SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF - Philadelphia Flyers
SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF - Philadelphia Flyers
SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF - Philadelphia Flyers
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<strong>SPORT</strong>-<strong>SCAN</strong> <strong>DAILY</strong> <strong>BRIEF</strong><br />
NHL 3/8/2013<br />
Anaheim Ducks<br />
661911 Ryan Getzlaf is Ducks' Captain Comeback<br />
661912 Ducks closing in on franchise record of 11 straight home<br />
wins<br />
661913 Miller: High school hockey players take a peak<br />
661914 Lev: 1,000th game no minor feat for Steve Carroll<br />
Boston Bruins<br />
661915 Anton Khudobin helps Bruins stop slide<br />
661916 Bruins place Chris Bourque on waivers<br />
661917 Bruins beat Maple Leafs, 4-2<br />
661918 Bruins bounce back for 4-2 win over Maple Leafs<br />
661920 Final: Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2<br />
661921 Tonight's Bruins lineup<br />
661922 Chris Bourque placed on waivers<br />
661923 Lineup changes likely for Bruins<br />
661924 Game 21: Maple Leafs at Bruins preview<br />
661925 Deposed Brian Burke only focused on what’s next<br />
661926 For B’s, result two good<br />
661927 Right steps for Tyler Seguin<br />
661928 Chiarelli ‘close’ to scoring Swede Carl Soderberg<br />
661929 Bruins never make it easy<br />
661930 A special delivery for the B's?<br />
661931 Bruins hold off Leafs, 4-2<br />
Buffalo Sabres<br />
661932 Sabres notebook: Hecht a scratch for first time in Buffalo<br />
661933 Sabres lose in shootout after Enroth is injured<br />
661934 NHLPA approves realignment; Sabres would welcome<br />
Detroit, Florida, Tampa to division<br />
661935 Poll: Which goalie will end winless skid? Sabres' Enroth<br />
(0-10-2) or Devils' Hedberg (0-6-1)?<br />
661936 Enroth set to make rare start in net for Sabres; Hecht<br />
agitated over likelihood of being healthy scratch<br />
661937 Devils focused on getting win for team, Hedberg against<br />
Sabres<br />
661938 Buffalo Sabres fall in a shootout to New Jersey<br />
661939 Amerks find strong pairing in McNabb, Pysyk<br />
Calgary Flames<br />
661940 Johnson: Hartley ties idol on NHL career coaching wins list<br />
661941 Flames gear up for Anaheim’s powerful power play<br />
661942 Weekend gauntlet in California no paradise trip for Flames<br />
661943 Game Day: Calgary Flames at Anaheim Ducks<br />
661944 Flames' house of horrors<br />
661945 Puck Stops Here — Stop staged fighting in NHL<br />
661946 Same old song and dance from Flames goalie Miikka<br />
Kiprusoff<br />
Carolina Hurricanes<br />
661947 DeCock: Canadiens are setting the bar<br />
661948 Hurricanes fall to Canadiens 4-2<br />
Chicago Blackhawks<br />
661949 Hossa, Shaw to travel with Blackhawks; Sharp won't<br />
661950 Does anyone really have to ask who's first-half Hawks MVP?<br />
661951 LeBron to Blackhawks: 'u guys are AWESOME!!'<br />
661952 Strange but true, fan personally blacks out Hawks<br />
661953 Hawks game-by-game mantra serving them well<br />
661954 Sharp could be out a while with shoulder injury<br />
661955 Kings Coach Darryl Sutter says players should use face<br />
shields<br />
661956 Time for Hawks to lighten up<br />
661957 Friday's matchup: Blackhawks at Avalanche<br />
Blackhawks cont'd<br />
661958 Blackhawks get significant offense from checking line<br />
661959 TELANDER: The Blackhawks have to lose, right? Right?<br />
661960 Libertyville Sports Complex to host Blackhawks road party<br />
661961 Hossa, Shaw, Frolik OK to return; Sharp staying home<br />
661962 Hawks not letting streak change their focus<br />
661963 Carcillo’s hard work pays off for Hawks<br />
661964 Blackhawks’ Sharp to miss three weeks?<br />
661965 Hawks' defense produces more impressive numbers<br />
661966 Blackhawks recall Bollig as team heads to Denver<br />
661967 Military members honored by Hawks' anthem, salute<br />
661968 The numbers behind the Blackhawks' historic streak<br />
661969 Blackhawks' streak strains the laws of probability<br />
661970 SportsNet Central: Blackhawks Fever<br />
661971 NHL realignment inches closer<br />
Colorado Avalanche<br />
661972 Avalanche headed to new Midwest Division next season in<br />
realignment plan<br />
661973 Chicago Blackhawks bringing remarkable run to Denver<br />
661974 Chicago Blackhawks at Colorado Avalanche preview<br />
661975 Avalanche headed to new Midwest Division in 2013 NHL<br />
realignment plan<br />
Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
661976 Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1 (OT): Calvert’s goal produces<br />
third straight win<br />
661977 Jackets at brink of move to East after union vote<br />
661978 Jackets-Canucks summary<br />
661979 NHL: Jackets go OT to win third straight<br />
661980 NHL Players' Association approves realignment<br />
Dallas Stars<br />
661981 NHLPA OK with NHL’s proposed realignment; When it could<br />
go into effect and how it affects the Stars<br />
661982 'Changed' Jaromir Jagr, not thinking stats, scores twice in<br />
Stars' 5-2 win<br />
661983 Heika: Jaromir Jagr scored the goals but Kari Lehtonen led<br />
the way in Dallas Stars' road win against Los Angel<br />
661984 In win over Kings, Dallas Stars' Jaromir Jagr's two goals not<br />
enough to earn top star<br />
661985 Heika: Realignment latest the victory for Dallas Stars off the<br />
ice; one aspect is particularly key<br />
661986 Stars coach Glen Gulutzan sets possible return date for<br />
injured forward Ray Whitney<br />
661987 Stars vs. Kings: Jordie Benn stays in the lineup, Philip<br />
Larsen stays out<br />
661988 Heika: The Stars moving Jamie Benn to wing is an option,<br />
but only if this happens<br />
661989 Jagr’s 2 goals help Dallas Stars beat Kings
Detroit Red Wings<br />
661990 Writer: Red Wings' Niklas Kronwall is leading candidate for<br />
Norris Trophy<br />
661991 Detroit 3, Edmonton 0: Jimmy Howard posts second shutout<br />
of season<br />
661992 NHLPA signs off on realignment; Red Wings one step closer<br />
to East<br />
661993 Idled Ian White wondering about future with Red Wings<br />
661994 Jimmy Howard stymies Oilers as Red Wings remain hot<br />
661995 Players OK realignment; Wings one step closer to Eastern<br />
Conference<br />
661996 Live blog: Detroit Red Wings put 11-game point streak on<br />
line tonight vs. Edmonton Oilers<br />
661997 Red Wings one step closer to moving East after NHLPA<br />
approves league's realignment proposal<br />
661998 Red Wings not allowing many goals lately, but need to limit<br />
scoring chances tonight against Oilers<br />
661999 Red Wings' Ian White hasn't asked for trade and doesn't<br />
expect to be moved, as he continues to sit<br />
662000 Detroit Red Wings Gameday: What has been the most<br />
memorable moment of the season to date?<br />
662001 Detroit Red Wings fans: Defenseman Brian Lashoff has<br />
been the club's most impressive rookie<br />
662002 Red Wings' young defensemen and grinders stepping up<br />
big, enabling club to bank points<br />
662003 Jimmy Howard and a strong defensive performance lift<br />
stingy Red Wings past Oilers, 3-0 (video)<br />
662004 Red Wings blank Edmonton, 3-0<br />
662005 Ian White scratched from Red Wings’ lineup again<br />
Edmonton Oilers<br />
662006 Red Wings outshoot, outplay, shut out hapless Oilers<br />
662007 Ben Eager out, Chris VandeVelde in for Edmonton Oilers<br />
662008 Nugent-Hopkins and Schultz slumping, Sam Gagner coming<br />
on strong<br />
662009 So, Edmonton Oilers fans, do you miss Shawn Horcoff yet?<br />
662011 Same old result as Edmonton Oilers fall to Detroit Red<br />
Wings<br />
Florida Panthers<br />
662012 Washington Capitals punish Florida Panthers again<br />
662013 Recap: Washington vs. Florida<br />
662014 ROLLED OUT OF THE CAPITAL: Washington Continues<br />
Capital Domination of Panthers with 7-1 Win<br />
662015 STEPHEN WEISS: Wrist Surgery Only Option<br />
662016 Preview: Jets at Panthers, 7 p.m. Friday<br />
662017 Panthers hope to score a win in D.C.<br />
662018 Markstrom, Panthers get pounded 7-1 by Caps<br />
662019 4 quick goals help Capitals beat Panthers 7-1<br />
Los Angeles Kings<br />
662020 Kings' third-period magic is missing in 5-2 loss to Stars<br />
662021 Jagr's two goals helps Stars beat Kings, 5-2<br />
662022 DALLAS 5, KINGS 2: Kings see stars in loss to Dallas<br />
662023 Preview: Jeff Carter's scoring streak puts the Los Angeles<br />
Kings back in NHL playoff hunt<br />
662024 Game 22 Preview: Dallas at Los Angeles<br />
662025 Darryl Sutter on face shields<br />
662026 NHLPA consents to realignment<br />
662027 March 7 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter<br />
662028 Tough love for Martinez<br />
662029 March 7 morning skate quotes: Jarret Stoll<br />
662030 Hot on the draw<br />
662031 March 7 postgame notes<br />
662032 March 7 postgame quotes: Darryl Sutter<br />
662033 March 7 postgame quotes: Jaromir Jagr<br />
662034 March 7 postgame quotes: Jonathan Quick<br />
662035 March 7 postgame quotes: Dustin Brown<br />
662036 Game 22: Dallas at Los Angeles<br />
Minnesota Wild<br />
662037 Minnesota Wild: NHL players say yes to realignment<br />
Montreal Canadiens<br />
662038 Prust and Eller notch goal and two assists in Habs win over<br />
Canes<br />
662039 Therrien’s message awakens Canadiens<br />
662040 Price makes 42 saves to calm 'Canes<br />
662041 About last night …<br />
Nashville Predators<br />
662042 Ryan Suter braces for boos in Nashville return<br />
662043 Preview: Predators vs. Edmonton Oilers<br />
662044 Nashville Predators could have new division next season<br />
662045 Predators' playoff chances improve under NHL's proposed<br />
realignment<br />
New Jersey Devils<br />
662047 Quirk in the N.H.L. Visor Debate: Fighters Get Penalized<br />
662048 As they play: Devils vs. Sabres<br />
662049 Devils looking to avoid longest losing streak since 1985-86<br />
662050 Devils' changes on defense no reflection on Adam Larsson,<br />
Mark Fayne<br />
662051 Devils' Tom Kostopoulos takes junior linemate Krys Barch's<br />
job for a night<br />
662052 Tribute for Stompin' Tom Connors at Devils-Sabres? It would<br />
make sense<br />
662053 Tom Kostopoulos joins Devils for morning skate<br />
662054 Did Devils know beforehand Henrik Tallinder might not be<br />
able to play?<br />
662055 Devils end losing streak with 3-2 shootout win over Sabres<br />
662056 Devils notes: Tom Kostopoulos excited to make debut<br />
662057 Devils snap six-game skid, beat Sabres, 3-2, in shootout<br />
662058 NHL Players Association gives consent to league's proposed<br />
realignment which puts NY Rangers, NY Islanders and<br />
662059 Devils end six-game skid<br />
662060 5 Questions with Dave Maloney<br />
662061 Devils nip Sabres in shootout to snap six-game skid<br />
New York Islanders<br />
662062 Rick Nash ties game with another third period goal, Marian<br />
Gaborik wins it as NY Rangers top NY Islanders, 2-1<br />
662063 NHL Players Association gives consent to league's proposed<br />
realignment which puts NY Rangers, NY Islanders and<br />
662064 Marian Gaborik's power-play goal in OT lifts Rangers over<br />
Islanders<br />
662065 Ex-Islander Micheal Haley returns with Rangers<br />
New York Rangers<br />
662066 Rick Nash ties game with another third period goal, Marian<br />
Gaborik wins it as NY Rangers top NY Islanders, 2-1<br />
662067 Quirk in the N.H.L. Visor Debate: Fighters Get Penalized<br />
662068 Brad Richards resting neck and back but is not dealing with<br />
concussion symptoms; Roman Hamrlik joins NY Ranger<br />
662069 Crushed Ice: J.T. Miller mans center vs. <strong>Flyers</strong> in Brad<br />
Richards' absence, penalty kill struggles but power pl<br />
662070 NHL Players Association gives consent to league's proposed<br />
realignment which puts NY Rangers, NY Islanders and<br />
662071 5 Questions with Dave Maloney<br />
662072 Momentum continues in fourth straight win<br />
662073 Gaborik, Nash lead Rangers as Isles blame officiating<br />
662074 Hamrlik sees action, but defenseman ‘not in shape’<br />
662075 Rangers notes: Brad Richards "fortunate"<br />
662076 Brad Richards improving after cross-check but sits against<br />
Islanders<br />
662077 Marian Gaborik's power-play goal in OT lifts Rangers over<br />
Islanders<br />
662078 Marian Gaborik's power-play goal in OT gives Rangers a 2-1<br />
win over Islanders<br />
662079 Rangers at Islanders.<br />
662080 Rangers-Islanders in review<br />
662081 Rangers 2, Islanders 1 (OT): Post-game notes
NHL<br />
662082 N.H.L. Realignment Plan Gains Union’s Approval<br />
662083 Stompin’ Tom Connors, Canadian Singer, Dies at 77<br />
662084 NHLPA gives consent to NHL's proposed realignment with<br />
review post-2014-15, now only Board of Governors must a<br />
662085 Jets fly west, Wings and Jackets move east as NHLPA<br />
agrees to realignment<br />
662086 Players today understand the risks involved when they<br />
engage in a fight<br />
662087 Stanley Cup of women’s hockey finds a home at Hockey Hall<br />
of Fame<br />
662088 No one really gets hurt in hockey fights, right?<br />
Ottawa Senators<br />
662089 Sens can afford to smile a little as they hit mid-season<br />
662090 A welcome return: Spezza could be back in 2-3 weeks<br />
662091 Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray not a fan of staged fights<br />
662092 By the numbers: Ottawa Senators take on New York<br />
Rangers<br />
662093 Bruce Garrioch rates Ottawa Senators mid-term<br />
performance<br />
662094 Ottawa Senators goalie Robin Lehner could battle mentor<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
662095 Flyer Chris Pronger battles depression while injured<br />
662096 <strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Chris Pronger says he is not retiring<br />
662097 Pronger talks of 'dark days'<br />
662098 Ex-<strong>Flyers</strong> recall unbeaten streak as Blackhawks close in on<br />
the mark<br />
662099 Penguins climb out of 3-goal hole to beat <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
662100 Pronger won't be an ad-visor<br />
662101 <strong>Flyers</strong>' Hartnell: 'We just sat back'<br />
662102 Penguins roar back and beat <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
662103 <strong>Flyers</strong> let big lead, big game get away<br />
662104 Read returns 'just a bit early'<br />
662105 Pronger opens up about life after injury<br />
662108 Grossmann questionable for Pens game<br />
662109 Pronger talks at <strong>Flyers</strong>' morning skate<br />
662110 <strong>Flyers</strong>' early lead blows up in their faces in 5-4 loss to Pens<br />
662111 <strong>Flyers</strong> Watch Blog: Pronger re-introduces himself to<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
662112 <strong>Flyers</strong>' Chris Pronger describes dark days battling<br />
concussion symptoms<br />
662113 Read, Grossmann could play vs. Penguins<br />
662114 Pronger updates health; still suffering symptoms<br />
662115 <strong>Flyers</strong>-Penguins: What you need to know<br />
662116 Home ice a disadvantage in <strong>Flyers</strong>-Penguins rivalry<br />
662117 Three keys to <strong>Flyers</strong> vs. Penguins<br />
662118 <strong>Flyers</strong> show inconsistency in 2nd period vs. Pens<br />
662119 Is it time to be worried about the <strong>Flyers</strong>?<br />
662120 <strong>Flyers</strong> allow big lead to slip away in loss to Pens<br />
662121 Personality returns, vision hasn't for Pronger<br />
662122 <strong>Flyers</strong> not worried despite blowing three-goal lead<br />
662123 <strong>Flyers</strong> squander lead in 'embarrassing' loss to Penguins<br />
Phoenix Coyotes<br />
662124 Game Day: Blues at Coyotes<br />
662125 Phoenix Coyotes’ Dave Tippett impressed with Jason<br />
LaBarbera<br />
662126 Phoenix Coyotes fall big at home to the St. Louis Blues<br />
662127 Smith's struggles continue in Coyotes' loss<br />
Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
662128 Pens’ Orpik considering wearing protective visor<br />
662129 Penguins rally from 4-1 deficit to down <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
662130 Players OK NHL plan that puts Penguins in 8-team division<br />
next season<br />
662131 Martin to play for Penguins tonight vs. <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
662132 Kunitz, Crosby spark comeback as Penguins shoot down<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>, 5-4<br />
662133 Robert Morris hockey will not overlook first-round foe<br />
662134 Penguins Notebook: Orpik sounds like he's ready to wear<br />
visor at last<br />
662135 Penguins rebound from three-goal deficit to beat <strong>Flyers</strong>, 5-4<br />
San Jose Sharks<br />
662136 Sharks lose to Flames, 4-1<br />
662137 Streaker hops glass during Sharks game Wednesday<br />
St Louis Blues<br />
662138 Blues updates: Allen has been playing plenty lately<br />
662139 Round Two: Blues a real contender in Western Conference?<br />
662140 NHL realignment moves one step closer<br />
662141 Berglund lifts Blues to 6-3 victory<br />
Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
662142 Tampa Bay Lightning notes: Malone returns from injury<br />
662143 Tampa Bay Lightning rookies have been big contributors<br />
662144 Ryan Malone ready to return to Tampa Bay Lightning's<br />
lineup<br />
662145 Lightning can't build on win, lose to Jets<br />
662146 Lightning has dug tough hole<br />
662147 Jets' late goal sinks Lightning<br />
662148 Bruised foot hobbles Lecavalier<br />
Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
662149 NHLPA gives its approval for realignment<br />
662150 Vincent Damphousse and ex-wife come to truce<br />
662151 Maple Leafs tough guy act has the Boston Bruins talking<br />
662152 Bruins' Lucic a fan of Maple Leafs' fighter<br />
662153 Leafs' setback no reason to panic<br />
662154 In today's NHL, you can just say no to fights<br />
662155 Maple Leafs a 'legit contender' for playoffs: Bruins coach<br />
Claude Julien<br />
662156 Bruins show Leafs what's in store for them in loss<br />
662157 Marc Staal eye injury should be another wake-up call for<br />
NHL<br />
662158 Here is the Leafs midseason report card<br />
Vancouver Canucks<br />
662159 Canucks continue to struggle, lose in overtime to lowly Blue<br />
Jackets<br />
662160 Ex-Canuck Adrian Aucoin hasn’t Mess-ed much with<br />
shoot-first philosophy<br />
662161 Should the Canucks pull the goaltender in overtime? (No.)<br />
662162 Game Day: Columbus coach still wary of Canucks despite<br />
recent Vancouver swoon<br />
662163 Ex-Canuck Adrian Aucoin and a tale worth telling<br />
662164 Van Provies, Kadri edition<br />
662165 Tanev’s worth a shot on Canucks’ ailing power play<br />
662166 Bieksa and Ballard out. Alberts and Barker in. And they’re<br />
together<br />
662167 They don’t shoot, they don’t score: Power play paralysis is<br />
costing Canucks points<br />
662168 Van Provies Nightly Awards: Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1 OT<br />
662169 Vancouver, this is your wakeup call: Lifeless Canucks limp to<br />
OT loss against lowly Columbus<br />
662170 Canucks Gameday: Columbus ‘another tough game’ against<br />
hard-working opponent, says Vigneault
Washington Capitals<br />
662172 Open thread: Capitals vs. Panthers<br />
662173 NHLPA approves realignment<br />
662174 Capitals weigh in on visor debate after Marc Staal injury<br />
662175 Capitals ‘fighting against ourselves’ to move up the<br />
standings<br />
662176 Michal Neuvirth sick, Capitals recall Philipp Grubauer<br />
(updated)<br />
662177 Caps’ confidence is up after win against Bruins<br />
662178 Tyson Strachan may face suspension for hit on Jason<br />
Chimera<br />
662179 Capitals’ 7 goals swamp Florida<br />
662180 Capitals notes: Wojtek Wolski stays in lineup vs. Panthers<br />
662181 NHL players divided on visor use even after latest gruesome<br />
injury<br />
662182 Capitals take care of business by drubbing Panthers<br />
662183 Capitals score early, often in rout of Panthers<br />
662184 In NHL, freedom to add visor or not to add visor<br />
Websites<br />
662195 ESPN / Midseason picks for awards<br />
662196 ESPN / Five players who need to step up<br />
662197 ESPN / Rumblings: Fighting, Pronger and more<br />
662198 ESPN / Fighting realignment too risky for NHLPA<br />
662199 ESPN / NHLPA OK with realignment plan<br />
662200 ESPN / Need to know: It was a sickening night<br />
662201 FOXSports.com / Terry Crisp reminisces about Lightning's<br />
start<br />
662202 FOXSports.com / Colorado rocky? Columnist suggests feud<br />
between O’Reilly, Duchene<br />
662203 NBCSports.com / Report: Dallas boasts NHL-best<br />
attendance increase<br />
662204 NBCSports.com / NHLPA approves realignment<br />
662205 NBCSports.com / Frenzy or flop? Lombardi talks about the<br />
trade market<br />
662206 NBCSports.com / Daly: NHL wants mandatory visors<br />
662207 USA TODAY / Billy Beane compares 'Moneyball' streak to<br />
Heat, Blackhawks<br />
662208 USA TODAY / Heat, Blackhawks pull for each other as<br />
streaks roll on<br />
662209 USA TODAY / NHLPA approves NHL realignment proposal<br />
662210 Wall Street Journal / How the Blackhawks Became<br />
Unbeatable<br />
662211 YAHOO <strong>SPORT</strong>S / NHL realignment plan an improvement,<br />
not perfect<br />
662212 YAHOO <strong>SPORT</strong>S / Three Periods: Staged fights have no<br />
place in the NHL; visor debate; pull up your safety socks<br />
Winnipeg Jets<br />
662185 Byfuglien man of few words on personal life; ready to face<br />
Lightning<br />
662186 Right approach, right results<br />
662187 Montoya near-perfect in tough gig, as he must be<br />
662188 Jets-Panthers summary March 7<br />
662189 march 8 game lineup Jets vs Panthers<br />
662190 Buff breaks his silence<br />
662191 Dustin Byfuglien's return to hockey helped him deal with<br />
grandfather’s death<br />
662192 No quit this night<br />
662193 Tangradi nets his first<br />
662194 A win and is he back in?<br />
<strong>SPORT</strong>-<strong>SCAN</strong>, INC. 941-284-4129
661911 Anaheim Ducks<br />
Ryan Getzlaf is Ducks' Captain Comeback<br />
Many thought something was wrong last season, but the center's revival<br />
has been a catalyst to Anaheim's hot start.<br />
Helene Elliott<br />
8:45 PM PST, March 7, 2013<br />
When Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf invited his teammates, the club's owners<br />
and top executives to his home for a barbecue during training camp, they<br />
probably expected burgers and corn on the cob. What they got was insight<br />
into Getzlaf's keen desire to rebound after stumbling through a season so<br />
awful that those around him feared he was hiding an injury or a loved one's<br />
illness.<br />
Passionate without raising his voice, Getzlaf said he brought everyone<br />
together after the lockout to emphasize the importance of working as a<br />
team, according to someone who attended. Be ready and mean business,<br />
he said.<br />
He spoke for only a few minutes, but his words still resound.<br />
With a 16-3-3 record and 35 points, the Ducks rank No. 2 in the NHL and<br />
have equaled their franchise-best point total through 22 games, the 15-2-5<br />
start that launched them to the Stanley Cup in 2007. Their depth is better<br />
and their defense beefier than last season, when they missed the playoffs,<br />
but Getzlaf's revival has been a vital catalyst.<br />
"He seems to be so strong and hungry with every puck, every loose puck,<br />
every battle. It's almost like there's a mission in his eyes," Teemu Selanne<br />
said. "One day when he really wants to be great, he can, because he has<br />
all the tools."<br />
Where Getzlaf was sloppy defensively last season, he's diligent and has<br />
earned his plus-10 defensive rating. Where he was emotionally detached —<br />
except when he took bad penalties — he's fiery but controlled. Where he<br />
couldn't buy a goal, he's producing. He has six goals and 18 points in his<br />
last 11 games and stands among the NHL leaders with nine goals and a<br />
team-high 27 points. He had 11 goals and 57 points in 82 games last<br />
season and was minus-11.<br />
"The only thing that I need on the bench is a beer and hot dog to watch,"<br />
Selanne said.<br />
What's behind the turnaround?<br />
Selanne recently hinted that it's because Getzlaf is in the final year of his<br />
contract. But Corey Perry, Getzlaf's longtime right wing and friend, said<br />
there's more to it.<br />
"When you're playing a game you love and that you've grown up playing,<br />
your compete level is high. You know what you did the year before, and if<br />
you didn't have a great year you want to prove the critics wrong and show<br />
everybody you can be that top player," said Perry, who's also eligible for<br />
free agency this summer.<br />
"I think he's trying to prove he can be that top player everybody knows."<br />
Getzlaf, who has a Cup title and a 2010 Olympic gold medal with Team<br />
Canada on his resume at age 27, agreed he's different as a player and<br />
person.<br />
"I feel like I got back to myself and the things I like doing. I feel like things<br />
are back to normal, so to speak," he said. "Last year was one of those<br />
years that is tough to explain. There were a lot of different things going on.<br />
But it feels good to be back."<br />
He wouldn't specify what had troubled him but said it wasn't an injury or<br />
illness.<br />
"Without getting into it too much, when you have kids it's different. Things<br />
change," said Getzlaf, father to sons Ryder, 2, and Gavin, 2 months, with<br />
wife Paige. "There was a lot I had to learn about keeping things at home<br />
and getting my rest when I'm at home, and me and my wife had to figure<br />
out how to be parents. At the same time, we were going through a<br />
struggling season."<br />
Being the captain of an underachieving team also weighed on him. He got<br />
the honor before the 2010-11 season when he and the Ducks were<br />
prospering. He hadn't dealt with much adversity before and he didn't know<br />
how to respond.<br />
In addition, in late November 2011 the Ducks fired Randy Carlyle — the<br />
only NHL coach Getzlaf had played for — and hired Bruce Boudreau.<br />
Carlyle had made Getzlaf his go-between to take the team's temperature.<br />
Boudreau, more hands-on, talks to everyone. Getzlaf said the change has<br />
been good and the team has responded well, but it was another turbulent<br />
moment for him in a season full of them.<br />
"When you go through a losing season there are more things you have to<br />
deal with. Media, management, everybody turns to you and I don't always<br />
have the answers, much like everybody," Getzlaf said.<br />
This season, he said, his wife has helped him balance being a dad and an<br />
athlete. A baby sitter helps ensure Getzlaf gets his afternoon nap and can<br />
prepare for games, and he has learned to leave wins and losses at the rink.<br />
Although his resurgence confirms his value to the Ducks, it also increases<br />
his potential payday as he nears the end of his five-year, $26.625-million<br />
contract. He'd be in demand as a free agent alone or packaged with Perry,<br />
as Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were last summer. Getzlaf said remaining<br />
here is his first choice, preferably alongside Perry.<br />
"I do want to stay and I always have. I've always said that. That's always<br />
been my first priority when I came into the league. I wanted to play in the<br />
same place if I could," Getzlaf said. "I've been happy here. It's just a matter<br />
of getting that deal done."<br />
It might not be that simple. But turning his career around this season wasn't<br />
simple, either.<br />
LA Times: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661912 Anaheim Ducks<br />
Ducks closing in on franchise record of 11 straight home wins<br />
The Anaheim Ducks won their ninth home game in a row on Wednesday.<br />
They will try for No. 10 against Calgary on Friday.<br />
By Lance Pugmire<br />
March 7, 2013, 4:55 p.m.<br />
The Ducks are two wins from matching their longest home winning streak of<br />
11 games when the Calgary Flames visit Honda Center on Friday.<br />
"It'll be a challenge because they're playing very good right now," Ducks<br />
Coach Bruce Boudreau said of the Flames after a voluntary practice<br />
Thursday. "Emotionally, and confidence-wise, they're at their highest level.<br />
"When teams feel that way, they all want badly to win that first game on the<br />
road."<br />
As it opens a three-game trip, Calgary (9-8-4) has won four of its last six<br />
games — including a 4-1 victory over San Jose on Wednesday — and has<br />
scored four or more goals in the last five.<br />
"They're not going to have a bad game," Boudreau said.<br />
The Pacific Division-leading Ducks won 11 consecutive home games in the<br />
2009-10 season. St. Louis visits Sunday.<br />
"It's because we're a good team and we love the home cooking and<br />
support," Boudreau said the morning after the Ducks (16-3-3) shut out<br />
Phoenix, 2-0. Goaltender Jonas Hiller stopped all 18 shots he faced to<br />
lower his goals-against average in the last four home games to 1.75.<br />
Goalie platoon<br />
Hiller was given his second consecutive start Wednesday despite giving up<br />
four goals plus more in a shootout loss at Phoenix Monday and the<br />
emergence of rookie goalie Viktor Fasth.<br />
"It was how I wanted the rotation to go, as part of the next five to eight<br />
games," Boudreau said. "I know who I have in 'Hilly' and I'm looking to put<br />
each of these guys in the best spots to win. Some of it is statistical. Some is<br />
a good feeling."<br />
Corey Perry scored the opening goal Wednesday and has 15 points in the<br />
last 10 games.<br />
Injury front<br />
Wing Kyle Palmieri skated at Thursday's practice after suffering an upperbody<br />
injury on a hit in Phoenix on Saturday, but Boudreau said Palmieri is<br />
unlikely to play Friday.<br />
Defenseman Bryan Allen (flu symptoms) could return after pushing himself<br />
through extra practice time.<br />
Defenseman Cam Fowler hasn't scored a goal this season. He sat out eight<br />
games after suffering a head injury in a Feb. 2 game against the Kings. He<br />
returned to play Feb. 24<br />
"He's a little tentative of jumping into a play, maybe because he missed<br />
those eight games," Boudreau said. "Last night was his first time on left<br />
defense. He's just focusing more on defense. He's playing good. They're<br />
not scoring goals on him."<br />
Tonight<br />
VS. CALGARY<br />
When: 7:30. Where: Honda Center.<br />
On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 830.<br />
Record vs. Flames: 1-0.<br />
Etc. Veteran right wing Jarome Iginla has scored six of his seven goals in<br />
the last five games.<br />
LA Times: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661913 Anaheim Ducks<br />
Miller: High school hockey players take a peak<br />
By JEFF MILLER<br />
ANAHEIM – Their season-long climb began in a forest.<br />
In August.<br />
In the dirt.<br />
Those might seem like some unlikely first steps for a high school sports<br />
team, especially one that plays hockey.<br />
But the journey all made sense Thursday, when JSerra first spied the peak<br />
– ice capped, no less – at Honda Center, home of the Ducks High School<br />
Hockey League championships.<br />
The Lions met Santa Margarita in the marquee event, the Varsity 1A title<br />
game.<br />
But, back in August, they weren't necessarily building toward a<br />
championship. They were just building.<br />
As part of an annual team bonding trip, the Lions gathered at Blue Jay<br />
Campground near Lake Elsinore. The group then hiked through the<br />
Cleveland National Forest, toward the top of the Los Pinos Trail, nearly two<br />
hours away and 4,500 feet in the air.<br />
"Climbing a mountain ... there's a little bit of symbolism there," JSerra coach<br />
Mike Perkins says. "During the course of a season, there are a lot of ups<br />
and downs, and you're trying to make it to a pinnacle. It does sort of<br />
replicate what the hockey season is like."<br />
This league certainly replicates what the high school sports experience is<br />
like. Since its inception in 2008, the project has grown to 14 teams and<br />
features both varsity and junior varsity and now even boasts a co-ed<br />
element.<br />
Unlike club programs, it also offers the opportunity to play with classmates<br />
while wrapped in the school colors.<br />
The allure of that opportunity is a powerful one, strong enough to result in a<br />
commitment so tangible that it can be measured in actual numbers, like<br />
miles per gallon, for instance.<br />
"I just love hockey," Megan Almond says. "I love to play."<br />
She loves it enough to tolerate what the game demands of her – hours of<br />
commuting time. Almond, an independent studies student, lives in Ontario<br />
but plays for Los Alamitos.<br />
Almond travels to Anaheim for practices and games, two hours each way,<br />
in an '03 Ford Expedition, no doubt enjoying freeways like the 60, 57 and<br />
91. Frankly, two hours in the penalty box doesn't sound less inviting.<br />
"It has a V-8 (engine), so the mileage isn't great," the JV goalie says. "But<br />
this is a cool opportunity. The closest school to me that has hockey is<br />
Damien (in La Verne), and it's an all-boys school."<br />
The driving costs $400 a week in gas alone, a gift to Almond from her<br />
grandmother, Judy, for all the work Megan does in helping her single<br />
mother, Karen, raise four kids.<br />
Two of Almond's siblings, brother Mitchell and sister Erin, are deaf and<br />
have other special needs. Because of the requirements at home, Almond<br />
started doing independent study through Upland High.<br />
She offered to give up hockey because of the cost, but her grandmother<br />
insisted she keep playing. Almond's aunt, Kathy, also has helped<br />
financially.<br />
"I don't like thinking about it," Almond says. "I don't like having money spent<br />
on me. But my grandma knows how much I love playing."<br />
So she played Thursday, finished her high school season in the JV title<br />
game, won by JSerra, 5-4.<br />
The Lions varsity later concluded their year against Santa Margarita, which<br />
recently won a state title and this month will travel to Florida for a national<br />
tournament.<br />
It was only seven months ago that JSerra's players were up there in the<br />
woods, taking their first strides that led to Thursday.<br />
On the yearly bonding trip, the Lions typically have a Wiffle Ball game and a<br />
cookout – hot dogs and hamburgers. Last year, there were skits and this<br />
year the players had a poker tournament. One of the kids brought his guitar<br />
and played around the campfire.<br />
"From the first day of practice, I tell the seniors, 'This is your last year. Be<br />
careful. We'll be at the end of the year before you know it,'" says Perkins, a<br />
campus minister at the school. "It always happens that way for the seniors.<br />
Before you know it, they're in the locker room and it's the last day and the<br />
weight of what that really means hits them."<br />
Another aspect of the August trip is the time capsule. Perkins has his<br />
seniors write messages – some choose the seriously inspirational and<br />
others the silly and comical – and then those messages are stuffed in an<br />
old change canister and buried.<br />
Next August, the latest group of Lions will convene at Blue Jay<br />
Campground, hike up the Los Pinos Trail, unearth the words of those who<br />
came before them and, using those words as guidance, set their sights on<br />
another season, another climb.<br />
"Our goal is have our older players, our veterans, mentor the younger kids,"<br />
Perkins says. "That's really high school sports in a nutshell. We want them<br />
to understand, 'This is your team. This is your season. It's up to you to<br />
make the most of it.'"<br />
The Lions lost the Varsity 1A final here to Santa Margarita, 4-3, meaning<br />
their climb finished a stride short.<br />
That's OK. These kids already came together to reach one peak.<br />
Orange County Register: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661914 Anaheim Ducks<br />
Lev: 1,000th game no minor feat for Steve Carroll<br />
After toiling in the minor leagues for almost two decades, Carroll is living his<br />
dream as the Ducks’ radio play-by-play announcer.)<br />
By MICHAEL LEV / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER<br />
Roger Ebert once wrote an entry in his online journal entitled "The best<br />
damn job in the whole damn world." It was about him wanting, more than<br />
anything, to become a newspaper reporter.<br />
Steve Carroll can relate.<br />
DirecTV faces a difficult decision regarding "NFL Sunday Ticket." According<br />
to reports, the satellite provider is considering dropping its exclusive<br />
agreement with the league, or dropping the package altogether, if the price<br />
to re-up in 2015 is too high. The question is: How many customers would<br />
DirecTV lose in the process?<br />
If you missed Mike Tyson's one-man "Undisputed Truth" show in Orange<br />
County and can't make it to the Pantages Theatre in L.A. to see it this<br />
weekend, I suggest "The BS Report" podcast Bill Simmons did with Tyson<br />
and Jalen Rose last week. It's riveting. "The BS Report" can be found on<br />
Grantland.com and iTunes.<br />
TBS isn't the only one guilty of this, but the network's Sunday MLB<br />
schedule predictably includes multiple appearances by the Yankees and<br />
Red Sox over the first two months. I was sick of them when they were good;<br />
I have even less interest in watching them when they're bad, which is the<br />
direction things seem headed.<br />
MICHAEL LEV/The Register<br />
For as long as he can remember, Carroll wanted to be a radio play-by-play<br />
announcer for a professional sports team. As a youth, the St. Louis native<br />
would go to bed with a transistor radio (remember those?) so he could<br />
listen to Jack Buck call the Cardinals or Dan Kelly the Blues. Carroll even<br />
tucked a radio into his pocket during his high school graduation ceremony.<br />
Several decades and numerous minor-league stops later, Carroll is living<br />
his dream. This past Saturday he broadcasted his 1,000th game as the<br />
radio voice of the Ducks, who honored him at center ice before the opening<br />
faceoff against Phoenix on Wednesday night.<br />
That Carroll has made it this far is a testament to his dogged determination.<br />
He called thousands of minor-league baseball and hockey games over the<br />
course of two decades before landing the Ducks job in 1999.<br />
"Every day I come to work here is a good day," the gravelly voiced Carroll,<br />
57, said from his perch in the home-team radio booth at Honda Center.<br />
"Every day I've come in here it's like, 'This is what I've worked for.' It's<br />
everything I thought it would be."<br />
Like many American males, Carroll grew up as an unabashed sports geek.<br />
He memorized players' uniform numbers and statistics. He could list all the<br />
winners of the Indianapolis 500 and the Triple Crown horse races. He'd<br />
walk around the house shouting "Shoots he scores!" and "Lays it up and<br />
in!"<br />
Listening to Buck, Kelly and others – you can pick up stations from<br />
Minneapolis to Houston in centrally located St. Louis – Carroll developed a<br />
love affair with radio. There was just something about the way those<br />
broadcasting legends painted a picture with their words.<br />
So Carroll attended the Broadcast Center school in St. Louis, the start of an<br />
odyssey that would take him from Farmington, Mo., to Des Moines, Iowa, to<br />
New Haven, Conn., and parts in between. In the early 1990s, he held five<br />
jobs at once in Nashville, Tenn., including serving as the play-by-play<br />
announcer for the Music City Jammers of the Global Basketball<br />
Association.<br />
Carroll enjoyed almost every minute of it, but he longed to work in the big<br />
leagues. He finally got his break at age 40, when he became the radio guy<br />
for the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>. But the <strong>Flyers</strong> let him go after only one season,<br />
for reasons that remain unclear. So Carroll went back to the minors, this<br />
time in New Orleans. He met his future wife there but seriously wondered<br />
whether he'd ever make it.<br />
Carroll was on the verge of giving up hope when a colleague told him that<br />
the Ducks had an opening – a second and, in all likelihood, final shot. He<br />
sent the team a tape, came out for an interview and got the job.<br />
"I just had this feeling that it was right. I can't tell you why," Carroll said.<br />
"And here we are, 13 years later."<br />
There's no place Carroll would rather be. If it isn't the best damn job in the<br />
whole damn world, it's a close second.<br />
FS1'S HEAD START<br />
Fox Sports 1, the latest entry into the 24-hour-a-day sports-channel market,<br />
won't take down ESPN anytime soon. But FS1 does have two advantages<br />
CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network lack or lacked.<br />
One is distribution in about 90 million homes at launch. FS1, set to debut<br />
Aug. 17, is replacing Fox's Speed channel.<br />
The other is rights to big-time sports programming, including Pac-12 football<br />
and, starting in 2014, Major League Baseball.<br />
In conjunction with FS1, Fox will launch a mobile app ("Fox Sports Go")<br />
enabling participating cable and satellite subscribers to watch live games on<br />
their devices.<br />
REMOTE PATROL<br />
ESPN's "Championship Week" – which is actually 12 days long – already<br />
has begun, and it'll feature 136 men's games across the various ESPN<br />
platforms. New this year: ESPN will televise a quarterfinal, semifinal and the<br />
championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament. As part of the conference's<br />
new 12-year media deal, ESPN will have those rights every other year. ...<br />
Recognizing that we can't get enough when it comes to mock drafts,<br />
NFL.com is launching a weekly show devoted to that topic. "NFL.com LIVE:<br />
Mock Draft Weekly," debuting at 10 a.m. PT Friday, will feature fresh mock<br />
drafts and analysis leading up to the real thing next month. Matt "Money"<br />
Smith serves as host for the show, which also will be available on demand.<br />
...<br />
From the wish-I'd-thought-of-it-first file: SI.com's Richard Deitsch, with some<br />
help from his friends, conducted an "Ultimate College Basketball<br />
Broadcaster Draft" in advance of the NCAA Tournament. Deitsch had the<br />
first pick and chose Gus Johnson. Charles Barkley went second. The most<br />
notable omission: superb play-by-play man Kevin Harlan. ... CBS Sports<br />
Network will chronicle Kansas' improbable 1988 championship run in a onehour<br />
documentary. "The Miracles: The 1988 Kansas Jayhawks" debuts at 5<br />
p.m. Monday. ... The streaking Chicago Blackhawks are good for NBC's<br />
business. The Chicago-Detroit game Sunday was the network's highestrated,<br />
regular-season NHL game, excluding Winter Classics.<br />
Orange County Register: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661915 Boston Bruins<br />
Anton Khudobin helps Bruins stop slide<br />
By Michael Whitmer<br />
Globe Staff / March 7, 2013<br />
This story is from BostonGlobe.com, the only place for complete digital<br />
access to the Globe.<br />
With the Bruins in the early stages of a schedule that from here offers<br />
precious little downtime, getting solid goaltending when starter Tuukka<br />
Rask sits figures to be a key and closely watched story line during this<br />
condensed season.<br />
If Anton Khudobin keeps playing this way, Bruins fans won’t panic when<br />
seeing Rask on the bench, confident that there won’t be a noticeable dropoff<br />
in production.<br />
Khudobin was charged on Thursday night with stopping a Toronto offense<br />
that had scored 14 goals in its last three games, all wins. He met the<br />
challenge, stopping 25 shots in the Bruins’ 4-2 win at TD Garden.<br />
Losers of two straight games coming in, the Bruins were in search of a<br />
spark to stop the mini-slide. Khudobin, a 26-year-old Russian who has now<br />
appeared in all of 12 NHL games, was perhaps an unlikely candidate.<br />
“It’s a big win for everybody. We lost a couple games, so we had to recover,<br />
get back on track,” Khudobin said. “We have to continue to win and keep<br />
getting points, because the schedule is getting tougher and tougher.”<br />
Because of that, coach Claude Julien has maintained that Khudobin will be<br />
seeing plenty of action. Rask is the established starter, but the better<br />
Khudobin can play, the better the Bruins will be.<br />
“It certainly makes our team feel a lot better when you know, no matter who<br />
you put in net, they’re going to give you a solid performance,” Julien said.<br />
“That’s what you want and you hope to get from your backup goaltender.<br />
He played well tonight.”<br />
Getting the start for the second time in four games — he stopped 20 of 22<br />
shots in Saturday’s 3-2 home win against the Lightning — Khudobin played<br />
a smart 60 minutes: consistent, great when he had to be, and giving up no<br />
bad goals.<br />
Khudobin was at his best early in the game. With the Bruins handing the<br />
Maple Leafs a short-lived five-on-three advantage midway through the first<br />
period of a scoreless game because of penalties on Chris Kelly and Daniel<br />
Paille, Khudobin knew he’d get tested. He was, blocking a point-blank bid<br />
by Tyler Bozak after the puck hit the back boards and bounced straight<br />
toward the crease.<br />
There was also a highlight-reel kick save on a shot by former Bruin Phil<br />
Kessel, who heard it from the Garden crowd every time he touched the<br />
puck. Khudobin denied Kessel with his right pad.<br />
It helped Khudobin that the Bruins never played from behind. The Leafs tied<br />
it at 1 early in the second period during four-on-four play, when Nazem<br />
Kadri buried a perfect cross-ice pass from Clarke MacArthur. Khudobin<br />
stood little chance of making the save, but actually thought for an instant<br />
that he had.<br />
“I was thinking I stopped that,” he said. “It hit my stick but it went into the<br />
net. Sometimes it’s going to be a save, sometimes a goal.”<br />
Goals by Tyler Seguin and David Krejci staked Khudobin to a two-goal<br />
advantage, wiggle room that proved necessary when he let in his second<br />
shot of the night, a deflection off the stick of Jay McClement with a lot of<br />
traffic in front.<br />
“That second goal you could see he was mad, he felt he should have had<br />
it,” Julien said. “But he made some real good saves for us the whole game.<br />
I thought he was solid.”<br />
More importantly, the Bruins are playing with confidence when Khudobin is<br />
in the lineup. They’ve won four of his five starts, a 4-2 loss at Buffalo on<br />
Feb. 15 the exception.<br />
“We have a lot of confidence in Anton,” said Patrice Bergeron, the game’s<br />
No. 1 star after a 3-point game (goal, two assists). “Tonight was another<br />
example of what he can give us.”<br />
Experience will most certainly come, with the Bruins playing their final 27<br />
games of the regular season over the next 51 days. Khudobin will get his<br />
chance whenever Rask needs a break to stay fresh. But even on those<br />
nights, the Bruins’ top netminder plays an important role.<br />
“My teammates are always helping me, before the game, after the game.<br />
Tukes, he helps me, too,” Khudobin said. “Just by saying a couple good<br />
words.”<br />
Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer at globe.com.<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661916 Boston Bruins<br />
Bruins place Chris Bourque on waivers<br />
By Fluto Shinzawa<br />
Globe Staff / March 7, 2013<br />
This story is from BostonGlobe.com, the only place for complete digital<br />
access to the Globe.<br />
The Bruins’ third line has not performed to expectations. On Thursday,<br />
Chris Bourque suffered the consequences of the line’s shortcomings.<br />
The Bruins placed the left wing on waivers. Any team can claim Bourque by<br />
noon on Friday. If Bourque clears, it’s likely the Bruins will assign him to<br />
Providence. Bourque is in the first season of a two-year, $1.1 million<br />
contract. He will be on a one-way deal in 2013-14.<br />
The Bruins acquired Bourque from Washington for Zach Hamill last May.<br />
The Bruins projected Bourque to mesh with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley<br />
on the third line because of his skill and hockey sense. Bourque was also<br />
most recently on the point on the No. 2 power-play unit.<br />
But Bourque struggled with his consistency at both ends. In 18 games,<br />
Bourque had one goal and three assists while averaging 12:04 of ice time.<br />
In Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss, Bourque was on the ice for two Washington<br />
goals.<br />
“We’re certainly hoping not to lose him,” said coach Claude Julien. “It<br />
doesn’t mean his time here is over. He knows that it took a little bit of time<br />
to find his game. It was coming around a little bit. He knows that his last<br />
game wasn’t the best, either. But when you look at the way he played in<br />
Providence, he’s certainly a guy you can’t count off your lineup here. Right<br />
now, it could be just a bump along the way. If we needed a guy to be called<br />
up, he’s certainly a guy I would have no issues seeing back here.”<br />
On Thursday against Toronto, Jay Pandolfo replaced Bourque on the third<br />
line, and was minus-1 in 11:42 of ice time in the 4-2 win. Pandolfo had<br />
played primarily on the fourth line in his three previous games.<br />
Pandolfo is likely a fill-in. The Bruins have been targeting the No. 3 left wing<br />
position as an area to upgrade via the trade market. That will not change<br />
prior to the April 3 deadline. It is their highest priority along with defensive<br />
depth.<br />
TSN noted the Bruins could finally land Carl Soderberg. The Bruins<br />
acquired the Swedish forward from St. Louis for Hannu Toivonen on July<br />
23, 2007. Soderberg has been reluctant to report to the NHL, especially if<br />
AHL seasoning were required.<br />
Soderberg, a left-shot forward, has scored 31 goals and 29 assists in 54<br />
games for Linkoping of the Swedish Elite League, and would participate in<br />
the Swedish playoffs before joining the Bruins.<br />
The Bruins could also look internally. Jordan Caron has a goal in each of<br />
his last two games for Providence. Caron had initially been a candidate for<br />
the third line but was unavailable because of a shoulder injury to start the<br />
NHL season.<br />
The Bruins could also consider Ryan Spooner. The first-year pro leads<br />
Providence with 10 goals and 30 assists in 44 games. Spooner also could<br />
center the third line, moving Kelly to left wing.<br />
Daniel Paille has played several games with Kelly and Peverley. But the<br />
Bruins were pleased with Paille’s play on the fourth line with Gregory<br />
Campbell and Shawn Thornton against the Capitals. They would prefer to<br />
keep the fourth line intact.<br />
“Our fourth line played their best game probably in a year and a half the last<br />
game in Washington,” said coach Claude Julien. “They were a real factor. I<br />
thought they had some great scoring chances with O-zone time and<br />
everything else. If they can continue to play like that, then we’ve just got to<br />
hope that our third line can turn the corner here.”<br />
Line isn’t straight<br />
Since his arrival from Ottawa on Feb. 15, 2011, Kelly’s transition has been<br />
seamless. Kelly has won a Stanley Cup. He’s an alternate captain. He is<br />
the workhorse on the league-leading penalty kill, averaging 2:37 of<br />
shorthanded ice time per game, most among Bruins forwards.<br />
Those accomplishments make it especially puzzling why Kelly’s game is not<br />
close to the standards set by himself and his employer.<br />
“I wish I could put my finger on it,” Kelly said of the third line’s performance.<br />
“We need to manage the puck better and not make those crucial mistakes.<br />
They seem like they’re not a big deal at the moment, but then they tend to<br />
snowball and end up being in the back of your net.”<br />
The No. 3 line is one of the organization’s most pressing concerns. Two<br />
years ago, one of the reasons the Bruins won the Cup was the two-way<br />
contributions of Kelly, Peverley, and Michael Ryder.<br />
“There’s two guys in Kelly and Peverley that were great assets and big plus<br />
players last year,” said Julien. “Right now, they’re struggling to get that part<br />
of their game going. The one thing you don’t do is lose confidence in them.<br />
They’ve just got to work their way through it. That’s part of their job. It’s part<br />
of our job. We know what they’re capable of doing. Everybody in that room<br />
knows we’re capable of getting better presence from that team than we<br />
have so far.”<br />
Kelly entered Thursday’s game with just one goal, while Peverley had three<br />
goals and three assists.<br />
But the third line’s defensive lapses have been even more alarming. Kelly<br />
was on the ice for three of Washington’s four goals on Tuesday. The<br />
Capitals scored twice with Bourque and Peverley on the ice.<br />
Kelly’s line didn’t score against Toronto. Even though Peverley and<br />
Pandolfo were on the ice for Jay McClement’s third-period goal, the line<br />
submitted a more reliable defensive performance.<br />
“That line was better for me tonight,” Julien said.<br />
Punching in<br />
Adam McQuaid logged the lone fight of the game at 3:23 of the first. He<br />
challenged Mark Fraser after the Toronto defenseman decked Pandolfo<br />
from behind. Fraser connected with more punches . . . David Krejci missed<br />
a third-period shift. Korbinian Holzer clobbered Krejci with a clean hit, briefly<br />
sending the center to the dressing room . . . Paille appeared in his 400th<br />
career game.<br />
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa at globe.com.<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661917 Boston Bruins<br />
Bruins beat Maple Leafs, 4-2<br />
By Fluto Shinzawa<br />
Globe Staff / March 7, 2013<br />
This story is from BostonGlobe.com, the only place for complete digital<br />
access to the Globe.<br />
On Thursday night, for the third straight game, the Bruins took a lead into<br />
the third period. For the first time, they emerged with 2 points.<br />
The Bruins halted an 0-1-1 slide with a blue-collar, 4-2 win over the Maple<br />
Leafs before 17,565 at TD Garden. The Bruins were coming off a 4-3<br />
overtime loss to Washington on Tuesday in which the Capitals wiped out a<br />
3-0 deficit.<br />
“I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty,” said coach Claude Julien. “When you<br />
lose two games the way we did, I didn’t expect us, all of a sudden, to be this<br />
great team. I knew it was going to be tough. But what I wanted to see from<br />
our team is us battling through it. We did. They forechecked hard. We were<br />
able to get the puck out eventually. The goalie made some good saves. We<br />
battled and we found a way to score some goals the way we want to score<br />
them — with good net-front presence.”<br />
The scorching line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Tyler Seguin<br />
punched in three of the Bruins’ four goals. Seguin led the march with two,<br />
including an empty-netter at 19:45 of the third period.<br />
Phil Kessel, the ex-Bruin whose trade brought back Seguin, Dougie<br />
Hamilton, and Jared Knight, submitted his usual Boston performance: no<br />
goals, no assists, two shots, on the ice for two opposing goals.<br />
“It’s nice to see Siggy finally finishing,” Marchand said with a smile. “He was<br />
getting a little frustrated there early on. It’s nice for him to finally get a<br />
couple there and get his confidence up there.”<br />
It was the nature of the Bruins’ goals that pleased their boss: grinding along<br />
the boards, support from linemates, sprints toward the net.<br />
At the other end, the Bruins weren’t as sloppy with the puck nor loose with<br />
their coverage as they had been during setbacks to Washington and<br />
Montreal. When necessary, they looked to Anton Khudobin (25 saves) to<br />
provide timely stops.<br />
But the go-to players, once more, were Marchand, Bergeron, and Seguin.<br />
In the first period, Marchand created the first goal by winning a puck battle<br />
against Korbinian Holzer against the boards in the neutral zone. Because<br />
Holzer was engaged with Marchand, the Leafs were vulnerable on the back<br />
end. Seguin recognized the weakness.<br />
Seguin found the puck, blew into the offensive zone, and barreled toward<br />
the net. Ben Scrivens (21 saves) turned back Seguin’s shot. But Bergeron,<br />
who had been following the play, had an easy tap-in at 19:07 to give the<br />
Bruins a 1-0 lead.<br />
“Pretty indicative of what we’d asked from our players,” Julien said. “First<br />
one is a great effort by Marchand right in front of their bench, battling for the<br />
puck with two guys around him. That finally let Siggy get loose with the<br />
puck. He did a great job getting to the front of the net and cutting in. Bergy<br />
was following right there.”<br />
Nazem Kadri answered for the Leafs at 2:32 of the second during four-onfour<br />
play. With Johnny Boychuk caught up ice, Kadri and Clarke MacArthur<br />
converted a two-on-one rush against Dennis Seidenberg.<br />
But Bergeron’s line connected with the counterpunch at 7:11 of the second.<br />
Again, Holzer was caught out of position. He tried to challenge Bergeron at<br />
center ice to prevent the center from gaining the red line. But Bergeron<br />
found Marchand on the left wing. At the same time, Seguin flew over the<br />
blue line to create the outnumbered rush.<br />
Dion Phaneuf tried to recover. But Marchand slipped a cross-ice pass to<br />
Seguin. The right wing didn’t hesitate, snapping the puck past Scrivens to<br />
give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.<br />
“Just one of those games where that line did a great job getting pucks past<br />
their D’s, working through it, and doing the grunt work,” Julien said.<br />
The line’s hard-hat work was contagious. Late in the second, David Krejci<br />
netted the winning goal with a similar desire to enter the danger area.<br />
The play started deep in the Bruins’ zone. Dougie Hamilton started the<br />
breakout by banging the puck off the glass. As the Bruins picked up speed<br />
through the neutral zone, Andrew Ference decided to join the rush. Milan<br />
Lucic picked the puck off the wall, spotted Ference, and gave the<br />
defenseman the puck.<br />
Ference’s high-slot shot didn’t make it through traffic. But Krejci, who had<br />
been charging toward the cage, was in the right spot to find Ference’s<br />
rebound. Before Scrivens could recover, Krejci tapped the puck in at 18:03<br />
of the second.<br />
The Leafs kept fighting in the third. Jay McClement tipped Mikhail<br />
Grabovski’s shot past Khudobin to make it a one-goal game with 5:08<br />
remaining in regulation.<br />
The Bruins had blown two straight third-period leads. They knew that a third<br />
straight collapse would not be acceptable.<br />
“We never talked about, ‘Let’s not blow a lead for the third straight time<br />
here,’ ” Julien said. “Certainly not a good message for your team heading<br />
into the third with a 3-1 lead.”<br />
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa at globe.com.<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661918 Boston Bruins<br />
Bruins bounce back for 4-2 win over Maple Leafs<br />
By JIMMY GOLEN<br />
AP Sports Writer / March 7, 2013<br />
BOSTON (AP) — Tyler Seguin had two goals and an assist and Patrice<br />
Bergeron had one of each on Thursday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a<br />
4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.<br />
Anton Khudobin stopped 25 shots for Boston, which blew leads in each of<br />
its previous two games and lost both.<br />
David Krejci also scored for Boston, and Brad Marchand had a pair of<br />
assists. With the win, the Bruins moved three points ahead of Toronto in the<br />
Northeast Division while remaining one point behind first-place Montreal.<br />
Nazem Kadri and Jay McClement scored for the Leafs, and Ben Scrivens<br />
made 21 saves for Toronto.end of story marker<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661919 Boston Bruins<br />
Bruins bounce back for 4-2 win over Maple Leafs<br />
By JIMMY GOLEN<br />
AP Sports Writer / March 7, 2013<br />
BOSTON (AP) — Tyler Seguin had two goals and an assist and Patrice<br />
Bergeron had one of each on Thursday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a<br />
4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.<br />
Anton Khudobin stopped 25 shots for Boston, which blew leads in each of<br />
its previous two games and lost both.<br />
David Krejci also scored for Boston, and Brad Marchand had a pair of<br />
assists. With the win, the Bruins moved three points ahead of Toronto in the<br />
Northeast Division while remaining one point behind first-place Montreal.<br />
Nazem Kadri and Jay McClement scored for the Leafs, and Ben Scrivens<br />
made 21 saves for Toronto.end of story marker<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661920 Boston Bruins<br />
Final: Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2<br />
Mike Whitmer, Globe Staff March 7, 2013 06:54 PM<br />
19:45 of 3rd, Bruins, 4-2: Tyler Seguin ices it, potting the empty-netter for<br />
his second goal of the game. It's a final.<br />
14:52 of 3rd, Bruins, 3-2: Mikhail Grabovski makes it a one-goal game,<br />
spinning around a Bruins defender and sending the puck past Khudobin,<br />
who had a lot of traffic in front of the net.<br />
11:00 of 3rd, Bruins, 3-1: Krejci driven hard into the boards by Holzer, but<br />
gets right up and finishes his shift.<br />
3:28 of 3rd, Bruins, 3-1: McQuaid vs. Colton Orr, but the referees step in<br />
before it escalates. Orr still sent to the box, 2 minutes for roughing. Bruins<br />
on the PP once again.<br />
:32 of 3rd, Bruins, 3-1: Bruins get an early PP after Phaneuf sent off for<br />
cross checking Marchand.<br />
End of 2nd, Bruins, 3-1: Leafs outshooting the Bruins, 22-15, but Boston<br />
has made the most of its scoring chances.<br />
18:03 of 2nd, Bruins, 3-1: Apologies, blog fans. Connection issues here at<br />
the Garden prompted a time-consuming computer restart. Bruins go up, 3-<br />
1, on a goal from David Krejci, who nonchalantly backhands the puck past<br />
Scrivens. Pinpoint centering pass from Milan Lucic to Andrew Ference, who<br />
shoots on net. Scrivens stops that one, but puck bounces right to Krejci,<br />
who easily knocks in his sixth goal of the season.<br />
12:00 of 2nd, Bruins, 2-1: Boychuck flattens van Riemsdyk with a solid,<br />
legal check. In football, that's called a de-cleater. What's the hockey term?<br />
11:06 of 2nd, Bruins, 2-1: Bruins still being outshot (17-13), but the<br />
Marchand-Seguin-Bergeron line has carried them to the lead.<br />
7:11 of 2nd, Bruins, 2-1: Seguin puts the Bruins back in front, after receiving<br />
a centering pass from Marchand. Unmarked (but MacArthur trying to<br />
distract him with a diving lunge from behind), Seguin beats Scrivens stick<br />
side. Seguin, Marchand, Bergeron all with multiple points tonight.<br />
3:16 of 2nd, 1-1: Bruins on PP for first time tonight.<br />
2:32 of 2nd period, 1-1: Leafs tie it during 4-on-4 play on a goal from<br />
Nazem Kadri. Clarke MacArthur got the puck in Boston's zone, busted out<br />
on a 2-on-1 with Kadri, and Seidenberg between them.<br />
1:22 of 2nd period, Bruins, 1-0: Marchand, Phaneuf each sent to the box for<br />
roughing.<br />
End of 1st period, Bruins, 1-0: Leafs outshoot the Bruins, 10-9, but Boston<br />
gets the last-minute goal from Bergeron to push ahead. Bruins killed two<br />
penalties, including a brief 5-on-3. Khudobin has made some solid saves,<br />
including one against Phil Kessel, who continues to get booed every time<br />
he touches the puck.<br />
19:07 of 1st, Bruins, 1-0: Patrice Bergeron puts the Bruins up 1-0 by<br />
knocking in a rebound of Tyler Seguin's initial shot. Seguin split a pair of<br />
defenders after getting a pass from Brad Marchand, and went straight at<br />
Scrivens, who stopped the initial shot. But Bergeron was there for clean-up<br />
duty.<br />
17:40 of 1st, 0-0: Pandolfo's bid turned away by Scrivens, with Kelly unable<br />
to knock home the rebound, his shot bouncing off the post. Peverly also<br />
with a chance.<br />
14:00 of 1st, 0-0: Bruins kill short-lived 5-on-3 (great save by Khudobin on<br />
Tyler Bozak at the doorstep), then kill Paille's penalty. Kelly, after leaving<br />
the penalty box, created a 2-on-1, but Scrivens gloves a high shot.<br />
12:03 of 1st, 0-0: Now it's a 5-on-3., Paille caught high-sticking, and joins<br />
Kelly in the box for 23 seconds. Leafs call timeout.<br />
10:25 of 1st, 0-0: Kelly sent off for slashing. Leafs go on the PP first.<br />
8:35 of 1st, 0-0: Khudobin kicks away low shot from former Bruin Phil<br />
Kessel. Great save with his right leg, then he pounces on the rebound try.<br />
7:30 of 1st period, 0-0: Nice sliding block by Toronto's Korbinian Holzer foils<br />
in-close look from Chris Kelly.<br />
6:42 of 1st period, 0-0: Pretty evenly-played period so far. Each team with<br />
three shots. A couple of sloppy passes -- one from Chara, another from<br />
Ference -- haven't cost the Bruins.<br />
3:23 of 1st period, 0-0: McQuaid squares off against Mark Fraser after<br />
Fraser drilled Jay Pandolfo from behind along the boards. Pretty good fight,<br />
both landing solid blows.<br />
Pregame: Former Bruin and hockey Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt, who turned<br />
95 on Tuesday, handles the ceremonial puck drop ... We're minutes away<br />
from the Bruins taking on Toronto from TD Garden. Anton Khudobin (3-1,<br />
2.52 GAA) will get the start in goal for Boston, opposed by Ben Scrivens (6-<br />
6, 2.41). Leafs have played better of late, winning three straight and four of<br />
their last five.<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661921 Boston Bruins<br />
Tonight's Bruins lineup<br />
Mike Whitmer, Globe Staff March 7, 2013 06:32 PM<br />
By Michael Whitmer, Globe Staff<br />
Based on pregame warm-ups:<br />
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton<br />
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin<br />
Jay Pandolfo-Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley<br />
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton<br />
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk<br />
Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton<br />
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid<br />
Anton Khudobin<br />
Tuukka Rask<br />
Ben Scrivens (6-6-0, 2.41 GAA, .923 save percentage) will start in goal for<br />
the Maple Leafs.<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661922 Boston Bruins<br />
Chris Bourque placed on waivers<br />
By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff<br />
The Bruins have placed Chris Bourque on waivers. Teams can claim<br />
Bourque before noon tomorrow. If Bourque clears waivers, it’s likely that the<br />
Bruins will assign the forward to Providence.<br />
Bourque, the son of Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, has struggled to find<br />
consistency for most of the season. In 18 games, Bourque has one goal<br />
and three assists while averaging 12:04 of ice time per appearance.<br />
Bourque had been playing mostly on the third line with Chris Kelly and Rich<br />
Peverley. Bourque had also seen time at the point on the No. 2 power-play<br />
unit.<br />
Bourque was a healthy scratch against Montreal on Sunday.<br />
Boston Globe LOADED: 03.08.2013
661923 Boston Bruins<br />
Lineup changes likely for Bruins<br />
By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff<br />
With only one point in their last two games, the Bruins are in line for some<br />
tweaks tonight against Toronto. Anton Khudobin was the first goalie off the<br />
ice following the morning skate, indicating he will start against the Maple<br />
Leafs. Tuukka Rask dropped his last two starts.<br />
Claude Julien praised the fourth line of Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell,<br />
and Shawn Thornton. Julien said against Washington, they played one of<br />
their best games in the last year and a half.<br />
Julien hasn’t been as happy with the No. 3 line, primarily Chris Kelly and<br />
Rich Peverley. Neither of the forwards has played well at both ends of the<br />
ice. Based on this morning’s line rushes, Jay Pandolfo will skate alongside<br />
Kelly and Peverley. Chris Bourque will be the healthy scratch.<br />
A possible lineup for tonight:<br />
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton<br />
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin<br />
Jay Pandolfo-Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley<br />
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton<br />
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk<br />
Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton<br />
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid<br />
Anton Khudobin<br />
Tuukka Rask<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661924 Boston Bruins<br />
Game 21: Maple Leafs at Bruins preview<br />
By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff<br />
Good morning from TD Garden, where the Bruins will host the Maple Leafs<br />
tonight. The Bruins are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to Washington in<br />
which they gagged up a three-goal lead.<br />
The Bruins will have to address the play of their No. 3 line. They have been<br />
neither scoring nor playing stout defense. We’ll have to wait until warmups<br />
to determine who will be on the line. For now, we’ll assume Chris Bourque<br />
will stay alongside Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley. Daniel Paille could also<br />
get a crack on the line.<br />
Puck drop: 7 p.m.<br />
TV/radio info: NESN (Jack Edwards, Andy Brickley, Naoko Funayama),98.5<br />
The Sports Hub (Dave Goucher, Bob Beers)<br />
Records: Leafs 15-9-0, Bruins 14-3-3<br />
Projected Bruins lineup:<br />
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton<br />
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin<br />
Chris Bourque-Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley<br />
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton<br />
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk<br />
Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton<br />
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid<br />
Tuukka Rask<br />
Anton Khudobin<br />
Healthy scratches: Aaron Johnson, Jay Pandolfo, Lane MacDermid<br />
Storylines: The Bruins are 0-1-2 in games when they’ve held a lead<br />
entering the third-period this season. The Bruins were 62-2-2 in such<br />
situations during the previous two seasons… Phil Kessel scored a goal and<br />
two assists in Toronto’s 5-4 win over Ottawa last night… This will mark the<br />
first match of a two-game homestand. The Bruins host <strong>Philadelphia</strong> on<br />
Saturday. They will then depart for a two-game road trip against Ottawa and<br />
Pittsburgh… Nazem Kadri is on a hot streak. Kadri has scored five goals in<br />
the last three games… Tonight will be Daniel Paille’s 400th career game…<br />
Stephen Walkom and Gord Dwyer will be the referees. Derek Amell and<br />
Tim Nowak will be the linesmen.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661925 Boston Bruins<br />
Deposed Brian Burke only focused on what’s next<br />
Stephen Harris / Boston Herald<br />
When Brian Burke, after four pressure-packed and unsuccessful seasons<br />
as general manager/president of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was abruptly<br />
fired on Jan. 9, it might have been easy to assume the 57-year-old would<br />
want to take some time off. Maybe just go to the Caribbean and relax.<br />
Hardly.<br />
“I’m not much for sitting on beaches,” said Burke in a phone chat from<br />
Toronto yesterday. “At my press conference (after his dismissal), I was<br />
asked if I wanted to be a GM again. I said, ‘Yeah, tomorrow.’ ”<br />
Under the incessant demands and scrutiny of ownership, fans and media,<br />
Burke worked hard to build his team — yet it never made the playoffs<br />
during his tenure.<br />
But now, the team he assembled is suddenly playing well, and it’s looking<br />
like the Leafs could return to the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04.<br />
Toronto took a three-game win streak into last night’s game against the<br />
Bruins at the Garden, and was fifth in the Eastern Conference at 15-9-0.<br />
Whether Burke is angry, frustrated or proud about the Leafs’ performance is<br />
anyone’s guess. He is adamant he said what he wanted to say at his exit<br />
press conference and will say no more.<br />
“It’s (interim GM) Dave Nonis’ team. I haven’t done any interviews about<br />
this and I’m not going to,” said Burke. “I absolutely refuse to talk about the<br />
job or what happened.”<br />
At his farewell press conference on Jan. 12, Burke said his dismissal was<br />
completely unexpected.<br />
“There’s some times when you get fired and you see the vultures circling<br />
and you understand it’s coming,” he said then. “You’re not sure when you’re<br />
going to drop dead in the desert, but it’s coming and you can see the<br />
vultures. This one here was like a two-by-four upside the head to me.”<br />
He was candid about the team’s failings, but even after being blindsided by<br />
new corporate boss Tom Anselmi, Burke did not lose his love of the GM’s<br />
job.<br />
For the past few weeks, he has been working as a pro-level scout for the<br />
Anaheim Ducks — the team he, as GM, led to the Stanley Cup in 2007 —<br />
but hopes he’ll get to run another NHL team in the future.<br />
“The pressure of winning accompanies the general manager’s job in any<br />
city; it’s obviously intensified somewhat in Canada,” said Burke, whose<br />
previous GM work includes stints in Hartford and Vancouver, plus with<br />
Team USA at the 2010 Olympics. “But being a GM in the NHL is one of the<br />
great jobs in pro sports. If I can get back into that, I’d love it. We’ll see.<br />
“All general manager jobs are 24 hours. I guarantee you Peter Chiarelli<br />
drives his kids to school and the first thing he thinks about once he lets<br />
them out of the car is, ‘What can I do to make this team better?’ It’s 24/7,<br />
every GM, every sport, and that’s not unique to Canada.”<br />
It takes a unique guy to take on the job. And Burke is ready to get right back<br />
at it.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661926 Boston Bruins<br />
For B’s, result two good<br />
Team needed points big-time<br />
Steve Buckley / Boston Herald<br />
So there. The Bruins emerged with a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple<br />
Leafs last night at the Garden, and all is right again in the Boston Sports<br />
World, Hockey Division.<br />
No, the Bruins didn’t push the Leafs all the way to the Tobin. This victory<br />
was workmanlike, not masterful. They scored enough goals to get the two<br />
points, but not enough to make a statement. They didn’t make noise.<br />
Instead, they made sense — which in this case means playing a mostly<br />
consistent 60 minutes of hockey.<br />
You all know what happened the last two games. Two straight losses, two<br />
straight blown leads in the third period. The Bruins gave up two third-period<br />
goals in a 4-3 loss to those floppin’, embellishin’ Montreal Canadiens.<br />
Against the Washington Caps, they amassed a 3-0 first-period lead and<br />
then pressed the snooze button; when they awakened, they were 4-3<br />
overtime losers.<br />
And you might think this is just a fan thing — win a game, regain the mighty<br />
mo — but it turns out the Bruins themselves, from coach Claude Julien on<br />
down, attached a decided urgency to last night’s game.<br />
Julien went so far as to say he didn’t expect art on ice. He just wanted the<br />
two freakin’ points, as though a playoff berth were at stake.<br />
“I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty,” said the coach. “When you lose two<br />
games the way we did, I didn’t expect us to all of a sudden be this great<br />
team. I knew it was going to be tough. What I wanted to see from our team<br />
is us battling through it, and we did.”<br />
So, how important was it to the Bruins that they win this one?<br />
“It was very important,” announced Patrice Bergeron, who scored the<br />
team’s first goal. “We talked about it before the game, and the morning<br />
skate as well, and the emphasis was on having a 60-minute effort and<br />
being solid and coming out with the two points.”<br />
If you’re the glass-is-half-empty type, last night’s game changes little. The<br />
Bruins still have third-line issues, with or without Chris Bourque, and one<br />
game doesn’t make the 60-minutes-of-consistency issue go away.<br />
But if you watched the game through your half-filled glass, you saw that<br />
when Bergeron scored the first goal it was because he knocked in the<br />
rebound of a shot by Tyler Seguin, who finessed his way past the Toronto<br />
defense.<br />
And when Seguin scored the B’s second goal, it was because he got a nice<br />
centering pass from Brad Marchand.<br />
And when David Krejci scored goal No. 3, it was because he was able to<br />
bang home the rebound of a shot by Andrew Ference, who’d been the<br />
recipient of a nice pass from Milan Lucic.<br />
It was all nice and concise, and, again, workmanlike.<br />
And it was two points.<br />
Plus, it was two points on a night when Bruins fans had every right to say,<br />
“Oh, boy, here we go again,” after the Leafs made it a one-goal game with<br />
just over five minutes remaining.<br />
“I was a little nervous when they scored that one in the third period,” said<br />
Seguin, with surprising candor. “Just how the last few games have gone.<br />
But we bared down and walked away with two points, so it makes me<br />
happy.”<br />
I swear a National Hockey League record was set last night for most<br />
usages of the term “two points.”<br />
But this is Boston, and these are the Bruins, and those two previous losses<br />
were truly horrific. Put it all together — the decade-long run of<br />
championships in this town, the expectations for this Bruins team, the<br />
cough-cough-cough against the Habs and Caps — and your local pro<br />
hockey team absolutely, positively had to win a game last night.<br />
Two points for the Bruins.<br />
There’s plenty of time for them to think big picture. What they needed to do<br />
last night was think small — as in two points — and in that respect they<br />
succeeded.<br />
“It was a big one for us, especially after the last two games,” said the big<br />
guy, Zdeno Chara. “We need to be much better for the whole game, for a<br />
60-minute game, and I thought we were better than we were the last two<br />
games. It was a good effort.”<br />
Not a great effort, mind you. Just a good one. That’s a start.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661927 Boston Bruins<br />
Right steps for Tyler Seguin<br />
Stephen Harris / Boston Herald<br />
In most circumstances, Switzerland is a lovely place for a visitor from North<br />
America to spend a couple of months. But maybe not so much if you’re a<br />
young hockey player still trying to figure out the rigors and demands of a<br />
sound, two-way game.<br />
You can bet Tyler Seguin had himself a grand time during his lockout stint<br />
in the Swiss league. Life, and scoring goals, were easy. Perhaps too easy.<br />
And perhaps the 21-year-old brought some bad habits back to the NHL.<br />
It takes time to break those habits. Seguin is showing signs of doing just<br />
that the last couple of weeks, certainly again last night at the Garden, where<br />
he collected two goals and an assist in the Bruins’ latest victory, 4-2, over<br />
the Toronto Maple Leafs.<br />
To be the player Seguin says he wants to be, it’s not just about points.<br />
Points are great, but his model is not super sniper Steven Stamkos. It’s<br />
linemate Patrice Bergeron, one of the most honest and hard-working<br />
forwards in the NHL.<br />
The credo of a Bergeron: You don’t cheat and cut corners to find scoring<br />
chances. You work for them. Seguin has been working much better lately<br />
and the results show it: 5-7-12 totals and a plus-8 in the last 10 games.<br />
“I think the last couple of weeks, I’ve been playing good in my D-zone, a lot<br />
more than I think I was at the start of the season,” said Seguin. “Over in<br />
Europe, I think I was circling a little bit more. I didn’t have to battle. I don’t<br />
know if I even got hit over there in the few months I was there.<br />
“I had to find that game again. I think it’s coming now.”<br />
Seguin struggled early in the abbreviated season, and figured out pretty<br />
quickly the open-ice, little-contact hockey of Europe wasn’t going to work in<br />
NHL arenas. In the first 11 games, he missed a bundle of chances and<br />
posted only two goals.<br />
But from those struggles, he found the motivation to go back to a simpler,<br />
more competitive manner of play.<br />
“It comes with not producing and getting more determined,” he said. “(It’s)<br />
getting back to focusing on the little things — not the big picture, or the<br />
statistics.”<br />
And ain’t hockey a great game? When you work hard at the less glamorous<br />
aspects, the offense magically follows.<br />
“He’s playing better,” said coach Claude Julien after his team continued its<br />
dominance of the Maple Leafs — albeit a much improved club playing a<br />
much stronger two-way game than in recent years.<br />
“He’s battling along the boards and being quicker on the puck. There’s no<br />
hesitation in his game. When he skates the way he skates — and takes the<br />
hesitation out — a lot of good things can happen for him.”<br />
Seguin skated without hesitation last night, and two of the good things that<br />
happened to him were great setups from linemate Brad Marchand. The first<br />
sent Seguin flying down the left side and to the net hard — his shot was<br />
stopped by Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens, but Bergeron tapped in the rebound.<br />
Later, Marchand drew a crowd along the left boards, then feathered a pass<br />
into space on the wide open right side. Seguin skated onto it, moved in and<br />
whistled in a wrister from the right circle.<br />
He capped his night with an empty-netter with 14.6 seconds left.<br />
Seguin didn’t deny it when it was noted that he tends to particularly play<br />
well against his hometown team. In contrast to Phil Kessel — who has 3-6-<br />
9 totals and a minus-20 in 20 games against the team that dealt him for<br />
picks that became Seguin and Dougie Hamilton — Seguin is 10-5-15 and a<br />
plus-9 in 14 games against Toronto.<br />
“I think that’s a little bit normal,” said Julien of Seguin’s knack for good<br />
games against the Leafs. “He comes from there, so it’s always exciting to<br />
be playing your hometown.<br />
“But at the same time, he’s been playing much better the last couple of<br />
weeks. He’s really picked up his game. This is just a continuation of what<br />
we’re seeing from him lately.”<br />
Seguin, and his linemates, have been making it look easy. They’ve been<br />
doing it by working really hard. It’s a great game.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661928 Boston Bruins<br />
Chiarelli ‘close’ to scoring Swede Carl Soderberg<br />
Steve Conroy / Boston Herald<br />
Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed a TSN report last night<br />
that Swedish star Carl Soderberg, whose NHL rights have been owned by<br />
the B’s since 2007, is close to coming to play for the team this year after his<br />
season with Linkoping HC in the Swedish Elite League ends.<br />
Chiarelli told the Herald he’s still waiting on final clearance from the league<br />
to make sure the move would be allowed, but he’s optimistic.<br />
“We’ve been trying for five years to get him over here and it’s close,” said<br />
Chiarelli, who said the move wouldn’t stop him from continuing to explore<br />
the trade market. “He’s had a hell of a year and he’s grown into a big strong<br />
kid now, a man, and he’s told us that he feels he’s ready now. He’s a good<br />
player, big strong player. There are still some steps to go, but it looks<br />
good.”<br />
The 27-year-old Soderberg had a breakout year, posting 31-29-60 totals for<br />
Linkoping. The SEL has just finished the regular season and Soderberg’s<br />
team is about to start a best-of-seven quarterfinal round.<br />
Soderberg is a left-hand shot that could possibly be a solution for the third<br />
line. Chris Bourque, who had been playing there, was placed on waivers for<br />
the purpose of sending him down to Providence (teams have until noon<br />
today to claim him).<br />
Hard-line approach<br />
Exactly what the answer is for the struggling third line remains unclear. But<br />
it appears the B’s organization has come to the realization that changes<br />
needed to be made — and Bourque was waived.<br />
In the B’s losses to Montreal and Washington, the third line was on the ice<br />
for four goals. Chris Kelly, plus-33 last year, and Rich Peverley, plus-20 last<br />
year, are minus-7 and minus-8, respectively, this year.<br />
“It’s pretty obvious that it’s been a bit of a challenge for us,” said Bruins<br />
coach Claude Julien of finding the right mix for the bottom six. “There are<br />
two guys in Kelly and Peverley that were great assets and big plus players<br />
last year that are struggling to get that part of their game going. The one<br />
thing you don’t do is lose confidence in them. They just have to work their<br />
way through it. That’s part of their job and it’s part of our job. We know what<br />
they’re capable of doing.”<br />
Julien said the move doesn’t necessarily mean the end for Bourque in a<br />
Bruins uniform.<br />
“This is not a coach’s decision, it’s an organization’s, and it wasn’t an easy<br />
one because we know the type of person Chris is and he’s a great player,”<br />
said Julien. “Just because right now we’re waiving him, we certainly hope<br />
not to lose him.”<br />
Better effort<br />
The B’s went with Jay Pandolfo in Bourque’s spot against the Maple Leafs<br />
in last night’s 4-2 win and the unit had a better game. In one frustrating<br />
second-period sequence, all three players glittering scoring chances that<br />
didn’t go.<br />
“When you’ve got a guy like Pandolfo on the left there he’s got a lot of<br />
experience with the defensive part of his game and I thought they had some<br />
great chances again,” said Julien. “Poor Pev he’s got a wide-open net and<br />
he’s kind of handcuffed. You know when it rains it pours for some of those<br />
players and somehow you’re keeping your fingers crossed that he’s going<br />
to get a goal and take a little bit of pressure off his shoulders and let him<br />
play at ease again. But he’s really fighting it right now and he’s certainly not<br />
getting a break, but that line was better for me tonight.” . . .<br />
Adam McQuaid and Mark Fraser had a long, brutal bout early in the first<br />
period. Fraser landed a lot of blows and McQuaid did well to stay on his<br />
feet, getting in a few of his own. . . .<br />
David Krejci had a good night in the faceoff circle, winning 12-of-16 draws.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661929 Boston Bruins<br />
Bruins never make it easy<br />
Seguin’s pair stops Toronto<br />
Steve Conroy / Boston Herald<br />
The Bruins may still be lacking the killer instinct, but at least for this night<br />
they found a way to get the two points.<br />
The B’s took a 3-1 lead into the third period and, though they could have<br />
