Was a very entertaining game. Looking forward to the Flyers tomorrow.

I'll send you a PM. (I love how next Saturday's game against CAROLINA is a GOLD-priced game :) )

Jackets beat the Ducks 3-2 in a SO. Rick Nash with a nice off-balance SO goal for the winner:

Wild third period between Detroit and Anaheim.

Detroit starts the period up 2-1.

Ducks tie it 2-2

Detroit goes up 3-2

Ducks tie it 3-3

Detroit goes up 4-3

Ducks tie it 4-4

Detroit goes up 5-4

Then Detroit goes up 6-4 and makes it 7-4 on an empty net goal by Henrik Zetterberg that gives him the hattrick for the night.

Sounds like a good game. Sabres hold off Philly 3-2. Tyler Ennis scores his first NHL goal in his first NHL game.

Crazy game in Pittsburgh, too. Alternate Goals to 4-4 then the Bruins take the lead at 5-4. Pens score with 0.4 seconds and win in OT.

The Penguins beat Boston tonight 6-5 in a game the Bruins would have won were it not for Patrice Bergeron breaking his stick in the final seconds. The pass skipped over his broken stick and led to a two on one in which Guerin scored to tie the game with 0.4 seconds left in regulation. Pascal Dupuis scored the GWG in OT. So disappointing for the Bruins.

The Pens put up 6...while missing Gonch, Letang, Kennedy and Kunitz!

Dupuis takes a lot of heat because he's making $1.4M-- which isn't alot, unless you need every penny you can spend on top 6 wingers. But that guy just goes non stop.

And that was the first thing Guerin has done of any value in about 3 weeks. He's looking old and tired. Once these other guys are back, I don't think it would be a bad idea to rest him some games.

SR, c'mon...as long as Crosby and Malkin are playing they could score 10 a night!!!!

Only when they've got a sniper like Pascal Dupuis putting up a pair a night.

And, as long as it's not on the PP. I don't know the exact numbers, but while Malkin was out, they were something like 0-for-33. And since Gonchar has been out, 3-for-50 or so.

I suppose I can now say this...1 (as in "one win").

At long last, it's over. The shovel has been put down for one night as Carolina broke their 14-game losing streak with a shootout win over the Wild today.

However, as I told my wife, while they found new and excruciating ways to lose over the last 14 games, they managed to find a new and excruciating way to win today. They held a 4-1 lead in the second period and coughed it all up by early in the third period. Only Jussi Jokinen (hallowed be his name--at least in shootouts) scored in the SO of the six skaters that went to get the win.

Alex Goligoski out 2 weeks for the Pens.

Their D tonight vs Anaheim:

Jay McKee, who was still seviceable in St. Louis, but was just making too much on the original contract.

Mark Eaton, the lone holdover from last season, surprisingly, the one dude who hasn't been hurt yet!

Martin Skoula, who was in Florida and Columbus for short periods in September camps on tryouts

Deryck Englland, Nate Guenin and Ben 'The Reverend' Lovejoy all up from the AHL.

Good times.

Luckily, the Penguins are playing Anaheim who are at the tail end of a long East Coast trip and have not been playing very well. The top line got it going against Detroit, but with the loss of Pronger and Beuachemin the defense isn't anywhere close to what it used to be and Hiller has been hit and miss it seems (he was solid in the first two periods, but let in 4 in the 3rd).

Actually, outside of the one soft one, Hiller was amazing in the third. He kept the Ducks in it, if you can believe it. Saturday was all on the defense, which was and continues to be atrocious.

Local boy Nate Guenin from Hopewell High School!

3rd Pittsbugh-born player to dress for the Pens. Ryan Malone and Bill Thomas prior to him.

And George Parros on the ice tonight too...Pittsburgh is the next great hotbed for NHL players.

I thought Hiller was amazing in the first, solid in the second and all right in the third. The Wings scored 4 goals on 11 shots (not counting the empty netter) in the third.

George Parros....lol. Gotta love that 'stache.

Interesting development today: Nikita Filatov is loaned back to CSKA Moscow for the rest of the year, at his wishes.

Personally, its the best move right now for both parties. This all started at the end of last season, when Filatov was called up from Syracuse (who was in the middle of a playoff race) so that he could "experience the playoff atmosphere" by sitting in the press box every night. Something just didn't seem right about that situation, as well as his comments over the summer that he would consider offers from Russia if he ended up in Syracuse.

