the Avalanche peppering Craig Anderson with a barrage of shots. The series was only closer because of a few gaffes. The Sharks then almost swept the Red Wings pretty much demolishing them impressively. The Sharks run came to an end against the Blackhawks, where they seemingly couldn’t get much going. They were basically manhandled in the same way they manhandled their previous opponents.

Offseason Ins: Antero Niittymaki, Jamal Mayers, Antti Niemi

Offseason Outs: Evgeni Nabokov, Rob Blake (retired), Manny Malhotra

What Makes Them Tick: The Sharks are an experienced yet still somewhat youthful bunch. They have pretty much been through every scenario possible, except a Stanley Cup Final, while still being just below the average age for the league. They have two really talented scoring lines that rival any other teams. The Ryan Clowe (19-38-57), Pavelski and Devin Setaguchi (20-16-36) line is a great second option to the potent Thornton, Heatley and Marleau. Defensively Boyle will continue to log major minutes but expect Jason Demers to creep into more minutes. Demers just came off his 1st NHL season and along with Marc-Edouard Vlasic, both 23, they are the future of the Sharks defense. Vlasic led the Sharks in +/- with a +21. The Sharks were also the top faceoff team in the league, winning 55.6% of their faceoffs.

What Could Make Them Go Boom: The Sharks were looking to upgrade their goaltending, so the let Nabokov walk and signed experienced but somewhat unproven Antero Niittymaki. They also signed Antti Niemi to a one year deal. A great move for the Sharks but one that may become controversial. Niittymaki signed with the Sharks thinking he would be the number one goalie. While that may still be the case, the addition of Niemi certainly clouds that picture. Certainly the Sharks have upgraded their goalie tandem and how they utilize both will be interesting. Niittymaki only brings two games worth of playoff expereince to the table but Niemi brings 22 games and a Stanley Cup. Niemi is the first Sharks’ goalie to have won a Stanley Cup since Mike Vernon did so with the Flames. The Sharks must find a way to stay motivated throughout the season, even though they are only interested in the postseason. Losing Blake will be somewhat of a blow, with no other veteran acquired to take his place, but Demers and Vlasic should be more than capable to handle the load. They also need to cut down on turnovers, as they were the 5th worst in the league with 810 giveaways.

Player to Watch: Joe Thornton is in the last year of his deal you have to assume the Sharks would like to retain him for at least three more years to anchor the Marleau and Heatley line. Depending on how he preforms in the regular season and playoffs, he might price himself out of the Sharks budget. But in order for any team to want him, including the Sharks, he will need to step-up his game in the playoffs. This postseason he lead all players with a -11, a dubious distinction no player would ever want. This season and post season is a make or break, put up or shut up for Thornton.

Prediction: The Sharks hope to wrap up a 4th consecutive Pacific Division crown and a 5th consecutive 100+ point season. There really shouldn’t be any reason they won’t unless Niittymaki falters greatly. As always though, the Sharks season is measured but what they do or do not do in the playoffs. They didn’t really lose any significant pieces in the offseason other than Nabokov. However they have replaced him nicely with Niittymaki and Niemi. The Sharks have to hope that Dan Boyle does not suffer an extended injury as that would be a huge blow to the Sharks. The Sharks are once again early favorites to capture the Stanley Cup. Unlike prior seasons when this was the case, this version of the Sharks have learned enough mentally through past mistakes and have acquired the necessary goaltending pieces to make it into a reality.

2.) Los Angeles Kings

Rear-view Mirror: The Kings had their most successful season in awhile making the playoffs for the first time since 2002. They then lost to the Canucks in the 1st round in six games. During the regular season the Kings were one of only two teams, the Capitals were the other, that had eight players score 40 or more points each. The Kings were led by Anze Kopitar (34G-47A-81P) who set career highs in goals, assists, points, +/- and shots on goal. Kopitar also flirted with the league scoring title for a few weeks. Wayne Simmonds (16-24-40) in his 2nd season continued to develop into an all around player. While he was only 8th on the team in points, he almost doubled his point total from last season and he was 1st on the team in +/- with +22 and 2nd in PIM with 116.

On the defensive side Drew Doughty (16-43-59) emerged as one of the premier defensemen in the league and his hard work paid off with a Norris Trophy nomination in only his 2nd season. He was also second on the team in assists, +/- (+20) and points. Jonathan Quick became a workhorse goalie in his 2nd full season and played in 72 games, the 4th most of any goalie. None of Quick’s major stats (2.54 GAA, .907 SV%, 4 SO) were better than his previous season however.

Offseason Ins: Alexei Ponikarovsky, Willie Mitchell

Offseason Outs: Alexander Frolov, Sean O’Donnell, Randy Jones

What Makes Them Tick: The Kings boast an extremely talented and dynamic defensive group. Featuring young Olympians Doughty and Johnson paired with veterans Rob Scuderi and newly signed Willie Mitchell. With the young defensive stars having another year of NHL experience and the addition of another experienced veteran to learn off of, the Kings defense will only get better. Offensively the Kings have a very balanced attacked as alluded to above with eight players with 40+ points each. Kopitar almost had the breakout season everyone was expecting him too before he started to slump somewhat. He still had a great season but this year he should even top that. He should be a 100+ point player this season.

What Could Make Them Go Boom: The Kings will now have expectations for the first time in a long time. How they handle them mentally will determine how successful their season is. Kopitar will need to play more consistently as the Kings are 34-21 when he scores a point and 12-15 when he does not. Overworking Quick is also a potential problem discussed further below. The Kings could also work on turnovers, as they gave away the puck the 4th most with 815 giveaways.

Player to Watch: Jonathan Quick will be under a lot of pressure to preform this year, as the Kings have higher expectations. Quick faltered in the playoffs, where he had the 3rd worse (3.50) GAA and 3rd worse (.884) SV% of playoff goalies who stated at least four games. In order for the Kings to reach their full potential they must get good consistent goaltending from Quick. If Quick falters, the Kings do have a number of options. Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Bernier are two such options. Bernier was sensational in the limited action he saw last season. It’s no doubt that the Kings view Quick, the third goalie on Team USA, as the long term option. It might be wise to play him less games this season, as fatigue was probably a big factor in his playoff slump and the Kings possess more than capable backups.

Prediction: The 6th youngest team in the league, the Kings are poised to improve upon last years balanced success. Frolov and O’Donnell are somewhat significant losses but it shouldn’t have much of an impact on a pretty deep team. O’Donnell is essentially replaced with the Mitchell signing anyway. The Kings should pretty much be a lock to make the playoffs. If Quick can improve his game and Kopitar can take his game to the next level, it’s very possible the Kings could win the division. With the available cap space, I wouldn’t be surprised the Kings add one or two veterans to make a strong playoff run during the season.