made their lives a little easier on a couple of power plays with which they<br />
did nothing early in the period, they finally salted away the game when Tyler<br />
Seguin scored his second goal into an empty net with 14.6 seconds left.<br />
That gave the B’s a 4-2 victory over the much improved Toronto Maple<br />
Leafs at the Garden.<br />
“We’re certainly not perfect right now and we’re certainly not firing on all<br />
cylinders. Right now, we’re laboring through it,” said B’s coach Claude<br />
Julien. “But the work ethic was there tonight.”<br />
Things got interesting when the Leafs cut the Bruins’ lead to 3-2 with 5:08<br />
left in the third. Mikhail Grabovski possessed the puck on the left side and<br />
fired a shot that Jay McClement redirected past Anton Khudobin, who made<br />
25 saves and played very well in nailing down the win.<br />
But unlike Sunday against Montreal or Tuesday in Washington, the B’s did<br />
not let this one slip through their fingers. They were pretty solid defensively<br />
the rest of the game and when Patrice Bergeron (goal, assist) sprung<br />
Seguin (2-1-3) for the empty netter, they could finally breathe easily.<br />
“Right after the goal, we talked about how we needed a big shift right after<br />
and I thought we did that,” said Bergeron. “I thought we got the momentum<br />
back and that killed their push.”<br />
After a hard-fought first period in which Khudobin did some of his best work,<br />
especially when the B’s had to kill off consecutive penalties, they took a 1-0<br />
lead with 52.3 seconds left in the period.<br />
Brad Marchand first stopped a Toronto breakout just outside the Maple<br />
Leafs zone. The Leafs momentarily regained control, but the puck squirted<br />
free to Seguin, who drove hard to the net. Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens made<br />
the initial save on Seguin, but Bergeron was there to clean up the rebound.<br />
However, Toronto tied it up quickly in the second period.<br />
During a 4-on-4 situation with Marchand and Dion Phaneuf in the box for<br />
roughing, David Krejci lost the puck high in the offensive zone and the<br />
Leafs broke out on a 2-on-1. Clarke MacArthur fed Nazem Kadri for what<br />
looked like an easy goal at 2:32 and it was a new game.<br />
The B’s then regained the lead at 7:11, and it was again the ever<br />
dependable Bergeron line that produced the goal. Bergeron moved the<br />
puck up to Marchand along the right wing and, in perhaps a nod to<br />
Marchand’s burgeoning reputation as a skilled player, the Leafs overcommitted<br />
to him, leaving Seguin wide open.<br />
Marchand slid the pass over to his linemate on the right wing, and Seguin<br />
ripped it through Scrivens.<br />
“They know how to take the dangerous guy, right?” cracked Marchand,<br />
needling the talented Seguin. “That’s how it plays out sometimes. Bergie<br />
made a great play and when he chipped it to me, it kind of drew everyone to<br />
me. Then I saw Siggy all alone and I guess no one’s threatened by him now<br />
because he’s not scoring. It’s just nice to see him finish.”<br />
Krejci then gave the B’s a two-goal lead with the eventual game-winner at<br />
18:03 of the second. Andrew Ference jumped up into the play, snapped a<br />
shot that got blocked in front and Krejci shoveled home the rebound past<br />
Scrivens.<br />
It got a little hairier than the Bruins wanted it to in the third, but the game, as<br />
a whole, was a step forward from their previous two games.<br />
“It was a big win for us, especially after the last two games when we<br />
needed to be better for the whole game, for a 60-minute game,” said<br />
captain Zdeno Chara, who notched a plus-3. “We’ve just got to carry on that<br />
same approach and effort for the next game.”<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661930 Boston Bruins<br />
A special delivery for the B's?<br />
Steve Conroy / Boston Herald<br />
Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli tonight confirmed a TSN report that Swedish star<br />
forward Carl Soderberg, on whom the B's have owned the rights since<br />
obtaining him in a trade for goalie Hannu Toivonen in 2007, is close to<br />
coming to play for the Bruins this year after his season with Linkoping HC in<br />
the Swedish Elite League is finished.<br />
Chiarelli, who met with the Linkoping GM last week, said he's still waiting on<br />
final clearance from the league to make sure the move would be copacetic,<br />
but he's optimistic.<br />
“We've been trying for five years to get him over here and it's finally close,”<br />
said Chiarelli, who said the move wouldn't stop him from continuing to<br />
explore the trade market. “He's had a hell of a year and he's grown into a<br />
big strong kid now, a man, and he's told us that he feels he's ready now.<br />
He's a good player, big strong player. There are still some steps to go, but it<br />
looks good.”<br />
The 27-year-old Soderberg had a breakout year, posting 31-29-60 totals for<br />
Linkoping. The SEL has just finished the regular season and Soderberg's<br />
team is about to start a best-of-seven quarterfinal round. Soderberg is a left<br />
hand shot that could possibly be a solution for the third line. Chris Bourque,<br />
who had been playing there, was placed on waivers Thursday for the<br />
purpose of sending him down to Providence.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661931 Boston Bruins<br />
Bruins hold off Leafs, 4-2<br />
Steve Conroy / Boston Herald<br />
The Bruins may still be lacking the killer instinct, but at least they found a<br />
way to get the two points.<br />
The B’s took a 3-1 lead into the third period and, though they could have<br />
made their lives a little easier with a couple of power-plays with which they<br />
did nothing early in the third, they couldn’t salt away the game until Tyler<br />
Seguin scored his second goal into an empty net with 14:6 seconds left to<br />
give the B’s a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.<br />
Things got interesting when the Leafs cut the B’s lead to 3-2 with 5:08 left in<br />
the third when Mikhail Grabovski possessed the puck on the left and fired a<br />
shot that went through a some bodies and past Anton Khudobin.<br />
But that’s all they would get and the B’s snapped a two-game losing streak.<br />
The Bruins were out to snap a two-game skid that saw them cough up third<br />
period leads in both contests.<br />
And they were playing a Leafs team that, though it had many of the same<br />
players, was a far cry from the patsy that the B’s swept in the six-game<br />
season series last year. Under coach Randy Carlyle, a midseason<br />
replacement for Ron Wilson last year, the Leafs are both much stingier in<br />
front of the net and harder on their sticks.<br />
“They’ve done a great job with that team, the coaching staff,” said B’s coach<br />
Claude Julien after the morning skate. “You’ve got to give credit to a lot of<br />
people there because they are playing really well defensively. They’ve<br />
really tightened up their game. Offensively, they’re still a skilled team, but<br />
they’re also doing the grunt work<br />
They come at you hard.<br />
“I’m one of those guys that believes they’re a legit contender, no doubt<br />
about it. They play like one. Having said that, I’ve already told our guys, ‘If<br />
you’re not ready for a tough game tonight, then you’re making a big<br />
mistake.’ ”<br />
Adam McQuaid and Mark Fraser got things going with a big boy bout at<br />
3:23. Fraser got a lot of punches in and McQuaid did well to stay on his feet<br />
and was able to land a few blows of his own.<br />
Anton Khudobin got the start in net for the Bruins and, fortunately, he was<br />
on his game because he had to make some terrific saves. He made a fine<br />
pad stop on Phil Kessel and then later another on Tyler Bozak off an<br />
intentionally wide shot that came right to Bozak at the side of the crease.<br />
The Leafs carried a lot of the play early, but after the B’s killed off a short 5on-3,<br />
the hosts started to pick up their game.<br />
The struggling third line, with Jay Pandolfo taking over for Chris Bourque,<br />
had three great chances on one shift. Pandolfo took a shot that Ben<br />
Scrivens had to make a great save on, Chris Kelly then threw the rebound<br />
off the post. That rebound bounced right to Rich Peverley, who had an open<br />
net but couldn’t get the puck to settle.<br />
The B’s, however, did take a 1-0 lead with 52.3 seconds left in the period.<br />
Brad Marchand first stopped a Toronto breakout just outside the Leafs<br />
zone. The Leafs regained control, but Tyler Seguin stole a short pass and<br />
moved in quickly on Scrivens.<br />
The goalie made the initial save Seguin’s in-tight shot, but Patrice Bergeron<br />
cleaned up the rebound.<br />
The Leafs tied it up quickly in the second. In a 4-on-4 situation with<br />
Marchand and Dion Phaneuf in the box for roughing, David Krejci lost the<br />
puck high in the offensive zone and the Leafs broke out on a 2-on-1. Clarke<br />
MacArthur fed Nazem Kadri for an easy goal at 2:32 and it was a new<br />
game.<br />
The B’s regained the lead at 7:11, and it was again the ever dependable<br />
Bergeron line that produced the goal. Bergeron moved the puck up to<br />
Marchand along the right wing and, in perhaps a nod to Marchand’s<br />
dangerousness, the Leafs over-committed to him, leaving Seguin wide<br />
open. Marchand slid it over and Seguin ripped it through Scrivens.<br />
Krejci then gave the B’s a two-goal lead going into the third. Andrew<br />
Ference jumped up into the play and snapped a shot that Scrivens stopped<br />
but he couldn’t control and Krejci shoveled home the rebound.<br />
Boston Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
661932 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Sabres notebook: Hecht a scratch for first time in Buffalo<br />
BY: John Vog<br />
NEWARK, N.J. — Jochen Hecht was agitated and not in the mood to talk.<br />
Getting scratched for the first time after 10 seasons in Buffalo obviously<br />
didn’t sit well.<br />
The former Sabres captain took a seat Thursday night against the New<br />
Jersey Devils despite being healthy. It had never happened before to the<br />
team’s longest-tenured player, who arrived from Edmonton via trade before<br />
the 2002-03 season.<br />
“No comment. Talk to the guys that are playing,” Hecht told The Buffalo<br />
News in Prudential Center.<br />
Hecht had been threatened with benchings twice during his long stay in<br />
Buffalo. Former coach Lindy Ruff came close to sitting the forward during<br />
the playoffs in 2007 and in December 2008, but he never followed through<br />
with a scratch.<br />
The 35-year-old Hecht has one goal, six points and a plus-2 rating in 24<br />
games this season. He had been skating on the left wing with rookie center<br />
Mikhail Grigorenko and right wing Drew Stafford.<br />
Enforcer John Scott replaced Hecht.<br />
“We have to make decisions on our lineup,” interim coach Ron Rolston said<br />
after the game. “We always just put the lineup we feel is going to give us<br />
the best opportunity to win. He’s playing been playing good hockey for us,<br />
and I’m sure he’ll get another opportunity real soon.”<br />
After the morning skate Rolston said: “Jochen is a smart player. “He plays<br />
very smartly, does whatever you need, and he’s played well lately. We’ve<br />
had him in a situation where he’s been with Mikhail, so he can provide that<br />
stability, I think, on that line along with Staff as wingers, like a veteran<br />
presence. … I think that helps the transfer over to Grigo on the bench.”<br />
It appears the Sabres will welcome Detroit, Florida and Tampa Bay to their<br />
division next season.<br />
The NHL Players’ Association has approved the league’s realignment plan,<br />
which calls for 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 teams in the<br />
Western Conference. Detroit and Columbus will move to the East, while<br />
Winnipeg will join the West.<br />
“After discussions with the executive board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” union<br />
Executive Director Donald Fehr said in a statement.<br />
The NHL board of governors will vote on the proposal, with acceptance<br />
expected.<br />
The East would have two eight-team divisions, while the West would have a<br />
pair of seven-team divisions. The Sabres’ division would also include<br />
Boston, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.<br />
Eight teams in each conference would make the postseason. The top three<br />
teams in each division would secure a spot and be joined by two “wild card”<br />
clubs with the next-best records, regardless of division.<br />
...<br />
Former Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder joined the Devils for the start<br />
of the pregame warm-up then left the ice and was replaced by Mark Fayne,<br />
whom coach Pete DeBoer said in the morning would be a healthy scratch.<br />
New Jersey said Tallinder had a lower-body injury.<br />
Along with Hecht, Buffalo scratched defenseman Adam Pardy.<br />
...<br />
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Cliff Benson, the Sabres’ chief<br />
development officer, will meet at 10 this morning in First Niagara Center to<br />
formally complete the sale of the Webster Block to the Sabres. ... The ninth<br />
annual Scotty Bowman Showcase, which features high school players from<br />
Buffalo competing against their counterparts from Rochester, will be held at<br />
6 p.m. April 15 in the arena. ... The Sabres and Unyts will hold their annual<br />
blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 18 in First Niagara Center. The first<br />
200 donors will receive a free Sabres hat.<br />
Buffalo News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661933 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Sabres lose in shootout after Enroth is injured<br />
BY: John Vogl<br />
NEWARK, N.J. – Jhonas Enroth was just more than a minute away from his<br />
first victory in 16 months. Suddenly, he couldn’t move his right leg and had<br />
to be helped to the Buffalo Sabres’ dressing room as New Jersey’s fans<br />
celebrated a tying goal.<br />
It turned out the only thing injured was Enroth’s pride.<br />
The Buffalo backup goaltender cramped up near the end of his first start in<br />
more than a month, ending a night filled with highlight-reel, confidenceboosting<br />
saves. He was in the back when the Devils completed a stunning<br />
rally by beating Ryan Miller and the Sabres in a shootout, 3-2.<br />
“I was so close,” said Enroth, who hasn’t won in 15 appearances dating to<br />
November 2011. “I’m very disappointed. I don’t know what to say. I’ve just<br />
got to come back here and try to get better, I guess.”<br />
Enroth’s night – and the Sabres’ 2-1 lead – came to an end with 1:06 to<br />
play in regulation. Enroth kicked David Clarkson’s shot from the point<br />
directly to a driving Patrik Elias. The goalie dived across the crease to try to<br />
get in the way, but the puck went in as the fans in Prudential Center roared.<br />
Enroth stayed on the ice, but it wasn’t in disappointment over allowing the<br />
tying goal. He needed to be helped to the dressing room by athletic trainer<br />
Tim Macre, unable to put any weight on his right leg.<br />
He allowed two goals on 29 shots, but both came in the final 6:30 as the<br />
Sabres’ 2-0 lead transformed into a 0-1-2 slide.<br />
“Those are the games we’ve got to close,” captain Jason Pominville said.<br />
“There’s no excuses for it. We’ve got to find a way to close those games.”<br />
Miller stopped four shots in the final minute and overtime. David Clarkson<br />
and Elias beat him in the shootout while Thomas Vanek and Pominville<br />
failed in their attempts for Buffalo.<br />
The loss and Enroth’s early departure overshadowed what had been a<br />
memorable night.<br />
The Sabres’ power play struck for the second time in as many games as<br />
Vanek opened the scoring midway through the second.<br />
Buffalo doubled its lead with 10:04 left in regulation as Brian Flynn earned a<br />
prized souvenir.<br />
Andrej Sekera’s point shot hit a body in front, and Flynn promptly whacked<br />
the deflection toward Johan Hedberg. The goalie got a piece of the shot<br />
with his pad but not enough to keep it from going through his legs to start a<br />
celebration.<br />
Marcus Foligno and Christian Ehrhoff both went after the puck, then joined<br />
the hugs and fist taps as smiles radiated for Flynn’s first NHL goal.<br />
“At the time it was awesome,” Flynn said, “but it doesn’t feel as good now<br />
after losing the game that way.”<br />
The Devils started to put a damper on Enroth’s welcome-back party with<br />
6:30 to play. With Ehrhoff in the box for holding, fellow defenseman Mike<br />
Weber got in the way of Adam Henrique’s close-range blast. As Weber hit<br />
the ice in pain, Henrique picked up the puck and ripped it high into the net.<br />
Enroth was feeling tight as the 17,625 fans partied.<br />
“I was cramping pretty much the whole third period there,” said Enroth, who<br />
is 0-10-2 in his last 12 decisions, including a loss in his previous start Feb. 5<br />
in Ottawa. “I’ve got to take a little more care of my body when I’m playing. I<br />
haven’t been playing in a while, so I probably should have been drinking<br />
more water and Gatorade and stuff like that before the game.”<br />
Hedberg made 23 saves to end his seven-game winless streak and send<br />
the Sabres into Sunday’s game in <strong>Philadelphia</strong> with a three-game slide.<br />
“We would have liked to have a better outcome, but we’re doing things a lot<br />
better as a team,” said Sabres interim coach Ron Rolston, who liked his first<br />
look at Enroth. “It was a hard outcome for him, but life’s hard. He’s got to<br />
bounce back. I know he will. I liked what he did. He made some huge saves<br />
for us.”<br />
Buffalo News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661934 Buffalo Sabres<br />
NHLPA approves realignment; Sabres would welcome Detroit, Florida,<br />
Tampa to division<br />
By John Vogl<br />
NEWARK, N.J. -- Realignment is likely on its way.<br />
The NHL Players' Association today approved the league's plan to create a<br />
16-team Eastern Conference and 14-team Western Conference. The NHL's<br />
board of governors will next vote, and with expected approval the changes<br />
will be implemented next season.<br />
"After discussions with the executive board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season," union<br />
leader Donald Fehr said in a statement.<br />
The East will have two eight-team divisions, while the West will have two<br />
with seven teams. Eight teams in each will make the playoffs, the top three<br />
in each division and two "wild cards" with the best record, regardless of<br />
division.<br />
The Sabres' division will be: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal,<br />
Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.<br />
Buffalo News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661935 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Poll: Which goalie will end winless skid? Sabres' Enroth (0-10-2) or Devils'<br />
Hedberg (0-6-1)?<br />
By John Vogl<br />
SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Someone has to win. Probably.<br />
The goaltending matchup tonight in New Jersey could have been the<br />
Devils' Martin Brodeur, the winningest goalie in NHL history, and Ryan<br />
Miller, who has the most victories in Sabres history. But Brodeur is hurt and<br />
Miller is getting a rest after 14 straight starts.<br />
So instead it's Buffalo's Jhonas Enroth and the Devils' Johan Hedberg. Both<br />
need to win. Desperately.<br />
Enroth is on an 0-10-2 skid. He hasn't won since Nov. 26, 2011. In his 14<br />
appearances since the win over Washington, Enroth has a 3.47 goalsagainst<br />
average and .898 save percentage.<br />
Hedberg, meanwhile, has struggled with an 0-6-1 record in his last seven<br />
starts. He has a 3.98 GAA and .841 save percentage during the slump.<br />
Unless one of them fails to finish the game and his backup earns the<br />
victory, it stands to reason one goalie will finally end his slump.<br />
Buffalo News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661936 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Enroth set to make rare start in net for Sabres; Hecht agitated over<br />
likelihood of being healthy scratch<br />
By John Vogl<br />
NEWARK, N.J. -- Jhonas Enroth will make a rare appearance in the Sabres'<br />
net. Jochen Hecht may make an ever rarer appearance on the healthyscratch<br />
list.<br />
Enroth will start for the first time since Feb. 5 tonight when the Sabres face<br />
the New Jersey Devils. Enroth is 0-2 this season and is on an 0-10-2 skid.<br />
He hasn't won since Nov. 26, 2011.<br />
Ryan Miller will sit after making 14 straight starts.<br />
"We felt this was a good opportunity to get him in there," interim coach Ron<br />
Rolston said of Enroth, who was not made available to the media. "He’s<br />
done a good job since I’ve been here working with [goalie coach] Jim Corsi<br />
and really for him right now his practices are his games. Again, we’ve had<br />
limited practice times, but in those situations he’s certainly done a good job<br />
for us and merits an opportunity.<br />
"Most importantly for us, we want to play well, play well in front of Jhonas.<br />
All along since I’ve been here, our job is to make the goaltender’s game<br />
easier than it has been. Whether it’s Ryan or Jhonas, we want to do a good<br />
job in front of him and be consistent and keep working on our game."<br />
The goaltending matchup in Prudential Center will be the struggling Enroth<br />
against Johan Hedberg, who is 0-6-1 in his last seven decisions.<br />
"He’s been working really hard in practice," Sabres right wing Drew Stafford<br />
said of Enroth. "Obviously, it’s part of his job to always stay ready. He’s<br />
done that. It’s good to see him in there, and hopefully we can have a good<br />
game in front of him and give him a big win."<br />
It appears Hecht will not be in front of Enroth. The veteran forward, who is<br />
in his 10th season with the Sabres, skated after practice with injured Jordan<br />
Leopold and Ville Leino and healthy defense scratch Adam Pardy.<br />
Enforcer John Scott took Hecht's spot on a line with center Mikhail<br />
Grigorenko and Stafford. Rolston would not confirm Scott will play.<br />
Initial research indicates Hecht, who was a two-time captain under coach<br />
Lindy Ruff, has never been a healthy scratch in Buffalo.<br />
"No comment. Talk to the guys that are playing," the 35-year-old told The<br />
Buffalo News.<br />
"Jochen is a smart player," Rolston said. "He plays very smartly, does<br />
whatever you need, and he’s played well lately. We’ve had him in a<br />
situation where he’s been with Mikhail, so he can provide that stability, I<br />
think, on that line along with Staff as wingers, like a veteran presence.<br />
"He’s very even-keeled in terms of game situations. No matter what’s<br />
happened, you’re going to get the same product on the ice. I think that<br />
helps the transfer over to Grigo on the bench, talking to him and just making<br />
sure he’s calm all the time and making sure he’s where he needs to be<br />
when he goes over the boards."<br />
Buffalo News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661937 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Devils focused on getting win for team, Hedberg against Sabres<br />
By John Vogl<br />
NEWARK, N.J. -- David Clarkson has 74 fights in his NHL career, including<br />
one Saturday with Steve Ott in the opening minute of the game between the<br />
Devils and Sabres. So whenever he's around, there's a chance of<br />
scrapiness.<br />
He said this morning the team isn't looking for it tonight against Buffalo<br />
despite a chippy loss to the Sabres a few days ago.<br />
"There’s always that edge to the game," Clarkson said after skating in<br />
Prudential Center. "The way I play, there’s always teams that will feel that<br />
way. But I think this game’s too important for us to worry about those little<br />
things. We’ve got to come out and here and get back to playing our game."<br />
The Devils are on an 0-5-1 slide and just 1-6-2 in the last nine games.<br />
Goaltender Johan Hedberg, who is filling in for injured Martin Brodeur,<br />
hasn't won since Feb. 10 (a span of seven games) and will get the start.<br />
"I don’t think Moose has played bad at all," Clarkson said. "We’ve allowed<br />
three-on-twos and two-on-ones and plays that kind of leave him hanging,<br />
As a team, we’re going to do a better job and be there for him and give him<br />
a chance to win tonight."<br />
The Devils are making two changes on defense, scratching Mark Fayne<br />
and Adam Larsson for Peter Harrold and Anton Volchenkov. Krystofer<br />
Barch, who has 44 penalty minutes in 18 games, also will sit.<br />
Buffalo News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661938 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Buffalo Sabres fall in a shootout to New Jersey<br />
Tom Canavan<br />
Associated Press<br />
NEWARK, N.J. — David Clarkson and Patrik Elias scored in a shootout and<br />
the New Jersey Devils rallied from a late two-goal deficit to defeat the<br />
Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Thursday night, snapping a season-high six game<br />
winless streak.<br />
Elias and Adam Henrique got the Devils to the overtime, scoring in the final<br />
6 1/2 minutes, with Elias tying the game on a rebound with 66 seconds left<br />
in regulation.<br />
Thomas Vanek and rookie Brian Flynn staked Buffalo to a 2-0 lead, with<br />
Vanek tallying his team-high 13th goal of the season on a second-period<br />
power play, and Flynn getting the first of his career midway through the<br />
third period.<br />
Johan Hedberg made 23 saves and stopped both Sabres shootout attempts<br />
for New Jersey.<br />
After Ilya Kovalchuk and Vanek missed on the first two shootout attempts,<br />
Clarkson made a nifty move to beat Ryan Miller with a backhander.<br />
Jason Pominville seemed to miss the net on the Sabres’ second try and<br />
Elias deked Miller out of position for a tap-in game winner.<br />
Miller was forced to end a rare night off when Sabres starter Jhonas Enroth<br />
hurt his right leg on Elias’ tying goal.<br />
The Sabres seemed in command until defenseman Christian Ehrhoff took a<br />
holding penalty with 7:24 to play in regulation.<br />
Henrique got the Devils within a goal less than a minute later. His initial shot<br />
was blocked by defenseman Mike Weber. The shot stunned Weber and<br />
Henrique was able to get the loose puck and fire it past Enroth.<br />
Elias’ tying goal seemed a little soft. Clarkson took a long shot from the left<br />
point seconds after Hedberg left for a sixth skater. Enroth kicked out a long<br />
rebound and Elias had a wide-open net.<br />
Enroth lay prone on the ice after the play and had to be helped to the<br />
bench, dragging his right leg.<br />
Sabres coach Ron Rolston disclosed after the game that Enroth was<br />
cramping the entire third period.<br />
“I like what he did,” Rolston said. “He made some huge saves for us. I know<br />
he’s disappointed he couldn’t finish. He’ll be back.<br />
“We’re disappointed we couldn’t get the win for him. The guys were<br />
working. There was a lot of sacrifice out there. I like the way our team is<br />
competing right now.”<br />
Vanek staked the Sabres to a 1-0 lead in the second period, converting a<br />
pass from Tyler Ennis on a power play.<br />
Democrat and Chronicle LOADED: 03.08.2013
661939 Buffalo Sabres<br />
Amerks find strong pairing in McNabb, Pysyk<br />
Kevin Oklobzija<br />
Hockey night<br />
The matchup: Amerks vs. Abbotsford Heat (affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary<br />
Flames).<br />
Time/place: 7:05 p.m. Friday/Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester<br />
Community War Memorial.<br />
Tickets: $16, $19, $21.<br />
Records: The Amerks are 29-22-2-1 with 61 points in 54 games. The Heat<br />
are 27-24-3-5 and have 62 points in 59 games.<br />
Slumping: The Heat have just one win in their past 10 games (1-8-0-1).<br />
Season series: The Amerks are 3-3 against Abbotsford.<br />
Amerks update: RW Shawn Szydlowski was recalled from Fort Worth of the<br />
CHL. C Kevin Porter, RW Brian Flynn and D Adam Pardy remain on recall.<br />
RW Evan Rankin (ankle) and LW Kevin Sundher (upper body) are out<br />
indefinitely.<br />
Broadcasts: Time Warner Cable channel 98, WHTK-AM (1280).<br />
When the Rochester Americans’ coaching staff put defensemen Brayden<br />
McNabb and Mark Pysyk together as a pairing, it was hardly by<br />
happenstance.<br />
It’s quite possible this is the future in the making.<br />
“It’s a pretty good starting point,” Amerks interim coach Chadd Cassidy<br />
said.<br />
Pysyk, a rookie, was the Buffalo Sabres’ first-round draft pick (23rd overall)<br />
in 2010. McNabb, a second-year pro, was chosen in the third round (66th<br />
overall) in 2009 and his stock has risen stoutly since.<br />
They have been the Amerks’ best defensive pairing, the lockdown duo that<br />
is called up to protect one-goal leads in the last minute and is given the<br />
prime-time matchup against the opponents’ best line.<br />
“I like the challenge of playing against the top lines,” McNabb said.<br />
Cassidy now and former coach Ron Rolston both referred to McNabb as “a<br />
general on the ice.” He’s clearly the guy who makes it happen — or not<br />
happen in terms of what the opposition accomplishes.<br />
“With the ice time I’m getting, I want to be a leader back there,” McNabb<br />
said.<br />
He has earned the title. While the 6-foot-4, 205-pound McNabb didn’t play<br />
all that well from perhaps mid-November through December, he has<br />
regained his stature on the ice that he displayed as a rookie.<br />
He is confident, is much better with the puck, and is using his size to subtly<br />
eliminate opponents in front of the net and on the wall simply with smarter<br />
positioning.<br />
He has also learned that the simple play is often the best play. A chip of the<br />
puck high off the glass is boring, but there’s no risk of turnover.<br />
“Coaches love boring,” Cassidy said with a smile.<br />
McNabb is starting to understand. When he went through his slump, he was<br />
trying to dance past one too many defenders when trying to elude even one<br />
was a risk.<br />
“I think I caught myself trying to do too much,” he said. “The flip, or just<br />
going off the glass, can be a good play.”<br />
Said Cassidy: “He’s identifying situations better, when he might be in a little<br />
bit of trouble and he’s willing to chip it out.”<br />
While McNabb perhaps needed time to fully grasp the play-it-safe concept,<br />
Pysyk pretty much knew it all along.<br />
“That’s sort of been my game ever since I was playing in junior (with the<br />
Western Hockey League’s Edmonton Oil Kings),” the 6-foot-1, 193-pound<br />
Pysyk said. “If I don’t get noticed, that’s a good game for me.”<br />
Oh, but people do notice. They notice his poise. They see a calmness<br />
about him even when forecheckers are converging. They watch him make<br />
precision passes nearly every time he outlets or headmans the puck. No<br />
one is better among Amerk defensemen.<br />
“His passes are right on the tape,” Cassidy said.<br />
And in corner battles, it’s as though the tape on Pysyk’s stick has magical<br />
adhesive.<br />
“It’s uncanny how he can be in those puck battles and can pull it out and<br />
transition it all in one motion,” Cassidy said.<br />
Put Pysyk with McNabb and it’s the perfect pairing.<br />
“He has a lot to do with it,” Pysyk said. “I enjoy playing with him. The longer,<br />
the better.”<br />
KEVINO at DemocratandChronicle.com<br />
Democrat and Chronicle LOADED: 03.08.2013
661940 Calgary Flames<br />
Johnson: Hartley ties idol on NHL career coaching wins list<br />
Flames bench boss grew up watching Michel Bergeron and has learned<br />
plenty about the craft from him<br />
By George Johnson, Calgary Herald<br />
Small, singularly feisty, outspoken, confrontational, mischievously<br />
charming. Like a vibrating tuning fork. Seemingly always on the verge of<br />
detonation.<br />
“That’s what I loved about him,” laughs Bob Hartley of former NHL coach<br />
Michel Bergeron. “Passion. For me, that’s what this game is about.<br />
“You can’t be successful in this business, I think, without passion. Some<br />
guys might believe it. I don’t.<br />
“And Michel had plenty of passion.”<br />
Thursday’s 4-1 decisioning of the San Jose Sharks was notable for<br />
something other than the hugely-anticipated return of Miikka Kiprusoff to the<br />
Calgary Flames’ cage. With that win, Hartley quietly took his place beside<br />
Bergeron on the all-time coaching wins bench, at 338.<br />
For Hartley, that’s no mean feat.<br />
“I have two coaches, they are my idols. No. 1 is Scotty Bowman. I saw him<br />
win so many Cups when I was cheering on the Montreal Canadiens as a<br />
kid. Obviously, I had the chance to coach against him. He’s the best.<br />
Period.<br />
“And my second? Michel Bergeron. He played senior hockey in my<br />
hometown (Hawkesbury, Ont.) for my father-in-law. Then I remember his<br />
days in Trois-Riviereres, coaching the Quebec Major Junior team, and<br />
obviously he was a big, big attraction there.<br />
“Then I kind of became a fan of the Quebec Nordiques because of Michel<br />
Bergeron. Hey, I love Stash (Peter Stastny) and Dale Hunter, too. But<br />
Michel, ahhh, he was special. A tiger. Let Petit Tigre, right?<br />
“I have idols because I’m the kind of guy who believes in details, stuff like<br />
this. These guys leave an impression.<br />
“I remember having lunches with Michel discussing coaching. Even when I<br />
was coaching in Laval once, Scotty came early to see Marty Lapointe, their<br />
first-round pick, and we talked. Those are conversations that stay with you.<br />
They certainly helped me.<br />
“In my little coaching world, Scotty, Michel, those were the guys I looked up<br />
to.”<br />
For those too young to remember, Michel Bergeron was among the most<br />
charismatic, quotable (whilst in charge of the Rangers, Bergeron was once<br />
asked by a New York journalist what 14 losses by one goal could possibly<br />
mean. “It means,” he replied, “that we’re in the basement”) personalties of<br />
an era.<br />
Twice he guided the Nordiques to the conference finals, and the visceral<br />
rivalry between Quebec and the mighty Canadiens provided some of the<br />
finest, most uncompromising hockey of a decade.<br />
Among other things, Bergeron holds the distinction of being the only coach<br />
ever to be traded. Openly feuding with Quebec GM Maurice Filion, the<br />
Nords swapped him to the Rangers for a first-round pick and $75,000.<br />
Later on, long after Bergeron and the NHL had bid a mutual adieu, after<br />
Hartley had piloted the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup in 2001, the<br />
two men’s paths crossed again. They worked a number of RDS television<br />
Montreal Canadiens-related shows together after Hartley was let go by the<br />
Atlanta Thrashers and between coaching assignments, as well a reality gig<br />
three years ago that played up the beer-league hockey rivalry between<br />
Quebec City and Montreal.<br />
“And you know what?” crows Hartley. “We were packing the Quebec<br />
Colisee for those games. It was so crazy we would get 1.2-1.3 million<br />
viewers on TV.<br />
“So I coached that year with Bergy. It was a lot of fun.”<br />
The Bowman influence — as well on virtually anyone of the last two<br />
decades who ever toted a whistle white board and a pair of skates — is one<br />
the Flames’ boss will happily acknowledge.<br />
“I remember matching myself against Scotty during that Colorado-Detroit<br />
rivalry. It’s something I’ll never forget. I’d go over game tapes again and<br />
again, and I would write down every one of his line changes. Every one.<br />
Just to try and figure out Scotty Bowman. Which, of course, is impossible.<br />
“When he started to coach, I was not even born. And all he did was win.<br />
Win, win, win.<br />
“It was always a very uneven matchup. But I felt my team was as good as<br />
his team that time so I had to try and prepare my players well enough to<br />
win. When the game started, I had to forget that it was Scotty behind the<br />
other bench. But it was always great to watch his team practice, to watch<br />
his strategy during games, to try and measure up, you know?”<br />
William Scott is out of sight, of course. In the tactician trade he resides<br />
alone, omnipotent, in a galaxy far, far away of his own making, at a neverto-be-toppled<br />
1,244 coaching wins.<br />
But if you can’t reel in one icon ...<br />
“Hey,” pipes up Bob Hartley, in search of W No. 339 tonight at the Honda<br />
Center, a place that has become a virtual embalming oven for the Flames,<br />
“Michel Bergeron is pretty good company, too.<br />
“I love Bergy. He had a great influence on me.<br />
“It’s always an amazing feeling when you can be mentioned in the same<br />
breath as one of your idols.”<br />
George Johnson is the Herald’s sports columnist.<br />
Calgary Herald: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661941 Calgary Flames<br />
Flames gear up for Anaheim’s powerful power play<br />
Ducks clicking at a prolific 29.2% rate and Calgary will have to figure out a<br />
way to stop them<br />
By Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald<br />
The bad news — the Anaheim Ducks own the most potent power-play unit<br />
in the National Hockey League.<br />
The good news — the Ducks don’t draw very many penalties. In fact, only<br />
the Boston Bruins have had fewer chances with the man advantage.<br />
Nevertheless, the Calgary Flames are quite rightly braced.<br />
“Their power play is deadly,” Chris Butler said of the Ducks’ flock that is<br />
clicking 29.2 per cent of the time. “They’ve got a core of forwards that are<br />
big and play the game with a tonne of skill — and they play hard. Those are<br />
guys we can’t afford to give any space to.<br />
“When they have time, players like Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf and<br />
Teemu Selanne — that guy is still playing extremely well — are going to<br />
make plays and they’re going to make you pay. They love hanging onto<br />
pucks and making plays in the offensive zone.”<br />
The Ducks don’t have a single soul among the NHL’s top 30 power-play<br />
point-getters, meaning that their attack must be diversified. So be wary.<br />
Alleviating matters somewhat is the Flames’ manners. Only the Nashville<br />
Predators average fewer penalty minutes.<br />
So that will help to minimize the hosts’ kicks.<br />
Additionally, the Flames’ penalty killers, ranked 21st, have been perfect<br />
over the past three games.<br />
“Good controlled pressure (is key),” Butler said. “I think we did a really good<br />
job (Wednesday against San Jose) of forcing their guys when they had the<br />
puck in tough areas. At certain times, you are going to have to sit back and<br />
not be too aggressive because skilled players will make those plays.”<br />
KIPRUSOFF STARTING<br />
No surprise, Miikka Kiprusoff gets the start Friday at the Honda Center.<br />
The goalie’s return to action Wednesday had been a (32-save) success in<br />
what turned out to be his 300th win in Flames silks.<br />
“I went to see him after the game — he had zero pain, he felt great,” said<br />
coach Bob Hartley. “(Thursday) we are going to sit with him on the plane<br />
and we’re going to see how he feels . . . but the fact is, we have Joey<br />
MacDonald. We feel very fortunate. We have two goalies that can win<br />
games, that can play, that can contribute to the team’s success. That’s a<br />
good feeling.”<br />
This season, MacDonald is 3-3-1, with a 3.04 goals-against average and a<br />
.899 save percentage.<br />
Kiprusoff is 3-3-2 (2.95, .886). The Finn is 12-9-4 lifetime versus the Ducks.<br />
COMEAU MARCHING<br />
The time was right for Blake Comeau to break out of his slump.<br />
Of his 62 goals, 21 have arrived in March — by far his most productive<br />
month (next best is December’s 13) — including the game-winner against<br />
the San Jose Sharks.<br />
“The way he was skating, the way he was going to the net, I had a good<br />
feeling,” said coach Bob Hartley. “(Assistant) Marty Gelinas on the bench,<br />
he said, ‘Comes is flying.’ That certainly helped me, making my decision (to<br />
put him on a scoring line) a little easier.”<br />
Comeau’s goal — a perfect wrister as he hustled down the right wing — is a<br />
feel-good story for the coach.<br />
“You see him every morning, 15 or 20 minutes (before practice), he’s<br />
shooting on the goalies,” said Hartley. “That was an NHL shot, inside post.<br />
It couldn’t happen to a better guy at a better time, because, yes, he was<br />
squeezing that graphite stick — the juice was coming out of that stick.<br />
Maybe it’s the start of a good thing.”<br />
Butler was happy to have provided the helper on the dryspell-ending tally.<br />
“It’s great to see him get rewarded,” said Butler. “His skating has been<br />
awesome the last handful of games. He’s been creating chances for us with<br />
his feet. He’s been taking pucks wide, throwing pucks on net. He’s been<br />
great on the penalty kill. It’s just a nice monkey off his back to get that goal,<br />
(which may) allow him to play a little bit looser. He’s got great skills and I<br />
think those will come to light.”<br />
ROOTIN’ TOOTIN’ GOOD TIME<br />
The Calgary Stampede, as part of a Travel Alberta promotion, is going to be<br />
selling itself Saturday before the Flames’ game at the Staples Center. On<br />
tap are country music, line dancing and, of course, a mechanical bull.<br />
“California has always been a target market for the Calgary Stampede,”<br />
said Deanne Carson, Stampede vice-president, marketing and external<br />
relations. “Partnering with Travel Alberta really shows our visitors the vast<br />
array of things to do in Alberta — everything from our Calgary Stampede to<br />
world-class golf.”<br />
Calgary Herald: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661942 Calgary Flames<br />
Weekend gauntlet in California no paradise trip for Flames<br />
With games against Anaheim, L.A. and L.A. again, Calgary’s recent<br />
hot streak will be put to the test<br />
By Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald<br />
Surely, even a shovel and an acre of snowdrifts would be more fun than<br />
this.<br />
The Calgary Flames, on one of those rare occasions when a winter swing<br />
through southern California isn’t appealing, face a far-from-sunny weekend<br />
of work.<br />
They are scheduled to square off with the big and the bad, three times in<br />
all.<br />
Friday, it’s the Anaheim Ducks — the second-best outfit in the National<br />
Hockey League — in a barn where the Flames haven’t won since Jan. 19,<br />
2004.<br />
If that isn’t enough, the Calgarians then take on the defending Stanley Cupchampion<br />
Los Angeles Kings — twice, Saturday and Monday.<br />
“A huge road trip for our team,” said Chris Butler. “We talk about breaking<br />
our season down into little (seven-game) segments, and this segment, with<br />
this chunk of road games, could be the most important one for us this<br />
season.<br />
“To get a couple wins on this trip — and to play well — would be huge for<br />
our confidence going forward.”<br />
Expect the travellers to be tested in the corners and alleys.<br />
The Ducks average 204 pounds. The Kings check in at 210 pounds —<br />
making them the heaviest group in the NHL.<br />
Pegged at 199 pounds, the Flames represent the lightest collection of<br />
players in the Western Conference. (On the other side of the league’s table,<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Montreal and the New York Islanders are also sub-200.)<br />
“Not by any means are we going to beat teams physically,” Alex Tanguay<br />
said earlier in the week. “We haven’t been built that way and we’re not that<br />
type of team. We’re a skating team. In order for us to have success, we<br />
need to be able to use our legs, move the puck, be aggressive, and really<br />
use our speed to our advantage.”<br />
Asked about the benefits of stature, Michael Cammalleri laughed.<br />
“You’re asking the wrong guy,” said Cammalleri, five foot nine and listed at<br />
190 pounds. “Size disadvantage or advantage? I don’t really look at it that<br />
way. We’re in a team sport. If we play well, if we play our game, we can<br />
beat anybody.”<br />
A modest two-game winning streak has staked the team to a 9-8-4 record.<br />
Friday, it can grow to three victories, the longest spree of the winter.<br />
“We’ve been rewarded,” said Butler. “But it would have been nice to string<br />
together a longer run with the games in Minnesota and Colorado. Those<br />
were games we let slip away and we can’t afford to let points slip away in<br />
that manner. But it’s such a short season, it’s nice. You play every other<br />
night so you don’t have time to sit around and dwell on games that got<br />
away from you or mistakes that you made. To be able to come home and<br />
get a couple of wins (over Vancouver and San Jose) was great.”<br />
Thanks to their fourth straight home-ice triumph, the Flames, for the first<br />
time this season, have poked their noses above the break-even point.<br />
Not that Bob Hartley could be found handspringing around the Saddledome<br />
corridors.<br />
“I don’t care about .500,” the Flames coach said. “It’s to be in the playoffs.<br />
That’s my main goal. All the other stuff, that’s good for you guys — you fill<br />
your TV time and your papers — but I was hired to bring this team to the<br />
playoffs.<br />
“Those guys (on our team), I feel it, they want to be in the playoffs. We still<br />
have lots of work to do.”<br />
Starting with Friday’s assignment.<br />
The Flames arrive at the Honda Center haunted by a crummy past — 15<br />
straight regular-season losses (0-10-5) in this rink.<br />
Sure, many nights have been close.<br />
But as Hartley himself has noted, close counts only in curling.<br />
“I never look in the past,” he said. “Whether it’s good or bad, every game is<br />
a different situation. I think that we’re becoming a different team and we’re<br />
going to have a chance to prove it again. It’s all a matter of 20 guys putting<br />
their mind to work and doing it for the best of the team.”<br />
Flames’ horrid history here aside, no one is having much luck lately against<br />
the Ducks, 16-3-3 (9-1-0 at home).<br />
“That’s a team that’s playing extremely well right now,” said Butler. “They’re<br />
a deep team, getting contributions from a lot of different guys. We’re going<br />
to have to play solid and we’re going to have to take care of the puck.”<br />
Calgary Herald: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661943 Calgary Flames<br />
Game Day: Calgary Flames at Anaheim Ducks<br />
Keep your eyes on Chris Butler and Ryan Getzlaf<br />
By Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald<br />
Calgary Flames (9-8-4) at Anaheim Ducks (16-3-3)<br />
8:30 p.m., Honda Center<br />
TV: Sportsnet West<br />
Radio: FAN 960<br />
THE FLAMES<br />
Keep Your Eye On<br />
Chris Butler — Mobile defender is plus-seven in his past six dates. Set up<br />
game-winner Wednesday. Looks comfortable working alongside Dennis<br />
Wideman.<br />
The Lines<br />
Tanguay Cammalleri Comeau<br />
Hudler Cervenka Iginla<br />
Glencross Stajan Stempniak<br />
McGrattan Begin Jackman<br />
The Pairings<br />
Giordano Bouwmeester<br />
Butler Wideman<br />
Brodie Smith<br />
The Goalies<br />
Kiprusoff<br />
MacDonald<br />
The Injuries<br />
C Mikael Backlund (knee), C Paul Byron (hand)<br />
THE DUCKS<br />
Keep Your Eye On<br />
Ryan Getzlaf — Fresh off a two-point night (in a 2-0 win), former Hitmen<br />
star is seventh in league scoring. Also, 29 points in 27 dates against<br />
Calgary.<br />
The Lines<br />
Ryan Getzlaf Perry<br />
Beleskey Bonino Selanne<br />
Winnik Koivu Cogliano<br />
Holland McMillan Etem<br />
The Pairings<br />
Souray Beauchemin<br />
Fowler Allen<br />
Lydman Lovejoy<br />
The Goalies<br />
Hiller<br />
Fasth<br />
The Injuries<br />
RW Kyle Palmieri (upper body)<br />
5 THINGS TO WATCH<br />
1. HOT DUCKS — Anaheim has constructed a formidable 16-3-3 log, the<br />
best 22-game start in franchise history. During the Ducks’ championship<br />
season, 2006-07, they had been 15-2-5 out of the gates. Amazingly, they<br />
are still 10 points back of the 21-0-3 Chicago Blackhawks. “It’s a pretty<br />
amazing feat, and (the Blackhawks) deserve a lot of credit,” C Ryan Getzlaf<br />
told reporters after the Ducks’ 2-0 win Wednesday over the Phoenix<br />
Coyotes. “They’re playing great and doing things the right way, but at the<br />
same time, we just worry about ourselves and keep pushing forward.”<br />
The Ducks won 11 straight home games during the 2009-10 season. With<br />
victories Friday over the Flames and Sunday over the St. Louis Blues, they<br />
can equal that team mark.<br />
2. QUACKER PRIMER — The Ducks, possessors of the circuit’s best<br />
power play, are led by the usual suspects. Reunited recently is the first line<br />
of LW Bobby Ryan, C Ryan Getzlaf, RW Corey Perry. Meaning the wellseasoned<br />
likes of RW Teemu Selanne and C Saku Koivu can come at you<br />
in secondary waves. And while size/sandpaper is apparently tough to come<br />
by, Anaheim, in the off-season, managed to add free agents D Sheldon<br />
Souray, D Bryan (Bad News) Allen, LW Daniel Winnik, RW Brad Staubitz.<br />
Another summertime signing, Swedish backup goalie Viktor Fasth, is 9-1-2<br />
(2.08 GAA, .922).<br />
3. CAPTAIN HEATING UP — RW Jarome Iginla, after an early patch of<br />
indifference, is starting to pile up points, nine in his past seven dates. In that<br />
spree are six goals, including a game-winner Sunday. Which makes it a<br />
good time to update his production portfolio. With 1,091 points, Iginla is<br />
59th on the NHL charts, one slot above Theoren Fleury. His 523 goals put<br />
him 33rd, one behind Bryan Trottier. The 1,209 games stake him 89th, just<br />
behind Claude Lemieux.<br />
The league didn’t track game-winning goals prior to the 1970s, but Iginla’s<br />
82 ties him with Mike Bossy for 20th place.<br />
4. ROOKIE BLUES — When RW Blake Comeau was handed an in-game<br />
promotion Wednesday, it was LW Sven Baertschi who got stapled to the<br />
bench for the third period. The kid had been good against Colorado and<br />
Vancouver, but much quieter against San Jose. Which may not be great<br />
timing for Baertschi, with C Mikael Backlund (knee) on the verge of<br />
returning. The Flames are at the roster maximum of 23 players, meaning<br />
one healthy body must be re-assigned when Backlund is cleared for game<br />
action.<br />
5. INS, OUTS, WHAT-HAVE-YOUS — G Miikka Kiprusoff starts Friday as<br />
Calgary hunts for three consecutive wins for the first time this season . . .<br />
It’ll be an interesting night at the faceoff dot. Neither team is very good.<br />
Anaheim, at 47.3 per cent, is 25th. Calgary is worse . . . The Flames are<br />
third in the league with four empty-net goals (only Pittsburgh and Carolina<br />
have collected more) . . . Anaheim D Francois Beauchemin and D Sheldon<br />
Souray are tied for 10th in the NHL, with plus-10 ratings . . . Calgary and<br />
Anaheim are two of nine teams to not have allowed a shorthanded goal . . .<br />
Only Edmonton, with four, has been involved in fewer fights than Calgary.<br />
Toronto, with 24, is the league’s scrappiest bunch.<br />
Calgary Herald: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661944 Calgary Flames<br />
Flames' house of horrors<br />
By RANDY <strong>SPORT</strong>AK, Calgary Sun<br />
Snow White's Scary Adventures at Disneyland -- an original part of the<br />
Happiest Place on Earth -- was shut down in June.<br />
All things considered, that was probably about the scariest part of visiting<br />
Anaheim.<br />
Well "¦ other than the traffic snarls and cost of buying dinner for the whole<br />
family. But that's a different aspect to a California adventure.<br />
The horror show the Calgary Flames want to be blasted to smithereens is at<br />
the home of the Anaheim Ducks, where they visit Friday night (8:30 p.m.,<br />
Sportsnet West).<br />
If you want to talk about scary, look up the Flames history at the Honda<br />
Centre.<br />
"Oh, don't talk about that," Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff responded<br />
when the subject of his team's struggles was broached before heading to<br />
SoCal for Friday's clash.<br />
"It's a challenge. That's a good team and playing well."<br />
It doesn't matter whether the Ducks have been at the top of the NHL, at the<br />
bottom or muddling along with others around the league's .500 mark. When<br />
the Flames visit, they stand as much chance of winning as the Queen does<br />
of surviving once the dwarfs target her in the Disney adaptation of the<br />
famous Brothers Grimm fairytale.<br />
The Flames have lost the last 15 regular-season games in Anaheim -- five<br />
of the last seven in extra time -- and have just one victory in their last 25<br />
visits.<br />
It's a skid which started with a 5-1 loss in Anaheim on March 28, 1999. Paul<br />
Kariya scored twice on Fred Brathwaite, Teemu Selanne had three points,<br />
and Val Bure replied with the lone Flames goal.<br />
"It's one of those things you don't know until the morning of the game, when<br />
someone asks you about it," said Flames defenceman Jay Bouwmeester. "I<br />
don't care. I don't read into it too much. Every year is different. For every<br />
team, there's places. Lots of teams have those strange streaks or whatever<br />
you want to call them."<br />
The painful numbers don't end there for the Flames, especially for their<br />
biggest stars.<br />
Kiprusoff has never won a regular-season game in Anaheim as a member<br />
of the Flames, while captain Jarome Iginla has tasted victory only twice in<br />
30 tilts.<br />
As a team, the Flames have won only four times since Iginla made the jump<br />
to the NHL in 1996, and he was injured and missed two of those victories.<br />
In fact, the last time the Flames won in Anaheim -- Jan. 19, 2004 -- both<br />
Iginla and Kiprusoff were on the shelf, while Roman Turek backstopped the<br />
team to a 5-1 win.<br />
"At some point, we had a thing like that in Atlanta -- not too many wins in<br />
that building. We were able to break that," said Kiprusoff, who did record<br />
one win in three playoff meetings in the spring of 2006.<br />
"You can't worry about the past too much, because we know for a fact it's<br />
going to be a big test. We just have to get ready."<br />
Facing the Ducks is only the first part of a difficult three-game sojourn to<br />
SoCal. The Flames also meet the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and<br />
Monday before returning home.<br />
The Ducks are the surprise Pacific Division leaders with their 16-3-3 record,<br />
while the Kings (12-7-2) went into their game against the Dallas Stars<br />
having won nine of their last 11 outings.<br />
"It's a test for us," said Kiprusoff, who collected his 300th victory with the<br />
Flames in Wednesday's win over the San Jose Sharks. "If we play good<br />
defence, we have a chance to win there."<br />
Not based on past history, they don't.<br />
"I never look in the past," Flames head coach Bob Hartley said. "We went to<br />
Columbus, and all I could hear was about our record. Whether it's good or<br />
bad, every game is a different situation. I think that we're becoming a<br />
different team, and we're going to have a chance to prove it again.<br />
"It's all a matter of 20 guys putting their mind to work and doing their best<br />
for the team.<br />
"If we played like we played (Wednesday) and the last couple of games, I<br />
like our chances."<br />
Calgary Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661945 Calgary Flames<br />
Puck Stops Here — Stop staged fighting in NHL<br />
By RANDY <strong>SPORT</strong>AK, Calgary Sun<br />
To think, midway through this week, the biggest silly debate of the week<br />
was over mandatory visors. But a much more critical issue has since taken<br />
centre stage.<br />
In light of the ugliness which came out of the fight between Frazer McLaren,<br />
of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Dave Dziurzynski, of the Ottawa Senators,<br />
staged fighting is once again a hot-button topic across the NHL.<br />
The staged fight Wednesday night only 26 seconds into the game ended<br />
with Dziurzynski crumpled on the ice after several hard punches to the head<br />
— one particularly powerful to the chin — and then being helped to the<br />
dressing room while his legs were jelly.<br />
First off, by no means is this to diminish the NHL’s tough guys. The respect<br />
I have for them is off the charts. The courage to be willing to take a bareknuckled<br />
punch to the face can’t be questioned.<br />
What can be debated is whether the NHL needs these spectacles,<br />
especially when the end result can be so catastrophic.<br />
Here’s hoping Dziurzynski will be OK and not suffer any long-term issues<br />
from the concussion he received. He’s a 23-year-old rookie trying to make<br />
it, so the thought of this being career-ending is not one we want to consider.<br />
But how many players need their careers ended by a punch before enough<br />
people put a stop to it?<br />
Hockey is a hard, physical game, with aggression at the forefront,<br />
especially when there are far too many “rats”, to borrow Brian Burke’s<br />
phrase, running around with some form of impunity.<br />
But there’s no need for fighting just because a puck has been dropped. If<br />
any fan enjoys what happened when McLaren knocked out Dziurzysnki,<br />
they’re no fan of the game.<br />
HOCKEY TALKY<br />
Why the NHL and the NHLPA continue to allow wearing a visor to be a<br />
choice of the players is baffling — and, once in a while, we’re reminded of<br />
that. The latest incident, of course, was New York Rangers defenceman<br />
Marc Staal being hit in the eye by a deflected shot Tuesday night. The<br />
precedent for mandatory visors was set long ago when there no longer was<br />
a choice regarding helmets. It was simply grandfathered into the league.<br />
However, one fear about making visors mandatory to wear is almost all<br />
players will immediately doff their helmets before a fight and increase the<br />
risk of somebody hitting their head on the ice when they fall … Thankfully,<br />
the Chicago Blackhawks streak of winning games — or at least not losing in<br />
regulation time — is giving the NHL something positive in what has been an<br />
otherwise ugly week. That said, it’ll be interesting to see whether the<br />
Blackhawks can keep rolling if Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa spend<br />
much time on the sidelines … One story receiving too little attention is<br />
Sidney Crosby’s return to top form in Pittsburgh. Going into Thursday’s<br />
clash with the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>, he had 29 points in a 16-game span,<br />
brushing off the rust of two injury-plagued seasons. It’s probably easier to<br />
note players who are under-achieving, plus easy to become blasé about<br />
Crosby’s achievements … Say what you want about the treatment Nazem<br />
Kadri received while Burke and Ron Wilson were running the Toronto<br />
Maple Leafs, but isn’t his performance proof the value of a young player<br />
spending a couple of seasons in the minors and the benefits they can<br />
receive?<br />
CREASE CRASHING<br />
Brad Marchand’s game — the Boston Bruins’ forward is on pace for a 50goal<br />
season if it was 82 games, with a knack for winners — is too good for<br />
his antics. Bruins head coach Claude Julien didn’t do his team any favours<br />
by complaining about the Montreal Canadiens “embellishing”, with<br />
Marchand’s history easy fodder for the comical retort on YouTube … Yes, I<br />
get the irony that video was put together by a Vancouver Canucks fan …<br />
So are the Washington Capitals finally getting their act together or is this<br />
run just a mirage? … A fun race worth watching the rest of the season: Will<br />
the Anaheim Ducks hang on to the Pacific Division or will the Los Angeles<br />
Kings overtake them? Either way, this year has the opportunity to take that<br />
rivalry to a whole new level. If only their two meetings in April would be<br />
afternoon games … By no means were we on enough of a Rocky Mountain<br />
High prior to the season to say the Edmonton Oilers would be atop the<br />
Western Conference, but should the Oilers finish around 11th, is that a<br />
disappointing season?<br />
FLAMING C NOTES<br />
In his first game back after missing a month due to a knee injury, goalie<br />
Miikka Kiprusoff was bumped really hard once and took another couple of<br />
shots from crease-crashers against the San Jose Sharks. Does nobody in<br />
the NHL see this as a problem? … Is the difference in Roman Cervenka’s<br />
game the last couple of outings simply due to being in better physical<br />
shape? Since being scratched a couple of times, Cervenka has had more<br />
jump in his step, and it can’t all be from playing centre. It helps him and Jiri<br />
Hudler to be together, too … The games this weekend against the Ducks<br />
and the Kings will be a real test of how Cervenka and rookie Sven Baertschi<br />
handle big players who play big. Both those teams have size and players<br />
willing to use it, unlike the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday at the<br />
Saddledome … It’s too bad the NHL doesn’t keep track of times thrown out<br />
of the faceoff circle, because Matt Stajan would have to be closing in on a<br />
record of some sort.<br />
Calgary Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661946 Calgary Flames<br />
Same old song and dance from Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff<br />
By WES GILBERTSON, Calgary Sun<br />
CALGARY - You don’t just forget the lyrics to a familiar song.<br />
Especially when you’ve been singing the same tune for as long as almost<br />
anybody can remember.<br />
Fresh off a four-week absence due to a knee injury, Calgary Flames<br />
netminder Miikka Kiprusoff looked a lot like, well, Miikka Kiprusoff in<br />
Wednesday’s 4-1 triumph over the San Jose Sharks at the Saddledome.<br />
Were his teammates surprised by his stellar performance? Not a bit.<br />
Were they surprised anybody expected anything less? To be honest, yeah.<br />
“It was the usual,” summed up Flames defenceman Jay Bouwmeester.<br />
“He’s a very good goalie, and he played very good.<br />
“You pretty much know what you’re going to get from him every night.<br />
Nobody saw it, but skating during the lockout, he’s a guy that could miss a<br />
month and come and still be the same guy. He’s that good. So you give him<br />
a few practices and he’s not going to miss a beat.”<br />
He didn’t.<br />
Kiprusoff faced 33 shots against the Sharks, with only Joe Thornton’s<br />
second-period attempt sneaking past him.<br />
It’s no coincidence the Flames offered up one of their best all-around efforts<br />
of the season in front of the flexible 36-year-old.<br />
They’ll say all the right things about sticking to the same gameplan, but<br />
Kiprusoff inspires a confidence that seems to be missing when somebody<br />
else is standing in the crease.<br />
“He’s the best goaltender in the world, in my opinion. And knowing that you<br />
have that guy between the pipes for you is a great feeling,” said Flames<br />
blueliner Chris Butler.<br />
“That’s not a knock on Joey MacDonald or Danny Taylor or Leland Irving. I<br />
don’t feel like we play any different, we don’t change our style, depending<br />
on who’s in net. But when Kip goes in there, you just know that he’s going<br />
to bail you out. There’s just a comfort level.”<br />
Of the current cast in Calgary, only captain Jarome Iginla has been around<br />
longer than Kiprusoff.<br />
Wednesday’s win over the Sharks marked No. 300 for the soft-spoken<br />
puck-stopper in a Flames uniform. Assuming he’s back between the pipes<br />
for Friday’s clash with the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center (8:30 p.m.,<br />
Sportsnet West), it will be his 607th appearance for the team.<br />
You can’t fake that sort of familiarity.<br />
“He’s really good at playing the puck. He talks more than people probably<br />
think, and that makes a big difference,” said Bouwmeester, now in his fourth<br />
season with the Flames.<br />
“When you’re used to the guy, and he goes out and plays the puck and you<br />
know where he’s going to put it, you kind of go to spots. It makes that part<br />
of the game a little bit easier.<br />
“And he makes those above-average saves, those ones that leave you<br />
scratching your head.”<br />
Kiprusoff didn’t need to make any jaw-droppers against the Sharks,<br />
although you get the feeling he certainly would’ve been up to that<br />
challenge.<br />
Thanks to the combined efforts of Irving, MacDonald and Taylor, the<br />
Flames managed a 7-5-2 record during his four-week recovery from a<br />
sprained knee ligament.<br />
Now that he’s back, there’s no doubt Kiprusoff is again the most important<br />
individual on Calgary’s roster.<br />
If the Flames (9-8-4) climb into a playoff position, it’s going to be on the<br />
back of No. 34.<br />
“I think he’s the best goalie in the league,” Bouwmeester said. “A lot of the<br />
goalies are just big guys that block the puck. You look at a guy like Kip or a<br />
guy like Marty Brodeur and they’re athletic. They makes saves.<br />
“There’s a lot of good goalies, but there’s a few guys that are just on<br />
another level. And Kip is one of those guys.”<br />
Calgary Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661947 Carolina Hurricanes<br />
DeCock: Canadiens are setting the bar<br />
By Luke DeCock - staff columnist — ldecock at newsobserver.com<br />
RALEIGH — For five periods this season, two of them Thursday night, the<br />
Montreal Canadiens did to the Carolina Hurricanes what they have done to<br />
just about everyone else in the NHL this season: shut down their offense<br />
with a disciplined, stifling game that may not be particularly exciting but is<br />
powerfully effective.<br />
For one period Thursday night, the Hurricanes tore apart the Canadiens<br />
with a fast, dynamic attack, playing with magnificent intensity and furious<br />
aggression.<br />
Based on Carolina’s third period, such an effort was not easily duplicated.<br />
After fighting back to tie the score, and having a chance to take the lead on<br />
an Eric Staal penalty shot, they fizzled in a 4-2 loss, their second to the<br />
Canadiens this season after a 3-0 loss in Montreal 21/2 weeks ago.<br />
As promising as Thursday’s second period was – Hurricanes coach Kirk<br />
Muller called it the best period his team has played this season – the other<br />
five periods should raise alarm bells for the Hurricanes. If they make the<br />
playoffs, as they should with a four-point lead in the Southeast Division in<br />
the era of the bonus loser’s overtime point, they do not want to see these<br />
Canadiens again.<br />
That’s not necessarily breaking news – with the Canadiens leading the<br />
Eastern Conference, no one is going to want to line up to face them in the<br />
postseason – but it just so happens that the Canadiens’ particular style is<br />
exactly one that can neutralize all of the Hurricanes’ advantages.<br />
“That’s the nature of their system and that’s why it’s effective,” Hurricanes<br />
defenseman Jay Harrison said. “It’s not unbeatable. It requires a 60-minute<br />
effort and sticking with your system for a full game. We just came off it a<br />
little bit. Our start was a little slow and we could have had a better finish as<br />
well.”<br />
By taking away time and space better than anyone else in the NHL, they<br />
prevent the Hurricanes from utilizing the speed and skill on their top two<br />
lines, and as a team they’re not big or strong enough to fight through it with<br />
brute force. It took a Herculean effort to break the Canadiens down in the<br />
second period, and the Hurricanes were out of gas in the third. It’s difficult<br />
to imagine them maintaining such a pace over the course of a playoff<br />
series.<br />
These are first-world problems, of course, and the Hurricanes would – and<br />
should – be happy just to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and<br />
only the second time since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, particularly<br />
with the absence of Cam Ward.<br />
Yet this matchup is particularly disconcerting as the hockey gods have a<br />
way of sending the same teams the Hurricanes’ way in the playoffs – the<br />
New Jersey Devils, most notably, but Montreal and the Boston Bruins as<br />
well. The playoff series against the Canadiens in 2002 and 2006 spawned<br />
an unlikely rivalry that only now has fizzled, although it certainly sparked at<br />
times during a feisty, chippy game Thursday.<br />
The Hurricanes burnished their credentials as a playoff team with their<br />
second-period performance, while raising concerns about their ability to<br />
beat the best team in the conference otherwise.<br />
“It’s definitely possible,” Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said, asked<br />
whether the second-period effort was replicable. “We’ve dominated games<br />
before. Against a team like that, they make it hard for you to really generate<br />
and get momentum. We were happy with our second and what we did, but<br />
they do make it tough to keep that momentum going.”<br />
They may not have to beat the Canadiens to make the playoffs, but they<br />
may need to figure out a way to do it if they get there.<br />
News Observer LOADED: 03.08.2013
661948 Carolina Hurricanes<br />
Hurricanes fall to Canadiens 4-2<br />
By Chip Alexander — calexander at newsobserver.com<br />
RALEIGH — The Carolina Hurricanes went to their locker room after the<br />
second period Thursday feeling good about themselves, about the hockey<br />
game.<br />
Canes coach Kirk Muller later would call it his team's best period of the<br />
season. Jordan Staal and Drayson Bowman scored and Carolina could<br />
have had one or two more goals, putting 21 shots on net in tying the score.<br />
But the Montreal Canadiens were more than ready for the third period.<br />
Instead of folding, the Habs surged to a 4-2 victory that ended the Canes'<br />
four-game winning streak and quieted a PNC Arena crowd of 16,774 that<br />
sensed a comeback win in the making.<br />
"The first 10 minutes of the game we didn't have our best, but the last 10<br />
minutes of the first we were coming on and carried it into the second,"<br />
Canes goalie Justin Peters said. "We had a lot of momentum going into the<br />
third. But they capitalized on their chances and turned the tide of the game."<br />
The Canadiens, who got 42 saves from Carey Price, first killed off a Brian<br />
Gionta roughing penalty to begin the third period. That was timely for the<br />
Habs. Lars Eller then scored off a pass from Josh Gorges for a 3-2 lead<br />
with 13:51 left in regulation.<br />
A half-minute later, Price made sharp stops on shots from the Canes' Alex<br />
Semin and then Tim Gleason. That was timely for Montreal, too.<br />
Semin, perhaps frustrated, soon was called for high-sticking and the Habs<br />
made the Canes pay for the offensive-zone penalty. Defenseman P.K.<br />
Subban got off a shot that Peters said knuckled past him.<br />
"I'd like to have that one (back) to give us a chance at the end," said Peters,<br />
who made his second straight start since being recalled from the Charlotte<br />
Checkers of the AHL.<br />
Brandon Prust and Gorges scored for the Habs (15-5-4) in the first period<br />
as Montreal, a 6-3 loser Tuesday to the New York Islanders, took the 2-0<br />
lead. But the Canes came out with jump in the second, firing away.<br />
The Hurricanes (13-9-1), who lead the Southeast Division, limited the Habs<br />
to five shots in the period while peppering Price. Staal scored on a shot<br />
from the right circle and Bowman on a bullet from the left circle that tied the<br />
score 2-2 with 9 minutes, 33 seconds left in the period.<br />
With a little more than five minutes left in the second and Montreal on a<br />
power play, Eric Staal took off on a shorthanded breakaway. Habs<br />
defenseman Yannick Weber was called for hooking, setting up a penalty<br />
shot.<br />
With the crowd standing and roaring, Staal had his forehand attempt<br />
stopped by Price.<br />
"In the second we did everything we possibly could and pushed hard,"<br />
Muller said. "But we went into the third and they got that third goal, which<br />
was the breaker in terms of now they really sat back and played safe.<br />
"I thought the guys played hard but fell short. We threw 40-something shots<br />
at the net and Price came up big."<br />
Price came into the game having given up big numbers -- 12 goals on 59<br />
shots in a 7-6 loss to Pittsburgh and then the loss to the Isles. But he was<br />
solid enough Thursday.<br />
While the Habs got the power-play score from Subban, the Canes were 0-4<br />
with a man advantage.<br />
"We say all the time you've got to get momentum from your power play,"<br />
Muller said. "For some reason our guys play hard five on five and drop the<br />
pace on the power play. … It probably cost us tonight."<br />
Peters, the winner Tuesday in the 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, had<br />
24 saves. Peters was in net again as Dan Ellis continues to recover from<br />
the flu.<br />
Center Riley Nash missed the game with flu-like symptoms and Jeremy<br />
Welsh was recalled Thursday from the Checkers. Welsh earned his first<br />
NHL point, assisting on Bowman's goal.<br />
Prust and Eller each finished with a goal and two assists for the Habs, who<br />
lead the Northeast Division.<br />
"We didn't keep the pressure on them," Jordan Staal said. "We kind of lost<br />
our hunger for the puck. One little mistake and it's in the back of our net,<br />
and we took one too many penalties as well and it cost us. Against a team<br />
that plays well defensively, it's tough to come back."<br />
News Observer LOADED: 03.08.2013
661949 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Hossa, Shaw to travel with Blackhawks; Sharp won't<br />
By Chris Kuc<br />
Tribune reporter<br />
2:29 PM CST, March 7, 2013<br />
When the Blackhawks boarded their charter flight to Denver on Thursday<br />
afternoon, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw and Steve Montador were<br />
scheduled to be on it. Patrick Sharp and Michael Frolik were not.<br />
With Frolik set to meet the team in the Mile High City while he takes more<br />
time to recover from an illness, the injury news was mostly positive with the<br />
exception of Sharp, who will not play Friday night when the Hawks face the<br />
Avalanche—and possibly quite a bit longer.<br />
Sharp suffered an apparent shoulder injury when he was checked along the<br />
boards by Colorado’s Ryan O’Byrne during the Hawks’ 3-2 victory on<br />
Wednesday night at the United Center.<br />
A source said the severity of Sharp’s injury and the length of time the<br />
veteran will miss were still being determined Thursday.<br />
The Hawks recalled forward Brandon Bollig from AHL affiliate Rockford,<br />
where he had been sent Wednesday.<br />
Hossa was a late scratch from Wednesday’s game with an upper-body<br />
injury while Shaw left during the second period after taking an elbow to the<br />
chin from Paul Stastny. The fact the players were to make the trip is a good<br />
indication they will play Friday night.<br />
A league source said the NHL’s Dept. of Player Safety reviewed the play<br />
but did not schedule a hearing for Stastny so no disciplinary actions were to<br />
be taken.<br />
Montador was active from the injury list prior to Wednesday game but was a<br />
scratch against the Avs late that night.<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661950 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Does anyone really have to ask who's first-half Hawks MVP?<br />
Steve Rosenbloom<br />
So, I’m up early Thursday morning, reading another dramatic and sparkling<br />
edition of My Chicago Tribune and logged on to My Chicago Tribune’s<br />
digital presentation, the only local news source you’ll ever need.<br />
OK, that’s it for sucking up to the current wonks and future owners. Moving<br />
right along ...<br />
I scroll down the user-friendly website and see the headline: “Who ya got as<br />
Blackhawks’ first-half MVP?’’<br />
Do they really need to ask? Do WE really need to ask?<br />
Maybe that’s a new special Chicago Tribune Digital trick, a private message<br />
in headline form on my laptop. My Chicago Tribune cyberwonks just want<br />
my help. I guess they want me to tell them that Jonathan Toews is the<br />
Hawks’ first-half MVP.<br />
So, I click on the headline, and whoa, it’s a web poll. What the ... ?<br />
Who posts a web poll when the answer seems so obvious?<br />
OK. Fine. I click and vote for Toews like probably every other Hawks<br />
observer, and whoa again, Patrick Kane owned almost half the votes and<br />
Toews didn’t have even 20 percent.<br />
A disclaimer at the bottom noted “Results not scientific,’’ and they will<br />
remain so until people start agreeing with me.<br />
The other choices were Marian Hossa, Corey Crawford and Ray Emery,<br />
and there’s an argument to be made. Kane, too, certainly. They’d all make<br />
a good case for ranking second to Toews.<br />
Kane has always been the pretty, shiny thing, and he certainly has been<br />
from the start of this truncated season, scoring the kind of big and dramatic<br />
goals that mark his history. Kane seemed to have the jump on the entire<br />
league after playing in Switzerland during the lockout.<br />
In fact, Kane had such a jump that he’s getting the Pavel Datsyuk level of<br />
respect from opposing players, several of them Datsyuk’s teammates.<br />
Many quality defensemen who would normally try to squish Kane suddenly<br />
are backing off. They look afraid to make a run at the quick, shifty and<br />
creative Kane for fear he will make them look stupid. Kane’s improved<br />
elusiveness intimidates. Defenseman misses, Kane dances into open ice,<br />
“Chelsea Dagger’’ to follow.<br />
But there’s something else with Kane. Something important. Something<br />
mature. Kane also has displayed a new resolve to become a more<br />
complete player. Specifically, Kane realizes he has defensive<br />
responsibilities, too.<br />
During the interviews after the Hawks’ dramatic 3-2 victory over Colorado<br />
on Daniel Carcillo’s last-minute goal, Kane told NBC’s Pierre McGuire his<br />
game has changed because he’s playing and thinking defensively as much<br />
as he is offensively. He cited Hossa’s spectacular two-way game, saying<br />
that if Hossa could come back so hard to his own zone and still remain one<br />
of the scariest offensive weapons in the league, well, then, so could Kane.<br />
Kane could’ve said the same thing about Toews, who always has played<br />
both ends of the ice and done it at a more important position. The rink is<br />
200 feet. Same goes for Toews’ game. If you want the puck, then go get it<br />
yourself in your own zone. It’s a handy way to protect your goalie, not to<br />
mention the best plan to vet yourself from Joel Quenneville using the icetime<br />
hammer to nail your backside to the bench.<br />
It’s funny: Kane is getting a lot of Hart Trophy chatter for playing a new<br />
game that is modeled after the way Toews always has played and certainly<br />
plays better. Kane leads the team with 12 goals, but people talk as if he’s<br />
first and nobody is even second. Toews has 10 goals after that jawdropping<br />
short-hander that tied Colorado at 2 in the third period<br />
Wednesday. Big goal, ahem.<br />
Giving Kane credit for continuing to score big goals and adding to his game,<br />
I would argue long and loud that Toews is the Hawks’ MVP, and here’s<br />
why:<br />
He’s a center, which makes him more valuable than any other forward, and<br />
he’s among the best faceoff men in the league. The faceoff is the first<br />
battle. You can’t score without the puck. That’s why his line starts. Connect<br />
the dots, people.<br />
He’s part of the first penalty-killing unit that has ranked among the league’s<br />
best all season, and here’s the thing about penalty-killing: If you’re looking<br />
for postseason harbingers, killing penalties is second to great goaltending<br />
on any sane list of priorities. It’s hard work and a lot of want-to, which<br />
means a team has a greater chance of continuing to do it at a high level.<br />
What’s more, it can deflate a more talented team. See last year’s Hawks for<br />
details.<br />
Toews also is part of the first power-play unit, which has shown signs of<br />
improvement with a couple goals in the last three games, ranking 12thin the<br />
NHL after wallowing around 19th or 20th recently.<br />
Oh, and Toews is the captain because he’s the best leader, and that starts<br />
with the kind of game he plays. Toews works the toughest spots -- along<br />
the boards, in the corner, behind the net, and certainly in the slot. He’s the<br />
personification of Quenneville’s demand for “net presence.’’ A guy with that<br />
many points and that much talent remains willing to get dirty because that’s<br />
the right way.<br />
From my penalty box here, Toews is the guy playing a more important<br />
position and doing more valuable things in more critical areas of any given<br />
game. That’s why he’s my Hawks MVP, at least until he stupidly tries to<br />
fight Joe Thornton again.<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661951 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
LeBron to Blackhawks: 'u guys are AWESOME!!'<br />
Tribune report<br />
8:49 AM CST, March 7, 2013<br />
The Chicago Blackhawks' NHL-record points streak hasn't escaped the<br />
notice of LeBron James, whose Miami Heat team is riding an impressive<br />
streak of its own.<br />
James congratulated the Hawks via Twitter after their dramatic, nationally<br />
televised 3-2 victory Wednesday over the Colorado Avalanche, tweeting,<br />
"Hey Chicago Blackhawks, u guys are AWESOME!! #streaking."<br />
Blackhawks winger Bryan Bickell replied, "Thanks for the support man. It's<br />
been pretty crazy."<br />
The Hawks now have earned a point in all 24 games this season and have<br />
won 11 straight. The Heat won their 16th straight Wednesday, edging the<br />
Orlando Magic.<br />
“ at kingjames: Hey Chicago Blackhawks, u guys are AWESOME!!<br />
#streaking” Thanks for the support man. It's been pretty crazy.<br />
— Bryan Bickell ( at bbicks29) March 7, 2013<br />
Hey Chicago Blackhawks, u guys are AWESOME!! #streaking<br />
— LeBron James ( at KingJames) March 7, 2013<br />
Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661952 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Strange but true, fan personally blacks out Hawks<br />
Angry with NHL commissioner over lockout, Schucker religiously avoids<br />
favorite team<br />
Steve Schucker<br />
Steve Schucker swore off the Blackhawks during the NHL lockout, and has<br />
remained stalwart as the season progresses. (Taylor Glascock / Chicago<br />
Tribune / March 6, 2013)<br />
David Haugh's In the Wake of the News<br />
10:27 p.m. CST, March 7, 2013<br />
During the second period of the Blackhawks' 3-2 victory Wednesday night<br />
over the Avalanche at the United Center, my phone buzzed.<br />
"Hawks on their way to 24 straight unbeaten?'' the text from fan Steven<br />
Schucker read.<br />
Schucker wasn't the only person in Chicago who didn't know the score of<br />
the Blackhawks game. But he might have been the only person in Chicago<br />
who intentionally didn't know the score of the Blackhawks game.<br />
He didn't give up hockey for Lent. He gave it up for 2013.<br />
"I picked the wrong year not to watch the Hawks,'' Schucker acknowledged<br />
Thursday.<br />
A 27-year-old graduate of Columbia College, Schucker had my number<br />
because I reached out to discuss him carrying out his decision to actively<br />
avoid all things Hawks in protest of the NHL lockout he blamed on<br />
Commissioner Gary Bettman. It was during the league's 119-day work<br />
stoppage when Schucker vowed to pay no attention to the Hawks if the<br />
season was saved. That meant no viewing or attending games.<br />
Somehow through an NHL-record start of 24 straight games without a loss<br />
in regulation for the 21-0-3 Blackhawks, Schucker has honored that vow in<br />
a city obsessed again with Indianhead sweaters. He misses Pat Foley's<br />
voice and Joel Quenneville's steely glare. Hawks games have been<br />
replaced on Schucker's television by reruns of "House'' or "Monk.'' And he<br />
can thank Bettman for expanding his knowledge of NBA rosters and Craig<br />
Sager's suits.<br />
"You have an NHL commissioner who doesn't care about his sport and it<br />
got to the point it just turned me off hockey,'' Schucker said Thursday. "I<br />
can't support watching a sport run by someone like that. I love the Hawks.<br />
My issue is with the principle of what's going on with the sport. It would be<br />
easy for me to drop my gloves and say, 'OK, I'll go back and watch.' But I'm<br />
a man who believes in standing by my principle, tough as it is to do this<br />
year.''<br />
Schucker and his best friend, Alex Weldon, recently went to The Rail Bar &<br />
Grill to catch the Bulls on a large-screen TV. The Hawks played the same<br />
night so, during a commercial, somebody turned the channel to temptation.<br />
"Steven looked up to see hockey and you could tell he was struggling to<br />
avert his eyes,'' said Weldon, a counselor at Senn High School. "It's hard<br />
because he wants to take part in how much fun this Hawks season is. It has<br />
been hard for him to hold back.''<br />
It has been even harder for his buddies to resist razzing Schucker for<br />
choosing the best Blackhawks start ever to ignore. In response to<br />
Schucker's Facebook post bemoaning his poorly timed stance, a co-worker<br />
at Jewel-Osco unloaded.<br />
"Your (sic) a moron for not watching a sport because you don't like the<br />
commissioner,'' Steve Lotman replied.<br />
To Schucker, such reactions merely reflect the passion of Chicago sports<br />
he embraces. His voice rose remembering the atmosphere inside McGee's<br />
Tavern celebrating the 2010 Stanley Cup title. When Schucker recalled his<br />
internship at CSN Chicago in 2007, he sounded as if he was describing his<br />
dream job. He grew up in West Rogers Park and still cherishes memories of<br />
going to Northwestern football games with his late father, David. Like<br />
millions of fans in the Chicago area, Schucker loves the Bulls, Bears, Sox<br />
and a good sports debate.<br />
Like, is the Hawks' start diminished because the compressed schedule<br />
reduced training camp and eliminated Eastern Conference opponents?<br />
"I hate to say it, but yes,'' Schucker said. "The competition is altered by the<br />
fact a lot of these guys weren't in shape and not where they would be<br />
normally.''<br />
I disagree, but the only dumb sports arguments are ones based on nothing.<br />
At least Schucker ably defends his position on a protest that ultimately hurts<br />
nobody but himself.<br />
"I respect and understand the logic of criticizing me and why people say,<br />
'You're not a fan if you're not watching the Hawks,''' Schucker said. "I'm not<br />
one who likes to be considered fair-weather. If I'm committed to something,<br />
I'm committed. When I say I'm going to do something, I do it. This is one of<br />
those things.''<br />
Friends say this fits the independent-minded personality of a guy who<br />
