You signed him for how long, for how much? – Any fans ultimate dream job is to be the GM of his or her favorite team. If I was ever a GM one thing I would never do is give anybody a contract longer than five years. There’s too many things that could happen in even that short amount of time that the thought of giving a longer one makes no sense even if the player is a franchise talent. Some things that could go wrong include the player getting injured, no longer producing, not fitting in with a new system or teammates, not performing well in the postseason or the team just wants to rebuild. Certain players are not motivated to perform at the same level once they receive their mega deals. Also players with undesirable contracts make them harder to move if the teams decides they want to move in a different direction.

Ilya Kovalchuk’s big money long term contract and subsequent problems in New Jersey with his healthy scratching and in many ways not fitting into their system, is just the latest example of big long term contracts gone wrong. Alexei Yashin was rewarded with a 10 year 87.5 million dollar contract which he never lived up to and was eventually bought out. Roberto Luongo was signed to a 12 year 64 million dollar contract that even included a no trade clause, though stipulations allow Luongo to wave it after the 5^th year and the Canucks after the 7th. While Luongo is a decent goalie, he is not consistent and he generally doesn’t preform well in the playoffs. I personally don’t think the Canucks will ever win the Stanley Cup with Luongo as their goalie. But Luongo’s contract makes it almost impossible to go in a different direction in net no matter how much he flounders. The Chicago Blackhawks have recently signed Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith to long term contracts, 12 years for 62.8 million and 13 years for 72 million respectively. Both contracts have so far worked out for the Blackhawks but I’m more than positive there will be a point where they regret one or both of them. Even Cristobal Huet’s, who did not preform well enough to warrant retaining, smaller contract of four years worth 22 million severely handicapped the Blackhawks ability to re-sign the players they needed.

While I understand the need to lock up certain stars such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin and so on, I think you can do it in a more responsible manner that gives your team the best chance to compete in the short term but also in the long term.

Goalie Spotlight

Niklas Backstrom – Minnesota Wild

Finnish born Backstrom played for HIFK, SaiPa and Kärpät in the Finnish SM-liiga league. He excelled playing for Kärpät leading them to league titles in 2004 and 2005. In both of those seasons Backstrom picked up the Urpo Ylönen trophy for best goaltender and the Jari Kurri trophy for best player in the playoffs. After two dominating years, Backstrom played another year with Kärpät in which he actually posted even better numbers. After that season the undrafted Backstrom signed with the Minnesota Wild in 2006.

He was slated to be the back-up to Manny Fernandez but Fernandez suffered a knee injury halfway through the season which opened the door for Backstrom. He lead the league in GAA (1.97) and SV% (.929) and shared the William Jennings trophy with Fernandez. He also tied Dwayne Roloson’s franchise record of five shutouts in just 36 games. He later broke that record with eight shutouts during the 2008-09 season. Fernandez was traded shortly after and Backstrom followed it up with two more highly productive seasons including 2^nd runner up to the Vezina trophy in 2009. Last season Backstrom took a step back but still posted somewhat decent numbers. Internationally Backstrom made the 2006 and 2010 Finnish Olympic teams but was not the number one goalie in either case. He was part of the Bronze medal winning team in 2010.

So far this season Backstrom is off to a great start. The Wild don’t really possess the most talent in the league but Backstrom has helped the Wild allow the 3^rd least goals in the conference so far. Backstrom will need to continue to play well for the Wild to compete for a playoff spot this season.

Fights of the Week

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

David Liffiton vs. Tim Jackman

Decent fight, Liffiton won with some nice punches.

Mike Richards vs. Matt Cooke

Richards held his own against Cooke. I didn’t care for Richards’ cheap shots at the end.

Zenon Konopka vs. Daniel Carcillo

I didn’t think this fight was that great but many people liked it so here it is. This was the 1^st of two fights between these two in this game.

Goats of the Week

Cory Sarich – Calgary Flames

Sarich was, I guess, trying to pass the puck back to his teammate but inadvertently hit it in his own net on an unsuspecting Kiprusoff.

