Bruins sleepwalked through the first 50 minutes of the game tonight against the Rangers, then wake up to tie it at 2 and then Rask gives up a bad goal in the last 2:00 to cost the Bruins a point. This Bruins team needs more offense anyway and now Bergeron has to go back to Boston for tests on his hand. This is not good, not good at all.

Yeah it is on the NHL Network at 730pm.

Now this is a fucking hockey game!! Props to the U.S. defense though, they've been blocking shots like crazy. I hope all hockey fans are watching this exciting gold medal game.

suck it, you hosers!

Nice work for the kids to rebound after losing that 3rd period lead.

U S and A....U S and A!!!

Great game, hard fought by both sides and congrats to the U.S.!

That was an awesome game. My family took to calling overtime "Sudden Eberle" but unfortunately his heroics apparently have limits. So much fun to watch those teams play each other though, wicked fun!

Can't wait for the Olys!

Went to my first Sharks game of the season last night. They layed an egg, but my buddy and I went down to the front row for the last 5 or so minutes, and got to see a big check right in our faces. Awesome!

Canada vs US was a great game - but I do really wish we could have all of the NHL/AHL juniors in the tournament. There are quite a few who couldn't play for Canada and Russia (and I suspect the US and other countries) who would have really upped the talent level of the tournament.

Ya that tournament is so void of talent otherwise.

:rolleyes: Yeah, because that's exactly what I said.

All I am saying is that the tournament with John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane, Steven Stamkos all playing would have really been amazing (and that's just looking at a handful of names I recognized - I know Russia had quite a few guys not playing as well).

I know, I was mostly poking fun. That said, I think I like it better the way it is. Those kids all shine in the NHL (and had their shot or two at the WJCs already). This way some spotlight falls on a few kids that might otherwise never be heard of, and who it probably means a whole lot more to in the long run. And even the last guy on each squad is an extremely talented hockey player, it's not like anyone is embarrassing themselves out there.

That Carlson goal was ridiculous. I know it wasn't some end-to-end rush with a crazy deke, but the skill involved is incredible.

Put it this way: imagine how much hockey skill it takes to snipe a shot top corner like that. OK, now imagine doing it without looking: Carlson's "No Look" Shot in 20*Frames - Japers' Rink

Carlson is property of the Capitals...how did they get him you ask? They got him with the pick the Flyers traded them for Steve Emminger.

Fuck you Paul Holmgren!

That was a great game. Very exciting and wonderful atmosphere. Carlson's goal was pretty fantastic. Allen really struggled. I think 4 out of 5 goals he let in were bad goals. He was screend on Carlson's first goal on the powerplay and didn't really have a chance at that. The US goalie who was pulled didn't play much better.

I have always been very adamant against going to 4-on-4 for sudden death OT playoff hockey, but that OT was pretty great. I am not sure if it changed my mind on the subject, but it did show the potential.

Eminger, eh? The gift that keeps on giving. He is continuing his sucky ways in Anaheim this season.

I mean in the grand scheme of things it wasn't too bad because the Flyers traded Eminger and head case Downie to Tampa Bay for Matt Carle. But it was just a start of things to come trading first round draft picks away.

I think I'd riot if I saw 4x4 in the NHL playoffs, but in a situation where you're only going to have one full overtime followed by a shootout (tournaments and such where you have multiple games on a single sheet per day), I think the 4x4 opens it up enough that it lessens the # of shootouts, and while neither is "true" hockey, 4x4 is a hell of a sight closer than a shootout.

"true" hockey is actually 6-on-6. This 5-on-5 crap we've been putting up with for the last 100 years or so is a mockery. Bring back the rover!

Doesn't playing on an international-sized rink (instead of the NHL-sized rink) play a big role in that?

Ugh. Two steps forward, one step back, as Zetterberg and Cleary are in the lineup tonight vs LA, but yesterday during practice Holmstrom broke his foot working on tips and is out 3-4 weeks.

Wings beat the Kings 2-1 when Darren Helm scores a goal Jonathan Quick we'll wish he had back with 17 seconds left. This was huge as the Wings got dominated, but Jimmy Howard was unreal turning away 51 shots in the best game he has played in his professional career.

I was actually able to stay up to watch this one. Great game by Howard, but it was odd to see the Wings get so thoroughly dominated like that. I can't recall barely any sustained pressure in the Kings defensive zone other than a few shifts by the top line.

A very odd goal by Helm, but, like all his goals, it was created by his speed.