responded to the 2011 NBA lockout by boycotting televised pro basketball<br />
except Bulls games. He once went to high school with half his face<br />
unshaven for effect. After six years with a flip-phone, he only recently<br />
upgraded to a smart-phone. A conformist, he isn't.<br />
"He's unique and once he has his mind set on something, he commits,''<br />
Weldon said.<br />
A long postseason will test Schucker's commitment to put the Blackhawks<br />
on ice.<br />
"I feel like he can make it through the season,'' Weldon said, chuckling. "But<br />
I'm skeptical about the playoffs.''<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661953 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Hawks game-by-game mantra serving them well<br />
Toews attributes great start to 'work ethic and depth … really playing a<br />
complete game'<br />
By Chris Kuc, Chicago Tribune reporter<br />
8:41 p.m. CST, March 7, 2013<br />
DENVER — Throw out quantum physics and the supernatural when it<br />
comes to trying to explain the Blackhawks' record-breaking streak to start<br />
the season.<br />
"There's no special equation … or magic going on," Jonathan Toews said.<br />
Still, as Daniel Carcillo stated matter-of-factly, "It's not normal, that's for<br />
sure."<br />
The Hawks have reached the halfway mark of the lockout-truncated 48game<br />
campaign without a loss in regulation and begin the stretch run<br />
toward the postseason with a 21-0-3 record and 45 of a possible 48 points.<br />
While that sounds ethereal, Toews stuck with a conventional theory to<br />
outline what has been going right since the season opener Jan. 19 in Los<br />
Angeles.<br />
"It's just work ethic and it's the depth of our team kicking in," Toews said.<br />
"We're working for every little chance we get and every little piece of<br />
offense and we're playing smart in our own zone. We're really playing a<br />
complete game."<br />
That isn't nearly as much fun as envisioning team ambassadors Stan<br />
Mikita, Tony Esposito, Bobby Hull and Denis Savard using wood hockey<br />
sticks as magic wands to cast spells to help the Hawks get off to one of the<br />
greatest starts in professional sports history, but goaltender Ray Emery also<br />
took a grounded approach like his mere-mortal teammate.<br />
"Part of the secret is that we just refocusing and taking it game by game,"<br />
Emery said. "We're not cheating or getting ahead of ourselves because<br />
we're doing well. We're respecting our opponents and playing by the<br />
system we want to play."<br />
That system, which includes contributions from every player on the roster<br />
and seemingly a different hero each game, has helped the Hawks reel off a<br />
franchise-record 11 consecutive victories and secure at least one point in<br />
the first 24 games — 30 dating to last season.<br />
"Good teams find a way to win and for that you can't rely on two, three, four<br />
guys every night to score," Carcillo said. "You're back end has to score and<br />
your goalies have to play great and guys have to step up."<br />
Added Emery: "It's exciting when you get contributions from different guys.<br />
That's what a team is about."<br />
Along with coach Joel Quenneville, the leaders in the dressing room won't<br />
allow focusing on anything other than the next game, which will come<br />
Friday against the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.<br />
"We're staying very realistic, knowing if we don't keep working and doing<br />
the right things we're not going to have the same success," team captain<br />
Toews said. "We've said all along our No. 1 priority is just building<br />
ourselves as a team to be the best we can be later in the season and<br />
postseason.<br />
"You want to win every game and give yourself a chance. Most of the time<br />
it's not realistic to think you're going to win every night but we're playing<br />
great."<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661954 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Sharp could be out a while with shoulder injury<br />
Veteran winger doesn't make trip to Denver, but signs are positive on<br />
Hossa, Shaw<br />
By Chris Kuc, Chicago Tribune reporter<br />
10:53 PM CST, March 7, 2013<br />
DENVER — When the Blackhawks' charter flight took off for Denver on<br />
Thursday afternoon, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, Steve Montador and<br />
Brandon Bollig were on it. Patrick Sharp and Michael Frolik were not.<br />
With Frolik set to meet the team in the Mile High City while he takes more<br />
time to recover from an illness, the injury news was mostly positive with the<br />
exception of Sharp, who will be sidelined Friday when the Hawks face the<br />
Avalanche — and he could be out for a matter of weeks rather than days.<br />
The veteran winger suffered a shoulder injury when he was checked along<br />
the boards by Colorado's Ryan O'Byrne during the Hawks' 3-2 victory<br />
Wednesday at the United Center.<br />
A source said the severity of Sharp's injury and the length of time he will<br />
miss still were being determined Thursday. When asked after the game if<br />
Sharp's injury could be season-ending, coach Joel Quenneville said, "I don't<br />
think so."<br />
Sharp likely will be placed on the injured list. Brandon Bollig was recalled<br />
from Rockford to put the Hawks over the 23-man limit.<br />
Hossa was a late scratch Wednesday with an upper-body injury, while<br />
Shaw left during the second period after taking an elbow to the chin from<br />
Paul Stastny. With the forwards making the trip, it's a positive indicator they<br />
will play in the rematch.<br />
A league source said the NHL's Department of Player Safety reviewed<br />
Stastny's hit but did not schedule a hearing for the Avs forward, so no<br />
disciplinary action was taken.<br />
After missing the first 23 games with symptoms related to a concussion,<br />
Montador was activated from the injured list Wednesday but was a scratch<br />
against the Avs.<br />
Streaking: Goaltender Ray Emery set an NHL record with 10 consecutive<br />
victories to start a season when the Hawks defeated the Avalanche. Since<br />
signing with the Hawks before the 2011-12 season, he has a sparkling 17-<br />
0-3 record at the United Center.<br />
"We play well (at home) and we have a good team, (so) it doesn't take a<br />
lot," Emery said. "I just kind of play solid when I get in there ... and our team<br />
finds a way to win more often than not."<br />
Them again: The Hawks will look to extend their streak of games to start<br />
the season without a regulation loss to 25 on Friday against an Avs team<br />
that nearly ended the remarkable run.<br />
Colorado held a third-period lead before the Hawks came back on goals by<br />
Jonathan Toews and Daniel Carcillo to win it.<br />
"I expect the same type of game; really tight defensively, fast-paced, up and<br />
down the ice (and) very physical," Toews said. "We'll have to play a smart<br />
road game if we want to give ourselves a chance to win."<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661955 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Kings Coach Darryl Sutter says players should use face shields<br />
By Lisa Dillman<br />
5:12 PM CST, March 7, 2013<br />
Kings Coach Darryl Sutter spent weeks in a Minnesota hospital early in his<br />
playing career with the Chicago Blackhawks when he was hit in the face on<br />
a shot by teammate Doug Wilson.<br />
Sutter had a fractured cheekbone and a damaged left eye. He ended up<br />
missing 18 games in that 1983-84 season and was fortunate not to have<br />
any lingering issues with his vision.<br />
Which is why, for many reasons, his is an important voice on the issue of<br />
face shields, a debate sparked earlier this week when New York Rangers<br />
defenseman Marc Staal sustained an eye injury when he was hit by a puck.<br />
The Rangers say Staal is expected to make a full recovery.<br />
“I’m a proponent of the shield,” Sutter said Thursday after the Kings’<br />
morning skate. “These kids play their whole life with a shield or a cage. Why<br />
wouldn’t you continue to protect it once you are playing at the highest level?<br />
That’s not Marc. That’s everybody.<br />
“There are kids that come from the American [Hockey] League that take<br />
their shields off to play. That shouldn’t be the way it is. I believe the one<br />
time they shouldn’t have the helmet on or the shield on is warmups. That’s<br />
the only time they ever get to do anything on the ice without it. I think that’s<br />
their right, their identity. That should be their 16 minutes for people to see<br />
that, ‘He’s got blond hair or sideburns.'<br />
“It doesn’t really make that much sense [to play without a shield]. It’s their<br />
right. It doesn’t matter until it’s grandfathered, or a rule. Or a parent or a<br />
wife or a son that says, ‘Dad, honey.’ That’s the way it works. There’s not<br />
one thing I, or any of us, can do about it.”<br />
Face shields are not mandatory in the NHL. Helmets were made mandatory<br />
before the 1979-80 season, which happened to be Sutter’s rookie season in<br />
Chicago. Veterans were grandfathered.<br />
Naturally, hockey superstitions reigned.<br />
“It would be funny,” Sutter said. “There would be guys that would be hot or<br />
cold and they would not wear a helmet or they would wear a helmet. If they<br />
hadn’t scored in three games, they’d take a helmet off. You were still<br />
allowed to do it.”<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661956 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Time for Hawks to lighten up<br />
Quenneville's 21-0-3 club has nothing left to prove vs. Western Conference<br />
opponents<br />
Dan McNeil<br />
7:29 PM CST, March 7, 2013<br />
There's no point assigning letter grades to the Blackhawks now that they've<br />
reached the halfway point in the truncated 48-game season.<br />
Straight A's across the board.<br />
Even the marketing team and virtual unknowns behind the scenes have<br />
performed at a Stanley Cup championship level, evidenced by a tasteful yet<br />
brief ceremony to acknowledge Marian Hossa's 1,000th game Tuesday<br />
night before playing Minnesota.<br />
So here's a 24-karat request — a suggestion actually — for the Hawks as<br />
they begin the back nine of the regular season this evening in Denver.<br />
Relax just a smidge. Take a few deep breaths and recognize the<br />
Presidents' trophy and a couple dollars afford only a CTA bus fare.<br />
Joel Quenneville's 21-0-3 club has nothing left to prove against Western<br />
Conference opponents. The Hawks undeniably are the class of the<br />
conference and the only two obstacles that can preclude a second trip to<br />
the Cup finals in four years are injuries and mental fatigue.<br />
The ouchies are the biggest concern. Hossa was a late scratch with the flu<br />
Wednesday and missed the 3-2 win over Colorado.<br />
Maybe that's all it was, but when a player spends several months reciting<br />
his ABCs after a concussion from a brutal hit like the one Hossa incurred<br />
last spring, there always will be cause for concern when he's absent or gets<br />
drilled in the melon.<br />
Patrick Sharp, victimized by a nasty Avalanche sandwich in the third period<br />
Wednesday, needed assistance getting off the ice. While Sharp has been a<br />
bit snakebitten, he is a versatile, poised veteran, without whom the Hawks'<br />
chances would be diminished significantly.<br />
My humble suggestion to Coach Q — with all due respect to a cat with 645<br />
career wins, seventh most in league history — is to back off the ice time for<br />
his most valuable assets.<br />
The Hawks are blessed with depth. Ride it. There's no good reason for<br />
Duncan Keith to lead the league in minutes played. Keith's playing time has<br />
been reduced recently and that should continue.<br />
That hasn't been the case for Hart trophy candidate Patrick Kane, who's<br />
been double-shifting a bit and logged a team-high 22:15 of ice time against<br />
Colorado.<br />
Gritty Jamal Mayers has played in only 12 games. With 24 games in the<br />
next 49 days, ample doses of Mayers, Bryan Bickell (who is this guy all of a<br />
sudden?), Michael Frolik, Marcus Kruger, Sheldon Brookbank and Steve<br />
Montador would be a good thing.<br />
Before the lid was lifted on the season, the Blackhawks suggested they<br />
were willing to use the farmhands in Rockford. Do it. Ready or not, here<br />
they should come to lighten the work load a bit for the most integral<br />
components to a run at hockey's Holy Grail.<br />
Brandon Bollig and Jimmy Hayes are big bodies and Hayes has shown<br />
flashes of offensive spark when he's been given the opportunity. Now is the<br />
right time to give him more.<br />
All observers appreciate the Hawks' "play every game like it's you're last"<br />
work ethic, but that approach has the potential to burn out a hockey team<br />
before the second season commences. The best regular season in club<br />
history was in 1990-91, but their league-best 106 points were easily<br />
forgotten when the eighth-seeded Minnesota North Stars popped the<br />
Hawks in six in Round 1.<br />
Finishing first matters more in June than in March. The only parade in the<br />
spring is for St. Patrick's Day.<br />
Special contributor Dan McNeil hosts "The McNeil and Spiegel Show"<br />
weekdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on WSCR-AM 670.<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661957 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Friday's matchup: Blackhawks at Avalanche<br />
6:47 PM CST, March 7, 2013<br />
TV/radio: 8 p.m. Friday; CSN-Plus, CLTV, WGN-AM 720.<br />
Series: Hawks 1-0.<br />
Last meeting: Hawks won 3-2 Wednesday at the United Center.<br />
Probable goaltenders: Hawks, Corey Crawford, 11-0-3, 1.53 gaa;<br />
Avalanche, Semyon Varlamov, 6-9-3, 2.80.<br />
Team comparison<br />
Averages per game (NHL rank)<br />
HAWKS (21-0-3) CATEGORY AVALANCHE(8-10-4)<br />
3.12 (4) Goals for 2.36 (24)<br />
1.79 (1) Goals against 2.91 (19)<br />
17.8 (12) Power-play pct. 11.9 (29)<br />
89.0 (2) Penalty-kill pct. 77.4 (25)<br />
Statistics through Wednesday.<br />
Storyline: The teams are meeting for the second time in three nights after<br />
the Hawks extended their franchise-record winning streak to 11. The Hawks<br />
are 2-3-2 in their last seven games at Colorado. PA Parenteau (nine goals,<br />
11 assists) and Matt Duchene (eight, 12) lead the Avalanche in scoring.<br />
Chicago Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
661958 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Blackhawks get significant offense from checking line<br />
By MARK LAZERUS mlazerus at suntimes.com March 7, 2013 10:14PM<br />
Go back and re-watch Wednesday’s dramatic Blackhawks victory over the<br />
Colorado Avalanche. Watch how Dave Bolland sneakily (illegally?) knocks<br />
the stick out of Avalanche forward Jamie McGinn’s hands to free Jonathan<br />
Toews for his game-tying short-handed goal. Look how Marcus Kruger<br />
fights for the puck behind the opposing net to set up Daniel Carcillo’s gamewinning<br />
goal. See how Carcillo is in the right spot at the right time to muscle<br />
in the winning backhander.<br />
These are the subtle ways — the craftiness, the hustle, the savvy — in<br />
which the Hawks are winning games on this team-record 11-game winning<br />
streak, and this NHL-record season-opening 24-game points streak.<br />
Then there’s the not-so-subtle contribution of Bryan Bickell, Andrew Shaw<br />
and Viktor Stalberg — a checking line in name only. When Shaw scored the<br />
first goal of the game (before leaving in the second period after taking an<br />
elbow to the head by Paul Stastny), it marked the seventh time in the last<br />
eight games that one of those three players has scored a goal. Granted,<br />
this particular one was on the power play, but the point remains — on a<br />
team loaded with elite talent, difference-making goals keep coming from<br />
unlikely sources.<br />
Through 24 games, Stalberg has six goals and seven assists. Bickell has<br />
five goals and seven assists. Shaw has six goals and four assists.<br />
“That’s been a big key to our success, is having different guys step up and<br />
score that goal,” defenseman Duncan Keith said. “It’s never about one<br />
guy.’’<br />
And as with so many other guys on the Hawks — think Kruger, think<br />
Michael Frolik, think Bolland — the third line’s success has come from their<br />
individual willingness to reinvent themselves to fill a team need.<br />
It starts with Shaw in the middle. After playing center for most of his junior<br />
career, Shaw spent the last two seasons on the wing. Moving back to<br />
center — in Bolland’s old spot — was a tough transition, and it showed as<br />
the line struggled offensively, scoring three goals in the first nine games.<br />
But since Shaw found his groove again, the line has taken off.<br />
“The main thing is [Shaw is] getting better at center,” Stalberg said. “His first<br />
five or 10 games, he struggled at times playing that position — it’s<br />
something he hasn’t done for a while in the pro ranks. He’s just more<br />
poised with the puck, and we’re having the puck more -because of it.”<br />
Then there’s Bickell, a guy known for his physical presence who’s turning<br />
himself into an all-around player. Known for having a heavy, nasty wrist<br />
shot — “When I was a kid, I didn’t play video games or anything like that, I<br />
just worked on my shot,” he said — Bickell has been making a conscious<br />
effort to shoot more, and it paid off with two goals against the Wild. He also<br />
has made two brilliant centering feeds from behind the net that created<br />
goals against Columbus and St. Louis.<br />
“I’ll help the team in any way,” Bickell said. “I know they’ve been aboveaverage<br />
passes for me; I’m usually a shooter. But different years, and<br />
playing with different players, you have to adjust. I’ll do whatever to make<br />
this team win.”<br />
Finally, there’s Stalberg, a gifted offensive player asked to play on a<br />
checking line. Of course, even though defense is the priority, on this<br />
particular checking line — much as the memorable trio of Andrew Ladd,<br />
Kris Versteeg and Bolland did during the 2010 Stanley Cup run — offensive<br />
chances are everywhere.<br />
“They’ve had some real long offensive zone shifts the last couple, three<br />
games, and they’ve been productive, as well,” coach Joel Quenneville said.<br />
“When you don’t have to check in your own end, it’s a bonus.”<br />
Added Shaw: “Everyone’s buying into the system, everyone’s playing<br />
defense first. And when you do that, good things come offensively. We just<br />
hope to keep it going.”<br />
NOTES: There were no official updates on the statuses of Patrick Sharp,<br />
Andrew Shaw, Marian Hossa or Michael Frolik. But TSN in Canada<br />
reported on Thursday night that Sharp has a “fairly severe AC-joint shoulder<br />
separation.” He is likely to be out for a minimum of three weeks, possibly for<br />
a month.<br />
Ray Emery is the first goalie in NHL history to win his first 10 decisions in a<br />
season. He already held the record for the most wins to start a career, with<br />
nine.<br />
Chicago Sun Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661959 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
TELANDER: The Blackhawks have to lose, right? Right?<br />
By RICK TELANDER rtelander at suntimes.com March 7, 2013 9:54PM<br />
Earlier this year I started a column by writing, “They have to lose sometime,<br />
right?’’<br />
Plain logic. Now, you gotta wonder. Maybe an apple can fly upward. Maybe<br />
Kris Jenner is sweet. Maybe E=MC3.<br />
Because the Blackhawks have reached the halfway point in this lockoutshortened<br />
season, and they haven’t lost in regulation yet, and I don’t know<br />
when or how they are going to lose.<br />
As we all now know — since everybody in Chicago is a hockey fan these<br />
days (thank you, Derrick Rose’s injured ACL) — the Blackhawks have at<br />
least one point for every game, which means their 21-0-3 record is jawdroppingly<br />
good.<br />
They now hold the record for the NHL opening-season points streak, and —<br />
if you go back to last season, which we will — they have scored at least one<br />
point in 30 consecutive games. That’s just five away from the NHL record.<br />
And if you don’t like the overtime part of this hockey equation — if you think<br />
those three non-wins should be called losses, just remember the Hawks<br />
now have 11 straight honest-to-God wins, a franchise record. Indeed, it will<br />
no longer be enough for them simply to win their second Stanley Cup in<br />
four seasons — they must blow through the playoff field like a shotgun blast<br />
through wallpaper.<br />
OK, it’s easy to predict and demand such stuff when you’re sitting in the<br />
press box high above, away from stick knobs, all your teeth in place,<br />
nobody like the -Sedin brothers bearing down on you. But, seriously, why<br />
should these guys lose?<br />
It could have already happened, multiple times. But the Blackhawks have<br />
pulled out games in every way imaginable — with short-handed winners,<br />
shootout circuses, with fights, without fights, via nail-biters, annihilations,<br />
with an astounding 12 players scoring -winning goals, with two goaltenders,<br />
which is something no great team does.<br />
But the Hawks bonded so quickly after the torturous lockout that they might<br />
be the only team in the NHL that would have been hindered by playing<br />
exhibition games. It’s like they have silent communication going between all<br />
parts, like bees in a colony. Consider that brilliant defensemen Duncan<br />
Keith and Brent Seabrook have been in the Blackhawks system together for<br />
more than a decade (Keith was drafted in the second round in 2002;<br />
Seabrook in the first round in 2003), and maybe you can understand how<br />
they link up for goals, assists, and stops almost as one creature.<br />
And, believe it, we here in Chicago are noticing. It seems impossible, but all<br />
10 of the Hawks’ highest-rated TV games have occurred this season.<br />
According to a report from Comcast SportsNet, which carries most of the<br />
games, 18 of the 19 highest-rated Hawks games (using household<br />
viewership) have occurred this year, with the highest-rated game ever being<br />
the second-to-last one, a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild, on Tuesday<br />
night.<br />
There has been excited chatter about the 16-game winning streak the<br />
Miami Heat is on, as if it is somehow equal to or better than the Hawks’<br />
streak. Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell have even been tweeting cheerily<br />
back and forth with Heat hoops god LeBron James. “U guys are<br />
AWESOME!!’’ tweeted James yesterday. “Keep rolling,’’ replied the Kaner.<br />
Nice, but irrelevant. Sixteen games in the middle of a season is not like 24<br />
at the start. Not even close. You have a lot of chances to have a big streak<br />
sometime during a long season. You have only one chance at the<br />
beginning. Why, the 1995-96 Bulls won 18 in a row, after winning 12 in a<br />
row, after winning 10 of 11. They then had winning streaks of seven, six,<br />
six, six and five. The 1991-92 Bulls won 14 in a row and then 13 in row. In<br />
1997, the Bulls started 12-0.<br />
At any rate, that’s nice what you’re doing there, Miami. But it’s not even the<br />
longest streak in the NBA this season.<br />
The Blackhawks are in uncharted waters, or ice, here. Who is going to beat<br />
them? The Avalanche out there in Denver on Friday night? Edmonton back<br />
here on Sunday? The Blue Jackets, the Stars, the Ducks?<br />
Any of it’s possible. But then we’re talking about crazy science here.<br />
‘‘We just take them one game at a time,’’ said captain -Jonathan Toews,<br />
using the greatest sports cliché ever to explain what the Blackhawks<br />
actually do.<br />
The rest of us? We can take them by the two dozen.<br />
Chicago Sun Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661960 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Libertyville Sports Complex to host Blackhawks road party<br />
By Mick Zawislak<br />
For a third consecutive year, the Libertyville Sports Complex will be<br />
transformed to the United Center North for rabid fans to watch and cheer<br />
the hottest team in hockey.<br />
On April 9, the Blackhawks again will bring the official "Roadwatch Party" to<br />
the complex at Route 45 and Peterson Road for the game against the<br />
Minnesota Wild.<br />
In each of the past two years, about 400 fans, many in Hawks garb, have<br />
attended the event and basked in an atmosphere designed to make the<br />
experience feel as close to a home game at the United Center as possible.<br />
Fans sit in bleacher seats and picnic tables set up on a basketball court to<br />
watch the game on a big-screen TV but there are plenty of extras, including<br />
appearances by a legendary player/ambassador (it was Hall of Famer<br />
Denis Savard the past two years); Tommy Hawk, the official mascot; and,<br />
the Ice Crew Girls.<br />
Jim Cornelison again will be in the building to deliver his stirring live<br />
rendition of the national anthem to start the game.<br />
"This is a very important part of their outreach and marketing in the<br />
community so they bring out their key celebrities," said Connie Kowal, the<br />
director of the village-owned facility.<br />
Banners will be displayed from the rafters. The scoreboard at the complex<br />
is synced to the game clock. When the Hawks score, the signature red light<br />
is lit and the "Chelsea Dagger" singing rendition begins.<br />
Other activities include rally towels for attendees, a shoot the puck contest,<br />
raffles for Hawks memorabilia, poster and picture giveaways and a floor<br />
hockey area for kids.<br />
"The Hawks really put a lot into this," Kowal said.<br />
Tickets are $10 per person with 500 available. They can be ordered by<br />
calling (847) 918-7275 or at the front desk of the Sports Complex. Doors<br />
open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. start.<br />
Roadwatch parties traditionally have been done at bars and restaurants but<br />
Kowal, a former executive with a variety of professional sports teams<br />
including the Cubs, initiated the contact with the thought of expanding the<br />
size of the venue for a family event.<br />
"After the first year, they saw it worked. They've been just as anxious as I<br />
am to say, `Let's do it again,'" Kowal said.<br />
Daily Herald Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661961 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Hossa, Shaw, Frolik OK to return; Sharp staying home<br />
Posted by TimS on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 16:24<br />
While Patrick Sharp won’t be making the trip to Denver for Friday’s rematch<br />
with the Avalanche, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw and Steve Montador were<br />
on the Blackhawks’ team charter that left on Thursday.<br />
Michael Frolik, who has missed the last two games with the flu, wasn’t on<br />
the charter but will meet the team in Colorado.<br />
Hossa was a late scratch on Wednesday with an upper body injury. He took<br />
the pregame warmup but decided he couldn’t go.<br />
Shaw was hurt in the second period when he took an elbow from Paul<br />
Stastny in the head.<br />
Sharp was injured in the third period when he was checked hard into the<br />
glass by Avs defenseman Ryan O’Byrne and left the ice holding his left<br />
shoulder. Hawks coach Joel<br />
Quenneville called it an upper body injury and will update the media on<br />
Sharp’s condition following Friday’s morning skate in Denver.<br />
Brandon Bollig was recalled from Rockford a day after being sent down.<br />
Daily Herald Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661962 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Hawks not letting streak change their focus<br />
By Tim Sassone<br />
It's halfway through the season and the Blackhawks still don't have a loss in<br />
regulation.<br />
Let that sink in for a moment.<br />
Halfway through the season and the Hawks are 21-0-3.<br />
Not even coach Joel Quenneville would have believed this could happen if<br />
someone had told him before the season it was possible.<br />
"Nobody in their right mind," Quenneville said.<br />
"I think you want to be objective and optimistic when you start the season,"<br />
Quenneville said. "When I say start, your start is usually five or 10 games<br />
and it has gone on here now. It's been a lot of fun and we're very pleased,<br />
shocked, surprised, you can use a different term."<br />
The Hawks have won a franchise record 11 games in a row, own the NHL<br />
record for best start at 24 games without a loss in regulation, and are within<br />
five games now of <strong>Philadelphia</strong>'s league mark of 35 games with at least a<br />
point.<br />
They are 13-0-3 in 1-goal games, the latest being Wednesday's 3-2 win<br />
over Colorado on Daniel Carcillo's goal with 50 seconds to play.<br />
"I'd say No. 1, it's really exciting for our fans," captain Jonathan Toews said.<br />
"It gives them something to be really pumped about. We're staying very<br />
realistic in this locker room. If we don't keep working and doing the right<br />
things, we're not going to have the same success. We've said all along our<br />
No. 1 priority is to build ourselves as a team to be the best we can later on<br />
and in the postseason.<br />
"We're taking it one game at a time, but it's definitely fun to come to the rink<br />
and be in the locker room with these guys."<br />
The win on Wednesday was the fourth time the Hawks had to rally in the<br />
third period to get at least 1 point.<br />
"We never go away, we never give up, we keep coming at them, whether<br />
we have guys injured and basically playing three lines (like Wednesday),"<br />
Toews said. "We keep coming at them."<br />
When Toews looks at 21-0-3, he has a hard time fathoming how the Hawks<br />
got here.<br />
"You want to go out there and win every game, you want to give yourself a<br />
chance," Toews said. "Most of the time it's not realistic to think you're going<br />
to win every night, but we're playing great. There's no special equation, no<br />
magic going on, it's just work ethic. It's the depth of our team kicking in.<br />
We're working for every little chance we get and every little piece of offense.<br />
It's all those little details that we're really playing a complete game.<br />
"Obviously you're not going to go out flying and dominate every period, but<br />
even in those moments where maybe we're back on our heels, we're<br />
playing smart and making it tough for other teams to create offense in our<br />
zone."<br />
Trailing 2-1 going into the third period against the Avs, the Hawks felt calm<br />
on the dressing room during the second intermission.<br />
"We've been in that position many times this year and we didn't feel any<br />
pressure," Toews said. "What we've been through lately really gives us that<br />
confidence that we can go into the third period, down a goal, and we have a<br />
great feeling that somehow, some way, we're going to find a way."<br />
"There's no special handshake we do in the room here, no rah-rah-rah, or<br />
anything like that," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "It's hockey. It's just<br />
playing the right way, everybody worried about doing their role and doing<br />
their job."<br />
It has been seemingly a different hero every night for the Hawks. On<br />
Wednesday, it happened to be Carcillo.<br />
"That's been a big key to our success, having different guys step up," Keith<br />
said. "We're rolling all four lines, all six D and both goaltenders."<br />
• Follow Tim's hockey reports on Twitter at TimSassone and check out his<br />
Between the Circles blog at dailyherald.com.<br />
Daily Herald Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661963 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Carcillo’s hard work pays off for Hawks<br />
By Tim Sassone<br />
Daniel Carcillo doesn't want to be known as simply the Blackhawks'<br />
enforcer.<br />
He believes he has other skills and he wants to show them off to everyone,<br />
like he did Wednesday night when he drove to the net and backhanded a<br />
Viktor Stalberg rebound past Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov with 50<br />
seconds left to give the Hawks a 3-2 win.<br />
It has been a long way back into the spotlight for Carcillo, who missed half<br />
of last season with a torn ACL in his left knee only to return this year and<br />
sprain his MCL in his right knee in the opener at Los Angeles.<br />
"I want to be more than just the enforcer," Carcillo said. "Just to be able to<br />
step in with some key guys that went down (Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw<br />
and Marian Hossa), and help the team anyway I can in this particular<br />
situation, scoring the game winner, that's what we play for.<br />
"We knew we were down to three lines and some guys had to step in and<br />
play roles they're not usually in. I think we did a great job keeping our<br />
heads."<br />
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was happy to see Carcillo find some<br />
success.<br />
"Car Bomb has been working his tail off," Quenneville said. "The grind of<br />
trying to rehabilitate yourself is a pain and is not fun. It was nice to see him<br />
score there."<br />
Second chance:<br />
The Avs don't have to wait long to get another crack at ending the Hawks'<br />
various streaks with a rematch Friday night at the Pepsi Center.<br />
Colorado coach Joe Sacco thought his team deserved a better fate than it<br />
got at the United Center on Wednesday.<br />
"We just had a breakdown at the end of the game and it wound up in the<br />
back of our net," Sacco said. "They're a good team. We controlled their<br />
tempo for the most part. Their speed, they have a quick transition game and<br />
you want to manage the puck well against them because if you don't they'll<br />
make you pay.<br />
"I thought for the most part we did that. We tried to get it deep, we chipped<br />
it, we had zone time, but when you don't, they're quick. Their defense gets it<br />
up to the forwards quickly."<br />
The Avs have alwas been a tough matchup because of their speed and<br />
quickness.<br />
"I've got a lot of respect for their team," Joel Quenneville said. "Off the rush<br />
and on the attack they're as good as any team in the league. With their<br />
quickness and ability to take you on 1-on-1, they're a threat to beat you with<br />
their speed or with their moves."<br />
Hang 10:<br />
Ray Emery broke Glenn Hall's team record by winning his 10th straight<br />
game Wednesday. Hall had nine wins from January-March of 1967.<br />
Corey Crawford owns the team record for undefeated streak at 13, breaking<br />
Denis DeJordy's old mark of 12, also set in January-February, 1967.<br />
"Every night, whether it's Ray or Crow, you can look at it as 1A and 1B, you<br />
can talk about how good they've been," Joel Quenneville said. "Guys have<br />
confidence in front of them."<br />
Daily Herald Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661964 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Blackhawks’ Sharp to miss three weeks?<br />
By Tim Sassone<br />
While Patrick Sharp didn't make the trip to Denver for Friday's rematch with<br />
the Avalanche, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw and Steve Montador were on<br />
the Blackhawks' team charter that left on Thursday.<br />
Sharp was injured in the third period when he was checked hard into the<br />
glass by Avs defenseman Ryan O'Byrne and left the ice holding his left<br />
shoulder. NBC Sports Network reported late Thursday that Sharp could<br />
miss three weeks the injury.<br />
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville called it an upper-body injury, saying Sharp<br />
would "miss some time." Quenneville will update the media on Sharp's<br />
condition following Friday's morning skate in Denver.<br />
Michael Frolik, who has missed the last two games with the flu, wasn't on<br />
the charter but will meet the team in Colorado.<br />
Hossa was a late scratch Wednesday with an upper-body injury. He took<br />
the pregame warmup but decided he couldn't go.<br />
Shaw was hurt in the second period when he took an elbow from Paul<br />
Stastny in the head.<br />
Winger Brandon Bollig was recalled from Rockford, one day after being<br />
sent down.<br />
Daily Herald Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
661965 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Hawks' defense produces more impressive numbers<br />
DENVER – Corey Crawford just shook his head on Sunday, not so much at<br />
his own performance, but at the one by the guys in front of him.<br />
“Our defensemen have been good blocking shots and taking passing lanes<br />
away,” he said. “They’ve been so solid back there.”<br />
Entering their Friday-night tilt with the Colorado Avalanche, the Blackhawks<br />
have allowed just 43 goals through regulations and overtimes this season,<br />
best in the NHL. (Oh, they allowed three shootout goals, too, and the 46<br />
total allowed is still best in the league). The Blackhawks defense, which has<br />
been much maligned the last two seasons, takes pride in its current<br />
numbers.<br />
“That’s always a good thing,” said Brent Seabrook, who leads the<br />
Blackhawks with 57 blocked shots this season. “Our job is to keep the puck<br />
out of the net. But it’s a collective effort. Forwards have been doing a good<br />
job of backchecking, stripping pucks from behind and getting pressure on<br />
guys. Our goaltending’s been unbelievable, and our D is doing a good job<br />
of making plays out of our zone to get forwards the puck.”<br />
Fellow defenseman Nick Leddy, a minus-12 last season and a plus-10 this<br />
one, said, “I think if we keep it there, gives us a great chance to win. We<br />
have so much skill and offense on this team that the goals will come. We<br />
just have to play good team D.”<br />
The low goals allowed are a far cry from last season, when the team’s<br />
defense came under fire, critically and literally. The Blackhawks allowed<br />
231 goals last season, which put them at 22nd in the league. They<br />
struggled in so many categories, from goaltending to penalty kill to defense,<br />
with the goalies and blue liners taking most of the heat.<br />
A year later everything is better.<br />
One of the biggest differences among the defensemen alone is the balance.<br />
The Blackhawks have three solid, dependable D pairings. Seabrook and<br />
Duncan Keith have long been together. Johnny Oduya (whose plus-12<br />
rating is best among Blackhawks’ defensemen) and Niklas Hjalmarsson<br />
(plus-10) have built chemistry, and Leddy has formed a good tandem with<br />
Michal Rozsival (plus-11) or Sheldon Brookbank, who have been swapped<br />
in and out throughout the season.<br />
That balance has helped keep individual minutes down, too, especially for<br />
the Blackhawks’ top two defensemen. Last season, Keith and Seabrook’s<br />
time-on-ice per game was 26:53 and 24:43, respectively. This season,<br />
Keith is playing 23:53 a game and Seabrook is averaging 23:04.<br />
“It’s good to do that, especially early on in a shortened season,” Seabrook<br />
said of the more spread-out minutes. “You’re trying to find your timing and<br />
your legs and get back to playing hockey. It was nice not to play 26, 27<br />
minutes every night. For all of us, it’s been good. And it gives guys more<br />
confidence, doing different roles and different things. It’s been a lot of fun.”<br />
Keith said depth has been pivotal for the Blackhawks.<br />
“Obviously part of our team success is having that depth, be it defensemen<br />
or all four lines of forwards going,” Keith said. “We’re not relying on any one<br />
player. It’s a total team effort, and that’s a big reason why we’re having<br />
success.”<br />
The Blackhawks are having plenty of success denying opponents offense.<br />
Their defense struggled through its porous times. Now, it’s just plain stingy.<br />
“We’ve improved with how we’ve been defending,” coach Joel Quenneville<br />
said. “Collectively, on the back end, everyone’s been pulling their weight.”<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661966 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Blackhawks recall Bollig as team heads to Denver<br />
March 7, 2013, 3:15 pm<br />
DENVER – Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw and Steve Montador traveled to<br />
Denver on Thursday, as the Blackhawks are slated to play the Colorado<br />
Avalanche there on Friday night.<br />
Patrick Sharp, who suffered what looked to be an arm/shoulder injury in the<br />
third period of the Blackhawks’ 3-2 victory over Colorado on Wednesday,<br />
did not travel and is out for tomorrow night’s game. Michael Frolik, who has<br />
missed the last two games due to illness, will meet the team in Denver<br />
tomorrow.<br />
Hossa (upper body) was a late scratch before Wednesday night’s game but<br />
coach Joel Quenneville said afterward that he was hopeful Hossa will play<br />
Friday. Shaw took an elbow to the head in the second period on<br />
Wednesday and did not return. Quenneville said he “wasn’t too bad” after<br />
the game.<br />
Montador was just added to the active roster on Wednesday afternoon. The<br />
defenseman, whose concussion problems have kept him out of all but one<br />
game dating back to last February, was available for Wednesday’s game<br />
but did not play.<br />
The Blackhawks also recalled Brandon Bollig from the Rockford IceHogs on<br />
Thursday. Bollig was reassigned to Rockford on Wednesday, when<br />
Montador’s clearance meant the Blackhawks had to make a roster move.<br />
The Blackhawks are looking to run their season-opening undefeated streak<br />
to 25 consecutive games on Friday.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661967 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Military members honored by Hawks' anthem, salute<br />
March 7, 2013, 9:15 am<br />
Cornelison joins both gentleman after the national anthem concludes.<br />
At the age of 91, Lt. Alexander Samaras received the phone call he had<br />
waited years for.<br />
Before the start of each Blackhawks home game, one active military<br />
member and one veteran are honored on the ice in front of thousands of<br />
fans. They stand at the center of a roaring crowd that's cheering for not only<br />
their team, but also for their country. Now it was his turn to be a part of the<br />
celebration.<br />
"[When I received the call], I was tickled to death," said Samaras, who<br />
served in the United States Navy. "70 years ago was a long time… World<br />
War II. And to be honored like this… it's very, very nice."<br />
The Blackhawks' anthem is one of the most spectacular and moving<br />
moments in all of sports. Led by soloist Jim Cornelison, the anthem not only<br />
serves as a tribute, but also as a way to bring the crowd together as the<br />
United Center stands as one to honor those who have served our country.<br />
Thanks to the growing partnership between the Blackhawks and the United<br />
Service Organizations (USO), a lasting bond has been created between<br />
Chicago's hockey and military communities.<br />
[MORE: Army veteran describes standing next to Jim Cornelison during the<br />
anthem]<br />
USO president and CEO Alison Ruble has watched the relationship<br />
between both organizations develop over the last 16 years, and she<br />
couldn't be happier to see our nation's heroes being honored each night in<br />
front of such supportive fans.<br />
"I think the salute on the ice is a way for the American people to show their<br />
appreciation for those who wear the uniform and provide service to our<br />
nation," she said. "As a USO, we're just honored to be that [connection]<br />
between the fans and the military and give them that once-in-a-lifetime<br />
experience."<br />
The thought of that experience had Samaras feeling a whirlwind of<br />
emotions as he waited to walk down to the ice.<br />
"It's going to be a big crowd," he said. "Just listening to [Cornelison] sing the<br />
national anthem is big, but I'm going to try to sing with him."<br />
Standing alongside him was 25-year-old Marine Sgt. Paul Hodge. Like<br />
Samaras, he was all smiles as he arrived at the United Center, thrilled to be<br />
honored by his favorite team.<br />
"I'm a huge Blackhawks fan, so I was absolutely excited to be coming out<br />
here," Hodge said. "I can't really say I've done anything like this or I've been<br />
more honored to do something like this, so it's a big experience for me."<br />
Before they knew it, it was time for them to experience that feeling firsthand.<br />
Both men walked down to the ice, the lights dimmed and 22,000 fans began<br />
to roar.<br />
"It was very exciting, [I was] nervous, my legs were shaking, good think I<br />
had a marine next to me to take care of me," Samaras said after the salute<br />
concluded.<br />
At that moment, both USO members were beaming with pride. It was clear<br />
just how much respect they had for each other.<br />
[RELATED: Blackhawks inspired by military heroes at Hockey City Classic]<br />
As the two men walked back to the concourse, fans continued to stand and<br />
cheer, thanking them once more for their service to our country.<br />
"It was great. You could feel everything, and I was so proud to be standing<br />
next to this gentleman right here," Hodge said as he put his hand on<br />
Samaras' arm. "He told me a little about his story before we went down<br />
there, so I couldn't be more proud to show my tribute to him as well. This is<br />
a great overall feeling."<br />
But the tribute didn't stop there. In fact, while speaking with Hodge, a<br />
Blackhawks fan walked right up, offered to buy him a drink and thanked him<br />
personally for his services.<br />
"I feel like I'm just respected all around," Hodge said after thanking the<br />
stranger for his kind words. "Every time I walk around [the United Center],<br />
even when I'm not wearing my uniform, I still get amazing amounts of<br />
respect. I can't describe it. It's amazing."<br />
That tremendous amount of pride both Samaras and Hodge felt is<br />
something Cornelison experiences night after night. Not only does he<br />
experience the emotions of standing and the center of a roaring arena, but<br />
he also meets countless heroes who share each of their unique stories with<br />
him.<br />
"I love having these guys out there with me," Cornelison said. "It's an honor,<br />
a real privilege. I've met some incredible people, and [honoring members of<br />
the military] has been a great addition to the anthem tradition here for the<br />
Blackhawks.<br />
"It's always emotional having these guys here. After I'm done, I'm able to<br />
talk with them and I've seen tears, I've seen shaking, I've seen just smiles<br />
and joy. It's really, really neat to be able to show these guys [the<br />
Blackhawks' and fans' appreciation]. It's just a small thing we can do."<br />
For more on Lt. Alexander Samaras and Sgt. Paul Hodge, check out<br />
Susannah Collins’ report on SportsNet Central tonight at 10:30.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661968 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
The numbers behind the Blackhawks' historic streak<br />
March 7, 2013, 9:45 pm<br />
CSN Staff<br />
CSN stat guru Chris Kamka delves deeper into the Blackhawks' historic<br />
start to the 2013 season:<br />
RELATED: Blackhawks' streak strains the laws of probability]<br />
1 - Full year (as of Wednesday) that Ray Emery has gone without a<br />
regulation loss<br />
4 - The most goals the Blackhawks have allowed in a game this season,<br />
which has occurred only once.<br />
6 - Blackhawks players with a plus/minus of at least +10<br />
9 - NHL goalies with double-figure wins this season. Blackhawks have two<br />
of them.<br />
10 - Consecutive decisions without a loss for Ray Emery to start the<br />
season. He's the first goalie to do that.<br />
[MORE: Hawks' defense produces impressive numbers]<br />
11 - Consecutive wins by the Blackhawks<br />
12 - NHL goalies who have allowed at least the same number of goals as<br />
Corey Crawford (21) & Emery (22) Combined<br />
13 - Daniel Carcillo's jersey number, who last night became the 13th<br />
Blackhawks player with a game-winning goal this season.<br />
14 - of 14 Western Conference opponents the Blackhawks have earned a<br />
point against<br />
24 - consecutive games with a point to begin the season<br />
30 - consecutive regular season games with a point (dating back to last<br />
season)<br />
199 - combined regular season regulation losses by the Bulls, Bears, Cubs<br />
& White Sox since the last regulation defeat for the Blackhawks.<br />
249 - NHL-leading amount of takeaways. 49 more than the next team.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661969 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Blackhawks' streak strains the laws of probability<br />
March 7, 2013, 7:00 pm<br />
James Fegan<br />
As good as the Blackhawks have been, it takes a bit of good fortune to play<br />
24 games in the NHL, and accumulate a point in every single one. But how<br />
much good fortune?<br />
Stephen Stigler, PhD, professor of statistics at the University of Chicago<br />
since 1979, says it's a matter of determining how good the Blackhawks<br />
really are, but their run is not as improbable as it sounds.<br />
"They are not violating the laws of nature in the probability of what's been<br />
happening," said Dr. Stigler.<br />
As Stigler explained, with all things being equal, the chance of an average<br />
team getting a point in a single game is .75 (or 75 percent). Under those<br />
circumstances, "the chance of getting a point in 24 straight games, well<br />
then it's one-in-1000."<br />
Obviously, the Blackhawks are not an average team and Stigler<br />
acknowledged that this model was too simple for figuring out how unlikely<br />
their run has been.<br />
To dig deeper, Stigler started by determining the probability of a team<br />
winning 18 out of 24 games in regulation. For an average team, Stigler<br />
calculated that the chances of winning 18 out of 24 to be one-in-100. Stigler<br />
then adjusted the formula to "correspond to data on top teams" and<br />
changed the probability in his formula that the Blackhawks would win any<br />
game to 60 percent. With that assumed, Stigler calculated the probability of<br />
the Blackhawks winning 18 out of 24 as one-in-10.<br />
"Not that extraordinary," Stigler said. "What makes it a bit more<br />
extraordinary is if you factor in also the chance that of the non-wins, they<br />
were all ties."<br />
Since the Blackhawks have gone 3-3 in shootouts, Stigler classified them<br />
ties for the sake of his calculation, and pitted the probability of the<br />
Blackhawks not having a single overtime loss at two-in-50. The odds of 18<br />
regulation wins and no overtime losses happening at the same time?<br />
"What we're observing has a chance of about one-in-50," Stigler said.<br />
For the Blackhawks to repeat the feat in the second half of the season,<br />
there are more factors at work than simply nailing another one-in-50 shot.<br />
Stigler himself acknowledged "The Blackhawks have been incredibly<br />
healthy."<br />
Ryan Wagman of Hockey Prospectus identified the Blackhawks' defense as<br />
a driving -- and possibly luck-related -- factor in the Blackhawks' success.<br />
He pointed out that the Blackhawks' team save percentage (.933 through<br />
Thursday) was well-above what the career averages of Corey Crawford and<br />
Ray Emery would suggest is sustainable.<br />
However, Wagman also identified the Blackhawks' shooting percentage<br />
(the rate of shots on goal that resulted in scores) as being at a<br />
unexpectedly low 8.99 percent on Feb. 26th, and predicted that it would rise<br />
to a degree that would cancel out the harm done by a decline in goaltending<br />
performance.<br />
"The pieces are in place for an historic regular season," Wagman said,<br />
"Outside of injuries (debatably) their current record is not the result of<br />
rampant good luck but of a well-built team."<br />
No team goes 24 games without a regulation loss without beating the odds,<br />
but a well-built roster can go a long way toward making the game looked<br />
fixed. Even though the math says otherwise, Stigler understands if people<br />
start to think that chance is no longer part of the equation.<br />
"The inference to be made is that the Blackhawks are playing at a level that<br />
they're almost certain to win every night," he said.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661970 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
SportsNet Central: Blackhawks Fever<br />
Kristen Harper<br />
The first half of the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks season has been nothing<br />
short of a jaw-dropping. With training camp shortened and the season<br />
compressed to 48 games in 99 days, having a few bad games would be<br />
expected and likely accepted.<br />
But that hasn’t been the case for this Hawks team. They’ve earned a point<br />
in each of their 24 games this season, blowing the doors off the NHL record<br />
(17) and are in the midst of an 11-game win streak.<br />
In Wednesday night’s matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, things<br />
looked bleak for the Blackhawks down 2-1 after two periods. But they pulled<br />
even on a Jonathan Toews shorthanded goal and won the game with 49<br />
seconds remaining on an improbable Daniel Carcillo. Goal.<br />
[More: Avs looking forward to 'second whack' at Blackhawks]<br />
Tonight at 11, Comcast SportsNet spotlights the Blackhawks’ success on<br />
“SportsNet Central: Blackhawks Fever.” This live 30-minute program,<br />
hosted by Chuck Garfien and Blackhawks analyst Steve Konroyd, will<br />
feature an interview with University of Chicago statistics professor Stephen<br />
Stigler who looks at this historic start by the numbers. Conversations also<br />
include Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz, while CSN’s Susannah Collins<br />
recaps all the Hawks’ marvels this season.<br />
Blackhawks fans can be a part of the program by tweeting questions with<br />
the hashtag #HawksTalk, with some of the questions being answered on<br />
the show.<br />
The Blackhawks phenomenon has transitioned not only into the hearts of<br />
die-hard fans here in Chicago, but onto the radars of other professional<br />
athletes. Miami Heat All-Star LeBron James salutes the Hawks on their 24game<br />
point streak calling the record-setting NHL team “awesome.” The two<br />
teams, who coincidentally both had games Wednesday night, mirrored each<br />
other, both squeaking by with victories to extend win streaks (Hawks 11,<br />
Heat 16).<br />
[Related: LeBron James salutes the Hawks via Twitter]<br />
Also be sure to tune in as the Blackhawks go for 25 straight games with a<br />
point Friday night against the Avs on Comcast SportsNet Plus ( to find the<br />
CSN+ channel in your area). Coverage begins at 7:30 with Blackhawks<br />
Pregame Live, followed by the puck drop at 8 p.m. from Denver.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661971 Chicago Blackhawks<br />
NHL realignment inches closer<br />
March 7, 2013, 7:00 pm<br />
Remember when the new NHL realignment plan was first reported about a<br />
week or so ago, and the Chicago Blackhawks’ rival, the Detroit Red Wings<br />
were pegged to head East? Well, it’s one step away from happening.<br />
The NHLPA gave its OK to the league’s new realignment proposal and all<br />
that’s left is getting the Board of Government’s stamp of approval.<br />
“The NHL Players’ Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season,” NHL<br />
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for<br />
its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future<br />
developments warrant.”<br />
The NHLPA nixed the last realignment proposal, which was drawn up<br />
during last season. There have been changes to this one, including Detroit<br />
and Columbus moving East. There are still odd divisions – two with seven<br />
teams, two with eight – but the league is proposing a wild-card system to<br />
even the playing field regarding qualifying for the postseason.<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” NHLPA<br />
executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement today.<br />
[MORE: Military members honored by Blackhawks' anthem, salute]<br />
Once it is approved, realignment starts with the 2013-14 season. A<br />
reminder, the Blackhawks’ new division would include Nashville, Dallas,<br />
Minnesota, Winnipeg (moving from the East), Colorado and St. Louis.<br />
Travel-wise, the Blackhawks aren’t affected that much; although there’ll be<br />
a lot fewer short-flight trips to Detroit and Columbus. But the biggest<br />
winners of the West are probably Minnesota and Dallas, who get slammed<br />
with distant travel in their current divisions (the Northwest and Pacific,<br />
respectively). Their fans will also deal with fewer late start times.<br />
And yes, that means bye-bye to all those Blackhawks-Red Wings games<br />
every regular season. As we were reminded with Sunday’s matchup<br />
between the two, it’s been fun. All good things must end some time.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
661972 Colorado Avalanche<br />
Avalanche headed to new Midwest Division next season in realignment<br />
plan<br />
Denver Post staff and wire services<br />
Posted: 03/07/2013 05:26:50 PM MST<br />
Updated: 03/07/2013 05:28:58 PM MST<br />
It will be goodbye to the Northwest Division and welcome to the Midwest for<br />
the Avalanche next season in a realignment of the NHL approved by the<br />
NHL Players' Association on Thursday.<br />
Midwest Division teams will be Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota,<br />
Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.<br />
The change will cut down on the length of some trips for the Avalanche,<br />
which is in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference with Calgary,<br />
Edmonton, Minnesota and Vancouver.<br />
Now that the NHL has received the go-ahead from union chief Donald Fehr,<br />
the league will only need to get approval from team owners to put<br />
realignment in place.<br />
"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised plan for realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season," NHL<br />
deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed plan for realignment to the NHL board of governors for<br />
its consideration."<br />
Fehr signed off on the plan after discussions with the union's executive<br />
board and said the realignment issue will be "re-evaluated following the<br />
2014-15 season."<br />
No official details of the changes have been released by the NHL, but it is<br />
widely believed that teams such as Detroit and Columbus will be put into<br />
more travel-friendly divisions in the Eastern time zone, and the Winnipeg<br />
Jets — formerly the Atlanta Thrashers — will leave the Southeast Division<br />
for a spot in the Western Conference.<br />
Up until now, there has been an even split of teams with 15 in each<br />
conference. Under the new plan, the East will have 16 clubs in it — making<br />
playoff qualification a bit tougher.<br />
The two divisions out West will contain seven teams each. The East<br />
divisions will both contain eight.<br />
Each conference will still have eight teams in the playoffs but the setup will<br />
be slightly different.<br />
Instead of the current system, under which the top eight teams in each<br />
conference make the playoffs, the new plan will award spots to the top<br />
three teams in each division along with the next two teams with the best<br />
records as wild cards.<br />
The new Atlantic Division in the East will be comprised of Carolina,<br />
Columbus, New Jersey, New York's Rangers and Islanders, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>,<br />
Pittsburgh and Washington. The Central Division will contain Boston,<br />
Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.<br />
The other Western Division, the Pacific, will be made up of Anaheim,<br />
Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.<br />
Denver Post: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661973 Colorado Avalanche<br />
Chicago Blackhawks bringing remarkable run to Denver<br />
By Mike Chambers The Denver Post<br />
Posted: 03/08/2013 12:01:00 AM MST<br />
Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov makes a save against the<br />
Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews (19) during the second period Wednesday<br />
night at the United Center in Chicago. (Jim Young, Reuters)<br />
The Avalanche has front-row seats to one of the most remarkable runs in<br />
NHL history, and if anyone in Colorado can appreciate the magnitude of the<br />
Chicago Blackhawks' 21-0-3 record, 11-game winning streak and 30-game<br />
points streak, it's former Avs star Joe Sakic.<br />
Sakic, a Hockey Hall of Fame center and Avs adviser, knows a thing or two<br />
about streaks. That's why Chicago captain Jonathan Toews wears No. 19<br />
— in honor of his childhood hero, Sakic — and perhaps why the<br />
Blackhawks seem so in sync behind their star Canadian center.<br />
"Joe Sakic was always my guy. Definitely looked up to the way he played,"<br />
Toews said. "He was a playoff competitor, scored big goals ... and he never<br />
embarrassed his opponent. One of those<br />
quiet leaders I definitely have a lot of respect for."<br />
Sakic helped lead the Avs to two Stanley Cup titles with an all-star cast.<br />
Toews is on his way to his second with Chicago, which features a whopping<br />
five players who played in the 2010 Olympics. On the heels of<br />
Wednesday's 3-2 home victory over Colorado, the Blackhawks have<br />
completed half the shortened NHL season without losing in regulation. They<br />
enter Friday's game at the Pepsi Cener with the NHL record for the longest<br />
points streak to begin a season (24 games).<br />
"We never go away. We keep coming," Toews said after Wednesday's<br />
victory, during which he scored a short-handed goal that tied the score in<br />
the third period. "We didn't feel any pressure. We just went out there and<br />
worked. We're confident if we do that, things can go our way."<br />
With a win or overtime/shootout loss against Colorado, the Blackhawks will<br />
move closer to the hallowed ground skated only by the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
in 1979-80. The <strong>Flyers</strong> played 35 consecutive games without losing at a<br />
time when ties didn't lead to shootouts.<br />
Chicago is 15-0-1 when leading after two periods, 3-0-1 when trailing after<br />
two periods and has won seven times in 10 overtimes. In the three times<br />
the Blackhawks haven't amassed the full two points, they lost in shootouts<br />
to Minnesota, Vancouver and Anaheim.<br />
"It's been dramatic. It's been pretty amazing," said Chicago coach Joel<br />
Quenneville. "Commend the guys for persevering and finding ways."<br />
Said Toews: "No special equation. No magic. Just work ethic."<br />
And talent. The Blackhawks lead the NHL in goals-against average (1.79)<br />
and rank fourth in scoring (3.12). They lead the league in takeaways (176)<br />
and their penalty killing ranks second (89 percent.)<br />
"They're a team that's confident and goes into every game thinking they're<br />
going to win. They're just on a roll," said Avs defenseman Ryan O'Byrne.<br />
Toews is among the five Blackhawks who played in the 2010<br />
Olympics. He and Patrick Kane are two of hockey's premier playmaking<br />
forwards and Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are considered two of the<br />
NHL's top defensemen. They and winger Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp<br />
are surrounded by a cohesive cast of role players backed by goalies Ray<br />
Emery and Corey Crawford, whom Quenneville platoons.<br />
"Lot of depth," O'Byrne said of the Blackhawks, who have 202 consecutive<br />
sellouts at home. "Three really good centers down the middle. Each line<br />
comes at you hard. And if you look at their back end, they have three good<br />
pairings, obviously led by Keith and Seabrook, two guys who have been in<br />
this league a long time and won a Cup, and a gold medal. They just know<br />
how to win."<br />
Avs coach Joe Sacco, who succeeded Quenneville in Denver, likes his<br />
team's chances in the rematch.<br />
"We controlled their tempo for the most part (Wednesday)," he said. "You<br />
want to manage the puck well against them, because if you don't they'll<br />
make you pay, and for the most part I thought we did."<br />
The only thing the Avs didn't do was win. But few teams do against the<br />
Blackhawks.<br />
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357, mchambers at denverpost.com or<br />
twitter.com/mchambersdp<br />
Lead roles<br />
The Avalanche (8-10-4) hosts the record-setting Chicago Blackhawks (21-<br />
0-3) on Friday to complete a home-and-home series. The teams have fared<br />
far differently in taking leads into the third period and winning tight games. A<br />
comparison:<br />
Leading after two periods<br />
Avalanche 4-2-3<br />
Blackhawks 15-0-1<br />
Trailing after two periods<br />
Avalanche 2-8-1<br />
Blackhawks 3-0-1<br />
Overtime/shootout record<br />
Avalanche 2-4<br />
Blackhawks 7-3<br />
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post<br />
Denver Post: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661974 Colorado Avalanche<br />
Chicago Blackhawks at Colorado Avalanche preview<br />
7 p.m. Friday, Altitude, 950 AM, 104.3 FM<br />
Spotlight on Corey Crawford: The goaltender has played a big role in<br />
Chicago's remarkable 24-game points streak to start the season. Crawford<br />
is a big goalie who tends to play pretty deep in his net. The Blackhawks<br />
also have played goalie Ray Emery a lot, including Wednesday against the<br />
Avalanche. But Crawford is considered their No. 1 goaltender.<br />
NOTEBOOK<br />
Avalanche: The Avs didn't practice Thursday. They hope defenseman Ryan<br />
Wilson (ankle) will return to the lineup Friday. The status of winger Milan<br />
Hejduk (torso) will be updated before the game. ... The Avs reassigned<br />
defenseman Stefan Elliott to Lake Erie of the AHL and activated Erik<br />
Johnson, who has missed time recently because of a head injury. A final<br />
determination on Johnson's status for Friday's game will be made after the<br />
morning skate, but he is likely to play. ... The Avs have scored only five<br />
goals in their past three games. ... Ryan O'Reilly has won 15 of his past 22<br />
faceoffs. O'Reilly will be playing his first home game of the season Friday.<br />
... The Avs rank seventh in the NHL in penalty minutes, averaging 14.1 per<br />
game. ... Colorado's 82 shots on the power play rank 29th in the league.<br />
Blackhawks: Patrick Sharp, injured during Wednesday's game when he<br />
took a hard hit from Avs defenseman Ryan O'Byrne, is expected to be out<br />
for a while. Sharp appeared to suffer a shoulder injury. ... Marian Hossa,<br />
who missed Wednesday's game because of an upper-body injury, may<br />
return Friday. He has four game-winning goals this season. ... Chicago is<br />
11-0-0 when leading after the first period and 10-0-3 when trailing after the<br />
first period.<br />
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post<br />
Denver Post: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661975 Colorado Avalanche<br />
Avalanche headed to new Midwest Division in 2013 NHL realignment plan<br />
By Adrian Dater The Denver Post<br />
Posted: 03/07/2013 05:26:50 PM MST<br />
Updated: 03/07/2013 06:32:55 PM MST<br />
Colorado's Shane O'Brien (5) and Columbus' Derek MacKenzie reach for<br />
the puck during a game last Sunday.<br />
It will be goodbye to the Northwest Division and hello to the newly created<br />
Midwest Division for the Avalanche next season in a realignment of the<br />
NHL approved by the NHL Players' Association on Thursday.<br />
Midwest Division teams will be Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota,<br />
Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.<br />
The change will cut down on the length of some trips for the Avalanche,<br />
which is in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference with Calgary,<br />
Edmonton, Minnesota and Vancouver.<br />
Avalanche vice president Jean Martineau said the team is happy with the<br />
new realignment.<br />
Now that the NHL has received the go-ahead from union chief Donald Fehr,<br />
the league will only need to get approval from team owners to put<br />
realignment in place.<br />
"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised plan for realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season," NHL<br />
deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Thursday. "Our next step<br />
will be to bring the proposed plan for realignment to the NHL board of<br />
governors for its consideration."<br />
Fehr signed off on the plan after discussions with the union's executive<br />
board and said the realignment issue will be "re-evaluated following the<br />
2014-15 season."<br />
No official details of the changes have been released by the NHL, but it is<br />
widely believed that teams such as Detroit and Columbus will be put into<br />
more travel-friendly divisions in the Eastern time zone, and the Winnipeg<br />
Jets — formerly the Atlanta Thrashers — will leave the Southeast Division<br />
for a spot in the Western Conference.<br />
Up until now, there has been an even split of teams with 15 in each<br />
conference. Under the new plan, the East will have 16 clubs in it — making<br />
playoff qualification a bit tougher.<br />
The two divisions out West will contain seven teams each. The East<br />
divisions will both contain eight.<br />
Each conference will still have eight teams in the playoffs but the setup will<br />
be slightly different.<br />
Instead of the current system, under which the top eight teams in each<br />
conference make the playoffs, the new plan will award spots to the top<br />
three teams in each division along with the next two teams with the best<br />
records as wild cards.<br />
The new Atlantic Division in the East will be comprised of Carolina,<br />
Columbus, New Jersey, New York's Rangers and Islanders, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>,<br />
Pittsburgh and Washington. The Central Division will contain Boston,<br />
Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.<br />
The other Western Division, the Pacific, will be made up of Anaheim,<br />
Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.<br />
Under realignment, the Avs would play each Eastern team home-and-home<br />
(32 games), three games each against Pacific (21 games) and 29 divisional<br />
games (four games for some, five for others).<br />
Material from The Associated Press was used for this report.<br />
Denver Post: LOADED: 03.08.2013
661976 Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1 (OT): Calvert’s goal produces third straight win<br />
By Shawn Mitchell<br />
The Columbus Dispatch Friday March 8, 2013 5:14 AM<br />
This Blue Jackets’ season, shortened by a lockout, was shaping up to be a<br />
painful but quick trip toward Newark, N.J., and the three first-round picks<br />
that awaited them there at the June draft.<br />
It has instead morphed into a journey of self-discovery.<br />
The Blue Jackets won a third consecutive game last night, beating the<br />
Vancouver Canucks 2-1 in overtime in front of 13,632 in Nationwide Arena.<br />
“We’re starting to learn how to win hockey games and do it as a team, and<br />
do it as a team for a full 60, or 65, minutes in this case,” said Blue Jackets<br />
left winger Matt Calvert, who scored the winning goal with 56.9 seconds<br />
remaining in overtime.<br />
It was a costly victory. Right winger Derek Dorsett, the gritty soul of his<br />
team, suffered a broken clavicle 19 seconds into his first shift. He probably<br />
will miss the rest of the season.<br />
“We obviously lost a character guy in Dorse there, but everyone stepped up<br />
and pulled their load,” Calvert said.<br />
None yanked harder than goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who saved 34 of<br />
35 shots and was forced to make three one-on-one saves and bail out<br />
teammates Derick Brassard, Dalton Prout and Jack Johnson, all of whom<br />
committed glaring turnovers that led to prime chances for the Canucks.<br />
Bobrovsky, 4-1-1 in his past six games, shrugged them off.<br />
Playing with a lead after R.J. Umberger crashed the net and buried a<br />
rebound midway through the first period, Bobrovsky was at his best in the<br />
second when he stopped all 16 shots he faced.<br />
The Canucks, humming after a slow start, carried momentum into the third.<br />
Henrik Sedin tied the score when he shot a loose puck in front before<br />
Bobrovsky could reach it at 1:05 of the third.<br />
The Jackets had two power-play opportunities late in regulation but failed to<br />
get a shot off during either one. They were capped by a turnover by<br />
Johnson at the blue line that sprung Jannik Hansen, but his short-handed<br />
breakaway was caught by Bobrovsky with 4:41 remaining in regulation.<br />
“Really disappointed with our power play in the third period,” coach Todd<br />
Richards said. “It was a chance to go out and win a hockey game in<br />
regulation, and we actually almost gave them the game on our power play.”<br />
Calvert instead won it in overtime. He slipped through the Canucks<br />
defense, walked in on the net of Cory Schneider (25 saves) and, standing<br />
on one leg, snapped a rising wrist shot over the glove of Schneider.<br />
It was the first overtime winner of his pro career, Calvert said.<br />
It was the Jackets’ fifth consecutive overtime game and ninth straight<br />
decided by one goal. They are 4-3-2 and have at least a point in its past five<br />
games. Every team the Blue Jackets trail has at least one game in hand,<br />
but they are only four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.<br />
“We’re finding a way,” Richards said. “You can sense it in the locker room<br />
that the players are getting more confident. When you win, it gives you<br />
energy. I’m sensing that, with the players. They’re feeling better about<br />
themselves, about their game.”<br />
Slap shots<br />
Center Brandon Dubinsky missed his ninth straight game but took part in<br />
the morning skate and indicated that he is getting close to a return. …<br />
Defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Tim Erixon left the morning skate early —<br />
Tyutin with what Richards called “bumps and bruises,” and Erixon with an<br />
illness. They both played last night.<br />
Dispatch reporter Aaron Portzline contributed to this report.<br />
Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
661977 Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
Jackets at brink of move to East after union vote<br />
With NHL approval, realignment would begin next season<br />
By Aaron Portzline<br />
The Columbus Dispatch Friday March 8, 2013 5:14 AM<br />
The Blue Jackets hope they have cleared the final hurdle before heading —<br />
at long last — to the Eastern Conference.<br />
The Players’ Association yesterday approved the NHL’s plan to realign the<br />
league before next season, a move that would end the Blue Jackets’ costly<br />
distinction as the league’s easternmost Western Conference team. All that<br />
remains before the plan is adopted is for the Board of Governors to approve<br />
it, but many expect it to pass with ease.<br />
The league has informed all clubs that it wants the matter settled by the end<br />
of next week.<br />
“This just makes common sense,” Blue Jackets president of hockey<br />
operations John Davidson said. “This is about a marriage between a<br />
hockey club and its fans.<br />
“This is the right thing for our group (of fans) who come to our games,<br />
because it’s more of the teams they really want to see, the teams they<br />
maybe grew up with. This is the right thing for our group to watch and listen<br />
to our games, at a reasonable hour. This is just common sense.”<br />
The Blue Jackets would become members of a newly built Atlantic Division,<br />
along with Carolina, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, the New York<br />
Rangers, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh and Washington. Further, the Jackets<br />
would join a conference that includes Buffalo, Detroit and Toronto, all of<br />
whom have regional appeal.<br />
The Jackets would play 68 games in the Eastern Conference and only eight<br />
games in the Pacific and Mountain time zones.<br />
“This is a reward for our fans in many regards,” Blue Jackets president Mike<br />
Priest said. “This is a win for our market and our fan base.”<br />
The NHL has given club owners an option for how it wants to vote — either<br />
by fax or an in-person meeting of the board of governors. If an in-person<br />
meeting is called, it could signal that some of the current Eastern<br />
Conference clubs have an issue with the change.<br />
The only rub — and the players fought with this, too, before announcing<br />
their approval yesterday — is that the Eastern Conference would have 16<br />
clubs and the Western Conference 14. Currently, each conference has 15,<br />
but under the plan, Columbus and Detroit would go to the East, and<br />
Winnipeg (the former Atlanta Thrashers) would finally go to the West.<br />
Many believe the unbalanced conferences would give an unfair advantage<br />
to the Western clubs reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs. Still, it is rare for<br />
commissioner Gary Bettman to let a process of this importance reach a<br />
vote among the Board of Governors if the issue isn’t already mostly<br />
approved.<br />
Blue Jackets winger R.J. Umberger, who spent the early seasons of his<br />
career in the Eastern Conference with <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, knows how big a<br />
difference this would be for the Blue Jackets.<br />
“If it happens, it’s one of the biggest (days) in franchise history,” Umberger<br />
said. “You can look at so many aspects — fans watching games, us<br />
traveling and recovering, the finances of the club — you could make a list<br />
that goes on and on with how important this is to our team.”<br />
The union stated in its release that the format would be revisited after the<br />
2014-15 season.<br />
“It will definitely be a good day if this happens, when it’s actually passed,”<br />
Priest said. “Nothing is over until all the owners have their say, and that will<br />
happen in due course.”<br />
The new alignment would come with a new schedule matrix. The Blue<br />
Jackets would play two games against each club in the Western<br />
Conference (28), three games against each club in the other Eastern<br />
Conference division, the Central (24), and the remaining 30 games within<br />
the Atlantic Division.<br />
Priest said the Blue Jackets have already submitted schedule dates for the<br />
2013-14 season.<br />
Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
661978 Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
Jackets-Canucks summary<br />
Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1 (OT): Calvert’s goal produces third straight win<br />
Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1, OT<br />
Vancouver 0 0 1 0 —<br />
1<br />
Columbus 1 0 0 1 — 2<br />
FIRST PERIOD: Scoring — 1, Columbus, Umberger 4 (Foligno, Johansen),<br />
11:33. Penalties — Lapierre, Van (tripping), 13:40.<br />
THIRD: Scoring — 2, Vancouver, H.Sedin 5 (Hamhuis, D.Sedin), 1:05.<br />
Penalties — Tyutin, Clm (holding), 8:23; Alberts, Van (slashing), 11:26;<br />
H.Sedin, Van (cross-checking), 14:17.<br />
OVERTIME: Scoring — 3, Columbus, Calvert 4 (Tyutin, Johnson), 4:03.<br />
Shots on goal: Vancouver 9-16-9-1—35. Columbus 8-11-6-2—27. Power<br />
plays: Vancouver 0 of 1; Columbus 0 of 3. Goalies: Vancouver, Schneider<br />
6-4-3 (27 shots-25 saves). Columbus, Bobrovsky 6-6-3 (35-34). A: 13,632.<br />
T: 2:28.<br />
Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
661979 Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
NHL: Jackets go OT to win third straight<br />
By Shawn Mitchell<br />
The Columbus Dispatch Friday March 8, 2013 4:40 AM<br />
This Blue Jackets’ season, shortened by a lockout, was shaping up to be a<br />
painful but quick trip toward Newark, N.J., and the three first-round picks<br />
that awaited them there at the June draft.<br />
It has instead morphed into a journey of self-discovery.<br />
The Blue Jackets won a third consecutive game last night, beating the<br />
Vancouver Canucks 2-1 in overtime in front of 13,632 in Nationwide Arena.<br />
“We’re starting to learn how to win hockey games and do it as a team, and<br />
do it as a team for a full 60, or 65, minutes in this case,” said Blue Jackets<br />
left winger Matt Calvert, who scored the winning goal with 56.9 seconds<br />
remaining in overtime.<br />
It was a costly victory. Right winger Derek Dorsett, the gritty soul of his<br />
team, suffered a broken clavicle 19 seconds into his first shift. He probably<br />
will miss the rest of the season.<br />
“We obviously lost a character guy in Dorse there, but everyone stepped up<br />
and pulled their load,” Calvert said.<br />
None yanked harder than goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who saved 34 of<br />
35 shots and was forced to make three one-on-one saves and bail out<br />
teammates Derick Brassard, Dalton Prout and Jack Johnson, all of whom<br />
committed glaring turnovers that led to prime chances for the Canucks.<br />
Bobrovsky, 4-1-1 in his past six games, shrugged them off.<br />
Playing with a lead after R.J. Umberger crashed the net and buried a<br />
rebound midway through the first period, Bobrovsky was at his best in the<br />
second when he stopped all 16 shots he faced.<br />
The Canucks, humming after a slow start, carried momentum into the third.<br />
Henrik Sedin tied the score when he shot a loose puck in front before<br />
Bobrovsky could reach it at 1:05 of the third.<br />
The Jackets had two power-play opportunities late in regulation but failed to<br />
get a shot off during either one. They were capped by a turnover by<br />
Johnson at the blue line that sprung Jannik Hansen, but his short-handed<br />
breakaway was caught by Bobrovsky with 4:41 remaining in regulation.<br />
“Really disappointed with our power play in the third period,” coach Todd<br />
Richards said. “It was a chance to go out and win a hockey game in<br />
regulation, and we actually almost gave them the game on our power play.”<br />
Calvert instead won it in overtime. He slipped through the Canucks<br />
defense, walked in on the net of Cory Schneider (25 saves) and, standing<br />
on one leg, snapped a rising wrist shot over the glove of Schneider.<br />
It was the first overtime winner of his pro career, Calvert said.<br />
It was the Jackets’ fifth consecutive overtime game and ninth straight<br />
decided by one goal. They are 4-3-2 and have at least a point in its past five<br />
games. Every team the Blue Jackets trail has at least one game in hand,<br />
but they are only four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.<br />
“We’re finding a way,” Richards said. “You can sense it in the locker room<br />
that the players are getting more confident. When you win, it gives you<br />
energy. I’m sensing that, with the players. They’re feeling better about<br />
themselves, about their game.”<br />
Slap shots<br />
Center Brandon Dubinsky missed his ninth straight game but took part in<br />
the morning skate and indicated that he is getting close to a return. …<br />
Defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Tim Erixon left the morning skate early —<br />
Tyutin with what Richards called “bumps and bruises,” and Erixon with an<br />
illness. They both played last night.<br />
Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
661980 Columbus Blue Jackets<br />
NHL Players' Association approves realignment<br />
Blue Jackets would move to the Eastern Conference<br />
By Aaron Portzline<br />
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday March 7, 2013 6:11 PM<br />
The NHL Players' Association tonight has approved a plan that would move<br />
the Blue Jackets to the Eastern Conference beginning next season. The<br />
NHL Board of Governors, who have final approval, will vote on the measure<br />
in the coming days, but are expected to pass it with ease.<br />
The Blue Jackets, who have been the Eastern-most franchise in the<br />
Western Conference since joining the NHL as an expansion franchise in<br />
1998, will join a newly-shaped Atlantic Division, along with Carolina,<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, New York<br />
Rangers, and Washington.<br />
Meanwhile, other regional draws like Buffalo, Detroit and Toronto will also<br />
be in the Eastern Conference with Columbus.<br />
The NHLPA indicated the plan would be reviewed following the 2014-15<br />
season.<br />
Here's the NHLPA statement: “After discussions with the Executive Board,<br />
the NHLPA has given consent to realignment, to be re-evaluated following<br />
the 2014-15 season.”<br />
The NHL's statement, from deputy commissioner Bill Daly: "The NHL<br />
Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented to a<br />
revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season. Our next<br />
step will be to bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of<br />
Governors for its consideration. We will update the status of the process as<br />
future developments warrant."<br />
Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
661981 Dallas Stars<br />
NHLPA OK with NHL’s proposed realignment; When it could go into effect<br />
and how it affects the Stars<br />
By MIKE HEIKA<br />
Staff Writer<br />
The NHLPA on Thursday afternoon announced it is OK with the NHL’s<br />
proposed realignment plan, and that should pave the way for the plan to go<br />
into effect in the 2013-14 season.<br />
Here is the press release from the NHLPA:<br />
Toronto (March 7, 2013) – NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr issued the<br />
following statement this evening:<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season.”<br />
So here is how the four-division format would look:<br />
Mid-West Division<br />
Chicago<br />
Colorado<br />
Dallas<br />
Minnesota<br />
Nashville<br />
St. Louis<br />
Winnipeg<br />
Pacific Division<br />
Anaheim<br />
Calgary<br />
Edmonton<br />
Los Angeles<br />
Phoenix<br />
San Jose<br />
Vancouver<br />
Central Division<br />
Boston<br />
Buffalo<br />
Detroit<br />
Florida<br />
Montreal<br />
Ottawa<br />
Tampa Bay<br />
Toronto<br />
Atlantic Division<br />
Carolina<br />
Columbus<br />
New Jersey<br />
New York Islanders<br />
New York Rangers<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
Pittsburgh<br />
Washington<br />
The East would have 16 teams and the West would have 14. Teams in the<br />
East have a 50 percent chance of making the playoffs. Teams in the West<br />
have a 57 percent chance. That said, you can argue that the real fight is for<br />
the teams in the eighth and ninth spots, so having extra teams at 15 and 16<br />
don’t really matter, but the perception is unbalanced conferences mean<br />
unfair battles.<br />
That was a sticking point, and one of the reasons the NHLPA would like to<br />
re-evaluate after two seasons.<br />
The Stars will be ecstatic at this change. Here is the flying distance<br />
between Dallas and the cities in the current Pacific Division and between<br />
Dallas and the cities in the new Mid-West Division:<br />
Pacific<br />
Los Angeles: 1,230 miles<br />
Anaheim: 1,200 miles<br />