Tyler Myers – Buffalo Sabres

More on Mister Myers below but on this power play Myers has his pocket picked twice by Jamie Benn and Steve Ott hammers home the rebound. The video doesn’t sync with the audio and it plays choppy but it was the best I could find.

Things I like

1. America’s best goalie Tim Thomas, sorry Ryan Miller, keeps up his winning ways. Tops in GA%, SV%, shutouts and a perfect 6-0 record. In fact he has as many shutouts (3) as goals allowed so far this season. It’s clearly his Vezina trophy to lose this season. It’s a shame that his “rookie” season in the NHL essentially began when he was 31.

2. Everyone wanted to know when Taylor Hall would score his 1^st goal. Well on the day Tyler Seguin scored his 3^rd, Hall tipped in his 1^st. Hall then had back to back games with a goal and an assist. He still has a long way to go but this mini streak might be what he needs to get going.

3. Tampa Bay has the best record in the Eastern Conference for the first time in October ever. It’s like it’s 2003-04 all over again. The Lightning can obviously score goals with the best of them. They key is whether the defense and the goaltending combo of Dan Ellis and Mike Smith can keep it up.

4. Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac reunited on the top line. Before Ilya Kovalchuk got there this was one of the best lines in the NHL and actually was the top line according to +/- halfway through last season. Of course it was short lived when Parise injured his knee against the Kings requiring surgery and sidelining him for three months. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery. The Devils will surely miss their team MVP.

Things I don’t

1. Tyler Myers had a stellar season last year and was awarded the Calder trophy. This year when you look up the term sophomore slump, you will find a picture of Myers. Myers goal production has been good but he currently only has one assist and an eye popping -10, which is tied for the league’s worst. At this point Buffalo would be wise to take him off the top defensive unit. Myers has already made my Goat of the Week honors twice in just four weeks. Truly not a good sign.

2. Thrashers shootout shooters. Ondrej Pavelec played his first game back since suffering a concussion in a hard fought game against the Blues. Tied 3-3 the game went into the shootout. Atlanta selected their shooters. Who did they pick? Andrew Ladd their leading scorer? No. Stanley Cup hero Dustin Byfuglien? No. O franchise player and leading goal scorer Evander Kane? No. Rich Peverley and Alex Burmistrov. Neither came close to scoring and Pavelec didn’t really come close in stopping the Blues on their attempts. I don’t know who was going to shoot 3^rd but there’s a reason why Sidney Crosby shoots first, you want your best players to have a chance to score.

3. Antti Niemi has so for struggled as a Shark. He is 1-3 with a .854 SV% and 4.50 GAA. It’s a shame Niemi hasn’t been able to build upon last year’s stellar season. He was also pulled against the Flames after giving up three goals on only five shots. On the other hand Antero Niittymaki has made the most of his starts and is running away with the starting job. If Niemi doesn’t turn it around it’s unlikely many teams will try and sign him when his one year deal expires.

Stat Line of the Week

10/30/10 St. Louis 4 vs. Atlanta 3

Jay McClement is not what you would call a goal scorer having never scored more than 12 goals in a season. However on this night he was the whole Blues offense. Scoring his first three goals of the season on three shots including two goals in the final six minutes of the game. This allowed the Blues to eke out the win in the shootout.

Did You Know?

Though it’s still early since Tim Thomas is having such a magical year, let’s take a look at the records he is chasing. George Hainsworth holds the record for lowest GAA at .921 set in 1928-29. Of course things were much different back then. Miikka Kiprusoff holds the modern era record at 1.69. Wins is held by Martin Brodeur at 48 set in 2006-07. Dominik Hasek holds the record for SV% at .936 set in 1998-99. George Hainsworth holds the shutout record of 22 also set in 1928-29. Dominik Hasek holds the modern era record of 13 set 1997-98.

