NOBODY APPRECIATES MIKE RUPP

Who? Did you mean Uwe Krupp?

I think this is a pretty fair point. I don't think it's whining about not getting respect at all. (see, e.g., Pat's fans). I think Zetterberg is a bit under the radar for a guy who really could be one of the top five players in the league.

NO, I MEAN ANOTHER GUY WHO HAS A STANLEY CUP-CLINCHING GOAL

I thought Clint Malarchuk was a goalie?

IS THIS THING ON???

Ok, all I saw that time was something about Boris Mironov.

:D :D :D

SI

Ditto. That is what I was trying to say.

Blah. Canes squander the 3-1 lead and lose in a shootout. The Pens shooters made Ward look absolutely goofy in the shootout, pretty well negating all his heroics in the third when the Pens were outplaying Carolina. 3-1-1 now for the trip with tomorrow's game in Philly left.

fucking Jose Theodore.

Avs start out tonight the same way they did against the Flames. Badly. Blackhawks take an early 3-0 lead (one goal, from Jonathan Toews, was an absolute beauty). Avs eek out a comeback, tie it up in the 3rd. Kill of a couple dumb penalties, are on their way to OT...and Theodore lets in a soft one with just over a minute left.

He shouldn't have been in the game. Joel Quenneville continues to swap goalies faster than Charlie Sheen changes hookers. Fucking fuck fuck.

I'd wager any player under 30 other than Crosby and maybe Ovechkin could be classified as under the radar in the US.

Random question that occurred to me last night while watching one of the UMass-Lowell players consistently creep within 3 feet of the faceoff circle and be waved out - has anyone ever seen a penalty called on a player for that? I know the ref can throw the guy taking the faceoff out, but can he/would he ever do anything to the wings?

So I missed the game tonight as we had some shopping to do, and then the family went out for dinner. Awaiting the check, I checked my cell phone to see that the Leafs led 3-1 after two periods. I let out a "w00t" and my wife apologized for keeping us out and missing the game.

"Eh ... no worries. It'll probably be 5-3 Chicago by the time we get home anyway." We both laughed.

Not really laughing anymore. :(

Has anyone looked consistently good for the Leafs this season so far?

Antropov has been great. Sundin has been good every game except the Sabres debacle. Steen has been solid but not outstanding.

That is all.

Any chance of Pogge playing this year?

Very doubtful.

Pogge is at least a year away by all accounts, and to be honest he's starting to lose his blue chip lustre. He'll still play in the NHL but he may not be the sure-thing stud he was made out to be. In any case, I think the only way he shows up this year is either due to injury problems or if the team goes into firesale mode. After all, it's bad enough to throw two veterans like Raycroft and Toskala out there behind that defence, why would you want to do it to a kid?

Zetterberg with a helper on Maltby's 2nd goal tonight to keep Z's point streak alive.

4 more goals allowed tonight by new jersey.

its a freakin epidemic

The Thrashers' players are apparently no longer afraid that Don Waddell is going to run them out of town. Maybe they have quit on Don as well. If the ownership has any sense, they will make Don coach the team for about ten games and fire him if he isn't at least above .500. Don't let him hire a new coach w/o making sure the problem isn't the GM or you are just delaying the inevitable.

Or as they call it in Toronto, a shutout.

Teams playing against them?

I swear, if the Leafs lose at home to the Thrashers I'm going to go slingblade on this place.

Oiler fans showed some class with a great ovation for Smyth on his first trip back to Edmonton.

I reckon it's time to get Maple Leafs to the nervous hospital. Mmm...

Just think about John Tavares.

Except we know the NHL is going to wait to see who finishes last before they decide if he's eligible. And since the Bettam regime always loves to screw Toronto, we have no hope of getting him.

Luckily this is the Bettman NHL, where one team can win but the other one doesn't lose.

Still, a tie at home against the worst team in the league isn't much to get excited about. In fact, if I hear one Leaf player or coach talking about moral victories I might start cutting myself.

What a brutal display of hockey displayed by ATL and TO.

Ugly,ugly,ugly.

Does this mean it's time to only let you use safety scissors and circles of paper?

SI

Mrs. Leafs has already taken away my shoelaces.

Zetterberg with another helper to continue his streak of a point in every game this year.