San Jose: 1,430 miles<br />
Phoenix: 865 miles<br />
Mid-West:<br />
Nashville: 630<br />
Colorado: 640<br />
Chicago: 801<br />
St. Louis: 550<br />
Winnipeg: 1,170<br />
Even more important is the fact the Stars will have most road start times in<br />
the Central Time Zone. Thus, you will not get 9:30 p.m. starts like Thursday<br />
at LA.<br />
“Travel distance is big, but really, the start times are the main thing,” said<br />
Stars president and CEO Jim Lites. “It’s a big deal to us, and to our fans,<br />
and that’s why we’ve been pushing so hard for this.”<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661982 Dallas Stars<br />
'Changed' Jaromir Jagr, not thinking stats, scores twice in Stars' 5-2 win<br />
ASSOCIATED PRESS<br />
Published: 07 March 2013 10:05 PM<br />
LOS ANGELES - Even though the goals and assists don’t come in bunches<br />
on a regular basis anymore for Jaromir Jagr, every now and then he<br />
displays the form and instincts that have kept him playing hockey at a high<br />
level, even at age 41.<br />
Jagr had his first multi-goal game since opening night, Brenden Morrow got<br />
the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Dallas Stars ended the Kings’<br />
six-game home winning streak with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night.<br />
Jagr’s three-game goal streak is his longest since his final four games of<br />
the 2007-08 regular season with the Rangers. The nine-time All-Star and<br />
1999 MVP spent the next three years out of the NHL before returning last<br />
season with <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, and has 28 goals in 95 games since his<br />
comeback began.<br />
He needs four assists to join Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier,<br />
Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and former Pittsburgh teammate Mario Lemieux<br />
as the only players in NHL history with at least 1,000 assists and 600 goals.<br />
“The goals and the points, it’s not in my head. That’s why it’s sometimes<br />
hard to get them,” Jagr said. “If you want to be a goal scorer and win<br />
scoring titles, you have to be hungry. But I’ve changed. I’m not 22 or 25<br />
anymore, so I don’t look at the stats.<br />
“But personally, my body never gets tired. The more I play, the fresher I get<br />
and the stronger I get. I think it would be better if I played one more game<br />
right now.”<br />
Jagr and Cody Eakin connected on power plays for Dallas’ first two goals<br />
after penalties against Los Angeles defenseman Keaton Ellerby. Jagr<br />
converted a rebound of Jamie Benn’s shot with 10:20 remaining, his ninth<br />
of the season and 674th of his career — 10th on the NHL’s all-time list.<br />
“I don’t know what I want to bring to this team. I’m not really sure,” Jagr<br />
said. “Last year, I know they had a lot of guys who could score goals, and<br />
this year I’m getting paid more money than I did last year. So I’ve got a little<br />
more responsibility on the power play and scoring goals. So I have to<br />
change my thinking a little bit.”<br />
Eakin is impressed.<br />
“He’s been playing real strong for us, and we need him to be playing like<br />
this,” Eakin said. “He’s a threat out there every night, and it’s huge for the<br />
team when he produces like that. He’s been around for a long time and he’s<br />
seen it all in this game. I think I read somewhere that he won a Stanley Cup<br />
the day after I was born — so guys have a tremendous amount of respect<br />
for him.”<br />
Antoine Roussel completed the scoring with an empty-net goal and Kari<br />
Lehtonen stopped 30 shots in his third straight start, after missing the<br />
previous five games with a lower body injury.<br />
Jeff Carter scored his 12th goal in 12 games and 16th this season for Los<br />
Angeles. Trevor Lewis also scored for the defending Stanley Cup<br />
champions and Jonathan Quick made 17 saves.<br />
“We didn’t get good enough goaltending tonight,” coach Darryl Sutter said.<br />
“We need to raise the save percentage. It’s one stat that doesn’t lie, right?<br />
… If you’re giving up four goals a game, you can’t win. You need better<br />
goaltending and better defense. Simple. “<br />
Quick’s record slipped to 7-7-2. Last season he was 35-21-13 while setting<br />
franchise records with 10 shutouts, a 1.95 goals-against average and a<br />
.929 save percentage before winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff<br />
MVP.<br />
The Kings took a 2-1 lead shortly after they were stopped by Lehtonen on a<br />
short-handed bid. Carter’s wrist shot from the right caromed into the net off<br />
Benn’s left skate. But Dallas pulled even late in period as Eakin chipped the<br />
puck past the backchecking Martinez in the Kings’ zone and beat Quick to<br />
the glove side while Ellerby was off for hooking Trevor Daley.<br />
“We played OK, but kind of up and down — spurts of good and spurts of<br />
bad — and we let a team like that hang around and they kind of took over in<br />
the third,” Kings forward Colin Fraser said.<br />
“They seemed to have the puck a lot and they just took it to us a little too<br />
much.”<br />
Jagr opened the scoring 5:28 into the game. Ellerby was off for tripping Erik<br />
Cole when Benn passed the puck from the top of the right circle to Jagr<br />
about 10 feet to the left of the net, and the five-time NHL scoring champ<br />
one-timed it past Quick.<br />
“The first one was beautiful. He found me on the back door on the power<br />
play,” Jagr said. “The first 15 games we kind of struggled on the power play,<br />
but lately we’ve been doing a lot better job. That’s important because it’s a<br />
short season and the games are so tight. So the special teams are going to<br />
win the games for you.”<br />
Los Angeles tied it when Dwight King’s persistent forechecking behind the<br />
net allowed Lewis to gain control. He circled the net before using Vernon<br />
Fidler as a screen to beat Lehtonen high to the stick side.<br />
This was the opener of a five-game season series with the Stars, whom the<br />
Kings beat out for the final Western Conference playoff berth before<br />
becoming the first eighth seed to win a Stanley Cup.<br />
“Of course you’re more excited when you come to play against the team<br />
that just won the Cup, so I think that really helped us get ready to battle,”<br />
Lehtonen said.<br />
NOTES: Morrow’s goal was his 243rd with the Stars, tying Jere Lehtinen for<br />
second place on the Dallas list behind Mike Modano’s 434. Modano scored<br />
123 other goals for the franchise while it was in Minnesota. … Los Angeles<br />
D Rob Scuderi and Dallas LW Eric Nystrom were both raised in the same<br />
town, Syosset, N.Y., which is about 30 miles east of Madison Square<br />
Garden. Nystrom is the son of Bobby Nystrom, who won four Stanley Cup<br />
titles with the Islanders.<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661983 Dallas Stars<br />
Heika: Jaromir Jagr scored the goals but Kari Lehtonen led the way in<br />
Dallas Stars' road win against Los Angeles Kings<br />
By MIKE HEIKA<br />
Staff Writer<br />
LOS ANGELES — Jaromir Jagr scored twice, pushing his career total to<br />
674 goals, as the Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 at Staples Center<br />
Thursday night.<br />
The win pushes the Stars to 12-9-2 (26 points), while the Kings fall to 12-8-<br />
2 (26 points). Jagr, 10 overall in career goals, pushed his lead over 11place<br />
Teemu Selanne to five goals.<br />
Kari Lehtonen was spectacular in net with 31 saves for the Stars, while<br />
Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist. Jamie Benn and Alex Goligoiski each<br />
added two assists. The Stars were outshot 33-22, lost the faceoff battle 19-<br />
41 (32 percent) and were outhit 24-41. Still, they were resilient and<br />
opportunistic.<br />
"I thought we played a decent game," Star coach Glen Gulutzan said. "The<br />
faceoff circle hurt us. We took in a lot of chances off that. A bulk of their<br />
chances and shots were coming off lost draws. We need to do a better job<br />
as a group. Coming into a game like this they are a great team. They<br />
played strong. You can see why they have such a good home record here.<br />
Tonight we got good goaltending and we got timely goals."<br />
The Stars opened the scoring on the power play just 5:28 into the game.<br />
Benn sent a puck at the net, and it was blocked and came right back to him.<br />
He then sent a pass through the slot to Jagr sneaking in the back door, and<br />
Jagr shoveled it in for his eighth goal of the season.<br />
The Kings came back with a strong shift from their hard-working grinders<br />
and tied it up at the 12:10 mark of the first period. Dwight King helped win a<br />
battle behind the net, and Trevor Lewis walked out and whipped in a perfect<br />
shot from the left circle. The wrister sailed over Lehtonen’s glove into the far<br />
top corner. It was the third goal of the season for Lewis.<br />
Los Angeles controlled much of the play in the second period, and earned a<br />
solid break at the 15:30 mark. Jeff Carter threw a hopeful puck near the net,<br />
and it bounced in off of the skate of Jordie Benn. It was the 16 goal of the<br />
season for Carter, who is second in the NHL in goal-scoring.<br />
The Kings followed that with a huge crushing hit, as defenseman Drew<br />
Doughty caught Alex Goligoski with his head down and knocked him off his<br />
feet. Goligoski bounced up, but it appeared the Kings had all the<br />
momentum.<br />
However, Trevor Daley drew a hooking penalty, and the Stars quickly<br />
scored their second power play goal of the game. Eakin was able to control<br />
a puck through a crowd, and emerged in the slot with possession. He lifted<br />
in a backhand shot for his fourth goal of the season, and the game was tied<br />
after two periods.<br />
"We have a nice blend of young guys," Gulutzan said. "Cody Eakin and<br />
Reilly Smith played strong tonight. All our young guys are helping us. They<br />
are giving us some youthful enthusiasm, some juice and giving us some<br />
production."<br />
Smith and Eakin made a couple of great plays midway through the third<br />
period, and Brenden Morrow swept in his sixth goal of the season to make<br />
the score 3-2. Smith drove two defenders into the corner, and Eakin then<br />
picked up a loose puck and found Morrow all alone in front of the net.<br />
"It took a full 60 minutes to beat them," said Eakin. "I think the second<br />
period we bent a little bit and they took a bit of momentum but we stuck with<br />
it and stuck with our system. You start strong and it starts in the net. Kari<br />
has been great for us all season. It’s great to have him back. We continued<br />
to make smart and solid plays. Forwards were getting open for them and<br />
we were blocking shots. We battled and it turned out well for us."<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661984 Dallas Stars<br />
In win over Kings, Dallas Stars' Jaromir Jagr's two goals not enough to earn<br />
top star<br />
By MIKE HEIKA<br />
Stars 5, Los Angeles 2<br />
1.Kari Lehtonen, Stars — Kept the Stars in long enough to allow them to<br />
win.<br />
2.Jaromir Jagr, Stars — Right place, right time…twice.<br />
3.Cody Eakin, Stars — Goal, assist, solid defense.<br />
First Period: The Stars opened the scoring on the power play just 5:28 into<br />
the game. Jamie Benn sent a puck at the net, and it was blocked and came<br />
right back to him. He then sent a pass through the slot to Jagr sneaking in<br />
the back door, and Jagr shoveled it in for his eighth goal of the season. The<br />
Kings came back with a strong shift from their hard-working grinders and<br />
tied it up at the 12:10 mark of the first period. Trevor Lewis walked out from<br />
behind the net and whipped in a perfect shot from the left circle.<br />
Stars 1, Los Angeles 1<br />
Second Period: Los Angeles controlled much of the play in the second<br />
period, and earned a solid break at the 15:30 mark. Jeff Carter threw a<br />
hopeful puck near the net, and it bounced in off of the skate of Jordie Benn.<br />
It was the 16 goal of the season for Carter, who is second in the NHL in<br />
goal-scoring. The Stars quickly recovered and scored their second power<br />
play goal of the game. Eakin was able to control a puck through a crowd,<br />
and emerged in the slot with possession. He lifted in a backhand shot for<br />
his fourth goal of the season, and the game was tied after two periods.<br />
Stars 2, Los Angeles 2<br />
Third period: Reilly Smith and Cody Eakin made a couple of great plays<br />
midway through the third period, and Brenden Morrow swept in his sixth<br />
goal of the season to make the score 3-2. Smith drove two defenders into<br />
the corner, and Eakin then picked up a loose puck and found Morrow all<br />
alone in front of the net. Dallas then came up with the back-breaker when<br />
Benn whipped a shot on net, and the rebound went straight to Jagr, who<br />
buried his ninth goal of the year. Antoine Roussel added an empty-net goal.<br />
Stars 5, Los Angeles 2<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661985 Dallas Stars<br />
Heika: Realignment latest the victory for Dallas Stars off the ice; one aspect<br />
is particularly key<br />
By MIKE HEIKA<br />
LOS ANGELES — Off the ice, the Stars are on a roll.<br />
They were bought by new owner Tom Gaglardi in 2011, restocked their<br />
marketing and sales staffs in the last year, have planned new uniforms for<br />
next season, and now will get a new division in NHL realignment.<br />
The NHL Players Association on Thursday gave its blessing to the NHL’s<br />
plan for a four-division format, and that plan is now expected to quickly be<br />
approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors and be put in place for next<br />
season.<br />
The Stars are expected to move into a new division with Minnesota,<br />
Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Winnipeg and Colorado. That’s a huge<br />
difference in distance from playing games in the current Pacific Division<br />
with Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose and Phoenix.<br />
And games such as Thursday’s 9:30 p.m. start time in Dallas for a big<br />
contest against the Kings was just one reason Stars president and CEO Jim<br />
Lites has been pushing for this change.<br />
“Honestly, it’s one of the best things that can happen to us,” Lites said of<br />
the realignment. “From a competition standpoint, from a cost standpoint,<br />
from a player health standpoint, but mostly from the standpoint that this is<br />
so much better for our fans.”<br />
The Stars joined the Pacific Division in 1998, and has had some great<br />
rivalries with the Sharks, Ducks and Kings. However, many of those games<br />
ended in exciting overtime or shootout games past midnight for local<br />
viewers.<br />
“It just kills the television ratings, but it’s more than that,” Lites said. “A lot of<br />
our fans missed some of the most important games in our history, and that<br />
just doesn’t sit right with me. If you want to build an audience and you want<br />
fans to follow the story of your season, and you want kids to be a big part of<br />
your audience, you have to give them a chance to watch every game.”<br />
The Stars can start doing that next season. Yes, they will still play games in<br />
California — and in fact will play every team in the league twice a year<br />
under this format, which is a huge advantage over the current plan, where<br />
Eastern teams visited once every three years — but they will play a<br />
significant amount of their games against division rivals.<br />
The top three teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs, and the<br />
next two will be the teams with the next best records in the conference,<br />
meaning one division could have five teams qualify and the other only<br />
three.<br />
The conferences will be unbalanced, as the East will have 16 teams and<br />
the West will have 14. That was one of the concerns of the NHLPA, and<br />
one of the reasons the players have asked for a re-evaluation after two<br />
seasons. There are also concerns that the Phoenix franchise might have to<br />
move and that the league might add two expansion teams to balance out<br />
the conferences.<br />
So there’s no guarantee this doesn’t change again after a couple of years.<br />
But this format pretty much assures that the Stars will play in their time<br />
zone for many years going forward. And that’s something that can be added<br />
to the list of good things that have happened for Stars fans in the last two<br />
years.<br />
“I just think the time zone difference messes up a lot of things, and nobody<br />
knows that better than us,” Lites said. “There are times of the year when<br />
every one of our division opponents are two hours out of our time zone.<br />
That means we get back late, or we have to stay over, and that adds to<br />
wear and tear on the players and loss of practice days. Look, the flights<br />
aren’t what kill you, it’s changing time zones. And I can promise you that<br />
starting all of our road games at 7 or 7:30 will make our TV numbers soar.<br />
It’s a great day, and we have waited a very long time for this.”<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661986 Dallas Stars<br />
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan sets possible return date for injured forward Ray<br />
Whitney<br />
By MIKE HEIKA<br />
Staff Writer<br />
LOS ANGELES — Ray Whitney is old school.<br />
There’s not a whole lot of choice when you’re 40.<br />
The Stars winger said he grew up in an era when the team was always<br />
ahead of the individual, so he feels uncomfortable talking about himself in<br />
general, but especially if he’s not playing games.<br />
“Honestly, the focus should be on the guys on the ice,’’ he said. “I’ll be glad<br />
to talk when I’m back playing.’’<br />
Whitney has said he would just rather go about his business and not focus<br />
on the progress being made on the broken bone in his foot. He missed his<br />
15 straight game on Thursday, but Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said there is<br />
a chance he could return on Tuesday against Nashville.<br />
“He is getting very close,” Gulutzan said after Whitney participated in<br />
Thursday’s morning skate at Staples Center. “I would say, hopefully, there<br />
is a chance on Tuesday that he can play. He is getting in some skating with<br />
this trip, but when you have a broken foot, you can’t take a chance. As good<br />
as he looks skating, if we take a chance now like we did when was he<br />
playing with it in the beginning, we are going to be right back to where we<br />
were before. It’s pretty simple, you have to wait for it to heal.”<br />
Whitney also is old school in his approach to rehabbing injuries. He is<br />
impatient, and this is an injury that requires patience. He hurt himself in the<br />
first week of the season, continued to push himself through games, and<br />
turned a fracture into a crack. So he is now walking the line between<br />
pushing hard and resting, and he said even he doesn’t know when it will<br />
feel right.<br />
“Honestly, I’ll tell you the day I’m going to play,’’ he said with a smile. “I’ll<br />
know for sure then<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661987 Dallas Stars<br />
Stars vs. Kings: Jordie Benn stays in the lineup, Philip Larsen stays out<br />
By MIKE HEIKA<br />
The Stars will jump back into play after a three-day break with a 9:30 p.m.<br />
tilt against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings tonight.<br />
To prepare visually, you must first consume the video preview of ace<br />
colorman Daryl Reaugh here.Spoiler alert: No goofy hat or scarf here.<br />
And then soak up the Southern California vibe via Cody “Clint” Eastwood<br />
here. At one point, he holds a gun and tells the kids to get off his lawn. It’s<br />
intimidating.<br />
Now, as for the actual game, well, the Stars are pulling a bit of a change<br />
from what was expected. While Philip Larsen appears to be ready, he will<br />
not get back into the lineup tonight. Because the Kings bring a big lineup,<br />
coach Glen Gulutzan will leave Jordie Benn in. So expect the lines to look<br />
like this:<br />
Loui Eriksson-Jamie Benn-Jaromir Jagr<br />
Antoine Roussel-Derek Roy-Erik Cole<br />
Brenden Morrow-Cody Eakin-Reilly Smith<br />
Eric Nystrom-Vern Fiddler-Ryan Garbutt<br />
Brenden Dillon-Stephane Robidas<br />
Jordie Benn-Trevor Daley<br />
Alex Goligoski-Jamie Oleksiak<br />
Kari Lehtonen in goal<br />
Ray Whitney (foot) and Aaron Rome (foot) are out. Larsen and Francis<br />
Wathier are healthy scratches.<br />
The Stars are 3-1-1 in their last five games and have scored three or more<br />
goals in 12 of the last 13 games. Kari Lehtonen is 8-3-1 with a 2.26 GAA<br />
and .930 save percentage and has only one real clunker of a game this<br />
season. So the Stars feel they have some good things working. What’s<br />
more, they are coming off a three-day break while the Kings are playing<br />
their third game in four nights.<br />
That said, nothing seems to be easy with this team.<br />
Here’s Glen Gulutzan on why he wants to keep Jordie Benn in the lineup:<br />
“There’s certain things he has to clean up in his game, but we think he’s<br />
made strides in that area,” Gulutzan said. “We just wanted to play our best<br />
lineup.”<br />
The Stars have juggled pairs in practice drills for three days and haven’t<br />
really run any kind of line rushes. Gulutzan said he likes to stick with what<br />
works, but he’s open to changing things.<br />
“We’ll see how the flow of the game goes,” he said. “If we don’t like the way<br />
the match-ups are going, we’ll change some things.”<br />
Larsen was determined when I talked to him. He said he’ll keep working<br />
and be ready for his chance whenever it comes. He said he feels great and<br />
is ready to go, and he’ll just keep working until he gets back in.<br />
I told him, “Don’t worry, You’ll be all right.” And he replied: “You’re right, I<br />
will be. Nobody needs to worry about that.”<br />
Larsen has athletic confidence on the ice and he also has inner confidence<br />
off of it, and he’s leaning on that right now as he tries to get back into the<br />
lineup.<br />
The Kings are playing very well. They are 7-1-0 in their last eight games,<br />
and are 7-1-1 at home this season. The defending champs have the<br />
second-leading goal-scorer in hockey in Jeff Carter at 15 goals, and they<br />
have two great goalies in Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier.<br />
Quick is expected to get the start in goal. He is only 7-6-2 this season with a<br />
2.49 GAA and .900 save percentage, but he is 13-3-2 in his career against<br />
the Stars with a 2.16 GAA and .925 save percentage.<br />
Here is the expected lineup for the Kings:<br />
Dustin Brown-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams<br />
Dustin Penner-Mike Richards-Jeff Carter<br />
Trevor Lewis-Jarret Stoll-Dwight King<br />
Kyle Clifford-Colin Fraser-Jordan Nolan<br />
Jake Muzzin-Drew Doughty<br />
Rob Scuderi-Slava Voynov<br />
Keaton Ellerby-Alec Martinez<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661988 Dallas Stars<br />
Heika: The Stars moving Jamie Benn to wing is an option, but only if this<br />
happens<br />
By <strong>SPORT</strong>SDAYDFW.COM<br />
Published: 07 March 2013 06:08 PM<br />
Stars beat writer Mike Heika held a chat on Thursday. Here are some<br />
highlights.<br />
What are the chances of Benn moving back to wing either on the PP or if<br />
we were to go after a top-6 center? Does Benn miss playing wing at all?<br />
There is the option if the Stars can get another top line center, but those<br />
players are hard to come by. I personally believe Benn would be more<br />
comfortable on the wing, but he is never going to say that. He understands<br />
what Joe Nieuwendyk is trying to do, and he respects that, and he's trying<br />
his hardest to make it work. My guess is he is a center from here on out.<br />
What has to happen to split up Benn and Jagr? They have a horrible +/-<br />
over the past 5 games, and I don't think just adding Loui to the other wing<br />
can fix that.<br />
Glen Gulutzan likes consistency, and believes players can work through<br />
things. It would take a lot to break up Benn and Jagr right now. There is<br />
certainly room for debate in breaking them up, because both like to have<br />
the puck on their stick a lot, and that makes it's difficult to build chemistry,<br />
and also makes them vulnerable to counter-attack. But, it appears that<br />
debate will have to wait until the minuses really pile up.<br />
Do you see Jamie Benn as a true leader on this team? Obviously skill wise<br />
he is a leader but I just don't see him as a true captain for this squad. Is<br />
there a different Jamie Benn in the locker room that we don't get to see<br />
through the media?<br />
He is a determined competitor, and he was a leader on his junior team and<br />
on the Texas Stars when they ran through the playoffs, so he has a history.<br />
But, no, he's not a guy who is going to jump up and give a speech. He's<br />
young, and he would have to grow into the captaincy if he got it, but I don't<br />
think it would be a mistake to give it to him. I think he can handle it.<br />
Dallas Morning News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661989 Dallas Stars<br />
Jagr’s 2 goals help Dallas Stars beat Kings<br />
Posted Friday, Mar. 08, 2013 0 comments Print Reprints<br />
By Joe Resnick<br />
The Associated Press<br />
LOS ANGELES — Jaromir Jagr had his first multi-goal game since opening<br />
night, Brenden Morrow got the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the<br />
Dallas Stars ended the Kings' six-game home winning streak with a 5-2<br />
victory on Thursday night.<br />
Jagr and Cody Eakin connected on power plays for Dallas' first two goals<br />
after penalties against Los Angeles defenseman Keaton Ellerby. Jagr<br />
converted a rebound of Jamie Benn's shot with 10:20 remaining, his ninth<br />
of the season and 674th of his career – 10th on the NHL's all-time list.<br />
Jagr's three-game goal streak is his longest since his final four games of the<br />
2007-08 regular season with the Rangers. The nine-time All-Star and 1999<br />
MVP spent the next three years out of the NHL before returning last season<br />
with <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, and has 27 goals in 95 games since his comeback<br />
began.<br />
Antoine Roussel completed the scoring with an empty-net goal.<br />
Star-Telegram LOADED: 03.08.2013
661990 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Writer: Red Wings' Niklas Kronwall is leading candidate for Norris Trophy<br />
Posted by James Jahnke<br />
So to mark the occasion, ESPN hockey writers today made their midseason<br />
picks for the league awards.<br />
Lo and behold, the Detroit Red Wings have a front-runner for the Norris<br />
Trophy ... and his name isn't Lidstrom!<br />
Pierre LeBrun went with Niklas Kronwall as his pick for the top defenseman<br />
in the league so far. His reasoning:<br />
"It came down to Kronwall and (Kris) Letang for the midseason award. I<br />
chose the Red Wings veteran because, on a blue line that lost Nicklas<br />
Lidstrom and Brad Stuart and is trying to survive committee-style, Kronwall<br />
has had to do even more and has elevated his game in doing so. He is<br />
playing 24 minutes a game and is among the defenseman scoring leaders,<br />
and everyone knows about his physical play. I think he deserves the nod<br />
right now."<br />
Scott Burnside picked the Penguins' Letang, for what it's worth.<br />
No other Wing received more than honorable mention from the writers.<br />
Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk got it for the Hart Trophy (MVP),<br />
Jimmy Howard for the Vezina Trophy (goalie), Mike Babcock for the Jack<br />
Adams Award (coach), and Ken Holland for GM of the year.<br />
Detroit Free Press LOADED: 03.08.2013
661991 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Detroit 3, Edmonton 0: Jimmy Howard posts second shutout of season<br />
By Noah Trister<br />
Jimmy Howard made 22 saves, and Jakub Kindl and Cory Emmerton<br />
scored in the second period to lift the Detroit Red Wings over the Edmonton<br />
Oilers 3-0 on Thursday night.<br />
Justin Abdelkader’s empty-net goal put the game out of reach.<br />
Howard made 36 saves in a win Tuesday against Colorado, but coach Mike<br />
Babcock wasn’t all that impressed with his team’s overall performance that<br />
night. The Red Wings were sharper defensively against Edmonton and took<br />
control in the second period, when they outshot the Oilers 15-7.<br />
Detroit is 10-0-1 in its last 11 regular-season games against Edmonton.<br />
The Red Wings have gone five games without allowing a goal in the first or<br />
second period, and the Oilers didn’t do much to threaten that streak.<br />
Edmonton is 0-3-1 in its last four games.<br />
After a scoreless first period — a shot off the crossbar by Detroit’s Kyle<br />
Quincey was the only noteworthy moment — the Red Wings looked a bit<br />
more energized in the second.<br />
Jordin Tootoo fought with Edmonton’s Mike Brown early in the period, and<br />
Kindl opened the scoring less than a minute later. Kindl was caught<br />
between two Oilers when he managed a shot that slipped through goalie<br />
Devan Dubnyk and trickled across the line for a 1-0 lead.<br />
The Red Wings added another goal after some sustained pressure when<br />
Emmerton took a pass from Drew Miller and beat Dubnyk high to the stick<br />
side from the slot.<br />
Howard had to make a couple of terrific saves against the Avalanche and<br />
came within 90 seconds of a shutout in that game. He wasn’t tested as<br />
much by Edmonton, even after the Oilers pulled their goalie with more than<br />
2 minutes remaining.<br />
Abdelkader’s empty-netter was his first goal of the season.<br />
NOTES: Detroit had 28 shots on goal. ... The Red Wings scored more than<br />
two goals for the first time in five games, but they’ve lost only once in<br />
regulation during that span. ... Edmonton’s Taylor Hall was called for highsticking<br />
56 seconds into the game — and that was the only power play for<br />
either team. Server down article marked with star need gathered.<br />
Detroit Free Press LOADED: 03.08.2013
661992 Detroit Red Wings<br />
NHLPA signs off on realignment; Red Wings one step closer to East<br />
By Helene St. James<br />
Days from embarking on a grueling travel schedule, the Red Wings got a<br />
fantastic piece of news: The NHLPA has signed off on re-alignment,<br />
clearing the path for it to happen next season.<br />
The Wings would go from playing the majority of their road games in other<br />
time zones to playing most of them in the Eastern time zone, as they would<br />
join Buffalo, Boston, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Tampa Bay, a<br />
conference that also features four Original Six teams.<br />
The deal still has to be approved by the NHL's Board of Governors, but that<br />
isn't a hurdle and could come within days.<br />
"Will immediately be in touch with the Board to determine best way to<br />
proceed," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Free Press. "Hope to<br />
conclude process within a week or so."<br />
When news of the proposal first surfaced last month, the Wings greeted it<br />
with delight.<br />
"We know how to deal with it, we've traveled back-and-forth across the<br />
United States quite a bit, but to move to the East, I think that would be a lot<br />
of fun," Jimmy Howard said. That would be great for our fans, too, not<br />
having to stay up till all hours of the night to watch us."<br />
The Players Association, which scuttled a different re-alignment proposal in<br />
December of 2011, spent several weeks analyzing this version before<br />
signing off. Executive director Don Fehr released a statement Thursday<br />
afternoon saying, “After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA<br />
has given consent to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15<br />
season.”<br />
The Wings have been toiling in the Western Conference's Central Division,<br />
where they are the only Eastern-time-zone team besides Columbus. That's<br />
made for a lot of hard travel especially in the playoffs - like in 2007, when<br />
the Wings played Calgary, San Jose and Anaheim.<br />
The other conferences, as they are called at the moment, would have one<br />
with Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers,<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh and Washington. The two western conferences<br />
would have one with Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St.<br />
Louis and Winnipeg. The other would be Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los<br />
Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.<br />
The news should soothe the Wings as they prepare to be gone for most of<br />
the month. Starting next Tuesday, they depart for a three-games-in-four<br />
nights haul to Western Canada. Then they come home for one game -<br />
March 20, against Minnesota, after which they will immediately leave for<br />
Anaheim, where they play two games, then swing over to Phoenix, then<br />
over to San Jose.<br />
Contact Helene St. James: 313-222-2295<br />
Detroit Free Press LOADED: 03.08.2013
661993 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Idled Ian White wondering about future with Red Wings<br />
By Ted Kulfan<br />
The Detroit News<br />
Ian White has met with both general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike<br />
Babcock to get an idea of where things stand.<br />
Detroit — Thursday's game against Edmonton will be the fifth consecutive<br />
game Red Wings defenseman Ian White will be a healthy scratch.<br />
It wasn't easy to sit out the first of those games, and it hasn't gotten easier<br />
lately.<br />
White has met with both general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike<br />
Babcock to get an idea of where things stand.<br />
White didn't ask for a trade when talking to Holland but does wonder about<br />
his future with the Red Wings.<br />
"We're not there (asking for a trade) yet," White said. "I was just voicing this<br />
is game five and you can play so many games in a condensed period and it<br />
(the schedule) can get away from you pretty quickly. After the weekend<br />
here (coming up), that's seven straight games if you don't play.<br />
"We have (defenseman Carlo) Colaiacovo coming back right away and I<br />
just wanted a determination of where he (Babcock) thinks you fit and where<br />
Kenny thinks you fit, now and going forward as well,"<br />
White is an unrestricted free agent after this season. His cap hit this year is<br />
$2.875 million.<br />
"From speaking with them, they're clear they want to keep me around,"<br />
White said. "You just hope by keeping around it means putting you in the<br />
lineup, and hopefully get back in soon and forget about this."<br />
But with the Red Wings winning games, playing well defensively and<br />
Babcock liking what he sees from his defensive unit, White will have to be<br />
patient.<br />
"It's tough to change the lineup when you're giving up one goal or so a<br />
game," White said. "I have to come to the rink and be a good teammate.<br />
You can't put yourself above the team and mope around here. That doesn't<br />
do anyone any favors. Just stay positive."<br />
Filppula skates<br />
Forward Valtteri Filppula (left shoulder) took part in Thursday morning's<br />
skate.<br />
Filppula will miss his fifth consecutive game against Edmonton and doesn't<br />
expect to play this weekend.<br />
But a return in time for next week's eastern Canada trip seems almost<br />
certain.<br />
"That's more of a reality," Filppula said. "Hopefully by then I'll be back<br />
playing.<br />
"I skated on my own (Wednesday) and today was the first time with the<br />
team. I was pretty happy about that. It was good to be back.<br />
"Definitely I felt better. I was able to shoot a little bit and the skating felt<br />
good.<br />
"It feels better."<br />
Detroit News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661994 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Jimmy Howard stymies Oilers as Red Wings remain hot<br />
By Ted Kulfan<br />
The Detroit News<br />
Detroit — The standings say the Red Wings are seven points better than<br />
Edmonton.<br />
Maybe, but watching the Red Wings defeat the Oilers, 3-0, Thursday, you<br />
would have thought the gulf was a lot more.<br />
It sure looked it on the ice.<br />
Goalie Jimmy Howard stopped 22 shots for his second shutout, Jakub<br />
Kindl, Cory Emmerton and Justin Abdelkader (his first goal of the season)<br />
scored goals, and the Red Wings (12-8-4, 28 points) were hardly bothered<br />
while winning their fifth game in seven (5-1-1).<br />
"Pretty complete game for us," said a hoarse coach Mike Babcock, who is<br />
battling a cold these days. "We got better and our goaltender was under<br />
way less duress than he was the other night. It was a good win."<br />
Booted out of their arena by a curling championship, the Oilers (8-10-5, 21<br />
points) played their sixth game of a nine-game trip and appeared every bit<br />
as weary and you'd expect.<br />
The Wings outshot Edmonton, 28-22, controlled the play territorially, and<br />
allowed few quality chances.<br />
"We're doing a lot of good things," said Howard, who has allowed only four<br />
goals in his last four starts. "We're playing well, focusing on all the details.<br />
Guys are trusting each other to do their jobs, working hard, and paying<br />
attention to details."<br />
After a scoreless first period, the Red Wings took control early in the<br />
second.<br />
Kindl put the Red Wings up 1-0 at 3 minutes, 16 seconds.<br />
Kindl skated through the zone, cut to the middle, and fired a shot that goalie<br />
Devan Dubnyk stopped. But Kindl stayed persistent and corraled the<br />
rebound, fanning on an attempt but getting enough power on the second<br />
shot to fool Dubnyk with a shot through the goalie's legs for his second goal<br />
of the season.<br />
Emmerton made it 2-0 with his second goal, too.<br />
On a dominant Red Wings shift, Drew Miller found Emmerton, who was<br />
coming onto the ice. Emmerton skated to the hashmarks and beat Dubnyk<br />
high at 12:19.<br />
"Pavel (Datsyuk) broke his stick at the end of the shift," Emmerton said. "I<br />
kind of got lost on the change and came in a little higher than they probably<br />
expected. It was nice to get that open space.<br />
"You don't really get those open ice chances very often, and especially right<br />
in the slot like those."<br />
With goals from Emmerton, Abdelkader and Kindl, it was the type of<br />
secondary scoring the Red Wings will need late in the season.<br />
And it was the type of scoring they weren't getting much of earlier in the<br />
season, when they struggled.<br />
"It's huge, and it'll be huge all season and it'll be huge in the playoffs," said<br />
Emmerton. "The biggest thing is to get the confidence up so you know you<br />
can score. It's something we've been talking about and we're trying to build<br />
on it"<br />
For Abdelkader, it was his first goal after going the first 23 games without<br />
one.<br />
Never mind that this goal went into an empty net.<br />
"It feels good, it been a long time coming," he said.<br />
Abdelkader believes the Wings' depth is showing through.<br />
"Guys have done a real good job of filling into roles and playing with<br />
different guys," he said. "They're playing in situations that show we have<br />
great depth and that's a good thing moving forwards."<br />
Babcock said one of the Red Wings' best forwards against the Oilers was<br />
Joakim Andersson.<br />
"Andersson was unreal, a real good player for us," Babcock said.<br />
Detroit News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661995 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Players OK realignment; Wings one step closer to Eastern Conference<br />
By Ted Kulfan The Detroit News<br />
Detroit — The Red Wings are one step closer to geographic sanity in the<br />
NHL.<br />
Bill Daly, the league's deputy commissioner, said in a statement Thursday<br />
that the Players Association has signed off on a proposed realignment.<br />
"The NHL Players Association confirmed to us that it has consented to a<br />
revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season," Daly said.<br />
"Our next step will be to bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the<br />
NHL Board of Governors for its consideration. We will update the status of<br />
the process as future developments warrant."<br />
That Board of Governors are expected to meet at some point next week.<br />
Don Fehr, the NHL Players Association executive director, said in a<br />
statement: "After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has<br />
given consent to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15<br />
season."<br />
The Red Wings and Blue Jackets are currently the lone Eastern time zone<br />
teams in the Western Conference. (Columbus is also moving into the East<br />
under the revamped realignment.)<br />
"It's awesome," goaltender Jimmy Howard said of the Red Wings moving to<br />
the Eastern Conference. "These West Coast swings, they take a lot out of<br />
us, you guys, but also the fans who stay and watch us late at night.<br />
"To play in the Eastern time zone will be very beneficial. We want to play in<br />
the East. Last year we were one of the teams that wanted to play in the<br />
East. Hopefully it'll go through."<br />
The union rejected a proposed alignment last year in which the Red Wings<br />
were based in a Midwest Division with mostly Central time zone teams.<br />
The union rejected the plan largely because of concerns about travel and<br />
the imbalanced split of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 in the<br />
Western Conference.<br />
The imbalance remains in this present realignment.<br />
"We'll see how it all shakes out," said Red Wings forward Justin<br />
Abdelkader, an assistant player representative. "It'll be different for<br />
everyone. We'll kind of see how it goes. Hopefully it'll be good for the<br />
game."<br />
Under the proposed realignment, the Red Wings would be grouped with the<br />
Original Six rival Maple Leafs, Bruins and Canadiens, along with the<br />
Sabres, Senators, Lightning and Panthers in what would be the Central<br />
Division of the Eastern Conference.<br />
The Red Wings have long wanted to be moved to the Eastern Conference,<br />
where the vast majority of the games will be in the Eastern time zone — no<br />
more long West Coast trips — improving TV ratings and cutting down<br />
considerably on travel.<br />
The ability to re-establish rivalries with the Maple Leafs (with which the Red<br />
Wings likely will play in the 2014 Winter Classic), Canadiens and Bruins is a<br />
bonus in the equation.<br />
The Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference would consist of Carolina,<br />
Columbus, New Jersey, the N.Y. Islanders, the N.Y. Rangers, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>,<br />
Pittsburgh and Washington.<br />
Under the new format, the top three teams in each division will make the<br />
playoffs.<br />
There will be four wild card teams, two from each conference that have the<br />
best records regardless of division.<br />
Detroit News LOADED: 03.08.2013
661996 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Live blog: Detroit Red Wings put 11-game point streak on line tonight vs.<br />
Edmonton Oilers<br />
Brendan Savage | bsavage at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 6:30 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 7:49 PM<br />
DETROIT – There's no team the Detroit Red Wings like to see on the<br />
schedule than the Edmonton Oilers.<br />
The Red Wings have won six straight at home against the Oilers and have<br />
earned 20 of a possible 22 points in their last 11 vs. Edmonton over a span<br />
of more than three years.<br />
The Red Wings are 9-0-2 in that stretch against Edmonton and haven't lost<br />
to the Oilers since suffering a 4-1 setback on Dec. 3, 2009.<br />
This season, the Oilers (8-9-5) have struggled after winning four of their first<br />
six games. They've dropped three in a row, are 2-4-2 in their last eight and<br />
have a 4-7-5 mark since that 4-2 start.<br />
Meanwhile, the Red Wings (11-8-4) are 4-1-1 in their last six games and<br />
have allowed five goals in regulation during their last four.<br />
Join Ansar Khan and Brendan Savage live tonight from Joe Louis Arena to<br />
discuss all the action from start to finish.<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
661997 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Red Wings one step closer to moving East after NHLPA approves league's<br />
realignment proposal<br />
By Ansar Khan | akhan1 at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 6:07 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 6:57 PM<br />
The Detroit Red Wings moved one giant step closer to the Eastern<br />
Conference Thursday, when the NHL Players Association approved the<br />
league's realignment proposal that will take effect next season.<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,'' NHLPA<br />
executive director Don Fehr said in a statement.<br />
The final hurdle, expected to be a formality, is getting the plan approved by<br />
the NHL's board of governors within the next week.<br />
In the plan, the Red Wings would join the eight-team Central Division that<br />
includes Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and<br />
Toronto.<br />
The Red Wings have long desired to move East. It will cut down<br />
substantially on their travel, in the regular season and especially the<br />
playoffs. It will enable them to have earlier start times for most of their road<br />
games. And it will rekindle rivalries with fellow Original Six clubs Toronto,<br />
Montreal and Boston.<br />
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement: "The NHL Players'<br />
Association confirmed to us today that it has consented to a revised Plan<br />
for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season. Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for<br />
its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future<br />
developments warrant."<br />
The Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference would feature Carolina,<br />
Columbus, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, New York Rangers,<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh and Washington.<br />
The Midwest Division of the Western Conference would include Chicago,<br />
Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.<br />
The Pacific Division of the Western Conference would feature Anaheim,<br />
Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.<br />
The top three teams in each of the four divisions would automatically qualify<br />
for the playoffs. Two wild-card teams from each conference would round<br />
out the field.<br />
Under the proposal, every team will play each club in the other conference<br />
home and away.<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
661998 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Red Wings not allowing many goals lately, but need to limit scoring chances<br />
tonight against Oilers<br />
By Ansar Khan | akhan1 at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 12:48 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 3:11 PM<br />
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings haven't allowed a goal in the first two<br />
periods in four consecutive games. Overall, they'll allowed five goals in their<br />
past four games.<br />
But, they were too loose defensively in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over<br />
Colorado, something coach Mike Babcock hopes he doesn't see tonight<br />
against the Edmonton Oilers at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, Fox Sports Detroit).<br />
“We gave up too many chances last game and got away from how we've<br />
been playing and can't continue to do that and win,'' Babcock said. “So we<br />
got to get back to the details of our game without the puck and continue to<br />
be hard on the other team's goalie and D.''<br />
But, he is happy that the team is 4-1-1 in its past six games.<br />
“I'm not trying to take anything away from our team. We've done a real good<br />
job,'' Babcock said. “It's just when you leave the game last game, everyone<br />
tells you how good your team played. I do the scoring chances, I know.<br />
We've played way better and lost.<br />
“The way this team has to play is real simple. We have to be good<br />
defensively. We can't outscore our mistakes. We're not talented enough as<br />
a group to play river hockey all night and expect you're going to win on a<br />
nightly basis.''<br />
Babcock said there will be no lineup changes tonight. Here are the<br />
anticipated line combinations and defense pairings:<br />
Johan Franzen-Henrik Zetterberg-Damien Brunner<br />
Justin Abdelkader-Pavel Datsyuk-Daniel Cleary<br />
Tomas Tatar-Joakim Andersson-Patrick Eaves<br />
Drew Miller-Cory Emmerton-Jordin Tootoo<br />
Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson<br />
Kyle Quincey-Brendan Smith<br />
Brian Lashoff-Jakub Kindl<br />
Jimmy Howard (starting)<br />
Jonas Gustavsson<br />
Defensemen Ian White and Kent Huskins will be scratched for the fifth<br />
game in a row.<br />
Filppula eyes return next week: Forward Valtteri Filppula (left shoulder)<br />
skated with the team Thursday morning and said he doesn't expect to play<br />
this weekend's games against Columbus (Saturday-Sunday), but should be<br />
back next week.<br />
“I feel better, definitely,'' Filppula said. "I'm able to shoot a little bit now, and<br />
skating feels good.''<br />
Center Darren Helm (back) has skated the past four days, joining the team<br />
on the ice for the first time today, albeit briefly. There is no time frame for<br />
his return.<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
661999 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Red Wings' Ian White hasn't asked for trade and doesn't expect to be<br />
moved, as he continues to sit<br />
Ansar Khan | akhan1 at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 12:50 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 2:55 PM<br />
DETROIT – Veteran defenseman Ian White can't crack a crowded Detroit<br />
Red Wings defense that has been playing well lately, raising questions<br />
about his future with the team.<br />
White spoke with coach Mike Babcock and general manager Ken Holland<br />
about his situation and said Thursday that he hasn't asked for a trade, nor<br />
does he expect to be moved anytime soon, if at all.<br />
“We're not there yet,'' White said. “This is Game 5 (being scratched), you<br />
play so many games in a condensed period, it can get away from you pretty<br />
quick. All the sudden you look, after the weekend that's seven straight<br />
games, if you don't play.<br />
“You just try to get a determination of where (Babcock) thinks you fit and<br />
where Ken thinks you fit, now and going forward.''<br />
White will be a healthy scratch for the fifth consecutive game tonight against<br />
the Edmonton Oilers.<br />
Babcock sat White following an 8-3 victory over Vancouver on Feb. 24<br />
because he was having trouble getting the puck out of his zone. Since then<br />
Brendan Smith and Kyle Quincey returned from injuries and Babcock has<br />
used the same six defensemen. The team has allowed only five goals in<br />
four games, prompting him to stick with the same group.<br />
White said he remains confident he can contribute.<br />
“From speaking with them, they made it clear they want to keep me<br />
around,'' White said. “You just hope by keeping you around it means putting<br />
you in the lineup. Hopefully, I'll get back in soon and forget about this.''<br />
Babcock indicated it would take a poor defensive game or an injury to get<br />
White back in the lineup.<br />
“We've been playing pretty solid defensively, not letting in too many goals,<br />
so it's tough to change the defense up,'' White said.<br />
White, 28, is not accustomed to being the odd-man out. He played on the<br />
top pairing with Nicklas Lidstrom most of last season, after signing a twoyear,<br />
$5.75 million free-agent contract on July 2, 2011. White has played<br />
more games (492) than anyone on Detroit's defense.<br />
“You got to come to the rink and be a good teammate; can't put yourself<br />
above the team and be pouting and moping around here,'' White said. “That<br />
doesn't do anyone any favors.<br />
“Just try to stay positive, there's more to life than just hockey. You got your<br />
family at home to worry about. But, it's really a frustrating time.''<br />
He understands it's difficult to change a winning lineup and a defense that<br />
has played well. The Red Wings could have nine healthy defensemen next<br />
week, when Carlo Colaiacovo is expected to return from a shoulder injury.<br />
“It's a little bittersweet because you want to be with the guys when they're<br />
playing well,'' White said. “When they're playing well, you seem to play well,<br />
too. So it's frustrating all around, but usually there's some sort of reasoning<br />
behind it that helps make it more understandable.''<br />
All he can do is skate hard after practices and be ready when he's called<br />
upon.<br />
“The one thing you kind of lose a little bit is your timing. Even your hands a<br />
little bit,'' White said. “More than anything, just mentally you got to stay<br />
positive.<br />
“Times like this you question your abilities. You can't do that. You got to<br />
stay true to yourself. You know you've had success in the past, you know<br />
how to play the game. When you do get that next opportunity, you got to go<br />
back to playing the way you know how.''<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
662000 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Detroit Red Wings Gameday: What has been the most memorable moment<br />
of the season to date?<br />
Brendan Savage | bsavage at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 12:00 PM<br />
GAME INFORMATION<br />
• Who: Detroit Red Wings (11-8-4) vs. Edmonton Oilers (8-9-5)<br />
• Faceoff: 7:30 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena<br />
• Live coverage: Join the MLive conversation at 6:30 p.m. ET and follow<br />
Ansar Khan ( at AnsarKhanMLive) and Brendan Savage ( at<br />
BrendanSavage) on Twitter.<br />
• TV: Fox Sports Detroit<br />
• Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1) and the Red Wings Radio Network<br />
• Latest spread: Red Wings -1.5 (5.5)<br />
THE ISSUE<br />
The Detroit Red Wings (11-8-4) reach the midpoint of their schedule after<br />
tonight's home game against the Edmonton Oilers and there have been<br />
plenty of memorable moments during the first half of the season.<br />
Some were highlights. Others can be considered lowlights.<br />
The highlights included Henrik Zetterberg's fifth career hat trick in a 5-3<br />
victory over St. Louis Feb. 1, rookie goaltender Petr Mrazek beating the<br />
Blues 5-1 in his NHL debut, Damien Brunner's shootout goal to beat<br />
Columbus and the back-to-back victories over Nashville (4-0) and<br />
Vancouver (8-3) at Joe Louis Arena.<br />
There were also lowlights such as the 6-0 shellacking by St. Louis in the<br />
season opener, losses to the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime and a<br />
shootout, the 4-2 defeat in Columbus Feb. 2 and all the injuries.<br />
There are countless others worthy of inclusion.<br />
What was your most memorable moment of the first half?<br />
ANSAR KHAN<br />
After the way they were dominated in the season-opening 6-0 loss at St.<br />
Louis on Jan. 19, to go back into that building and beat the Blues 5-1 on<br />
Feb. 7 was a huge statement game.<br />
It seemed like Mrazek was being thrown to the wolves, but he played with<br />
poise and confidence, giving the organization a glimpse of the future.<br />
It was important for the Red Wings to show they could beat the big, physical<br />
Blues on the road by forechecking hard, spending most of the first two<br />
periods in the offensive zone and getting contributions from their third and<br />
fourth lines.<br />
BRENDAN SAVAGE<br />
I'm going to go with Mrazek's debut just because it's such a good story and<br />
because it came at a time when the Red Wings really needed a victory.<br />
They were facing the Blues in St. Louis for the first time since the openingnight<br />
debacle and Mrazek came through in a big way, making 26 saves to<br />
help the Red Wings end a two-game skid.<br />
Nobody was really sure what to expect from Mrazek, who began the season<br />
in Toledo of the ECHL before being promoted to Grand Rapids when the<br />
Griffins started slowly. He helped the Griffins turn their season around and<br />
played so well that he earned a spot a in the AHL All-Star Game.<br />
When he got to Detroit, Mrazek said he wasn't nervous at all and proved it<br />
by performing like a seasoned veteran in his debut against the Blues while<br />
perhaps giving the Red Wings and their fans a glimpse of the future.<br />
That was good stuff.<br />
READER REACTION<br />
What has been the most memorable moment of the Red Wings' season to<br />
date?<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
662001 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Detroit Red Wings fans: Defenseman Brian Lashoff has been the club's<br />
most impressive rookie<br />
By Brendan Savage | bsavage at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated March 07, 2013 at 7:01 AM<br />
Injuries changed that.<br />
When Jonathan Ericsson went down in the season opener against St.<br />
Louis, the Red Wings recalled Lashoff from Grand Rapids and he's not only<br />
been a mainstay on the back end, he's been Detroit's most impressive<br />
rookie this season according to MLive.com readers.<br />
Of the 1,740 readers who answered our poll question – Which rookie has<br />
been the most impressive this season? – Lashoff finished more than 100<br />
votes ahead of forward Tomas Tatar.<br />
Lashoff garnered more than 44 percent of the vote as 768 readers cast their<br />
ballots for him. Tatar was next with 656 votes (37.7 percent) while Joakim<br />
Anderson (156-9.0) and Brendan Smith (127-7.3) were third and fourth,<br />
respectively.<br />
Goaltender Petr Mrazek and forward Gustav Nyquist, who have played two<br />
games apiece, had a combined 35 votes.<br />
Damien Brunner, who leads the Red Wings with 10 goals entering tonight's<br />
game against Edmonton at Joe Louis Arena, was not eligible because at<br />
age 26 he's too old to qualify as a rookie under NHL rules.<br />
"Brian Lashoff, but I have high hopes for all of these guys," wrote reader<br />
DTYWings. "Lashoff is the one that, for me, really came out of nowhere. I've<br />
been monitoring his stats and didn't think the guy would be getting a chance<br />
up here until at least next year, and even then I wasn't sure how regular<br />
he'd ever be. He's the guy who's capitalized the most on these injuries, no<br />
doubt about it.<br />
Lashoff is also the biggest surprise, says reader Trueblue18.<br />
"A diamond in the rough," Trueblue18 wrote. "A guy who in the mold of a<br />
Brad Stuart will clear the front of the net. Knock bodies around; and make a<br />
nice tape to tape pass out of the zone. He's made the most impact in my<br />
eyes because you didn't really expect it. Not flashy. Very solid."<br />
Smith was the only one of the rookies who was a sure thing to begin the<br />
season in Detroit. And at least one reader thinks that might have worked<br />
against him in our poll.<br />
"He's at a bit of a disadvantage in this poll because most everyone<br />
expected him to do well," wrote reader askscott. "He does everything well,<br />
great skater, excellent passer, plays with some grit, can skate the puck out<br />
of the zone, and adds some offense. If you watched the Hawks game<br />
sunday, he was excellent all over the ice. Lashoff has been the biggest<br />
surprise, and Tatar, and Andersson have done well, but with Smith you are<br />
seeing the beginnings of a special career."<br />
Lashoff might be the most impressive rookie this season but what about<br />
down the road? Who has the brightest future?<br />
"Another way to ask this question: based on this year's performance, which<br />
rookie has the highest ceiling?" asked Scott_Lacy_2. "Tough call, but I'm<br />
going with Tatar. I think he's a star in waiting. He's a special mixture of<br />
quick feet, raw speed, tenacity, instincts, good hands, and a great shot.<br />
He's a 30-goal scorer as soon as next season, in my opinion."<br />
Scott_Lacy_2 isn't the only reader who likes Tatar.<br />
"I get that Brian has been a bright spot in a suspect D," reader US131<br />
wrote. "but ... how anyone can vote other than Tomas is beyond me ... [!]."<br />
Regardless of who the most impressive rookie is this season, having so<br />
many choices could bode well for the future of the Red Wings.<br />
"This is the first time in a very long while that the Wings have more than one<br />
rookie getting any kind of ice time, let alone enough rookies playing well<br />
enough to create a legitimate debate," wrote reader kalvinmembrane.<br />
Did the readers get it right? Has Lashoff been the most impressive rookie,<br />
is it somebody else or should Brunner qualify despite his age?<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
662002 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Red Wings' young defensemen and grinders stepping up big, enabling club<br />
to bank points<br />
By Ansar Khan | akhan1 at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 11:31 PM, updated March 08, 2013 at 1:27 AM<br />
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings' best players carried them earlier in the<br />
season. If they didn't produce, the team suffered.<br />
Now, the club is getting goals from different sources, and its young<br />
defensemen have stepped up their play.<br />
They are cultivating depth, which is boosting confidence. They are grinding<br />
out wins, banking important points as they face a daunting second-half<br />
schedule.<br />
Jimmy Howard made 22 saves Thursday for his second shutout of the<br />
season and 13th of his career, as the Red Wings defeated the Edmonton<br />
Oilers 3-0 at Joe Louis Arena.<br />
The Red Wings are 5-1-1 in their past seven games, having allowed only<br />
eight goals. They reached the midway point of this lockout-shortened<br />
season with 28 points, at 12-8-4. They play 15 of their final 24 games on<br />
the road.<br />
“I think we've made a lot of great strides,'' said Howard, who had shutouts<br />
spoiled in the waning minutes of his previous two starts. “We just got to<br />
continue working hard, focus on doing the little things right. If we can<br />
continue to pin teams in their own end and keep the third man high and not<br />
turn the puck over, we'll be fine.''<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
662003 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Jimmy Howard and a strong defensive performance lift stingy Red Wings<br />
past Oilers, 3-0 (video)<br />
By Ansar Khan | akhan1 at mlive.com<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 9:48 PM, updated March 08, 2013 at 1:35 AM<br />
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings' young and inexperienced defense<br />
continues to get better with each game.<br />
Jimmy Howard made 22 saves Thursday for his second shutout of the<br />
season and 13th of his career as the Red Wings defeated the Edmonton<br />
Oilers 3-0 at Joe Louis Arena.<br />
Jakub Kindl and Cory Emmerton scored for Detroit in the second period.<br />
Justin Abdelkader added an empty-net goal in the third.<br />
The Red Wings are 5-1-1 in their past seven games, having allowed only<br />
eight goals during this stretch. They reached the midway point of this<br />
lockout-shortened season with 28 points, at 12-8-4. Now, they will play 15<br />
of their final 24 games on the road.<br />
After a scoreless and fairly uneventful first period, the Red Wings<br />
dominated in the second, outshooting the Oilers 15-7 and taking a 2-0 lead.<br />
They had numerous quality scoring chances, shooting wide on several,<br />
while having nine shots blocked.<br />
Kindl opened the scoring at 3:16, 42 seconds after a fight between Jordin<br />
Tootoo and Mike Brown, whom the Oilers recently acquired from Toronto.<br />
Kindl's shot from the slot went through Devan Dubnyk's pads and slowly<br />
rolled over the goal line. It was his second goal of the season.<br />
Emmerton made it 2-0 at 12:19 with his second of the season.<br />
Drew Miller worked hard to control the puck along the boards and centered<br />
it to an open Emmerton, who just came off the bench, in the slot. Emmerton<br />
slapped it past Dubnyk. He had missed on a couple of excellent chances<br />
earlier in the period.<br />
“I think I had more chances in that period than I had all season,'' Emmerton<br />
said during an interview on Fox Sports Detroit after the second period. “It's<br />
nice to finally get one, and hopefully they'll continue to go in.''<br />
The Red Wings have not allowed in goal in the first two periods in each of<br />
their past five games.<br />
“I think at first we were a little slow,'' Emmerton said. “Edmonton did a pretty<br />
good job at clogging it up a bit and getting pucks in deep and we were<br />
running around a little bit.<br />
“In the second period we wanted to really focus on making the D turn and<br />
get down low and grind it out. We did a pretty good job of creating chances<br />
off the cycle.''<br />
Abdelkader scored into an empty net with 1:10 left. It was his first goal of<br />
the season, ending his 41-game goal-scoring drought that dated back to<br />
March 10, 2012.<br />
Michigan Live LOADED: 03.08.2013
662004 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Red Wings blank Edmonton, 3-0<br />
By Chuck Pleiness<br />
at wingsfrontman<br />
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings played a pretty complete game<br />
Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers; just ask their coach.<br />
The Wings got a 22-save performance from Jimmy Howard and goals from<br />
Jakub Kindl, Cory Emmerton and Justin Abdelkader to skate past the<br />
Oilers, 3-0.<br />
“We didn’t skate as well or execute as well as we would have liked in the<br />
first period, but in saying that we got better and it was a pretty complete<br />
game for us,” Babcock said. “We didn’t give up much and our goalie was<br />
under way less duress than the other night. This sets us up for our road<br />
game here.”<br />
The Wings, who play at Columbus on Saturday afternoon, are now 6-1-1<br />
over the last eight games and have allowed five goals during that stretch.<br />
“This last run we’ve had we’ve played way better defensively than we have,<br />
with the exception of our last game, we’ve played real well,” Babcock said.<br />
“I thought our fourth line was outstanding, (Joakim) Andersson was unreal,<br />
a really good player for us and Emmerton’s line was good as well. So we<br />
had all our lines on deck tonight going.”<br />
The shutout was Howard’s second of the season and 13th for his career.<br />
“I think we’re playing well as a team,” Howard said. “We’re doing a lot of<br />
great things. We’ve been playing real well for a while now, focusing on the<br />
details and doing the little things right.”<br />
It’s the fifth straight game the Wings have not allowed a goal by the<br />
opposition through two periods.<br />
“There’s a lot of talk in our own zone right now,” Howard said. “Guys are<br />
trusting one another to do their jobs, and second efforts and blocking<br />
shots.”<br />
Over the Wings’ last five games they’ve scored just eight goals, this after<br />
putting up eight in one game on Vancouver.<br />
“We’re a team right now that’s playing really well in all three zones,”<br />
Abdelkader said. “We might not be scoring six or seven goals a game, but<br />
we know we have to play tight defensively and I think we’ve been doing a<br />
good job of that and Howie has been playing really well in net for us as<br />
well.”<br />
A fight between Jordin Tootoo and Mike Brown just two minutes and 34<br />
seconds into the second period may have been the spark the Wings’<br />
offense needed as they scored twice in the middle frame.<br />
Kindl opened the scoring just 42 seconds after the off-setting fighting<br />
majors, going end-to-end to record his second goal of the season. Ladislav<br />
Smid blocked Kindl’s original shot, but the Wings defenseman kept with it<br />
and picked up the loose puck and snuck a soft shot under Devan Dubnyk’s<br />
left pad.<br />
Emmerton doubled the Wings’ advantage with a blast between the faceoff<br />
dots.<br />
Coming off the bench on a change for Pavel Datsyuk, Emmerton gained<br />
easy entry to the Oilers’ zone and got a pass from Drew Miller from along<br />
the boards and he quickly fired a puck past Dubnyk, who finished with 25<br />
saves, for his second goal of the game.<br />
“Pavel broke his stick, it was the end of a shift,” Emmerton said. “He<br />
changed and Millsy made a heads-up play there to get it to me in the<br />
middle. I just tried to make a good shot there. I think I kind of got lost in the<br />
change and came in a little bit higher than they expected but it’s nice to get<br />
that little bit of open space. You don’t get it too often.”<br />
And unlike Tuesday, the Wings held the Oilers off the score sheet with their<br />
goalie pulled and then added an empty netter from Abdelkader, his first goal<br />
since in at Nashville on March 10, 2012.<br />
“It’s a long time coming,” Abdelkader said. “It feels like I haven’t scored in<br />
about five years. I’ve seen a lot of fluky things (happen on empty net<br />
attempts). Once I got it I just wanted to shoot it because I saw the<br />
defenseman closing in. I wanted to make sure to shoot it before he got his<br />
stick in the way.<br />
“Sometimes it’s those kinds of goals, maybe off your body or something like<br />
that will get you going,” Abdelkader added. “I felt good. I had some<br />
chances. Hopefully, I get a few more breaks here.”<br />
Abdelkader led the team with five shots on goal.<br />
“You just keep putting it on net and hope for the best,” Abdelkader said. “I’m<br />
not too worried about it. I need to keep playing a hard game and keep<br />
hanging onto pucks.”<br />
It was the sixth game of a nine-game road trip for Edmonton, which wraps<br />
up Tuesday in Colorado.<br />
Macomb Daily LOADED: 03.08.2013
662005 Detroit Red Wings<br />
Ian White scratched from Red Wings’ lineup again<br />
By Chuck Pleiness<br />
at wingsfrontman<br />
DETROIT – Defenseman Ian White is all about being a team player.<br />
But that doesn’t stop him for wanting to know his position on the team.<br />
White was a healthy scratch for a fifth straight game Thursday night.<br />
“It’s a little bittersweet because you want to be with the guys when they’re<br />
playing well,” White said after the morning skate Thursday at Joe Louis<br />
Arena. “When they’re playing well, you seem to play well, too. So it’s<br />
frustrating all around but usually there’s some sort of reasoning behind it<br />
that helps make it more understandable.”<br />
Wings coach Mike Babcock sat White after Detroit’s 8-3 win over the<br />
Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 24. He did so because he was having difficulty<br />
getting the puck out of his zone.<br />
And with the return of Brendan Smith and Kyle Quincey to the blue line,<br />
White was benched.<br />
“I talked to Mike two days ago, just asking what it’s going to take to get back<br />
in the lineup,” White said. “The way it went was after the Vancouver game<br />
we won two in a row at home and went to L.A. They have fairly big<br />
forwards, so they figured they’re going to throw all the biggest D we have<br />
against them. We ended up playing pretty well defensively, gave up that<br />
last goal, but overall played a pretty good game. And then went to San Jose<br />
and another pretty big group and only gave up one. Come home and played<br />
Chicago, similar story, played sound defensively and again the day before,<br />
didn’t allow a goal until the end. So it’s pretty hard to change the lineup<br />
when you’re letting in one goal a game.”<br />
Heading into Thursday’s game, the Wings had allowed just five goals in the<br />
last four games, all with White as a healthy scratch.<br />
“From talking to the coach, what it’s going to take is a poor defensive<br />
game,” White said when asked what it will take for him to get back in the<br />
lineup. “We’ve been playing pretty solid defensively, not letting in too many<br />
goals, so it’s tough to change the defense up. So that’s what it’s going to<br />
take for me to get in, or an injury.<br />
“In terms of trying to stick with it and how I deal with it, you’ve got to come<br />
to the rink and be a good teammate, can’t put yourself above the team and<br />
be pouting and moping around here,” White continued. “That doesn’t do<br />
anyone any favors. Just try to stay positive, there’s more to life than just<br />
hockey, too. You’ve got your family at home to worry about. So there are<br />
lots of things on the go other than this. But it’s really a frustrating time.”<br />
This is all brand new for White, 28, who was paired with Nicklas Lidstrom<br />
most of last season after signing a two-year deal worth $5.75 million to<br />
replace Brian Rafalski on the blue line.<br />
White, who is the elder statesman on the blue line playing 492 games, said<br />
he has not asked to be traded.<br />
“No, we’re not there yet,” White said. “This is Game 5, you play so many<br />
games in a condensed period, it can get away from you pretty quick. All of a<br />
sudden you look after the weekend that’s seven straight games, if you don’t<br />
play. Where do I fit, we’ve got (Carlo) Colaiacovo coming back. You just try<br />
to get a determination of where he thinks you fit and where Ken (Holland)<br />
thinks you fit, now and going forward.”<br />
Colaiacovo, who the Wings signed this offseason, is expected to return<br />
from a sprained left shoulder soon, which creates an even bigger jam on<br />
the blue line.<br />
“You can skate, that keeps your conditioning up as much as you can for<br />
games,” White said. “Obviously, in games everything changes. The<br />
intensity is up more and your adrenaline is flowing a little bit. The one thing<br />
you kind of lose a little bit is your timing. Even your hands a little bit. It’s one<br />
thing to stick-handle in practice and do stuff there, but it’s usually not the<br />
same pace as the game.<br />
“More than anything just mentally you’ve got to stay positive,” White added.<br />
“Times like this you question your abilities. You can’t do that. You’ve got to<br />
stay true to yourself, you know you’ve had success in the past, you know<br />
how to play the game. When you do get that next opportunity you’ve got to<br />
go back to playing the way you know how.”<br />
White, who missed five games early in the season after suffering deep leg<br />
laceration, has one goal and one assist in 14 games. He’s also a minus-2.<br />
“I’m confident I can contribute,” White said. “I’m sure, from speaking with<br />
them, they made it clear they want to keep me around. You just hope by<br />
keeping you around it means putting you in the lineup. Hopefully I’ll get<br />
back in soon and forget about this.”<br />
Wings heading East<br />
Detroit’s move to the Eastern Conference got one step closer Thursday with<br />
the NHLPA agreeing to the realignment, which would move the Wings into<br />
a division with Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Florida, Tampa Bay and<br />
Ottawa.<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” NHLPA<br />
executive director Don Fehr said in a statement.<br />
All that awaits now is the approval by the NHL Board of Governors which is<br />
expected to come within a week to make it official.<br />
“I think it looks awesome,” Daniel Cleary said when the news broke two<br />
weeks ago.<br />
“Us going to the East, that would be a no-brainer,” Niklas Kronwall said.<br />
Filppula improving<br />
Valtteri Filppula (left shoulder) skated again on his own Thursday.<br />
“I feel better, definitely,” Filppula said. “I’m able to shoot a little bit now and<br />
skating feels good. I still can’t really tell (how much longer I’m out) because<br />
I don’t know, but it feels a lot better.”<br />
Filppula said it looks like he won’t play this weekend. He’s aiming for next<br />
week.<br />
Macomb Daily LOADED: 03.08.2013
662006 Edmonton Oilers<br />
Red Wings outshoot, outplay, shut out hapless Oilers<br />
Edmonton drops to 8-10-5; have not won in Detroit for more than three<br />
years<br />
By Joanne Ireland, Edmonton Journal March 7, 2013<br />
DETROIT — The last time the Edmonton Oilers found the win column in<br />
Joe Louis Arena, Taylor Hall was with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, Ryan<br />
Nugent-Hopkins was in his second season with the WHL’ Red Deer Rebels,<br />
and Nail Yakupov was just 16, playing for the Nizhnekasmsk junior team in<br />
Russia.<br />
It was Dec. 3, 2009, and by season’s end, Oilers general manager Steve<br />
Tambellini had blown up his roster and started a rebuild that is still a major<br />
work in progress.<br />
The Oilers were no match for the Red Wings on Thursday night, even<br />
without Carlo Colaiacovo, Mikael Samuelsson, Darren Helm, Todd Bertuzzi<br />
and Valtteri Filppula in the lineup.<br />
In a 10-minute second-period span, the Red Wings took over the game,<br />
netted a pair of goals and went to score a 3-0 victory.<br />
The Oilers, now winless in four, are 8-10-5 with a game looming Friday<br />
against the Nashville Predators. They have won just one game since Feb.<br />
25, they’ve been outshot in 15 of the 23 games they’ve played this season.<br />
And for the first time this season, they were shut out by an opponent.<br />
“The game plan just disappeared. Disappeared,” said head coach Ralph<br />
Krueger. “For 10 minutes they just dominated us in every category. We lost<br />
our defensive coverage, we lost battles, and in that time period, the game<br />
was decided.<br />
“I thought the team put in an effort in the third ... but with the experience of<br />
Detroit, we just didn’t have enough energy to resist that.<br />
“There’s no excuse for this one,” Krueger continued. “We cannot stop<br />
playing for 10 minutes against the Detroit Red Wings and expect to get<br />
points. We just stopped playing for 10 minutes and that was enough.”<br />
After a scoreless opening period, Jakub Kindl threw a shot that Devan<br />
Dubnyk lost sight of, then Cory Emmerton, with his second goal of the<br />
season, gave Detroit a 2-0 second period lead.<br />
“Edmonton did a pretty good job of clogging it up a bit (in the first) ... we<br />
were running around a little,” said Emmerton. “The second period we<br />
wanted to really focus on getting down low and grinding it out.”<br />
“You’re not going to win games scoring zero goals,” said Oilers winger<br />
Taylor Hall. “That’s on us. That’s on the top two lines.<br />
“It took them a period to get their legs and once that second period came,<br />
we got on our heels. When we’re playing in our end, it’s hard to score. We<br />
have to work to get out of our end as quick as possible and limit those<br />
chances.”<br />
Justin Abdelkader put the finishing touch on the game, scoring into an<br />
empty net, ending a goalless streak that dated back to March 10, 2012.<br />
“On that first one, I was coming across on my knees and as soon as I lost<br />
sight of it, I started to get up and he whacked at it,” said Dubnyk. “It came<br />
through a guy’s feet and caught me right below my hand.<br />
“It’s disappointing. We just can’t keep going back to the same things and<br />
not have the puck in their end. We can’t just keep doing it or nothing is<br />
going to change. We can’t just sit in here and say all the right things and not<br />
have things change. We have to go do it. It’s up to us.”<br />
OIL SPILLS: Veteran winger Ales Hemsky left the game in the second after<br />
taking a shot off his right foot. It wasn’t broken, but he is doubtful for the<br />
game against the Predators ... Mike Brown threw a flurry of rights at Jordin<br />
Tootoo in his first fight as an Oiler, a second-period scrap that came on the<br />
heels of a hit the winger threw at Tootoo. Kindl scored when the two were in<br />
the penalty box ... Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard has now allowed<br />
just two goals in his last three games ... There was just one power play in<br />
the game and it came 56 seconds in when Hall was sent off for highsticking.<br />
Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662007 Edmonton Oilers<br />
Ben Eager out, Chris VandeVelde in for Edmonton Oilers<br />
Joanne Ireland<br />
Detroit – Mike Babcock, the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, is a<br />
stickler about details so despite a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche<br />
in his club’s last outing, he expects more against the Edmonton Oilers.<br />
In short, don’t expect anything less than a disciplined Detroit squad, which<br />
of course means an even tougher challenge for the Oilers who haven’t won<br />
in Joe Louis Arena since Dec. 3, 2009.<br />
“We’ve played way better and lost,” Babcock said Thursday morning. “To<br />
me, the way this team has to play is real simple. We can’t outscore our<br />
mistakes. We’re not talented enough as a group to play river hockey all<br />
night and expect to win on a nightly basis.<br />
That’s just the facts.”<br />
The Oilers, 1-2-2 since leaving Edmonton, will send a lineup similar to the<br />
one that was on the ice for a 4-3 shootout loss against the Columbus Blue<br />
Jackets. The one change will be in the bottom six, with Ben Eager coming<br />
out of the lineup and Chris VandeVelde returning to centre. Ryan Smyth will<br />
move back to the wing.<br />
“Detroit is not a very physical team but they are a very deep, well versed<br />
hockey team,” said head coach Ralph Krueger. “We just feel with the back<br />
to backs we need four solid lines going.<br />
“It’s not about the line combinations as much as it is about our habits. The<br />
willingness to give up the puck to create opportunities . . . is something<br />
we’re continuing to work on. We want puck possession. We just need to be<br />
a little smarter and create more chaos in front of the net.<br />
“This is a team that does a lot of things habitually we’d like to do . . . but we<br />
have to match their work ethic.”<br />
The Oilers play the Predators in Nashville on Friday.<br />
Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662008 Edmonton Oilers<br />
Nugent-Hopkins and Schultz slumping, Sam Gagner coming on strong<br />
March 7, 2013. 8:28 am • Section: Cult of Hockey, Oilers<br />
David Staples<br />
Recent Posts From This Author<br />
Even though star centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is mired in a season-long<br />
point-scoring slump, one of the consoling thoughts for Edmonton Oilers<br />
fans has been that the 19-year-old has been chipping in on numerous<br />
scoring chances, so he’s about to break loose with a bunch of points.<br />
For much of the season this has, in fact, been the perfect summation of the<br />
Nugent-Hopkins’ actual on-ice performance, but in the last five games his<br />
play has slumped badly at even strength in terms of his two-way play.<br />
The same goes for 22-year-old rookie Justin Schultz, who is mired in an 8game<br />
slump in his offensive and defensive play at even strength.<br />
The good news is that for the past 10 games Sam Gagner has come on<br />
strong in terms of his two-way play.<br />
It’s safe to say that a steady diet of the tough competition (and perhaps<br />
some undisclosed injury woes) have hit hard both Schultz and Nugent-<br />
Hopkins, while Gagner has finally cranked up his game to where it was last<br />
season in terms of two-way play, doing a much better job in his own zone<br />
while chipping in with some strong attacking play against somewhat less<br />
onerous competition than RNH typically faces.<br />
What do the numbers say?<br />
The chart above gives you all the numbers, but to summarize, in the first 16<br />
games of the year, Nugent-Hopkins was chipping in on more than five<br />
scoring chances per game at even strength, while making mistakes on<br />
slightly less than two per game.<br />
Remarkable. For a 19-year-old to play at such a high level is a hopeful sign.<br />
In the last five games, however, he’s chipped in on about two scoring<br />
chances per game, while making mistakes on about three per game. That’s<br />
a poor ratio for a centre. A centre will be in the 1.5 for-to-1.0 against or two<br />
for-to-one against range if he’s getting his job done well (he’s OK being in<br />
the lower range if he’s facing off against tough competition).<br />
In contrast, Gagner started out the year chipping in one about three scoring<br />
chances per game at even strength in the first 12 games, but making<br />
mistakes on about the same number, a weak one-to-one ratio.<br />
In the last 10 games, however, Gagner has chipped in on about 3.3<br />
chances per game at ES, while making mistakes on 1.6 per game, a good<br />
ratio indeed.<br />
As for Schultz, he was outstanding in his first 14 games. A defenceman<br />
who is doing his job will chip in on about one scoring chance for every<br />
scoring chance he makes a mistake on, a one-to-one ratio. In his first 14<br />
games, Schultz chipped in on about four scoring chances per game at even<br />
strength, while making mistakes on just two per game.<br />
Also remarkable.<br />
But he’s now slumping — and slumping big time. In the last eight games,<br />
he’s chipping in one less than two chances per game, while making<br />
mistakes on almost three per game.<br />
Any solutions to what ails Schultz and RNH here?<br />
Well, some success on the struggling, disjointed top power play unit might<br />
pick up both their spirits. A bit better luck would help. If they are indeed hurt,<br />
some rest and better health is important.<br />
Mostly, though, they are being asked to do a bit too much at this point. They<br />
need veteran help, more experienced players to come in and assist them<br />
do more of the heavy lifting against tough competition. Nugent-Hopkins,<br />
especially, has gone up against the toughest the NHL has to offer.<br />
Right now, this tough competition is not just weighing down these two<br />
excellent young players, it’s starting to squash them.<br />
Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662009 Edmonton Oilers<br />
So, Edmonton Oilers fans, do you miss Shawn Horcoff yet?<br />
Bruce McCurdy<br />
That’s a darn good question, Ted, good enough to deserve its own<br />
headline. Seems like a pretty keen observation as well — Edmonton Oilers<br />
were doing alright until Shawn Horcoff caught the injury bug. Since then?<br />
Not so much.<br />
The Oilers have gotten two periods of work out of their captain since he first<br />
went down late in Game 6 at Phoenix, steamrolled by Shane Doan. He<br />
missed the tail end of that game (in which Oilers blew a 1-0 lead in the<br />
dying seconds just after Horcoff left the game, but managed to pull out the<br />
win on an overtime powerplay), and missed two games, both losses, with<br />
some variation of whiplash or “concussion like symptoms”. Horcoff then<br />
rushed back for an ill-fated home date with the Canucks, in which he<br />
suffered a badly broken knuckle blocking a shot and left the game one shift<br />
into the third period, the Oilers leading 2-1. The club blew a late lead in that<br />
one too, and went on to lose in overtime.<br />