Numbers, Numbers

6 – Misconduct or game misconduct penalties in the Islanders vs. Flyers game on 10/30

12 – Number of seconds between two Alex Ovechkin goals against the Flames

0 – Regulation losses by the Canucks at home in six games

2 – Goals by the Maple Leafs in the last three games

17 – Goals given up by the Flames in the last three games

-9 – Niklas Hjalmarsson’s +/- rating to go with his 0 points produced and almost 3.5 million dollar salary

Quotes of the Week

“This is Avalanche hockey. We’re so young, we don’t know any better.

— Colorado right wing Chris Stewart, who had a hat trick Thursday when the team overcame 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 deficits in a 6-5 win at Calgary.

“It was inexcusable, and if you could take that moment back, you take it back.”

— C Rick Rypien on reaching into the stands to grab a fan in Minnesota on Oct. 19, which earned the scrappy wing a six-game suspension from the NHL.

This Week in Hockey History

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

October 28, 1976 Philadelphia goalie Bernie Parent led the Flyers to a 3-0 shutout over the Penguins at the Spectrum, with the 40th shutout of his NHL career.

October 29, 1942 Montreal Canadiens signed Maurice Richard to his first contract. He made his NHL debut two days later.

October 30, 1983 Chicago’s Tom Lysiak tripped linesman Ron Foyt as the Black Hawks won 6-1 over the Hartford Whalers in Chicago. Lysiak was later susended 20 games for the incident.

October 31, 1975 Phil Myre recorded his 9th career shutout as the Atlanta Flames won 2-0 over the California Seals, in Oakland. Tim Ecclestone helped in all the scoring, with a goal and an assist.

November 01, 2000 Larry Murphy had two assists to give him 1,201 career points, making him the third NHL defenseman (along with Paul Coffey & Ray Bourque) to record 1,200 points. The milestone came in a Red Wings 4-2 win at Montreal.

November 02, 1978 After 8 games with the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA, Wayne Gretzky was sold to the Edmonton Oilers (along with Eddie Mio and Peter Driscoll). Gretzky went on to score 104 points in 72 games and was named WHA Rookie of the Year.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. Los Angeles

2. Tampa Bay

3. Washington

4. Montreal

5. St. Louis

Bottom 5

30. New Jersey

29. Buffalo

28. Anaheim

27. Edmonton

26. Florida

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Day in Hockey History

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

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

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

WCS 2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. ECS 7 Philadelphia Flyers

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

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

Cup Drought: Flyers 35 years, Blackhawks 49 years

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Numbers, Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week in Hockey History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The center pivots the entire offense and is a deep pool with many teams only having spot for three or four centers on a fantasy team. Having a center that creates for others is ideal but one that contributes on special teams both power play and shorthanded is one that should take precedent over just plan scorers.

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

Here are the Olympic Break rankings for Centers:

1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh: 42-36-78-12 Power Play Goals

2. Nicklas Backstrom, Washington: 26-50-76-+32- 29 Power Play Points

3. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver: 25-55-80-+27-20 Power Play Points

4. Patrick Marleau, San Jose: 38-26-64-19 Power Play Points-3 SHP

5. Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay: 35-35-70-30 Power Play Points

6. Joe Thornton, San Jose: 16-59-75-25 Power Play Points

7. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh: 21-44-65-5 GW Goals

8. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles: 28-36-64-28 Power Play Points

9. Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim: 17-41-61-7 Power Play Goals

10. Mike Richards, Philadelphia: 24-22-46-13 Power Play Goals

11. Mikko Koivu, Minnesota: 16-40-56-24 Power Play Points

12. Eric Staal, Carolina: 20-30-50-20 Power Play Points

13. Jeff Carter, Philadelphia: 27-25-52-6 GW Goals

14. Jonathan Toews, Chicago: 19-30-49-7 Power Play Goals

15. Stephen Weiss, Florida: 21-27-48-8 Power Play Goals

16. Ryan Kesler, Vancouver: 16-38-54-58 PIM- 10 Power Play Goals

17. Mike Fisher, Ottawa: 20-24-44-7 Power Play Goals

18. Paul Stastny, Colorado: 12-42-54-15 Power Play Points

19. Travis Zajac, New Jersey: 19-32-51-+19-16 Power Play Points

20. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit: 17-32-49-+13-7 Power Play Goals

21. Brad Richards, Dallas: 17-49-66-7 Power Play Goals

22. Matt Stajan, Calgary: 18-27-45-7 Power Play Goals

23. Brooks Laich, Washington: 20-26-46-8 Power Play Goals

24. Jason Spezza, Ottawa: 15-18-33-13 Power Play Points

25. Andy McDonald, St. Louis: 19-19-38-15 Power Play Points

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

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

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

Goalie Spotlight

No time this week.