Fast forward to this season, where Filatov hasn't been impressive at all and hasn't earned a top-6 spot. He's just not strong on the puck at all. Hitch had enough on Friday night when he ended up out against Getzlaf's line and turned it over THREE times in the defensive zone on the same shift. Filatov was scratched last night.

Filatov just needs playing time to continuing his development, and the only way he would do that is if he played top 6 minutes for the Jackets. There's no way he can handle that with a team that is a hopeful playoff team. If he doesn't want to go to Syracuse (which hasn't been direcly stated, but it is a safe assumption), this is probably the best move.

However, this is the KHL we're talking about here, so nothing is safe.

Brendan Shanahan has officially retired. Next stop, the Hall of Fame.

I loved Brendan Shanahan. He was a great player, a premiere power forward for many years and really smart, good guy.

The day the Wings traded for him still goes down as one of the most exciting days I've ever had as a sports fan. I remember hearing about the trade on the radio as I was driving home from work and all the rumors about how Shanahan was on a plane headed to Detroit and all of this. I just sat in the car my driveway listening to it all, bouncing around in the seat of my car and punching the roof. He was the missing piece. The big, tough skilled forward the Wings had lacked for years. He fought someone on Edmoton on his first shift that night and then went on to help Detroit win 3 Stanley Cups.

Sad to see Shanny retire. He was a great player and also the last remaining player to ever serve as captain of the Hartford Whalers.

I would be surprised if he ever comes back to North America. Sounds like he was a little homesick, and wasn't fitting in well with the teams he was on here, including the play style.

Oh, and the KHL has every intention of taking every NHL player they can. Good luck seeing this guy again in Columbus.

Hockey sucks. Please lock and/or delete this thread.

That day was nuts. I remember a Limo driver breaking the story on Stoney's show on WDFN I believe.

Shanny played 9 years in Detroit, and it seemed like it was so much fewer then that. Time really has flown by.

Yeah, that's what I was listening to. Great stuff.

Come on, it hasn't been all that bad. Kessel is on a more than a point-a-game pace and Orr has been more than sufficiently truculent. He really took care of both McGrattan and Carkner.

P.S. Next time you decide to go to a Leafs game please make sure the Wings aren't playing. k? thx.

In theory I don't mind the shootout. In practice I've come to loathe it. Carolina went back to the "new and excruciating ways to lose" habit tonight in Montreal as they gave up a goal late in the third, couldn't score on an OT power play that essentially lasted the entire last two minutes of OT, then ruined a splended effort by Manny Legace in the shootout by failing to score on any of their six attempts. Montreal went first, no less, so from the third to the fifth shooters, Canes players had a chance to win and failed to convert each time. Even Jokinen failed, which pretty much meant a loss at that point since nobody else on the team has a chance of scoring in the shootout. It just took another four shooters for both sides before it was official.

I hate the shootout. It just seems really gimmicky to me, like watching an AHL/ECHL game or something. I don't think deciding a game with a series of controlled breakaways is the correct call.

I also hate how both teams get at least one point in OT. They should play until someone wins, no points for the OT loser, no shootouts, and no ties.

That is totally unrealistic for a sport that plays 82 games over 6 months. Injuries are already too prevalent, continuous OT would just exacerbate that problem.

I agree that a point for losing is stupid though. They should just move to the soccer system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie. Do either a 5 or 10 minute 4-on-4 OT. Rarely would anyone 'play for the tie' when you miss out on 2 full points if you tie.

In the playoffs? Most definitely. In the regular season? Uh, no.

If I had my wish there would be 5 minutes of 4 on 4 and if it was still tied after that, do another 5 minutes of 3 on 3. Still tied? Then do the shootout.

I could live with that, but the idea of playing until someone wins in the regular season would just be brutal. It's awesome when it's the playoffs, but it will kill players over the course of an 82 game season.

I remember last year, after the Wings/Ducks game that went into 3 OTs there were a lot of people moaning about long OT games in playoff hockey. They wanted 4 on 4 to start the OT or go to 4 on 4 after the first period of OT. I disagree with that.