Just within the two games that Horcoff left, both times in the third period,<br />
after his departure the Oilers scored just one goal and allowed three. More<br />
importantly they blew one point in the standings while ceding three to their<br />
opposition du jour. (Those numbers don’t add up, but so it is with Bettman<br />
Math, where 2+0=2, but 1+1=3 … yeah I know, it’s confusing!)<br />
For simplicity, though, let’s ignore those blown leads in the two games<br />
which Horcoff didn’t finish, and simply consider Oilers’ overall performance<br />
in games with and without their captain in the line-up, whether he finished<br />
the game or not. It’s a WOWY analysis that lives up to its acronym.<br />
horcoffWOWY<br />
In each case the better of the two numbers (higher or lower as the case<br />
may be) is bolded in blue. Overwhelmingly, the blue numbers appear in the<br />
“with” column, with the differences between won-loss records and points<br />
percentage being particularly stark. The differences in goals for and against<br />
(shootout “goals” have been excluded) are slender — the Oilers output has<br />
been about a quarter of a goal worse at each end of the ice — but in the<br />
context of artificial parody parity, over any length of time a difference of half<br />
a goal per game is gargantuan, and the W-L-O results certainly bear that<br />
out.<br />
WOWY analyses are by nature one-dimensional, and of limited value in a<br />
complex environment. Obviously this isn’t exactly a controlled experiment<br />
where Horcoff’s absence is the only variable. Maybe the team would have<br />
gone into the tank anyway. Maybe the early success was more the result of<br />
an unsustainable powerplay, which scored at least once in all 7 of Horcoff’s<br />
games, 12 goals altogether, and has only netted 8 goals in the 15 games<br />
he missed. No doubt some sort of correction was due there, Horcoff or no<br />
Horcoff, although in his absence it’s become increasingly apparent that the<br />
PP has been missing some key ingredients in terms of faceoff proficiency,<br />
zone entry and net front presence.<br />
Other metrics like PK proficiency and shots for/against data are fairly<br />
neutral, but there are no areas whatsoever where the team has shown a<br />
meaningful improvement since the captain went down, while several of the<br />
key stats have shown a marked decline. While shot differential has<br />
remained the same (and bad, at -5.5 per game), Oilers have seen a dip in<br />
both their shooting and save percentages during Horcoff’s absence, with<br />
the combination of the two (PDO) dropping from 1.015 to .996 during the<br />
games in question. So maybe it’s all just variance, a.k.a. “luck”. We are,<br />
after all, speaking of data sets of just 7 and 15 games respectively.<br />
Or maybe the Oilers are facing more bad match-ups. Long the top minute<br />
muncher among Oilers forwards, Horcoff had seen a reduction of his even<br />
strength time in the early season. He was, however, still was lining up in his<br />
own zone a lot (just 36% of his end zone starts in the offensive zone), and<br />
facing the toughest of the toughs, being first with a bullet among Oilers<br />
forwards in all three of Gabe Desjardins’ Quality of Competition metrics. By<br />
another nifty device, Rob Vollman’s Player Usage Charts (app by Greg “the<br />
Ninja” Sinclair), Horcoff is nearly off the charts.<br />
There’s been something of a chain reaction in the aftermath of the injury,<br />
with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sam Gagner taking on tougher competition,<br />
Eric Belanger having been forced into Horcoff’s spot as 3C and a variety of<br />
replacement (and replacement-level) players filling in for Belanger on the<br />
fourth line. Anton Lander got the first two games after the Doan incident<br />
before he too went down, with Chris VandeVelde (nine) and an out-ofposition<br />
Ryan Smyth (four games) having shared the duties since.<br />
I took a look at the player grades Jonathan Willis and I maintain here at the<br />
Cult, and to my non-surprise found that the identified replacement had an<br />
average game grade of just 4.1, a full cut and a half below Horcoff’s 5.6.<br />
Take that for what it’s worth (and with the requisite pound of salt), but it<br />
seems like Jon and I are both seeing the same thing: underperformance at<br />
4C. Some of that is bad injury luck (especially losing the first choice call-up<br />
in Lander), and some of it is on management for not stashing a more NHLready<br />
pivot somewhere in the system, or going out and getting one when it<br />
became clear the Horcoff injury would cost him significant time.<br />
Related post — Willis: Injuries expose Oilers’ dangerous lack of depth at<br />
centre<br />
Belanger, meanwhile, has been up against it. He is taking on even more of<br />
the defensive zone assignments than ever, starting in the O-zone just 33%<br />
of the time on his even strength shifts. He’s not facing quite the quality of<br />
toughs that Horcoff was, but the Oilers are getting swamped to the tune of<br />
about 37½ shots against per 60 minutes, a terrible figure that is ahead of<br />
only Ben Eager’s execrable 40.2 SA/60. (Data here, but bear in mind that at<br />
behindthenet.ca “SA” means “saved shots against” and must be combined<br />
with GA to get the total shots against value.)<br />
Horcoff is at the other end of that table, best among centres and second<br />
among forwards (behind Magnus Paajarvi, interestingly enough) with just<br />
28 shots allowed per 60. Which when you consider those other factors of<br />
where he starts out and who he lines up against, is pretty impressive.<br />
Related post — Staples: Oilers are going backwards on defence, leaking<br />
too many scoring chances<br />
The other thing currently missing on the bottom six is any sort of nurturing<br />
environment for a young player. Among his many roles with the Oilers over<br />
the years, Horcoff has found considerable success as a mentor, notably in<br />
2010-11 when he did the heavy lifting between rookies Taylor Hall and<br />
Jordan Eberle as they found their way in the NHL. These days there’s<br />
another rookie in Nail Yakupov who is looking for a place to latch on within<br />
the team. The infamous Belanger Triangle doesn’t seem to be that place. A<br />
spot beside “Horcov” might be ideal, a bigger man who can handle ownzone<br />
duties while being a little more adept at getting the puck to the right<br />
man with space to do something with it. His hands aren’t what they once<br />
were, but Horcoff’s always had a good grasp on getting the puck moving in<br />
the right direction.<br />
What all this is doing is providing Oilers fans and management alike a<br />
sneak preview of what this team might be facing should the decision be<br />
taken to buy Horcoff out, or to trade him and the last two, lowest-paying<br />
years of his albatross contract to a club looking to reach the cap floor<br />
without spending the actual dollars. Early results suggest that the<br />
organization better have a pretty good replacement in mind, and it’s<br />
probably not someone they’ll find in-house. Not likely someone they’ll find in<br />
the bargain bin, either, raising the question of what economies can be found<br />
by paying Horcoff not to play for the Oilers plus paying his replacement.<br />
Unless they are hard against the cap, the club might be better served to bite<br />
the bullet. “Value for money” is a complex equation, but there is certainly<br />
significant value on the one side, even as there’s a lot of money on the<br />
other. The contract will run its course in two more years, and it seems likely<br />
the team will be needing a tough-minutes pivot for all of that. Whether<br />
Horcoff can stay healthy is of course a whole ‘nother question.<br />
Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662010 Edmonton Oilers<br />
Ben Eager out, Chris VandeVelde in for Edmonton Oilers<br />
Joanne Ireland<br />
Detroit – Mike Babcock, the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, is a<br />
stickler about details so despite a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche<br />
in his club’s last outing, he expects more against the Edmonton Oilers.<br />
In short, don’t expect anything less than a disciplined Detroit squad, which<br />
of course means an even tougher challenge for the Oilers who haven’t won<br />
in Joe Louis Arena since Dec. 3, 2009.<br />
“We’ve played way better and lost,” Babcock said Thursday morning. “To<br />
me, the way this team has to play is real simple. We can’t outscore our<br />
mistakes. We’re not talented enough as a group to play river hockey all<br />
night and expect to win on a nightly basis.<br />
That’s just the facts.”<br />
The Oilers, 1-2-2 since leaving Edmonton, will send a lineup similar to the<br />
one that was on the ice for a 4-3 shootout loss against the Columbus Blue<br />
Jackets. The one change will be in the bottom six, with Ben Eager coming<br />
out of the lineup and Chris VandeVelde returning to centre. Ryan Smyth will<br />
move back to the wing.<br />
“Detroit is not a very physical team but they are a very deep, well versed<br />
hockey team,” said head coach Ralph Krueger. “We just feel with the back<br />
to backs we need four solid lines going.<br />
“It’s not about the line combinations as much as it is about our habits. The<br />
willingness to give up the puck to create opportunities . . . is something<br />
we’re continuing to work on. We want puck possession. We just need to be<br />
a little smarter and create more chaos in front of the net.<br />
“This is a team that does a lot of things habitually we’d like to do . . . but we<br />
have to match their work ethic.”<br />
The Oilers play the Predators in Nashville on Friday.<br />
Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662011 Edmonton Oilers<br />
Same old result as Edmonton Oilers fall to Detroit Red Wings<br />
By Derek Van Diest, Edmonton Sun<br />
DETROIT - The Edmonton Oilers were hoping this time around things<br />
would be different.<br />
But the only positive coming out of Thursday, was news they may not have<br />
to travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings as often anymore.<br />
For the Oilers, realignment can’t come soon enough as the same story<br />
played out again, falling 3-0 to the Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena.<br />
Jakub Kindl, Corey Emmerton and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Red<br />
Wings, while Jimmy Howard pitched the shutout, turning away 22 shots.<br />
“We were pleased with the first period, I thought we had out-chanced them<br />
at the start and came into the room trying to build on that and make that a<br />
positive,” said Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger. “Then on the 1-0 goal, we<br />
lose the battle in front on the puck against Kindl, he puts it in the net and<br />
then the game plan disappeared.<br />
“For 10 minutes they dominated us in every category, we lost our defensive<br />
coverage, we lost our battles, and at that time in period, the game was<br />
decided when they were able to pull it to 2-0.”<br />
The Oilers have only won once in their last 10 visits to Detroit, that victory<br />
back in December, 2009. Since then, the Oilers have dropped seven<br />
straight to the Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena.<br />
Under the current NHL alignment, the teams face each other four times in a<br />
season. With the NHL players association agreeing to new divisional<br />
alignments for next year, the Oilers may only have face the Red Wings<br />
twice, meaning just one trip to the city where it’s been practically<br />
guaranteed win night for the Red Wings in the past five years.<br />
“You’re not going to win a game scoring zero goals,” said Oilers winger<br />
Taylor Hall. “That’s on us, that’s on the guys on the top two lines, we’re the<br />
guys that are relied to score every night and we didn’t.”<br />
It doesn’t really seem to matter who the Red Wings have in the lineup,<br />
games always seem to play out the same. The Oilers were able to hang<br />
around for a while until the Red Wings decided to take their game to the<br />
next level.<br />
Thursday, the Red Wings turned it on in the second period and the Oilers<br />
had no response.<br />
“We knew they were going to come out really hard at home and it took them<br />
a period to get their legs,” Hall said. “Once that second period came, we<br />
kind of got on our heels for a few shifts, and once we got down 2-0, it didn’t<br />
seem like anything we shot at the net was going to go in and we really<br />
didn’t get the bounces.”<br />
After a scoreless first, Kindl put the home side up, whacking away at a<br />
loose puck in front which slipped past Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk.<br />
Emmerton increased the lead later in the period taking a pass in the slot<br />
and picking the top corner.<br />
“I don’t think that was the defensive zone that we wanted to play and<br />
against a group like that, they’ll make you pay for it and that’s what<br />
happened,” said Dubnyk. “On that first goal, I came across on my knees<br />
and as soon as I lost sight of it, I started to get up and I was half getting up<br />
and he whacked it and it came through a guy’s feet and it went through right<br />
below my hand. It was kind of a weird one, I almost had it, but it was a bad<br />
spot for me between getting up and staying down.”<br />
A post and couple of solid stops from Dubnyk prevented the Red Wings<br />
from increasing their lead in the period, having out-shot the Oilers 15-7 in<br />
the frame.<br />
Adding to the Oilers misery in the period was the loss of Ales Hemsky, who<br />
took a Kindl point-shot off his right foot and had to leave the game.<br />
According to Krueger, x-rays were negative, but Hemsky will likely not be<br />
available against the Nashville Predators Friday.<br />
“The second period, that phase for all of us, including the players was<br />
extremely disappointing,” said Krueger. “You need to bottle up the anger<br />
you feel right now and turn it into something good in Nashville. It’s<br />
something that I’ve seen in this group. We’re not quitters, we’ve lost our<br />
way, but I don’t believe it was a lack of effort, it was a lack of concept that<br />
lost it for us.”<br />
Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662012 Florida Panthers<br />
Washington Capitals punish Florida Panthers again<br />
By George Richards<br />
To avoid problems landing in the nation’s capital, the Panthers left South<br />
Florida on their charter plane a few hours early Wednesday.<br />
On Thursday, they checked out of their game in Washington early as well.<br />
Washington chased goalie Jacob Markstrom to the bench with two goals on<br />
two shots then kept the party going by beating down the Panthers 7-1 at<br />
Verizon Center.<br />
The Panthers, who played their final game in Washington as a division rival<br />
for some time Thursday, found themselves down 4-0 in the first.<br />
By the time Alex Ovechkin scored to make it 5-0 in the second, well, it<br />
meant little more than to pad his stats.<br />
“You give up two goals on two shots,” said Panthers coach Kevin Dineen,<br />
whose team’s 19 points are fewest in the entire league.<br />
“I don’t like to leave anyone out to dry, but obviously I don’t think Jacob<br />
Markstrom was ready to play tonight and the ball started to roll.”<br />
Said Markstrom: “I felt like I let the team down. I didn’t stop pucks. It wasn’t<br />
good enough.”<br />
The Panthers are probably happy to get away from Washington when the<br />
league reconfigures its divisions next year. Florida has lost seven in a row<br />
in Washington and six in a row to the Caps overall.<br />
“They’re a good team in their building,” said Jack Skille, who ended Braden<br />
Holtby’s shutout bid with 9:11 left. That made it only 6-1.<br />
“I think they smell blood when we come in here and they can get a couple<br />
early,” Dineen said. “We can talk about pushback, but we got spanked 7-1.<br />
It’s unacceptable.”<br />
Scott Clemmensen was brought in and didn’t fare much better. On<br />
Washington’s sixth shot, John Carlson fired a long-range missile that<br />
skipped though. Mike Ribeiro made it 4-0 two shots later.<br />
The biggest news could come Friday when it will be determined whether the<br />
league takes disciplinary action against defenseman Tyson Strachan for his<br />
open-ice hit on Jason Chimura.<br />
Chimura hit the ice hard after Strachan’s hit and stayed down on the ice<br />
before returning. Strachan was hit with a major penalty and an ejection.<br />
Ovechkin scored 20 seconds later.<br />
The Panthers’ defensive depth is tapped as they have already used 11<br />
different defensemen this season.<br />
Strachan declined to comment after the game.<br />
“I’ll have to take a good look at it,” Dineen said. “It’s a moot point whatever<br />
the coach says because that’s going to be handled on a different level. I<br />
have a strong amount of respect when the league makes those decisions.<br />
We’ll see how it plays out.”<br />
Realignment<br />
The days of the Panthers and Capitals battling it out for the Southeast<br />
Division title are probably over — because this is the last season the two<br />
will share the same division at least for the next two years.<br />
The NHLPA approved the NHL’s realignment plan, one that puts the<br />
Panthers in a new division with the Lightning and six other teams (all north<br />
of New York City).<br />
Florida’s new division rivals: Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Boston, Toronto, Montreal<br />
and Detroit. With the realignment comes a playoff format change, with<br />
teams within the division playing each other in the postseason.<br />
The other three teams in the Southeast (Winnipeg, Washington and<br />
Carolina) are moving elsewhere, with the setup being examined after two<br />
seasons.<br />
“This is the hand we’ve been dealt, and there’s nothing we can do about it,”<br />
Skille said. “This was the league’s choice, and we just have to win some<br />
games in that division. There’s a lot of Canadian people who live in Florida,<br />
so we’ll have the barn packed.”<br />
Miami Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
662013 Florida Panthers<br />
Recap: Washington vs. Florida<br />
By Sports Network<br />
Braden Holtby made 29 saves and seven different Capitals scored in<br />
Washington's 7-1 dismantling of the Florida Panthers at Verizon Center.<br />
Alex Ovechkin, Wojtek Wolski and Mike Ribeiro each had a goal and two<br />
assists for the Capitals, who have erupted for 18 goals in three victories<br />
over the Panthers this season.<br />
John Erskine and John Carlson each scored in a four-goal first period, while<br />
Eric Fehr and Mathieu Perreault both got in on the act in the third.<br />
Jacob Markstrom, fresh off his first win of the season against the Winnipeg<br />
Jets on Tuesday, started in net for Florida and was quickly pulled after<br />
giving up goals on Washington's first two shots. Scott Clemmensen yielded<br />
five goals on 24 shots in relief, and Jack Skille scored the Panthers' lone<br />
goal.<br />
These Southeast Division rivals came in tied for last place in the Eastern<br />
Conference, but the Capitals are on their way up with wins in eight of their<br />
last 11 games, while the Panthers have dropped four of their last five.<br />
"The guys are playing better and good things are happening. ... All in all, in<br />
the last three weeks we've only had one bad game," Capitals head coach<br />
Adam Oates said.<br />
Markstrom let up two soft goals in the first 3:10, as he was unable to handle<br />
Erskine's seemingly innocuous slap shot 1:58 in and saw Wolski's weak<br />
wraparound find the back of the net before he found a seat on the bench.<br />
"I couldn't stop the puck on the first two shots. (There's) no excuse for that,"<br />
Markstrom said. "It was terrible. I feel like I let the team down. I am there to<br />
stop pucks and I didn't do that tonight."<br />
Clemmensen came in and allowed two more goals over a 2:32 span.<br />
Carlson's low slap shot off a faceoff win lit the lamp at 5:38, and Ribeiro<br />
took Ovechkin's feed from behind the net and beat a flat-footed<br />
Clemmensen for a 4-0 lead.<br />
Florida defenseman Tyson Strachan was whistled for a game misconduct<br />
for interference 8:57 into the second period, and Ovechkin capitalized with<br />
a snap shot from the left circle 20 seconds into the five-minute power play.<br />
After Fehr's power-play tally made it 6-0, Skille ended Holtby's shutout bid<br />
with 9:11 to play.<br />
Perreault finished off the rout with a goal in the final minute.<br />
Miami Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
662014 Florida Panthers<br />
ROLLED OUT OF THE CAPITAL: Washington Continues Capital<br />
Domination of Panthers with 7-1 Win<br />
... Markstrom Pulled Early, Strachan Faces Shanahan<br />
TWITTER: at GeorgeRichards<br />
WASHINGTON -- To avoid problems landing in the nation's capital, the<br />
Panthers left South Florida on their charter plane a few hours early on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
On Thursday, they checked out of their game in Washington early as well.<br />
Washington chased goalie Jacob Markstrom to the bench with two goals on<br />
two shots then kept the party going by beating down the Panthers 7-1 at<br />
Verizon Center.<br />
The Panthers, who played their final game in Washington as a division rival<br />
for some time Thursday, found themselves down 4-0 before the midway<br />
point of the first.<br />
By the time Alex Ovechkin scored to make it 5-0 in the second, well, it<br />
meant little more than to pad his stats.<br />
"You give up two goals on two shots,'' said Panthers coach Kevin Dineen,<br />
whose team's 19 points are fewest in the entire league.<br />
"I don't like to leave anyone out to dry but obviously I don't think Jacob<br />
Markstrom was ready to play tonight and the ball started to roll. For us, we<br />
need to be firing on all cylinders to have success and that wasn't the case,''<br />
Said Markstrom: "I felt like I let the team down. I didn't stop pucks. It wasn't<br />
good enough.''<br />
The Panthers are probably happy to get away from Washington when the<br />
league reconfigures its divisions next year. Florida has lost seven straight in<br />
Washington and six straight to the Caps overall.<br />
In the five losses in D.C. since last season, the Panthers have been<br />
outscored a whopping 23-3. Florida, shut out here three times since last<br />
season, have been outscored here 12-1 in the past few weeks alone.<br />
"They're a good team in their building,'' said Jack Skille, who ended Braden<br />
Holtby's shutout bid with 9:11 left. That made it only 6-1.<br />
The Capitals got the only two goals they would need 3:10 in.<br />
Markstrom gave up his first goal 1:58 when John Erskine whipped a shot<br />
from inside the blueline that caught Markstrom's right armpit. When<br />
Markstrom adjusted, the puck sank into the back of the net.<br />
Just over a minute later, Wojtek Wolski -- acquired by the Panthers for their<br />
playoff run last spring -- shoved a puck past Markstrom to make it 2-0.<br />
"I think they smell blood when we come in here and they can get a couple<br />
early,'' Dineen said. "We can talk about pushback, but we got spanked 7-1.<br />
It's unacceptable.''<br />
Scott Clemmensen was brought in and didn't fare much better. On<br />
Washington's sixth shot, John Carlson fired a long-range missle that<br />
skipped though. Mike Ribeiro made it 4-0 two shots later.<br />
The biggest news could come Friday when it will be determined whether the<br />
league takes disciplinary action against defenseman Tyson Strachan for his<br />
open-ice hit on Jason Chimura.<br />
Chimura hit the ice hard after Strachan's hit and stayed down on the ice<br />
before returning. Strachan was hit with a major penalty and an ejection.<br />
Ovechkin scored 20 seconds after Strachan headed to the visitor's locker<br />
room for a 5-0 lead.<br />
The Panthers defensive depth is tapped as they have already used 11<br />
different defensemen this season. Brendon Nash, who played in two games<br />
with Montreal last season, has likely been summoned to Sunrise.<br />
Strachan declined to comment after the game.<br />
"I'll have to take a good look at it,'' Dineen said. "It's a moot point whatever<br />
the coach says because that's going to be handled on a different level. I<br />
have a strong amount of respect when the league makes those decisions.<br />
We'll see how it plays out.''<br />
REALIGNMENT<br />
The days of the Panthers and Capitals battling it out for the Southeast<br />
Division title are probably over -- since this is the last season the two will<br />
share the same division at least for the next two years.<br />
The NHLPA approved the NHL's realignment plan, one that puts the<br />
Panthers in a new division with the Lightning and six other (all north of New<br />
York City) teams.<br />
Florida's new division 'rivals': Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Boston, Toronto,<br />
Montreal and Detroit. With the realignment comes a playoff format change<br />
with teams within the division playing each other in the postseason.<br />
The new divisions -- the other three teams in the Southeast (Winnipeg,<br />
Washington and Carolina) are moving elsewhere -- go into effect next<br />
season with the setup being examined after two seasons.<br />
"This is the hand we've been dealt and there's nothing we can do about it,''<br />
Skille said. "This was the league's choice and we just have to win some<br />
games in that division. There's a lot of Canadian people who live in Florida<br />
so we'll have the barn packed.''<br />
FRIDAY: JETS AT PANTHERS<br />
When, Where: 7:30 p.m.; BB&T Center, Sunrise<br />
TV/Radio: FSNF; WQAM-560<br />
The series: Jets lead 41-31-5<br />
The game: Florida snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Jets<br />
on Tuesday. Winnipeg has spent the week in the Sunshine State and<br />
played Tampa Bay on Thursday. Florida is expected to have Jacob<br />
Markstrom back in net after he was pulled Thursday in Washington.<br />
Markstrom made 30 saves against the Jets.<br />
Posted by George Richards<br />
Miami Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
662015 Florida Panthers<br />
STEPHEN WEISS: Wrist Surgery Only Option<br />
... Realizes Sunday May Have Been Last Game with #FlaPanthers,<br />
Welcomes Return<br />
TWITTER: at GeorgeRichards<br />
Panthers center Stephen Weiss said Wednesday morning the pain in his<br />
right wrist was so severe he wasn't helping himself or his team.<br />
After consulting with specialists at the Cleveland Clinic on Monday, Weiss<br />
made the decision to have season-ending surgery.<br />
"It doesn't make sense to keep playing like this,'' he said. "I have to get it<br />
fixed. .-.-. You can't fake your way through this league. It's too good.''<br />
Weiss said the procedure, which he had once before at the end of the<br />
2008-09 season, would be done in Cleveland on Tuesday by Dr. Thomas<br />
Graham. Weiss also had surgery on his left wrist in 2006. He has been told<br />
he would be able to shoot pucks again in three months.<br />
Weiss said he has had pain in the wrist for over a year and had an MRI<br />
done last year that showed he had a problem. Weiss said not properly<br />
taping it during NHL lockout workouts and the repetitiveness of taking shot<br />
after shot likely contributed to the deterioration.<br />
"This surgery was the last resort. I didn't want to have a second one done,''<br />
said Weiss, who had just one goal off 19 shots in 17 games this season.<br />
Weiss averaged 2.12 shots per game and 23 goals per year over the past<br />
three seasons.<br />
"As this season went on, it became evident I couldn't play the way I need to<br />
be effective and help the team win games and be the player I need to be. I<br />
need to get this thing fixed once and for all and get a fresh start with a<br />
healthy wrist when I'm ready to go again.''<br />
Weiss is the first to admit this isn't the best time to have a wrist problem.<br />
A pending free agent, Weiss may have played his final game with the<br />
Panthers after more than a decade with the team. Drafted fourth overall at<br />
the 2001 draft held at the Panthers' arena in Sunrise, Weiss is in his 11th<br />
season with Florida.<br />
Weiss said "he wouldn't have written" that Sunday's forgettable loss to<br />
Carolina would be his last with the Panthers. Yet, that may have been it for<br />
Weiss. And it is something that has crossed his mind.<br />
"It kind of burns at me that is how I could be going out,'' Weiss said. "But<br />
that's life sometimes. You have to deal with the cards you're dealt. This is<br />
not an easy decision for myself or the team, but it's something that needs to<br />
be done. If it is the last game, it's the last game. I just hope everyone<br />
understands why I made this decision. It's been a good ride.''<br />
Weiss, who turns 30 next month, hasn't ruled out a return to the Panthers,<br />
saying "it would be awesome to finish my career here.''<br />
The reality is Weiss' agent and the organization haven't spoken about a<br />
new deal and the Panthers will likely want to see how this surgery goes<br />
before a new long-term deal is talked about.<br />
Weiss said he would welcome a return to the Panthers and said he hopes<br />
to chat with the team "in the not-too distant future.''<br />
"I started my career here and you don't see that too often, guys staying for<br />
one team,'' Weiss said. "That would be great. But they have to want me<br />
back. If they do, those will be decisions I have to make at some point. I'm<br />
going to look at all the options and see what's best for me moving forward.''<br />
Weiss said during the lockout he wouldn't negotiate with the Panthers<br />
during the season as he didn't want it to be a distraction. Even though that<br />
isn't a concern now, general manager Dale Tallon said there is no rush to<br />
get something done.<br />
Weiss' contract, signed six years ago and worth $3.1 million per season,<br />
expires July 1.<br />
"He couldn't perform up to his capabilities, in his opinion, and he wanted to<br />
get it fixed," Tallon said. "It was difficult for him and for all of us. Stephen<br />
cares and he feels badly about it, but he's got to do what's best for him, too.<br />
This is a big year for him as well."<br />
And although the Panthers haven't fully moved on without Weiss, Mike<br />
Santorelli has already taken over his long-time locker stall inside the BB&T<br />
Center. Prime real estate, that.<br />
Coincidence Santorelli scored his first goal of the season in Tuesday's 4-1<br />
win over the Jets?<br />
"Maybe it brought me a little luck,'' Santorelli said.<br />
Miami Herald LOADED: 03.08.2013
662016 Florida Panthers<br />
Preview: Jets at Panthers, 7 p.m. Friday<br />
By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel<br />
6:48 p.m. EST, March 7, 2013<br />
Jets at Panthers<br />
When/where: 7 p.m.; BB&T, Sunrise<br />
TV: FSF Radio: WQAM-560<br />
Scouting report: The Panthers will play their fifth straight game against a<br />
Southeast foe and the Jets for the second time at home in four days. ... The<br />
Panthers are 2-0-1 against Winnipeg, including Tuesday's 4-1 victory in<br />
which Jacob Markstrom notched 30 saves for his first win of the season. ...<br />
Before Thursday's game with Washington, rookie Jonathan Huberdeau had<br />
three goals in two games, giving him a team-leading 11. ... The Panthers<br />
are 0-3 in second games of back to backs. The Jets, who played Tampa<br />
Bay Thursday, have lost two straight, and are 2-1 in second games of back<br />
to backs. ... F Kris Versteeg is expected to play after missing the last 12<br />
games with a rib-cage injury.<br />
— Harvey Fialkov<br />
Sun Sentinel LOADED: 03.08.2013
662017 Florida Panthers<br />
Panthers hope to score a win in D.C.<br />
Florida has been shut out in three of its last four trips to the Verizon Center<br />
By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel<br />
7:02 p.m. EST, March 7, 2013<br />
WASHINGTON, D.C. — —<br />
The Panthers took advantage of a false-alarm snow day off in the nation's<br />
capital Wednesday to shoot some hoops on a full-length court in their posh<br />
downtown hotel.<br />
Perhaps putting a much smaller round rubber object in a larger net against<br />
Capitals red-hot goalie Braden Holtby in the Verizon Center would be easier<br />
now.<br />
Unlikely. The Panthers have been blanked in three of their last four games<br />
in Washington, including their lone appearance earlier this season on Feb.<br />
9 (5-0). Holtby, 23, is 3-0 with a 2.73 goals-against average against the<br />
Panthers, and 7-3 with a 2.20 GAA in his last 10 games.<br />
"It's this building,'' said Panthers leading scorer Tomas Fleischmann, who<br />
played for the Capitals from 2005-2010. "We scored like one goal here in<br />
the last five games. This is going to be a tough game. We've got to be<br />
ready for it, otherwise, it'll end up like all the other times.''<br />
It was no surprise that Panthers 6-foot-6 defenseman Nolan Yonkman, who<br />
was called up before Tuesday's 4-1 victory over the Jets, would win the<br />
intrasquad basketball rebounding game called "Lightning" with a onehanded<br />
dunk.<br />
"There's more soccer players than basketball players in here,'' said<br />
Yonkman after morning skate Thursday. "I need to do what I do, play hard<br />
and give them quality minutes.''<br />
Panthers coach Kevin Dineen, whose had to put a patchwork lineup on the<br />
ice filled with rookies, AHL journeymen and first-time NHLers to<br />
compensate for eight injured starters, is looking for consistency.<br />
"Consistency is a key word,'' Dineen said. "The change of travel plans<br />
worked out really well. We didn't get on the ice, we didn't meet with the<br />
players yesterday. They shot some hoops. No coaching is sometimes better<br />
than too much."<br />
Tallas' weird day<br />
Panthers goalie coach Robb Tallas was one pulled groin away from taking<br />
over for goalie Scott Clemmensen in last Sunday's 3-2 loss to the<br />
Hurricanes because the equipment for AHL callup Jacob Markstrom was<br />
lost by United Airlines.<br />
Tallas, two weeks shy of his 40th birthday, had a six-year NHL career (28-<br />
42-10), but last played for the Blackhawks on Feb. 19, 2001. As per NHL<br />
rules, the Panthers were allowed to sign Tallas to a one-day contract.<br />
Fortunately, after participating in warmups with Roberto Luongo's old No. 1<br />
jersey, Markstrom's pads arrived midway through the first period and Tallas<br />
was off the hook.<br />
"I've only put my equipment on maybe six times in the last eight years,''<br />
smiled Tallas. "I didn't want Clemm to be distracted. It was unique we could<br />
talk through the game and period, and it was a neat reminder of how fast<br />
the game is when you're down on ice level.''<br />
And if Clemmensen got hurt?<br />
"At that point my knees would've started knocking,'' Tallas said.<br />
Tallas revealed that Yonkman, who was on the same flight as Markstrom,<br />
had to borrow the ice skates of former Panthers forward Peter Worrell, the<br />
hockey coach at FAU, who drove to the arena to deliver them.<br />
Flash honored<br />
With two of the three Panthers leaders, captain Ed Jovanovski and<br />
alternate captain Stephen Weiss, sidelined by injuries, Dineen has handed<br />
the alternate captain 'A's to Tomas Kopecky and Fleischmann. Brian<br />
Campbell remains the other alternate.<br />
"I'm really honored,'' Fleischmann said. "I also had it like 10 games ago<br />
when Weiss was out. It's good, this time we won the game.''<br />
Sun Sentinel LOADED: 03.08.2013
662018 Florida Panthers<br />
Markstrom, Panthers get pounded 7-1 by Caps<br />
Capitals score four goals in first 8:10, second quickest in NHL history;<br />
Panthers lose their seventh straight in D.C.<br />
March 7, 2013|By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel<br />
WASHINGTON, D.C. — — The question that Panthers coach Kevin Dineen<br />
had to be asking after watching the resurgent Capitals score four goals on<br />
their first eight shots against two different goalies was probably: "Did goalie<br />
coach Robb Tallas bring his gear?"<br />
Tallas, 39, who suited up Sunday when Jacob Markstrom's equipment was<br />
misplaced by the airline, couldn't have done worse than the Swedish rookie<br />
or veteran backup Scott Clemmensen in an embarrassing start to Thursday<br />
night's 7-1 blowout loss at the Verizon Center.<br />
Anyone miss Jose Theodore? Tomas Vokoun? Stop me at Roberto<br />
Luongo.<br />
The Panthers have been outscored 31-7 while dropping their last seven in<br />
the D.C. house of horrors, including a 5-0 loss last month. Only a goal by<br />
Jack Skille in the third period prevented Florida's fourth shutout loss in the<br />
last five games in the nation's capital.<br />
"They're a good team in their building,'' Skille understated.<br />
On the bright side, the realignment plan that was approved by the players<br />
Thursday has the Capitals and Panthers in separate divisions.<br />
"I think they smell blood when we come in here,'' a disgusted Dineen said.<br />
"You outshoot a team 4-0 on the first two shifts and you let two goals in on<br />
two shots. Obviously, I didn't think Jacob Markstrom was ready to play<br />
tonight. … The starting guy has to be the go-to guy, a hard lesson for us<br />
and [Markstrom].<br />
"You could talk about pushback, but you get spanked 7-1, obviously, it's<br />
unacceptable.''<br />
There will be little time to pout as the Panthers host the Jets again Friday.<br />
Young Caps goalie Braden Holtby had 29 saves and is 4-0 against Florida<br />
but 8-3 during a recent run that has moved the Caps out of the Eastern<br />
Conference basement, where the Panthers now reside by themselves at<br />
the halfway mark.<br />
Markstrom, who was coming off a 30-save feel-good victory over Winnipeg<br />
on Tuesday, received what has to be one of the fastest hooks ever after<br />
giving up two tissue-soft goals on Washington's first two shots in the first<br />
3:10.<br />
"There's no excuse for all of us,'' Markstrom said. "It was terrible and I feel<br />
like I let the team down.''<br />
The first came on an unscreened blue-line bomb from defenseman John<br />
Erskine at 1:58 that caught most of Markstrom's pads before dribbling<br />
across the goal line.<br />
Just 1:12 later, Wojtek Wolski scored on a wrap-around to end Markstrom's<br />
evening.<br />
Clemmensen relieved and 2:18 later, defenseman John Carlson unleashed<br />
an unscreened blast just inside the blue line. Then Alex Ovechkin set up<br />
Mike Ribeiro on the doorstep to cap off a four-goal barrage in the first 8:10.<br />
Dineen called a timeout. Instead, he should've put the whole team in<br />
timeout.<br />
It's the second-fastest time in NHL history that any team has scored four<br />
goals to start a game, behind Pittsburgh's 7:04 barrage in 1995, according<br />
to Elias Sports Bureau.<br />
In the second period, Panthers defenseman Tyson Strachan took out his<br />
frustration on the head of Jason Chimera for a five-minute major, game<br />
misconduct and possible suspension. The Panthers may call up recently<br />
acquired defenseman Brendon Nash from San Antonio.<br />
Ovechkin responded with a power-play snap-shot tally. In the third, Eric<br />
Fehr added another power-play goal and Matthieu Perreault capped off the<br />
rout with a toe-drag, spin-o-rama with 59 seconds left for No. 7 to tie a<br />
season high in goals against the Panthers.<br />
Sun Sentinel LOADED: 03.08.2013
662019 Florida Panthers<br />
4 quick goals help Capitals beat Panthers 7-1<br />
By HOWARD FENDRICH<br />
The Associated Press<br />
WASHINGTON —<br />
Alex Ovechkin was 4 months old the only time the Washington Capitals<br />
started a game with a quicker four-goal outburst than they produced<br />
Thursday night.<br />
What a way to start: four goals on eight shots in less than 8½ minutes.<br />
John Erskine, Wojtek Wolski, John Carlson and Mike Ribeiro all scored<br />
while Ovechkin chipped in two assists during that perfect beginning before<br />
adding a goal later, and the Capitals climbed out of a tie for last in the<br />
Eastern Conference by beating the Florida Panthers 7-1 Thursday night.<br />
"Of course, it's a little bit luck," the 27-year-old Ovechkin said. "But we need<br />
that kind of luck right now."<br />
The Capitals, citing the Elias Sports Bureau, said the 8-minute, 10-second<br />
spree represented the second-fastest four goals to start a game in team<br />
history. Washington accumulated four within 6:49 of the opening faceoff<br />
against the Minnesota North Stars on Jan. 21, 1986.<br />
"We wanted to jump on them early," Ribeiro said. "We were able to do that."<br />
Florida's Jacob Markstrom allowed two goals on two shots and was pulled<br />
after 3 minutes, 10 seconds — the fastest yanking of an NHL goalie for<br />
something other than an injury in more than a year, according to STATS<br />
LLC.<br />
"I don't like to hang out anybody to dry, but obviously I don't think Jacob<br />
Markstrom was ready to play tonight," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said.<br />
Markstrom's replacement, Scott Clemmensen, didn't fare much better,<br />
giving up two goals in the first six shots. Asked about that performance,<br />
Dineen said: "It's easy to hang him out to dry, but you know what? If you're<br />
the starting guy, you've got to be the go-to guy."<br />
When Dineen's comments about not being ready to play were relayed to<br />
Markstrom, the goalie pursed his lips tightly, shrugged his shoulders and<br />
did not reply, ending his 75-second interview session with reporters.<br />
Here is what Markstrom did offer earlier: "I don't know what to say. I couldn't<br />
stop the puck in the first two shots or whatever, first 3 minutes. No excuse<br />
for that. It was terrible. I feel like I let the team down. I'm there to stop pucks<br />
and I didn't do that tonight."<br />
Ten players each earned at least a point in Thursday's four-goal outburst.<br />
Late in the first period, Ribeiro pulled back at the end of a forward rush,<br />
content to perform the hockey equivalent of dribbling out the clock in<br />
basketball. The red-wearing fans saluted the home team with a standing<br />
ovation as the period expired.<br />
Braden Holtby made 29 saves in his 11th consecutive start, the longest<br />
streak for a Washington goalie since Olie Kolzig started 16 in a row in 2003.<br />
"It's hard to play your game in those last two periods when you have a<br />
lead," Holtby said, "but I think we did a very good job of it."<br />
The Capitals and the reigning Southeast Division champion Panthers<br />
entered tied for the fewest points in the East with 19.<br />
But after starting the season with two wins in its first 11 games, Washington<br />
has won eight of its last 11.<br />
"We started so bad that it was a big hole to climb out of, and it didn't look<br />
good," Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner said. "We're just happy that we're<br />
winning games right now, and we don't want to be a .500 team."<br />
The Panthers, meanwhile, have won two of their last eight games as they<br />
deal with all sorts of injury problems, including to center Stephen Weiss —<br />
expected to miss the rest of the season because of a wrist surgery — and<br />
goalie Jose Theodore. As it is, Florida began the game having allowed an<br />
NHL-worst 83 goals in 23 games, a 3.61 average.<br />
The only blemish on this night for the Capitals was the hit that forward<br />
Jason Chimera took from Florida's Tyson Strachan, who was given a game<br />
misconduct penalty. Chimera left for the locker room to get checked by a<br />
trainer, but he did eventually return to the ice. It took 20 seconds into the<br />
power play for Ovechkin to make it 5-0, diving to the ice to celebrate his<br />
ninth goal of the season.<br />
Capitals coach Adam Oates said he thought the hit was "a little late," but<br />
added: "I'm glad Chimmer's OK."<br />
Notes: STATS LLC said Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin was pulled after 1:35<br />
on Feb. 20, 2012, against the Senators. ... Florida has lost its past seven<br />
games at Washington, getting outscored 31-7. ... The Capitals are 3-0<br />
against Florida this season, part of a 6-2 mark against Southeast Division<br />
opponents; they're 4-9-1 against everyone else.<br />
___<br />
Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich<br />
Palm Beach Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662020 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Kings' third-period magic is missing in 5-2 loss to Stars<br />
The Kings had allowed only two goals in the third period in their last nine<br />
games, but they give up three to Dallas and lose at home for first time in<br />
seven games.<br />
By Lisa Dillman<br />
11:03 PM PST, March 7, 2013<br />
Ownership of the third period at home finally got away from the Kings,<br />
wrested away from their tight grasp and eventually eluding them.<br />
With that, a long winning streak at Staples Center came to a halt at the<br />
hands of Dallas. The Stars scored the game's final four goals, including<br />
three in the third period to secure a 5-2 victory against the Kings on<br />
Thursday night, handing them their first loss at home in seven games.<br />
The Kings have been so dominant in the third period at home, it seemed as<br />
though they just needed to flick a switch to get it done in the latter stages. In<br />
their last nine games overall, they had given up two third-period goals, one<br />
of them an empty-netter.<br />
Dallas surpassed that with three in the third — including an empty-netter —<br />
starting with a goal by captain Brenden Morrow, who was left alone at the<br />
right post and managed to score when it looked like he almost fanned on<br />
the puck. But Morrow got just enough on it to get it past Jonathan Quick at<br />
5:16.<br />
Morrow's goal made it 3-2 and the Stars went ahead by two when 41-yearold<br />
Jaromir Jagr scored on a rebound. Jamie Benn's initial shot went off<br />
Quick's pad, right to a wide-open Jagr. It was the second goal of the game<br />
for Jagr, who had scored on the power play in the first period, making it 1-0<br />
for Dallas at 5:28.<br />
"That big line of Benn, [Loui] Eriksson and Jagr found ways to get behind<br />
our [defense], our five-, six-man unit and found a way to get goals," said<br />
Kings captain Dustin Brown.<br />
Kings Coach Darryl Sutter agreed: "We couldn't handle the Benn line.<br />
Nobody answered, took responsibility. Goalie, defense and forwards. We<br />
couldn't handle that line."<br />
This also begged an obvious question. Did the Kings simply run out of<br />
energy, having played three games in four nights?<br />
"I know it's a heavy schedule, but so is an 82-game schedule," Brown said.<br />
"We had 2-2 going into the third. We needed a better start to the third,<br />
probably. We didn't really go after it in the first five [minutes] and they get<br />
that goal.<br />
"Now we're chasing the game from there. We've got to come out better in<br />
the third."<br />
Trevor Lewis scored the Kings' first goal, converting from a sharp angle and<br />
hitting the upper right corner in the first period. The other Kings' goal came<br />
from a predictable source, the high-scoring Jeff Carter, who got some help<br />
from the skate of Stars defenseman Jordie Benn.<br />
Carter picked up his 16th of the season, making it 2-1 at 15:30 of the<br />
second period. But the Stars pulled even by the end of the second on<br />
another power-play goal.<br />
With defenseman Keaton Ellerby off for hooking, Cody Eakin scored with<br />
1:14 left in the period, shooting up the middle and surprising Quick with a<br />
backhander after Alec Martinez had trouble with a clearing attempt.<br />
Eakin's goal took away the Kings' momentum, which had carried through<br />
most of the period. But they simply could not build on Carter's goal.<br />
Carter is seemingly doing almost all the heavy lifting in terms of offense.<br />
The Kings have 62 goals this season and Carter is responsible for 16 of<br />
them.<br />
Sutter bypassed poetic and went right to short, sweet and straightforward<br />
earlier in the day to describe Carter's recent output. "He's money," Sutter<br />
said.<br />
LA Times: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662021 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Jagr's two goals helps Stars beat Kings, 5-2<br />
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS<br />
LOS ANGELES – Even though the goals and assists don't come in<br />
bunches on a regular basis anymore for Jaromir Jagr, every now and then<br />
he displays the form and instincts that have kept him playing hockey at a<br />
high level, even at age 41.<br />
Jagr had his first multi-goal game since opening night, Brenden Morrow got<br />
the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Dallas Stars ended the Kings'<br />
six-game home winning streak with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night.<br />
Jagr's three-game goal streak is his longest since his final four games of the<br />
2007-08 regular season with the Rangers. The nine-time All-Star and 1999<br />
MVP spent the next three years out of the NHL before returning last season<br />
with <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, and has 28 goals in 95 games since his comeback<br />
began.<br />
He needs four assists to join Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier,<br />
Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and former Pittsburgh teammate Mario Lemieux<br />
as the only players in NHL history with at least 1,000 assists and 600 goals.<br />
“The goals and the points, it's not in my head. That's why it's sometimes<br />
hard to get them,” Jagr said. “If you want to be a goal scorer and win<br />
scoring titles, you have to be hungry. But I've changed. I'm not 22 or 25<br />
anymore, so I don't look at the stats.<br />
“But personally, my body never gets tired. The more I play, the fresher I get<br />
and the stronger I get. I think it would be better if I played one more game<br />
right now.”<br />
Jagr and Cody Eakin connected on power plays for Dallas' first two goals<br />
after penalties against Los Angeles defenseman Keaton Ellerby. Jagr<br />
converted a rebound of Jamie Benn's shot with 10:20 remaining, his ninth<br />
of the season and 674th of his career — 10th on the NHL's all-time list.<br />
“I don't know what I want to bring to this team. I'm not really sure,” Jagr<br />
said. “Last year, I know they had a lot of guys who could score goals, and<br />
this year I'm getting paid more money than I did last year. So I've got a little<br />
more responsibility on the power play and scoring goals. So I have to<br />
change my thinking a little bit.”<br />
Eakin is impressed.<br />
“He's been playing real strong for us, and we need him to be playing like<br />
this,” Eakin said. “He's a threat out there every night, and it's huge for the<br />
team when he produces like that. He's been around for a long time and he's<br />
seen it all in this game. I think I read somewhere that he won a Stanley Cup<br />
the day after I was born — so guys have a tremendous amount of respect<br />
for him.”<br />
Antoine Roussel completed the scoring with an empty-net goal and Kari<br />
Lehtonen stopped 30 shots in his third straight start, after missing the<br />
previous five games with a lower body injury.<br />
Jeff Carter scored his 12th goal in 12 games and 16th this season for Los<br />
Angeles. Trevor Lewis also scored for the defending Stanley Cup<br />
champions and Jonathan Quick made 17 saves.<br />
“We didn't get good enough goaltending tonight,” coach Darryl Sutter said.<br />
“We need to raise the save percentage. It's one stat that doesn't lie, right?<br />
… If you're giving up four goals a game, you can't win. You need better<br />
goaltending and better defense. Simple. “<br />
Quick's record slipped to 7-7-2. Last season he was 35-21-13 while setting<br />
franchise records with 10 shutouts, a 1.95 goals-against average and a<br />
.929 save percentage before winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff<br />
MVP.<br />
The Kings took a 2-1 lead shortly after they were stopped by Lehtonen on a<br />
short-handed bid. Carter's wrist shot from the right caromed into the net off<br />
Benn's left skate. But Dallas pulled even late in period as Eakin chipped the<br />
puck past the backchecking Martinez in the Kings' zone and beat Quick to<br />
the glove side while Ellerby was off for hooking Trevor Daley.<br />
“We played OK, but kind of up and down — spurts of good and spurts of<br />
bad — and we let a team like that hang around and they kind of took over in<br />
the third,” Kings forward Colin Fraser said.<br />
“They seemed to have the puck a lot and they just took it to us a little too<br />
much.”<br />
Jagr opened the scoring 5:28 into the game. Ellerby was off for tripping Erik<br />
Cole when Benn passed the puck from the top of the right circle to Jagr<br />
about 10 feet to the left of the net, and the five-time NHL scoring champ<br />
one-timed it past Quick.<br />
“The first one was beautiful. He found me on the back door on the power<br />
play,” Jagr said. “The first 15 games we kind of struggled on the power play,<br />
but lately we've been doing a lot better job. That's important because it's a<br />
short season and the games are so tight. So the special teams are going to<br />
win the games for you.”<br />
Los Angeles tied it when Dwight King's persistent forechecking behind the<br />
net allowed Lewis to gain control. He circled the net before using Vernon<br />
Fidler as a screen to beat Lehtonen high to the stick side.<br />
This was the opener of a five-game season series with the Stars, whom the<br />
Kings beat out for the final Western Conference playoff berth before<br />
becoming the first eighth seed to win a Stanley Cup.<br />
“Of course you're more excited when you come to play against the team<br />
that just won the Cup, so I think that really helped us get ready to battle,”<br />
Lehtonen said.<br />
NOTES<br />
Morrow's goal was his 243rd with the Stars, tying Jere Lehtinen for second<br />
place on the Dallas list behind Mike Modano's 434. Modano scored 123<br />
other goals for the franchise while it was in Minnesota. ... Jagr needs four<br />
assists to join Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Steve<br />
Yzerman, Joe Sakic and former Pittsburgh teammate Mario Lemieux as the<br />
only players in NHL history with at least 1,000 assists and 600 goals. ...<br />
Kings D Rob Scuderi and Dallas LW Eric Nystrom were both raised in the<br />
same town, Syosset, N.Y., which is about 30 miles east of Madison Square<br />
Garden. Nystrom is the son of Bobby Nystrom, who won four Stanley Cup<br />
titles with the Islanders. ... This was the opener of a five-game season<br />
series with the Stars, whom the Kings beat out for the final Western<br />
Conference playoff berth before becoming the first eighth seed to win a<br />
Stanley Cup.<br />
Orange County Register: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662022 Los Angeles Kings<br />
DALLAS 5, KINGS 2: Kings see stars in loss to Dallas<br />
NHL: Jagr scores twice as L.A. is unable to pull out another victory.<br />
By Elliott Teaford, Staff Writer<br />
The Kings sure didn't start strong enough to suit coach Darryl Sutter on<br />
Thursday night.<br />
They didn't play all that well in the middle, either.<br />
As for the ending?<br />
Well, Sutter said it best after a defenseless 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars at<br />
Staples Center.<br />
"We couldn't handle the Benn line," he grumbled after Dallas center Jamie<br />
Benn and ageless winger Jaromir Jagr skated circles around the Kings,<br />
ending their six-game home winning streak. "Nobody answered, took<br />
responsibility. Goalie, defense and forwards. We couldn't handle that line.<br />
"Benn and Jagr were too much for us."<br />
The 41-year-old Jagr scored twice, including the back-breaking goal a little<br />
more than four minutes after Brenden Morrow gave the Stars the lead for<br />
good at 3-2 only 5:16 into the third period. Sutter wasn't happy about Jagr's<br />
goal, but Morrow's really irritated him.<br />
"Stoll in the corner, Slava shouldn't go there. Scuderi? I don't know," Sutter<br />
said, breaking down the Kings' coverage breakdown by pointing out with<br />
Jarret Stoll marking his man in the corner, defenseman Slava Voynov<br />
should have stayed near the net.<br />
Voynov's defense partner, Rob Scuderi, also should have covered the net,<br />
according to Sutter.<br />
"If you're giving up four goals a game, you can't win," Sutter said, referring<br />
to the Kings' losses last Saturday to the Vancouver Canucks, their victory<br />
Tuesday over the St. Louis Blues and their loss to the Stars.<br />
"You need better<br />
goaltending and better defense. Simple."<br />
The Kings' losses to the Canucks and Stars included late empty-net goals.<br />
They rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat the Blues by scoring five consecutive<br />
goals. Whatever momentum they generated from wins Monday over the<br />
Nashville Predators and Tuesday over the Blues disappeared Thursday.<br />
Sutter refused to blame the Kings' lackluster play on a stretch of three<br />
games in four nights.<br />
"No excuse for it," he said. "I felt good. I'm almost 55. I felt awesome."<br />
Sutter then addressed what he believed to be lackluster play in net from<br />
Jonathan Quick, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the<br />
playoffs last spring. Sutter didn't spare Quick, who simply hasn't been as<br />
sharp as he was during the Kings' Stanley Cup championship run.<br />
"Well, I think we didn't get good enough goaltending tonight," Sutter said.<br />
"We need to raise the save percentage. It's a stat that tells the truth. If<br />
there's one stat that doesn't lie - right? (Dallas' Kari) Lehtonen was at about<br />
.940 or so. That's a stat that always holds true."<br />
The Kings took an all-too-brief 2-1 lead thanks to Jeff Carter's 12 th goal in<br />
as many games, an even-strength lightning bolt that seemed to come out of<br />
nowhere at 15:30 of the second period. Carter's casual flip from the faceoff<br />
circle struck a retreating defender and ricocheted into the net.<br />
"He's money," Sutter said of Carter at the Kings' morning skate.<br />
Dallas tied the score at 2-all on Cody Eakin's power-play goal on a nifty<br />
backhander that caught Quick by surprise at 18:46 of the second period.<br />
Morrow then scored 5:16 into the third period to give the Stars a 3-2 lead,<br />
and the Kings couldn't answer back.<br />
LA Daily News: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662023 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Preview: Jeff Carter's scoring streak puts the Los Angeles Kings back in<br />
NHL playoff hunt<br />
By Elliott Teaford, Staff Writer<br />
Posted: 03/07/2013 07:48:11 PM PST<br />
Updated: 03/07/2013 07:52:18 PM PST<br />
LOS ANGELES KINGS vs. DALLAS STARS<br />
Faceoff: 7:30 p.m. today, Staples Center<br />
TV: FSW<br />
The Kings won seven consecutive games at home going into their contest<br />
against the Dallas Stars at Staples Center, the third game on a five-game<br />
homestand. The Kings also won nine of their past 11 games, including two<br />
straight after a road loss Saturday at Vancouver.<br />
Jeff Carter has 11 goals in his past 11 games and leads the Kings with 15.<br />
"He's money," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of Carter.<br />
But the Kings' recent success, after a 3-5-2 start to their Stanley Cup<br />
defense, isn't simply a one-man show. The Kings continue to mix sound<br />
defense and goaltending with timely scoring to win. Jonathan Quick is<br />
expected to start in goal against Dallas.<br />
And now the Kings are displaying more scoring depth than in the past. Five<br />
different players scored in their 6-4 victory Tuesday over the St. Louis<br />
Blues, although none of them were named Drew Doughty. The standout<br />
defenseman is still looking for his first of the season.<br />
"It's frustrating, obviously," Doughty said. "It's in my head too often. I want<br />
to get that goal really bad. It's not that I'm cheating or anything different to<br />
try to get it. I'm still playing my solid defensive game and if I have that<br />
opportunity I'll try to put one in the net.<br />
"Yeah, it's frustrating, but the coaches are happy with the way I'm playing<br />
and if I don't score a goal and we're winning, it really doesn't matter. … I'm<br />
shooting every chance I get. Sometimes the bounces go your way and<br />
sometimes they don't."<br />
LA Daily News: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662024 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Game 22 Preview: Dallas at Los Angeles<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 3:33 pm<br />
Projected Starting Goaltender, Los Angeles – Jonathan Quick<br />
Season: 16 GP (15 GS) / 7-6-2 record / 2.49 GAA / .900 Sv% / 0 SHO<br />
Career vs Dallas: 18 (17) / 13-3-2 / 2.15 / .925 / 2<br />
Last Game vs Dallas: 2/12/12 / 60 MP / 26/28 shots / 4-2 W<br />
2012-13, Home: 6 (5) / 4-1-1 / 2.07 / .896 / 0<br />
Projected Starting Goaltender, Dallas – Kari Lehtonen<br />
Season: 14 (13) / 8-3-1 / 2.26 / .930 / 0<br />
Career vs Los Angeles: 12 (12) / 6-6-0 / 2.72 / .900 / 0<br />
Last Game vs Los Angeles: 2/12/12 / 59 MP / 12/15 shots / 2-4 L<br />
2012-13, Away: 7 (7) / 4-2-0 / 1.95 / .938 / 0<br />
Leading Scorers, Los Angeles<br />
Total Points: Anze Kopitar (7-13=20)<br />
Goals: Jeff Carter (15-2=17)<br />
Assists: Anze Kopitar (7-13=20)<br />
Plus/Minus: Slava Voynov (+10; 4-9=13), Justin Williams (+10; 2-10=12)<br />
Penalty Minutes: Jordan Nolan (31; 2-2=4)<br />
Leading Scorers, Dallas<br />
Total Points: Jaromir Jagr (7-8=15), Loui Eriksson (7-8=15)<br />
Goals: Jaromir Jagr (7-8=15), Loui Eriksson (7-8=15)<br />
Assists: Derek Roy (3-11=14)<br />
Plus/Minus: Derek Roy (+7; 3-11=14)<br />
Penalty Minutes: Brenden Dillon (33; 3-3=6)<br />
A stick tap goes to: Texas Stars (AHL) coach Willie Desjardins and Dallas’<br />
division of player development. There are a handful of players making<br />
impacts at the NHL level that were adequately prepared to contribute during<br />
their stay with the Cedar Park (Austin), Texas-based club during the<br />
lockout. Defensemen Brenden Dillon, Jordie Benn and 6-foot-7 giant<br />
Jamieson Oleksiak have forged roles, while forwards Cody Eakin and<br />
Antoine Rousseau have added secondary scoring in the absence of Ray<br />
Whitney. The 6-foot-3 Dillon, a late-blooming, non-drafted free agent who<br />
signed a three-year entry level contract in March, 2011, has shown<br />
toughness in rising quickly through the team’s system and has provided<br />
some needed minutes in adding an option to the club’s blueline.<br />
A fist shake goes to: 82-game NHL seasons. The Stars, who have missed<br />
the playoffs for four consecutive years, have not been a strong second-half<br />
team in their playoff drought. Dallas sputtered through a 3-8-1 February two<br />
years ago and missed the playoffs on the final day of the regular season in<br />
April, 2011. Last year, the Stars led the Pacific Division after 70 games with<br />
83 points before finishing with three wins in their final 12 games and missed<br />
the playoffs by six points. Since winning seven of nine division titles<br />
between 1996-97 and 2005-06, Dallas surprisingly hasn’t finished above<br />
third in the Pacific Division.<br />
Why the Kings need to win this game: This is a home game against a<br />
divisional rival that will be in a dogfight for the playoffs. Jonathan Quick<br />
needs to continue to find his rhythm.<br />
Rankings and Statistics<br />
Goals/Game: LAK – t-13 / 2.81; DAL – 17 / 2.73<br />
Goals Against/Game: LAK – t-6 / 2.43; DAL – 18 / 2.86<br />
Power Play: LAK – t-16 / 16.5%; DAL – 13 / 17.7%<br />
Penalty Kill: LAK – t-10 / 83.3%; DAL – 9 / 83.8%<br />
Shots/Game: LAK – t-15 / 28.9; DAL – t-26 / 27.3<br />
Shots Against/Game: LAK – 2 / 24.5; DAL – 22 / 30.5<br />
Faceoffs: LAK – 7 / 51.9%; DAL – t-23 / 47.8%<br />
Save Percentage: LAK – 20 / .901; DAL – t-15 / .906<br />
Projected Lines – Los Angeles<br />
Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams<br />
Dustin Penner – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter<br />
Dwight King – Jarret Stoll – Trevor Lewis<br />
Kyle Clifford – Colin Fraser – Jordan Nolan<br />
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty<br />
Rob Scuderi – Slava Voynov<br />
Keaton Ellerby – Alec Martinez<br />
Jonathan Quick<br />
Jonathan Bernier<br />
Notes: Jake Muzzin has set career-highs in ice time five different times this<br />
season. Los Angeles has improved from 22nd in the league to 7th in the<br />
league in faceoffs over the last eight games, logging a 7-1-0 record over<br />
that span. The Kings have outscored their opponents 16-2 in the third<br />
period since Nick Foligno’s goal late in a 2-1 Los Angeles win over<br />
Columbus on February 15. The Kings have scored 30 goals in their last<br />
eight games. As always, line projections are educated assessments and not<br />
definite alignments.<br />
Projected Lines – Dallas<br />
Loui Eriksson – Jamie Benn – Jaromir Jagr<br />
Antoine Rousseau – Derek Roy – Erik Cole<br />
Brenden Morrow – Cody Eakin – Reilly Smith<br />
Eric Nystrom – Vern Fiddler – Ryan Garbutt<br />
Stephane Robidas – Brenden Dillon<br />
Alex Goligoski – Jamieson Oleksiak<br />
Jordie Benn – Trevor Daley<br />
Kari Lehtonen<br />
Richard Bachman<br />
Notes: Lines via Defending Big D and Mike Heika. Ray Whitney is eyeing a<br />
return next week from a stress fracture in his foot that has kept him out of<br />
the lineup since February 1. The Stars have recorded points in 16 of their<br />
last 20 games at Staples Center. Since the start of the 2006-07 season,<br />
Dallas has gained 26 points in Los Angeles, more than the point totals<br />
gained on the road against any other Pacific Division team. As always, line<br />
projections are educated assessments and not definite alignments.<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662025 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Darryl Sutter on face shields<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 1:51 pm<br />
In light of the frightening injury suffered when Marc Staal was struck in his<br />
eye by a deflected puck on Tuesday, there was a discussion at this<br />
morning’s skate over the merits of grandfathering in a rule that would make<br />
face shields mandatory for all players entering the NHL, and Darryl Sutter<br />
shared some of his opinions on the subject.<br />
Darryl Sutter, on face shields:<br />
“I’m a proponent of the shield. These kids, they play their whole life…with a<br />
shield or a cage, so why wouldn’t you continue to protect it once you’re<br />
playing at the highest level you can? That’s not Marc [Staal], that’s<br />
everybody. The kids that come from the American League take their shields<br />
off to play. The one time they shouldn’t have the helmet on or the shield on<br />
is warmups. I mean, that’s the only time they ever get to do anything<br />
without a [helmet] on the ice…and I think that’s their right as their identity. I<br />
believe that should be their right. That should be their 16 minutes [for]<br />
people to see that he’s got blonde hair, or sideburns. That’s good. Like,<br />
really, that’s the only time ever that you get to see them with their gear<br />
close to competition. But other than that, I believe that they should [wear<br />
shields].”<br />
Sutter, on irregular use of face shields:<br />
“You know what? Look, go through it. Kids that come from the American<br />
League take their shields off when they get here. It doesn’t really make that<br />
much sense. But you know what? It’s their right. It doesn’t matter until it’s a<br />
grandfather [clause] or a rule or a parent or a wife or a son that says ‘Dad,<br />
honey, you know what?’ That’s the way it works. There’s not one thing I or<br />
any of us can do about it. My first year playing in the NHL was the first year<br />
it was grandfathered in. It was the last year you could not wear a helmet. So<br />
within three years, there were only like four guys without helmets. Like,<br />
everybody was wearing them…Really, the only guys that were left…that<br />
were my age group were Doug Wilson and Craig MacTavish. But other than<br />
that, everybody put them on. And it’d be funny, because there would be<br />
guys that would be hot or cold, and they’d not wear a helmet, they’d wear a<br />
helmet. If they hadn’t scored for like three games, they’d take the helmet<br />
off. You were still allowed to do that. But that was the last year, and then<br />
you signed the waiver….If you signed it, either you were going to wear it or<br />
not wear it. Then you had to do it, But we had lots of guys in Chicago.<br />
They’d not wear a helmet, they’d like wear a different type of helmet. It was<br />
funny, actually…Chicago was probably one of the last teams with most<br />
guys without helmets.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662026 Los Angeles Kings<br />
NHLPA consents to realignment<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 3:51 pm<br />
The National Hockey League Players’ Association has consented to the<br />
realignment proposed by the National Hockey League.<br />
“The NHL Players’ Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season,” NHL<br />
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for<br />
its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future<br />
developments warrant.”<br />
The general sentiment is that the NHL Board of Governors will approve the<br />
plan.<br />
Under the proposed realignment, teams would be placed into a 14-team<br />
Western Conference or a 16-team Eastern Conference, with divisions<br />
outlined below.<br />
WESTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Pacific Division<br />
KINGS<br />
Anaheim<br />
Calgary<br />
Edmonton<br />
Phoenix<br />
San Jose<br />
Vancouver<br />
Mid-West Division<br />
Chicago<br />
Colorado<br />
Dallas<br />
Minnesota<br />
Nashville<br />
St. Louis<br />
Winnipeg<br />
EASTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Atlantic Division<br />
Carolina<br />
Columbus<br />
New Jersey<br />
New York Islanders<br />
New York Rangers<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
Pittsburgh<br />
Washington<br />
Central Division<br />
Boston<br />
Buffalo<br />
Detroit<br />
Florida<br />
Montreal<br />
Ottawa<br />
Tampa Bay<br />
Toronto<br />
On February 25, Darryl Sutter shared his opinions on the proposed plan,<br />
saying “I went through lots of…realignments in 35 years. I went through<br />
divisions, conferences, unbalanced schedules, unbalanced divisions,<br />
unbalanced conferences, so whatever they decide…you’re never going to<br />
be happy all the way around because of travel. It’s the way it works. My<br />
only issue, quite honest, with what they’re proposing is obviously…borders.<br />
It affects border crossings and backs-to-backs and adds a lot of time into<br />
your schedule. There’s nothing you can do when you’re on the west coast<br />
about time zones, because, hey, half the teams are in another time zone.<br />
So those are always the two things for you, are how your travel affects you.<br />
Other than that, it’d be nice to be put a little bit of pressure on the east so<br />
they’re not in their own bed and jammies all the time. It is. It’s easier for<br />
them come playoff time. I’ve coached only in the Western Conference, and<br />
the Eastern Conference has an easier path once playoffs start just because<br />
of the travel. Hey, Detroit’s always wanted to get over there. It’d be<br />
awesome being an old school guy to see Detroit, Toronto, you know, that<br />
sort of thing. But you know, we had the old division in Chicago, and there<br />
were three of us from the original six, and…it was pretty cool. Detroit,<br />
Toronto and Chicago. So that was pretty cool. The heritage guys, the<br />
history guys all liked that part of it.”<br />
More notes and opinions on realignment will come as the plan progresses.<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662027 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 1:37 pm<br />
On what has caused the recent turnaround:<br />
“I don’t think there’s been any sort of a ‘turnaround’. I think we’ve played –<br />
I’ve said it numerous times – other than two games, we’ve played really well<br />
this year.”<br />
On Carter’s recent scoring touch:<br />
“He’s money. Give him the puck. He doesn’t need much time.”<br />
On why, “all of a sudden”, is Carter scoring:<br />
“It’s not really ‘all of a sudden’. He’s got 15 goals this year. It’s not ‘all of a<br />
sudden.’ He led the playoffs in goal scoring last year, I believe, with two<br />
other players in this room. He’s averaged 30-something goals a year. It’s<br />
not ‘all of a sudden.’ That’s Jeff Carter. He’s a goal scorer.<br />
On what allowed the team to come back on Tuesday:<br />
“We gave up some easy goals. It wasn’t a 4-1 game going into the third<br />
period. It wasn’t. They had like four goals on what, five or six shots. They<br />
had a pleasant time with it. Until then, we hadn’t been able to generate<br />
anything. If you look at shots and opportunities as the game goes along,<br />
that wasn’t the right score.”<br />
On his recent comment that he likes his teams to play like they’re a goal<br />
down:<br />
“I’m not a coach that coaches to sit on leads or sit on being down two or up<br />
two or any of that stuff. I believe you’re supposed to play the game the way<br />
your gameplan started the game, and it’s not by the score. So, if you do that<br />
consistently, it builds trust and it builds belief, and eventually you win more<br />
than you lose. It’s got nothing to do with the outcome of the game, ever.<br />
You’re going to win, you’re going to lose. I don’t know anybody… – other<br />
than Chicago – that goes 48-0. It’s not really anything other than that. If you<br />
believe you have a good team, then you have a chance to win every night if<br />
you play the same way. You’re not always going to win, but you’ll have a<br />
good chance.”<br />
On some coaches leaning towards a defensive style when their teams are<br />
ahead:<br />
“Some guys don’t last very long, either.”<br />
On where this particular coaching philosophy comes from:<br />
“I don’t really know, but probably from watching guys like Scotty Bowman<br />
and great coaches [where] you learn what they’re trying to do, and with the<br />
understanding that the coach is usually the one that instills the confidence<br />
or the trust in a group. That’s the way the game is now, and that’s one thing<br />
that probably will never change. You have to be able to instill that.”<br />
On whether he reinforces this mantra between periods:<br />
“Every shift, every time out, every whistle, every time a young player comes<br />
to the bench. It’s pretty much got nothing to do with ‘between periods’.<br />
Game day is game day and I believe it starts this morning and when the<br />
game is over tonight, it’ll stop. It’s not reinforcing a thing.”<br />
On what he likes about Jeff Carter’s shot:<br />
“It’s not so much the shot. You have to have the ability as an off winger – a<br />
good offensive player – to get open or to find where you are open, and then<br />
get it away. You look at [the] last two or three goals that he’s scored, first<br />
off, him, Brown and Williams lead our team in shots. So there’s a good<br />
chance if you do that…you get more chances to score. Right now, he is and<br />
Brownie and Willie have to continue to get shots. Jeff Carter…there’s not<br />
one thing that’s greater in his game than anything else. It’s not his shot or<br />
his size or his speed or anything like that. They’re all good. So when you<br />
have all those combined, you have a good hockey sense, and if you’re<br />
playing with good players, then you have a chance to score.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662028 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Tough love for Martinez<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 12:32 pm<br />
After the win over St. Louis, Darryl Sutter commended the play of his “four<br />
kids” on defense, mentioning Jake Muzzin, Keaton Ellerby, Slava Voynov<br />
and Drew Doughty by name.<br />
After today’s morning skate, Sutter made it quite clear that he hadn’t simply<br />
forgotten Alec Martinez’s name while evaluating the play of his 25-year-old<br />
blueliner.<br />
Darryl Sutter, on his evaluation of Alec Martinez’s play since his return from<br />
injured reserve:<br />
“He’s struggled. Quite honestly, when he got hurt, the team was, quite<br />
honest, not playing as well as they should have and he…has to be a bigger<br />
part of the solution if he wants to stay in the lineup. I think that he’s a young<br />
player that hasn‘t played much in this league, and my job is to teach them<br />
and make sure they’re prepared to compete, but if they don’t learn and they<br />
don’t compete, then they’re going to have trouble with me in terms of how<br />
much they play and if they play. And that’s the truth.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662029 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 morning skate quotes: Jarret Stoll<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 12:18 pm<br />
On what he attributes the third period success “Just not getting too down,<br />
not getting too carried away with the score, the situation, the period [and]<br />
where we are in the game. Just sticking with our gameplan and knowing<br />
over time it’ll work out. We’ll get our chances. It’s just a matter of if we<br />
capitalize on them or not, and that’ll be the difference in the game. The<br />
other night we capitalized on them. We stuck with the same game. We<br />
didn’t have a very good start, I didn’t think. I thought within the dressing<br />
room, on the bench, we were very positive. We…weren’t down. We weren’t<br />
getting negative. Guys weren’t off-page, straying away from the system.<br />
Everybody was on the same page there, and we just kept pushing.<br />
Eventually they had some breakdowns and we capitalized.”<br />
On what he attributes his 69% faceoff success rate in the last five games “I<br />
had some tough games. I had a couple of them that were 20-something<br />
percent or 30 percent. That pisses me off, to be honest with you. I wanted<br />
to make sure I cleaned up that area of my game. I work on it in practice a<br />
little bit more and [added] a little bit of a change, too, in the way I’m taking<br />
them, too. With the linesmen the way they are – they crack down so much<br />
year after year after year – I’m trying to get kicked out less and change up<br />
some of my tendencies. And that’s hard, too, because I’ve been taking<br />
faceoffs the same way for a long time now. You’ve got to change with the<br />
game, be smart about it and try to work with the linesmen. It’s tough getting<br />
kicked out. Sometimes we don’t have two centermen out there. I’m just<br />
trying to make sure I’m at least 60 [percent] or above consistently.”<br />
On how often he communicates with the linesmen during the game in<br />
regards to faceoffs:<br />
“Always. You want to know where they’re at. Some games are different.<br />
Some games, there’s a little bit more leeway for you, and some games<br />
there’s not at all. So you’ve got to realize that when that game is. There<br />
have been some games where my first two faceoffs I’ve been kicked out, so<br />
I’m [thinking] ‘this is going to be a night here where I’ve got to bear down<br />
and play the game with the rules there on the faceoff.’ Every game’s<br />
different. Every linesman’s different. You’ve just got to adjust.”<br />
On whether he had seen the Toronto-Montreal faceoff in which Tyler Bozak<br />
was not allowed to reset and the puck was dropped:<br />
“I heard about it. I didn’t see it, no. That happens. It definitely happens. I<br />
don’t think it’s happened to me where we’ve gotten scored on right away for<br />
maybe a game-winner or something. Yeah, that happens.<br />
Miscommunication, timing, all those things. It’s tough luck there.”<br />
On whether he gets a “we’re better than this” feeling when the team is<br />
trailing:<br />
“Oh yeah. Anytime we’re down, especially three, four-one, you know you’re<br />
better than that. You know you can bring more, and that’s probably the<br />
calmness in our game where we know that. A lot of situations aren’t going<br />
to rattle us, aren’t going to get us off-page, and it didn’t the other night. The<br />
character in the room, just the sense and the feeling that we know we can<br />
do this, we know we can come back, we know we can get a goal, get two<br />
goals. We all know what happens when that happens. It’s a tough lead to<br />
keep when it feels like the ice is tilted on you. We’re fine in here with any<br />
situation during the game.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662030 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Hot on the draw<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 8:53 am<br />
Los Angeles’ faceoff rate has improved significantly over the past three<br />
weeks. Over the span of eight games – the Kings have won seven of the<br />
eight – the team’s faceoff ranking has catapulted from 22nd in the league to<br />
seventh due to a success rate of 57.2% over that time. Overall, the team<br />
has won 51.9% of faceoffs this season. L.A. finished seventh in the league<br />
by winning 51.5% of its faceoffs a season ago.<br />
In the chart below, Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Jarret Stoll and<br />
Colin Fraser qualify as “regular centers”, as they’ve logged significantly<br />
more draws than any other skaters. Jarret Stoll has been particularly strong<br />
at the faceoff dot over his last five games, winning 54 of his last 84 draws<br />
for a 69.0% success rate.<br />
Dallas, tonight’s opponent, is tied for 23rd in the league with a 47.8%<br />
success rate.<br />
Date / Result / Faceoffs / Successful Faceoffs / Unsuccessful Faceoffs<br />
2/19 / 3-1 at EDM / 33/55 (60%) / Kopitar 10/16 / Stoll 9/17<br />
-All regular centers were above 50%. Only Dwight King (0/1) was below<br />
53%.<br />
2/20 / 3-1 at CGY / 40/62 (65%) / Kopitar 14/22 / Fraser 0/2<br />
-All regular centers were above 64% except for Fraser.<br />
2/23 / 4-1 vs COL / 27/55 (49%) / Kopitar 10/16 / Stoll 2/10<br />
2/25 / 5-2 vs ANA / 41/65 (63%) / Kopitar 16/21 / Fraser 2/5<br />
-Jarret Stoll: 13/23<br />
2/27 / 2-1 vs DET / 33/64 (52%) / Richards 10/16 / Carter 0/3<br />
-Jarret Stoll: 8/15<br />
3/2 / 2-5 at VAN / 36/58 (62%) / Richards 8/11 / Fraser 3/5<br />
-Anyone who took a faceoff for L.A. had at least a 56% rate. Jarret Stoll:<br />
10/16<br />
3/4 / 5-1 vs NAS / 24/48 (50%) / Stoll 9/14 / Kopitar 6/15<br />
3/5 / 6-4 vs STL / 31/56 (55%) / Stoll 14/16 / Kopitar 7/16<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662031 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 postgame notes<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 11:42 pm<br />
-Jeff Carter has 12 goals in the last 12 games (12-1=13.<br />
-Dustin Penner has assists in four straight games (0-4=4), a career high.<br />
-Mike Richards has eight points (2-6=8) in his last eight games.<br />
-Keaton Ellerby logged 11:40 of ice time, which ties for his second-lowest<br />
time-on-ice total with Los Angeles.<br />
-All Kings recorded shorthanded time on ice except for Justin Williams,<br />
Dustin Penner, Jordan Nolan and Dwight King.<br />
-The Kings received only one power play for the third time in eight games.<br />
-Los Angeles won 41 of 60 faceoffs (68%). Jarret Stoll has won 64 of his<br />
last 97 faceoffs (66.0%)<br />
-Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin tied with a game-high five shots on goal.<br />
Friday’s practice is scheduled for 10:30 am at the Toyota Sports Center.<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662032 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 postgame quotes: Darryl Sutter<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 11:26 pm<br />
On what happened after a strong first period:<br />
“It didn’t seem like a strong first period in my opinion. That’s your opinion,<br />
and that was mine.”<br />
On the strong five-on-five play until the third period:<br />
“We couldn’t handle the Benn line and had nobody to answer the checking<br />
responsibility.”<br />
On whether the forwards and/or defensemen were responsible:<br />
“Goalie, defense and forwards. We didn’t have anyone that could handle<br />
that line.”<br />
On whether there was a new look from a Dallas team that featured some<br />
new faces:<br />
“Not really, I mean we’re pretty familiar with all their players. They have<br />
some kids in their lineup this year that are similar to our kids. They’re<br />
energy, hardworking guys and Benn and Jagr were too much for us.”<br />
On what led to Dallas’ third goal, scored by Brenden Morrow:<br />
“Stoll in the corner, on his man, Slava shouldn’t go there and Rob Scuderi –<br />
I’m not really sure.”<br />
On whether there’s a concern over the lack of 60-minute efforts recently:<br />
“Giving up four goals a game, you can’t win. We need better goaltending,<br />
better defense. Simple. It’s four goals in Vancouver, plus an empty net. We<br />
beat Nashville 5-1. Gave up four, have to score five in the third to win our<br />
last game and gave up four tonight. You won’t win any games.”<br />
On whether playing three games in four nights was a factor:<br />
“No, we had a day off yesterday. No excuse for it. I felt good. I’m almost 55.<br />
I felt awesome today.”<br />
On whether there’s an advantage playing the same team twice in a row, as<br />
will happen with Calgary:<br />
“I don’t know. I don’t know how it would…Well, I think we have to do that<br />
several times. It’s no different than a playoff series. We do it with Phoenix<br />
right away. We do it with San Jose home and home, right away.”<br />
On whether he’s surprised that at game 22 goaltending is an issue:<br />
“I’m saying we didn’t get good enough goaltending tonight.”<br />
On the team needing to raise its save percentage:<br />
“We do. It’s a stat that tells the truth. That’s one stat that doesn’t lie, right?<br />
Lehtonen tonight was at about a .940 or so. That’s a stat that always holds<br />
true…Goals against, save percentage – it’s a big thing. They’re both team<br />
stats.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662033 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 postgame quotes: Jaromir Jagr<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 11:00 pm<br />
On being a leader by example for Dallas:<br />
“I don’t know…I’m not really sure. Last year, I knew [<strong>Philadelphia</strong> had] a lot<br />
guys who could score goals. This year, I’m getting paid a lot more money<br />
than I did last year, so I’ve got a little more responsibility on the power play<br />
and scoring goals. That’s why I have to change my thinking a little bit. I’ve<br />
got to be more hungry for the goals than I was last year.”<br />
On where he sees his game at halfway through the season:<br />
“It’s not about me, It’s about the team. Like you said, everything’s so tight.<br />
The race for the playoffs is going to go to the last game. I like the way we’ve<br />
played in the first half, but I think we can get a lot better in the second half<br />
and hopefully we’re going to be injury-free and Kari’s going to play the<br />
same way he played the first half. He’s just one of the best, maybe the best<br />
goalie. This is the way we play. Our defense depends on the goaltender<br />
and some who score goals and work hard….We’re not the [most skilled]<br />