Despite the Wings' obvious fall back into the pack, the emergence of Jimmy Howard is really impressive and could go a long way for the franchise in the future. Then again, you just never know about goalies. NHL history is littered with goalies who have come on strong their first year only to fade in the playoffs or the following year. The only thing that gives me a little hope on this front is that Howard isn't some 20 year old kid. He's been in the minors for a while and a little more battle-tested. We'll see what happens...

Toronto is just horrible tonight.

And the Sabres can't seem to understand that you have to play 60 FULL minutes.

BLOW LEAFS BLOW :)

Sabres played a bad last 10 minutes but 6 wins in a row is still pretty good!

I heart Tyler Myers.

Trap was not working, Brodeur gives up 3 goals....Lou turns out the lights.


Devils-Lightning game suspended by light problem - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

:D


I like Miller's post-game comments.

I agree 100%. I think Howard is a bit different then say Steve Mason, but at the same time, there is nothing definitive to say he will be a stud. I will say this, he has a ton of confidence right now and is showing he can win games by himself.

I don't know how it will all play out but tonight vs the Sharks will be interesting. This is the biggest game for the Wings so far this year.

Really nutty sequence in the Pens-Leafs tonight.

Gonchar with a rocket, initially ruled off the post. Leads to a breakaway at the other end of the ice for Ponikarovsky, who is hooked from behind, signal for a penalty shot.

During the stoppage, they review Gonchar's shot, which is a goal.

I was under the impression when a played is reviewed, clock is rewound, and everything happening post-goal never existed. I guess the rule is no goals would count, but penalties do carry over. The argument being to prevent someone from taking a cheap penalty, but to me that's pretty weak, as nobody was certain it was a goal yet.Because of a rule stating you can not have two goals at the same stoppage, initial of a penalty shot changed to a 2 min hooking minor.

To make it all more confusing, the guy taking the hooking call.......Gonchar. So box score shows:

14:44 Sergei Gonchar (6), power play, Slap Shot. Assist: Malkin, Guerin
14:44 Gonchar, 2 min, Hooking

Then to add to the fun, Gonchar scores again when he gets out of the box.

Nice one-handed goal by Crosby last night.

Huge win by the Wings last night. Might have been their best all around game in a long time. A huge 3-1 West coast trip. Now they need to finish business on the road Tuesday vs the Isles.

Same for the Ducks. After getting the Wings their one loss on their West Coast trip (;)), they beat the Blues at home and got a key win on the road last night in Nashville.

The chance is small they can play their way back into things, but hopefully they can. It's weird to see the Wings and Ducks both trying to play their way into the playoffs.

Tonight will be tough. Going to Chicago.

Agreed. I was nervous after that Ducks game which was just awful, having to play the Kings and Sharks, and hell, we didn't deserve the Kings game, that was all Jimmy Howard, but they for sure earned yesterday.

I think the West is still very wide open since a lot of young teams are in the hunt and no one knows how they will fare as crunch time upon us.

In the Pens-Flyers game on Thursday Simon Gagne scored a SHG that was later overturned because their was no evidence of the puck crossing the line. However after the no-goal review was announced, FSN Pittsburgh showed a view where the puck was clearly over the line. So why wasn't this seen by Toronto?

That's an ugly situation and while I'm sure not intentional, it brings up a bunch of very interesting questions. Can you imagine if it happens in a late season game in which a team needs to win to make the playoffs, the local broadcast station has a pretty clear incentive to "lose" the replay footage.

In this day and age it's pretty incredible that the NHL can't afford their own cameras at each arena to make goalline calls (hell you only need 10-12 sets because there are never more games than that on the same day), hopefully they take a look at this after the season. Would hate for there to be a really controversial situation one day because of something like this.

Wonder what the rule is as far as what feed must be used, because this was also shown in the US (outside of Pittsburgh market) on NHL Network, not using the FSNP feed. Watching highlights (or for that game, lowlights) on NHL on the Fly, it was not the FSNP call being used.

No idea, is there a rule as far as the home team supplies the video feed?

I always assumed that the NHL had direct access to the footage being recorded by all cameras within the arena. I figured the Fox team would be running the cameras and whatnot, but that the NHL team would be able to tap into every camera and whatever it has recorded at any time. It seems pretty goofy that they would have to rely on a network to actively provide them with footage.

Ducks net another absolutely huge win by going into Chicago and beating the #1 team in the West. That's the kind of tough game they're going to need to continue to win, with the hole they've dug themselves. Hopefully they can keep it up.