Fights of the Week

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

Rick Rypien vs. Brandon Prust

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

David Koci vs. Brian McGrattan

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

Paul Bissonnette vs. Darcy Hordichuk

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

Chris Neil vs. Eric Boulton

Eric Boulton had the edge in this one.

Dave Steckel vs. Zenon Konopka

Nice tussle, Konopka connected with some nice punches.

Goat of the Week

Stephane Auger – Referee

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

Things I like

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

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

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

Things I don’t

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

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

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

Stat Line of the Week

01/08/10  Buffalo 3 vs. Toronto 2

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

Did You Know?

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

Numbers, Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

This Week in Hockey History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rankings

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

Top 5

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

Bottom 5

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

Anaheim Ducks Watch

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

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

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

Vancouver Canucks 3^rd jersey – It took me awhile, yes sad I know, to figure out that was a hockey stick. But honestly what is the point? The other jerseys are fine and this is a just a stick coming out of an oval, it just looks dumb. Some of you may rip me because it’s a pure old school classic hockey. Rip me anyway I don’t like it.

Anaheim Ducks jersey logo – I like the old mighty ducks logo not the name “mighty ducks”, ducks is fine. It’s weird though because without the mighty in the title you just think of a regular duck. I don’t know about you, but the first thing I think of when I think of Anaheim or Southern California is not a duck. Perhaps Donald Duck eventually. At first I thought the logo was lame then I realized the “D” in Ducks was a webbed duck’s foot then I came to the conclusion, it’s still lame.

New York Islanders jersey – I have always hated the logo and the colors, it’s hard to imagine they have had the same logo for 37 years. Change it already.

Quebec Nordiques jersey and logo – One of the worst in the NHL, thankfully we no longer have to look at them. The logo reminds me of Q-bert remember that game?

Pittsburgh Penguins old logo – Now don’t get me wrong I love the Penguins logo. This is when they changed it in 1992 to some kind of “new age/cutting edge” penguin. Thankfully they changed it back. Don’t mess with the penguin, Pittsburgh.

New York Rangers jersey and logo – Not really in love with the logo and the jerseys with the just the name Rangers written on them, it isn’t very imaginative. They could use a new name and a new logo.

Of course nobody tops the ugliness of all of the Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys. Just beyond hideous. The Pirates folded because of financial reasons. I bet they didn’t sell any jerseys either. Of course the hideousness didn’t end there. No folks they moved the team to Philadelphia and renamed them the Quakers. They of course also brought along the same graphic designer to give you the lovely jersey below.

Of course to be fair there were a lot of bad NHL jerseys in the 20’s and 30’s.

You can check them all out at nhluniforms.com.

Does anyone else have a jersey they hate that I missed?

Goalie Spotlight

None this week, I didn’t have time.

Fights of the Week

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

Wade Belak vs. Brian McGrattan

The 6^th fight between these two, I like McGrattan’s little jabs while holding Belak’s jersey. McGratten plays to the crowd afterwards.

Brad May vs. Krys Barch

Lots of punches in this one except most of them didn’t connect, also the 6^th bout between these too.

Goat of the Week

Nate Thompson – New York Islanders

Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers

Ivan Vishnevskiy – Dallas Stars

Lots of goats this week and that’s not a good thing.

Double goats in this clip, but Thompson is more of the goat than Lundqvist. Thompson misses a wide open net, and I do mean wide open. In his defense he only has 3 goals in 80 career NHL games, note sarcasm. That being said I think he will be a finalist for goat of the year. Lundqvist is a goat for playing that far out of the net. Its one thing to cut down the angle but that is way beyond a comfortable distance from the net, plus he never got the puck and he fell down.