guys in the league, but we can work hard.”<br />
On his chemistry with Jamie Benn:<br />
“I think we are probably 30% of what we can play. I think we’ve got a long<br />
way. We can get a lot better. Obviously I play a different defense style of<br />
the game than he’s probably used to. But it’s tough for me at my age to<br />
change. I can not dump and chase. I’m not fast for that, so I like to keep the<br />
puck, and he adjusts a little bit. I know it’s not his game, but he’s doing a<br />
good job.”<br />
On his goals:<br />
“The first one was beautiful. [Jamie Benn] found me on the backdoor on the<br />
power play. The first 15 games, we kind of struggled on our power play, but<br />
lately we’re doing a lot better job, and it’s important. Short season, the<br />
games are so tight and the special teams are going to win the games for<br />
you. So we have to focus and we have to be good.”<br />
On whether he’s aware of his career goal race with Teemu Selanne:<br />
“I don’t know, actually. I’m not 25 anymore. I don’t look at the stats at all. I<br />
don’t know…I don’t really worry about it. It’s not in my mind. I kind of<br />
changed the last few years, the last five, six years. The goals and the<br />
points, it’s not in my head. That’s why it’s sometimes hard to get them. If<br />
you want to be a goal scorer, you want to end up winning the scoring title,<br />
so you’ve got to have it in your head. You have to be hungrier. But I’ve<br />
changed. I’m not 22, 25 anymore.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662034 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 postgame quotes: Jonathan Quick<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 10:43 pm<br />
On whether the team’s play varies over the course of a long home stand:<br />
“It’s another game. It’s no different whether you’re on the road or at home.<br />
Same thing. [You’ve] got to win a hockey game. We didn’t do it today.”<br />
On the challenges in the third period:<br />
“They scored more than us. We were able score more than the other team<br />
last game in the third period, and they were able to do it tonight. That’s why<br />
they won.”<br />
On what allowed Dallas to outscore L.A. in the third period:<br />
“I didn’t stop them, and usually when you don’t stop the pucks, they go in<br />
the net.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662035 Los Angeles Kings<br />
March 7 postgame quotes: Dustin Brown<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 10:37 pm<br />
On where the breakdowns in the third period occurred:<br />
“I know the fourth one was a faceoff goal, so I’m not really sure what<br />
happened there. It’s probably the one time in the hockey game where you<br />
have a set play. We must have lost coverage. I’m not sure. I haven’t seen<br />
[the replay]. Both goals were just kind of a guy gets in behind our coverage.<br />
It’s a five man, six-man awareness to where everyone is. We made some<br />
errors and they capitalized.”<br />
On whether this was a faster Dallas Stars team than in previous years:<br />
“They definitely had a different look to them. [They had] a lot of new guys in<br />
their lineup with a lot of energy. It was a divisional game and they found a<br />
way to win.”<br />
On the errors that led to Dallas’ goals:<br />
“They worked hard, but every error we made they made a good play on and<br />
found a way to score. That line of Benn, Eriksson and Jagr had an impact<br />
on the game. Our top guys need to be better in a game like tonight.”<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662036 Los Angeles Kings<br />
Game 22: Dallas at Los Angeles<br />
Posted by JonRosen on 7 March 2013, 6:59 pm<br />
Dallas Stars 5, Los Angeles Kings 2<br />
Final<br />
Three Stars<br />
1) Jaromir Jagr, DAL<br />
2) Cody Eakin, DAL<br />
3) Dustin Penner, LA<br />
Attendance: 18,118<br />
SOG: LAK – 33; DAL – 22<br />
PP: LAK – 0/1; DAL – 2/3<br />
Third Period<br />
5) DAL – Brenden Morrow (6) (Cody Eakin, Reilly Smith), 5:16<br />
6) DAL – Jaromir Jagr (9) (Jamie Benn, Trevor Daley), 9:40<br />
7) DAL ENG – Antoine Roussel (5) (Roy), 18:19<br />
Second Period<br />
3) LAK – Jeff Carter (16) (Dustin Penner, Mike Richards), 15:30<br />
4) DAL PPG – Cody Eakin (4) (Alex Goligoski), 18:46<br />
First Period<br />
1) DAL PPG – Jaromir Jagr (8) (Jamie Benn, Alex Goligoski), 5:28<br />
2) LAK – Trevor Lewis (3) (Dwight King, Alec Martinez), 12:10<br />
Los Angeles Kings (12-7-2) vs Dallas Stars (11-9-2)<br />
Thursday, March 7, 2013, 7:30 pm (PT)<br />
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA<br />
Referees: #10 Paul Devorski, #14 Dennis LaRue<br />
Linesmen: #9 Don Henderson, #57 Jay Sharrers<br />
LAK scratches: F Brad Richardson, D Davis Drewiske<br />
LAK starting lineup: G Jonathan Quick, D Rob Scuderi, D Slava Voynov,<br />
LW Dustin Brown, C Anze Kopitar, RW Justin Williams<br />
DAL scratches: D Philip Larsen, F Francis Wathier<br />
DAL starting lineup: G Kari Lehtonen, D Trevor Daley, D Jordie Benn, LW<br />
Antoine Roussel, C Derek Roy, RW Erik Cole<br />
LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662037 Minnesota Wild<br />
Minnesota Wild: NHL players say yes to realignment<br />
By Bruce Brothers<br />
bbrothers at pioneerpress.com<br />
After approval from the league's players association announced Thursday,<br />
March 7, and pending an expected rapid approval by the NHL board of<br />
governors, the NHL will be realigned next season and the Wild will play in<br />
the Midwest Division of the Western Conference.<br />
The Wild will be in a division that includes the Chicago Blackhawks,<br />
Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and<br />
Winnipeg Jets.<br />
The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets will be in the Eastern<br />
Conference.<br />
Midwest Division teams are expected to play 32 games against the 16 East<br />
teams (one home, one away), three games each vs. the Pacific division of<br />
Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and<br />
Phoenix and 29 games in their own division.<br />
NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr issued the following statement<br />
Thursday: "After discussions with the executive board, the NHLPA has<br />
given consent to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15<br />
season."<br />
Pioneer Press LOADED: 03.08.2013
662038 Montreal Canadiens<br />
Prust and Eller notch goal and two assists in Habs win over Canes<br />
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Associated Press<br />
Carey Price held off Carolina and his offence got the key goals in the third<br />
period for the win.<br />
Price had a season-high 41 saves and Brandon Prust and Lars Eller each<br />
had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens as they earned a 4-2 win over<br />
the Hurricanes on Thursday.<br />
Eller’s goal at 6:09 of the third gave Montreal the lead for good and P.K.<br />
Subban added a power-play goal at 7:56 to make it 4-2.<br />
Price, who had given up 12 goals in his previous two starts, was sharp in<br />
the first and third periods and faced pressure in the second when the<br />
Hurricanes threw 21 shots at him.<br />
“A lot of guys understand that you can’t dwell on losses,” Price said. “If<br />
anybody is struggling, we’ve got each other’s back. I thought we came out<br />
strong in the first period and were a little flat in the second, but the most<br />
important thing is that we bounced back in the third period.”<br />
Carolina’s top line of Eric Staal, Alexander Semin and Jiri Tlusty had no<br />
success against Price despite combining for 15 shots.<br />
Price stopped Eric Staal’s penalty shot with 5:08 left in the second and<br />
made a tremendous glove save against Semin also in the second. It was<br />
the first time in four games Carolina’s top line has failed to pick up a point.<br />
“We couldn’t get a bounce or break,” Eric Staal said. “The effort was there.”<br />
Carolina goalkeeper Justin Peters, playing his second straight game since<br />
being called up from Charlotte of the AHL, made 24 saves on 28 shots.<br />
Peters has gotten both starts since Cam Ward went out with a knee injury.<br />
Prust opened the scoring at 3:22 of the first and defenceman Josh Georges<br />
notched his second goal of the season at 8:19 and Montreal went up 2-0 in<br />
the first period.<br />
“They came at us hard in the second,” Prust said. “I think we caught<br />
ourselves on our heels and didn’t respond the right way, but I think we did a<br />
good job regrouping during the intermission and had a good third period.”<br />
Using an 8-1 shot advantage to start the second period, the Hurricanes<br />
rallied as Jordan Staal got his sixth goal of the season with a shot from the<br />
right circle at 6:07 to make it 2-1.<br />
Drayson Bowman tied it at 2-2 when he scored his second goal of the<br />
season at 10:27 of the second.<br />
NOTES: The Canadiens played their third game of a five-game road trip. ...<br />
Carolina recalled F Jeremy Welsh from Charlotte and placed Tim Brent on<br />
injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 28. Welsh earned his first NHL point with<br />
an assist. ... Montreal coach Michel Therrien was back behind the bench<br />
after missing Thursday morning’s pregame skate with an illness. ...<br />
Montreal D Francis Bouillon played his 700th career game.<br />
Globe And Mail LOADED: 03.08.2013
662039 Montreal Canadiens<br />
Therrien’s message awakens Canadiens<br />
By Pat Hickey, The Gazette March 8, 2013<br />
RALEIGH, N.C. — Carey Price wasn’t selected as one of the three stars in<br />
the Canadiens’ 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, but coach Michel<br />
Therrien said he was the reason the Canadiens left town with a win.<br />
“We gave up 21 shots in the second period and 11 of them were scoring<br />
chances,” said Therrien. “If not for Carey Price, we would have ended up<br />
packing our bags after the second period.”<br />
Price downplayed his role in the win but he made 42 saves, including one<br />
on a point-blank shot by Justin Faulk in the first period and one on an Eric<br />
Staal penalty shot in the second.<br />
“We did a pretty good job in front of me,” said Price, who had given up 12<br />
goals in his last two starts. “I kicked out a lot of rebounds, but the guys did a<br />
good job in front of me. (The Hurricanes) got a lot of chintzy shots. On their<br />
chances, they buried a few but, overall, we played good."<br />
Price described the glove save on Faulk as “one of the saves I wasn’t<br />
making over the last two games, so that definitely helped out.”<br />
Therrien said Price showed his character by participating in an optional<br />
workout Wednesday. It featured lots of penalty shots and the practice paid<br />
off on Staal’s attempt, which came with the game tied 2-2.<br />
“I kind of had an idea of what he wanted to do,” said Price. “He does the<br />
same thing Alex (Galchenyuk) does, coming in slow and he stops and tries<br />
to shovel it high blocker. At that point in the game, it was kind of important. I<br />
think that might have changed the tide a little (if he had scored), but in the<br />
third we refocused and came out strong.”<br />
The Canadiens received some help with their motivation from Therrien.<br />
“We got a message from coach between the second and third periods,” said<br />
Price. “I won’t go into the details, but we got the message loud and clear. It<br />
was all deserved and well put.”<br />
Price said he was more competitive than in his last two starts.<br />
“It’s being on top of the paint and being aggressive, not sitting back on your<br />
heels,” said Price. “I came in with a different attitude than in Long Island. I<br />
had a couple of lucky bounces. I got hit in the face with one I didn’t see.<br />
Some nights they hit you; other nights, they squeak past you.”<br />
The line of Lars Eller, Brandon Prust and Galchenyuk sparked the offence,<br />
with Prust having a three-point night with a goal and two assists.<br />
“I think you have to go back to peewee or maybe the minors, it’s been a<br />
while,” Prust said when asked about his last three-point night.<br />
He was a fight away from registering a Gordie Howe hat-trick — a goal, an<br />
assist and a fight.<br />
“I used to have them all the time in junior and I thought about (fighting) in<br />
the second period when we were struggling, but I was pretty sure we were<br />
going to come back,” said Prust.<br />
“He’s getting a chance and he’s playing the best hockey of his career,”<br />
Therrien said of Prust. “He’s in a position not only to play defence and kill<br />
penalties, but also to contribute on offence. That line was our best line<br />
tonight.”<br />
One of his assists came in a 4-on-4 situation with Josh Gorges joining the<br />
rush.<br />
“Backhand saucer pass, my specialty,” Prust said when asked to describe<br />
the play. “I saw (Gorges) streaking in and he had his man beat and I was<br />
able to get the puck to him.”<br />
“We encourage the players, especially the defencemen, to get that second<br />
wave on the rush,” said Therrien. “We’ve been working on that in practice<br />
and Josh jumped in on the play and it worked out for him.”<br />
Yannick Weber made only his second start of the season but he struggled<br />
before leaving the game in the second period with a lower-body injury. The<br />
Canadiens have called up defenceman Greg Pateryn from Hamilton and he<br />
will join the team Friday in Tampa.<br />
Montreal Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662040 Montreal Canadiens<br />
Price makes 42 saves to calm 'Canes<br />
By Pat Hickey, The Gazette March 8, 2013 5:39 AM<br />
RALEIGH, N.C. — Carey Price was back in top form, making 42 saves as<br />
the Canadiens rallied in the third period to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-<br />
2 Thursday night at PNC Arena. Lars Eller snapped a 2-2 tie when he went<br />
to the net and converted a pass from Josh Gorges at 6:11. Eller also<br />
collected an assist on P.K. Subban’s power-play goal at 7:56.<br />
Still No. 1: The victory allowed the Canadiens to maintain their hold on first<br />
place in the Eastern Conference, but the Boston Bruins defeated Toronto to<br />
remain one point back in the Northeast Division with three games in hand.<br />
What happened?: It would be a mistake to say the Canadiens got caught up<br />
in a run-and-gun game in the second period because the Hurricanes did all<br />
the running and gunning. They outshot Montreal 21-5 and scored twice to<br />
tie the game at 2-2. The Hurricanes had an 11-0 shot advantage to open<br />
the period and were rewarded when Jordan Staal scored at 6:07. Drayson<br />
Bowman tied it at 10:27 with an assist to Jeremy Welsh. It was the first NHL<br />
point for Welsh, who was called up from Charlotte earlier in the day.<br />
Changing up: Yannick Weber played his first game since Jan. 27 and it may<br />
be a while before he plays another one. Weber, who replaced Tomas<br />
Kaberle on defence, had a blind clearing pass picked off and that led to<br />
Carolina’s second goal. He also provided Eric Staal with an opportunity<br />
when he misplayed the puck at the point. Weber set off in pursuit of Staal,<br />
who was awarded a penalty shot when Weber hooked him. Weber was let<br />
off the hook for that miscue when Staal failed to beat Price. Weber left the<br />
game late in the second period with what was described as a lower-body<br />
injury.<br />
Opening act: Brandon Prust seems to enjoy playing against the Hurricanes.<br />
He opened the scoring in the Canadiens’ 3-0 home win over Carolina Feb.<br />
9 and he delivered the first goal in Carolina Thursday night when he scored<br />
on the rebound of Alexei Emelin’s shot from the point at 3:22 of the first<br />
period. Prust also assisted on the second goal, finding Gorges in front after<br />
taking a stretch pass from Subban, and he picked up the second assist on<br />
Eller’s game-winner.<br />
Streaking Subban: With an assist in the first period and a power-play goal in<br />
the third, Subban extended his points streak to five games. He has three<br />
goals and four assists in the streak.<br />
What’s next: The Canadiens wrap up the five-game road trip with back-toback<br />
games Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Sunday<br />
against the Florida Panthers. They are back at the Bell Centre Wednesday<br />
against the New Jersey Devils.<br />
Montreal Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662041 Montreal Canadiens<br />
About last night …<br />
Posted by Mike Boone<br />
Here’s my theory: Glen Sather felt guilty.<br />
When Brandon Prust became an unrestricted free agent last summer, the<br />
Rangers general manager could have re-signed his rugged winger.<br />
Instead, Sather let Prust walk. And the Canadiens signed him to a fouryear,<br />
$10 million deal.<br />
Most of the punditocracy thought GM Marc Bergevin had overpaid for a role<br />
player.<br />
But with half the season completed, Prust is one of the main reasons your<br />
astonishing Montreal Canadiens are in first place in the Eastern<br />
Conference.<br />
Where does the guilt come in?<br />
The well-traveled Sather played the 1974-’75 season in Montreal. He<br />
became a good friend of the legendary Red Fisher; and in subsequent<br />
seasons, as an NHL executive, Sather has savoured the delights of our<br />
beautiful city, including the great steaks at Moishe’s.<br />
So perhaps it weighed on Sather’s conscience after he unloaded Scott<br />
Gomez’s toxic contract on Bob Gainey. Maybe he figured he owed us one<br />
and made good by letting Prust leave the Rangers.<br />
OK, that’s a totally idiotic idea, even by my standards.<br />
But Prust has been the revelation of the season to date. And this franchise<br />
was WAY overdue for a pleasant surprise.<br />
In the 4-2 win over Carolina Thursday night, Prust had the first three-point<br />
game of his career. The goal he potted to open the scoring was Prust’s<br />
fourth. In 82 games with the Rangers last season, he had five.<br />
Prust never takes a shift off. He kills penalties. He’s fit in seamlessly with a<br />
variety of linemates – including rookies Brendan Gallagher and Alex<br />
Galchenyuk. He leads the team at plus-13.<br />
And he’s not afraid of Milan Lucic.<br />
At this point, $2.5 million – prorated for a 48-game sked – makes Brandon<br />
Prust a bargain.<br />
And value for money is something else we’re not used to in Montreal.<br />
Prust’s line was the Canadiens’ best in Carolina.<br />
I don’t know what team psychologist Sylvain Guimond told Lars Eller, but<br />
for the last week the Dane has been great. Eller had a goal and two assists<br />
against the ‘Canes. He was part of a penalty-kill that pitched a shutout. Eller<br />
went 13-9 on faceoffs and had a couple hits. Possibly emboldened by the<br />
proximity of Prust, Eller is using his size effectively.<br />
Galchenyuk did not show up on the scoresheet, but the kid’s game is<br />
coming along and he fits in nicely with Eller and Prust. I liked Galchenyuk’s<br />
intensity on the puck during some third-period shifts when the line kept<br />
Carolina bottled up in their end.<br />
The Canadiens got two points for 40 minutes of hockey thanks in no small<br />
part to their goaltender. During a second-period onslaught that was the<br />
team’s worst 20 minutes of the season, Price made 19 saves and foiled Eric<br />
Staal on a penalty shot.<br />
But this being Montreal, someone will phone TSN 690 Friday morning to<br />
criticize Price’s glove hand on the Drayson Bowman goal.<br />
Give it a rest, peeps. Price made a season-high 42 saves in Carolina. He is<br />
one of the main reasons this team has not lost consecutive games in<br />
regulation time this season.<br />
And with the exception of the woeful second period, Price got help from his<br />
teammates. An injury to Yannick Weber forced Michel Therrien to go with<br />
five defencemen, and everyone stepped up.<br />
Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban each played in excess of 27 minutes.<br />
That’s still a tad high for Markov; but Subban, who had a goal and an assist,<br />
continues to play some of the best – and, this season, most disciplined –<br />
hockey of his career.<br />
On L’Antichambre, Michel Bergeron praised Subban effusively.<br />
“You can’t coach a P.K. Subban like a Gorges or Bouillon,” Bergeron said,<br />
pleased that Michel Therrien seems to have loosened the reins on his<br />
flamboyant young defenceman.<br />
“P.K. is a thoroughbred,” Bergeron added, and extravagantly talented<br />
players screw up once in a while. “Larry Robinson made big mistakes …<br />
after he made 100 great plays.”<br />
Josh Gorges, of all people, had a goal and a assist. Scoring to give the<br />
Canadiens a 2-0 lead in the first period, Gorges converted a perfect pass<br />
that Prust gleefully described as “backhand sauce – my specialty.”<br />
Alexei Emelin executed a Savardian Spinorama at the Carolina blueline<br />
before firing a shot that Justin Peters could handle cleanly, with Prust<br />
burying the rebound. Emelin also dished out eight hits.<br />
Some Canadiens had off-nights in Carolina.<br />
The David Desharnais line was invisible. Michael Ryder was benched for<br />
the third period, ceding his spot on the Tomas Plekanec-Brian Gionta line to<br />
Travis Moen. Ryder, Ryan White and Colby Armstrong played single-digit<br />
minutes.<br />
But the Canadiens survived 20 minutes of horror to bag two more points.<br />
They head south to Tampa Bay with two wins in three games on the longest<br />
road trip of the season.<br />
Carey Price has his mojo back. And Brandon Prust might make us forget<br />
the last former Ranger to pass through these parts.<br />
Montreal Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662042 Nashville Predators<br />
Ryan Suter braces for boos in Nashville return<br />
Some ex-Predators returned to cheers<br />
Josh Cooper<br />
Ryan Suter left the Predators in the offseason to sign a 13-year, $98 million<br />
contract with the Minnesota Wild. Other recent core players who left the<br />
Predators for other teams:<br />
• Forward Jordin Tootoo signed with the Detroit Red Wings as an<br />
unrestricted free agent after the 2011-12 season for three years, $5.7<br />
million.<br />
• Forward Steve Sullivan signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins as an<br />
unrestricted free agent after the 2010-11 season for one year, $1.5 million.<br />
• Forward Joel Ward signed with the Washington Capitals as an<br />
unrestricted free agent after the 2010-11 season for four years, $12 million.<br />
• Defenseman Dan Hamhuis’ rights were traded to the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
after the 2009-10 season. He eventually signed with the Vancouver<br />
Canucks for six years, $27 million.<br />
• Forward Scott Hartnell and defenseman Kimmo Timonen were traded to<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> and goaltender Tomas Vokoun was traded to the Florida<br />
Panthers after the 2006-07 season as part of a salary dump.<br />
• Forward Paul Kariya signed with the St. Louis Blues as an unrestricted<br />
free agent after the 2006-07 season for three years, $18 million.<br />
—Josh Cooper<br />
When Minnesota played at Detroit earlier this season, Wild defenseman<br />
Ryan Suter got a preview of what he likely will hear at Bridgestone Arena<br />
on Saturday.<br />
He was booed every time he touched the puck.<br />
But that situation was different. Suter, who signed a 13-year, $98 million<br />
contract with the Wild in the offseason, never played for the Red Wings. He<br />
never built a relationship with their fans, doesn’t know the arena workers<br />
and team staff. He had no connection to Motor City.<br />
Suter does have ties with Music City, however, having spent his first seven<br />
NHL seasons with the Predators. And when he comes back to Nashville for<br />
the first time as a member of the Wild, he returns as more of an enemy than<br />
any former Predator.<br />
The Red Wings and Predators were among the teams that tried to sign<br />
Suter over the summer. He selected the Wild, angering the Predators<br />
organization and, by extension, its fan base.<br />
“Have I ever had anything like what’s going to probably happen? Probably<br />
not,” Suter said in a phone interview. “It’s going to (stink), and I wish the<br />
fans knew … well, I know they know how much I enjoyed my time there. But<br />
it’s just part of the business. I mean, you have to make decisions for<br />
yourself and for your family.”<br />
Players come and go these days in free agency or trades, and the smallmarket<br />
Predators are no strangers to the concept. Fan favorites such as<br />
Joel Ward, Dan Hamhuis, Paul Kariya, Scott Hartnell, Tomas Vokoun and<br />
Kimmo Timonen all moved on.<br />
When they returned to Bridgestone Arena to face the Predators, they<br />
received ovations or saw their video highlights beamed to the crowd. But<br />
those players were all Predators at a financially unstable time for the<br />
franchise. An ownership change made it tough to retain them.<br />
“When that era of players come into town, you can’t really hold it against<br />
them. You still like the guy, and so, unless they make a play on a Predators<br />
player like a bad hit or whatever, you don’t really hold it against them<br />
because it’s not their fault and they didn’t really leave under any ill will,” said<br />
Codey Holland, a longtime Predators fan. “You almost feel jaded because<br />
almost 10 years has been invested in Ryan Suter, and he just gets up and<br />
leaves.”<br />
The Predators courted Suter, a 2012 All-Star and 2010 U.S. Olympian,<br />
throughout the 2011-12 season, and were in the mix to re-sign him when he<br />
went to unrestricted free agency on July 1. Nashville’s final offer was 13<br />
years, $90 million.<br />
When Suter selected Minnesota, Predators general manager David Poile<br />
seemed especially angry and voiced his frustration in interviews at the time.<br />
Most photos and other indications Suter had played for the Predators were<br />
quickly taken down inside Bridgestone Arena.<br />
“Poile coming out and saying what he did didn’t help the reaction from the<br />
fan base,” Holland said. “The fan base was already borderline angry about<br />
it to begin with.”<br />
Poile declined to comment for this story through a team spokesman.<br />
Suter said his decision-making process was difficult. According to his agent,<br />
Neil Sheehy, when Suter considered his potential destinations and which<br />
one would make the best home, Nashville constantly rated near the top<br />
along with the Wild.<br />
Suter said he cried when he called Poile on July 4 to tell him he was<br />
leaving.<br />
“He drafted me, he was my GM, he was all I knew,” Suter said. “In the NHL<br />
he gave me all the opportunities.Through the highs and lows, he stuck with<br />
me, and I felt like I was letting him down.”<br />
Whether the Predators will acknowledge Suter with a tribute video has not<br />
been made public. Videos honoring former Predators Steve Sullivan<br />
(Coyotes) and Jordin Tootoo (Red Wings) were shown this season before<br />
games against Phoenix and Detroit.<br />
“(Fans) probably won’t see me in the same regard as those guys. But that’s<br />
their decision. They have a right to be mad, and they have a right to cheer<br />
for who they want, and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Suter said.<br />
“I know every single person that works as a security guard at that rink. I<br />
know every single person that works for the team by name. I have such a<br />
deep respect for that organization. If the fans don’t want to cheer me, and<br />
boo me, I understand.”<br />
Tennessean LOADED: 03.08.2013
662043 Nashville Predators<br />
Preview: Predators vs. Edmonton Oilers<br />
Josh Cooper<br />
PREDATORS VS. OILERS<br />
• When: 7 p.m. tonight<br />
• Where: Bridgestone Arena<br />
• TV/radio: Fox TN/102.5-FM<br />
• Hat trick: 1. This is the first of three games for the Predators against the<br />
Oilers this season. Nashville was 1-3-0 vs. Edmonton last season. 2. Three<br />
new Predators — forwards Zach Boychuk and Bobby Butler and<br />
defenseman Victor Bartley — could make their debut. Boychuk and Butler<br />
were obtained off waivers, and Bartley was called up from Milwaukee. 3.<br />
The Predators have allowed two power play goals in each of their past four<br />
games.<br />
• Injuries: Predators D Hal Gill (lower body) and F Brandon Yip (upper body)<br />
are out. Oilers D Mark Fistric (elbow) is questionable; D Andy Sutton<br />
(knee), G Nikolai Khabibulin (groin), F Teemu Hartikainen (shoulder), F<br />
Anton Lander (foot) and F Shawn Horcoff (hand) are out.<br />
• Next for Predators: 7 p.m. Saturday vs. Minnesota.<br />
Tennessean LOADED: 03.08.2013
662044 Nashville Predators<br />
Nashville Predators could have new division next season<br />
Josh Cooper<br />
PROPOSED NHL REALIGNMENT<br />
Proposed division lineup for realignment, which would take place next<br />
season if the NHL Board of Governors ratifies the new plan:<br />
• Division: Nashville, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Colorado, Winnipeg,<br />
Minnesota<br />
• Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose,<br />
Vancouver<br />
• Division: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay,<br />
Toronto<br />
• Division: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Rangers, New York<br />
Islanders, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh, Washington<br />
The Predators are one step closer to playing in a new division next season.<br />
The NHL Players’ Association said Thursday it had consented to the NHL’s<br />
realignment plan for the 2013-14 season, to be re-evaluated after the 2014-<br />
15 season.<br />
The NHL Board of Governors is expected to vote soon to ratify the plan.<br />
The Predators would be part of a division with Chicago, Minnesota, St.<br />
Louis, Winnipeg, Dallas and Colorado, according to an ESPN.com report<br />
last week that outlined the plan.<br />
Detroit and Columbus — rivals for Nashville in the current Central Division<br />
— would move to a more easterly grouping. Nashville has sold out every<br />
home game against Detroit since Dec. 12, 2009.<br />
The Predators have declined to comment on realignment since it has not<br />
officially been ratified.<br />
Under realignment, all teams outside Nashville’s division would play the<br />
Predators at least once. Currently, Eastern Conference teams visit<br />
Nashville on a rotating basis.<br />
Nashville’s travel would increase under the new plan.<br />
“It’s only 2,000 more miles per year, and the last seven years we averaged<br />
40,000 miles … so it’s not much of a difference, obviously, but it is still a<br />
difference,” Predators forward and NHLPA player rep David Legwand said<br />
last week.<br />
Last season, the NHL approved a realignment plan with a similar format.<br />
But it included Detroit and Columbus — but not Colorado — in Nashville’s<br />
division. The NHLPA thwarted the plan over travel concerns.<br />
Tennessean LOADED: 03.08.2013
662045 Nashville Predators<br />
Predators' playoff chances improve under NHL's proposed realignment<br />
By David Boclair<br />
The Nashville Predators will have a better chance to make the playoffs the<br />
next two seasons.<br />
The NHL Players Association on Thursday approved a proposal from the<br />
league office for realignment, which would divide the NHL into two unequal<br />
conferences.<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” union<br />
executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement.<br />
All that remains for the proposal to go into effect is approval from the NHL’s<br />
Board of Governors.<br />
If that happens, as expected, beginning in 2013-14 Nashville will compete<br />
in the Midwest Division with six other teams, all based in the Central and<br />
Mountain time zones. Those teams would comprise half of the Western<br />
Conference with Pacific Division, seven teams in the Mountain and Western<br />
time zones.<br />
The Eastern Conference would consist of two eight-team divisions.<br />
Eight teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs, which means<br />
that while Eastern Conference teams will have a 50 percent chance to<br />
reach the postseason, Western Conference teams, including the Predators,<br />
will have a 57 percent chance.<br />
That disparity is of concern for the NHLPA.<br />
The divisions under the realignment proposal would be as follows:<br />
WESTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Midwest Division: Nashville, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, St.<br />
Louis, Winnipeg.<br />
Pacific Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San<br />
Jose, Vancouver.<br />
EASTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Atlantic Division: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Islanders,<br />
New York Rangers, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh, Washington.<br />
Central Division: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa<br />
Bay, Toronto.<br />
The schedule under this format will allow for teams to play two games (one<br />
home, one away) each season with teams from the other conference.<br />
Western Conference teams will play five of the other six teams in their<br />
division five times per season. They will ply the sixth team just four times.<br />
They will play the seven teams from the other division three times each.<br />
"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season,” NHL<br />
deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for<br />
its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future<br />
developments warrant."<br />
Nashville City Paper LOADED: 03.08.2013
662046 Nashville Predators<br />
Predators' playoff chances improve under NHL's proposed realignment<br />
By David Boclair<br />
The Nashville Predators will have a better chance to make the playoffs the<br />
next two seasons.<br />
The NHL Players Association on Thursday approved a proposal from the<br />
league office for realignment, which would divide the NHL into two unequal<br />
conferences.<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” union<br />
executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement.<br />
All that remains for the proposal to go into effect is approval from the NHL’s<br />
Board of Governors.<br />
If that happens, as expected, beginning in 2013-14 Nashville will compete<br />
in the Midwest Division with six other teams, all based in the Central and<br />
Mountain time zones. Those teams would comprise half of the Western<br />
Conference with Pacific Division, seven teams in the Mountain and Western<br />
time zones.<br />
The Eastern Conference would consist of two eight-team divisions.<br />
Eight teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs, which means<br />
that while Eastern Conference teams will have a 50 percent chance to<br />
reach the postseason, Western Conference teams, including the Predators,<br />
will have a 57 percent chance.<br />
That disparity is of concern for the NHLPA.<br />
The divisions under the realignment proposal would be as follows:<br />
WESTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Midwest Division: Nashville, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, St.<br />
Louis, Winnipeg.<br />
Pacific Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San<br />
Jose, Vancouver.<br />
EASTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Atlantic Division: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Islanders,<br />
New York Rangers, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh, Washington.<br />
Central Division: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa<br />
Bay, Toronto.<br />
The schedule under this format will allow for teams to play two games (one<br />
home, one away) each season with teams from the other conference.<br />
Western Conference teams will play five of the other six teams in their<br />
division five times per season. They will ply the sixth team just four times.<br />
They will play the seven teams from the other division three times each.<br />
"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season,” NHL<br />
deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for<br />
its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future<br />
developments warrant."<br />
Nashville City Paper LOADED: 03.08.2013
662047 New Jersey Devils<br />
Quirk in the N.H.L. Visor Debate: Fighters Get Penalized<br />
By DHIREN MAHIBAN<br />
Toronto's Frazer McLaren says the N.H.L.'s visor rule is good for<br />
fighters.Mark Blinch/Reuters Toronto’s Frazer McLaren says the N.H.L.’s<br />
visor rule is good for fighters.<br />
Rangers defenseman Marc Staal’s recent eye injury has again highlighted<br />
the hot-button issue of visors. The N.H.L. has expressed its desire to make<br />
them mandatory, but right now, it actually has a rule penalizing those who<br />
do wear them.<br />
Rule 46.6 in the N.H.L. rule book states: “If a player penalized as an<br />
instigator of an altercation is wearing a face shield (including a goalkeeper),<br />
he shall be assessed an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”<br />
While the league says it wants to promote player safety by having all<br />
players wear visors, but players say they’re reluctant to wear a visor if<br />
they’re likely to fight because they don’t want to further penalize their team.<br />
“That’s probably my biggest reason,” said Maple Leafs defenseman Mark<br />
Fraser of removing his visor, because fighting “is part of my role on this<br />
team and it just prevents me from any larger penalties and also sort of the<br />
unwritten rule that if you’re going to fight with a visor you’d have to take<br />
your helmet off completely.”<br />
Fraser said the league is sitting on the fence when it comes to player safety<br />
with the rule.<br />
“It does seem a little contradictory perhaps, because obviously a lot of guys<br />
that do (take the visor off), that might be part of their justification,” said<br />
Fraser, who has 18 N.H.L. fights in his career, according to<br />
hockeyfights.com. “I’d rather keep my helmet on with no visor than take it<br />
off completely because part of player safety as well is concussions and<br />
falling down and hitting your head or whatever else.”<br />
Fraser’s teammate, Frazer McLaren, also believes the rule prompts fighters<br />
to keep the visor off.<br />
“From a fighter’s perspective it’s not really that ridiculous because if<br />
someone instigates a fight with you who’s got a visor on, it’s tough for the<br />
guy without the visor because the other guy’s face is protected. In that<br />
sense it’s a good rule for some of the fighters,” said McLaren, who has 26<br />
career fights, including the Wednesday night knockout blow he delivered to<br />
Ottawa’s Dave Dziurzynski.<br />
“At the same sense I understand the angle you’re coming from where it kind<br />
of probably deters some players from wearing visors, who might have<br />
originally worn them. “<br />
Then there’s Senators tough guy Chris Neil, who appears to be in denial<br />
about visors preventing eye injuries.<br />
Neil was struck in the eye in January 2011 by the stick of Montreal’s Max<br />
Pacioretty. He wasn’t wearing a visor then and still doesn’t.<br />
“I think that situation is a fluke accident, but as far as sticks coming up,<br />
that’s the scary thing,” Neil said, referring to Staal’s injury. “I think if<br />
everyone’s wearing no visor guys would be more respectful around the<br />
league with their sticks.”<br />
Despite players such as Tye McGinn of the <strong>Flyers</strong>, who has three fights this<br />
season, and Kings forward Colin Fraser now wearing visors, Neil had this to<br />
say regarding Rule 46.6: “I don’t really look at that either because, you<br />
know, usually guys aren’t fighting if they’re wearing visors.”<br />
Chris Phillips, who is the Senators’ union rep who sustained an eye injury in<br />
1998, admits the rule does raise some red flags.<br />
“That’s what makes it a good debate, you don’t want to see guys get hurt,”<br />
Phillips said. “I’ve seen guys take their helmets off in sort of respect to each<br />
other … you don’t want to see a guy get a concussion cause he’s fallen<br />
down in a fight and hit his head. There’s always a trickle-down effect from<br />
doing certain things that makes it a good debate. At the end of the day you<br />
don’t want to see guys get hurt.”<br />
New York Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662048 New Jersey Devils<br />
As they play: Devils vs. Sabres<br />
By Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 5:19 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 7:42 PM<br />
Right winger Tom Kostopoulos made his Devils debut tonight against the<br />
Buffalo Sabres at Prudential Center.<br />
Defenseman Henrik Tallinder was a late scratch with what the team called a<br />
lower body injury and Mark Fayne, slated to be a healthy scratch, played in<br />
his place. Krys Barch and Adam Larsson were also scratches.<br />
The Devils, with Johan Hedberg in goal, were looking to avoid their first<br />
seven-game losing streak since 1985-86.<br />
Anthem was performed by Shayne and Taylor Daneyko, Ken's kids.<br />
Devils lines:<br />
Alexei Ponikarovsky-Travis Zajac-Ilya Kovalchuk<br />
Patrik Elias-Adam Henrique-David Clarkson<br />
Stefan Matteau-Andrei Loktionov-Steve Bernier<br />
Ryan Carter-Stephen Gionta-Tom Kostopoulos<br />
Defense pairings:<br />
Bryce Salvador-Marek Zidlicky<br />
Andy Greene-Mark Fayne<br />
Anton Volchenkov-Peter Harrold<br />
FIRST PERIOD<br />
Tyler Ennis high-sticked Fayne at 1:26. Hedberg ended the power play at<br />
2:15 when he drew an interference penalty behind his net by checking Brian<br />
Flynn into the end boards.<br />
With both penalties over, Hedberg made a glove save on Christian<br />
Ehrhoff's shot from the left point at 5:04.<br />
Cody Hodgson hit the right post with his shot at 6:12.<br />
Henrique was stopped one-on-one by Enroth at 10:07 before Elias was<br />
unable to bury the rebound from the deep slot.<br />
During a break in the action the Devils played The Hockey Song by<br />
Stompin' Tom Connors. A nice tribute to Stompin' Tom, who passed away<br />
yesterday.<br />
Mike Weber was called for high-sticking Elias at 12:15.<br />
Hedberg made a left pad save on John Scott from the high slot with 2:30 to<br />
go.<br />
The Devils outshot the Sabres, 11-6.<br />
End of period: Devils 0, Sabres 0<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662049 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils looking to avoid longest losing streak since 1985-86<br />
By Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 3:45 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 4:15 PM<br />
The Devils are still not halfway to equaling the franchise record for the<br />
longest losing streak, but a loss tonight against the Buffalo Sabres would<br />
give them their first seven-game losing streak since 1985-86.<br />
Back in 1985-86, the Devils went 0-7 between Jan. 24 and Feb. 8. That<br />
team, captained by Mel Bridgman, also had an eight-game losing streak<br />
(Dec. 19-Jan. 6) and a six-game losing streak (Mar. 9-19) that season.<br />
That was two seasons before the arrival of general manager Lou<br />
Lamoriello.<br />
The Devils' longest losing streak was 10 straight Oct. 14-Nov. 4, 1983,<br />
during their second season in New Jersey.<br />
But the franchise mark, still safe, belongs to the Kansas City Scouts when<br />
they lost 14 in a row Dec. 30, 1975 to Jan. 29, 1976. That was the<br />
franchise's second season in existence.<br />
Entering tonight's game against the Sabres, the Devils have lost six in a<br />
row. One of those losses came in a shootout last Saturday in Buffalo.<br />
*<br />
The Devils Mystery Puck Night will take place this Wednesday, Mar. 13,<br />
when the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong> visit Prudential Center at 7:30 p.m.<br />
Proceeds from the sale of the pucks will benefit the Hurricane Sandy relief<br />
effort.<br />
During an autographed mystery puck sale the identity of the player who<br />
signed the<br />
puck is kept secret until after it is purchased. Wives and girlfriends of Devils<br />
players will be on hand to sell the pucks, which will be available for $20<br />
each. A total of 500 pucks will be available and there is a one-puck limit per<br />
individual. The event will take place on the main concourse. For further<br />
information, contact the Devils’ communications department at 973-<br />
757-6100.<br />
Rich Chere<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662050 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils' changes on defense no reflection on Adam Larsson, Mark Fayne<br />
Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 12:33 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 1:00 PM<br />
Devils defenseman Adam Larsson doesn’t feel he deserves to be taken out<br />
of the lineup, but he knows how the game is played.<br />
With the Devils having lost their last six games (one in a shootout), Larsson<br />
understands that changes were likely to be made.<br />
“I guess they had to do something with six straight losses,” Larsson said<br />
after the morning skate today.<br />
Larsson and Mark Fayne will be healthy scratches against the Buffalo<br />
Sabres tonight at Prudential Center. Peter Harrold and Anton Volchenkov<br />
will play.<br />
Up front, Tom Kostopoulos will make his Devils debut after being picked up<br />
on waivers, replacing Krys Barch.<br />
“We’re in tough stretches and we’re going to use our entire bench,” coach<br />
Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve two new D in there with fresh legs and we have<br />
two new forwards with (Stefan) Matteau and Kostopoulos. I think it’s critical<br />
we keep fresh legs moving in and out of the lineup.<br />
“It’s not necessarily anything that Larsson or Fayne haven’t done. If you’ve<br />
got fresh people you might as well use them. Especially looking at the<br />
schedule.”<br />
What’s Larsson think of the changes?<br />
“Not much,” he said. “I think (I’ve played) good so far, so it’s kind of<br />
disappointing.”<br />
Harrold has played only one game this season.<br />
“I’m ready to go. Obviously I’m excited to play,” Harrold said. “It’s been a<br />
while (Feb. 2 in Pittsburgh). I get to play with (Andy) Greene. He and I have<br />
played together before. Should be all right, an easy transition.”<br />
He said he doesn’t feel pressure to provide extra offense since the Devils’<br />
forwards haven’t been doing it. But DeBoer confirmed that Harrold will see<br />
some time on the power play point.<br />
“Yes, I think we’ll definitely give him a look there for some minutes,” DeBoer<br />
said.<br />
Why so long in between games for Harrold?<br />
“I don’t think there has ever been a confidence issue from the coaching staff<br />
with putting him in or what he’s capable of doing,” DeBoer said. “We<br />
probably don’t get to the Stanley Cup Final without his contribution last<br />
year. That’s never been the issue.<br />
“The idea is we would have eight defensemen here and I’m surprised—<br />
knock on wood—we haven’t had any injuries where we’ve had to. For him<br />
it’s just been circumstance.”<br />
*<br />
How will the Devils get out of their losing streak?<br />
“Character. Experience. When you sit in our locker room on a day to day<br />
basis and look at the fine line between the seven or eight games we won in<br />
a row and the six we lost in a row, it’s very small. I think the guys know that<br />
and recognize that,” DeBoer said. “They know we don’t need to change all<br />
kinds of things. We just have to get on the right side of that line. There are<br />
some small areas we need to clean up but it’s not that far away.”<br />
No one hopes that is true more than goalie Johan Hedberg.<br />
“Everyone wants to win and play their best for Johan. He’s that kind of guy,”<br />
DeBoer said. “He’s one of the leaders in our dressing room. No one works<br />
harder than him or prepares better than him. I think the thoughts of the<br />
group are absolutely on getting a win for him.<br />
“When you’re sitting in that position, a lot of the times you take the brunt of<br />
the blame. A lot of times unnecessarily.”<br />
*<br />
Travis Zajac is back on the first line. He’ll center LW Alexei Ponikarovsky<br />
and RW Ilya Kovalchuk after being moved around to other lines in recent<br />
games.<br />
“The first, second, third or fourth line stuff, I don’t get caught up in a lot of<br />
that,” DeBoer noted. “I think Travis works every night. It’s no secret he<br />
hasn’t had the offensive success yet consistently this year that he probably<br />
deserves for the effort he puts in.<br />
“At least Kovy is a guy he has a history with. We’re just going back to it.”<br />
Zajac has no goals in four games and one in his last nine.<br />
Rich Chere<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662051 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils' Tom Kostopoulos takes junior linemate Krys Barch's job for a night<br />
By Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 12:14 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 12:57 PM<br />
Devils newcomer Tom Kostopoulos got a locker stall next former junior<br />
hockey linemate Krys Barch.<br />
Kostopoulos, claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday,<br />
and Barch were on the 1998-99 London Knights team that went to the<br />
Ontario Hockey League Finals against Belleville.<br />
“Best year of my career. I think I had 30 points in the playoffs. I think he had<br />
40 or 38,” Barch recalled. “It was the best we did in junior, making the OHL<br />
Final.”<br />
Did Barch knock on coach Pete DeBoer’s door and inform him of this?<br />
“No, that was a long time ago. I think his role and my role both changed,”<br />
Barch said.<br />
In fact, during 25 OHL playoff games in ’99, Kostopoulos had 35 points (19<br />
goals) while Barch scored 26 points (nine goals).<br />
No hard feelings, then, that Barch lost his spot in the lineup tonight because<br />
Kostopoulos will skate at right wing with Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta.<br />
They both have similar roles now, with Kostopoulos accumulating 705<br />
penalty minutes in 615 career NHL games with five teams. The Devils are<br />
his sixth.<br />
“He loved the game so much he started doing things nobody else wanted to<br />
do. When I played with him he was a leader,” Barch said. “Tremendous<br />
guy. Probably the best teammate I’ve ever had.”<br />
DeBoer was happy to get the 34-year-old Kostopoulos.<br />
“I’m excited. I actually coached in junior hockey against him, so I’ve seen<br />
him play since he was a 16 or 17-year-old kid. I always admired his work<br />
ethic and grit and his leadership,” DeBoer said. “Hopefully he can give us<br />
some of those things.”<br />
Kostopoulos signed a tryout contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with hopes<br />
of then being signed by the Penguins. That happened, but he had to clear<br />
waivers in order to be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the Devils<br />
claimed him.<br />
“I knew I had more hockey in me,” he said. “I wanted to get back to the<br />
NHL. The original goal was to get back to Pittsburgh. The way things<br />
worked out I’m very happy and excited. At first I was surprised, but once it<br />
sank in I was very excited.”<br />
His agent had talked to the Devils about signing with Albany, but he’d<br />
played in Wilkes-Barre before.<br />
“I wasn’t sure what to expect going through waivers, so I was kind of<br />
surprised to get picked up,” Kostopoulos said. “I signed a contract and then<br />
got put on waivers to be sent to Wilkes-Barre to see how things go and try<br />
to work my way up. This is better.”<br />
He played with Barch in juniors and skated with David Clarkson in the<br />
summer. He also knows Johan Hedberg and Peter Harrold.<br />
“I’m very excited. From not knowing where your career is going to getting<br />
another shot. This organization has a great reputation,” Kostopoulos said.<br />
“Everybody that has been in it talks very highly of it. I’m excited to be here.<br />
“Hopefully (I can bring) consistency, working hard every night. Nothing<br />
flashy. Just getting pucks in (deep the offensive zone) and getting pucks out<br />
of our end. Playing physical.”<br />
Rich Chere<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662052 New Jersey Devils<br />
Tribute for Stompin' Tom Connors at Devils-Sabres? It would make sense<br />
Drew van Esselstyn/Star-Ledger Sports Editor<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 11:45 AM, updated March 07, 2013 at 3:21 PM<br />
If you're headed for the Devils game tonight at the Prudential Center, how<br />
great would it be to watch a tribute to one of hockey's legends -- either<br />
before the puck drops or during one of the intermissions?<br />
Stompin' Tom Connors, revered and loved throughout Canada and much of<br />
the NHL for "The Hockey Song" (go to the 1:45 mark of the video above),<br />
died Wednesday at the age of 77 -- and our Rich Chere, for one, thinks it<br />
would be appropriate to celebrate Connors tonight at The Rock:<br />
Still, it would be nice if the Devils played Stompin' Tom Connors' The<br />
Hockey Song as a tribute tonight at the Rock.<br />
— Rich Chere ( at Ledger_NJDevils) March 7, 2013<br />
The Canadian country-folk singer, whose toe-tapping musical spirit and<br />
fierce patriotism established him as one of Canada's biggest cultural icons,<br />
died at the age of 77, his promoter said Wednesday night.<br />
Connors passed away from natural causes at his home Wednesday<br />
evening, Brian Edwards said. The musician, rarely seen without his<br />
signature black cowboy hat and stomping cowboy boots, was best known<br />
for songs "Sudbury Saturday Night," ''Bud the Spud" and especially "The<br />
Hockey Song," a fan favorite played at hockey arenas around North<br />
America.<br />
Those three songs are played at every Toronto Maple Leafs home game. At<br />
Toronto's Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night, many fans took to their<br />
feet as "The Hockey Song" was played after Connors' death was<br />
announced.<br />
Although wide commercial appeal eluded Connors for much of his fourdecade<br />
career, his songs are regarded as veritable national anthems<br />
thanks to their unabashed embrace of all things Canadiana.<br />
"The hockey song was the biggest one," Edwards said. "Domestically he<br />
was known everywhere."<br />
The National Hockey League tweeted: "Sad to hear that legendary<br />
Canadian Stompin' Tom Connors has passed. His legacy lives on in arenas<br />
every time 'The Hockey Song' is played."<br />
Connors knew his health was declining and had posted a message on his<br />
website a few days ago, saying Canada kept him "inspired with its beauty,<br />
character, and spirit."<br />
Dubbed Stompin' Tom for his habit of pounding the floor with his left foot<br />
during performances, Connors garnered a devoted following through<br />
straight-ahead country-folk tunes that drew inspiration from his extensive<br />
travels around Canada, dating back to his itinerant teenage years when he<br />
roamed the country working one job or another.<br />
The country that Connors celebrated in song was strangely ignored by<br />
other Canadian songwriters, he often said."I don't know why I seem to be<br />
the only one, or almost the only one, writing about this country," Connors<br />
said in 2008. "This country is the most underwritten country in the world as<br />
far as songs are concerned. We starve. The people in this country are<br />
starving for songs about their homeland."<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662053 New Jersey Devils<br />
Tom Kostopoulos joins Devils for morning skate<br />
By Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 9:41 AM, updated March 07, 2013 at 11:08 AM<br />
Tom Kostopoulos, claimed off waivers Wednesday, joined the Devils for<br />
their morning skate today at Prudential Center.<br />
Kostopoulos will wear No. 25.<br />
Johan Hedberg will be in goal tonight against the Buffalo Sabres with Jeff<br />
Frazee as backup. Martin Brodeur remains on injured reserve with a sore<br />
back.<br />
Kostopoulos skated at right wing with Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta. It<br />
appears Krys Barch will be a scratch.<br />
On defense, coach Pete DeBoer seems ready to sit Mark Fayne and Adam<br />
Larsson. That would mean both Anton Volchenkov and Peter Harrold would<br />
play.<br />
Lines:<br />
Alexei Ponikarovsky- Travis Zajac-lya Kovalchuk<br />
Patrik Elias-Adam Henrique-David Clarkson<br />
Stefan Matteau-Andrei Loktionov-Steve Bernier<br />
Ryan Carter-Stephen Gionta-Tom Kostopoulos<br />
Defense:<br />
Bryce Salvador-Anton Volchenkov<br />
Henrik Tallinder-Marek Zidlicky<br />
Andy Greene-Peter Harrold<br />
Adam Larsson-Mark Fayne<br />
Rich Chere<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662054 New Jersey Devils<br />
Did Devils know beforehand Henrik Tallinder might not be able to play?<br />
By Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 11:35 PM, updated March 07, 2013 at 11:44 PM<br />
Did the Devils suspect that defenseman Henrik Tallinder might not be able<br />
to play last night before he stepped onto the Prudential Center ice for the<br />
pregame warmup?<br />
Coach Pete DeBoer said no.<br />
“He hurt himself in warmup,” DeBoer said.<br />
No inkling that perhaps Tallinder was ailing beforehand?<br />
“No, we called (Mark) Fayne kind of last minute and got him out there. He<br />
was here at the rink,” DeBoer said.<br />
If that was the case, Fayne did a Clark Kent type quick-change in order to<br />
join the Devils well before the end of the warmup.<br />
That left Tallinder and Adam Larsson as the two scratches on defense.<br />
*<br />
Martin Brodeur, who remains on injured reserve with a sore back, will not<br />
play tomorrow night in Raleigh, N.C., or Sunday night at home against the<br />
Winnipeg Jets. That means he’ll miss at least eight games because of injury<br />
and a total of nine since he last played Feb. 21 in Washington.<br />
DeBoer was asked if he thought the Devils began to press when Brodeur<br />
hurt his back.<br />
“I don’t know (about the term) press. When Marty went down I think there<br />
was a real confidence level. Everyone has confidence in Johan Hedberg.<br />
His track record here merits that,” DeBoer said.<br />
“I think it was a perfect storm. We went through a week or 10 days where<br />
we didn’t get rewarded for some of our work. We didn’t get some bounces.<br />
We didn’t help ourselves in certain situations and it snowballed on us.<br />
Hopefully that’s the end of it and we can move this thing in a positive<br />
direction now.”<br />
*<br />
Hedberg said he got some breaks in this game and one of them came when<br />
Sabres captain Jason Pominville hit the left post with 51.3 seconds<br />
remaining in overtime.<br />
“It didn’t feel like it was in,” Hedberg said. “It was right up in the curve of the<br />
post and crossbar and it bounced right back to me. I needed that break.”<br />
DeBoer said of Hedberg’s performance: “Solid. That’s the Hedberg we<br />
know. I think our group helped him out tonight, too, and gave a little better<br />
performance in front of him.”<br />
*<br />
Patrik Elias leads the team in scoring with 24 points in 24 games (the<br />
halfway mark of the season), but DeBoer wasn’t ready to call him the<br />
team’s best player this season.<br />
“I’m not one for mid-season awards and things like that,” DeBoer said.<br />
“Patrik is Patrik. He’s a world class player and a key part of our team. But<br />
we’ll hold the rewards until the end of the year.”<br />
*<br />
Peter Harrold, who’d played just one game all season, was imptessive.<br />
“I thought he was great,” DeBoer said. “It reminded me last year of when we<br />
stuck him in late in the season he made it awful hard for us to take him out<br />
the way he skated and moved the puck.”<br />
*<br />
Travis Zajac, certainly not known as a fighter, exchanged punches during a<br />
scrum in front of the Devils' net with 29.5 seconds left in overtime.<br />
"It was nothing. Just a battle in front," Zajac said. "He threw a punch and I<br />
went back at him."<br />
*<br />
Tom Kostopoulos, picked up off waivers Wednesday, made his Devils<br />
debut skating on a line with Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta.<br />
"It felt pretty good. All the guys talked to me and the coaches walked me<br />
through the system," Kostopoulos said. "Their goalie had a helluva game,<br />
but the guys kept getting pucks at him. The team didn't give up when we<br />
got down."<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662055 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils end losing streak with 3-2 shootout win over Sabres<br />
By Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger<br />
on March 07, 2013 at 9:48 PM, updated March 08, 2013 at 1:44 AM<br />
It’s been 27 years since the Devils last had a seven-game losing streak.<br />
Chico Resch and Ken Daneyko were teammates on the ice rather than in<br />
the broadcast booth and GM Lou Lamoriello was more than a year away<br />
from joining the organization.<br />
hey weren’t ready for another skid like the one they endured during the<br />
1985-86 season between Jan. 24 and Feb. 8.<br />
So despite finding themselves down by two goals with just over six minutes<br />
to play, the Devils simply willed themselves a comeback that eventually<br />
resulted in a 3-2 shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres tonight at<br />
Prudential Center.<br />
Patrik Elias scored the tying goal with 1:06 remaining in the third period and<br />
then scored the team’s second goal in the shootout to give the Devils their<br />
first win since Feb. 21 in Washington.<br />
“We needed it. A little bit of relief,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think our<br />
guys deserved two points. It’s been a while coming. It’s been a battle, but<br />
what I liked tonight was when we got in the 2-0 hole we kept our game. We<br />
didn’t open it up and give them the third goal. We hung around and found a<br />
way to tie it up at the end.”<br />
It was also the Devils’ first victory since Martin Brodeur was sidelined with a<br />
sore back that landed him on injured reserve. Hedberg, like the team, had<br />
gone 0-6-1, with the one point of a possible 12 coming in a shootout against<br />
the Sabres on Saturday.<br />
“That felt good,” Hedberg said. “Tonight I got some breaks, let’s put it that<br />
way. They hit some posts, we got a couple of goals and sometimes that’s<br />
the difference.”<br />
Goals from Thomas Vanek and Brian Flynn had given the Sabres a 2-0<br />
lead, but Buffalo defenseman Christian Ehrhoff took a holding penalty at<br />
12:36 of the third period.<br />
Adam Henrique’s first shot was blocked, but he picked up his own rebound<br />
a fired a shot inside the far right post at 13:30 to give the Devils some life.<br />
Hedberg was pulled for an extra skater and the Devils tied it with 1:06<br />
remaining. Enroth made the initial save on David Clarkson's long shot, but<br />
he gave up a big rebound and Elias scored into the open right side of the<br />
net for his seventh goal and team-leading 24th point in 24 games.<br />
“Finally. Nice,” Hedberg said he was thinking. “I just got to the bench, we<br />
threw the sixth guy in there and I saw him putting it in. It was very nice to<br />
see that.”<br />
A perfectly timed bit of strategy.<br />
“You hope during the course of a year you get a handful of those go your<br />
way,” DeBoer said. “I think we were due for a bounce. We’ve been working<br />
here for a week or two and we’d played pretty good hockey and hadn’t<br />
gotten it. We got one tonight.”<br />
Enroth was hurt trying to dive back across on the play and he was replaced<br />
by Ryan Miller, whom the Devils faced in the shootout.<br />
Miller stopped Ilya Kovalchuk and Hedberg answered by denying Vanek.<br />
DeBoer then used more strategy by putting Clarkson on as the Devils’<br />
second shooter.<br />
“Clarkie has been good. I don’t think he’s a guy a lot of teams key in on in<br />
their scouting reports,” DeBoer explained. “If you’re looking at our group, he<br />
probably filters in fifth or sixth on the (shootout) list. So I was hoping maybe<br />
they maybe didn’t pay a little attention to him. He made a good move.”<br />
Sabres captain Jason Pominville, who had almost won the game in<br />
overtime when he hit the left post with 51.3 seconds left, missed his shot.<br />
That gave Elias a chance to end it, which he did by beating Miller.<br />
“I tried to adjust a little but from my last shootout against these guys where<br />
they threw a little off-speed (strategy),” Hedberg revealed. “They started<br />
fast and put on the air brakes. It threw me off in that game, I think. I tried to<br />
be a little more patient.”<br />
The losing streak was over.<br />
“We did a good job of finding a way to win,” Travis Zajac said.<br />
They did a good job of not putting their names in the record book next to a<br />
Devils team that lost 21 more games than it won almost three decades ago.<br />
Star Ledger LOADED: 03.08.2013
662056 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils notes: Tom Kostopoulos excited to make debut<br />
The Record<br />
Kostopoulos excited<br />
Tom Kostopoulos said he was "very excited" to make his Devils’ debut<br />
Thursday night after being claimed off waivers from Pittsburgh on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
The 34-year-old right wing previously played in the league for Pittsburgh,<br />
Los Angeles, Montreal, Carolina and, most recently, with Calgary last<br />
season.<br />
"It’s a different situation not knowing where your career is going and to get<br />
another shot at it," said Kostopoulos, who played 10:33 on Thursday, didn’t<br />
have a shot on goal and blocked two shots. "I’m very excited to be here and<br />
very grateful."<br />
Kostopoulos signed a 25-game tryout contract with Pittsburgh’s AHL team<br />
in Wilkes Barre-Scranton after the NHL lockout and then signed a two-way<br />
NHL contract with the Penguins on Tuesday. The Penguins placed him on<br />
waivers so he could continue to play in the AHL until they needed him on<br />
the NHL roster.<br />
"I wasn’t sure what to expect going through waivers," Kostopoulos said.<br />
"So, I was kind of surprised to get picked up. I’m definitely happy to be<br />
here."<br />
Tallinder sits<br />
Defenseman Henrik Tallinder was a late scratch with a lower-body injury<br />
that coach Pete DeBoer said occurred "in warm-up." Mark Fayne, who was<br />
slated to be a healthy scratch, played in Tallinder’s place.<br />
DeBoer had planned to change up his defense with Anton Volchenkov and<br />
Peter Harrold playing in place of Adam Larsson and Fayne. Volchenkov<br />
had been a healthy scratch for four consecutive games. Harrold played in<br />
only one other game this season.<br />
Right wing Stefan Matteau also returned after being a healthy scratch<br />
Tuesday. Krys Barch was the odd man out at forward.<br />
"We’re in tough stretches and we’re going to use our entire bench," DeBoer<br />
said.<br />
— Tom Gulitti<br />
Bergen Record LOADED: 03.08.2013
662057 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils snap six-game skid, beat Sabres, 3-2, in shootout<br />
By TOM GULITTI<br />
STAFF WRITER<br />
NEWARK — The Devils were definitely staring down a dark hole Thursday<br />
night, trailing the Buffalo Sabres by two goals and being less than 10<br />
minutes away from their first seven-game losing streak in more than 27<br />
years.<br />
If there was a time for the “character” general manager Lou Lamoriello and<br />
coach Pete DeBoer had talked about to come through, this was it.<br />
A power-play goal from Adam Henrique with 6:30 to play and a rebound<br />
goal from Patrik Elias with 1:06 remaining got them even. Then David<br />
Clarkson and Elias scored in the shootout to give the Devils a desperately<br />
needed, 3-2 victory at Prudential Center.<br />
“We needed it. A little relief,” DeBoer said of his feelings after Elias finished<br />
off the shootout by beating Ryan Miller with a backhand-forehand move. “I<br />
think our guys deserved two points. It’s been a while coming.”<br />
The Devils felt they definitely were due after going 0-5-1 in their previous six<br />
games, including a 4-3 shootout loss at Buffalo on Saturday.<br />
“Huge obviously,” Elias called the victory. “You lose six games in a row and<br />
we felt like maybe three or four games we could have maybe won out of<br />
those games and didn’t find a way. So, it doesn’t matter how. We’re happy<br />
with the two points [Thursday] and, hopefully, that’s going to turn it around<br />
for us a little bit.”<br />
The Devils were as happy for themselves as they were for goaltender<br />
Johan Hedberg, who rebounded from being pulled in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to<br />
Tampa Bay with a solid, 23-save performance and then did not allow a goal<br />
in the shootout.<br />
“That felt good. I won’t lie to you,” Hedberg said. “[Thursday] I got some<br />
breaks. Let’s put it that way. They hit some posts. We got a couple of goals.<br />
Sometimes that’s the difference. It’s a game of margins sometimes and I<br />
think we deserved to win. We’ve been playing as hard as we can for the last<br />
eight to 10 days and we haven’t got the results.”<br />
Hedberg was much-maligned during the losing streak with Martin Brodeur<br />
out with a back injury. He had given up 21 goals on 130 shots (.838 save<br />
percentage) in the previous six games, but his teammates repeatedly had<br />
professed faith in him and talked about wanting to win for him.<br />
“[Hedberg] is the heart and soul of this team,” Clarkson said. “He’s a guy<br />
that every year is one of the hardest working and he’s a leader in this room<br />
whether he’s playing or not. So, we’ve got to turn this thing around for this<br />
team, but for him as well. He deserves it.”<br />
Hedberg definitely got some breaks, including Jason Pominville’s shot off<br />
the left post with another right-circle shot with 51.3 seconds remaining in<br />
overtime.<br />
It didn’t seem things were going to go the Devils’ way after Elias blocked<br />
Andrej Sekera’s right-point shot and the puck dropped directly to Brian<br />
Flynn in for a quick right-circle shot that beat Hedberg between the pads<br />
and made it 2-0 at 9:56 of the third period.<br />
That was gut-check time for the Devils. They have been outshooting the<br />
Sabres and controlling much of the play, but couldn’t get the puck past<br />
goaltender Jhonas Enroth, who was making his first start since Feb. 5.<br />
The Devils finally were rewarded after Elias drew a holding penalty against<br />
defenseman Christian Ehrhoff with 7:24 to play in regulation. Henrique<br />
scored on the resulting power play. His initial shot from the left circle was<br />
blocked by defenseman Mike Weber, but the puck bounced right back to<br />
Henrique and he fired it past Enroth’s glove for his seventh of the season.<br />
Elias tied it only eight seconds after Hedberg raced to the bench so the<br />
Devils could get a sixth attacker on the ice. Clarkson took a shot from just<br />
inside blue line that Enroth stopped with his left pad, but left a big rebound<br />
in the right circle that Elias put home for his seventh of the season.<br />
Enroth injured his right leg on the goal and had to be helped off. That<br />
brought Miller in off the bench cold for the rest of regulation, overtime and<br />
the shootout.<br />
Bergen Record LOADED: 03.08.2013
662058 New Jersey Devils<br />
NHL Players Association gives consent to league's proposed realignment<br />
which puts NY Rangers, NY Islanders and NJ Devils in new eight-team<br />
division<br />
The NHL will be reorganized from six divisions into four, or two per<br />
conference. Each team will play all of the other 29 teams at least twice in an<br />
annual home-and-home, meaning more trips out West for the Rangers.<br />
By Pat Leonard / NEW YORK <strong>DAILY</strong> NEWS<br />
Friday, March 8, 2013, 1:27 AM<br />
The NHL Players’ Association gave its consent Thursday to the league’s<br />
proposed realignment plan for its 30 teams to take effect next fall and be<br />
reevaluated following the 2014-15 season.<br />
The proposal now will go to the Board of Governors for approval, though<br />
that is considered a formality since the union did not alter any details.<br />
The league’s realignment proposal slots the Rangers, Islanders and Devils<br />
in a new eight-team division that includes current Atlantic Division members<br />
Penguins and <strong>Flyers</strong> but adds the Capitals, Hurricanes and Blue Jackets.<br />
RELATED: NASH, GABORIK POWER RANGERS OVER ISLES IN OT<br />
The NHL will be reorganized from six divisions into four, or two per<br />
conference. Each team will play all of the other 29 teams at least twice in an<br />
annual home-and-home, meaning more trips out West for the Rangers.<br />
The playoff system will change, forcing teams to play postseason series<br />
within their own divisions before advancing. But there also will be two<br />
playoff wild-cards per conference, meaning the top three seeds from each<br />
division will get in, plus the two with top records regardless of division, to<br />
make eight per conference.<br />
The Eastern Conference will have 16 teams, more than the 14 in the West,<br />
because three teams will be switching conferences: the Winnipeg Jets will<br />
move from the East to the West, while the Detroit Red Wings and Blue<br />
Jackets will slide from West to East.<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662059 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils end six-game skid<br />
By DAVID SATRIANO<br />
Last Updated: 4:12 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Posted: 12:54 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
The Devils were 66 seconds away from losing their seventh straight game.<br />
But Patrik Elias, determined to get his team back on the winning track,<br />
scored the game-tying goal and the eventual shootout winner in the Devils’<br />
3-2 win last night over the Sabres at the Prudential Center in Newark.<br />
“We had two or three unbelievable opportunities there and [Sabres goalie<br />
Jhonas Enroth] made great saves,” Elias said. “I’m glad we stuck with it and<br />
got the two big goals at the end there.”<br />
Trailing 2-0, with 6:30 left in the contest, Adam Henrique got the Devils on<br />
the board with a power-play goal, just as he did late in the third period of<br />
Tuesday’s loss to the Lightning. The difference this time was his team<br />
completed the comeback, as Elias scored the tying goal seconds after<br />
goaltender Johan Hedberg was pulled for an extra attacker.<br />
“It’s a nice one to get,” Henrique said. “[Hedberg] played great for us again.<br />
He was great in the shootout. Made some big saves at key times. Now we’ll<br />
keep moving forward from here.”<br />
David Clarkson agreed, saying Hedberg received unfair criticism after the<br />
Devils had lost their previous six games with him in the net in place of the<br />
injured Martin Brodeur.<br />
“[Hedberg] is the heart and soul of this team,” Clarkson said. “He is a guy in<br />
my opinion that every year is one of the hardest working and he is a leader<br />
in this room. We’ve got to turn this thing around for this team, but for him as<br />
well. He deserves it.”<br />
Hedberg looked much sharper last night after being pulled in the second<br />
period of Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay. It was his first win since Feb.<br />
10.<br />
“Tonight, I got some breaks. We got a couple of posts, and sometimes<br />
that’s the difference. I think we deserved to win,” Hedberg said. “We’ve<br />
been playing as hard as we can and the last 8-10 days haven’t gotten the<br />
results.”<br />
The Sabres scored first on a Thomas Vanek power-play goal in the second<br />
period — the eighth consecutive game the Devils’ opponent scored first. It<br />
looked like another Devils’ defeat when Brian Flynn scored his first goal of<br />
his NHL career to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead and Enroth playing<br />
outstanding.<br />
Enroth had lost each of his previous 13 starts and was in line for the win<br />
last night before allowing the two late third-period goals. After Elias’ goal,<br />
Enroth left the game with cramps and Ryan Miller, who was supposed to<br />
get the night off, had to replace him.<br />
Miler stopped Ilya Kovalchuk before Clarkson and Elias each beat him in<br />
the shootout.<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662060 New Jersey Devils<br />
5 Questions with Dave Maloney<br />
By JUSTIN TERRANOVA<br />
Last Updated: 1:10 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Posted: 12:28 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Former Rangers defenseman and MSG Network analyst Dave Maloney<br />
talks about the Rangers’ uneven start to the season, his early impressions<br />
of Rick Nash and the Blackhawks with The Post’s Justin Terranova.<br />
Q: Were you surprised by the up-and-down start by the Rangers?<br />
A: There was a lot of optimism coming into the season, but I had always<br />
been a little bit suspect of the bodies that were turned over for a team that<br />
was so close to the Stanley Cup Finals. Now you have a roster that looks a<br />
lot different than it did. Right now with a chance to digest everything they<br />
are probably about where they should be.<br />
Dave Maloney<br />
Q: They went on a four-game losing streak when Rick Nash was hurt. Are<br />
they too top-heavy with the trade?<br />
A: No, I think better is still ahead for this group. J.T. Miller, Taylor Pyatt,<br />
Darroll Powe have been nice fill-ins. They had 3 1/2 years under (John)<br />
Tortorella with basically the same group evolving. I don’t think you can<br />
underestimate how important the trust is that had grown between the<br />
players and coach. That takes time to build.<br />
Q: What has impressed you about Nash since he joined the team?<br />
A: He’s unbelievably effective in an unorthodox way. He’ll put his body in<br />
positions and yet maintain control enough to make a play. He uses his body<br />
and his length somewhat like Jaromir Jagr, perhaps not as powerfully as<br />
Jagr. But he protects the puck and has that sense of vision with the play<br />
and what he can do.<br />
Q: Were the expectations too high for Chris Kreider?<br />
A: The adjustment to the NHL is more than on the ice. He didn’t have to<br />
grind it out and deal with adversity last spring. But there are still reasons to<br />
think he’ll be a factor this season. But at the end of the day, it’s never a bad<br />
thing for a kid to spend the start of his career in the minor leagues and get<br />
used to the NHL life.<br />
Q: What do you attribute to the Blackhawks’ amazing start?<br />
A: They are deep, they are skilled. It’s a story that includes many parts. You<br />
cannot underestimate a team being healthy. This is by and large a team<br />
that won a Cup two years ago with the same coach. Their best players are<br />
in the right part of their career.<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662061 New Jersey Devils<br />
Devils nip Sabres in shootout to snap six-game skid<br />
By DAVID SATRIANO<br />
Last Updated: 12:29 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Posted: 10:09 PM, March 7, 2013<br />
The Devils were 66 seconds away from losing their seventh straight game.<br />
But Patrik Elias, determined to get his team back on the winning track,<br />
scored the game-tying goal and the eventual shootout winner in the Devils’<br />
3-2 win Thursday night over the Sabres at the Prudential Center.<br />
“We had two or three unbelievable opportunities there and [Sabres goalie<br />
Jhonas Enroth] made great saves,” Elias said. “I’m glad we stuck with it and<br />
got the two big goals at the end there.”<br />
Trailing 2-0, with 6:30 left in the contest, Adam Henrique got the Devils on<br />
the board with a power-play goal, just as he did late in the third period of<br />
Tuesday’s loss to the Lightning. The difference this time was his team<br />
completed the comeback, as Elias scored the tying goal seconds after<br />
goaltender Johan Hedberg was pulled for an extra attacker.<br />
“It’s a nice one to get,” Henrique said. “[Hedberg] played great for us again.<br />
He was great in the shootout. Made some big saves at key times. Now we’ll<br />
keep moving forward from here.”<br />
David Clarkson agreed, saying Hedberg received unfair criticism after the<br />
Devils had lost their previous six games with him in the net in place of the<br />
injured Martin Brodeur.<br />
“[Hedberg] is the heart and soul of this team,” Clarkson said. “He is a guy in<br />
my opinion that every year is one of the hardest working and he is a leader<br />
in this room. We’ve got to turn this thing around for this team, but for him as<br />
well. He deserves it.”<br />
Hedberg looked much sharper last night after being pulled in the second<br />
period of Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay. It was his first win since Feb.<br />
10.<br />
“Tonight, I got some breaks. We got a couple of posts, and sometimes<br />
that’s the difference. I think we deserved to win,” Hedberg said. “We’ve<br />
been playing as hard as we can and the last 8-10 days haven’t gotten the<br />
results.”<br />
The Sabres scored first on a Thomas Vanek power-play goal in the second<br />
period — the eighth consecutive game the Devils’ opponent scored first. It<br />
looked like another Devils’ defeat when Brian Flynn scored his first goal of<br />
his NHL career to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead and Enroth playing<br />
outstanding.<br />
Enroth had lost each of his previous 13 starts and was in line for the win<br />
last night before allowing the two late third-period goals. After Elias’ goal,<br />
Enroth left the game with cramps and Ryan Miller, who was supposed to<br />
get the night off, had to replace him.<br />
Miler stopped Ilya Kovalchuk before Clarkson and Elias each beat him in<br />
the shootout.<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662062 New York Islanders<br />
Rick Nash ties game with another third period goal, Marian Gaborik wins it<br />
as NY Rangers top NY Islanders, 2-1, in OT<br />
By Pat Leonard / NEW YORK <strong>DAILY</strong> NEWS<br />
John Tortorella has unleashed Rick Nash, and he can’t be stopped, but in<br />
Thursday night’s 2-1 comeback overtime win over the Islanders at Nassau<br />
Coliseum, the Rangers’ coach received an exciting reminder:<br />
There are two game-breakers on this roster.<br />
Marian Gaborik, a three-time 40-goal scorer who had fallen out of the topsix<br />
rotation before Brad Richards injured his neck and back on Sunday,<br />
blasted a slap shot through Ryan Callahan’s screen on the power play 42<br />
seconds into OT to complete a dramatic comeback in the Rangers’ fourth<br />
straight victory.<br />
“We knew he had it in him,” said center Derek Stepan (two assists), who<br />
played a huge chunk of last season with Gaborik when the Slovakian<br />
winger carried this team’s offense. “He got good wood on the first (attempt<br />
that was blocked), and he gets the puck back, he’s not discouraged, cranks<br />
it up and scores a big goal for us.”<br />
“I haven’t scored in a while,” said Gaborik, who tallied for the first time in<br />
nine games, “and to get a goal of this much importance feels great.”<br />
The Rangers (12-8-2, 26) were in a position to pick up two points because<br />
Nash had deflected a Stepan point shot past stingy Islanders goalie Evgeni<br />
Nabokov (35 saves) with 5:23 remaining in the third period. It was Nash’s<br />
eighth goal of the season — tied with Gaborik for the team lead — but<br />
Nash’s eight are unique: he has scored all eight in the third period of<br />
games. Since returning from a presumed concussion, Nash has five goals<br />
in four games, all Ranger wins.<br />
“At this stage in his career, as I said when we got (Nash), I think it’s perfect<br />
timing for the Rangers and for him to join us in this type of situation,”<br />
Tortorella said. “And I think he has a mind-set that he accepts the<br />
responsibility.”<br />
Nash also fed a pass to the net in overtime to Michael Del Zotto that led to<br />
a hooking penalty by Michael Grabner (one goal), sending the Rangers on<br />
the power play, where Nash then got the primary assist on Gaborik’s gamewinner.<br />
In the third period, Tortorella rolled two lines: Stepan, Nash and Carl<br />
Hagelin for eight minutes and the second group of Gaborik, rookie J.T.<br />
Miller and Callahan for about seven. The Rangers held a 15-9 shot<br />
advantage in those final 20 minutes in topping the Isles (10-11-3, 23<br />
points), who had a two-game winning streak snapped.<br />
Underscoring the late heroics, defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan<br />
Girardi reunited to shut down John Tavares’ top line in the absence of the<br />
injured Marc Staal (eye) – who remains out indefinitely – backed by a<br />
strong performance from Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves), including a huge<br />
second-period stop on Matt Martin’s shorthanded breakaway.<br />
Veteran defenseman Roman Hamrlik played a serviceable 15:48 after<br />
being claimed off waivers Wednesday from the Washington Capitals, and<br />
Richards delivered good news in the morning that he is dealing with shortterm<br />
neck and back issues but not concussion symptoms and hopes to play<br />
in the near future.<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662063 New York Islanders<br />
NHL Players Association gives consent to league's proposed realignment<br />
which puts NY Rangers, NY Islanders and NJ Devils in new eight-team<br />
division<br />
By Pat Leonard / NEW YORK <strong>DAILY</strong> NEWS<br />
The NHL Players’ Association gave its consent Thursday to the league’s<br />
proposed realignment plan for its 30 teams to take effect next fall and be<br />
reevaluated following the 2014-15 season.<br />
The proposal now will go to the Board of Governors for approval, though<br />
that is considered a formality since the union did not alter any details.<br />
The league’s realignment proposal slots the Rangers, Islanders and Devils<br />
in a new eight-team division that includes current Atlantic Division members<br />
Penguins and <strong>Flyers</strong> but adds the Capitals, Hurricanes and Blue Jackets.<br />
RELATED: NASH, GABORIK POWER RANGERS OVER ISLES IN OT<br />
The NHL will be reorganized from six divisions into four, or two per<br />
conference. Each team will play all of the other 29 teams at least twice in an<br />
annual home-and-home, meaning more trips out West for the Rangers.<br />
The playoff system will change, forcing teams to play postseason series<br />
within their own divisions before advancing. But there also will be two<br />
playoff wild-cards per conference, meaning the top three seeds from each<br />
division will get in, plus the two with top records regardless of division, to<br />
make eight per conference.<br />
The Eastern Conference will have 16 teams, more than the 14 in the West,<br />
because three teams will be switching conferences: the Winnipeg Jets will<br />
move from the East to the West, while the Detroit Red Wings and Blue<br />
Jackets will slide from West to East.<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662064 New York Islanders<br />
Marian Gaborik's power-play goal in OT lifts Rangers over Islanders<br />
By ARTHUR STAPLE arthur.staple at newsday.com<br />
The Islanders were five minutes and change away from the sort of grind-itout<br />
win that could have left them feeling primed for the second half of the<br />
season.<br />
But it's hard to grind anything out against the Rangers and Rick Nash.<br />