I was watching that game on the NHL Network and was totally baffled by the call. It was clearly a goal.

The NHL has to figure out a better way to handle this stuff. I like the idea of the "Toronto War Room", but that place needs to have access to every possible angle available and not simply rely on whatever network is broadcasting the game is willing to send them.

That was the second worst call I have seen this season, following only the inexplicable no-goal call on Brad May's only "goal" of the season when apparently the referee "intended" to blow the whistle the moment Brad May shot the puck.

I assumed this was the case as well. I'm surprised the league has to rely on the networks to show them the footage. I doubt this is the case with the NFL.

NHL investigating FSN Pittsburgh | Frequent Flyers | 01/11/2010

FSN Pittsburgh employee suspended in goal replay flap


I don't understand is why you release that replay on TV at all, if you aren't sending it to Toronto. There are thousands of images a night that don't make it to air, why not leave this in a dumpster with those of guys in the crowd with their shirts off and little kids with their faces painted?

Obviously not connected to the Penguins officially, this guy couldn't even cheat properly.

I was watching this game when it happened. I sort of remember seeing a far away shot of the replay that made it look like a good goal. It wasn't the close up that they showed after play resumed, but it was the same angle and it looked like a goal.

Still, if the guy was holding that angle back on purporse that's pretty bad. Maybe he "inteded" to send the replay right before play resumed, but just didn't, thus negating the whole issue.

Uh-oh. The Canes are in serious jeopardy of falling out of last place and reducing their odds of getting Taylor Hall. Third win in a row tonight in beating Toronto 4-2. Did it in under 20 shots, no less. Not sure what's up with the shooting, but the team has been struggling mightily to get any shots on goal the last couple of weeks, so this three-game streak is somewhat bizarre all things considered.

Ouch...Wings lose 6-0 to the Isles?

Woo Devils. Way to beat the Rangers. Both goalies were getting at it, but Marty was his usual brilliant self.

I suppose this is the silver lining to the fact that I am still at work...

edit: You know, that I didn't get to watch this game. I saw at one point in the middle of the 3rd the shots were 29-12 for the Islanders. That's pretty sad.

The Oilers are doing their best to help them out too. 5-3 loss to Nashville tonight. I think they have 1 win in their last 14 games now...

I don't think they'd draft Hall anyways - I would imagine the Canes would go for Tyler Segin, since he players for the OHL team they own (and therefore can control his development...)

I'm sure the Oilers would jump all over the opportunity to draft Hall or Seguin but I'm guessing we won't have to worry about that because the way things have gone this season we'll likely end up with the 3rd pick overall.

This is my last post in this thread until the title is changed to "The OFFICIAL 2009-10 NHL Off-Season Thread".

Looking forward to the Sabres start a 7-game, 14 day road trip tomorrow (coast-to-coast). Atlanta, NY Islanders, Phoenix, Anaheim, LA, San Jose, and Vancouver.

This is good evidence of how I haven't been following hockey enough this year: Dellapina used to be a Rangers beat writer and I had no idea he left the Daily News.

Went to the Ducks-Bruins game tonight. Very exciting and fun game to watch. Hiller made some amazing shots (and one of the goals he allowed was pretty much impossible to stop; late and close inadvertent pass deflection type).

The Ducks keep winning. Hopefully they keep it up. Huge game Thursday night on the "road" at Staple Center against the Kings--currently in the 8th playoff spot.

Well, sonofab...

I knew Teemu went down to a shot to the face, and was worried, but I figured his face just got messed up, get him to a dentist, make sure he doesn't have a concussion and get him back going again.

Unfortunately, he actually broke his jaw and will be out 4-6 weeks. :(

We just got him back, too, last Saturday. Now I am wondering if he will be able to play in the Olympics. Man, he has been waiting so long for that...

Get better, Teemu.

The crowd (or lack of one) in Atlanta are just brutal to see and hear on TV.

And how many uniforms does Atlanta have?

I knew from the way he was writhing around that something in his face was broken. I just hoped it wasn't anything near his eyes. Hockey players are too tough to roll around like that if it's just a couple of teeth.

Instigating KHL Hockey Brawl Costs Russian Team -- NHL FanHouse

From a few days ago, a massive KHL bench clearer that ended the game in a forfeit and cost the instigating team 4 million rubles.