As for shoot outs, I have no love for them. I never watch them. Once the OT ends, I switch channels and check back to see who "won". I was at a Wings game last year that went into a shoout out with my brother. We decided to leave the Joe right after the OT for the same reason, no interest in it. It worked out well, we were out of the Joe and out of Detroit in like 10 minutes.

Oh I agree 100% with you H_B, leave the playoff OT structure alone and it is pretty unrealistic to have regular season games go on to multiple OTs.

I don't see what is so bad about a tie. I know, teams play for the tie once they hit OT, blah blah blah. Keep the 4 on 4, it opens things up, but keep the tie.

I don't hate the shootout-- it is exciting to see these guys on a breakaway. I do hate that it decides a game.

Or at the very least, award only 1 point for a SO win, 0 to the loser. Still 2 if it's won in OT. That should sufficiently push teams to go after it in OT.

Absolutely do not touch playoff OT. Those produce great memories. I can tell you where I was in 2008 when Sykora scored in 3OT Game 5 of the Finals, and same with Petr Nedved in 4 OT vs the Caps in 1996. And, unfortunately, Keith Primeau at 5 OT in 2000.

Dola

I mentioned earlier about the Penguins D-- currently down Gonch, Orpik, Letang and Goligoski-- now lose Jay Mckee for 2 to 4 weeks. And rumor was Mark Eaton left practice early today.

Gonchar and Orpik have been cleared to play after being out four and two weeks. But the potential exists that tomorrow night in Ottawa, it's an Eaton - Skoula top pairing, and 4 AHLers.

Luckily, 2 games after getting one superstar back in Malkin, looks like another superstar will play his first game of the season tomorrow night...

Heh. Didn't mean to revive "is a shootout good or bad" discussion with my post. I was speaking more personally since Carolina sucks at it. :D

Me personally, I'd rather it be a 3-2-1 point system or an all-or-nothing system if shootouts are to be used (just wins and losses, as it were). Maybe do the ten-minute OT as well to reduce the amount of shootouts deciding games.

I am in favor of the "10 points when Ducks win" system.

The Wings got screwed on a "non-goal" by Brad May last night.

I usually don't get too worked up at calls in games, but this one really made no sense at all. How could the ref have even "intended" to blow the whistle before the puck was in the net? It wasn't like it was a rebound or a net mouth scramble. May had the puck, shot it on his backhand, it deflects of Auld's pad and goes in. The time between the puck hitting the pad and going into the net was instantaneous.

Really quite inexcusable.

Plus, it's Brad May. Dude isn't going to score much more, if at all, the rest of the season. Have you no heart Toronto?

I am legitmately excited to hear the NHL's bullshit explanation of this obvious blown call.

Seriously. I'm giddy.

It actually is a rule...When the ref in his mind intends to blow the whistle the play is dead from that point on regardless if he has blown the whistle or not.

I know that's the (incredibly stupid) rule, but there is no way that the ref in his mind would have ever intended to blow the whistle before the puck was in the net. Unless he intended to blow the whistle while the puck was still on May's stick, then there really wasn't an opportunity for him to intend to blow it before the goal was scored.

There was not enough time to even think about intending to do anything between the puck hitting the pad and crossing the redline.

Seriously.

Nothing too surprising about the NHL's explanation:

NHL's Murphy explains no-goal call in Detroit - NHL.com - News

It's essentially as we thought, the ref says he intended to blow the whistle before the puck went into the net. As soon as he says that, apparently, the review process is at an end and the folks in the Toronto War Room shut it down.

I understand that's the rule, but I just don't see how that was possible here. Unless he intended to blow the whistle the moment the puck hit Auld's pad (there's no reason for that), he didn't intend to blow the whistle until after the puck went in. It's a bang-bang play. The puck hit Auld's pad and immediately crossed the line.

He finally blew the whistle a few seconds after the puck crossed the line, which also goes to show that unless he has some neurological issue between his brain and arm, I can't understand how their could be such a long gap between his intent and the action.

I am not really to torn up about this, but the explanation is bullshit and just doesn't conform to reality.

Why isn't the rule just when the whistle blows? You play till the guy blows the whistle. The puck has as much time as that to go in the net.

If you can dig it out of a goalie's pads and stuff it in the net in the time it takes for the ref to stuff the whistle in his mouth and blow, the goalie never really had the puck...