Ivan Vishnevskiy’s play was just as bad as Thompson but he cost his team a chance to tie the game. Ivan had went back to play the puck off the board in his own zone and appeared to have control but he lost it and ended up scoring on his own empty net. I don’t think the Sharks need help to win games.

Things I like

1. Martin Brodeur breaking Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record against the defending champs no less. Brodeur took 1,032 games to get number 104, while Sawchuk had 103 shutouts in 971 games played. Brodeur also broke Patrick Roy’s most games played by a goalie record this week. Brodeur now has played in 1032 games (Roy 1029).

2. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been playing some decent hockey as of late and they might even contend for a final playoff spot before the season is done. In December so far they have gone 7-4-1. The Phil Kessel deal has worked out well too. Now all they need is a goaltender. No one in their three headed rotation has played all that well. They actually have the 2^nd worst team GAA ahead of only Carolina.

3. As someone mentioned last week I did forget about the Sedin twins, so I’ll mention them now. Henrik had his 9 game point streak snapped on the Dec. 20^th game against St. Louis. Daniel had his 8 game point streak snapped against Washington on Dec. 18^th. Since they’re twins and they started the streaks on the same day, it’s a shame the streaks couldn’t be snapped on the same day.

4. Sidney Crosby up until Brodeur’s record breaking shutout game had amassed 18 points in the past 9 games. He also was even or had a positive +/- in all but one of those games. Crosby also just recently got back line mate Chris Kunitz from injury.

Things I don’t

1. Hard to imagine a team playing worse than the Columbus Blue Jackets, okay besides Philadelphia. Their 2-10-5 record in their last 17 games is, I’m sure, not what the city of Columbus wanted for Christmas. Struggles abound everywhere for this team. See stat line of the week below.

2. In 11 games in December Philadelphia’s Mike Richards has only 5 points. Three of those five came in one game against the Islanders. One of the many reasons the Flyers are struggling.

3. After a seemingly good start the Islanders have settled back near the bottom like recent times. It’s a shame really but maybe it’s what they need long term so they can get higher draft picks. At least they have been drafting somewhat better the past few years. Tavares and Okposo, recent high picks, are bright spots.

Stat Line of the Week

12/19/09  Avalanche 5 vs. Blue Jackets 2

Last year’s Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason was pulled after less than five minutes into the game against the Avalanche. He gave up 3 goals on 7 shots for a whopping 42.35GAA. His replacement Mathieu Garon gave up a powerplay goal 4 minutes later.

Did You Know?

After Brodeur the next active player with the most shutouts is Chris Osgood with 50. Robert Luongo and Evgeni Nabokov are next after Osgood with 49 each. George Hainsworth is 3^rd on the career shutout list behind Brodeur and Sawchuk. Hainsworth is however the single season record holder with 22. Times have certainly changed since Hainsworth set that record in 1929.

Numbers, Numbers Martin Brodeur edition

0 – Shutouts against Nashville, San Jose and Edmonton the only three teams he hasn’t shutout yet

10 – Shutouts against the Islanders, the team he has shutout the most

44 – Career wins against Philadelphia the team he has beaten the most

6-1 – Record against Minnesota his highest winning percentage against one team

.878 – SV% against Vancouver his lowest, one of only two teams he is under a .900 SV%

.932 – SV% against Chicago and Montreal his highest

This Week in Hockey History

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

December 17, 1983 In his 352nd career NHL game, Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and added five assists to reach the 500 assist mark and the 800 career point mark in his NHL career. Oilers won 8-1 over the visiting Quebec Nordiques.

December 18, 1954 Montreal’s Maurice Richard became the first player in NHL history to score 400 career goals, when the Canadiens defeated the Black Hawks 4-2 at Chicago.

December 19, 1993 Goaltender Mike Richter set a franchise record by extending his unbeaten streak to 20 games (17-0-3) in the Rangers’ 6-3 win over the Senators in New York. Richter broke the team record of 19 games (14-0-5) set by Dave Kerr in 1939-40.