Canes paddled the Sabres in the third period to win going away, 6-2. Carolina's gotten a point in all but one game this year and are now seven points ahead in the Southeast (granted, they've also played the most games so far) and one behind Ottawa (tied with a couple of others) for best in NHL. Three-game homestand finishes Friday against Montreal.

Hmmm....

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/NHL/article/270412

Beaten to the Tavares story by 10 mins...

No risk/huge reward move

Next article will have the Leafs petitioning the NHL to allow them to build a wall of bricks in front of their net.

And, it being Toronto, they'll probably approve the request.

I could have sworn I read the same article about Crosby.

Sign a guy to a pro contract before he's been drafted... what is this, EHM?

And they'd still find a way to give up 3 goals a game.

The Tavaras story has already been shot down:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2007/...tavares_leafs/

Jiri Tlusty will save us all.

Amen!!!

How did Stralman look tonight? I wasnt home to watch the game. Did Kronwall play too? If so, how was he?

I was bowling last night during the Leafs-Penguins game, and my wife went up to the approach to bowl a frame. The score of the hockey game was tied at 1. She rolled her first ball, and when she turned around to walk back to the approach, I said, "Toronto scored." She picked up her ball off the ball return, rolled for her spare, and just as she was about to sit down, I said, "Toronto scored again." She happened to have a Malkin jersey with her at the time, which she then threatened to throw into the trash in disgust.

Also, the Devils got shut out by the Rangers, so with the exception of the one game I bowled 27 pins over average, last night sucked.

Dude you went bowling, what the hell did you expect? :)

Not much new on the Wings' front. The team continues to roll pretty as it has the 15 years or so (outside of being unable to beat Robert Lang and the Blackhawks). At the moment they continue to be a one line team with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Holmstrom providing the bulk of the offense. Those three have 16 goals and the rest of the forwards on the team have 12. Guys like Hulder and Filppula will eventually have to start producing, but with around $5 million under the cap expect the Wings to be active at the trade deadline once again as they wil be looking for some additional scoring.

Rafalski has fit in very nicely. He's 4th on the team in points with 2 goals and 8 assists in 10 games.

Hasek is "day-to-day" with a sore hip. That's never a good thing, but Osgood has been playing very well (better than Hasek actually), so they will survive.

The Wings re-called Igor Grigorenko from Grand Rapids. He is their top forward prospect and is in an interesting situation. He was a highly touted prospect a few years ago and then got into a bad car accident that derailed his career a bit. He seems to be back on track and finally came over from Russia this summer. He arrived at training camp completely out of shape. He was unimpressive in pre-season and has been equally un-impressive while playing in Grand Rapids. Besides being out of shape, he doesn't really seem to care that much. He has a lot of talent and some decent size and given the beforementioned lack of scoring outside of the top line, I think the Wings would love for him to develop.

The trick is that, he has the option to return to Russia by November 1. He has a contract with his old club that will pay him about $1 million a year. Odds are, if he's in Grand Rapids (making $70,000), he will likely bolt for Russia and that will, in all likelihood, end his career with the Wings.

If the Wings decide to keep him on the NHL roster, however, they will have to send either Matt Ellis or Aaron Downey down to Grand Rapids. Ellis is an incredibly hard-working forward who has a nice little 4 game point streak going (2 goals, 2 assists). He has been the captain of the Griffons for the last few years and by all accounts was the heart and soul of that team. It'd be really hard to send a guy like that down and keep a guy like Grigorenko. Downey has also worked hard and been a good team player. He adds an element of toughness the Wings' have lacked for a long time, not counting, of course, the six game Brad Norton Era.

It will be interesting to see what the Wings will do in the next week with this situations. Based on comments by the Wings' brass, if Grigorenko doesn't turn things around very soon, I would not be surprised to see him back in Grand Rapids and, therefore, taking the trip back home to Russia. It would be great if he stuck it out, but I find that unlikely.

The Wings re-signed Kris Draper to a 3 year deal that averages out to about $1.65 million a season. That's less than he's making now, but I think it's about right. Draper is an invaluable asset to the team. A great penalty killer, great on face-offs, and all-around good guy. He's easily one of the most personable athletes in Detroit. I never thought he'd test the free agent waters, but it's good to have him back in the fold.

Rumors continue to swirl about someone from the front office leaving to join Toronto. Over the summer it was all about Scotty Bowman. Over the last week or two, they have pretty everyone else possibly joining the Leafs, including Jim Nill, Steve Yzerman, and even Ken Holland.

