About a month ago if you would have asked me who were the two teams in each conference that nobody would want to face in a playoff series, I would have said without hesitation - Buffalo, Montreal, Anaheim and San Jose. As of today I think I would say New Jersey, Ottawa, Nashville and Calgary. I'm sure that will change by tomorrow though...
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Here's my take on Eklund's "Ray Bourque Rule" - I like the creativity behind the idea but I think it rewards GMs for their inability to create or maintain cap space for flexibility.
In an NHL season there are approximately 184 days in the regular season and the trade deadline occurs 40 days before the end of the season. That means that for players acquired at the deadline, the new team is only on the hook for 21.7% of the player's contract - and they get said player for the playoffs too.
Hypothetically, Peter Forsberg is on the trade block at the deadline. His salary/cap hit for 06/07 is $5.75 mil which means that the team hoping to acquire him only needs to have about $1.24 mil in cap space to get the deal done. To me that doesn't sound at all unreasonable to land a superstar player. If they've already spent up to the cap and have no funds left for deals then that is the decision that the GM made over the course of the year.
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There hasn't been a lot of news out of Pittsburgh recently, but in this case no news seems to be good news. The sides are keeping the negotiations out of the media and Mr. Rendell is hoping to meet with Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle either late Thursday or Friday. According to the Post Gazette it's "unlikely that the meeting this week will produce a final agreement", but the Tribune-Review said Gov. Rendell "would like to announce a deal this week that would keep the Penguins in town in a new arena". Whether it happens this week or not, it is extremely encouraging that things seem to be progressing in that direction by all accounts. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that the good people of Pittsburgh get to keep their team. As I've said before, it's in the best interest of the city, the team and the league that this deal gets done.
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Ok, on to the games now...
St. Louis 6, Anaheim 2
This was the 1000th game in Ducks history. In case you're wondering, they've won 411 and lost 437 in regulation. The other 152 are a combination of ties, OTLs and shootout losses.
My favorite Ducks moments are still Charlie Conway's triple deke and the time when Julie "The Cat" Gaffney made that huge glove save.
Eric Brewer was flying tonight. He ended up with a goal and two assists. If I'm St. Louis I wouldn't be so quick to move him - I'd first determine whether he would be interested in an extension and how much it would take to get a deal done. He's only 27 and just entering his prime.
Fantastic patience shown by Rucinsky to stop on a two-on-one to wait for Weight.
Unfortunately, just minutes later, O'Donnell caught Marty with his head down and crushed him. My last memory of O'Donnell against the Blues involved Jamie Storr sprawled out on the ice and OD pounding Geoff Courtnall behind the net. Of course Kings fans well remember what happened for those five minutes when Sean was in the box...
Parros v Walker - pretty even until Parros threw him down. Great to see a game (or even a period) with so much emotion including some big hits and a couple fights.
Tkachuk unleashed a cannon from the point on the PP and the Ducks seemed in total shock. It looked like Brzygalov wanted to come out and he got his wish.
Jamal Mayers scored the first shorthanded goal the Ducks have allowed all year.
At what point do we start talking about Andy Murray making a run at Coach of the Year? The Blues won just 7 of their first 32 games. Since then they've gone 10-2-2, beating teams like Buffalo, Anaheim and New Jersey.
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Edmonton 2, Minnesota 1
Minnesota was really shorthanded tonight as Keith Carney, Todd White and Kurtis Foster all got hurt and didn't play after the first.
For Edmonton, Coach MacTavish wasn't behind the bench and I wish him well while he's away.
Carney did return briefly but he re-injured himself, allowing the Oilers to strike first as he lay hurt on the ice.
Minny's goal was a little weak. I've been saying it for a while that Rolly is tired and this team desperately needs a backup.
Although Roloson made a huge glove save off Skoula with just 8.4 seconds to go to preserve the win.
The Wild's D for two periods ended up being three kids and a Czech - Shawn Belle (21), Brent Burn (21), Nick Schultz (24) and Martin Skoula (27).
This is really cool.. it's from an NHL press release:
“Hockey Day Minnesota,” presented by McDonald's, will take place Saturday. The first-of-its-kind U.S. television event will feature 11 consecutive hours of hockey-related coverage on FSN North and will be anchored live from a studio desk at Xcel Energy Center. Included in the live coverage will be a Minnesota High School game played outdoors, the U. of Minnesota vs. Denver U. at Mariucci Arena and the Wild's game that night against the Dallas Stars. Special hockey-related features, produced by the Minnesota Wild and FSN will air between games.