3.) Anaheim Ducks

Rear-view Mirror: The Ducks missed the playoffs for the first time in five years. A huge disappointment for a team that was a game away from making the Western Conference Finals the year before. Jonas Hiller emerged as the number one goalkeeper when the Ducks traded away fan favorite and former Conn Smythe winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the Maple Leafs. Still he wasn’t as sharp as the year before and he had half as many shutouts (2) in 20 more games. In Scott Niedermayer’s swan song he showed that he still had it logging the 3rd most minutes per game in the league but he finished with his lowest +/- (-9) of his 18 year career.

Injuries also plagued the Ducks for most of the year. Ryan Getzlaf (19G-50A-69P) had various injuries at the beginning and end of the season and Teemu Selanne (27-21-48) broke his hand and then his jaw. Joffrey Lupul (10-4-14) started out the season playing in 23 games and fairly well until he had back problems that kept him out the rest of the season. Despite their injuries the Ducks managed to have the 5th best power play in the league, scoring on 21% of their chances.

Offseason Ins: Toni Lydman, Andy Sutton, Aaron Voros

Offseason Outs: James Wisniewski, Scott Niedermayer, Steve Eminger, Mike Brown

What Makes Them Tick: The re-signing of Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu (19-33-52) was a huge relief for the Ducks. Now if the Ducks can finally sign Bobby Ryan (35-29-64) and if Joffrey Lupul is healthy enough to play, the Ducks will be boast arguably the best top 6 forwards in the NHL. Even if Lupul can’t play the Ducks will still be loaded. The Getzlaf, Ryan and Corey Perry (27-49-76) line is one of the best in the league. There are also rumors of a reunion with former Duck and team captain Paul Kariya. But those rumors were squashed when Kariya announced he will need to sit out this season due to post-concussion syndrome. Hiller is still on of the top young goalies in the league. He had stretches where he just didn’t look that great last season. But as he has shown during the ouster of the Sharks in the 2009 playoffs and more recently with the Swiss Olympic team, Hiller is capable of raising his game to another level.

What Could Make Them Go Boom: Not signing Bobby Ryan would certainly be a huge blow but that’s unlikely to happen. Injuries and the defense were the downfall of the Ducks last season and it could very will be that way again. Keeping everyone healthy especially the 40 year old Selanne will be hard to do. GM Bob Murray decided to scrap the whole defense after Scott Niedermayer retired. It’s never easy for any team to lose a future hall of famer on defense two seasons in a row. The Ducks have now done that and are hoping the late season additions they made last year (Lubomir Visnovsky (15-30-45)) , coupled with the changes this offseason of Sutton and Lydman will yield them a competitive defense. The Ducks are always one of the most penalized teams in the league and last year was no exception. They racked up 16.1 PIM a game 3rd worst in the league. The Ducks faceoff winning percentage has been taking a tumble recently. They were 4th worst in the league at 48.1%.

Player to Watch: Ryan Getzlaf is an elite player who boasts a impressive resume. Among his accolades are All-Star appearances, Stanley Cup Champion, Olympic Gold medalist and World Juniors Gold medalist. However, he has yet to produce a 100 point season or more than 25 goals in a season. Now entering the prime of his career and his 6th full season, Getzlaf will be expected to step up his game and also his leadership role on the team. The team captaincy is currently vacant and Getzlaf, a current alternate captain, is the front runner to receive it. Other options include the only other former Ducks captain on the roster Teemu Selanne and current alternate captain and long time Canadiens captain Saku Koivu. If he stays healthy, this could very well be Getzlaf’s elite breakout year.

Prediction: The Ducks can easily go from a mid seeded playoff team to not making the playoffs at all. They will probably get in as the 7th or 8th seed. The forwards, especially the big guns, need to stay healthy, if they do that they will develop chemistry and score a lot of goals. On the back end Hiller needs to play better than he did last season. How the defense clicks will ultimately determine the fate of this team. Luca Sbisa, acquired in the Chris Pronger trade, will really need to develop into a top four defenseman in his first full season in the NHL. He played well for the Swiss Olympic team, this past Olympics, with teammate Hiller. Sbisa is also looking to score his first NHL goal. The addition of Sutton will give the Ducks a gritty defenseman who will hopefully rub off on the rest of the defenders. Sutton was 2nd in the league in blocked shots with 204 and 21st overall in hits with 197. Though the Ducks as a team are physical themselves, as they finished 7th in the league in hits with 2050. But they could certainly use the help with blocked shots, as they were the 2nd worst in the league with 943.

4.) Phoenix Coyotes

Rear-view Mirror: The Coyotes had what you would call a magical season last year. They started the season unsure of whether they would stay in Phoenix and as such played to mostly empty arenas. But by the end of the season, they had flirted with the Western Conference’s best record, made the playoffs for the first time since 2002, recorded their first ever 100+ point season and played to packed “white out” crowds. Despite losing to the Red Wings in seven games in the 1st round of the playoffs, Phoenix accomplished a lot as a team and proved that hockey could make it in the desert.

Ilya Bryzgalov (2.29 GAA, .920 SV%) finally became a household name with his breakout season. He was 2nd in the league in shutouts (8), 3rd in wins (42) and he received a Vezina nomination. He helped the Coyotes to the 3rd best team GAA (2.39) in the NHL.

The Coyotes were an offensively challenged team, ranking near the bottom in goals scored. Shane Doan (18G-37A-55P) lead the Coyotes in points. Only the Bruins had a team leader with less points and the Maple Leafs leader (Phil Kessel) also had 55 points. Radim Vrbata (24-19-43) lead the team in goals, the only player on the Coyotes to crack the 20 goal plateau. On the backend Ed Jovanovski (10-24-34) and Zbynek Michalek (3-14-17) formed a formidable defensive one two punch.

Offseason Ins: Ray Whitney, Andrew Ebbett, Kyle Wellwood

Offseason Outs: Zbynek Michalek, Matthew Lombardi, Daniel Winnik, Lee Stempniak

What Makes Them Tick: Not really having a go to guy on the team means that opponents can’t really zero in on any one player to disrupt the flow of the team. Everyone chips in with their blue collar approach. The Coyotes do well in the shootout, where they had the most wins of any team at 14 and one of the higher winning percentages. They are a well disciplined team coming in with the 7th least PIM a game with 11.3. They also had the 2nd least amount of giveaways with 420. Wojtek Wolski (23-42-65) will now move to the center position and anchor the top line with Doan and Ray Whitney (21-37-58). Of course Ilya Bryzgalov is their biggest strength. Look for him to have another phenomenal season.