I only saw the third period. I don't think Kronwall played. I didn't really notice Stralman, so I guess that's good.

Funny how we play our best game of the year without McCabe and Tucker.

That was key...McCabe was responsible for the Pens being on the PP I think like 6 times last weekend. Not that they could have scored on the PP last night...

Tlusty is an idiot.Scoring 2 goals in his first game.Leaf fans are going to ruin him now.They already expect him to be a 50 goal scorer now.Toronto radio did a call in for peoples favorite Toronto athlete of all time.....guess who got the first vote.I hate Leaf fans.

Tlusty is the first Leaf to score a pair of goals in his first game since Nikolai Borschevsky. So if he continues to follow this career path, he'll get 30+ goals as a rookie, play on the first line of two conference finalists, Mike Myers will name his dog after him and confuse David Letterman with the story, and then his spleen will explode and he'll almost die.

I'd take it.

and now he coaches rep hockey in Toronto and runs a hockey school.

If i could find Nikolais goal vs Detroit in Game 7...i'd post it right now:)

HOW THE FUCK DID THIS CLOWN GET VOTED ABOVE PINBALL CLEMONS

He did'nt end up 1st over all...but the 1st jack ass that called in voted for him.

The Red Wings were never the same.

Wait, what?

Man...that goal STILL makes my hair stand on end...just as much as it probably makes HBs' hair fall out :D

Thanks for that. Why don't you give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it while you're at it? Or kick my dog. He's really cute and innocent. He'll never see it coming.

Between this Nikolai Borchevsky nonsense and that Jamie Baker goal, I suffered. Oh yes, I suffered...

And if Tlusty is the second-coming of Borchevsky and some how, some way, the Wings ended up facing the Leafs in the Finals, I'd take him out my own damned self. Shane Stant style.

How do you say "Why!?" in Russian?

So Chara killed Kochi last night

http://youtube.com/watch?v=q3_ghTTQefI

(woo :) )

SI

22 games.

That's how many games Jordan Leopold has played since the Avs traded Tanguay for him 15 months ago. Since then, he's suffered 5 different injuries (hernia, groin, wrist, hip and now wrist again) and hasn't played more than 10 straight games without getting hurt. He's out 2 months now after his latest injury.

sadly, he's been playing so poorly, the team will probably be better without him.

Oy. So ends the win streak and the point streak as the Habs make Cam Ward look awful in giving up five goals in 15 shots and eventually win, 7-4. Ward was pulled after the first period. First really bad game Cam has had all year. Time to see whether his mental abilities have improved along with his physical ones. He's probably going to get the call tomorrow night against the Islanders in New York since Graehme had to pick up the pieces the last two periods tonight.

For the 2nd time in a week, the Avs won a game against the Flames that they had no business winning. Calgary outshot Colorado 41-22 and led for most of the game. Calgary had 2 5 on 3 chances (including one over a minute in the 3rd) but couldn't convert (well, actually they did convert, but Mick McGeough hadn't had a camera pointed at him in a while, so blew a whistle too early on a certain Calgary goal).

Anywho, the Avs tie it late in the 3rd and score just seconds into OT. Phaneuf wisely decided to pinch in deep into the Avs corner, leaving just one guy back. Of course, the puck gets out, Sakic and Smyth break out 2 on 1 and Smyth buries it for the big win.

Gratifying to see Phaneuf's bonehead play cost them a point. Also nice because the Sportsnet announcers were railing on Smyth earlier. Not that they were homers or anything.

So ends the Igor Grigorenko Era. He is returning to Russia to make phat Russian loots...

In more positive news, the Wings destroyed the Sharks last night 5-1. The Wings rolled over them and the Sharks looked very flustered, undisciplined and out of synch all night. Joe Thorton was in a very testy mood it seemed.

"He shoot to my ass and I a little bit feel it, but I don't say nothing."
- Jiri "The Chosen One" Tlusty describes his first NHL goal.

You get Sportsnet? Did Altitude just pick up the feed? I didn't know the network extended beyond our border.

Center Ice picked up the Sportsnet feed.

yep.
speaking of, DirecTV seems to be starting a new thing where they are showing both the home and away feeds on different channels. I really like having the option (no more Terry "The Lisp" Crisp when we play the Preds) so I hope they keep it up. Now, if they would just indicated which feed is on which channel I'll be happy.

Sabres, while not looking great, at least looked like they wanted to win and pulled a second win out of this florida trip. 4-3 win over the Lightning in OT.