Quick whistles suck. [/guy who made a living poking rebounds in and drawing penalties from poking the goalie]

In case you have not realized...The Leafs are really bad.Thank god the Calgary/Chicago game is on here right after the Leaf game.Now i can get this bad taste out of my mouth.

Could that game have really gone any other way for our two teams at this point (aside from a Toronto win)? Just absurd.

Interesting Jackets/Stars game last night. Both teams came out and decided to play pretty chippy, with four fights in the first period. The first one, Derek Dorsett went after James Neal with a couple of "cross-checks", but Neal didn't want any part of him, so Trevor Daley takes his place. Likely, Dorsett was challenging Neal for fighting Derick Brassard last year and ending his season with a separated shoulder.

NOTE: I have no problem with Neal at this point. There's nothing really for him to gain by fighting Dorsett.

However, in the 2nd period, Neal strides from pretty far away to take a run at Dorsett and hits him in the numbers and a shoulder to the head. Dorsett is knocked out on the spot. The best comparison is of a boxer who just gets his bell rung and tries to get up, but falls back down. Its quite frightening:



The Jackets took advantage and scored 2 goals on the ensuing 5 min major and won the game 4-1.

Now, here's the million dollar question. How long does Neal get suspended for? How long SHOULD he get suspended for?

I'm biased, but I think 2-3 games is enough in this case. From what I've heard, its pretty comparable to the Ruutu hit earlier in the year (which I haven't seen), and he got 3 games (I think).

Another bizarre "intent to blow" call, this one from OT of last night's Canes/Leafs game:



At least this one involved a scramble. But the whistle comes a good two seconds after the puck is clearly in the net. And the ref has the whistle in his mouth the whole time.

ML...I can't believe Wilson did'nt freak after this play.As a coach i would have at least had the ref over for an explanation.I kinda have the feeling that he has quit on the team a bit.I would like to see him replaced soon for a "teaching"type coach...ala Dave King or some such.With the youngsters that will no doubt be coming up soon we need a teacher.

Maybe he was suffering from the same neurological disease that LaRue was suffering from. It could be related to Swine Flu or whatever the hell that plague up in Edmonton is.

This "intent" standard is incredibly meaningless and far too suspectible to after the fact justifications for a bad call.

How awkward would it be for Burke to fire Wilson before the Olympics?

Seriously, eh?

Guess the Oilers should have jumped the H1N1 Vaccine lines like the Flames and Canucks (heard reports of them doing so the other night) did.

Too awkward....that's the problem.If the Leafs don't show some signs of life i don't think he will have a choice.

He should definantly be gone after the olympics if things don't get better.

Neal got 2 games for the hit.

Hm. I didn't see that angle on our FSN feed. I saw the normal center ice angle and I thought it was a legit stoppage, especially after Legace got pulled over backwards and the puck disappeared from view. Obviously it hadn't finished moving but with bodies all over the place and Legace being bent over like that, it's not unreasonable that the ref lost sight of the puck momentarily and blew it dead "in his mind" to protect the players only to see it slide in afterwards. But, yes, it's a pretty damned arbitrary thing and I wouldn't blame Leafs fans for being upset about it.

Ducks are pathetic. While a 3-2 loss to the best team in the league doesn't look too bad on paper, this team has absolutely no chemistry and really doesn't appear to be trying very hard either. Even guys that have played with other before (the top line, Whitney/Wiz pairing) just look completely lost out there. Basic breakdowns all over the ice including the winning goal, Heatley (I think?) skating through the middle, both defensemen and the center converge on him, pass to Thornton, walks in on net, goal. I hate to say it as he's a legend but I think the players might have quit on Carlyle. Even Niedermayer is making basic mental errors and isn't all over the ice like he always has been.

Not sure we ever should have expected anything different, don't know how we ever thought we were going to replace Pronger and Beauchemain with the likes of Eminger and Boynton and that has to fall on the front office. Really bad not to resign Beauch considering we could have fit him under the cap for what Toronto paid. I loved the Koivu signing at the time but realistically, we needed a top 4 defenseman more than a second line center, and Koivu now looks like he doesn't have much left.

Nice knee on knee hit tonight by Laraque on Kronwall. Kenny Holland says he hopes Kronwall just has a strained MCL. Not exactly the best thing to hear about it.