What Could Make Them Go Boom: The Coyotes didn’t really add enough players to make themselves a stronger contender in a very tough western conference. The offensive struggles of the Coyotes will more than likely continue which is not something you can realistically get away with two years in a row. Last season the Coyotes had the 3rd worst power play in the league but they did have the 6th best penalty kill. The addition of 18 year veteran Whitney will help, provided he can still prove his has some gas left in the tank. Michalek and his 9th best 156 blocked shots are also gone.

Player to Watch: Wojtek Wolski was the big acquisition last year by the Coyotes who gave up Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter. At the time it seemed like a steal, with Mueller struggling to fit in the with the Coyotes. However, Mueller flourished in the few games he played with the Avalanche and nobody is quite sure what the young Porter will develop into. The pressure is now on Wolski to have his break out season, especially on an offensively challenged team. Last season he set career highs in goals (23), assists (42) and points (65). Look for him to push towards a 30 goal 80 point season.

Prediction: It’s hard to imagine the Coyotes duplicating last years success. Teams will now take them as more of a threat. Key players like Doan and Jovanovski are now each a year older. The loss of Michalek will hurt the Coyotes without anyone really brought in to take his place. Still if any team can make it work and make a run for the playoffs the Coyotes could. Last year at this time things looked even bleaker for them. Kyle Turris the 3rd overall pick in the 2007 draft should see even more playing time this year. He is still low on the depth chart currently but could creep up fast. The Coyotes are also bullish on 8th overall pick of the 2008 draft Mikkel Boedker who only played in 14 games last season. How well these young guns can be integrated into the Coyotes, will determine their playoff fate.

5.) Dallas Stars:

Rear-view Mirror: After five consecutive seasons of making the playoffs, the Stars are currently on a two season streak of not making them. After an injury plagued year, Brad Richards (24G-67A-91P) played his first full season in a Stars jersey and lead them in assists and points. Defenseman Stephane Robidas (10-31-41) continued his exceptional level of play. He was 7th in the league in blocked shots (177) and 4th in the league in hits (269) but 1st overall for defensemen. Loui Eriksson (29-42-71) led the Stars in goals and was 2nd in points.

Marty Turco’s GAA (2.72) and SO (4) were pretty average but he had his best SV% (.913) since 2004. The Stars actually finished last in the Pacific Division for the first time since the NHL switched to the the three division format in the 1998-99 season.

Offseason Ins: Andrew Raycroft, Adam Burish, Brad Lukowich

Offseason Outs: Mike Modano, Marty Turco

What Makes Them Tick: The Stars are a very physical and great checking team. The lead the NHL in hits last season with 2338. Loui Eriksson is just coming into his prime and he should be able to produce another 30+ goal season. Paired with a healthy Brad Richards and gritty veteran and team captain Brenden Morrow (20-26-46) they make a formidable 1st line. The Stars have a lot of free cap space, so they should be in the market to make other improvements. Defenseman Mark Fistric (1-9-10) finished 4th in the league in +/- with a + 27.

What Could Make Them Go Boom: Kari Lehtonen is so far penciled in to be the starting goalie. Lehtonen is now entering his 7th season in the NHL and while he has played well, it’s nothing exceptional that you would want in your number one goalie in this day and age. So while he is not a bad option, he is probably only temporary anyway. The Stars have a few young goalie prospects that could come up this season or next. They include 2006 pick Richard Bachman, 2008 pick Tyler Beskorowany and the 11th pick overall in the 2010 draft Jack Campbell. Despite their physical nature of style, the Stars ended up with the 4th worst penalty kill. Like the Ducks, the Stars also struggle with faceoffs coming in at the 5th worst with 48.1%

Player to Watch: Jamie Benn was a relative unknown last season taken in the 5th round of the 2007 draft. However he was a standout player for the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL and was named to the all-star first team his last year there. He also helped Team Canada win a Gold at the 2009 World Junior Championships. Benn found a home on the 2nd line with the Stars in his first NHL season. He produced 22 goals and 19 assists for 41 points and 3 game winning goals tied for 3rd on the team. Look for more out of Benn in his 2nd season. He has the potential to be a consistent 30+ goal scorer.

Prediction: It’s a transition season for Dallas as the team shed two veterans (Turco, Modano) who most identified as the faces of the franchise. Playing in a fairly strong division it is not likely the Stars will make the playoffs and they seem destined for last place for the 2nd year in a row. However the Stars didn’t miss the last playoff spot by much, like a lot of teams out West. They still boast two impressive scoring lines and one of the top defenseman in the league in Robidas. The team certainly is not an easy win especially in Dallas. If Lehtonen or one of the young prospects can perform well in goal, anything is possible.

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

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

The 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champions

Chicago Blackhawks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Biggest Surprises/Best of the Year

Teams

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

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

Best Game 7

Washington Capitals vs. Montreal Canadiens

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

Best Series

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

Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings

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

Detroit Red Wings vs. Phoenix Coyotes

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

Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers

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

Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

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

Biggest Disappointments/Worst of the Year

Teams

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

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

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

Worst Game 7

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens

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

Worst Series

Chicago Blackhawks vs. San Jose Sharks

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

Miscellaneous

Can only happen in hockey

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

You’ve got to be kidding me

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

Iron Man Award

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

Team on the Rise

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

The comeback that never was

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

Breakout of the year

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

Rookie of the Year (Calder Trohpy)

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

Goalie of the Year (Vezina Trophy)

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

Player of the Year (Hart Trophy)

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

Vote for the best of the season

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

Fight of the Season

Cam Janssen vs. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond

David Koci vs. Brian McGrattan

Rick Rypien vs. Cam Janssen

Goat of the Season

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

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

Keith Ballard taking out his own unsuspecting goalie

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

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

As for the two game sevens we did get, I didn’t care for the Coyotes vs. Red Wings. I guess the Coyotes, despite being at home, never really had a chance especially without Shane Doan. They just couldn’t get any offense going despite Bryzgalov’s best efforts. In the end an amazing journey for the Phoenix Coyotes and their season has come to an end. As for the other game…

I have to say I’m a little stunned at the outcome of the Capitals vs. Canadiens series. Now the Capitals have underachieved before and have had problems closing out opponents in other series but this was a little different. They played really well all season except for down the stretch when they had nothing to play for. It may have hurt them because they probably got a little too used to playing for nothing. The Canadiens were just lucky to be in the playoffs. Varlamov played well and probably played a lot better than most people thought he would. Unfortunately he didn’t get much offensive or defensive help at certain times. The real story was Jaroslav Halak pulling his best Patrick Roy circa 1986 impression. Halak faced 134 shots in the final three games and he only allowed three goals. This equates to a mind numbing .977 SV%. Ovechkin’s disappointing year continues. No league leading goals or points trophy, no gold medal or any medal and now no Stanley Cup. The great number eight will defiantly have better seasons ahead. Regardless of the outcome the last five minutes of the game were phenomenal. A truly remarkable first round and one of the best first rounds I can remember. Of course this could also be attributed to the fact that I saw basically all the games since I watched them all online. I didn’t have to just watch whatever limited games were broadcasted on TV. One thing that bothered me was on the Fox Sports Red Wings and Predators broadcasts, both of them mentioned Pittsburgh as the 5^th seed. No, they are the 4^th seed how hard is it to look that up? Also the announcing team on the Predators broadcasts sure don’t look like hockey announcers, not that you have a certain look per say but you can defiantly tell they are from the south.