I still think the league should start talking to NBC now about a Hockey Day in the USA next year - from Hollywood to Hockeytown and everywhere in between.
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Ottawa 5, Washington 2
Going into tonight, Ottawa's trio of Alfredsson, Heatley and Kelly were a combined +34 in their last four games.
Tonight was Comrie's turn to shine as he potted a pair.
Chris Clark scored shorthanded for #17. He's well on his way to a career year and is a really good skater.
The third goal was scored thanks to a very fortuitous bounce of the boards behind the net.
Eminger scored his first of the year - he's a good example of a guy from 2002 who hasn't yet played up to his potential.
Heatley-Hossa, Hossa-Heatley.. how do you rank those two? I'd take Heatley if I had to pick but it would be very very close.
The Sens are back.
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Carolina 3, Florida 2 (OT)
The Panthers were also playing in game #1000 and they've now gone 376-427 with 197 games that went to OT that they didn't win.
Justin Williams scored the winner in OT - he now has seven GWG. I know a lot of people complain about how the shootout "isn't real hockey". In many ways I agree but I'll take it a step further and say that 4-on-3 hockey with a guaranteed point in your pocket "isn't real hockey" either.
The Panthers are 0-10 in games that end after regulation time. Take away those 10 losses and well, they're still not very good.
We even got to see John Grahame in this one..pretty exciting stuff.
The Canes need to visit the Hall of Fame more often. They play in Toronto on March 27 - I'd recommend they call now to make the arrangements.
Mike Van Ryn was not at all happy about the call in OT:
"It seems every time you touch Brind'Amour you get a penalty. I don't understand it. He was going to the net, I just put my stick around him. I thought you were allowed to do that as long as you're not putting it between his feet. It seems we were battling and they fall down and we get penalties." (from AP)
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Vancouver 4, Montreal 0
I'm a little confused - did Habs' players really have the stomach flu or did they get mono? I would think that a flu would have cleared their systems by now.
You know Luongo wanted to do so well in this one, and he did (despite spending last night in the hospital). That's exactly why he should be so feared in the playoffs - he's very very hungry.
Vancouver got goals from very unlikely sources - Josh Green (#2), Lukas Krajicek (#2), Ryan Kesler (#6), Jan Bulis (#8).
Kevin Bieksa - 2 assists, +3, 25:31 TOI.
If Carbonneau was upset the other night, I can only imagine what he's feeling right now.
It's probably just a coincidence, but ever since my friend Chris at work got his digital box to watch the Habs on RDS, they've been shutout as many games as they've won. Over that stretch they're 3-6 and they have scored just 20 goals. If the slump continues much longer, the box may have to go back. Perhaps his lovely wife put some kind of curse on the team to try to avoid having French hockey games on their TV a 3-4 times a week...
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Toronto 4, Tampa Bay 2
Raycroft made some really huge saves tonight, as did Denis. Both goalies have been much maligned this year, and rightfully so.
The AP story says that Raycroft redeemed himself, but did he really? If you had to describe an inconsistent goalie in just one word, well that word would be "inconsistent". That's Andrew - he can be really great one night and really bad the next. Tonight I give him credit for playing well but I don't think he's off the hook - not by a longshot.
Kubina let his emotions get the best of him against his former mates and was very lucky that it didn't cost them on the scoreboard.
Marty and Vinny are awesome to watch together. Lecavalier has a 5 game goal streak and St. Louis now has a 12 game point streak.
Antropov and Ponikarovsky were both back in the lineup. I just can't see those two (who have one 40+ point season between them) making a huge impact on this team although it will be nice to have some more NHL talent in the lineup. Tonight they each had a goal and an assist (Alexei's goal was into the empty net).
I know at least one reader will be very unhappy that Ben Ondrus and Kris Newberry were sent down to make room for the Nik and Pony show.
The Florida game on Thursday will be VERY tough for the Leafs. They'll have to get their minds back on hockey quite quickly after likely spending a day in the sun golfing on Wednesday.
How many Lightning players (aside from St. Louis, Lecavalier, Richards, Boyle, Kuba and Prospal) would be able to crack an average NHL team's lineup on a daily basis?
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Columbus 5, Chicago 4 (OT)
Sergei Fedorov came back and scored the first goal of the game. The downside for Jackets fans is that Fedorov's return meant that Brule's ice time was back down - to 8 minutes.