December 20, 1959 Chicago Black Hawks scored seven goals in the second period and won 7-4 against the Maple Leafs, at Chicago Stadium. Bobby Hull led the scoring with his second career hat trick and an assist.

December 21, 1937 Chicago’s Paul Thompson became the first player in NHL history to score a goal against his brother, when he scored on Bruins’ goalie Cecil “Tiny” Thompson, at 19:51 of the third period, in a 2-1 Black Hawks’ loss at Boston Garden.

December 22, 1979 Philadelphia Flyers set an NHL record by extending their unbeaten streak to 29 games (20-0-9), with a 5-2 win at Boston. Boston previously held the record of 28. Flyers extended their streak to 35 games, longest in sports history.

Rankings

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

Top 5

1. New Jersey
2. Los Angeles
3. Pittsburgh
4. Nashville
5. Washington

Bottom 5

30. Columbus
29. Philadelphia
28. NY Islanders
27. Tampa Bay
26. Dallas

Anaheim Ducks Watch

The Ducks got a hard fought win against the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. Sexton had some pretty passes setting up Ryan and Koivu for goals. Anaheim completely dominated the 1^st period as the Canucks only got two shots on goal. The Canucks converted one into a goal anyway. I didn’t see the Sharks game but the Ducks got crushed 4-1. It’s a shame really because the Ducks had been playing well as of late and this was a good measuring stick game. Turns out they still have a ways to go. Getzlaf scored goals in back to back for the first time this season. That seems kind of sad but Getzlaf is more of a setup man than a goal scorer, though he can score when need be. Against the Coyotes Getzlaf notched another goal bringing his goal scoring streak to three games. Bobby Ryan also extended his points streak to six games. The Ducks to a 3-1 lead into the 3^rd period and after Phoenix scored to take the game to 3-2, I started to get that feeling. But the Ducks didn’t give up anymore goals and Bobby Ryan iced in on the powerplay in the final minutes. Even better the Ducks moved out of last place. Congratulations Anaheim.

The last game this week for the Ducks was against the Avalanche on the road. A game I didn’t think they would win but maybe they could give it a good shot. The Ducks were down 2-0 in the 3^rd but still I watched. Good thing too, as the Avalanche decided to do what the Ducks usually do and gave up 4 unanswered goals in the 3^rd period. The last one was an empty netter though. The first goal for Anaheim was sort of questionable and even though Ryan was in the crease sort of preventing Craig Anderson from making a save, Kyle Quincey of the Avalanche I believe it was, was sprawled out in the crease which also would have prevented Anderson from making a play. The refs ruled it a goal. Sexton was next up for the Ducks tapping in a tough rebound. Getzlaf scored the game winner with about 26 seconds left. A great win for Anaheim and even though they were down 2-0 they actually dominated most of the game outshooting the Avs 42 to 17.

The Ducks are starting to gel and this could be one of those turnaround games for them. Even though they have won 4 of their past 5 they aren’t anywhere near playing to full potential. Hiller and Giguere can both play better and two of their top scores Selanne and Lupul are out. When they get back and if the goalies can raise their level this will be a tough team to beat in the second half of the season.

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

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

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

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

Goalie Spotlight

Miikka Kiprusoff – Calgary Flames

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

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

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

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

Fights of the Week

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

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

Matt Bradley vs. Daniel Carcillo

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

Brian McGrattan vs Raitis Ivanans

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

Goat of the Week

Brian Elliott – Ottawa Senators

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

Things I like

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

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

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

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

Things I don’t

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

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

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

Stat Line of the Week

12/03/09  Capitals 6 vs. Panthers 2

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

12/05/09  Capitals 8 vs. Flyers 2

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

Box Score of the Week

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

1st Period

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

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

2nd Period

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

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

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

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

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

3rd Period

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

Did You Know?

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

Numbers, Numbers

0 – Number of overtime losses for Vancouver.

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

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

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

13 – Anze Kopitar’s goalless game streak

This Week in Hockey History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rankings

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

Top 5

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

Bottom 5

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

Anaheim Ducks Watch

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

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