The young teams in the West with little to no playoff experience (Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes) all made great strides this year. Prolonging a series to six or seven games against more playoff savvy teams is a great accomplishment. All should be a force to reckon in next year’s playoff. I particularly like the Kings upside assuming Jonathon Quick continues to develop into the top goalie he is projected to become.

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens

Season Series: split 3-1 Penguins

Playoff History: 1-0 Canadiens. The only time they met was in 1998 in the 1^st round. Sidney Crosby was ten then.

Star to Watch: Sidney Crosby to see if he can continue his epic scoring pace against the hottest goalie around in Jaroslav Halak.

X-Factor: Michael Cammalleri came on strong against the Capitals and he leads the team with 10 points. He single handedly beat the Caps in game six. The Canadiens will need him to continue to produce if they are to pull off another shocker.

Goalie Problem: Well Halak is not a problem so that leaves Fleury in the hot seat. Fleury’s current SV% is .890 but he usually comes up big when necessary. He will need to come up a big a little more often if Halak is able to stymie Pittsburgh’s big guns.

Fun Fact: Since the 1994 playoff format switch, only nine 8^th seeds have beaten the 1^st seed out of 32 possible tries, the Canadiens being the ninth.

Prediction: Well I said the Capitals would sweep the Candiens, oops though I should have written five or six games I never would have thought Candiens in seven. I’m going to have to go with Penguins in six just because there isn’t much difference with this Penguins team and the two that made the Finals.

6 Boston Bruins vs. 7 Philadelphia Flyers

Season Series: 2-2 split

Playoff History: 2-2 split. Not since 1978 have these two met in the post season. Starting in 1974 they met in four of the five following post seasons.

Star to Watch: Mike Richards because with Jeff Carter out this is Richards’ team. Richards has played well so far, as he is 8^th in scoring and leads the Flyers in scoring this post season. He will have to kick it up a notch to best Rask and advance the Flyers to the next round.

X-Factor: Can Satan continue to dominate? Miroslav Satan delivered game winners in Game 4 and Game 6 and his patented Satan Shuffle. In fact those were the only two goals he scored. The magic of Satan, the Bruins hope he has a little left in him.

Goalie Problem: The Bruins never had a problem in net and considering they usurped the best goalie this season in Ryan Miller I say they’re doing good. Boucher has become the top goalie with Halak this postseason, so none for the Flyers either.

Fun Fact: In the two post seasons the Bruins beat the Flyers in the 2^nd round and then they lost in the conference finals to the Canadiens. That could happen again this year and wouldn’t it be something if it did?

Prediction: Well this is a really tough one to call. I could never have envisioned this pairing and I’m sure the Bruins never envisioned a scenario that they would get home ice in. While the Bruins have found a little scoring depth and Rask is playing well, I think the Flyers are the more complete team. They are built for the playoffs. Unless of course Boucher returns to normal, then advantage Bruins if not Flyers in six.

1 San Jose Sharks vs. 4 Detroit Red Wings

Season Series: 3-1 Red Wings

Playoff History: 2-1 Red Wings. The last two times the teams met in the 2^nd round and the Wings won both. The most recent meeting was in 2007.

Star to Watch: Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. I wrote about Marleau in last round’s preview about how he always disappears in the playoffs, well he hasn’t been found yet. Thornton has also joined him and he has no goals in six games, yikes. Both of them will need to bring their A game to have a chance at beating the Red Wings.

X-Factor: The Sharks made it out of the 1^st round, hooray. However their real problem is getting out of the 2^nd round as before their ouster in the 1^st round last year, they couldn’t get past the 2^nd round in the three post seasons following their Conference Finals lost in 2004. Now is when the true test for the Sharks begins.

Goalie Problem: Evgeni Nabokov played alright in the 1^st round but he also wasn’t tested. He faced the least amount of shots of the twelve goalies who played six games. Howard is a rookie so he is just gaining experience. The game seven Coyotes win was huge for him. Still his game is not complete and the Sharks should be able to pepper him with enough shots and exploit his game. Let’s face it Jimmy Howard is not Craig Anderson circa this year or Jonas Hiller circa last year and the Sharks will be much relieved of this.

Fun Fact: The Red Wings don’t lose in the 2^nd round very often. In the past 18 post seasons they have only done so four times. The Sharks on the other hand have lost in the 2^nd round 7 of 12 times.

Prediction: Well I’m hoping for San Jose but also I think they are the better team. Detroit struggled to make the playoffs until the last month and they struggled at times to beat the Coyotes. I think the Sharks have finally put it all together, let’s face it they have had plenty of time to, Sharks in seven.

2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. 3 Vancouver Canucks

Season Series: Split 2-2

Playoff History: 2-1 Blackhawks. The last two times they met in the conference semifinals and the Blackhawks won both of them. The most recent meeting was of course last year when Luongo gave up seven goals in the decisive game six.

Star to Watch: The Twinkie twins I mean the Sedin twins, thanks Panger. Neither has averaged over a point a game in any post season. They both currently are and they will need to continue to in order to beat the upper crust Western Conference teams.

X-Factor: Dustin Byfuglien hasn’t done much of anything yet. He has no points so far and even more surprising he has only two penalty minutes. Last year he was tied for 3^rd in PIM in the playoffs. Granted he has been playing out of position as a defenseman but he is moving back to forward in this series. He will need to get involved in the game more if he is to provide that pesky spark that he did so well in providing last year.

Goalie Problem: Roberto Luongo and Antti Niemi are very similar in that sometimes they have great games and other times you’re left scratching your head. Luongo has more of an upside but Niemi had way better numbers in the 1^st round, though numbers aren’t everything. If Luongo plays like he did in game six against the Kings advantage Canucks.

Fun Fact: These two teams were the 2^nd (Vancouver) and 3^rd (Chicago) highest scoring teams in the regular season. Chicago had the most shots on goal and the 10^th highest shooting percentage. Vancouver had the 10^th most shots on goal and the 2^nd highest shooting percentage.

Prediction: Both teams looked beatable in the 1^st round but I don’t think Chicago has peaked yet, while I think Vancouver has. I also don’t think Luongo can play consistently well the whole series. Chicago in seven.