Considering I have two posts in this thread, and both of them are excorciating Flyers players for being dirty, some may soon think I have an agenda. ;)

Patrice Bergeron taken out by #6 Jones? from Philly tonight into the boards. The announcers were freaking out as if Patrice was paralyzed for 30+ minutes even though Bergeron had already moved his legs.... either way, not what you want to see and Jones will pay regardless of "intent".

That was a really hard play and he deserved the boarding penalty, but I don't think it really deserves more than that. They were flying for the puck, the timing was bad and he got penalized. I feel for Patrice, it was prety ugly and it busted his face up(broken nose and lacerations) but was it intentional? I don't think so, but maybe I'm an optimist.

I don't know if it was intentional, and it defini,tely wasn't as bad as Claude Lemieux on Kris Draper, but he'll be suspended. It wasn't like Bergeron ducked at the last minute - Jones had his head lined up with his elbow and drove it into the boards. Now that Bergeron is ok, it is kind of funny to watch the fight going on while Bergeron lies motionless and unattended to 10 feet away.

Tons of fun pictures on HFBoards after Markov's shootout winner celebration yesterday. Some are brillant:

Original celebration


HFBoards photoshops



















Hopefully nobody will mind a post with so many pictures, but I thought it was pretty funny.

It's unbelievable to me that the Ducks can be so consistently awful in every single shootout they are in. They must absolutely be the, hands down, worst shootout team--ever. And, no, this isn't just this year, this goes back to last year and 2005. They need to stop having regular practices until they win a shootout. Just keep having shootout practices until they figure it out. Honest to God, it's just stupid now.

Galling, also, that this was against the bleeping Oiler, and we let them tie it up--shorthanded!--with under two minutes to play. I swear this team must be on the take right now.

Big surprise I see Perry missed. I swear to God I have seen him take at least 5 penalty shots without actually shooting the puck once. Getzlaf is just as bad. I don't know who is a better option but it would be nice to make the goalie make a save once in a while.

Ducks are a below average team without Niedermayer and Selanne. I can see them missing the playoffs quite easily right now if neither comes back. Bertuzzi is pretty close to washed up and I don't know how much of a difference Schneider makes. Not enough I fear.

So, since you got to experience what I felt two years ago when Carolina won, you are now getting to experience what I felt last year (I think we lost every shootout we were involved in last year and were just beyond wretched percentage-wise).

Just to chime in again .. Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom are the best line in hockey, and Z continues his point streak.

They were the best line last year too for a decent stretch last year until Zetterberg got hurt. Pretty amazing that Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Holmstrom were drafted 171, 210, and 257 overall, respectively.

It looks like those around the league are finally taking notice of Zetterberg's start.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/s...rtsHockey/home

"But there could be an argument made that right now, as October draws to a close that the league's best player could be one that wasn't chosen until the 210th overall pick of the 1999 entry draft; who stands a modest 5-foot-11; who just turned 27 earlier this month and has quietly averaged more than a point-a-game in the two-plus seasons of the post-lockout NHL ... That would be the Detroit Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg"

From EJ Hradek (October 29, ESPN)

"Zetterberg continued his strong start with another dynamic effort in Vancouver on Sunday night. The Swedish sniper, who was named the first star in the 3-2 win over the Canucks, added an assist to his league-leading point total (21 points). He has registered at least one point in each of the club's first 12 games. Going back to last season, he has scored in 19 straight games. The 27-year-old forward is absolutely challenging Sidney Crosby for the unofficial title of league's best player."

Sutter works his magic again. Kipper signs a 6 year extension averaging $5.8/yr.

and thank your lucky stars that Keenan doesn't have the power to trade him.

A great deal for the Flames.

Wings up 1-0 in Edmonton. Zetterberg scores his 10th, tying him for the lead league in goals, and giving him a league leading 22 points. He's had a point in every game this year, totally amazing.

Scary news for Oilers fans as Matt Greene goes down awkwardly. Probably a sprain, could be torn ligaments. That team is totally beaten up.

If I had to guess, I'd say Greene's knee is done for quite some time. I'm hoping that the fall just looked more awkward because of being on skates rather than how it'd look if he were wearing cleats, but the way his knee went I'd be very surprised to see him back anytime soon.