Nash's neat deflection of Derek Stepan's shot tied the score at 1 with 5:23<br />
to play before the Rangers got the break they needed with a quick power<br />
play in overtime.<br />
Marian Gaborik delivered the power-play winner at 42 seconds of OT,<br />
giving the Rangers a 2-1 victory at sold-out Nassau Coliseum.<br />
It was the Rangers' fourth victory in a row, solidifying their hold on a topeight<br />
Eastern Conference spot, and left the Islanders as dejected as they've<br />
been all season.<br />
"I thought we were playing well and we just needed to keep playing our<br />
game," Rangers coach John Tortorella said of his team's push for the tying<br />
goal.<br />
He rode two lines for much of the third period and rode Nash in particular<br />
until he broke through, not with one of his bull rushes to the net but by flying<br />
through a shooting lane to tip Stepan's point shot down and past Evgeni<br />
Nabokov, who made 35 saves and otherwise stood out.<br />
"The third period has been his period," Tortorella said of Nash, who has<br />
scored all eight of his goals this season in the third. "He has a mind-set that<br />
he accepts the responsibility. He doesn't say [anything], just goes out and<br />
plays."<br />
The Islanders were livid after Michael Grabner was whistled for hooking<br />
down Michael Del Zotto as the Rangers defenseman drove to the net 21<br />
seconds into overtime, perhaps not so much for that call but for the fact that<br />
a hard-hitting, hard-fought game brought the Islanders no power plays.<br />
"Maybe we're wrong, maybe they played a real clean game," Matt Martin<br />
said. "We're in one of the toughest divisions in the league, and they're pretty<br />
far from a soft team. It's very frustrating."<br />
"It's probably the toughest one this year," said Nabokov, who stoned Nash's<br />
other six shots and had one of his stronger games this season. "We had the<br />
game in our hands. That's exactly how the playoffs are. It was a great<br />
atmosphere; I wish we could have that atmosphere every night here."<br />
The Islanders attempted to make Grabner's first-period goal stand up and<br />
tried to win for the first time this season (0-10-0) when scoring fewer than<br />
three goals.<br />
Despite being outshot, the Islanders were able to control the front of their<br />
own net and generate chances off the counterattack. Martin had a<br />
shorthanded breakaway late in the second that Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves)<br />
denied and Matt Moulson and Grabner each had break-in chances that<br />
missed.<br />
"We get one of those and it's 2-0, it's a different game," Jack Capuano said.<br />
"I feel bad for the guys. They deserved a couple power plays, but [the<br />
Rangers] got the break in OT and they took advantage."<br />
"We've just got to try and put this one behind us, tough as it is," said John<br />
Tavares, who was held off the scoresheet. "We have to keep building off<br />
what we've done the past few games."<br />
The Islanders finish their seven-game homestand Saturday against the<br />
Caps with another chance to reach .500. The Rangers return to the Garden<br />
Friday night to face the Senators with a chance to keep climbing up the<br />
East ladder. They are six points back of the Atlantic Division-leading<br />
Penguins with two games in hand.<br />
Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662065 New York Islanders<br />
Ex-Islander Micheal Haley returns with Rangers<br />
By ARTHUR STAPLE arthur.staple at newsday.com<br />
Micheal Haley became a fast fan favorite when he fought his way --<br />
sometimes quite literally -- up from the East Coast League to the Islanders'<br />
lineup in the course of the previous three seasons, posting 151 penalty<br />
minutes in 43 games.<br />
The Islanders weren't interested in giving Haley, now 26, a one-way<br />
contract, so the Rangers snapped him up to add him as a potential enforcer<br />
call-up. Haley was back at the Coliseum with the Rangers Thursday night.<br />
"I'm just trying to show the Rangers' management that this is where I want<br />
to be," Haley said Thursday afternoon. "Sure, there's going to be some<br />
emotions, but there's no ill feelings towards anybody here. Every first I ever<br />
had came here. They gave me my break."<br />
Haley's most memorable night at the Coliseum was the crazy game with the<br />
Penguins on Feb. 11, 2011. In addition to the 342 penalty minutes that were<br />
handed out, Haley not only challenged Penguins goaltender Brent Johnson<br />
to a fight but scored one of his two NHL goals.<br />
Boulton in<br />
With Haley and Stu Bickel dressed for the Rangers, Jack Capuano decided<br />
to beef up his own roster by dressing Eric Boulton and sitting David<br />
Ullstrom. Boulton skated on a line with Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin.<br />
Lubomir Visnovsky is due to return to the U.S. and the Islanders Friday.<br />
Katie Beers drops puck<br />
Katie Beers, who was abducted and chained in a basement for two weeks<br />
as a 10-year-old in Bay Shore in 1992, was on hand to drop a ceremonial<br />
first puck in honor of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children<br />
Night. The center is supported by Islanders owner Charles Wang.<br />
Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662066 New York Rangers<br />
Rick Nash ties game with another third period goal, Marian Gaborik wins it<br />
as NY Rangers top NY Islanders, 2-1, in OT<br />
By Pat Leonard / NEW YORK <strong>DAILY</strong> NEWS<br />
Thursday, March 7, 2013, 10:04 PM<br />
John Tortorella has unleashed Rick Nash, and he can’t be stopped, but in<br />
Thursday night’s 2-1 comeback overtime win over the Islanders at Nassau<br />
Coliseum, the Rangers’ coach received an exciting reminder:<br />
There are two game-breakers on this roster.<br />
Marian Gaborik, a three-time 40-goal scorer who had fallen out of the topsix<br />
rotation before Brad Richards injured his neck and back on Sunday,<br />
blasted a slap shot through Ryan Callahan’s screen on the power play 42<br />
seconds into OT to complete a dramatic comeback in the Rangers’ fourth<br />
straight victory.<br />
“We knew he had it in him,” said center Derek Stepan (two assists), who<br />
played a huge chunk of last season with Gaborik when the Slovakian<br />
winger carried this team’s offense. “He got good wood on the first (attempt<br />
that was blocked), and he gets the puck back, he’s not discouraged, cranks<br />
it up and scores a big goal for us.”<br />
“I haven’t scored in a while,” said Gaborik, who tallied for the first time in<br />
nine games, “and to get a goal of this much importance feels great.”<br />
The Rangers (12-8-2, 26) were in a position to pick up two points because<br />
Nash had deflected a Stepan point shot past stingy Islanders goalie Evgeni<br />
Nabokov (35 saves) with 5:23 remaining in the third period. It was Nash’s<br />
eighth goal of the season — tied with Gaborik for the team lead — but<br />
Nash’s eight are unique: he has scored all eight in the third period of<br />
games. Since returning from a presumed concussion, Nash has five goals<br />
in four games, all Ranger wins.<br />
“At this stage in his career, as I said when we got (Nash), I think it’s perfect<br />
timing for the Rangers and for him to join us in this type of situation,”<br />
Tortorella said. “And I think he has a mind-set that he accepts the<br />
responsibility.”<br />
Nash also fed a pass to the net in overtime to Michael Del Zotto that led to<br />
a hooking penalty by Michael Grabner (one goal), sending the Rangers on<br />
the power play, where Nash then got the primary assist on Gaborik’s gamewinner.<br />
In the third period, Tortorella rolled two lines: Stepan, Nash and Carl<br />
Hagelin for eight minutes and the second group of Gaborik, rookie J.T.<br />
Miller and Callahan for about seven. The Rangers held a 15-9 shot<br />
advantage in those final 20 minutes in topping the Isles (10-11-3, 23<br />
points), who had a two-game winning streak snapped.<br />
Underscoring the late heroics, defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan<br />
Girardi reunited to shut down John Tavares’ top line in the absence of the<br />
injured Marc Staal (eye) – who remains out indefinitely – backed by a<br />
strong performance from Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves), including a huge<br />
second-period stop on Matt Martin’s shorthanded breakaway.<br />
Veteran defenseman Roman Hamrlik played a serviceable 15:48 after<br />
being claimed off waivers Wednesday from the Washington Capitals, and<br />
Richards delivered good news in the morning that he is dealing with shortterm<br />
neck and back issues but not concussion symptoms and hopes to play<br />
in the near future.<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662067 New York Rangers<br />
Quirk in the N.H.L. Visor Debate: Fighters Get Penalized<br />
By DHIREN MAHIBAN<br />
Toronto's Frazer McLaren says the N.H.L.'s visor rule is good for<br />
fighters.Mark Blinch/Reuters Toronto’s Frazer McLaren says the N.H.L.’s<br />
visor rule is good for fighters.<br />
Rangers defenseman Marc Staal’s recent eye injury has again highlighted<br />
the hot-button issue of visors. The N.H.L. has expressed its desire to make<br />
them mandatory, but right now, it actually has a rule penalizing those who<br />
do wear them.<br />
Rule 46.6 in the N.H.L. rule book states: “If a player penalized as an<br />
instigator of an altercation is wearing a face shield (including a goalkeeper),<br />
he shall be assessed an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”<br />
While the league says it wants to promote player safety by having all<br />
players wear visors, but players say they’re reluctant to wear a visor if<br />
they’re likely to fight because they don’t want to further penalize their team.<br />
“That’s probably my biggest reason,” said Maple Leafs defenseman Mark<br />
Fraser of removing his visor, because fighting “is part of my role on this<br />
team and it just prevents me from any larger penalties and also sort of the<br />
unwritten rule that if you’re going to fight with a visor you’d have to take<br />
your helmet off completely.”<br />
Fraser said the league is sitting on the fence when it comes to player safety<br />
with the rule.<br />
“It does seem a little contradictory perhaps, because obviously a lot of guys<br />
that do (take the visor off), that might be part of their justification,” said<br />
Fraser, who has 18 N.H.L. fights in his career, according to<br />
hockeyfights.com. “I’d rather keep my helmet on with no visor than take it<br />
off completely because part of player safety as well is concussions and<br />
falling down and hitting your head or whatever else.”<br />
Fraser’s teammate, Frazer McLaren, also believes the rule prompts fighters<br />
to keep the visor off.<br />
“From a fighter’s perspective it’s not really that ridiculous because if<br />
someone instigates a fight with you who’s got a visor on, it’s tough for the<br />
guy without the visor because the other guy’s face is protected. In that<br />
sense it’s a good rule for some of the fighters,” said McLaren, who has 26<br />
career fights, including the Wednesday night knockout blow he delivered to<br />
Ottawa’s Dave Dziurzynski.<br />
“At the same sense I understand the angle you’re coming from where it kind<br />
of probably deters some players from wearing visors, who might have<br />
originally worn them. “<br />
Then there’s Senators tough guy Chris Neil, who appears to be in denial<br />
about visors preventing eye injuries.<br />
Neil was struck in the eye in January 2011 by the stick of Montreal’s Max<br />
Pacioretty. He wasn’t wearing a visor then and still doesn’t.<br />
“I think that situation is a fluke accident, but as far as sticks coming up,<br />
that’s the scary thing,” Neil said, referring to Staal’s injury. “I think if<br />
everyone’s wearing no visor guys would be more respectful around the<br />
league with their sticks.”<br />
Despite players such as Tye McGinn of the <strong>Flyers</strong>, who has three fights this<br />
season, and Kings forward Colin Fraser now wearing visors, Neil had this to<br />
say regarding Rule 46.6: “I don’t really look at that either because, you<br />
know, usually guys aren’t fighting if they’re wearing visors.”<br />
Chris Phillips, who is the Senators’ union rep who sustained an eye injury in<br />
1998, admits the rule does raise some red flags.<br />
“That’s what makes it a good debate, you don’t want to see guys get hurt,”<br />
Phillips said. “I’ve seen guys take their helmets off in sort of respect to each<br />
other … you don’t want to see a guy get a concussion cause he’s fallen<br />
down in a fight and hit his head. There’s always a trickle-down effect from<br />
doing certain things that makes it a good debate. At the end of the day you<br />
don’t want to see guys get hurt.”<br />
New York Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662068 New York Rangers<br />
Brad Richards resting neck and back but is not dealing with concussion<br />
symptoms; Roman Hamrlik joins NY Rangers<br />
By Pat Leonard<br />
Brad Richards did not skate at Nassau Coliseum Thursday morning and will<br />
miss his second straight game when the Rangers take on the Islanders at 7<br />
p.m., but Richards did deliver the good news that he is not dealing with a<br />
concussion from the Patrick Kaleta hit Sunday night.<br />
“It’s not a long-term thing,” Richards said in a hallway outside the Rangers’<br />
locker room. “I went in (to the boards) pretty hard. I’ve just got to let the<br />
body regroup a little bit here … Obviously, the neck and back are a little<br />
locked up.”<br />
Richards was asked how relieved he feels that he is not experiencing<br />
concussion symptoms, which forced him to miss games with the Dallas<br />
Stars during the 2010-11 season.<br />
“Yeah, I don’t know where you want to start on how bad it could have<br />
been,” Richards said. “Overall, I’m standing here talking about trying to play<br />
right now, and that’s a few days after (the hit), so I’m pretty fortunate I<br />
think.”<br />
Richards tested himself on the ice at Tuesday morning’s skate in<br />
Greenburgh but that day said “sometimes you just think if I get going, I’ll get<br />
moving, but that morning it went the other way.<br />
“It’s getting better as the week goes,” he continued. “Each day I wake up<br />
and hope I can get out and do something, but there’s no sense in making it<br />
go backwards and not being able to help the team.”<br />
Richards also had some pointed words for Kaleta, who drove the Rangers<br />
center head first into the boards in Sunday’s third period between the<br />
Rangers and Sabres at the Garden. The context of the question was<br />
whether Richards thought Kaleta’s five-game suspension from the NHL was<br />
appropriate:<br />
“I don’t know what’s appropriate,” Richards said. “I just hope that someone<br />
doesn’t have a broken neck and get carried off in a stretcher for that to sink<br />
in that it’s just a crazy play. You learn that in pee-wee that you see<br />
someone’s numbers, you just don’t do that. So hopefully something worse<br />
doesn’t have to happen. We have to make a point on that.”<br />
THE HAMR DROPS<br />
The Rangers welcomed veteran defenseman Roman Hamrlik to their locker<br />
room Thursday morning, though on this day that meant the visitors’ locker<br />
room at Nassau Coliseum, where Hamrlik was an Islander from 2000-01<br />
through 2003-04.<br />
The Blueshirts (11-8-2, 24 points) and Islanders (10-11-2, 22 points) are<br />
prepared to tangle for the third time this season, and Hamrlik will start on<br />
the third pairing with Steve Eminger. Hamrlik said he is glad the Rangers<br />
are giving him a chance by claiming him off waivers on Wednesday.<br />
“Happy, excited, anxious to play,” Hamrlik said. “This is a really good team,<br />
with one of the best goaltenders in the league. They have some great<br />
defensemen who can skate and move the puck, lots of speed in the front. I<br />
think this team is a Stanley Cup contender and they have a chance to go<br />
far.<br />
“From my experience we played them last year in the playoffs and it was a<br />
huge, big series and unfortunate for the Capitals, but now I’m happy to be<br />
here and hopefully I get a chance to play hockey.”<br />
Hamrlik, 38, had been scratched all but four games this season by Capitals<br />
first-year coach Adam Oates, a fact he obviously wished he could change,<br />
though it’s now not his concern.<br />
“I played with Mike Green (in the playoffs) and we did pretty good, but<br />
there’s been lots of changes over the summer with the coaching staff with<br />
Washington and I think I can’t make the (lineup) decision,” Hamrlik. “But I<br />
wish they could’ve given me a little bit more of a chance to play hockey. But<br />
that’s in the past.”<br />
Rangers center Jeff Halpern played with Hamrlik both in Montreal and<br />
Washington and said the team is getting a defenseman who can fit the<br />
team’s system.<br />
“He’s a real steady, smart player, he plays big, he can play on the boards,<br />
blocks a lot of shots and just makes a lot of smart decisions,” Halpern said.<br />
LINES AND PAIRS<br />
Here is the Rangers’ starting lineup for Thursday night:<br />
F: Hagelin-Stepan-Nash, Gaborik-Miller-Callahan, Pyatt-Boyle-Powe,<br />
Haley-Halpern-Bickel<br />
D: McDonagh-Girardi, Del Zotto-Stralman, Hamrlik-Eminger<br />
G: Lundqvist<br />
Healthy scratch: Gilroy<br />
Injured: Richards (neck, back; day-to-day), Asham (back; IR), Staal<br />
(eye/face; out indefinitely).<br />
ISLES FACE HUGE TEST<br />
Here are a couple morning quotes from Islanders head coach Jack<br />
Capuano and center John Tavares:<br />
Capuano, asked how to play against a player like Rick Nash:“When you<br />
have elite players in this league – he’s big, he’s strong, he’s got a<br />
tremendous reach – you try to contain him. You know they’re gonna get<br />
their opportunities at some point during a game. That’s the way these guys<br />
are. We just have to make sure that we know when he’s on the ice, clock<br />
management, puck management.”<br />
Capuano, on the challenge the Rangers pose: “The Rangers are a strong<br />
team. I mean you guys all picked them to win the division, and even some<br />
guys picked them to win the Stanley Cup. So we know what we’re up<br />
against. We know they’re a top team in the division, we know they’re a solid<br />
team, they’ve got great goaltending. Special teams is going well for them<br />
right now, so it’s a great test for our team.”<br />
Tavares on whether he wants to prove himself as a top player when<br />
another top player such as Nash is on the opposing team: “Not so much. I<br />
think the game is too much of a team sport to worry about that. You can’t<br />
really control all the things he does or how things are going with maybe<br />
guys he’s playing with and stuff like that. So I think mostly when you’re out<br />
there, you try to win the battles against whomever you’re playing against as<br />
a line and as a five-, six-man unit.”<br />
Tavares on whether this game means more at this juncture of season for<br />
Isles than maybe in years past: “This game at this point in the season,<br />
compared to the midway point of my first few years, it’s a pretty big game in<br />
terms of the standings. So that makes it that much more important, and<br />
since there’s only so many games left, it makes it even more important<br />
knowing how many points are available and how many times we’re playing<br />
against everybody in our conference. It juts emphasizes things a little bit<br />
more. I think you’re going to see a physical game, a fast game, obviously<br />
the motions are going to be there.”<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662069 New York Rangers<br />
Crushed Ice: J.T. Miller mans center vs. <strong>Flyers</strong> in Brad Richards' absence,<br />
penalty kill struggles but power play scores again<br />
By Pat Leonard<br />
I never got a chance on Wednesday to rehash the details of the Rangers’ 4-<br />
2 win over the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong> on Tuesday night, so here are some<br />
tidbits:<br />
With Brad Richards out, rookie J.T. Miller switched back to center, a<br />
position both he and coach John Tortorella have admitted he is not ready to<br />
play at the NHL level. But Miller has continued to learn in his 13 games, and<br />
immediately on Tuesday he demonstrated better awareness in his own<br />
zone.<br />
Miller dropped low to the back boards to support defenseman Dan Girardi,<br />
received a pass and led the charge out of the zone with an outlet that led<br />
eventually to a three-on-two Rangers rush and a Marian Gaborik shot on<br />
goal.<br />
“When I make a good play in the defensive zone, I have to get something<br />
out of it, because it’s just as important as making a good play in the<br />
offensive zone,” Miller said after the game, acknowledging a positive<br />
opening defensive shift helped him get into the flow.<br />
Miller centered Gaborik on the left wing and Ryan Callahan on the right,<br />
while Tortorella moved Derek Stepan up with Carl Hagelin and Rick Nash<br />
and relied on a checking line of Taylor Pyatt, Brian Boyle and Darroll Powe<br />
while on the fourth line, Micheal Haley played to the left of Jeff Halpern and<br />
Stu Bickel took the right wing.<br />
Miller humorously said after the game that he was “atrocious in the faceoff<br />
circle” early in the game, going 0-for-6 in the first period 0-for his first seven.<br />
But he said once he got more comfortable in the circle, he felt better about<br />
his effort. Miller went 8-for-9 the rest of the way to finish 8-of-16 on the<br />
night.<br />
MORE NOTES<br />
The Rangers’ penalty kill, which had gone 11-for-11 the past three games,<br />
was a disappointing 1-for-3 in Tuesday’s first period. On the flip side, the<br />
Blueshirts now have scored a power play in three straight games for the<br />
first time all season after Callahan scored in the first period.<br />
“We have been strong on the penalty kill, (but) I think we gave them a few<br />
too many chances around the net,” said defensenman Ryan McDonagh,<br />
who assisted on Callahan’s second goal on even strength later in the first.<br />
“For the most part when we can throw pucks in the offensive zone and run<br />
down to catch the line change on that second goal and get the momentum<br />
back, that was a huge turning point.”<br />
NASHTY<br />
Rick Nash has seven goals this season, tied with Callahan, Hagelin and<br />
Gaborik for the team lead. The unique part about Nash’s goals, though, is<br />
that he’s scored all of them in the third period.<br />
HANK THE TANK<br />
Henrik Lundqvist made 11 of his 23 saves in Tuesday’s third period and<br />
now has won three straight games, improving to 10-7-1 overall and 8-4-0 at<br />
home. Lundqvist has held opponents to two goals or less in 11 of his last 15<br />
games, posting a record of 9-5-1 with a 1.98 goals against average and a<br />
.927 save percentage in those 15 games.<br />
THE SKED<br />
New York’s five games-in-eight-days marathon continues with a road-home<br />
back-to-back beginning Thursday night against the Islanders at Nassau<br />
Coliseum (7 p.m.). Friday night, the Rangers will host the Ottawa Senators<br />
(7 p.m.) at the Garden.<br />
The fifth game in the eight-day stretch, Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in<br />
Washington, D.C., begins the Blueshirts’ longest road trip of the season.<br />
New York will visit the capital and then Buffalo (Tuesday), Winnipeg (next<br />
Thursday) and Pittsburgh (next Saturday).<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662070 New York Rangers<br />
NHL Players Association gives consent to league's proposed realignment<br />
which puts NY Rangers, NY Islanders and NJ Devils in new eight-team<br />
division<br />
The NHL will be reorganized from six divisions into four, or two per<br />
conference. Each team will play all of the other 29 teams at least twice in an<br />
annual home-and-home, meaning more trips out West for the Rangers.<br />
By Pat Leonard / NEW YORK <strong>DAILY</strong> NEWS<br />
Friday, March 8, 2013, 1:27 AM<br />
The NHL Players’ Association gave its consent Thursday to the league’s<br />
proposed realignment plan for its 30 teams to take effect next fall and be<br />
reevaluated following the 2014-15 season.<br />
The proposal now will go to the Board of Governors for approval, though<br />
that is considered a formality since the union did not alter any details.<br />
The league’s realignment proposal slots the Rangers, Islanders and Devils<br />
in a new eight-team division that includes current Atlantic Division members<br />
Penguins and <strong>Flyers</strong> but adds the Capitals, Hurricanes and Blue Jackets.<br />
The NHL will be reorganized from six divisions into four, or two per<br />
conference. Each team will play all of the other 29 teams at least twice in an<br />
annual home-and-home, meaning more trips out West for the Rangers.<br />
The playoff system will change, forcing teams to play postseason series<br />
within their own divisions before advancing. But there also will be two<br />
playoff wild-cards per conference, meaning the top three seeds from each<br />
division will get in, plus the two with top records regardless of division, to<br />
make eight per conference.<br />
The Eastern Conference will have 16 teams, more than the 14 in the West,<br />
because three teams will be switching conferences: the Winnipeg Jets will<br />
move from the East to the West, while the Detroit Red Wings and Blue<br />
Jackets will slide from West to East.<br />
New York Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662071 New York Rangers<br />
5 Questions with Dave Maloney<br />
By JUSTIN TERRANOVA<br />
Last Updated: 1:10 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Posted: 12:28 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Former Rangers defenseman and MSG Network analyst Dave Maloney<br />
talks about the Rangers’ uneven start to the season, his early impressions<br />
of Rick Nash and the Blackhawks with The Post’s Justin Terranova.<br />
Q: Were you surprised by the up-and-down start by the Rangers?<br />
A: There was a lot of optimism coming into the season, but I had always<br />
been a little bit suspect of the bodies that were turned over for a team that<br />
was so close to the Stanley Cup Finals. Now you have a roster that looks a<br />
lot different than it did. Right now with a chance to digest everything they<br />
are probably about where they should be.<br />
Q: They went on a four-game losing streak when Rick Nash was hurt. Are<br />
they too top-heavy with the trade?<br />
A: No, I think better is still ahead for this group. J.T. Miller, Taylor Pyatt,<br />
Darroll Powe have been nice fill-ins. They had 3 1/2 years under (John)<br />
Tortorella with basically the same group evolving. I don’t think you can<br />
underestimate how important the trust is that had grown between the<br />
players and coach. That takes time to build.<br />
Q: What has impressed you about Nash since he joined the team?<br />
A: He’s unbelievably effective in an unorthodox way. He’ll put his body in<br />
positions and yet maintain control enough to make a play. He uses his body<br />
and his length somewhat like Jaromir Jagr, perhaps not as powerfully as<br />
Jagr. But he protects the puck and has that sense of vision with the play<br />
and what he can do.<br />
Q: Were the expectations too high for Chris Kreider?<br />
A: The adjustment to the NHL is more than on the ice. He didn’t have to<br />
grind it out and deal with adversity last spring. But there are still reasons to<br />
think he’ll be a factor this season. But at the end of the day, it’s never a bad<br />
thing for a kid to spend the start of his career in the minor leagues and get<br />
used to the NHL life.<br />
Q: What do you attribute to the Blackhawks’ amazing start?<br />
A: They are deep, they are skilled. It’s a story that includes many parts. You<br />
cannot underestimate a team being healthy. This is by and large a team<br />
that won a Cup two years ago with the same coach. Their best players are<br />
in the right part of their career.<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662072 New York Rangers<br />
Momentum continues in fourth straight win<br />
By LARRY BROOKS<br />
Last Updated: 4:06 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
A Terrific hockey game took place at the Coliseum last night, a throwback<br />
installment of the Battle of New York between the Rangers and Islanders, a<br />
physical match played with pace and passion from start to finish in a<br />
Coliseum that rocked in unison with the athletes.<br />
“Fun game,” Henrik Lundqvist said after the Blueshirts recorded their fourth<br />
straight victory, this 2-1 in overtime. “The crowd was great, the play was<br />
intense.<br />
“It felt good to be a part of.”<br />
For the first time this year, it feels as if the Rangers are on a roll, building<br />
from one game to the next, establishing a foundation off which to<br />
springboard from the margins of the playoffs to the upper-echelon of the<br />
East.<br />
“It’s coming,” said Derek Stepan, who was strong on his skates and the<br />
puck all night. “It’s coming.”<br />
It is, of course, no coincidence that this winning streak has coincided with<br />
Rick Nash’s return after a four-game absence during which the club could<br />
not win a game, going 0-3-1.<br />
And it was The Big Easy whose deflection of Stepan’s long one finally beat<br />
Evgeni Nabokov at 14:37 of the third to tie the game after the Rangers had<br />
trailed since 11:51 of the first.<br />
“Rick being the player he is just stepped up again,” Stepan said. “He has so<br />
many special attributes, it’s amazing.”<br />
Nash tied it and then Marian Gaborik, one of the NHL’s most accomplished<br />
finishers, perhaps you had forgotten, finished it by driving a 40-footer from<br />
the top through both a Ryan Callahan screen and Nabokov on the power<br />
play just 42 second into OT.<br />
If you had forgotten about the scoring prowess of Gaborik, sixth in the NHL<br />
in goals since his arrival on Broadway for the 2009-10 season, you’re<br />
excused. Fact is, The Great Gabby hadn’t scored in eight straight and had<br />
two goals in his last 16 while scoring in just four of the Blueshirts’ first 21<br />
games.<br />
“It’s been a little bit frustrating, but I’ve tried to stay positive,” Gaborik said.<br />
“But it definitely helps to score a goal.”<br />
Gaborik has been shifted both to left wing after a career on the right side<br />
and around the lineup even more than usual by coach John Tortorella, who<br />
doesn’t necessarily seem to believe No. 10 has a place among his top six<br />
forwards when the club is healthy.<br />
Gaborik has skated on a second unit with J.T. Miller the last two games<br />
while Brad Richards recuperates from his trip into the boards last Sunday,<br />
but the winger had opened the previous pair on a third line centered by<br />
Brian Boyle.<br />
“It is what it is, but I’m not complaining,” Gaborik told The Post. “It’s a little<br />
bit different for me, but whatever it takes for us to win and to balance out<br />
the lines, I’ll do whatever I can to be at my best.”<br />
The Rangers matched the Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi pair against the<br />
John Tavares-Matt Moulson-Brad Boyes combination as much as possible.<br />
Tortorella ponied up on the Nash-Stepan-Carl Hagelin and Gaborik-Miller-<br />
Callahan units in the third, rolling those two lines for 15 of the period’s 19<br />
shifts into the tying goal.<br />
“We were in their faces all game and I think that made the difference in the<br />
third,” McDonagh said. “When you’re playing against a player as good as<br />
Tavares, you want to force him and his line to play in their own zone as<br />
much as possible.”<br />
The Islanders put up a noble effort. It wasn’t quite good enough. It doesn’t<br />
mean they’re going away even if this victory on top of Tuesday’s triumph<br />
over the <strong>Flyers</strong> leads you to believe the Rangers finally have it going.<br />
“We have a long way to go and we have to stay on an even keel,”<br />
McDonagh said. “But we’re getting a real good feeling about ourselves.”<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662073 New York Rangers<br />
Gaborik, Nash lead Rangers as Isles blame officiating<br />
By BRETT CYRGALIS<br />
Brooks on The Rangers were not given anything last night, no matter how<br />
many dirty looks and slanted words the Islanders had for the referees<br />
afterward.<br />
Once Marian Gaborik blasted home a slap shot 42 seconds into overtime,<br />
giving the Rangers a 2-1 win, it was the fact Michael Grabner sat in the<br />
home team’s penalty box at the Coliseum that seemed to irk those storming<br />
off more than anything.<br />
“If that’s the way [the referee] wants to call the game, that’s the way he calls<br />
the game,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said, his team not getting one<br />
chance on the man-advantage the whole game compared to the Rangers’<br />
three. “I feel bad for our guys because they worked hard tonight and they<br />
deserved at least one or two power plays. So it [stinks], but there’s nothing<br />
you can do about it.”<br />
In going off the ice after Gaborik scored, the Islanders (10-11-3) got two<br />
game misconducts, one on forward Kyle Okposo and one on the “team<br />
staff” aimed at assistant coach Brent Thompson, both of whom vehemently<br />
let their point of views known to the men in stripes.<br />
“You can’t dwell on the referees,” Capuano said, clearly still steamed as his<br />
team’s two-game winning streak is no more. “You can’t dwell on only<br />
getting one point instead of two.”<br />
The Rangers (12-8-2), who host the Senators tonight, have won four in a<br />
row, not at all coincidental with the return of superstar winger Rick Nash.<br />
With just over five minutes remaining in the game, the Islanders up 1-0 after<br />
a first-period Grabner goal, Nash settled into position on the left circle and<br />
deflected in a Derek Stepan point shot.<br />
“He doesn’t speak,” Rangers’ coach John Tortorella said about Nash. “He<br />
just goes out and plays.”<br />
All of Nash’s eight goals this season have come in the third period, and he<br />
now has five goals and three assists in four games since returning from his<br />
four-game absence.<br />
“It’s a pretty easy mindset — you get a chance to pass it over to Rick Nash,<br />
you get it over to Rick Nash,” Stepan said. “He just seems to break guys<br />
down one-on-one, make great passes. He just gets the job done.”<br />
The passing is what led to the game winner, as Nash came streaking up the<br />
right side in overtime and tossed one toward a streaking Michael Del Zotto.<br />
Grabner hooked him down — whether the Islanders believe it or not — and<br />
on the ensuing 4-on-3 power play, Gaborik slammed one over the glove of<br />
Evgeni Nabokov (35 saves) for his first goal in eight games.<br />
“He scores a big goal,” Tortorella said of Gaboirk. “I’m sure it’s going to help<br />
his confidence.”<br />
Although it was low-scoring, both teams played well throughout with few<br />
turnovers and sparkling goaltending. Nabokov seemed destined for his<br />
second shutout of the season before Nash ruined it, and Henrik Lundqvist<br />
stood tall when he needed to in making 28 saves.<br />
Whether the call on Grabner was warranted or not — and whether the<br />
Islanders deserved at least one power play they didn’t get — are regardless<br />
of the fact that in a tight game, sometimes the smallest things can make a<br />
difference.<br />
“I thought we were playing well throughout the game and we just needed to<br />
stay with it,” Tortorella said. “Just play our game, and that’s what we did.”<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662074 New York Rangers<br />
Hamrlik sees action, but defenseman ‘not in shape’<br />
By BRETT CYRGALIS<br />
Last Updated: 3:57 AM, March 8, 2013<br />
Brooks on The Rangers didn’t waste any time in getting the new guy into<br />
the mix.<br />
In their 2-1 overtime win over the Islanders Thursday night at the Coliseum,<br />
coach John Tortorella immediately inserted veteran defenseman Roman<br />
Hamrlik into the lineup just one day after claiming him off waivers from the<br />
Capitals.<br />
“He’s not in shape, there’s no question,” Tortorella said after he played the<br />
38-year-old Hamrlik 15:48 in a pairing with Steve Eminger. “But a guy like<br />
that, who has played so long, can get things done because of the savvy. So<br />
good for him. He joins us and he was part of it tonight.”<br />
Hamrlik was scratched for 16 out of the Capitals’ first 20 games — and 16<br />
of 17 — before the team put him on waivers Tuesday. He was riding a<br />
stationary bike after last night’s game, and was not delusional about what<br />
he needs to do to continue being the lineup.<br />
“I can feel better,” Hamrlik said, smiling. “It’s not easy when you’re 38 years<br />
old and you haven’t played in a month.”<br />
The main reason the Rangers needed to put a claim in for him was the loss<br />
of alternate captain Marc Staal. The 26-year-old defenseman sustained a<br />
right-eye injury in the third period of Tuesday’s 4-2 win over the <strong>Flyers</strong> when<br />
he took a deflected slap shot directly in the face. Staal is out indefinitely, but<br />
two doctors said Wednesday the injury isn’t career threatening.<br />
“Forget about the game, just for the person you’re happy about that,” said<br />
Tortorella, who kept Matt Gilroy a scratch for the fourth straight game to<br />
make room for Hamrlik. “That’s a situation where what you’re thinking about<br />
first and foremost is the person.”<br />
Rookie center J.T. Miller continued to log big minutes, getting 17:56 while<br />
on a second line with Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan. Tortorella was<br />
pleased with the 19-year-old’s play, but was not about to fully concede.<br />
“He’s still a dummy sometimes,” Tortorella said. “But he continues to try and<br />
make a difference. That’s something I always look for in young kids.”<br />
Former Islander Micheal Haley suited up for his second straight game with<br />
the Rangers, and the pugilistic forward played 5:33. To counter, the<br />
Islanders replaced David Ullstrom with tough-guy and former Devil Eric<br />
Boulton, who played 8:30.<br />
The closest thing there was to a fight came when Joe Finley and Stu Bickel<br />
dropped the gloves after the whistle, 11:07 into the second period, but<br />
before either could throw a punch, they were put in the box for<br />
unsportsmanlike conduct.<br />
Rangers forward Arron Asham missed his seventh game in a row with what<br />
he described as back spasms.<br />
New York Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662075 New York Rangers<br />
Rangers notes: Brad Richards "fortunate"<br />
Friday, March 8, 2013<br />
The Record<br />
Richards ‘fortunate’<br />
C Brad Richards missed his second straight game Thursday night after<br />
being cross checked from behind by Patrick Kaleta in Sunday’s 3-2<br />
shootout win over the Sabres, which earned Kaleta a five-game<br />
suspension.<br />
Richards said he is not dealing with a concussion or long-term absence,<br />
though he does not have a timetable for a return. His neck and back are "a<br />
little locked up" but, having missed 10 games because of a concussion with<br />
the Stars in 2010-11, Richards is obviously relieved.<br />
"I don’t know where you want to start, how bad it could have been,"<br />
Richards said. "Overall, I’m standing here talking about trying to play right<br />
now and that’s a few days after so I’m pretty fortunate."<br />
Richards was also asked whether a five-game suspension was appropriate.<br />
"I don’t know what’s appropriate," Richards said. "I just hope that someone<br />
doesn’t have to have a broken neck and get carried off on a stretch for that<br />
to sink in. We learn in Pee Wee if you see somebody’s number, you just<br />
don’t do that."<br />
Sadly, Richards’ comments came the same day it was reported that Swiss<br />
League player Ronny Keller sustained permanent spinal paralysis after<br />
being cross-checked into the boards from behind on Tuesday.<br />
Another chance<br />
Veteran D Roman Hamrlik logged 15:48 in his Rangers’ debut after being<br />
claimed off waivers from the Capitals on Wednesday. He was a healthy<br />
scratch in all but four of Washington’s first 21 games and hadn’t played<br />
since Feb. 7.<br />
Coach John Tortorella said Hamrlik’s conditioning needs to improve and<br />
Hamrlik agreed.<br />
"I can definitely feel better," Hamrlik said. "It’s not easy when you’re 38<br />
years old, and I haven’t played for one month. It’s going to take a couple of<br />
games."<br />
— Andrew Gross<br />
Bergen Record LOADED: 03.08.2013
662076 New York Rangers<br />
Brad Richards improving after cross-check but sits against Islanders<br />
By STEVE ZIPAY steve.zipay at newsday.com<br />
Brad Richards missed his second straight game Thursday night with neck<br />
and back issues after taking a cross-check from behind Sunday by Buffalo's<br />
Patrick Kaleta, who was suspended five games.<br />
Richards is improving but remains irate. "I just hope that someone doesn't<br />
have to have a broken neck and get carried off on a stretcher for that to sink<br />
in that it's just a crazy play," said Richards, who added that his neck and<br />
back were "locked up" but that he did not suffer a concussion. "We learn<br />
that in Pee Wee: If you see somebody's numbers [on the back of a jersey],<br />
you just don't do that. Hopefully, something worse doesn't have to happen<br />
where we have to make a point on that."<br />
The veteran center, who is 2-11-13 in 20 games, did not skate earlier in the<br />
day at Nassau Coliseum. He said he feels better but is being cautious.<br />
"Each day I wake up hoping I can get out and do something," Richards<br />
said, "but there's no sense in making it go backwards or not helping the<br />
team."<br />
On Tuesday, he began the morning skate in Westchester but left early.<br />
"When you wake up sometimes you just think, 'If I get going, get moving . . .<br />
,' " he said. "But that morning, it went the other way, so I just got off and<br />
started over."<br />
Being sidelined is "not a long-term thing," Richards said. "I went in pretty<br />
hard. I just need to let the body regroup a little bit. Overall, I'm standing here<br />
talking about trying to play right now, and that's a few days after, so I'm<br />
pretty fortunate."<br />
Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662077 New York Rangers<br />
Marian Gaborik's power-play goal in OT lifts Rangers over Islanders<br />
By ARTHUR STAPLE arthur.staple at newsday.com<br />
The Islanders were five minutes and change away from the sort of grind-itout<br />
win that could have left them feeling primed for the second half of the<br />
season.<br />
But it's hard to grind anything out against the Rangers and Rick Nash.<br />
Nash's neat deflection of Derek Stepan's shot tied the score at 1 with 5:23<br />
to play before the Rangers got the break they needed with a quick power<br />
play in overtime.<br />
Marian Gaborik delivered the power-play winner at 42 seconds of OT,<br />
giving the Rangers a 2-1 victory at sold-out Nassau Coliseum.<br />
It was the Rangers' fourth victory in a row, solidifying their hold on a topeight<br />
Eastern Conference spot, and left the Islanders as dejected as they've<br />
been all season.<br />
"I thought we were playing well and we just needed to keep playing our<br />
game," Rangers coach John Tortorella said of his team's push for the tying<br />
goal.<br />
He rode two lines for much of the third period and rode Nash in particular<br />
until he broke through, not with one of his bull rushes to the net but by flying<br />
through a shooting lane to tip Stepan's point shot down and past Evgeni<br />
Nabokov, who made 35 saves and otherwise stood out.<br />
"The third period has been his period," Tortorella said of Nash, who has<br />
scored all eight of his goals this season in the third. "He has a mind-set that<br />
he accepts the responsibility. He doesn't say [anything], just goes out and<br />
plays."<br />
The Islanders were livid after Michael Grabner was whistled for hooking<br />
down Michael Del Zotto as the Rangers defenseman drove to the net 21<br />
seconds into overtime, perhaps not so much for that call but for the fact that<br />
a hard-hitting, hard-fought game brought the Islanders no power plays.<br />
"Maybe we're wrong, maybe they played a real clean game," Matt Martin<br />
said. "We're in one of the toughest divisions in the league, and they're pretty<br />
far from a soft team. It's very frustrating."<br />
"It's probably the toughest one this year," said Nabokov, who stoned Nash's<br />
other six shots and had one of his stronger games this season. "We had the<br />
game in our hands. That's exactly how the playoffs are. It was a great<br />
atmosphere; I wish we could have that atmosphere every night here."<br />
The Islanders attempted to make Grabner's first-period goal stand up and<br />
tried to win for the first time this season (0-10-0) when scoring fewer than<br />
three goals.<br />
Despite being outshot, the Islanders were able to control the front of their<br />
own net and generate chances off the counterattack. Martin had a<br />
shorthanded breakaway late in the second that Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves)<br />
denied and Matt Moulson and Grabner each had break-in chances that<br />
missed.<br />
"We get one of those and it's 2-0, it's a different game," Jack Capuano said.<br />
"I feel bad for the guys. They deserved a couple power plays, but [the<br />
Rangers] got the break in OT and they took advantage."<br />
"We've just got to try and put this one behind us, tough as it is," said John<br />
Tavares, who was held off the scoresheet. "We have to keep building off<br />
what we've done the past few games."<br />
The Islanders finish their seven-game homestand Saturday against the<br />
Caps with another chance to reach .500. The Rangers return to the Garden<br />
Friday night to face the Senators with a chance to keep climbing up the<br />
East ladder. They are six points back of the Atlantic Division-leading<br />
Penguins with two games in hand.<br />
Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662078 New York Rangers<br />
Marian Gaborik's power-play goal in OT gives Rangers a 2-1 win over<br />
Islanders<br />
By STEVE ZIPAY steve.zipay at newsday.com<br />
Rick Nash of the New York Rangers celebrates<br />
As a three-time 40-goal scorer, Marian Gaborik was feeling the weight of<br />
drawing a blank in eight straight games.<br />
He showed signs of emerging with three assists in two games going into<br />
Thursday night, and his power-play goal in overtime against the Islanders<br />
not only broke the drought but was a game-winner.<br />
"I'm sure that's going to help his confidence," coach John Tortorella said<br />
after Gaborik, in the high slot during a four-on-three, blasted the puck past<br />
Evgeni Nabokov 42 seconds into OT for a 2-1 win.<br />
It was the fourth straight victory for the Rangers (12-8-2), who host the<br />
Senators Friday night.<br />
"I had a one-timer first and didn't get good wood on it," Gaborik said of his<br />
initial shot on the shift with Michael Grabner in the box. "I exchanged<br />
passes with [Rick] Nash, and [Ryan Callahan] was in front and did a really<br />
good job of screening."<br />
Said Derek Stepan, "He almost scores on the first one and he gets the puck<br />
back and he cranks it up again. Two shots in 20 seconds; with a goal-scorer<br />
like him, something good's going to happen."<br />
Stepan assisted on both goals. His slap shot was tipped in by Nash at<br />
14:37 of the third to tie it at 1 and give life to the Rangers, who are 13-3-3 in<br />
their last 19 against the Islanders.<br />
Timing is everything. The Rangers, hovering near last in the NHL on the<br />
power play, had a single shot on the two previous man advantages. But in<br />
the end, it was their fourth straight game with at least one power-play goal,<br />
and they are 5-for-15 with the man advantage.<br />
Of course, if not for Nash, the Rangers might have been shut out for the<br />
third time, as Nabokov stopped the first 31 shots.<br />
Nash is tied with Gaborik for the team lead in goals, and all of Nash's have<br />
come in the third period. Nash, who has 20 points in 18 games, goals in<br />
four straight and eight points in that span, seems to make the most of his<br />
late chances.<br />
"His third periods are his best periods. That's a good sign for his<br />
conditioning," Tortorella said. "He has a mind-set . . . he accepts the<br />
responsibility."<br />
Heading into overtime, Henrik Lundqvist said, "It was a good feeling. We<br />
worked so hard the entire game to get there. They had a feeling he<br />
[Nabokov] was going to shut the door, and it felt like it wasn't our night,<br />
really. We had our chances, but we stayed patient, which was key."<br />
With Marc Staal (eye) out and defensemen Dan Girardi and Ryan<br />
McDonagh matched up against John Tavares, other pairs had to contribute.<br />
One surprise was Roman Hamrlik, 38, claimed off waivers from Washington<br />
on Wednesday, who played 15:48. "You can see he has some puck skills,"<br />
Tortorella said. "He's not in shape, but a guy like him who's played so long,<br />
he was a part of it tonight."<br />
Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662079 New York Rangers<br />
Rangers at Islanders.<br />
Ya boys have won three in a row as they start the road-heavy portion of<br />
their schedule at MSG East. They will play 17 of the final 27 on the road.<br />
After Ottawa at home tomorrow, they go on a four-game trip.<br />
Roman Hamrlik will likely make his Rangers debut against his former team,<br />
and Micheal Haley will also play against his former team, which will employ<br />
Officer Joe Boulton, who was quite active in the slashing/fighting festivities<br />
in Rangers-Devils last season.<br />
Brad Richards (back/neck) will not play. Marc Staal (eye) is out indefinitely.<br />
Reminders:<br />
Hopefully we have the Three Stars poll up and running tonight. Sorry for the<br />
glitch during the <strong>Flyers</strong>-Rangers game. Also, please follow me on Twitter:<br />
at RangersReport.<br />
Still have plenty of room for volunteer Three Stars selectors. Email me at<br />
rcarpini at lohud.com if you’re interested.<br />
Also, hoping to have at least one Live Chat during the road trip next week.<br />
Rockland Journal News: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662080 New York Rangers<br />
Rangers-Islanders in review<br />
Posted by: Carp - Posted in Hockey, Lockout, New York Rangers, NHL,<br />
Rangers Report on Mar 08, 2013<br />
Thoughts:<br />
1) That’s at least five OT goals by Gaborik the last two seasons—including<br />
the triple-OT winner—and three of those on the 4-on-3 PP. He has eight<br />
goals, same as Rick Nash. He has four game-winners this season, FWIW. I<br />
know some of you don’t want to hear it—because if he doesn’t score a goal<br />
every single game he’s a bum to the haters—but not all of his scoreless<br />
games lately have been bad. I said it was coming along vs. Philly the other<br />
night, and he was good again on the Isle.<br />
2) How about the Rangers taking advantage of an icing for the tying goal by<br />
Rick Nash? Even though skinny Jack Capuano called timeout, his guys<br />
were out there a while. And, seriously, does Capuano have any legit beef<br />
(no pun intended) about the call on Michael Del Zotto being taken down in<br />
OT?<br />
3) I honestly think this Rick Nash stat, all his goals in the third period, is<br />
somewhat coincidence. I mean, he’s had a lot of chances in first and<br />
second periods, too. But it’s pretty cool that all eight goals are in the third.<br />
And that the Rangers are 12-5-1 when he plays.<br />
4) Not putting blame, but the Islanders goal, I thought, was all on Nash and<br />
Derek Stepan. So they really atoned and, with Carl Hagelin, had another<br />
strong game. Stepan’s been fabulous.<br />
5) The stand-around and wait for somebody to do something power play<br />
was back in regulation. And almost gave up another SHG because of a<br />
forward at the point.<br />
6) Wait, there was a delayed penalty and Stu Bickel and Micheal Haley<br />
don’t go for a change immediately?<br />
7) I will wait before drawing this conclusion conclusively: Roman<br />
Hamrlik=Bryan McCabe 2.0? He’s not going to be able to play Marc Staal’s<br />
minutes, and I certainly am not expecting to see Staal again any time soon.<br />
Hamrlik isn’t, and shouldn’t be expected to be in game shape (scratched for<br />
16 of the last 17) and can’t have much left if Washington is scratching him<br />
night after night. Can he?<br />
8) This I don’t get: Fighting is allowed in hockey. Yet the linesmen break up<br />
legit fight—when Stu Bickel and Finley wanted to have at it—but night after<br />
night the linesmen let staged fights go.<br />
9) What a waste it is to have two talented guys like Kenny Albert and Dave<br />
Maloney working the radio broadcast and just a few miles from New York<br />
City you can’t hear them because the Knicks are playing on their channel.<br />
10) Good thing about the lockout: Only 48 games of the same commercials<br />
over and over, instead of 82. Though I finally figured out who that guy is in<br />
the tow truck trying to hook the Quatro in the snow. He’s the H&H Bagel<br />
guy from the Festivus episode!<br />
11) Really liked the Anton Stralman-Del Zotto pair in this game; Del Zotto in<br />
both ends.<br />
12) And of course, Block Ness Girardi and Ryan McMonster did a great<br />
good job on John Tavares.<br />
13) Thought the Rangers actually played a pretty decent game, but that the<br />
decision to play Henrik Lundqvist really paid off, because there were a few<br />
major breakdowns and Lundqvist bailed them out.<br />
14) I imagine Martin Biron gets the start tonight against Ottawa.<br />
15) Some of the Rangers’ bottom six are having a nice little run during this<br />
win streak: Darroll Powe and Jeff Halpern among them.<br />
16) And it seems impossible for the Rangers to win and not mention Ryan<br />
Callahan … though I don’t know what else to say about him.<br />
17) Man, for pure fun and entertainment, is there anything better right now<br />
that Philly-Pittsburgh?<br />
18) Realignment. I still think it’s a ridiculous plan to play fewer games with<br />
playoff implications. But … a topic for another day.<br />
**************************************<br />
My Three Rangers Stars:<br />
1. Henrik Lundqvist.<br />
2. Marian Gaborik.<br />
3. Rick Nash.<br />
**************************************<br />
RangerJHW’s Three Rangers Stars:<br />
1. Henrik Lundqvist-kept us in there<br />
2. Rick Nash-knows how to finish<br />
3. Derek Stepan-solid, solid effort<br />
HM-Gabby-loves those Isles<br />
**************************************<br />
NYR1979’s Three Rangers Stars:<br />
1. Henrik Lundqvist.<br />
2. Rick Nash.<br />
3. Marian Gaborik.<br />
**************************************<br />
Your poll vote for Three Rangers Stars:<br />
1. Rick Nash (29.66 %).<br />
2. Henrik Lundqvist (24.33 %).<br />
3. Marian Gaborik (18.25 %).<br />
Rockland Journal News: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662081 New York Rangers<br />
Rangers 2, Islanders 1 (OT): Post-game notes<br />
Posted by: Carp - Posted in Hockey, Lockout, New York Rangers, NHL,<br />
Rangers Report on Mar 07, 2013<br />
from the Rangers:<br />
NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES<br />
March 7, 2013 (Game 22, Away Game 8)<br />
Nassau Coliseum – Uniondale, NY<br />
Rangers 2, Islanders 1 (OT)<br />
Team Notes:<br />
The Rangers defeated the New York Islanders, 2-1, in overtime tonight at<br />
Nassau Coliseum, to extend their winning streak to four games.<br />
The Blueshirts improved to 12-8-2 (26 pts) overall, including a 3-4-1 mark<br />
on the road this season.<br />
The Rangers have registered at least one point in 16 of their last 19 games<br />
against the Islanders, posting a record of 13-3-3 over the span.<br />
The Blueshirts tallied one goal in three power play attempts (4:21) in the<br />
contest, and have now recorded a power play goal in seven of the last 10<br />
games (8-34, 23.5% over the span).<br />
The Rangers did not surrender a power play opportunity against in the<br />
contest. The last time the Rangers did not have to kill a penalty in a game<br />
was January 10, 2012, in a 2-1 shootout win against Phoenix at MSG. New<br />
York is now 7-3-1 in games when not allowing a power play goal this<br />
season.<br />
The Blueshirts out-shot the Islanders, 37-28, including a 17-9 advantage in<br />
the third period and overtime.<br />
Player Notes:<br />
Rick Nash notched the game-tying goal with 5:23 remaining in regulation,<br />
tallied the primary assist on the power play, game-winning goal in overtime,<br />
and registered seven shots on goal in 22:51 of ice time. He has now tallied<br />
a point in each of his last eight games (six goals, seven assists over the<br />
span). All eight of Nash’s goals this season have been tallied in the third<br />
period, which marks the first time in franchise history a player recorded their<br />
first eight goals of the season in the third period.<br />
Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves to extend his winning streak to four games<br />
and improve to 11-7-1 overall, including a 3-3-1 mark on the road this<br />
season. He has held opponents to two goals or less in 12 of his last 16<br />
games, posting a record of 10-5-1 with a 1.92 goals against average and<br />
.929 save percentage over the span.<br />
Marian Gaborik tallied the game-winning goal, while on the power play, 42<br />
seconds into overtime to extend his goal streak against the Islanders to<br />
seven games. He has now registered five points (one goal, four assists) in<br />
the last five games.<br />
Derek Stepan recorded two assists, including the primary assist on Nash’s<br />
game-tying goal and an assist on Gaborik’s power play, game-winning goal<br />
in overtime, registered four shots on goal and led all forwards with 23:10 of<br />
ice time. He extended his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists<br />
during the streak), and has tallied a point in eight of the last 11 games (four<br />
goals, six assists over the span).<br />
Carl Hagelin tallied an assist on Nash’s game-tying goal in the third period,<br />
and registered five shots on goal in 20:59 of ice time. The assist was his<br />
50th career NHL point.<br />
Roman Hamrlik logged 15:48 of ice time while making his Rangers debut,<br />
after being claimed off waivers yesterday from Washington. He is the 13th<br />
player to make their Rangers regular season debut this season.<br />
Steve Eminger led the team with five hits and four blocked shots, and<br />
logged 15:04 of ice time in the contest.<br />
Team Schedule:<br />
The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Ottawa<br />
Senators tomorrow, Mar. 8, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m. – TV:<br />
MSG Network; Radio: ESPN 98.7), to complete their back-to-back set.<br />
Please note there is no morning skate scheduled prior to tomorrow’s<br />
contest. Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella will be available to the media<br />
at 5:45 p.m. in the Press Conference area, located in the Media Center on<br />
the fifth floor of Madison Square Garden.<br />
Rockland Journal News: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662082 NHL<br />
N.H.L. Realignment Plan Gains Union’s Approval<br />
By JEFF Z. KLEIN<br />
Published: March 7, 2013<br />
The N.H.L. Players’ Association announced Thursday its approval of the<br />
league’s realignment proposal, which would begin next season pending a<br />
vote next week by the Board of Governors.<br />
The plan would eliminate the two-conference, six-division setup that has<br />
been in place since 1998-99 and replace it with a two-conference, fourdivision<br />
setup, with teams more geographically aligned.<br />
The reshuffling was spurred by complaints from Western Conference teams<br />
about heavy travel.<br />
Under the plan, the Eastern Conference would have 16 teams, the Western<br />
Conference 14.<br />
Columbus and Detroit, two teams in the Eastern time zone but currently in<br />
the Western Conference, would join the clubs in the Eastern time zone.<br />
Vancouver, Minnesota and other teams in the West will have their travel<br />
burdens significantly eased by the new setup.<br />
In the Eastern Conference, a division tentatively labeled the Atlantic would<br />
include the Rangers, the Islanders, the Devils, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh,<br />
Columbus, Carolina and Washington.<br />
A Northeast division would group Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto,<br />
Buffalo, Detroit, Florida and Tampa Bay. The Panthers and the Lightning<br />
would benefit from the substantial number of Canadians and Northerners<br />
living in Florida who attend games when their hometown teams are visiting.<br />
In the Western Conference, a Central division would contain Chicago,<br />
Nashville, Minnesota, St. Louis, Winnipeg, Colorado and Dallas. The Jets<br />
are currently in the Southeast Division, an inconvenience caused by the<br />
Atlanta Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg before the start of last season.<br />
A Pacific division would have Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose,<br />
Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.<br />
The realignment plan leaves room for adjustments should a team like the<br />
Coyotes move from Phoenix to one of two new rinks being built in Seattle<br />
and Quebec City.<br />
“The N.H.L.P.A. has given consent to realignment, to be re-evaluated<br />
following the 2014-15 season,” Donald Fehr, the executive director of the<br />
union, said in a statement.<br />
The plan also leaves room for expansion. The N.H.L.’s last expansion took<br />
place in 2000, when Minnesota and Columbus joined the league.<br />
The league will continue to include 16 teams in the postseason.<br />
It is believed that starting next season the top three teams from each<br />
division would earn automatic playoff berths. The remaining two spots in<br />
each conference would go to the teams with the best record on a wild-card<br />
basis.<br />
Last month, Mike Gillis, the Vancouver general manager, said the Canucks<br />
were looking forward to realignment.<br />
“We like it because we would play more games in our time zone,” he said in<br />
an interview in The Vancouver Sun. “We wouldn’t have to travel to places<br />
like Columbus and Nashville as much.”<br />
The union blocked a similar realignment plan announced in December 2011<br />
because, it said, it had not been consulted about various travel and<br />
competition issues.<br />
The plan approved by the union Thursday had been under discussion with<br />
the league for more than a month.<br />
New York Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662083 NHL<br />
Stompin’ Tom Connors, Canadian Singer, Dies at 77<br />
By DOUGLAS MARTIN<br />
Published: March 7, 2013<br />
Stompin’ Tom Connors, a Canadian country-folk singer whose odes to the<br />
vast country he had roamed as a hitchhiking troubadour — not least his<br />
paean to its national obsession in “The Hockey Song” — earned him<br />
renown from the Maritime Provinces to British Columbia, died on<br />
Wednesday at his home in Halton Hills, Ontario. He was 77.<br />
His Web site announced the death, citing natural causes.<br />
Mr. Connors wrote more than 300 songs and sold nearly four million<br />
albums. His work was shaped by his love and knowledge of Canada,<br />
garnered from youthful wanderings in which he worked as everything from<br />
dredge-boat sailor to tobacco-picker to short-order cook to gravedigger. His<br />
songs told of a potato-truck driver from Prince Edward Island, a polkaplaying<br />
musician from the Yukon, and Red River Jane, who left him high<br />
and dry in Winnipeg before becoming the subject of a sad song.<br />
He was known for his big black cowboy hat, and he got his nickname from<br />
the emphatic way he kept time with his left foot. Unlike most successful<br />
Canadian entertainers, he shunned the American music world, confining his<br />
touring and recording to Canada.<br />
In 1978, he denounced Canadians who sought American success as<br />
“border jumpers” and retired for more than a decade in protest of what he<br />
saw as the Americanization of his industry. A particular gripe was Canadian<br />
songwriters who rhapsodized about places like Alabama and Tennessee.<br />
He returned only after a new generation of Canadian punk performers<br />
discovered his music.<br />
Three-quarters of Canadians live within 100 miles of the United States<br />
border, and many Canadians strive to demonstrate cultural differences in<br />
the face of the flood of American media. Mr. Connors seemed eager to lead<br />
the fight. In a letter he asked be published after his death, he said all his<br />
work was inspired by “Canada, the greatest country in the world.”<br />
Prime Minister Stephen Harper hailed Mr. Connors as “a true Canadian<br />
original.”<br />
“The Hockey Song” first appeared on Mr. Connors’s 1973 album, “Stompin’<br />
Tom and the Hockey Song,” but reached wide popularity only after it began<br />
to be played at National Hockey League games in the mid-1990s, which it<br />
still is on both sides of the border. In 2004, when “Late Night With Conan<br />
O’Brien” taped a week of shows in Canada, Mr. Connors was a guest and<br />
sang the song. After his death was announced at a Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
game Wednesday night, many fans took to their feet when the song was<br />
played.<br />
“Oh, the good old hockey game/Is the best game you can name,” the lyrics<br />
go. “And the best game you can name/Is the good old hockey game.”<br />
Thomas Charles Connors was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, on Feb.<br />
9, 1936, to an unwed teenager who left town with him when he was 3. The<br />
two begged and stole in order to eat. When his mother was in jail for theft,<br />
he was sent to an orphanage and from there to foster parents who treated<br />
him badly. In his autobiography, “Stompin’ Tom: Before the Fame” (1995),<br />
he wrote that he started hitchhiking around the country at 12, bought his<br />
first guitar at 14 and survived by doing odd jobs and literally singing for his<br />
supper. In the coldest part of winter, he welcomed vagrancy arrests in order<br />
to have a warm place to sleep.<br />
In the early 1960s, he wrote, this never-ending grind and his apparent lack<br />
of a future left him feeling so forsaken that he thought of deliberately<br />
freezing to death in a snow bank in Quebec.<br />
Legend, well burnished by Mr. Connors, has it that his big break came in<br />
1964 at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ontario, when he was 28. He was<br />
a nickel short of a beer, and the bartender agreed to give him a drink if he<br />
would play a few songs. That led to a 14-month engagement at the hotel<br />
and the chance to make records at the local radio station.<br />
His first was “Bud the Spud,” his paean to the truckdriver, in 1970. He<br />
ultimately recorded 61 albums for seven labels, 10 of which have yet to be<br />
released.<br />
Mr. Connors said his heroes were “average Joes” whose struggles in the<br />
uncountable nooks and crannies of Canada he claimed to know like his own<br />
palm. His “Sudbury Saturday Night” depicts the city of Sudbury in northern<br />
Ontario, the location of one of the world’s biggest nickel mines, long owned<br />
by the International Nickel Company, or Inco. “The girls are out to bingo and<br />
the boys are getting stinko,” it goes, “And we’ll think no more of Inco on a<br />
Sudbury Saturday night.”<br />
In 1973, Mr. Connors married Lena Welsh on “The Elwood Glover Show,” a<br />
talk show on CBC television. She survives him, as do two sons, two<br />
daughters and several grandchildren.<br />
In a 1995 interview, Mr. Connors offered the opinion that nobody should die<br />
happy. “I think people should die without their dreams being fulfilled,” he<br />
said, “so maybe they can have an excuse for coming around again.”<br />
New York Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662084 NHL<br />
NHLPA gives consent to NHL's proposed realignment with review post-<br />
2014-15, now only Board of Governors must approve<br />
By Pat Leonard<br />
The NHL players’ association gave its consent Thursday to the league’s<br />
proposed realignment plan for its 30 teams to take effect next fall and be reevaluated<br />
following the 2014-15 season.<br />
The proposal now will go before the NHL’s Board of Governors for<br />
approval, though that is considered a formality since the union did not alter<br />
any details.<br />
The league’s realignment proposal slots the Rangers, Islanders and Devils<br />
in a new eight-team division that includes the current fellow Atlantic Division<br />
members the Penguins and <strong>Flyers</strong> but adds the Washington Capitals,<br />
Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets.<br />
NHL REALIGNMENT PLAN IMPROVES SOME TEAMS' SITUATIONS,<br />
COMPLICATES OTHERS<br />
The NHL will be reorganized from six divisions into four, or two per<br />
conference. Every team will play all of the other 29 teams at least twice in<br />
an annual home-and-home, meaning more trips out West for the Rangers.<br />
The playoff system will change, forcing teams to play postseason series<br />
within their own divisions before advancing. But there also will be two<br />
playoff wild-cards per conference, meaning the top three seeds from each<br />
division will get in, plus the two with top records regardless of division, to<br />
make eight per conference.<br />
The Eastern Conference will have 16 teams, more than the 14 in the West,<br />
because three teams will be switching conferences: the Winnipeg Jets will<br />
move from the East to the West, while the Detroit Red Wings and Blue<br />
Jackets will slide from West to East.<br />
New York Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662085 NHL<br />
Jets fly west, Wings and Jackets move east as NHLPA agrees to<br />
realignment<br />
ERIC DUHATSCHEK<br />
The Globe and Mail<br />
The NHL Players’ Association signed off on a bold realignment plan<br />
Thursday under which, among other moves, shifts the Winnipeg Jets to the<br />
Western Conference and play in a more time-zone friendly Midwest Division<br />
starting next year.<br />
In the other significant shift, the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue<br />
Jackets will both move from West to East, leaving an imbalance in the<br />
league, with 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and just 14 in the West.<br />
The NHLPA scuttled a major realignment plan l ast season, but gave its<br />
thumbs-up to the latest NHL initiative. In a statement, NHLPA executive<br />
director Donald Fehr said that after discussions with the union’s executive<br />
board, it had given its “consent to realignment,” but with the proviso that it<br />
be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season.<br />
The move also requires approval from the NHL board of governors, but that<br />
is viewed as a formality and could be accomplished within a week, if they<br />
vote by phone or fax.<br />
Until now, the NHLPA had objected to the NHL’s realignment proposal for<br />
two main reasons – travel issues and the inequities involved in the playoff<br />
format. Under the new format, which will go into effect for the start of the<br />
2013-14 season, the travel will be improved for a number of teams,<br />
including the Dallas Stars, who now shift out of the Pacific Division, where<br />
they’d been playing against four teams two time zones away.<br />
However, the playoff picture is still uneven. Eight of 16 teams will make the<br />
playoffs in the revised Eastern Conference, leaving them with a 50-50<br />
chance of qualifying, while eight of 14 make it in the West, for a 57.1-percent<br />
chance of qualifying.<br />
So the lucky 14 that make up the Midwest Division, which includes<br />
Winnipeg, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville and St. Louis<br />
and the Pacific Division, which includes Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles,<br />
Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver, will – until further notice – see their<br />
playoff hopes enhanced.<br />
Meanwhile, the Eastern Conference will be divided into an Atlantic Division<br />
that includes Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, the<br />
New York Rangers, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh and Washington, plus a<br />
Central Division featuring Boston, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa<br />
Bay and Toronto – four teams from the Original six, plus two teams in the<br />
state of Florida that will rely on snowbirds to increase attendance.<br />
The top three teams in each division will qualify automatically for the<br />
playoffs, while the remaining two spots will go to the two wild-card teams<br />
with the best records. It means that five teams could potentially qualify out<br />
of one division and if that happens, one will need to cross over into the<br />
other division and play its playoff games there.<br />
The NHL had previously wanted to put the new realignment plan in place<br />
until after the 2015-16 season, according to a memo it circulated to its<br />
member teams eight days ago. Now, it’ll just be for two years before it is reevaluated,<br />
which gives the league time to ponder expansion options and<br />
the future of unsettled franchises, such as the still-for-sale Phoenix<br />
Coyotes.<br />
For scheduling purposes, every team will play an unbalanced schedule that<br />
will feature one game, home and away, against every other team in the<br />
league.<br />
Teams in the seven-team divisions (Pacific and Midwest) will play 32 out-ofconference<br />
games, 21 games against teams in the other division within<br />
their own conference, plus 29 games against teams within their own<br />
divisions.<br />
Teams in the eight-team divisions (Atlantic and Central) will play 28 out-ofconference<br />
games, 24 games against teams in the other division within<br />
their own conference, plus 30 games against teams within their own<br />
divisions.<br />
Globe And Mail LOADED: 03.08.2013
662086 NHL<br />
Players today understand the risks involved when they engage in a fight<br />
ERIC DUHATSCHEK<br />
The Globe and Mail<br />
Strange as it may seem nowadays, there was a prevailing school of thought<br />
some 30 years ago that suggested NHL players didn’t or wouldn’t get hurt<br />
in a fight. The theory went something like this – two heavily padded men<br />
exchanging blows, on skates, couldn’t get the sort of leverage out of their<br />
legs that, say boxers did when they threw punches – and all of the power<br />
behind the punches comes from the legs, firmly planted, on the canvas.<br />
That was the thinking and it permitted the NHL to fool itself into treating<br />
spontaneous and/or staged fighting as part of the game – an entertaining<br />
sideline that would lure the boxing crowd through the turnstiles. It gave the<br />
NHL a chance to impose a laughably nominal penalty for fighting – five<br />
minutes per combatant – that really penalized no one at all. If a fighter<br />
wasn’t sitting in the penalty box, he was usually parked at the end of the<br />
bench anyway. So really what’s the difference where he’s sitting when he’s<br />
not playing?<br />
Of course, few believe that thinly reasoned argument anymore. Nowadays,<br />
players get hurt all the time in fights. Across the board, they are bigger,<br />
stronger and fitter than their contemporaries from a generation or two ago.<br />
But more importantly, NHL players – whose primary role is to fight – also<br />
train for their specialty in the same way in which scorers learn to score and<br />
defenders learn to defend. They are experts at their craft and they can inflict<br />
real damage, even balanced on skates.<br />
The latest example of a staged fight gone awry occurred early in Toronto<br />
Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators game Wednesday night, when the Leafs’<br />
Frazier McLaren laid a beating on the Sens’ Dave Dziurzynski. It was not<br />
pretty. McLaren, at 6-5, 230 pounds, had a slight physical advantage over<br />
Dziurzynski at 6-3, 214, and pounded his opponent into the ice.<br />
It had little to do with hockey, it left Dziurzynski concussed and it reemphasized<br />
a point that needs to be made again and again presumably, as<br />
long as the NHL tacitly condones fighting by not ejecting players who fight<br />
from the game.<br />
If the NHL truly cares about limiting the effects of concussions in the game,<br />
the first and easiest step to keep the numbers down would be to ban<br />
fighting from the game.<br />
Last night’s fight reminded me of one I saw early in my writing career<br />
between Stu Grimson, then a member of the Calgary Flames, and Dave<br />
Brown, then with the Edmonton Oilers. Grimson was new to the league<br />
then, Brown one of its most feared enforcers. It was still the heyday of the<br />
Battle of Alberta and Grimson fought Brown once and did OK – that is to<br />
say, he survived without getting hurt. The fight was mostly a draw, but<br />
Grimson received a lot of plaudits for doing as well as he did.<br />
The second time they fought it was a different story, a mismatch of the first<br />
order. Brown pounded the living daylights out of Grimson, who suffered a<br />
fractured orbital bone on the play. It was a terrible thing to watch and I<br />
remember wondering at the time if that would be last we ever saw of<br />
Grimson aka The Grim Reaper. It wasn’t, of course.<br />
He recovered and went on to play 14 seasons in the NHL for eight teams.<br />
He amassed 2,113 penalty minutes in the 729 games he played. He was<br />
one of the smartest players I’ve ever run across. I sat beside him once on a<br />
flight and he was studying a law text. He was thoughtful and well-read and<br />
knew exactly what he was doing – realizing his dream of playing in the NHL<br />
the only way he could, by acting as an enforcer for a team. Grimson’s<br />
cognitive faculties survived his NHL career and he eventually passed the<br />
bar, practiced law for a time (he calls himself a “recovering lawyer” on<br />
Twitter @asgrimson) and now is back in the business, doing some radio<br />
work in Nashville.<br />
Back in September, Grimson posted his view of the pros and cons of<br />
fighting, based on a rule change in the Ontario Hockey League in which a<br />
player would receive a two-game suspension once he had accumulated 10<br />
fights or more in a season. Grimson framed his argument from the<br />
perspective of someone who fought his way up through the ranks and then<br />
had his NHL career end because of a concussion sustained in a fight. Even<br />
after all that, Grimson believes fighting should stay in the game.<br />
Grimson began by noting “on the front end that there are reasonable<br />
arguments on both sides of this issue. First, those that favor eliminating<br />
fighting from the game would cite player safety as the reason. No argument<br />
here. Ban fighting and you abolish one area where concussions occur on a<br />
fairly frequent basis. After all, reducing blows to the head is the primary<br />
justification for implementing a rule change in this area. The studies show,<br />
however, that concussions occur more frequently during the normal course<br />
of play rather than during a fight.”<br />
But he also believes that: “There are valid reasons to leave this aspect of<br />
the game as is. First, the presence of an enforcer keeps the other team<br />
honest. The opposition doesn’t take liberties with your team when you have<br />
an enforcer in the lineup. And if the ultimate goal is to reduce trauma to the<br />
head, this is one tool in a basket of tools that the NHL has at its disposal.<br />
The enforcer acts as a deterrent.<br />
“My experience has taught me that if you don’t have an enforcer in your<br />
lineup the other team will play you differently. And by “differently” I mean<br />
they may try to run you out of the building.<br />
“Second, the fighter drops his gloves with his eyes wide open. Today, more<br />
than ever, players understand the risks involved when they engage another<br />
player in a fight. In the law, players are said to have assumed the risk. And<br />
let’s face it; we live in a society where we are free to make our own choices<br />
– even when those choices pose a risk to our health. If we eliminate fighting<br />
for that reason, we are starting down a path to abolish any sport/activity<br />
where a risk of injury exists.”<br />
It is an argument in defence of fighting that I’ve heard within the last two<br />
weeks from both Ian Laperriere (now retired, after multiple concussions)<br />
and just yesterday, from the Phoenix Coyotes’ Twitter king, Paul Bissonette.<br />
Paraphrasing a little here, but both said that there are risks inherent in the<br />
sport that the players who play them are willing to assume to reap the<br />
benefits of being a professional athlete. I get that. Bissonette is in the NHL<br />
because of his willingness to scrap. Laperriere mentioned that he’d had 25<br />
fights in his final year and they were all for the right reasons, namely<br />
coming to a teammate’s defence. None of these guys are lunkheads by the<br />
way. They’ve come to their conclusions by coolly weighing risk against<br />
reward.<br />
It makes you realize that there will always be another willing combatant to<br />
step up if Dziurzynski can’t or won’t fight again. Asking fighters to determine<br />
the future of fighting is not the way to go – because if we leave it up to the<br />
individual, there will always another player, ready and willing to fight his way<br />
into the NHL. Instead of waffling, NHL leadership needs to show a<br />
willingness to finally take a stand, penalize fighting by ejecting combatants<br />
from the game, and by doing so, better protecting the players from<br />
themselves.<br />
In this day and age, it shouldn’t be that hard a call.<br />
Globe And Mail LOADED: 03.08.2013
662087 NHL<br />
Stanley Cup of women’s hockey finds a home at Hockey Hall of Fame<br />
RACHEL BRADY<br />
The Globe and Mail<br />
Adrienne Clarkson stood before a glass case at the Hockey Hall of Fame<br />
on Thursday, smiling for a long while, proudly admiring the trophy she<br />
created in a crusade for female hockey players.<br />
The Clarkson Cup, awarded each year to the team that wins the Canadian<br />
Women’s Hockey League championship, and widely recognized as the<br />
Stanley Cup of women’s hockey, was given a permanent home at the Hall<br />
of Fame, placed among the collection of other major hockey cups and<br />
trophies.<br />
Clarkson, the former Governor-General of Canada, had the Cup made five<br />
years ago, some time after having been laughed at for suggesting women<br />
should compete for the Stanley Cup while men were sitting out during the<br />
2004 NHL lockout. She stood among women’s hockey supporters Thursday<br />
to see her trophy enshrined, signalling another small step for the CWHL<br />
and the women’s game.<br />
“This is important because it acknowledges what women are doing in this<br />
sport, and not just as cheerleaders and fans, but the women who care<br />
about hockey and are the best in the sport,” Clarkson said. “Winning isn’t<br />
everything, but it means a lot, and this is a big win for women’s hockey.”<br />
The Clarkson Cup had been kept at the homes of CWHL organizers since<br />
its inception five years ago. Now it has a permanent home.<br />
“Hockey is played in some 75 countries around the world, and there are so<br />
many trophies out there,” said Phil Pritchard, the well-recognized whitegloved<br />
Hall curator who travels with the Stanley Cup. “We do get so many<br />
requests from people offering artifacts and we only have so much space,<br />
but we thought it was very important to have the Clarkson Cup here.”<br />
There have been a few breakthroughs for the five-team CWHL this season.<br />
After years of approaching the NHL to discuss possible partnerships, this<br />
season the CWHL finally got funding and marketing help for its Toronto and<br />
Calgary teams from the Maple Leafs and Flames, respectively. The<br />
women’s pro league, which has struggled to put fans in the stands, has<br />
seen a small boost in attendance this year – especially by holding some<br />
signature games in NHL venues. It has brought some new sponsors on<br />
board, too. The league still battles toward someday being able to pay its<br />
players.<br />
“This is only one step in our process toward building our league, but it’s a<br />
big one,” said CWHL commissioner Brenda Andress. “It recognizes the<br />
worth of what we’re doing, legitimizes it and says we’re arriving.”<br />
The trophy will be awarded for the fifth time later this month at the CWHL’s<br />
championship tournament in Markham.<br />
Globe And Mail LOADED: 03.08.2013
662088 NHL<br />
No one really gets hurt in hockey fights, right?<br />
SEAN GORDON<br />
Montreal — The Globe and Mail<br />
Scripted? How about inevitable.<br />
The Ottawa Senators’ Zack Smith said after Wednesday’s game with the<br />
Toronto Maple Leafs that everyone on the ice knew what was going to<br />
happen on the game’s first shift.<br />
Dave Dziurzynski of the Senators and Fraser McLaren of the Leafs went all<br />
pound-y on each other 26 seconds into Wednesday’s game, with nauseainducing<br />
results.<br />
You don’t have to be an Ottawa fan to be horrified by the sight of<br />
Dziurzynski lying face down, unconscious, on the ice (McLaren appeared<br />
ashen-faced).<br />
For those familiar with the rivalry between the teams, it was throwback night<br />
in the Battle of Ontario.<br />
But hey, no one really gets hurt in hockey fights, right?<br />
Dziurzynski got his brains scrambled by McLaren, a waiver pick-up who in<br />
addition to being quite a large man and a good boxer is a solidly mediocre<br />
hockey player.<br />
Add him to a list of players who have been injured in punch-ups this year –<br />
New York’s Ryan Callahan, Montreal’s Rene Bourque (probably),<br />
Toronto/Edmonton’s Mike Brown, Philly’s Tye McGinn, Boston’s Shawn<br />
Thornton. This list is not exhaustive.<br />
But hey, at least fights fire up the crowd right?<br />
From the Toronto Star’s Dave Feschuk at Air Canada Centre on<br />
Wednesday, via Twitter: So much for the theory that fights energize a<br />
building. Few minutes after McLaren KO’s Dziurzynski, ACC crowd is, as<br />
usual, out cold.<br />
But hey, at least fights swing momentum, right?<br />
That must be why the Leafs put the screws to Ottawa and immediately<br />
scored. If by immediately you mean six minutes later, and if by “put the<br />
screws” you mean “were handily outshot.”<br />
“If anything a fight like that deflates both teams . . . it’s scary, man,” Smith<br />
told reporters after the game.<br />
Yes, the Leafs did score on a whiff-and-deflection about 90 seconds after<br />
Chris Neil and Colton Orr dropped the gloves, but there was no discernible<br />
advantage for either team after McLaren felled Dziurzynski, who has fought<br />
six times in the minors but was in his first NHL scrap.<br />
None of which will change anyone’s attitude toward fighting, and that’s a<br />
problem.<br />
Toronto coach Randy Carlyle is a fan of tough guys – imagine how good<br />
the Leafs could be if they had actual hockey players among their bottom six<br />