Only in the NHL do you get this kind of stuff-

Penguins Sign Pechurski to One-Game Try Out - Pittsburgh Penguins - News


Fleury broke a finger against Edmonton the other night. Brent Johnson out with an undisclosed injury. John Curry up from Wilkes-Barre...and promptly gives up 5 goals in about 1/2 a game vs the Canucks.

So, in comes Pechurski...er, should be Pechersky, as it was mentioned during the broadcast that he said in pre-game interviews (thru RW turned translator Ruslan Fedotenko, since the kid speaks zero English) that it should be spelled with a Y. Also, he wore #40 last night, which would be the number of Curry's AHL backup Brad Thiessen (Pens declined to bring Thiessen across the country for 1 game, also the Baby Pens played Friday night). Pechurski/y typically wears #70. Pens equipment guys ordered 2 #70 jerseys for overnight delivery (I am guessing something like NHLshop.com ?) but those got held up in customs. Also, he had to use MAF's pads, the one's he uses in the WHL are considered illegal for NHL play.

He gave up 1 goal in about 30 mins of work...and gets named #3 star of the game. Good shit.

That's a great story. I was looking at the Pens box score last night and wondering who the hell either of those 2 goalies were.

Those are some pretty good numbers in juniors and obviously he did well last night. Sounds like they might want to keep him up over Curry and he might have just turned himself into a decent prospect for the future.

Blackhawks and Red Wings were fun to watch today. Go Blackhawks.

I loved Johnny Curry @ BU, but never thought his game would translate to success in the NHL. Unfortunate, he's an awesome guy.

Interesting story today how the Pistons and Red Wings may build a new downtown stadium to share:

Wait, so he signed a "one game amateur tryout" contract, but he played in an NHL game? That confuses me.

Still, good story.

From what I've read, he didn't get paid. If that's true, that sounds amateur to me.

Yeah, but how is that legal, to play in the freakin' NHL on a tryout contract? Legal with respect to the CBA, I mean, and the league min pay rules and what not (obviously, there is no law against an amateur contract).

I don't know the CBA at all, but there's got to be some type of concession for an emergency goaltender. Now, I realize the ECHL is a different league, but I've attended ECHL games where the starting goalie was signed off the street the same afternoon because of an emergency.

Sorry, I might not even be addressing your point. I guess I just don't understand what's so strange about the situation.

But they were paid, ya know? Getting an emergency goalie is definitely something we're all familiar with. But sticking an amateur in there, in a game in the highest professional league in the world and not paying him? That's not how this stuff normally works. I have only heard that practice in soccer, and even then, such players aren't allowed to play in games that count, just exhibitions.

So since I have never seen this before, I am curious under exactly what sort of situation this is here. Even that locker room attendant or whatever that served as the Caps backup goalies for a game a couple years ago was at least getting paid (if not as a backup goalie, certainly as a locker room attendant).

Justin Abdelkader actually did this for the Wings:

From Wiki -

On April 3, 2008, Abdelkader signed a one-game amateur tryout with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and was to play that night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. In doing so, he forfeited his college eligibility for the 2008–09 season. The following day, Abdelkader signed a three-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings.[1]

Also, if this kid was in the WHL, he gets paid so he doesn't have amateur status anyway.

Dola,

What I meant to say is people in the WHL lose amateur status as far as college goes as they are paid to play. It's not a lot but they do get paid. That said, I believe the rule is you can play 8 or 9 NHL games without losing Junior status.

My confusion is not about Pechersky's status as an amateur. It's about the type of contract and him being allowed to play in a regular season NHL game on it.

I am suspecting we're lacking some information here. We may be assuming that "amateur" means "he doesn't get paid", when it actually means something else, some special type of one-game exemption the NHL allows in emergency situations, where the player is paid the league minimum for one game. The "amateur" could simply be a reference to the player in question not being a past NHL professional or attached to any other NHL team as a prospect.

OK, I just looked it up. Exhibit 17 of the CBA is a one-day amateur tryout contract. Its sole purpose is to allow a player to suit up as an NHL player for one day without compensation.

Also, in the case of Abby, they signed him to that amateur deal for one game when we were up against the cap and needed a player (it was near the end of the season and they didn't want to rush back guys who were healing for the playoffs)

Had he signed a deal it would have put us over the cap, but the amateur deal stopped that. He had just finished his season with MSU and was going to sign regardless, so they just used a loophole to get him in under the cap for a game.

Huh...well, that's the first I have ever heard of that being allowed by any pro league. Thanks for looking that up, Pumpy.