Goat of the Week

Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators

Poor Pekka he played his heart out and almost helped the Predators upset the Blackhawks. Alas it was not to be and his gaffe in the sixth game sealed that fate. Many Blackhawks say he played the puck correctly, as a former goalie I say no he did not. He reacted way too early to a puck that was far away. Even if the puck did what he thought it was going to do, he would have had plenty of time to play it.

Mathieu Schneider – Phoenix Coyotes

It wasn’t the greatest pass from Lee Stempniak but Schneider’s poor handling of the pass coupled with Brad Stuart leaving the penalty box at around the same time, led to the goal that essentially broke the Coyotes back.

Numbers, Numbers

1 – of 33 on the power play for the Washington Capitals the top scoring team for a PP% of 3

0 – of 19 on the power play for the Buffalo Sabres

10 – of 26 on the power play for the Los Angeles Kings for a PP% of 38.5 tops in the post season

.940 – Brian Boucher’s SV% in six playoff games started

.939 – Jaroslav Halak’s SV% in six playoff games started

2.33 – Sidney Crosby’s PPG in the playoffs

1.83 – Mikael Samuelsson PPG in the playoffs the next closet player

This Week in Hockey History

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

April 22, 1993 Yuri Khmylev scored twice, including a power play goal at 1:05 of overtime, and added an assist to lead the Sabres to a 4-3 playoff win over the Bruins at the Aud. Buffalo took a 3-0 lead in the Adams Division Semi-Final series.

April 23, 1991 Pittsburgh’s Kevin Stevens became just the third player in NHL history to get three straight game winning goals in one playoff series, in a 3-1 win at Washington, in Game 4 of the Patrick Division Finals. Mark Recchi added a goal and two assists.

April 24, 1994 Gary Suter scored a hat trick and Jeremy Roenick scored the winning goal at 1:23 of overtime and added three assists to lead the Blackhawks to a 4-3 win over Toronto in Chicago, in Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

April 25, 1994 Claude Lemieux scored twice and added two assists to lead the Devils to a 5-3 win over the Sabres in New Jersey, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals. New Jersey took a 3-2 lead in the series.

April 26, 1997 Rod Brind’Amour scored two shorthanded goals within a span of :54 (to tie an NHL record for most SHG in one game) and added an assist in the Flyers 6-3 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conf. Quarter-Finals.

April 27, 1992 Rookie goalie Tom Draper recorded his only career playoff shutout, and Petr Svoboda picked up two assists as the Sabres won 2-0, at Boston in Game 5 of their Adams Division Semi-Finals series.

April 28, 1984 Minnesota and Edmonton combined to set a Stanley Cup playoff record for most power play goals in one game, with seven. North Stars had four and Oilers had three as Edmonton won 8-5, in Game 3 of the Campbell Conference Finals.

Rankings

Based on the likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup

1. Chicago

2. Vancouver

3. Pittsburgh

4. San Jose

5. Detroit

6. Philadelphia

7. Boston

8. Montreal

So far I haven’t cared for the NHL’s scheduling. You have five games some days and three other days. It should just be four and four. Second and most annoying are the times the NHL has two games start at 7pm ET, why? Keep them stacked at 7pm then 7:30pm so that when the first is over you can still watch half of the 3^rd period. As opposed to when the first 7pm game is over you turned to the other 7pm game and watch the final minute, wow one minute so awesome. (note sarcasm)

So I think I’ll try a new recap column format for the playoffs that incorporates some of the old format. I didn’t have time to do as many numbers as I would like to have.

1 Washington Capitals vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens

What we learned: The Capitals defensive problems are actually much worse than anticipated.

Things I Like: Niklas Backstrom is really having a break-out playoffs. Thomas Plekanac or Thomas Jagr, as per his new nickname, is really having a great series. This comes as no surprise as he has been the best player all year for them. I liked how Ovechkin rebounded from his Game 1 disaster. Everyone has bad games, even stars, it’s how you rebound from them that matters. I love the Montreal arena atmosphere, just awesome. There is nothing like hockey in Canada.

Things I Don’t: Alexander Semin, who I mentioned needed to have a big few series, is not having a break-out playoffs. He literally has done nothing having zero points. However you can’t say he isn’t trying as he has 16 shots which is leading the capitals. Defense on some of the goals that the Capitals have given up has just been atrocious. We knew that their Defense wasn’t their strongest point but if they expect to beat more complete teams in subsequent rounds it needs to be at least adequate.

Likely Winner: Capitals

0 – Saves made by Jose Theodore on two shots

0 – Points and shots by Alex Ovechkin in the 1^st game

0 – Points thus far by Alexander Semin

2 New Jersey Devils vs. 7 Philadelphia Flyers

What we learned: The Devils are becoming the new Sharks.

Things I like: I don’t think anyone would have though Brian Boucher would play as well as he has so far, even Brian Boucher. If he keeps it up the Flyers might not need Emery or anyone else to come back.

Things I don’t: There was a call in Game 2, I believe, that led to a Flyers goal that should not have been a penalty. The Devils defenseman knocked the Flyer down but he did so after making contact with the puck first. Sometimes I wish there was instant replay for penalties too. The Devils are now down 3-1 and barring some sort of miracle are now toast. If they lose one more game this will be the 3^rd year in a row they will not have gotten out of the 1^st round as a high seed. This is not what Kovalchuk was acquired for. Martin Brodeur’s play is declining a little bit and he isn’t getting any younger. I smell problems in New Jersey and it’s not the garden state. The only good thing about the Devils going down in the 1^st round is that it should pave the way for the Capitals vs. Penguins Conference Final we all wanted.

Likely Winner: Flyers

.886% – Brodeur’s save percentage

3 Buffalo Sabres vs. 6 Boston Bruins

What we learned: That neither one of these teams are that great.

Things I like: Miller has so far played fairly well but he is being outplayed by Tuukka Rask who is making sure Tim Thomas won’t get to play. This was the battle of goalie play series and thus far it has lived up to its billing.

Things I don’t: We knew the Bruins had problems scoring goals but the Sabres seem to have more problems. It’s weird because towards the end of the Season Buffalo was scoring pretty well but so far nobody on the team has more than two points.

Likely Winner: Bruins

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Ottawa Senators

What we learned: Love him or hate him Sidney Crosby is the man. Also someone on the Ottawa bench can’t count.

Things I like: Sidney Crosby owned game 2 in a must win game for the Penguins. All the key plays in the game involved him. He had the first goal, an amazing sliding save on a puck going near the goal line and he set up the GWG with some awesome work behind the net before he passed the puck on one knee. He has been electric since that game.