Such a shame for Brule. Looking at the 05 first round, Carey Price, Luc Bourdon, Marc Staal, Ryan O'Marra, Ryan Parent, Andrew Cogliano and Steve Downie all represented Canada in Sweden and came back with Gold Medals. Since December 9th, Brule has gone pointless in 18 of 19 games and he's a combined -11. The kid just turned 20 two weeks ago - what a disaster this season has turned into for his development.
Jim Vandermeer scored his first of the year and Columbus rookie Joe Motzko scored his first NHL goal.
I can understand why the Lightning would want Khabibulin. I can understand why the Lightning would want to trade Richards. I can understand why the Hawks would want Richards. But I can't for the life of me figure out why Chicago would even consider trading Khabibulin. He's just as valuable to the team as Havlat, in my opinion. I just don't see it happening..
Speaking of Havlat, Marty had had his first multi-point game in 11 games. Earlier in the year he seemed to do that pretty much every night (actually 2 out of every 3 nights - 8 times in 12 games).
Chimera scored the OT winner.
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New Jersey 1, NY Rangers 0
Should we engrave the Hart and the Vezina now or do you think it's easier to just wait until the other awards have been decided?
Seriously, when all is said and done this may end up being one of the best year by a goalie - Ever.
Jagr finally had a shot on goal against the Devils - but just one.
Brodeur robbed Straka late in the game he now has 8 shutouts. Only two others (Hasek - 6, Kiprusoff - 5) have more than half that total.
Brad Lukowich is certainly an unlikely candidate to score the only goal of the game. Brad was once dealt along with Manny Fernandez from Dallas to the Wild for 3rd and 4th round picks.
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Atlanta 6, Los Angeles 2
So the Fukufuji era didn't get off to a rousing start, but without the adversity it wouldn't make a very good movie one day.
The Thrashers demolished the Kings in the faceoff circle, winning 42 of 61. Kopitar won just 4 of 19 and Conroy won 5 of 16. On the flip side, Holik won a very impressive 17 of 21.
Atlanta also scored 2 PP goals on three chances, and only took two penalties - killing off both.
Hossa broke out of a mini streak with a hat trick.
Braydon Coburn doubled his season total with 2 assists and was a +3. For some reason I really don't think that the Trashers' brass cares how many points this kid is putting up.
Kings' defenders - can anyone clear a rebound?
This one was actually 3-2 mid-way through the third and the Kings outshot the Thrashers 14-8 in the period.
Why don't we ever hear about Kovalchuk anymore? Now that he's toned down the flash and become a much better two-way player, he doesn't get the headlines anymore. Also, he hasn't had a multi-goal game since November 6th.
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Pittsburgh 5, NY Islanders 2
Crosby had a tough go of it in this one, getting crushed by Witt and speared by Blake - although he bounced back in true superstar fashion, potting two goals in the third, including the winner.
The Pens need to find a way to stick up for Crosby while not taking too many penalties that could hurt the team. They had to kill off a few PPs in the first, thanks to retaliatory penalties.
Such a variance between the refs from game to game - for example the LA-Atlanta game had just 5 minors called while this game saw 16 powerplays and a whopping seven hooking penalties. Still gotta work on the consistency..
Christensen scored beautiful goal, tucking the puck in one-handed.
The Pens need someone other than Malone to handle the retribution. This was the second time Ryan got an instigator and a misconduct for fighting and he has just 12 PIMs aside from these two incients.
Former Penguin Richard Park scored on a 3-on-5. The last Islander to perform that feat was Benny Hogue back in 1993 and according to the AP story, the Elias Sports Bureau couldn't find another instance where the Pens allowed a 3-on-5 goal within the last 20 years.
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Nightly awards...
Jimmy Carson star of the night award:
MARIAN HOSSA
Vitali Yachmenev rookie of the night award:
JOE MOTZKO
Dmitri Khristich nightly leadership award:
SIDNEY CROSBY
Allan Bester goalie of the night award:
ROBERTO LUONGO
Aki-Petteri Berg top defenseman trophy:
KEVIN BIEKSA
Bruce Shoebottom unsung hero award:
JASON CHIMERA
Andre Racicot red light special award:
ILYA BRYZGALOV
Chris Kontos random scorer award:
BRAD LUKOWICH
Have a great Wednesday,
Danny Tolensky -
[email protected] 
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