Oilers played a very spirited game but weren't able to get enough shots on net to knock off the Wings. Much more encouraging effort than the last time they played (albeit on home ice this time, though missing Souray, Pitkanen and Greene). Hurts losing that late in the final frame and not getting at least one point, but at least their legs were going for most of the night.

If I understand correctly - the deal is more heavily weighted to the first 5 years. The rumor is that Kipper plans to retire after 5 years. If he did - does the contract still count against the cap?

No, not quite. You see, we weren't some amazing shootout team and became awful this year. We have been consistently awful from Game One, Year One of the shootout era. Even when we were rolling to strong performances in the playoffs, we consistently blew chunks in the shootout. It's amazinf really. Pure luck alone should have gotten us a higher success rate with it by now (much less practice).

I'd assume so. Especially if he's over 35 at that point, since there are provisions that you do get a cap hit if you sign a guy older than that to a long-term deal.

Here we go again.

When do the open tryouts for D-Men begin?

Even so, it does seem that the Ducks have straggled out of the gate (4-7-2), much as Carolina did last year. The Cup is a wonderful thing, but it is absolute hell on the team because of the short layoff (and it was even shorter for Carolina because of the Olympic break in '06). You keep thinking that they'll get it together eventually, but for Carolina at least, it never really happened last year.

Will the early struggles increase or decrease the likelihood that Niedermayer and Selanne come back? If they're in trouble by January, what incentive is there to come back then?

I realize this is getting annoying by Zetterberg has scored his 11th goal tonight, giving him 23 points in 14 games, and a 14 game scoring streak to start the season. Absolutely the best player in the NHL right now.

Hey CR - was at the game tonight and we won a fricking shootout! Admittedly it was a terrible shot by Schneider that trickled through the goalies legs, but I'll take it.

Other than that, same old same old where we dominated the play but couldn't even hit the net for most of the game and then Giggy gave up a real soft goal on a horrible rebound.

Fun game though with 3 good fights and almost a line brawl.

schneider takes your shoot out shots? did it go to 10 rounds or something??

No, that's just how bad this team is at shootouts.

spezza signs a 7 yr, $49m contract.

you know what was a bad trade?

Yashin for Chara, Muckalt, and the #2 pick, which became Spezza.

Yeah, I saw a good portion of the third and OT last night.

One of these days, dominating play will become solid victories. I guess we'll just have to wait until we get healthy and gut through it until then. I don't question the talent; it's the execution and trying to move past not having Penner and Teemu to help score goals. And the usual Cup hangover, of course.

I hate soft goals.

heres how weird a season it is for the devils so far:

the decade old checking line players madden and pandolfo lead the team, with 6 goals each.

I miss Mike Milbury

Who first coined the phrase/idea that a goal lead is the worst lead to have? Because the Penguins are making that guy look like a genius. :rolleyes:

A lot of Pens "fans" will pin this on Fleury, but the 3 goals given up:

Crosby attempts to reverse the play behind the net...and the puck kicks out of the boards [side note, this happened about 3-4 times to each team!] right onto Trent Hunter's stick. Is it possible Nassau Coliseum is actually shittier than Mellon Arena?

On a blocked shot, Joe Vasicek receives a lead pass, both Sydor and Nasreddine skated towards him...forgetting there are 4 other Isles on the ice, one of which, Miro Satan, is trailing the play and walks in alone.

Goal 3 Satan shoots the puck over the net, rebound out to the point. MA Bergeron gets the puck on net, Fleury gives us a rebound (No, Fleury wasn't perfect) and Rockin' Rob Scuderi watches from the front of the net as Satan knocks in the rebound.

I think they just wanted Al Arbour to go home happy.

I think the Pens still have the same trouble defensively that Ottawa took advantage of in the first round of the playoffs last season.

You mean that they suck defensively? :mad:

In an ideal world, Mark Eaton is on your 2nd, probably 3rd pairing, and Rob Scuderi is your #7. Both those guys are playing over, or close to, 20 mins a night.

It's just two strong games, so not much to make of it right now, but the Ducks have played much closer to the championship level of last year in those two games than previously. And shock of all shocks, they are for the first time relatively healthy. Hopefully we hve turned an early corner.

Incidentally, for those teams looking for goaltending help, Burke has been actively shopping Bryzgalov for forward help. He's a very good netminder who could be a strong #1 for someone, but teams are hesitant right now witht he salary cap (or at least that's what TSN is saying). They think Bryz could be dealt by the winter freeze period, though, around Christmas.