Things I don’t: Ottawa has had three too many men on the ice penalties. One is bad, two is really bad and three is just ridiculous. In the playoffs it’s just embarrassing. I didn’t care for Andy Sutton’s hit on Jordan Leopold. They said it wasn’t dirty but Leopold had his head down and couldn’t see and Sutton made contact with his head. Considering how long he lay on the ice, I think Sutton should have gotten something. Brian Elliott seems to have no chance. Poor guy, he played fairly well in the regular season. In his defense Pascal LeClaire didn’t fare much better.

Likely Winner: Penguins

11 – Points by Sidney Crosby in four games, the league leader

1 San Jose Sharks vs. 8 Colorado Avalanche

What we learned: The Sharks are cursed, no seriously they are, and also Craig Anderson is quite a goalie.

Thing I like: I really think Craig Anderson is the round 1 breakout star. So far he has been phenomenal and he has already helped to steal some games for the Avs. Whether he can steal the series outright like Hiller did for the Ducks last year remains to be seen. I love the fact that 3 of the 4 games have gone to overtime, I do wish some of them would be a little longer though.

Things I don’t: I didn’t care for the Adam Foote penalty in overtime in game 2. Sure it was a penalty but it really had no effect on the outcome of the play, so it shouldn’t have been called. In the playoffs in overtime I want to see them play without whistles. Only major penalties that really affect the game should be called. The Avalanche are not a consistent bunch. They had almost no shots on goal in games two and three but they shot fine in games one and four. I really think if the Sharks lose this series they need to just rebuild the whole team. If they win regardless of how far they go, they need to find a new goalie because Nabokov is just not cutting it in the playoffs.

103 – Combined shots by San Jose in games 2 and 3

39 – Combined shots by Colorado in games 2 and 3

174 – total shots faced by Craig Anderson, yikes

Likely Winner: San Jose, barely

2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. 7 Nashville Predators

What we learned: The Blackhawks sure hit a lot of crossbars and posts. As for the Predators well.. they’re like the Blue Jackets why do they exist? Sorry Predator and Blue Jacket fans it’s just the name and the city it’s just all wrong.

Things I like: The Blackhawks goaltending receives a lot of flack but so far Anti Niemi has played pretty well. He has given up a couple of bad goals but otherwise it’s been all good and he even has a shutout. Unfortunately he isn’t getting much help. Pekka Rinne has so far been sensational, which also doesn’t help Niemi.

Things I don’t: The Blackhawks really haven’t played all that well and I’m not really sure what the problem is. The definitely need to work on their accuracy with all the pings they have gotten at the end of the season and thus far in the 1^st round. Considering the progress they made last post season and the addition of Hossa losing in the 1^st round would be a huge step backwards for them. It would also help if the captain Jonathan Toews would show up.

Likely Winner: I still think Chicago can pull it out

.953% – Save percentage of Pekka Rinne, the league leader

3 Vancouver Canucks vs. 6 Los Angeles Kings

What we learned: If you thought the Gold medal was what Luongo needed to get over the hump, well it wasn’t.

Things I like: Drew Doughty is the man. Despite that fact that he is only 21 and he leads the Kings in postseason scoring as a defenseman what really makes him awesome are his defensive skills. He’s had many phenomenal plays including breaking up a Sedin twins two on one. Overall this has been an exciting series and the Los Angeles crowds are into the games.

Things I don’t: Luongo and Nabokov seem to have the same problem of not showing up in the playoffs. If Luongo can’t pull it together it doesn’t look good for the Canucks. The Sedin Game 3 kicked goal should have been a goal. It was not a direct kicking motion. It’s possible his plan was to stop there to force the puck in but I highly doubt it. Good news was it didn’t matter because they lost by two goals.

Likely Winner: Kings

4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. 5 Detroit Red Wings

What we learned: Shane Doan can get really pumped when he scores a goal, I just loved his enthusiasm.

Things I like: Despite how high the Coyotes finished I still had my doubts with how they would fare in the postseason especially opening against the Red Wings. But they played exceptionally well and some of the up and down play by both teams in certain stretches was unreal. I dug the crowd in Phoenix in the first two games they were very loud and it’s nice they finally came out to support their team. It should be rocking for Game 5.

Things I don’t: There isn’t much to fault except the goalies might want to practice defending breakaways a little more.

Likely Winner: too close to call

Goat of the Week

Dan Boyle – San Jose Sharks

Well I’m sure you’ve all seen this a billion times by now, but hey let’s see it again.

I have to admit I laughed when this happened. All I could think was typical Sharks luck, I mean what are the odds that this would happen to anyone else but them in the playoffs? I can’t tell if O’Reilly actually tipped the puck or not.

T.J Galiardi – Colorado Avalanche

Another gaffe that happened in Game 3 was T.J Galiardi’s breakaway, which was by far the worst breakaway I have ever seen. All he did was stickhandle the entire time until he ran out of ice and ran into Nabokov. Shoot the puck T.J you can’t score if you don’t shoot. Unless he thought Nabokov would fall asleep because of sheer boredom. If he would have connected, he would have spared Dan Boyle.

This Week in Hockey History

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

April 15, 1975 Vancouver Canucks recorded their first-ever playoff win, 2-1 at Montreal to even their series at one game apiece in Game 2 of the Quarter-Finals. Garry Monahan tallied the first playoff game-winner for Vancouver, while Bob Dailey had two assists.

April 16, 1987 Ken Wregget recorded his second career playoff shutout to lead the Maple Leafs to a 4-0 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues, in Game 6 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals. With the win, Toronto advanced to the Division Finals vs Detroit.

April 17, 1969 Gerry Cheevers became the first goaltender in playoff history to get 3 straight shutouts at home, and Phil Esposito scored twice and added 3 assists, in the Bruins’ 5-0 win against the visiting Montreal Canadiens, in Game Three of the Semi-Finals.

April 18, 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins won 6-3 over the Devils at the Civic Arena to tie an NHL record with their 12th consecutive playoff victory. The record was set in 1984-85 by the Edmonton Oilers. Mario Lemieux scored two goals and two assists.

April 19, 1982 Denis Savard scored a hat trick to lead the Black Hawks to a 7-4 playoff win over St. Louis, in Game 4 of the Norris Division Finals at Chicago Stadium.

April 20, 1994 Chris Osgood became the fifth rookie goalie in NHL history to record a shutout in his first career playoff game, when he led the Red Wings to a 4-0 win over the Sharks, in Game Two of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals, in Detroit.