Kronwall has a sprained MCL and will be out 4-8 weeks.

Koivu's still fairly young (35) and his performance was fine last year (no drop off, I mean). I think he's just suffering from the same team-crap performance everyone else is right now. As you said, even Niedermayer is making dumb mistakes. WTF?

Last year was like this early (but not as bad), and I remember thinking tons of time that Carlyle really didn't do a very good job last year. It seems more of the same this year. Carlyle's done a ton for the franchise the past five years, but I agree, it might be time to try someone new there, because this just doesn't seem to be working right now.

You sound like a Wings fan, Chief, when you start referring to 35 year old players as "fairly young". :)

LOL

Heh...true enough. ;)

I'm just noting that, from my experience, most players are still not far off of their peak at 35. Sure, they're not like they were at 27, but usually their production isn't that far off from their best unless they have had debilitating injuries in the meantime.

No, 37, 38, you're talking drop off in today's hockey player, particularly skill players who rely on speed.

Maybe I missed it, but haven't seen this yet.

I normally avoid ESPN for all hockey "coverage", but this I thought was really well written.

John Buccigross: How one of hockey's toughest men accepted his son's courageous admission - ESPN

Wow. Great article.

Indeed a great article. I grew up with the family and knowing Brendan had the courage to come out like that means so much more to me because I knew him way back when.

Can the Sabres learn to finish and put pucks into the net?

Wait, really?

Oveckie got ejected from the game for his hit from behind on Kaleta.

Are the Caps' fans chanting the "referees suck?"

Yep.

Very cool. Where? How long ago?

Also, did Brian Burke ever use the word "truculence" around you?

Umm, no.

At least they scored (had no clue they're playing this afternoon until I flipped it on) first.

Yeah, listening in to the game here at work. Sounds like I'm missing a good one...lots of fights and hits.

I definitely didn't appreciate the availability of live sporting events in the northeast before I moved out to Idaho. I've been going nuts this week. Yesterday I found my way into a single club-level ticket for Bruins/Devils in Boston, it was awesome. I haven't been to an NHL game in years.

Sabres losing Goose for a "few weeks" will hurt. At least Rivet should be back within a week.

Garbage that Kaleta can get suspended for his hit yesterday, but Alex doesn't for his (to Kaleta, btw).

Simply put, Kaleta doesn't score 60 goals a year and isn't the best player in hockey. :)

Losing Goose will be tough, for sure but I'm not that upset about Rivet - his play has deteriorated bigtime this year and maybe some time off will help. That said, losing three of your most physical players isn't a good omen...

Thrashers score five goals in the third to beat Carolina 6-4. Yeah, I know the 'Canes are bad but usually Atlanta just rolls over in cases like that.

Oh I know. I don't have a problem if Kaleta gets a suspension, but at least call the rules all around.

Rivet hasn't been quite the same. Hopefully not playing with Butler will help him more. At least he showed his physical side with the two fights yesterday.

Yes, Butler has a bad case of the "Luke Schenn's" this year...a wee bit of a sophomore slump. Still like him a lot though but I don't think he's ready for all the minutes Lindy is giving him.

Quite the third period collapse by Carolina again tonight, as Buffalo scores five in the last twenty minutes to win going away. Miller's save on Brind'Amour in the second period may just be the best save of the year.

Myers with three points too, although they could give him a fourth assist for the great drop pass he gave Matt Cullen on the Canes only goal :)

Just have to be patient with Butler. Like Myers and Sekera, they're going to make mistakes. I just wonder if Butler was sort of impacting Rivet's play.

I can't remember as great of a game that Miller has played in quite of long time. Besides the big turnover by Myers that gave Carolina their only goal, he was lights-out. Some incredible saves.

Kaleta got two games. Quite pathetic (not that he got that, but others didn't get the same punishment). The rest won't hurt.

Sabres will start getting into a busy schedule now.

First two periods last two games: Carolina 5, opponents 1.
Third period last two games: Opponents 10, Carolina 0.

It's not even that they're getting five-spots hung on them. It's that it takes just one goal and for whatever reason, everything just collapses on Carolina. Mentally they just fall apart. Yes, Miller was on his game tonight, but he wasn't in the attacking zone when Carolina gave up all those goals.

