Don't look now, here come the New Jersey Devils to gum up the Eastern standings. The Devils did the Sabres another favour by shanking the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Saturday night.
Jersey have won seven straight. They now have 54 points, six behind Buffalo and Atlanta..
The Devils are 15-1-2 since January 9th
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This is becoming comical. The Atlanta Thrashers and Buffalo Sabres have been racing door to door for the past week. The two teams are presently tied for ninth place with 60 points. They've fallen, and they can't get up.
The suddenly sloppy and goal-famished Sabres have lost three of four, including home clunkers to the Islanders, Maple Leafs and Blues. The Sabres have lost six of eight points in the past five days. Leaving points on the table now is killing Buffalo's chances of catching Carolina.
The Thrashers entered Saturday's action 2-6-2 in their past ten. GM Rick Dudley detonated a stick of dynamite under his team on Friday. He traded Rich Peverly and Boris Valabik to Boston for Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart.
Didn't work.
On Saturday afternoon, Atlanta blew a 3-1 lead, then, Taylor Hall erupted for a natural hat trick and the Edmonton Oilers crashed Les Thrash, 5-3.
Atlanta have fallen, and they can't get up. Buffalo have done Atlanta a huge solid this week by playing uninspired hockey.
Dallas pivot, Brad Richards, is suffering from concussion-like symptoms. Richards was whack
ed by Sammy Pahlsson of Columbus.
Understandably, the Stars are being very quiet about the injury to their best player. Richards has 24 goals and 63 points in 56 games this season. Dallas have fallen from the penthouse in the Western standiings to 7th place. Losing Richards now is a serious blow to Dallas.
Meanwhile in Buffalo, Tim Connolly has been the object of trade speculation for the better part of this season. Now woudl be a great time to get excellent trade value for Connolly. Dallas, Columbus, Chicago, LA, Washington, and Pittsburgh are in desperate need of a playmaker pivot who can play 5 on 5, PK, and PP.
Connolly isn't doing a thing in Buffalo. Its time to move him to another team. Preferably for a centreman.
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