1 Washington Capitals vs. 8 Montreal Canadiens

Season Series: split 2-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

2 New Jersey Devils vs. 7 Philadelphia Flyers

Season Series: 5-1 Flyers

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Buffalo Sabres vs. 6 Boston Bruins

Season Series: Boston 4-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Ottawa Senators

Season Series: split 2-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 San Jose Sharks vs. 8 Colorado Avalanche

Season Series: split 2-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. 7 Nashville Predators

Season Series: Chicago 4-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Vancouver Canucks vs. 6 Los Angeles Kings

Season Series: Vancouver 3-1

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. 5 Detroit Red Wings

Season Series: split 2-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fights of the Week

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

Matt Cooke vs. Evander Kane

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

Trevor Gillies vs. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond

A decent back and forth fight with a weird start.

Micheal Haley vs. Rod Pelley

A decent back and forth fight with some good punches.

Goat of the Week

Marc Staal – New York Rangers

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

Things I like

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

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

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

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

Things I don’t

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

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

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

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

Stat Line of the Week

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

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

Did You Know?

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

This Week in Hockey History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rankings

Based on the likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup

Top 5

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

Bottom 5

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

East (Least)

1.        z-Washington             80        118     +83

2.        x-New Jersey             79        99        +25

3.        y-Buffalo                     79        98        +28

4.        x-Pittsburgh                79        97        +16

5.        x-Ottawa                     80        93        -9

6.        Montreal                     80        87        -2

7.        Philadelphia               80        86        +11

8.        Boston                        79        85        +1

West (Beast)

1.        y-San Jose                 80        109     +46

2.        y-Chicago                  79        107     +59

3.        y-Vancouver               80        101     +48

4.        x-Phoenix                   79        102     +20

5.        x-Nashville                  80        98        +2

6.        x-Los Angeles           79        97        +23

7.        x-Detroit                     79        96        +10

8.        x-Colorado                 79        93        +16

I won’t do match-ups this week since we still have a week to go but some things jump out at me.

Not that GA/GF is the, be all end all of everything but I think it’s an important stat. In the West you can pretty much see who the weakest link is, Nashville. I can’t imagine them getting past the 1^st round, everybody else will be tough and it’s totally up for grabs. If you go by the +25 cut off point, if you don’t know what I’m talking about read last weeks column, it’s still just San Jose, Chicago, and Vancouver. Los Angeles has a shot to make the cut-off point mostly thanks to the +5 they had on Bobby Lu (more on him below) and the Canucks. If you would have told me that Phoenix would make the playoffs at the start of the season I wouldn’t have believed you. If you would have told me they would get over 100 points, I would have laughed in your face for 30 minutes. But here we are. Colorado ended up around where I thought they would. I thought Los Angeles was a year away from making the playoffs but here they are anyway.

In the East I think it’s telling how bad the conference is when the 9^th place Western team would be in 6^th place in the East and probably hold the advantage. Not to mention the 5^th place Senators have a -9. In the East it’s the same three teams over +25, Washington, Buffalo and New Jersey. Even though Pittsburgh will probably finish in 4^th like last year, New Jersey has the tiebreaker; I think it’s safe to say they lost their mojo. Of course Malkin has only played in two of the past ten games and he is a huge part of what makes that team go. The most interesting thing about the East is if there are no upsets, which doesn’t seem likely but isn’t there always at least one, and the top 4 stay as they are Pittsburgh would meet Washington in the 2^nd round, again, despite the NHL’s wishes. I’d have to admit I was hoping they would meet in the conference finals this year as well. Washington seems to have Pittsburgh’s number too. It would also setup a 2^nd round of Miller vs. Brodeur and won’t that be fun. This would be a rematch of the Team USA vs. Team Canada gold medal game goalies… o wait nevermind.

Fights of the Week

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

Darcy Hordichuk vs. George Parros

The 4^th fight this season and 10^th overall between these two. Short but lots of good punched and probably one of the better Parros fights.

Jason Strudwick vs. Brian Sutherby

Good rights by Strudwick and good lefts by Sutherby. It’s a shame it didn’t last longer.

Goat of the Week

Roberto Luongo – Vancouver Canucks

Roberto Luongo had what some may say a bad night at the office when he gave up eight goals against the Kings. Some were fairly bad but the eighth goal pretty much summed up his night. It probably had him longing for the day when he received his gold medal. Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault on why he didn’t pull Luongo, “I’ve got a plan, and I’m going to stick to the plan.” Translation: Luongo sucking wasn’t part of the plan.

And because we love Luongo so much, here’s another one from against the Avalanche. He tried to cover with his blocker hand, don’t you see the problem with that already, and butted it in with his stick. Not sure if it was over the line yet but while he was busy not covering the puck the Avalanche stormed and knocked it in.

Things I like

1. Jaroslav Halak started to heat up in March which included, among other things, a six game win streak. Now he has boiled over and recorded two straight shutouts in crucial games for Montreal’s playoffs chances. Perhaps this will finally put an end to the misery that is the Carey Price experiment in Montreal. Not to totally rag on Price but he’s had a rough go of it in Montreal. especially with the media. I think he’s someone who would benefit from a change in scenery.

2.  A home and home series of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. the New York Rangers in the final two games of the regular season. Talk about scheduling prowess but I like that the teams competing for a spot have to face each other. That’s the way it should be, although I realize it rarely happens. Of course since the Rangers just lost to Buffalo, it doesn’t really matter anymore. O well.

3. Since being inserted as the starting goalie since Huet melted down, Antti Niemi has played well enough to justify being a starter in his own right and not just simply the lesser of two evils option. In the past four games he has only allowed four goals.

4. I just love the points race between Henrik Sedin and Alex Ovechkin. Ditto the goals race between Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos. I also loved Ovie’s empty net goal with about one second left in the game against the Penguins, just priceless.

Things I don’t

1. Hey buddy can I buy a goal? That’s what Boston Bruin players and fans must be saying. They have now dropped into the lowest scoring team in the NHL. Hard to imagine they were the 2^nd highest scoring team last year. I wonder if they regret trading Phil Kessel, no wait I know the answer to that. Amazingly they did score five on Calgary the other week and four on Atlanta. They have now mustered up five goals in their last four games.

2. The plucky Atlanta Thrashers had their luck finally run out. With the Rangers winning and the Thrashers only able to muster up three points in the last five games their run for the playoffs has come to an end. Hard to root against a team who seems to shed one superstar a season but then you realize they play in Atlanta and have the second lowest attendance on top of only Phoenix, who has their attendance problems well documented, so then you don’t feel too bad.

Stat Line of the Week

04/03/10 Vancouver 5 vs. Anaheim 4

In his first NHL season the former 1^st round pick Michael “Grabby” Grabner had his first career hat trick. Not to shabby in only twelve minutes of play. He should be one to watch next year in what will likely be an increased role.

Did You Know?