I'm beginning to wonder whether this team will rival or even "better" the 2002-03 team that finished with 61 points and finished DFL. It certainly has some common elements: a surprising playoff run from the prior year is rewarded by maintaining a core of older players, some pieces are added, others lost or given up. I think there's another common element, but I just can't quite think of it...something about the coaching staff.... Anyway, that team also had problems with injuries to key players and was rather self-destructive, but never on this scale (14 Ls in a row, granted those are OT/SO aided) and never this soon (that Carolina team imploded after the New Year).

:banghead:

If things continue the way downhill, do you think they need to blow-up the team and rebuild (starting with the idea of a top 3 draft pick)?

Well, that was pretty much the expectation for next year anyway. We're already the oldest team in the league (just over 30 on average) and have a fair number of the older guys coming off the books after this year. We're in cap hell, surprisingly enough, but that's only for this year, which means we're scraping for players and searching for cap exceptions whenever someone goes down.

The fans are hopeful that players like Brind'Amour and Aaron Ward will retire/move on after this year and allow a new core of young players we've got down in Albany to come up and join Staal and Ward. To some extent it's begun as Brandon Sutter was initially in Albany to start the season, but has pretty much cemented his place on the big roster with his performance in this mess. Will it continue? It's hard to say. Having watched the team over the years, patterns have emerged in Jim Rutherford's abilities. In-season, the guy is a mastermind at finding scrap-heap, recover-and-rebuild players (and coaches, both Maurice and Laviolette) who will make contributions to better the team, even if they don't push the team over the top necessarily. However, I'll be blunt and say he's not very good in offseason activities except for maybe drafting talent. He tends to be too loyal to players, especially older ones, and overcompensates them at contract time (see Cole, Erik). He also seems to too often sign free agents that just don't work out here.

So, fans generally have said the season is lost at this point and are right now looking at who's tradeable (if anyone could be from this mess) and what's coming off the books and hoping the rebuild begins in earnest next year, but I don't know how aggressive Rutherford will be about it, mainly because of his "loyalty" issues.

Hat night giveaway...Pens/Rangers at the Igloo...what could possibly happen?






About 2:00 mins in Crosby scores his third...it was about a 10 min delay to clean up.

At least one hat didn't make it to the ice...my 3 year old son refused to give up his hat.

Edit: no idea what I'm going wrong with the embed? Anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ5EZ9E2kfw

Strange (serious) injury in Florida.

The Tiger Woods story is "strange'. The Vokoun/Ballard incident is just plained fucked up.

Yeah. Florida seems to have a thing in taking out its own players (such as Zednick's teammate cutting his neck with his skate). I guess using sports equipment to is all the rage in Florida.

Sabres-Leafs game is tight, give-and-take so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETOshVnLO8

I love how Ballard swings again (while watching the goalie go down).

Woah. That's fucking crazy.

How 'bout them Leafs?

I bet Maple Leafs wishes that someone would do that to Toskala.

Not a bad game for the Leafs....Miller stole the show again.Can't beleive Lindy will be happy about giving up 38 shots to the Leafs.

Oops, just saw the Vokoun incident online. What makes it 10x worse is that Ballard actually hits the goalpost again, after his goalie is on the ice in agony.

Ovechkin is the dirtiest player in the league right now and if he wasn't a superstar would have been suspended at least twice. Discuss.

2 days after Crosby has his HT against the Rangers....Mike Rupp does the same.

Mike Rupp.
I'll let that sink in.









He's got 8 goals on the season already, 2 more than his previous career high.

I don't think Ovechkin is a dirty player. I think this is just how he plays the game, without regard to others or himself. He is reckless, but I don't think he is trying to hurt people on purpose. There is no logical reason that a guy who is 100 points/year player would try to hurt other players, and himself in the process.

With that being said, he needs to be suspended for at least 10 games for this. Maybe he will mature as he gets older and realize that he can't play the game this way. *shrug*

I don't buy this at all. When Cooke/Ott/Tootoo/Kaleta do the same thing, people make the assumption they are doing it on purpose, because they aren't 60 goal scorers. Scoring 60 goals doesn't make him any less dirty, just means he can do something else well while playing dirty.

And if we hold the guys listed above to a different standard because they have history, so does Ovechkin now.