Yeah they do not get paid for it. It's just a way to get around the cap for a game.

In any case, Pechersky is attached to the Penguins because they drafted him. He hasn't signed an NHL entry-level contract yet, but Pittsburgh has his NHL rights. I don't think any other NHL team could sign him to a tryout agreement.

Yeah, I didn't know that about Pechersky, but assumed it, based on DeTox's example with Abdelkader, since Abdelkader was an unsigned Wings prospect at the time.

A heads up for any gamblers out there: I'm heading to the Rangers-Canadiens game in a bit. The last 7 games I've been to, the Rangers have lost. Hammer the Habs and give me a cut.

To keep him up, they would need to sign him to a longer term deal. And, Curry won't be up much longer either. Johnson is ready to come off IR, and Fleury probably could have played- he broke his finger in the Calgary game, still started the Edmonton game, finishing and winning both of those.

Curry was seen as pretty much being handed the backup job in the late summer, until Johnson took a bargain deal ($550K) to backup Fleury, and has been really good.




I don't think it's any different than a guy getting a try-out deal in September. Yes, those are preseason games, but they aren't being paid while playing an NHL game.

Also happened, strangely enough, for Vancouver againt Pittsburgh in 2003. Chris Levesque was playing for the Univ of BC in 2003 at the time, and a similar situation where Canucks were at home, but the Manitoba Moose were on the east coast. Dan Cloutier was injured, Johan Hedberg was to start, but there was no backup. Levesque shows up, sits on the bench for 60 mins, and gets to tell his grandchildren a great story.

In Levesque's case, he couldn't accept payment and still be eligible at UBC. Pechursky would be able to accept payment, but I guess all try-out deals are structured the same way.

One great point of the game, about 7 mins left, Darcy Hordichuk runs over Pechursky. Eric Godard ragdolls Hordichuk off Pechursky and just unloads to the back of Hordichuks head while he's done on the ice. Yeah, he got tossed, PP for Vancouver (game long since decided). But Godard won over a bunch of guys in that locker room and in Pittsburgh in general. If he'll do that for a guy who chances are he'll never play another shift with, he'll sure as hell protect Crosby/Malkin.

I think Godard just wanted to punch somebody. He shoved Hordichuk into Pechersky. Still, I 100% agree with your last sentence.

This

In the example above, the Levesque guy was undrafted and playing in college, free to sign with any team.

Also of note, he was playing for the same team (Magnitogorsk) in Russia than Malkin played for, prior to coming to NA to play.

Makes me wonder why Fedotenko translated and not Malkin....lazy Russian. :D

Absurd shootout goal from Dats today:

That and the Bertuzzi effort on the third shot were tremendous plays. While I'm no fan of the Wings, it's unfortunate those two efforts were spoiled in the SO loss.

Tonight is an example of why the league still has a long way to go.

Kobe vs LeBron is on ESPN tonight.

Crosby vs Ovechkin is on...well, for me, FSN Pittsburgh, and I think maybe NHL Network nationally.

Can't wait though. Malkin with the HT vs the Isles the other night (hopefully his slump buster) and Sid with a ridiculous 6 point game.

Sabres come off a wild game against the Ducks by playing the Kings tonight and continue its west coast swing.

After scoring once over the prior 10 periods, the Rangers have scored 14 goals over the next 5.

Fixed ;)

It was fun seeing Hartnell make VERY quick work of Avery. :D

Haha. At least I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Big shootout win for the Wings tonight. So glad we picked up Drew Miller off waivers. He is earning himself a contract with the team, I hope Kenny pulls the trigger on it.

Since you can't have Ryan, you could at least have his brother. :)


BTW, the Kings announcers suck. Talk about boring.

Fuck LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi. He comes out with this direct assault on Michigan coach Red Berenson (Keep in mind Lombardi is from Boston):


Well, Jack Johnson fired back today:


Lombardi is a fucking mockery.

Does this mean that Johnson is on his way out of LA? I don't see how you can say this shit about a guy and keep him on your team.

I would also expect Berenson to not say a word, as is his style. Let Lombardi look like the asshat that he is....

I saw this last night. Tortorella makes me laugh. And Larry Brooks is really a homely man.

I love the look Brooks shoots some other reporter who laughs at him.

Redden getting in that fight was probably the first and last time he's ever been cheered in the Garden.

This.

Well this is surprising. Without checking can you guess who number four is?