That the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks have never made the playoffs in the same season. Sadly that is the case this year as the Ducks won’t make the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04 or the lockout year if you want to be technical, though nobody made it then. They have both missed it in the same season though.

Numbers, Numbers

13 – Number of 25 goal seasons for Teemu Selanne

801 – Number of career assists for the 39 year old Mike Modano

4 – Number of goals in 54 games for Peter Mueller with the Phoenix Coyotes

9 – Number of goals in 15 games for Peter Mueller with the Colorado Avalanche

0 – Number of wins by the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins over the Washington capitals this season in four games

600 – Number of wins by Martin Brodeur, win 600 was a shutout fittingly

This Week in Hockey History

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

April 01, 1990 Luc Robitaille scored his 100th point of the season (for the second time in his career), as the Kings lost 8-4 to the Flames at Calgary.

April 02, 1927 New York Rangers’ Lorne Chabot became the first rookie goalie in NHL history to get a shutout in his first playoff game, when he and Bruins’ Hal Winkler traded shutouts in a scoreless tie, in Game One of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals.

April 03, 1966 In the final game of the 1965-66 season, Chicago’s Bobby Hull picked up an assist (during a 4-2 loss at Boston) to give him 97 points, the most ever by a player in one season. Hull broke Dickie Moore’s NHL record of 96 points set in 1958-59.

April 04, 1976 Chicago’s Tony Esposito became the first goaltender in NHL history to record 30 (or more) wins for seven straight seasons, when the Blackhawks had a 7-2 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues.

April 05, 1995 Montreal Canadiens obtained Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov from the New York Islanders, in exchange for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby.

April 06, 1974 Rookie Denis Potvin scored a goal and three assists in the final game of the season, to give him NHL records for most goals (17), assists (54), and points (71) by a rookie defenseman. Islanders won 4-2 over the Minnesota North Stars in New York.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Detroit
2. Nashville
3. Washington
4. Anaheim
5. Buffalo

Bottom 5

30. Tampa Bay
29. Florida
28. Colorado
27. Minnesota
26. Philadelphia

Anaheim Ducks Watch

In the last five games, up until the last kings game, the Ducks have garnered nine points, only one short of the maximum possible. Not to shabby especially when you consider they are doing it without Ryan Getzlaf and Jonas Hiller.

Anaheim played Colorado at Colorado in a game they must have otherwise they would pretty much be out of it. They delivered especially the Selanne, Blake, Koivu line. This was the first game the line played exceptionally well and the start of their current streak. In fact Selanne, Koivu with Niedermayer and Eminger all had +5 for the game. Blake had a +4. Selanne had a goal number 601 in which he tied his boyhood idol and fellow Fin Jari Kurri.

Next was Vancouver at home in a rematch of a game where the Ducks didn’t really show up in Vancouver the week before. Ever hear of Michael Grabner? Well I haven’t but the Canucks felt highly enough of him to draft him 14^th overall in the 2006 draft. He showed why as he recorded his 1^st career hat trick. This was a highly entertaining game. For the Ducks Selanne and Koivu each recorded two clutch goals a piece. Selanne’s goals came on the power-play as he officially passed Kurri on the goals list. Koivu’s second goal came on the power-play with the goalie pulled and tied the game in the final two minutes to force overtime. Overtime was just as exciting as the regular game but no one scored. In overtime and towards the end of the 3^rd period there were some questionable no calls on both sides. I like that they let them play though and they were somewhat consistent with the officiating. In the shootout Mr. Reliable Selanne was not reliable and even though Curtis McElhinney was great in the game he was not very good in the shootout. Canucks win in the shutout but the Ducks get that all important point.

Next were the Kings in a “road” game in Los Angeles. The Kings got a weird bounce goal to take a 1-0 lead at the end of the 1^st. Lots of chances the rest of the game in another entertaining game. This game also had some questionable no calls. Nobody scored gain to the end of the 3^rd until Koivu ties the game in the final two minutes with a power-play goal with the goalie pulled. Hmm… where have I seen that before? Koivu’s new nickname is Mr. Clutch. In the shootout McElhinney was much better than he was in the shootout against the Canucks. Nobody scored in the shootout except for, guess who, Saku Koivu.

Next was another game against Los Angeles this time at home. The Ducks tried to keep their playoff hopes alive and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Selanne scored two goals and Bobby Ryan finally snapped his eight game goalless drought. Ryan did it off a Vancouver miscue into a wide open net. But alas the Kings stormed back and forced overtime. The Ducks needed to win the shootout to stay alive but since the Avalanche beat the Canucks in their own shootout right before it didn’t really matter. It’s just as well since Los Angeles ended up beating the Ducks in the shootout anyway.

Anaheim started to put it all together these last few weeks but it was too late in the end. I was most impressed with how hot Selanne and Koivu were these past few weeks. But of course that is what was envisioned when they were put together at the beginning of the year but it never materialized. That coupled with injuries (Getzlaf, Selanne, Wisniewski, Lupul), Hiller starting slow and Whitney not really fitting in doomed the Ducks. Visnovsky ended up fitting in really well after the trade but again something that didn’t happened until it was too late. If Niedermayer and Selanne come back next year I think this will be a dangerous team if they stay healthy, since most of the chemistry issues have been worked out.

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.

Goalie Spotlight

Brian Elliott – Ottawa Senators

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 9^th round by Ottawa in the 2003 draft as the 291^st 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.

Erik Johnson vs. Jamie Benn

Johnson was holding his own until Benn just decks him.

Jared Boll vs. Brad Staubitz

Starts off slow but a pretty decent fight, Staubitz had the better punches.

Goats of the Week

Jonathon Quick – Los Angeles Kings

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.

Michael Ryder – Boston Bruins

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

Former 1^st 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 24^th 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 19^th 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 2^nd 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, 1991 Pittsburgh 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, 2002 Teemu 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 6^th 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 8^th 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 3^rd. 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.

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

Goalie Spotlight

Tomas Vokoun – Florida Panthers

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

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

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

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

Fights of the Week

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

Rick Rypien vs. Chris Neil

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

Tanner Glass vs. Matt Carkner

Carkner makes Glass his punching bag.

Dominic Moore vs. Zach Bogosian

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

Jody Shelley vs. Colton Orr

Shelley knocks out Orr with his 2nd punch.

Goat of the Week

Patrick Lalime – Buffalo Sabres

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

Things I like

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

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

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

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

Things I don’t

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

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

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

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

Stat Line of the Week

02/06/10 Toronto 5 vs. Ottawa 0

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

Did You Know?

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

Numbers, Numbers – the streak edition

14 – The Washington Capital’s current winning streak.

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

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

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

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

This Week in Hockey History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rankings

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

Top 5

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

Bottom 5

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

Anaheim Ducks Watch

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

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

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