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.