forwards – and steadfastly insists fighting is part of the game.<br />
In this, he is absolutely correct.<br />
It is part of the game, what isn’t clear is that incidents like Wednesday’s<br />
serve any purpose, other than providing a livelihood to marginal players and<br />
indulging the meathead element in the stands.<br />
Statistics compiled by hockeyfights.com suggest fisticuffs are way up this<br />
year relative to the past two seasons, nearly 41 per cent of games this<br />
season has featured at least one fight.<br />
I’ve asked several players over the past couple of weeks why that is, and<br />
they mostly answer the same thing: shorter schedule means more intensity,<br />
more intensity means more scraps.<br />
Except two hulking guys going after each other basically from the opening<br />
faceoff has nothing to do with intensity, it has to do with intimidation,<br />
specifically wanting to create some.<br />
It bears mentioning at this point only half of the top fighting 10 teams find<br />
themselves in a playoff position – the Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets are<br />
runaway leaders in the fight stakes.<br />
Is that really the company Toronto wants to keep?<br />
Hockey has always been a violent game, and when emotions boil over in<br />
other sports – rugby, football, baseball – punches are often thrown.<br />
But in other sports such things are sanctioned with more than five minutes<br />
in the box.<br />
In a day and age where owners are investing so much money in players –<br />
and where so much attention is being paid to head injuries – it makes no<br />
sense to risk catastrophic injury because of things like refusing to wear a<br />
visor or hopping over the boards with a boxer’s intent.<br />
Sometimes tough men need to be protected from themselves, it would be<br />
nice if the league and its owners felt that way.<br />
Globe And Mail LOADED: 03.08.2013
662089 Ottawa Senators<br />
Sens can afford to smile a little as they hit mid-season<br />
Despite injuries, bad luck, the Ottawa Senators still have a lot going for<br />
them entering the second half of this shortened NHL season.<br />
by Wayne Scanlan<br />
NEW YORK — So, your Ottawa Senators have officially reached the<br />
midway point of this wild and crazy 48-game schedule.<br />
Now the question, Sens Fan: Is your cup half full or half empty where this<br />
hockey club is concerned?<br />
On the bright side of the ledger — despite being hit hard by injuries, the<br />
Senators are in a playoff position, alone in sixth place in the Eastern<br />
Conference with 28 points off a 12-8-4 record.<br />
Considering a final total of about 52 points will likely crack the top eight in<br />
the East, if Ottawa can maintain a point per game pace in the second half, it<br />
should be in the playoffs.<br />
Here’s a breakdown of how the Senators have fared in the first half.<br />
Note the huge variances in particular segments while the club treads water,<br />
overall.<br />
We rate each category as a plus (+), a minus (-) or an even.<br />
OFFENCE (Minus-)<br />
Erik Karlsson, with six, still leads the team in goals scored. That says it all<br />
for the lowest scoring team in the East, producing 2.21 goals per game on<br />
average (shootout goals excluded). Karlsson played just 14 games and has<br />
been out of the lineup since Feb. 13.<br />
Kyle Turris is in a horrific slump. Zack Smith is finally on the board, Jason<br />
Spezza is on the mend. Things could be looking up.<br />
DEFENCE (Even)<br />
While allowing more shots on goal (33.1 per game) than every team except<br />
Buffalo and Edmonton, the Senators would likely be a minus in this<br />
category if their goalies didn’t bail them out pretty consistently.<br />
Considering the losses of premier D-men Karlsson and Jared Cowen, a tip<br />
of the cap goes to Andre Benoit, Patrick Wiercioch and Eric Gryba, who<br />
have helped fill the void by playing big minutes and in all situations.<br />
Veterans Chris Phillips, Marc Methot and Sergei Gonchar have been<br />
steady. At minus-6, Gryba’s inexperience is evident at times.<br />
GOALTENDING (Plus+)<br />
The men in the blue paint have saved the day, though cracks are showing.<br />
When Ben Bishop allowed five goals on 28 Toronto shots Wednesday, it<br />
was one of the few times a goaltender hasn’t ridden to Ottawa’s rescue.<br />
Craig Anderson, who was the NHL’s best when he was injured against the<br />
New York Rangers on Feb. 21, has been missed.<br />
Bishop has a 4-4-0 record and Robin Lehner is 0-0-2, heading into a start in<br />
New York Friday, possibly against his Swedish hero, Henrik Lundqvist.<br />
Anderson could be back in a week or so, although his ankle is not yet 100<br />
per cent.<br />
POWER OUTAGE (Minus-)<br />
In the early weeks, when their stars were healthy, the Senators had one of<br />
the league’s top power plays. Lately it has slipped to 16.2 per cent, 18th<br />
best in the NHL. Karlsson cannot swoop in and fix it, but Spezza’s return in<br />
two to three weeks will be a huge boost.<br />
KILLERS (Plus+)<br />
On the flip side of the power play, Ottawa’s penalty killing reflects the club’s<br />
blue-collar mentality. It doesn’t seem to matter who head coach Paul<br />
MacLean uses to kill penalties, they get the job done, to the point that the<br />
Senators have climbed into the top three of the league, third overall with an<br />
88.9 per cent efficiency rate.<br />
HOME DEPOT (Even): They’re the biggest homers in hockey. As the old<br />
joke went about Lindy Ruff as a player, the Senators are “Ruff” at home,<br />
Lindy on the road, 9-1-2 at the friendly confines of Scotiabank Place, 3-7-2<br />
as visitors.<br />
Good thing they still have 12 home games remaining, but it would make life<br />
easier to scratch out a few more wins away, starting with Friday at Madison<br />
Square Garden, a rink the Senators have owned in recent years.<br />
MASH UNIT (Minus-)<br />
In their worst nightmares, the Senators didn’t foresee losing arguably their<br />
two best defenceman, the starting goaltender and two forwards off the top<br />
line — tumbling like toy soldiers in a span of a few weeks. But while the two<br />
defencemen, Karlsson and Cowen, are not expected to return this season,<br />
the others will be back, setting up the possibility of a strong finish.<br />
OVERALL (Plus+)<br />
Give marks where they’re due. Most hockey people wrote off the Senators<br />
when Spezza and Karlsson went down, figuring it was all about next year.<br />
Instead, the club has given itself a shot at reaching the playoffs, possibly<br />
giving several rookies even more experience than they’ve already gained<br />
filling in for the wounded and lame. To Senators management, this has<br />
been a valuable audition.<br />
“By the fall, some of our questions will be answered,” said general manager<br />
Bryan Murray about the performance of his Binghamton callups.<br />
Murray is proud of how his team has hung in there, led by the old guard of<br />
Daniel Alfredsson, Chris Phillips and Chris Neil, to remain competitive.<br />
He’s pleased with the sudden depth at goaltender.<br />
And resolve? Even when they fall behind by three goals against the Maple<br />
Leafs, the Senators push teams to the buzzer.<br />
“Am I pleased? I’m satisfied,” said Murray. “We’re hoping the second half<br />
will be better -— getting some stability in our lineup would really help. Every<br />
night there seems to be another guy getting hurt but we hope we get some<br />
of these veterans back.”<br />
Ottawa Citizen LOADED: 03.08.2013
662090 Ottawa Senators<br />
A welcome return: Spezza could be back in 2-3 weeks<br />
Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray says star centre Jason<br />
Spezza could return to the lineup before the end of the month.<br />
by Wayne Scanlan<br />
NEW YORK — Centre Jason Spezza could be back in the Senators lineup<br />
before the end of the month.<br />
“I’m optimistic,” said Senators general manager Bryan Murray.<br />
“Two to three weeks seems like a fair time frame to at least project to.”<br />
In turn, Murray hopes Spezza can return a sense of order to the team’s<br />
lineup hierarchy.<br />
Spezza “puts everybody somewhat back in the right role,” Murray told<br />
reporters prior to the team’s optional practice at Chelsea Piers in advance<br />
of Friday’s game against the Rangers.<br />
“We’ve had expectations of a couple of young guys that now fill the No. 1<br />
centre spot — Kyle Turris, Zach Smith, at times, (Mika) Zibanejad — and<br />
it’s really unfair to them because that is not the role they’re here for.”<br />
Spezza has been out of Ottawa’s lineup since Jan. 27 and had surgery on<br />
his back Feb. 1.<br />
He visited a doctor in Toronto recently to ensure that the back discomfort<br />
involved muscles, and was not related to his injury or the surgery. Now,<br />
he’s cleared for a heavier training workload.<br />
“It’s just a matter of getting himself in condition,” Murray said.<br />
“He has to do the strength work to protect it.”<br />
The plan is for Spezza to skate and train on his own for a few days, and<br />
then rejoin the group at practice.<br />
DZIURZYNSKI ON MEND<br />
In his first NHL fight, rookie Dave Dziurzynski was knocked out cold, and<br />
yet the rookie winger not only accompanied the team on the flight to New<br />
York, he was out eating breakfast at a local diner Thursday morning. How<br />
long he is out of action is not clear, but his early concussion symptoms are<br />
not severe.<br />
Either Jim O’Brien or Kaspars Daugavins will step in for Dziurzynski.<br />
Murray was disappointed that Dziurzynski was matched up with a<br />
heavyweight fighter in Frazer McLaren of the Maple Leafs, in the first<br />
minute of play at the Air Canada Centre.<br />
“I believe there is a place in hockey for fighting, or protecting star players in<br />
some form, the one thing I hate is a staged fighting,” Murray said.<br />
“And of course (Wednesday) night was a staged fight. David didn’t<br />
understand. He’s a young guy, he accepted a challenge, he didn’t have to<br />
accept it.<br />
“I’m disappointed for the young kid that he didn’t understand who the<br />
opponent was, and that he didn’t have to do that for us or for his<br />
teammates.”<br />
Interestingly, head coach Paul MacLean used a different word to describe<br />
the fight. He called it “premeditated.”<br />
MacLean feels Dziurzynski was a target for Toronto’s tough guy.<br />
“That was not a staged fight, it was premeditated by McLaren, that’s what<br />
he was supposed to do,” MacLean said.<br />
“Dave Dziurzynski played very well in the previous two games against the<br />
Leafs, he had 10 or some body checks on the ice . . . there was nothing<br />
staged about that.”<br />
If Dziurzynski was not aware of the risks of taking on McLaren, “shame on<br />
us, if he didn’t know,” MacLean said.<br />
Bottom line, the Senators believe Dziurzynski has enough skill and size to<br />
play the game and be physical without fighting above his weight class.<br />
LEHNER PRIMED<br />
When he was a boy growing up in Sweden, goaltender Robin Lehner knew<br />
Henrik Lundqvist as the great Swedish netminder that Lehner’s father,<br />
Michael, worked with as a goalie coach. Young Robin would go to the<br />
practices to watch, and Lundqvist gave him pointers.<br />
“When I could barely stop a puck, he would go on the ice and help me out,”<br />
Lehner said.<br />
Friday, they could be facing each other at Madison Square Garden.<br />
“I don’t know if he’s playing or not, but if he is, it’s pretty cool,” Lehner said.<br />
“I’m quite excited actually, it’s surreal.<br />
“I’ve got lots of respect for him. He’s a great, great guy and a huge<br />
goaltender – one of the best if not the best in the world, for a few years<br />
now.<br />
MEHOT HITS 300<br />
Defenceman Marc Methot will be playing in his 300th NHL game on Friday.<br />
If it had to come on the road, historic Madison Square Garden is a perfect<br />
venue for the occasion.<br />
“An injury last season kind of put me on the back burner for reaching that<br />
milestone,” Methot said.<br />
“But yeah, it’s exciting. Now that you mention it, it’s a big step for me.”<br />
All but 25 of those games were with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The<br />
Ottawa native was drafted in the sixth round by Columbus in 2003.<br />
ROOM TO ADD<br />
Murray says the Senators have room to take on salary, if they decide to<br />
make an addition at the trade deadline. Of course, there is always the<br />
chance the club could shed some salary, as well.<br />
“We’re a $50-million team,” Murray said.<br />
“We won’t use all this space, but have the opportunity if we want to add a<br />
player.”<br />
FOR SALE<br />
In a Chelsea Piers sports store: an Alexi Yashin New York Islanders jersey,<br />
only $200. Apparently, the same jersey could have been had for $130 last<br />
week, but he popped in and signed it, so the price went up. No takers yet in<br />
NYC.<br />
Ottawa Citizen LOADED: 03.08.2013
662091 Ottawa Senators<br />
Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray not a fan of staged fights<br />
By Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Sun<br />
NEW YORK — Fighting was all the rage Thursday.<br />
As the Senators prepared to face the New York Rangers at Madison<br />
Square Garden -- an arena that has held some of the most famous boxing<br />
matches in the history of the sport -- all anybody wanted to talk about was<br />
the issue of fighting.<br />
It came to the forefront again after Senators rookie winger David<br />
Dziurzynski mistakenly took on Frazer McLaren of the Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Wednesday. Dziurzynski suffered a concussion after getting knocked out.<br />
There is now another call to ban staged fighting.<br />
"The one thing I hate is staged fighting. (That) was a staged fight," said<br />
Senators GM Bryan Murray. "David didn't understand. He's a young guy.<br />
He got challenged and he accepted it. He didn't have to accept it.<br />
"Usually a staged fight is two willing combatants who want to do it because<br />
that is the role they play. I'm disappointed for the kid, I'm disappointed<br />
(Dziurzynsky) didn't understand who the opponent was and he didn't have<br />
to do that for us or his teammates. It served no purpose."<br />
Coach Paul MacLean said he didn't believe the fight was "staged" as much<br />
as it was "premeditated" by McLaren.<br />
"To me it was a premeditated thing that (the Leafs) did. That was fine.<br />
That's part of the game," said MacLean. "There was nothing staged about<br />
that.<br />
"It was premeditated by McLaren because that's what he was supposed to<br />
do. Dziurzynski has played very well in two games against the Leafs. He<br />
had 10 bodychecks in two games. There was nothing staged about that."<br />
Former Rangers tough guy Nick Kypreos called Murray and offered to<br />
speak to Dziurzynski to let him know it's okay to get beat and that he'll<br />
bounce back. Murray thought that was a nice gesture.<br />
MacLean said if Dziurzynski, who was feeling better Thursday and made<br />
the trip to New York, wasn't aware of McLaren's abilities, the club has to do<br />
a better job to make sure he does.<br />
"Shame on us if he didn't know," said MacLean.<br />
OFF THE GLASS<br />
Murray said he's happy with where the club is at the halfway point and is<br />
hopeful with the return of injured players such as Craig Anderson and<br />
Jason Spezza they'll have enough to get to the playoffs. "The leadership,<br />
the coaching staff, and the players have really helped to define the group,"<br />
said Murray. "I'm pleased. I'm satisfied. We've put ourselves in a spot -- if<br />
we can run properly in the second half -- that we can be a playoff team." ...<br />
This will be a milestone night for D Marc Methot as he suits up for his 300th<br />
game. "I didn't realize," he said. "It's exciting. It's a big step for me."<br />
AROUND THE BOARDS<br />
The Senators have just one win in their last 10 road games and would like<br />
to avoid getting swept on this five-game trip with a victory on Broadway.<br />
"We need to find a way to win," said MacLean. "We've had some history in<br />
this building of playing well and we know we're playing a difficult opponent."<br />
MacLean said some of the young players are learning what it's like to play<br />
on some of the NHL's biggest stages. "First time in New York, first time in<br />
Boston, first time in Montreal, there a lot of guys with first times," said<br />
MacLean. "That probably has a little bit to do with, but for the most part we<br />
don't seem to play with the same composure on the road as we do at<br />
home." ... As a result of the NHLPA's approval of realignment, the Senators<br />
will be in a division that includes Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Boston,<br />
Tampa Bay and Florida.<br />
AT THE BUZZER<br />
Spezza (back) will ramp up his workout schedule and could resume<br />
practice soon. "What I would like to see happen after this trip is him have a<br />
couple of days on his own, working out and then see if we can get him into<br />
the group. I'm optimistic. Two to three weeks seems like a fair time frame to<br />
project," said Murray ... Getting Spezza back would relieve some offensive<br />
pressure. "It puts everybody somewhat back in right role," he said. "We've<br />
had expectations of a couple of young guys to fill the No. 1 centre spot --<br />
Kyle Turris, Mika Zibanejad and Zack Smith at times. It's really unfair to<br />
them."<br />
Ottawa Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662092 Ottawa Senators<br />
By the numbers: Ottawa Senators take on New York Rangers<br />
Ottawa Senators (12-8-4) @ New York Rangers (12-8-2)<br />
Friday, 7 p.m., Madison Square Garden<br />
TV: TSN. Radio: Team 1200<br />
SPECIAL TEAMS<br />
OTT: PP 16.5% (17th) PK 89.8% (2nd)<br />
NYR: PP 14.7% (24th) PK 83.3% (10th)<br />
LAST FIVE<br />
Ottawa<br />
(1-2-2)<br />
TOR 5, OTT 4<br />
NYI 3, OTT 2 (SO)<br />
PHI 2, OTT 1<br />
BOS 2, OTT 1 (OT)<br />
OTT 2, MTL 1 (SO)<br />
New York<br />
(4-1)<br />
NYR 2, NYI 1<br />
NYR 4, PHI 2<br />
NYR 3, BUF 2<br />
NYR 4, TBL 1<br />
WPG 4, NYR 3<br />
SIZING UP THE SIDES<br />
FORWARDS: NYR<br />
Rangers have no shortage of firepower<br />
DEFENCE: NYR<br />
Losing Staal is going to hurt<br />
GOALTENDING: NYR<br />
Lundqvist one of the NHL's best<br />
POWER PLAY: OTT<br />
An area Senators have to succeed<br />
PENALTY KILLING: OTT<br />
Senators ranked No. 2 in NHL<br />
COACHING: OTT<br />
NHL types wondering about Tortorella<br />
OVERALL: NYR<br />
A playoff rematch and Rangers need win<br />
ROSTERS<br />
Ottawa<br />
Forwards<br />
Milan Michalek-Kyle Turris-Daniel Alfredsson<br />
Jim O'Brien-Mika Zibanejad-Erik Condra<br />
Colin Greening-Zack Smith-Chris Neil<br />
Mark Stone-Peter Regin-Jakob Silfverberg<br />
Defence<br />
Marc Methot-Eric Gryba<br />
Patrick Wiercioch-Sergei Gonchar<br />
Chris Phillips-Andre Benoit<br />
Goalies<br />
Robin Lehner<br />
Ben Bishop<br />
New York<br />
Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash<br />
Marian Gaborik-J.T. Miller-Ryan Callahan<br />
Taylor Pyatt-Brian Boyle-Darrell Powe<br />
Michael Haley-Jeff Halpern-Stu Bickel<br />
Defence<br />
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi<br />
Michael Del Zotto-Anton Stralman<br />
Roman Hamrlik-Steve Eminger<br />
Goalies<br />
Henrik Lundqvist<br />
Martin Biron<br />
PLUS: The Senators were 3-1-0 vs. the Rangers last season -- including<br />
two victories at Madison Square Garden. Ottawa outscored the Rangers<br />
14-8 in four games. This is the second time the two teams have played this<br />
year. The Senators scored a 3-2 shootout win on Feb. 21 at home. Kaspars<br />
Daugavins scored the winner in the shootout for Ottawa while Jakob<br />
Silfverberb also beat Henrik Lundqvist ... If you look at the Senators being<br />
ranked No. 2 on the penalty kill, it is somewhat remarkable. Last season,<br />
the Senators finished tied for No. 20 at 81.6% by killing off 253-of-310<br />
attempts. At the mid-season point, Ottawa has killed off 80-of-90 attempts.<br />
MINUS: The Senators lost G Craig Anderson in the victory over the<br />
Rangers to an ankle injury. That was when he was accidentally run over by<br />
Rangers F Chris Kreider when he got tied up with D Marc Methot going to<br />
the net ... The four goals the Senators had in a losing cause to the Maple<br />
Leafs Wednesday night was only the sixth time this season the club has<br />
scored four goals or more .... The Senators are 2-for-16 on the power play<br />
in their last six games .... G Robin Lehner has never faced the Rangers, but<br />
G Ben Bishop has a 2-0-0 lifetime record with a 2.17 GAA and . 923 savepercentage.<br />
INJURIES<br />
SENS: G Craig Anderson (ankle); D Jared Cowen (hip); F David<br />
Dziurzynski (concussion); D Erik Karlsson (Achilles); RW Guillaume<br />
Latendresse (neck); D Mike Lundin (concussion); C Jason Spezza (back).<br />
RANGERS: RW Arron Asham (back) C Brad Richards (undisclosed); D<br />
Marc Staal (eye).<br />
Ottawa Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662093 Ottawa Senators<br />
Bruce Garrioch rates Ottawa Senators mid-term performance<br />
By Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Sun<br />
NEW YORK -- The Senators will officially pass the halfway point of the NHL<br />
season Friday with a playoff rematch against the New York Rangers at<br />
Madison Square Garden.<br />
The question remains: Can the Senators get back to the dance this spring?<br />
Despite the loss of injured stars Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza, Milan<br />
Michalek and Craig Anderson for extended periods, the Senators have<br />
managed to keep their heads above water and are sitting in sixth place in<br />
the Eastern Conference.<br />
The race to the playoffs now begins in earnest.<br />
FORWARDS: Grade: C<br />
The loss of C Spezza (back), LW Guillaume Latendresse (neck) and LW<br />
Milan (knee) hurt the club's depth, big time. The Senators haven't been able<br />
to score goals and they've tried to keep games tight-checking and lowscoring.<br />
Coach Paul MacLean has worked hard to make sure forwards<br />
keep going to get the dirty goals. Captain Daniel Alfredsson has tried to<br />
lead the charge with a strong effort. There is no way Jim O'Brien and Mika<br />
Zibanejad should be leading this club in goals. If this group doesn't improve,<br />
it hurts their chances of making the playoffs. If Spezza is able to return by<br />
early April, it will help depth and give the Senators a much-needed scoring<br />
threat.<br />
DEFENCE: Grade: B+<br />
The Senators have to be pleased with what they've gotten from their<br />
blueline. It was the biggest question mark going into the season and then<br />
was decimated with the loss of Karlsson. Newcomer Marc Methot might be<br />
the biggest surprise, but that's only because nobody from Ottawa had seen<br />
him in Columbus. The Senators scouts knew what they were getting when<br />
they dealt F Nick Foligno and it's been a great move. Methot has been a<br />
strong contributor and his play hasn't fallen off since the club lost Karlsson.<br />
Veteran Sergei Gonchar hasn't always been the most consistent and has to<br />
do more on the power play. The play of veteran Chris Phillips has been<br />
steady and workmanlike.<br />
GOALTENDING: Grade: A+<br />
The Senators can't complain about what's happened in the net. They<br />
haven't been able to make the most of the performances they're getting. It<br />
doesn't matter if it's Anderson, Ben Bishop or Robin Lehner, all three have<br />
given the Senators a chance to win. They've made big saves and are the<br />
reason the Senators are ranked No. 2 in the NHL in penalty killing. The loss<br />
of Anderson was supposed to be devastating to the club's chances. It hasn't<br />
been at all. The Senators have to find a way to give more scoring support to<br />
the goalies.<br />
HE HAS HART: The Senators wouldn't be in any position to make the<br />
playoffs if it weren't for Anderson. He may be about to miss his seventh<br />
straight game as Ottawa faces the Rangers Friday but his numbers before<br />
he went down were great. With an 8-4-2 record in 15 games this season,<br />
Anderson leads the league with a .952 save-percentage and a 1.49 goalsagainst<br />
average. The Senators can't get him back fast enough from his<br />
ankle injury, but the club will have to give him more scoring support when<br />
Anderson does return.<br />
HAS TO BE BETTER: Injuries are supposed to give players opportunities<br />
and Kyle Turris hasn't take advantage of his chance to be a No. 1 centre.<br />
The last time Turris scored a goal was on Jan. 25 against the Tamp Bay<br />
Lightning, a stretch of 20 games. Turris hasn't been able to handle all the<br />
attention he's been getting since he took over the role and playing with<br />
captain Alfredsson. The Senators can't continue to go without production<br />
from Turris. Sooner or later, he has to start contributing consistently. If that<br />
doesn't happen, it could make a for tough second half.<br />
SCHEDULE AHEAD: Starting with the visit to Madison Square Garden, the<br />
Senators will play 12 games on the road and 12 at home with before the<br />
season wraps on April 27. The Senators have to improve their road record<br />
to make the post-season. The 3-7-2 mark they posted in the first half just<br />
isn't good enough. Yes, they are 9-1-2 at home, but you have to think a few<br />
wins as the visitor would be a boost to their confidence. The big test: A 12day,<br />
six-game marathon starting April 2 in Boston that will determine<br />
whether or not this team makes the playoffs.<br />
HEADLINE GRABBERS<br />
Jan. 31: The Senators confirm Spezza has a back injury that requires<br />
surgery. GM Bryan Murray says the time frame for Spezza's return is early<br />
April, which means the club's top centre is put on the shelf. Instead of<br />
rushing out to make a trade, Murray is determined to go with what the club<br />
has instead of giving up assets. "It was really bad," admitted Spezza. "It just<br />
got to the point where there was no way I was going to be able to play. It<br />
makes it frustrating, but there wasn't really much of an option once we got<br />
down to it."<br />
Feb. 13: Karlsson, on his way to a second Norris Trophy with 10 points in<br />
14 games, is pinned into the boards by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke and has his<br />
Achilles tendon severed. After surgery is done to repair a 70% cut, the<br />
Senators confirm Karlsson's season is over. Owner Eugene Melnyk tells the<br />
Sun first he wonders why the Penguins employ a "goon" like Cooke. "This<br />
guy should be kicked ... He doesn't belong in the league. He belongs<br />
somewhere where the goons play," said Melnyk. "Get him in the Central<br />
league. He can be a $60,000-a-year guy playing pick-up hockey there."<br />
By THE NUMBERS<br />
105 — That's the total number of man-games the Senators have lost to<br />
injury. They are moving closer to getting bodies back, though. Anderson<br />
(ankle) and Latendresse (neck) shouldn't be out much longer, while Spezza<br />
(back) is two to three weeks away.<br />
79.3% — Even with four straight losses going into the visit to NYC, that's<br />
what sportsclubstats.com says the Senators' chances are of making the<br />
playoffs this spring. The <strong>Flyers</strong> are currently ranked No. 9 with 23 points<br />
and have a 24% chance of being in the post-season. Interesting to watch.<br />
3-2 — The Senators' record in the shootout this season. The club finished<br />
with a 6-4 record last season. Jakob Silfverberg hasn't scored a lot of goals<br />
in regulation, but he is 3-for-4 in the shootout. These could all be valuable<br />
points.<br />
THE BIG QUESTION<br />
Alfredsson's name has been mentioned in rumours with the trade deadline<br />
set for April 3. If the Senators fall out of the race, Alfredsson would have to<br />
go to Murray to indicate he wants to be dealt to a contender for a chance to<br />
win a Stanley Cup. Otherwise, it's not reality.<br />
DEADLINE HUNTING<br />
Murray has never been afraid to make moves. The Senators may need<br />
another top-six forward who can contribute. If the Minnesota Wild decide to<br />
deal Matt Cullen, don't be surprised if the Senators show interest. He had<br />
eight points in 21 games down the stretch in 2010. The dreamers will want<br />
them to get Anaheim's Corey Perry. Not happening.<br />
Ottawa Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662094 Ottawa Senators<br />
Ottawa Senators goalie Robin Lehner could battle mentor<br />
By Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Sun<br />
NEW YORK -- It could be a dream come true for Robin Lehner.<br />
The Senators' 21-year-old goalie will make the start against the New York<br />
Rangers Friday night at Madison Square Garden and he's hoping Swedish<br />
star Henrik Lundqvist is in the net for back-to-back games. The Rangers<br />
faced the New York Islanders Thursday night.<br />
Lehner's father Michael helped coach Lundqvist back in Sweden and the<br />
two have stayed in touch during off-seasons. Lehner has attended<br />
Lundqvist's goalie camps.<br />
"I'm really excited," said Lehner. "It's almost surreal. I have lots of respect<br />
for (Lundqvist). He's a great guy, a good goaltender. He's one of the best, if<br />
not the best in the world, so it's going to be cool."<br />
Lehner said Lundqvist has been an influence.<br />
"He helped me out when I was young and I could barely save a puck," said<br />
Lehner, who will make his third start of the season. "It's really nice to get<br />
this chance."<br />
Ottawa Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662095 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Flyer Chris Pronger battles depression while injured<br />
Sam Carchidi, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER<br />
Posted: Thursday, March 7, 2013, 4:22 PM<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Chris Pronger insisted he has not given up hope that he<br />
can return to the NHL, but his words did not mesh with the news release<br />
handed out by the team on Thursday afternoon.<br />
In a wide-ranging, candid news conference at the Skate Zone in Voorhees,<br />
Pronger, sidelined with post-concussion syndrome for nearly the last 16<br />
months, talked about battling depression, updated his physical status and<br />
revealed how he misses "going to war every night."<br />
At the same time Pronger was saying his goal was to try to get healthy<br />
enough to return to the team, the <strong>Flyers</strong> gave reporters a release from a<br />
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center concussion expert, Michael Collins,<br />
who said the defenseman had "significant vulnerabilities" and that he had<br />
advised him to no longer play hockey.<br />
In essence, Pronger, 38, cannot retire because if he did, his cap hit would<br />
be absorbed by the <strong>Flyers</strong>. As it stands, the <strong>Flyers</strong> have him on the longterm<br />
injured list, giving them $4.9 million of cap relief each season until his<br />
contract runs out at the end of 2016-17.<br />
Sporting a reddish-brown beard and wearing a charcoal gray suit, orange<br />
tie and eye glasses, Pronger answered questions for almost 40 minutes.<br />
Pronger said he has made improvements but still has concussion<br />
symptoms. He added that loud noises and bright lights bother him, "but not<br />
at the level it was."<br />
"My eye is still troubling. It's not working properly. I don't have peripheral<br />
vision," he said. "I don't have a lot of the things that have worked well for<br />
me in the past. . . . I keep having to get stronger and stronger glasses."<br />
Pronger's last game was Nov. 19, 2011, when he was bothered by the<br />
lights and crowd noise in Winnipeg. On Oct. 24 of that year, he was hit in<br />
the right eye by the stick of Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski.<br />
"There's nothing different I would have done on that play," he said before<br />
making a joke out of it. "Maybe I could have slashed him over the head<br />
first."<br />
Added Pronger: "Things happen for a reason. You sit there and you're<br />
depressed and you can wallow and do the why-me routine, and I'm sure I<br />
did for a few months when I didn't really do anything. But eventually you<br />
have to kind of turn the page and start trying to get better and start working<br />
out and doing the right thing to make sure you're there for your kids and<br />
your wife and your family."<br />
The leader of the <strong>Flyers</strong>' team that made an improbable run to the Stanley<br />
Cup Finals in 2010, Pronger said he still gets headaches and that he visits<br />
an eye doctor twice a week.<br />
Big part is depression<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> winger Scott Hartnell called Pronger "one of the best defensemen to<br />
ever play the game. His presence on and off the ice and in the dressing<br />
room [is invaluable], leading by example and leading by his words. You<br />
can't put a price on it."<br />
Addressing the local media for the first time in about 15 months, Pronger<br />
said the "biggest part is the depression. How you feel about yourself. How<br />
you feel about the injury and how dark you go down."<br />
He later said there was "some pretty dark days when the doctor was a little<br />
worried" about his emotional state.<br />
Since he suffered the concussion, Pronger said he has "leaned" on his wife<br />
and children - who are 4, 8 and 10 years old - for support.<br />
"You try to make positives out of a tough situation and being able to be<br />
home and around them and watch them kind of grow up," said Pronger,<br />
who moved from Haddonfield to St. Louis last May.<br />
Pronger, who was at the Wells Fargo Center to watch Thursday night's<br />
game against the Penguins, said he has also been helped by long talks with<br />
his agent, Pat Morris, and <strong>Flyers</strong> general manager Paul Holmgren.<br />
But he said the injury has played with his emotions.<br />
"You get agitated very quickly," said Pronger, who didn't rule out being a<br />
broadcaster down the road. "When the symptoms start piling up and you<br />
start getting a headache and it's loud in the house . . . There's bright lights,<br />
kids running around screaming, all that stuff. You are on edge as it is.<br />
You're [mad] that you are not playing the game you love, that you can't go<br />
do what you want to do every day. You are even more [mad] because<br />
you've got a headache and it's getting worse and worse . . . and your kid<br />
comes over and you snap.<br />
"You're not being the father you want to be," Pronger added. "It changes<br />
your personality a little bit. I've gotten a little better with it. But I still get a<br />
grrr on from time to time and got to catch myself, take myself out of the<br />
room and make sure I'm a little better."<br />
Pronger said he feels disoriented on occasion. "I can lose my train of<br />
thought. My cognitive skills are a little suspect at times," he said. "It comes<br />
and goes on certain days."<br />
He said he misses the "routine" of going to the rink every day. "You miss<br />
the camaraderie, going to war every night and knowing that you<br />
accomplished something each and every night, the blood, sweat and tears.<br />
You miss playing hockey games and . . . that rush of adrenalin."<br />
Pronger is able to do light workouts with weights, and was on the ice with<br />
his children last month, "pushing pucks around. But I've gotten [concussion]<br />
symptoms, and it didn't go very well."<br />
Returning to the NHL "will be difficult, but the good things in life are never<br />
easy," he said. "You have to set goals and try to push yourself to attain<br />
them and reach them. This is no different. I have to keep working at getting<br />
healthy and working to get myself back to as close to 100 percent as I can<br />
get, and we'll kind of re-evaluate after that."<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662096 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Chris Pronger says he is not retiring<br />
Deanna Vasso, Philly.com Staff<br />
Posted: Thursday, March 7, 2013, 12:19 PM<br />
Former <strong>Flyers</strong> captain and defenseman, Chris Pronger was in Voorhees,<br />
NJ on Thursday at the <strong>Flyers</strong> Skate Zone and addressed the media about<br />
his career-threatening concussion and eye injury.<br />
Pronger was hit over the head by Mikhail Grabovski's stick in a game<br />
against the Maple Leafs on October 24, 2011. On November 19 of that<br />
year, Pronger complained that he was bothered by the lights and crowd<br />
noise in Winnipeg.<br />
Pronger, who hasn't played in over a year and still suffers symptoms, said<br />
that he is not ready to retire and will "continue to work towards playing<br />
again."<br />
All signs point to Pronger's career being over, and it is likely that his<br />
decision not to retire has more to do with the implications it would have on<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong>' salary cap. If he does retire, the team will not get the same kind<br />
of cap relief they would if he was to remain on long-term injured reserve.<br />
Here is some of what he said about his injury:<br />
"I kind of went dark there for a while, but now I'm back."<br />
"I need to continue to get healthy, to rehab, to go to my eye appointments,<br />
doctor appointments...once I continue to get healthy we'll see where we're<br />
at. It may or may not go away."<br />
"If I’ve done a lot I’ll wake up with a headache. I lose my train of thought<br />
and still have cognitive problems. I’ll stop talking and people will ask “what’s<br />
wrong with him?” but then I’ll get back on to it."<br />
"You get a little depressed, you can’t work out, you try to work out but you<br />
get nauseous, you get a headache and you have to go lay down. The<br />
biggest thing is the depression, how dark you get, and how you go down."<br />
On visors: "I would be for visors, but it’s a slippery slope by allowing the<br />
league to mandate that. I don’t think the players won’t do it, but it’s a<br />
slippery slope."<br />
On making one of his sons wear a visor if he were drafted into the NHL: "If<br />
he’s over eighteen, he can do what he wants. You can advise, but he’s<br />
going to do what he wants."<br />
"The eye is intertwined with the concussion to cause the dizziness and<br />
would give me headaches, you get disorientated."<br />
"I don’t think “full-time" wouldn't be the right word. I watch games and give<br />
them feedback and tell them what to work on. I help out."<br />
"Everyone who plays a professional sport wants to go out on their own<br />
terms. Everyone wants a Stanley Cup. I don’t think it’s my time yet."<br />
"I’m just trying to get healthy and live a normal live. I need to get better for<br />
my family."<br />
"I never said my vision won't get better, I said my direct vision won’t get<br />
better. There’s glasses, contacts. I’ve never heard of anyone's eyes getting<br />
better with glasses. Direct vision is not as much of an issue as peripheral<br />
vision. It was good before, now I don’t really have one. You know where<br />
everyone is on the ice so you don’t get hit, so it’s troublesome."<br />
"The difference with my injury to guys like Primeau, Crosby, it was eyerelated,<br />
not strictly head-related."<br />
"You try to make positives out of a tough situation. If you get out of that<br />
[depression]... talks with my agent, Homer, that helped."<br />
"I can see you [laughs at reporter]. I think I have pretty good sight."<br />
"You get agitated quickly when the symptons add up, loud noises, kids<br />
running around in the house, you get pissed off because you have a<br />
headache and it gets worse and worse. Your kid comes over and you snap<br />
and you’re not being the father you want to be. I have to catch myself and<br />
leave the room."<br />
"I don’t think I would have done anything different in that play, maybe I’d<br />
slash him over the head first [laughs]. Eventually you have to turn the page<br />
and try to get better. Hockey has been a part of my life for the past 19-20<br />
years."<br />
"I have glasses on and I can drive."<br />
"I can’t run, anything where I want to move my body fast. If my heart rate<br />
gets up too high, I get a headache. I’ve been on the ice with my kids, but I<br />
can’t say I’ve been doing more than pushing pucks around. I've been on the<br />
ice and I’ve got headaches. I've tried to do things to help it, but it hasn't<br />
worked."<br />
On if he works out: "I watch what I eat [laughs]. Did you know that 90<br />
percent of your body is diet? I lift a little bit."<br />
"It will be difficult, the good things in life are never easy, you have to set<br />
goals and push yourself to attain them."<br />
"You miss the routine, that's the biggest thing that put me in the hole, you<br />
don’t have a routine. I had a set schedule since I was 15, since I starting<br />
playing junior hockey, so it’s difficult to not have one anymore. I have a little<br />
routine now. I go to therapy appointments, I try to work out and go to the<br />
carpool line to pick up my kids."<br />
"You miss going to war every night, the blood, sweat and tears of playing a<br />
hockey game."<br />
On the <strong>Flyers</strong> biggest issues: "Consistency. You look at our team, we’re a<br />
young team, and when you're young you make mistakes. The biggest thing<br />
is it’s not always the same guy making the mistakes, it’s different guys. One<br />
guy might correct it, but then it's the next guy and the next guy. It's tough,<br />
you're trying to find your identity and who you are."<br />
"You try to see where you are as the day goes by. When you have<br />
symptons, you have to back off. My eyes get more tired, I seem to fall<br />
asleep a lot earlier than I used to. I’m a little better, the lockout probably<br />
helped, not having it for that period, you're able to get better. You don’t miss<br />
it as much when it’s gone. Feeling like you should be there, and it gets<br />
tough at times."<br />
"There was some pretty dark days, my doctor was worried, there were<br />
some pretty dark days."<br />
On returning to the <strong>Flyers</strong>: "Not in the near future. I don’t think we’re there<br />
yet."<br />
"I have no regrets, I played to the best of my ability, I played to win and was<br />
fortunate enough to win a Stanley Cup and played on a few good teams<br />
that got there. I don’t have any regrets. I’m not going to look back and say<br />
'Geez, I wish I did this and that.' I have nothing to prove."<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662097 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Pronger talks of 'dark days'<br />
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Chris Pronger, whose career is probably over because<br />
of post-concussion symptoms, talked about battling depression and his<br />
"dark days" during a news conference Thursday at the Skate Zone in<br />
Voorhees.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> handed out a news release in which a concussion expert<br />
advised Pronger to no longer play hockey.<br />
Pronger said he is not retiring, but that is probably because if he calls it<br />
quits, the <strong>Flyers</strong> won't get cap relief.<br />
Pronger's last game was Nov. 19, 2011, when he was bothered by the<br />
lights and crowd noise in Winnipeg. On Oct. 24 of that year, he was hit by<br />
the stick of Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski.<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> winger Scott Hartnell called Pronger "one of the best defensemen to<br />
ever play the game. His presence on and off the ice and in the dressing<br />
room (is invaluable), leading by example and leading by his words. You<br />
can't put a price on it."<br />
Pronger said he still gets headaches and his eyesight has been affected.<br />
"You get agitated very quickly," he said. "When the symptoms start piling<br />
up, and you start getting a headache and it's loud in the house. There's<br />
bright lights, kids running around screaming, all that stuff. You are on edge<br />
as it is. You’re pissed off that you are not playing the game you love, that<br />
you can’t go do what you want to do every day. You are even more pissed<br />
off because you got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse...and<br />
you’re light-headed and dizzy, and your kid comes over and you snap.<br />
"You’re not being the father you want to be. It changes your personality a<br />
little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I still get a grr on from time to<br />
time and gotta catch myself, take myself out of the room and make sure I’m<br />
a little better."<br />
(more coming)<br />
Read playing? It APPEARS Matt Read will be in the lineup tonight against<br />
Pittsburgh because Mike Knuble stayed on the ice with the extras during<br />
the morning skate. Either that, or the <strong>Flyers</strong> will dress seven defensemen.<br />
Nick Grossmann took part in the morning skate and is likely to play. He<br />
suffered an apparent hip injury in New York Tuesday. Kurtis Foster, battling<br />
the aftereffects of the flu, might also dress.<br />
Numbers. The <strong>Flyers</strong> and Penguins have averaged a combined eight goals<br />
in their last 15 meetings.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662098 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Ex-<strong>Flyers</strong> recall unbeaten streak as Blackhawks close in on the mark<br />
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer<br />
Posted: Friday, March 8, 2013, 2:09 AM<br />
As the Chicago Blackhawks try to surpass a record unbeaten streak set by<br />
the 1979-80 <strong>Flyers</strong>, Bob Clarke wishes them no ill will.<br />
"Not at all," Clarke, the onetime <strong>Flyers</strong> star who is now the organization's<br />
senior vice president, said the other day. "The way I feel, I hope the young<br />
people do more than what the athletes in my generation did."<br />
Clarke, then 30 and in his first year as a playing assistant coach, was one<br />
of the leaders as the <strong>Flyers</strong> put together an NHL record, 35-game unbeaten<br />
streak more than three decades ago. Chicago has points in 30 straight<br />
regular-season games, including the first 24 this season (21-0-3), and has a<br />
difficult game Friday in Colorado.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong>' unbeaten streak, which was established before overtime and<br />
shootouts were part of the rules, is the longest in any of the major North<br />
American sports. The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers won 33 straight in 1971-<br />
72.<br />
Clarke said the streak "has meaning because no one in professional sports<br />
has ever done it. But, to me, it's a long way down on the list of what we<br />
accomplished. Winning the Cups and winning your [division] is much<br />
higher."<br />
Clarke and many members of that record-setting team say they are rooting<br />
for Chicago. Kenny Linseman said they may be fibbing.<br />
"I don't think anyone on that team wants them to beat the record," said<br />
Linseman, who led the 1979-80 <strong>Flyers</strong> with 79 points. "It's pretty cool to say<br />
we have the longest record in professional sports."<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong>, captained by Mel Bridgman, went 25-0-10 during their run.<br />
"It just sort of happened," said soft-spoken <strong>Flyers</strong> general manager Paul<br />
Holmgren, who was a winger on that team and had the best season of his<br />
career with 30 goals and 65 points. "We never really talked about it until it<br />
got close to 28 games," which was the streak record, set by Montreal (22-0-<br />
6) in 1977-78.<br />
"We had to beat Boston in Boston to beat the previous record, and it kind of<br />
snowballed."<br />
Beneficial for the game<br />
Holmgren, who along with Behn Wilson were the <strong>Flyers</strong>' most physical<br />
players, remembered "lots of close calls" during the streak. Thirteen times,<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong> came from behind to win or tie a game during the 35-game run.<br />
"We had contributions from a lot of different people," Holmgren said. "We<br />
didn't rely on one line or one defenseman or one goalie. Everybody had a<br />
hand in it."<br />
Some say the Blackhawks' streak is tainted because they don't have to play<br />
Eastern Conference teams in the lockout-shortened schedule. Holmgren<br />
isn't one of them.<br />
"I think the parity in the league is so much better now, so it's probably more<br />
difficult for the Blackhawks in that respect," Holmgren said.<br />
Like Clarke and Holmgren, Bill Barber is not rooting against the<br />
Blackhawks.<br />
"I always look at what's beneficial for the game," said Barber, who scored<br />
40 goals in 1979-80. "I think all records are meant to be broken. If it<br />
happens, it's great for hockey and brings more people into the audience."<br />
The 1979-80 <strong>Flyers</strong> had a handful of players from one or both of their 1974<br />
and 1975 Stanley Cup champions - Clarke, Barber, Rick MacLeish, Jimmy<br />
Watson, Reggie Leach, Bob Kelly, and Andre Dupont - but several of the<br />
big, physical players from the Broad Street Bullies had been replaced by<br />
quicker players such as Tom Gorence, Linseman, and hotshot rookie Brian<br />
Propp.<br />
"I was a small part of it as an 11th or 12th forward, but that doesn't take<br />
away the excitement from it," said John Paddock, a former winger who is<br />
now a <strong>Flyers</strong> assistant coach. "We had a lot of new players on the team,<br />
myself included, and we had a lot of guys who had played on the<br />
championship teams we had in Maine [of the AHL] the previous two years."<br />
Paddock was referring to young players such as Mike Busniuk, Norm<br />
Barnes, Frank Bathe, Al Hill, Gorence, and Pete Peeters.<br />
"We were excited just to be there," Paddock said of the jump to the NHL.<br />
"We had a good mix of players," said Bathe, a defenseman who had seven<br />
points and 111 penalty minutes that season. "You know how you have 14<br />
clubs in the golf bag? I was the 15th, and every once in a while they'd put<br />
me in. With the Bobby Clarkes and Billy Barbers and the other stars there, I<br />
felt like the 15th club."<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> were a team in transition, and they had a patchwork defense<br />
and a rookie goalie, Peeters, who divided time with veteran Phil Myre.<br />
The 1979-80 season began innocently enough as the <strong>Flyers</strong> opened with a<br />
5-2 win over the visiting New York Islanders before dropping a 9-2 decision<br />
to the Flames in Atlanta on Oct. 13.<br />
They would not lose again until nearly three months later, when they were<br />
trounced by the North Stars in Minnesota, 7-1, on Jan. 7.<br />
In between, the Pat Quinn-coached team received outstanding goaltending<br />
from Peeters (14-0-4 during the streak) and Myre (11-0-6).<br />
Chicago has also used two goalies during its streak, including former Flyer<br />
Ray Emery, who has made an eye-opening recovery from surgery to repair<br />
avascular necrosis of the hip, the same bone disorder that curtailed Bo<br />
Jackson's athletic career. On Wednesday, when Chicago rallied for a<br />
dramatic 3-2 win over Colorado, Emery became the first goalie in NHL<br />
history to start a season 10-0. He has a 2.02 goals-against average and<br />
.925 save percentage.<br />
"When you look at where he was - from a condition that completely took him<br />
out of lineup to having major surgery and then rehabilitation - to be playing<br />
at this level is amazing," Paddock said.<br />
More media<br />
Paddock said that when the <strong>Flyers</strong> went on their record streak, the media<br />
coverage wasn't in the same stratosphere as today. There was no Internet.<br />
No Twitter. No 24-hour news cycle.<br />
"Technology is different today," he said, adding there wasn't much of a<br />
"buzz" about the streak until the <strong>Flyers</strong> approached the Canadiens' NHL<br />
record. "And we started embracing it and said, 'What the heck.' It became<br />
more like a playoff gear."<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> finished the season tops in the NHL with 116 points and a 48-<br />
12-20 record. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the<br />
Islanders, four games to two. In the Game 6 overtime loss, a missed call by<br />
Leon Stickle - he overlooked an Islanders offside on one of their goals - still<br />
has left Barber a "little bitter."<br />
Barber points out that the Blackhawks streak is being done in two portions,<br />
including the last six regular-season games (4-0-2) of 2011-12.<br />
"We did it all in one year without interruptions," he said. "And they're playing<br />
a shortened season, where we played a full 80-game season, and it was a<br />
big challenge to know you still had a full season ahead."<br />
Barber said players are faster, bigger, and stronger today, but he also said<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong> had a more difficult schedule in 1979-80 because they played<br />
teams from both conferences.<br />
"I'm not putting them down," he said of the Blackhawks. "I'm just laying out<br />
the facts."<br />
Linseman, who has a plaque hanging on one of his New Hampshire home's<br />
walls that pays tribute to the streak, says it was exhilarating and "more<br />
exhausting than a regular season" to try to avoid losing.<br />
"One of the biggest reasons for the streak was Pat Quinn's system," he<br />
said. "He had a defenseman jump in on the offensive play all the time. That<br />
didn't happen around the league, and it was kind of mandated, and it had a<br />
huge effect."<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662099 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Penguins climb out of 3-goal hole to beat <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
FRANK SERAVALLI, Daily News Staff Writer seravaf@phillynews.com<br />
Posted: Friday, March 8, 2013, 1:47 AM<br />
MAYBE, JUST maybe, lounging on the laurels of a three-goal lead after one<br />
period would have worked against other teams - those prone-to-losing<br />
franchises.<br />
Not the Penguins. Not against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.<br />
Certainly not in the NHL's fiercest rivalry, where the only score that matters<br />
is the final one.<br />
"We just went to sleep," <strong>Flyers</strong> coach Peter Laviolette said. "We talked<br />
about the second period, that Pittsburgh's game would elevate and ours<br />
would need to stay elevated. It didn't. You could sense it on the bench."<br />
Kimmo Timonen had been saying it for weeks, that his <strong>Flyers</strong> have lacked a<br />
"killer instinct," and the ability to take over close games. The <strong>Flyers</strong> lacked<br />
any semblance of instinct, killer or otherwise, by allowing four unanswered<br />
goals in a span of 14:48.<br />
Penguins 5, <strong>Flyers</strong> 4.<br />
It was as if the <strong>Flyers</strong> believed the Penguins already had boarded their<br />
charter flight home after only the first period.<br />
"We were all up, we were all confident and excited to go for the second<br />
period," Zac Rinaldo said of the <strong>Flyers</strong>' locker-room atmosphere during the<br />
first intermission, when they led 4-1.<br />
Up for an implosion, apparently.<br />
Thursday marked the <strong>Flyers</strong>' first regulation loss in more than 20 years<br />
(Feb. 17, 1993, against Detroit) in which they held a three-goal edge in a<br />
regular-season game. The Penguins did it to the <strong>Flyers</strong> in Game 6 of their<br />
2009 first-round playoff series, but apparently that wasn't recent enough for<br />
this team to remember.<br />
Now, the <strong>Flyers</strong> are a Saturday loss in Beantown away from going winless<br />
in "rivalry week," which some have dubbed as the most important of the<br />
season.<br />
And after blowing two points that should have been in-hand, the <strong>Flyers</strong> sit<br />
only four points from 15th place in the East after starting the week in a<br />
playoff position.<br />
"That should be the game right there," Timonen said. "When we have a 4-1<br />
lead, the game is in your hands, big-time. Every time when we take a big<br />
lead, we seem to sit back and wait for the game to end. We're not a team<br />
that can sit back and wait. When we do that, we seem to stand still and give<br />
up a lot of easy goals.<br />
"When we went back on the ice, we were not there for some reason."<br />
Neither Laviolette nor any player could put their finger on the second<br />
period's start, which is especially puzzling since both players and coaches<br />
talked about it.<br />
"It was a big letdown," Scott Hartnell said. "I don't know why we stopped<br />
playing from the way we were in the first period. The Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
aren't going to sit back and hand over two points, they're going to come<br />
hard. Before you know, it's 4-4; we just can't do that. We let another two<br />
points slip away. It's not [Laviolette's] fault. It's not his fault, it's not anyone's<br />
fault."<br />
Laviolette said the <strong>Flyers</strong> "stopped working" in the second period.<br />
Even after the <strong>Flyers</strong>' horrific second period, they still entered the third tied<br />
4-4, with a real chance to redeem themselves. It took Chris Kunitz only 18<br />
seconds to find the back of the net. Timonen gambled and lost on a pinch<br />
when Crosby fell down in the neutral zone.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> are 0-5 in games in which they've entered the third period tied<br />
this season, also losing Tuesday in New York after entering the third in a 2-<br />
2 deadlock.<br />
"We played a great 20 minutes, but 20 minutes doesn't get you anything<br />
these days," Hartnell said. "Then we just sat back, and when you do that,<br />
Malkin and Crosby, these guys are snipers and make plays. Play like that<br />
and it will be a long summer."<br />
Slap shots<br />
Ilya Bryzgalov refused to comment after being pulled from the game in the<br />
second period, having allowed four goals on 16 shots. Neither starting<br />
goaltender finished the game, as Marc-Andre Fleury was also yanked after<br />
allowing four goals . . . Thursday was the third time in 13 months that<br />
Bryzgalov had been pulled against Pittsburgh . . . Zac Rinaldo's first career<br />
multipoint game was wasted . . . Matt Read returned to the lineup for the<br />
first time since tearing muscles in his rib cage on Feb. 20 against the<br />
Penguins. He was originally projected to miss 6 weeks . . . Nick Grossmann<br />
was also back after missing the second and third periods in New York on<br />
Tuesday with a reported groin injury . . . Defenseman Andrej Meszaros<br />
remains "day-to-day" and could face the Bruins on Saturday.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662100 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Pronger won't be an ad-visor<br />
Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist<br />
Posted: Friday, March 8, 2013, 12:55 AM<br />
IF BRAYDON Coburn had just a little more time to settle in when he was<br />
traded to the <strong>Flyers</strong> in February 2007, he might still be able to feel the area<br />
above his left eye and across the length of his skull to the back of his head.<br />
If Scott Hartnell had not spent 2 weeks in bed when he was 19 so his retina<br />
could cease bleeding and begin to repair, he might still be scrapping in front<br />
of opponents' nets without a visor covering his eyes.<br />
Both men play with visors these days, the result of eye injuries that<br />
threatened to end their respective careers before their 25th birthdays. Both<br />
have difficulty understanding the resistance by some teammates to donning<br />
them too, particularly after Tuesday's gruesome injury to Rangers<br />
defenseman Marc Staal in New York, or the slew of ugly incidents that<br />
short-circuited the careers of teammates Ian Laperriere and Chris Pronger.<br />
Pronger was in town to catch a game and catch up <strong>Flyers</strong> ownership on his<br />
status, 16 months after an inadvertent stick to his right eye left him with<br />
vision loss and severe concussion symptoms - and psychological damage<br />
as well.<br />
"You get headaches, you're not wanting to do anything, you sit around, you<br />
can't work out, you get depressed," he was saying during a rambling news<br />
conference Thursday afternoon at Skate Zone. "You try to work out and you<br />
get nauseous, a headache, you want to lay down. It's an awkward feeling,<br />
and it's something that when you haven't experienced it before you really<br />
don't understand what it is that these guys are talking about.<br />
"I guess the biggest part is the depression and how you feel about yourself<br />
and how you feel about the injury. How dark you go down."<br />
Those dark days are gone, he said, thankfully, but the symptoms still hound<br />
his daily life. He has no peripheral vision and has been given no<br />
assurances by the physicians treating him at the University of Pittsburgh<br />
Medical Center that he will ever regain it. He cannot run or do even<br />
minimally taxing physical activity, he said. Prolonged activity of any kind -<br />
even Thursday's news conference - triggers pulsating headaches that last<br />
all day.<br />
Pronger even handed out a news release from UPMC with the headline<br />
"UPMC Concussion Expert Advises Decorated NHL Defenseman Chris<br />
Pronger to Stop Playing," seemingly a subtle way of telling <strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
once and for all that he is done. Yet because of the NHL's bizarre rules<br />
involving injuries and the salary cap, Pronger redirected all retirement<br />
questions like he once cleared pucks, speaking in nebulous terms about<br />
regaining his overall health, not necessarily returning to play.<br />
"I've made some good improvements from where I was," he said early on<br />
during a 28-minute televised session that was followed by another 10<br />
minutes off-air. "But I still have a lot of work ahead of me."<br />
Later, after several go-rounds on the topic of possibly playing again, he<br />
said, "It will be difficult. But the good things in life are never easy."<br />
It was pure coincidence that he was in town just 2 days after Kimmo<br />
Timonen's deflected slap shot triggered Staal's blood-curdling screams and<br />
spilled blood on the Madison Square Garden ice, deadening, temporarily at<br />
least, the playoff-fever pitch of both the crowd and the two teams. Since<br />
then, there has been considerable debate over mandating visors for all NHL<br />
players, Hartnell and Coburn weighing in before Pronger's news<br />
conference. Coburn wore a visor through juniors and his early years as a<br />
pro, discarding it after the <strong>Flyers</strong> helmet he was issued on his first day here<br />
did not have one attached.<br />
"I thought, 'This is kind of nice,' " Coburn said. "And I kept it off. You just<br />
feel more comfortable. Sweat gets on it. It's one of those things when you<br />
have it off it feels great. But I think the detriment outweighs that."<br />
Coburn's outlook changed when a deflected puck during the 2008 playoffs<br />
caught him above his left eye and created the numbness along the length of<br />
his skull he still has today.<br />
For Hartnell, it was a teammate's accidental stick. "I could never go back to<br />
not wearing one," he said. "It made me sick with Staal the other night. He<br />
was screaming, holding his eye, you could see all that blood. And then you<br />
see the replay after the game, it all makes you cringe.<br />
"It's too important, your eyes," he said. "You see guys lose their careers<br />
because of it."<br />
A Pronger visor endorsement would have made Thursday a little more<br />
meaningful, a little less sad. Instead his answer made as little sense as any<br />
suggestion he will wear an NHL uniform again. He said something about a<br />
"slippery slope" that would allow the league to "start implementing their own<br />
rules. What are they going to change next?"<br />
The answer, of course, is their unenviable legacy of gruesome eye injuries<br />
and shortened careers. Visors are for protection. And if a puck or two is lost<br />
for a moment or two along the way? Listening to Pronger, and Hartnell and<br />
Coburn, it sure seems like a small price to pay.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662101 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>' Hartnell: 'We just sat back'<br />
POSTED: Thursday, March 7, 2013, 11:37 PM<br />
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer<br />
This is not a recording: The <strong>Flyers</strong> failed to play three good periods<br />
Thursday night and it cost them a win.<br />
For the umpteenth time this season, the <strong>Flyers</strong> followed a great period with<br />
a clunker. The result: They blew a 4-1 lead and lost to the Pittsburgh<br />
Penguins, 5-4, at the Wells Fargo Center.<br />
There are no excuses for lacking a killer instinct against their arch-rivals.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> were home. They should have been a more desperate team<br />
because of the standings, and they should have had extra incentive<br />
because they were coming off a poor third period in a 4-2 loss to the<br />
Rangers on Tuesday.<br />
Yet, after firing 18 shots in the first 20 minutes, they managed only seven<br />
shots in the next 27 minutes.<br />
“It was a big letdown,” winger Scott Hartnell said. “I don’t know why we<br />
stopped playing from the way we were in the first period. We were fast,<br />
quick, hitting, getting into the extra-curricular activities after the whistle and<br />
we were playing Flyer hockey. Then we just sat back, and when you do that<br />
against (Evgeni) Malkin and (Sidney) Crosby, these guys are snipers and<br />
make plays.<br />
“If we play like that, it will be a long summer.”<br />
In the first period, the WFC was alive. After that, the crowd mimicked the<br />
team’s play on the ice. They were quiet. Very, very quiet.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> (11-13-1) blew a three-goal lead and lost in regulation for the<br />
first time since 1993, and they are now 0-5 this season in games that are<br />
tied heading into the final period. They fell two games under .500 and<br />
dropped into a tie for 10th in the Eastern Conference.<br />
Normally, it wouldn’t be time panic after 25 games. But with just 23 games<br />
left in this shortened season, GM Paul Holmgren has to seriously consider<br />
a move.<br />
Does he trade a high draft pick for a player (Jarome Iginla? Mark Streit?)<br />
who could become a free agent?<br />
Stay tuned.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662102 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Penguins roar back and beat <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Sam Carchidi, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER<br />
Posted: Thursday, March 7, 2013, 10:07 PM<br />
There's something about games between the <strong>Flyers</strong> and Pittsburgh<br />
Penguins that makes it look as if both teams have beer-league defenses.<br />
It happened in last year's wild playoffs, and it happened in last month's 11goal<br />
game in Pittsburgh.<br />
It happened again Thursday night as the <strong>Flyers</strong> scored four first-period<br />
goals - two on the power play by the blistering Jake Voracek - but watched<br />
the Penguins answer with three unanswered tallies in the second period.<br />
By the time it ended, both starting goalies had been yanked, and the<br />
Penguins emerged with a 5-4 comeback victory before a stunned sellout<br />
crowd at the Wells Fargo Center.<br />
Eighteen seconds into the third period, Chris Kunitz, on a two-on-one,<br />
easily beat Brian Boucher to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead. A turnover by<br />
Kimmo Timonen set up the goal.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> lost a three-goal lead and lost in regulation for the first time<br />
since 1993, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.<br />
The Penguins overcame an early 4-1 deficit as they won their third straight<br />
and sent the <strong>Flyers</strong> (11-13-1) two games under .500.<br />
"We need to put a whole game together," said winger Zac Rinaldo, who had<br />
a goal and an assist in the first period. "We got the start we wanted, and<br />
then we got too comfortable with our lead."<br />
Many of the <strong>Flyers</strong> seemed miffed that they couldn't give a solid 60-minute<br />
effort against their fiercest rivals.<br />
"After the first period, we talked about [how] the Pittsburgh Penguins aren't<br />
going to sit back and just hand over two points," winger Scott Hartnell said.<br />
"They're going to come out hard, and, lo and behold, before you know it, it's<br />
4-4. We just can't do that. It's embarrassing to the fans, it's embarrassing to<br />
one another, and we let another two points slip away."<br />
Hartnell called the second period a "big letdown. I don't know why we would<br />
have stopped playing the way we were. . . .<br />
"If we play like that, it'll be a long summer. We have to figure it out fast."<br />
Kunitz had two goals, and Sidney Crosby had three assists to pace the<br />
Penguins (16-8), who are 10-4 on the road.<br />
With 12 minutes, 53 seconds remaining, the <strong>Flyers</strong> thought they tied it at 5<br />
when Hartnell tipped in Timonen's shot, but the goal was waved off. The<br />
war room reviewed it and said it was knocked in with a high stick.<br />
Voracek, who had his first career hat trick in a 6-5 win over Pittsburgh last<br />
month, has nine goals and 19 points in his last 10 games.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> and Penguins combined for a ridiculous 56 goals in last year's<br />
six-game playoff series, and the teams had combined to average eight<br />
goals per game in their last 15 meetings before Thursday.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> outshot the Penguins in the opening period, 18-4, but Pittsburgh<br />
dominated the second.<br />
Pittsburgh got goals that were credited to Pascal Dupuis and James Neal<br />
(Neal's pass deflected off defenseman Braydon Coburn's right skate and<br />
into the net) within 2:43 of each other, cutting the deficit to 4-3.<br />
That caused <strong>Flyers</strong> coach Peter Laviolette to call a timeout with 11:47 to go<br />
in the second stanza. It didn't help.<br />
The Penguins tied it with 4:13 left in the second period as Tyler Kennedy's<br />
drive went past Ilya Bryzgalov, who was screened by Brandon Sutter.<br />
Laviolette replaced Bryzgalov with Boucher, saying he wanted to change<br />
the momentum.<br />
"We couldn't seem to get it back," he said.<br />
Both of Voracek's first-period goals deflected off Penguins defenseman<br />
Paul Martin and through Fleury's legs. Hey, when you're hot, you're hot.<br />
Fleury, who allowed an awful goal on a long shot by Timonen (three points),<br />
was pulled after the first period and replaced by Tomas Vokoun.<br />
Vokoun had little work in the second period as the Penguins outshot the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>, 12-3. The <strong>Flyers</strong> had 18 shots in the first 20 minutes, then had just<br />
four shots over the next 27 minutes.<br />
Breakaways. Winger Matt Read (ribs) returned to the lineup a month ahead<br />
of schedule and played on a line with Sean Couturier and Simon Gagne.<br />
Defenseman Nick Grossmann, injured in the first period against the<br />
Rangers on Tuesday, also returned to the <strong>Flyers</strong>' lineup.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 03.08.2013
662103 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> let big lead, big game get away<br />
by Wayne Fish<br />
PHILADELPHIA -- Teams that build big leads and then can’t put away<br />
opponents are in, says Scott Hartnell, “for a long summer.’’<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> raced to a fat 4-1 lead over Pittsburgh on Thursday night, then<br />
got happy and lazy.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> gave up three unanswered goals in the second period, then a<br />
tiebreaking score in the third and lost a brutal 5-4 decision at the Wells<br />
Fargo Center.<br />
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the <strong>Flyers</strong> had a threegoal<br />
lead and lost the game in regulation was Jan. 17, 1993 in a 7-3 loss to<br />
Detroit.<br />
Do the <strong>Flyers</strong> lack a killer instinct? They’ve been tied at the end of two<br />
periods five times this season and are 0-5 in those games.<br />
“You see it all the time,’’ said Brian Boucher, who had to relieve starting<br />
goalie Ilya Bryzgalov midway through the contest. “A team gets up 4-1, the<br />
team on the other side is a pretty good team and if you take your foot off the<br />
gas just a little bit, things change in a hurry.<br />
“We talked about it between periods. I don’t know why things changed in<br />
the second. You can’t give up leads like that, if you want to make your way<br />
up the standings.’’<br />
Considering the two teams had combined for an average of eight goals a<br />
game in their previous 15 meetings, it came as no surprise that they totaled<br />
eight in the first two periods.<br />
After rallying from their three-goal deficit in the second period, the Penguins<br />
needed just 18 seconds in the third period to break a 4-4 tie on a goal by<br />
Chris Kunitz (his second of the game) to take control.<br />
“We had the game in our hands and the second period we came out flat,’’<br />
Claude Giroux said. “Cost us another two points.’’<br />
Giroux was asked if this was the worst loss of the season.<br />
“Yeah,’’ he responded. “When you’re ahead 4-1, you have to find a way to<br />
close the game up.’’<br />
For weeks, the <strong>Flyers</strong> have been talking about the possibility of not making<br />
the playoffs for only the second time since 1995. With each passing loss,<br />
the prospect comes closer to reality.<br />
“We talked about it after the first period,’’ Hartnell said. “The Penguins<br />
aren’t going to sit back and sign over two points. Before you know it, it’s 4-<br />
4. You just can’t do that. It’s embarrassing to fans, it’s embarrassing to one<br />
another.<br />
“I don’t know why we would have stopped playing in the second period. We<br />
were fast, we were quick, we were hitting. We were playing <strong>Flyers</strong> hockey<br />
and then we just sat back. If we play like that, it will be a long summer.’’<br />
Just over halfway through the game, both starting goalies -- Ilya Bryzalov<br />
for the <strong>Flyers</strong> and Marc-Andre Fleury for Pittsburgh -- were gone.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> jumped on top with the help of two Jake Voracek goals, and<br />
single markers from Zac Rinaldo and Kimmo Timonen.<br />
Voracek opened the scoring at 11:18 on a power play when his shot<br />
deflected off defenseman Paul Martin and through Fleury’s pads.<br />
But Pittsburgh fired back with a power-play goal of its own by Kunitz at<br />
12:05. Sidney Crosby picked up an assist on the play, ending a two-game<br />
point drought at the WFC.<br />
Then came three straight goals by Rinaldo (15:08, off a fat rebound),<br />
Timonen (18:17 on a long shot through a Derek Engelland screen) and<br />
Voracek at 19:52. Fleury was yanked at the start of the second in favor of<br />
Tomas Vokoun.<br />
The Penguins got goals from Pascal Dupuis at 5:30, James Neal at 8:13<br />
(on a shot that deflected off Brayden Coburn) and Tyler Kennedy at 15:47<br />
to tie the score. That was all for Bryzaglov, who was pulled in favor of Brian<br />
Boucher.<br />
Hartnell tipped a shot into the net seven minutes into the third period but<br />
that goal was waved off due to a high stick.<br />
So now the <strong>Flyers</strong>, who have fallen to 10th in the East, face another mustwin<br />
game in Boston on Saturday. They can’t afford another game like this<br />
one.<br />
“We talked about it before we went out there for the second period that<br />
Pittsburgh’s game would elevate and ours would need to stay elevated,’’<br />
coach Peter Laviolette said. “It didn’t.<br />
“Being able to finish off games, I think we need to do a better job than what<br />
we’ve done this year. We’ve had a lot of tie games and a lot of situations to<br />
win games and they’ve slipped away. Certainly it’s not where we want to<br />
be.’’<br />
Wayne Fish: 215-345-3070; e-mail: wfish@phillyburbs.com; twitter:<br />
@waynefish1<br />
Burlington County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662104 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Read returns 'just a bit early'<br />
by Wayne Fish<br />
PHILADELPHIA – Matt Read was supposed to be out of the <strong>Flyers</strong> lineup<br />
for about six weeks with a ribcage muscle injury.<br />
But Thursday night, just two weeks after going on the injury list, Read<br />
returned to action for a home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.<br />
At the morning skate, Read said the only time he really feels pain is when<br />
he takes a slap shot or the occasional off-balance wrist shot.<br />
“Why wouldn’t I want to come back?’’ Read said. “It’s my job, I love doing it.<br />
Not being out there, it’s frustrating. I’m going to do the most I can to get<br />
back in the lineup.’’<br />
At the morning skate in Voorhees, Mike Knuble stayed on the ice late at the<br />
morning skate, leading to speculation that Read wouldl play.<br />
Meanwhile, Nick Grossmann, who left Tuesday night’s game at the New<br />
York Rangers with a left hip flexor injury, was also in the lineup.<br />
Pronger reaction: Scott Hartnell spotted Chris Pronger in the hallways on<br />
Thursday and said he had only fond memories of their playing time<br />
together.<br />
“He’s definitely one of the best defensemen ever to play the game,’’ Hartnell<br />
said. “His presence on and off the ice, leading by example, leading by his<br />
words, you can’t replace that.<br />
“I’m sure he watches every game. I’ve gotten a few text messages since I<br />
got back (from a broken foot). He definitely cares, it’s killing him that he<br />
can’t play.<br />
“Any time you see him it brings back some memories, like in 2010 we went<br />
all the way (to the Stanley Cup finals). Just seeing him – he’s Chris<br />
Pronger, I hated playing against him, you really didn’t want to go in front of<br />
the net when he was on the ice.<br />
“To have him on your team and be buddies with him, it was an honor. It<br />
definitely hurts him not being here.’’<br />
Feasterville cancer survivor honored: Nina Phillip, a cancer survivor from<br />
Feasterville, was honored by the <strong>Flyers</strong> on Thursday night as the Virtua<br />
Community Teammate during the game.<br />
Phillip was recognized for her fight against cancer as well as her support of<br />
others.<br />
Nina was first diagnosed with cancer in the late ‘80s and has been battling<br />
the disease for over 25 years. Along with a group of two dozen other cancer<br />
survivors, Nina has hiked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and raised almost<br />
$5,000 to raise awareness for cancer research.<br />
The expedition was supported by two non-profit cancer organizations -<br />
Radiating Hope and Above and Beyond Cancer who provide uplifting<br />
experiences to cancer patients while raising money for research and<br />
updated radiation equipment.<br />
Through the spirits of the climbers, the help of Radiating Hope and Above<br />
and Beyond Cancer as well dozens of sponsors, Nina and her group of<br />
climbers have helped raise just over $1 million for cancer research.<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> Saturday<br />
What: <strong>Flyers</strong> at Boston Bruins.<br />
When: 1:05.<br />
Where: TD Garden.<br />
TV/Radio: CSN/97.5-FM.<br />
Season series: First meeting.<br />
What to watch: Boston having a strong first half, challenging Montreal for<br />
Northeast Division lead. . .Bruins are tied for the fewest home power-play<br />
goals in the NHL with only nine. On the flip side, the <strong>Flyers</strong>’ power play is<br />
sixth overall in the league.<br />
Burlington County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662105 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Pronger opens up about life after injury<br />
by Wayne Fish<br />
VOORHEES — Known for never giving up the battle on the ice, Chris<br />
Pronger vows to maintain that philosophy in the biggest fight of his life away<br />
from the rink.<br />
Although he’s been sidelined by vision and concussion problems since<br />
November 2011, the standout defenseman says he hasn’t completely ruled<br />
out the possibility of returning to the <strong>Flyers</strong> some day.<br />
It would take a miracle, given the scope of his health woes. But if there’s a<br />
guy who could pull off such a feat, it would have to be the towering<br />
defenseman.<br />
Pronger chose Thursday to speak with the media for the first time since<br />
Dec. 1, 2011, just over a month after he was hit in the right eye by a high<br />
stick from Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski on Oct. 24, 2011.<br />
During a 40-minute press conference at the Skate Zone, Pronger covered a<br />
wide range of topics, from the possibility of coming back in the future to the<br />
depression he has experienced to where things stand with day to day living.<br />
Some of the high points:<br />
Why open up now<br />
“I didn’t think the time was right (before). The focus needs to be on the team<br />
and those guys that were playing.’’<br />
Has he considered retirement<br />
“This doesn’t look like that sort of (press) conference, so no. I’m presently<br />
trying to get healthy and work toward getting healthy. That’s where it’s at.’’<br />
What are the most problematic symptoms<br />
“I’ve made improvements. I still have symptoms. I still get symptoms with<br />
loud noises, bright lights and a lot of moving parts and things like that. It’s<br />
not as bad as it was but I still do get them. There are a lot of things that<br />
have gotten better. My eye is still troubling. It’s not working properly. I don’t<br />
have peripheral vision and a lot of things that have worked well for me in<br />
the past. I keep having to get stronger and stronger glasses.”<br />
Your chief doctor, Michael Collins (University of Pittsburgh) has advised you<br />
not to play. Why hold out hope<br />
“I have some vulnerabilities that he’s very worried about, (ones) that may or<br />
may not go away. No matter how long it takes, I have to get healthy. That’s<br />
my main focus and goal.”<br />
Would you be in favor of the NHL making visors mandatory<br />
“I would be for it, but the problem is you go down a slippery slope of<br />
allowing the league to start implementing their own rules and what are they<br />
going to change next?’’<br />
Is the concussion the major issue or your eyes<br />
“It’s both. The concussion was to my vestibular system and obviously my<br />
ocular system took a drastic blow when I got hit in the eye. They’re kind of<br />
correlated together. The eye is kind of intertwined with the concussion to<br />
create all the dizziness and lightheadedness as I move my head and make<br />
different motions. It just poses a problem. You get disoriented. I guess<br />
that’s the easiest way to say it.”<br />
In reality, Pronger wouldn’t be inclined to retire right now because it would<br />
cost his team about $4.9 million per year against the salary cap. So,<br />
another official announcement won’t be coming for about four more years,<br />
which is the term of his contract.<br />
So he passes the time doing some video scouting for the <strong>Flyers</strong> and trying<br />
to be a good father and husband at home, although at times that can be<br />
challenging.<br />
“You get agitated very quickly,’’ Pronger said. “When the symptoms start<br />
piling up, start getting a headache and loud in the house, there’s bright<br />
lights, kids running around screaming, all that stuff, you are on edge as it is.<br />
“You’re ticked off that you are not playing the game you love, that you can’t<br />
go do what you want to do every day. Then you are even more ticked off<br />
because you’ve got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse and your<br />
eyes and you’re light-headed and dizzy and your kid comes over and you<br />
snap. You’re not being the father you want to be.<br />
“It changes your personality a little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I<br />
still get a ‘g-r-r-r’ on from time to time and have to catch myself, take myself<br />
out of the room and make sure I’m a little better.’’<br />
Pronger has two sons (ages 10 and 8) and sometimes it’s difficult for them<br />
to understand what’s going on.<br />
“It’s tough,’’ he said. “Sometimes they do (understand) and sometimes they<br />
don’t. As a kid, you have a pretty short memory and you forget. It is what it<br />
is. They’re kids. They are going to be rambunctious and crazy at times.<br />
Sometimes that can really get you on edge.’’<br />
There’s probably a better chance of Pronger winning the lottery and getting<br />
hit by lightning the same day than ever playing hockey again. If that’s the<br />
case, is he comfortable leaving the game, even if it’s not on his terms?<br />
“I had no regrets,’’ Pronger said. “I played to the best of my ability. Played<br />
to win and was fortunate enough to have won a Stanley Cup and a couple<br />
gold medals and played on some really good teams. I can say I left the<br />
game with nothing to prove.’’<br />
Burlington County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662106 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Read returns 'just a bit early'<br />
by Wayne Fish<br />
PHILADELPHIA – Matt Read was supposed to be out of the <strong>Flyers</strong> lineup<br />
for about six weeks with a ribcage muscle injury.<br />
But Thursday night, just two weeks after going on the injury list, Read<br />
returned to action for a home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.<br />
At the morning skate, Read said the only time he really feels pain is when<br />
he takes a slap shot or the occasional off-balance wrist shot.<br />
“Why wouldn’t I want to come back?’’ Read said. “It’s my job, I love doing it.<br />
Not being out there, it’s frustrating. I’m going to do the most I can to get<br />
back in the lineup.’’<br />
At the morning skate in Voorhees, Mike Knuble stayed on the ice late at the<br />
morning skate, leading to speculation that Read wouldl play.<br />
Meanwhile, Nick Grossmann, who left Tuesday night’s game at the New<br />
York Rangers with a left hip flexor injury, was also in the lineup.<br />
Pronger reaction: Scott Hartnell spotted Chris Pronger in the hallways on<br />
Thursday and said he had only fond memories of their playing time<br />
together.<br />
“He’s definitely one of the best defensemen ever to play the game,’’ Hartnell<br />
said. “His presence on and off the ice, leading by example, leading by his<br />
words, you can’t replace that.<br />
“I’m sure he watches every game. I’ve gotten a few text messages since I<br />
got back (from a broken foot). He definitely cares, it’s killing him that he<br />
can’t play.<br />
“Any time you see him it brings back some memories, like in 2010 we went<br />
all the way (to the Stanley Cup finals). Just seeing him – he’s Chris<br />
Pronger, I hated playing against him, you really didn’t want to go in front of<br />
the net when he was on the ice.<br />
“To have him on your team and be buddies with him, it was an honor. It<br />
definitely hurts him not being here.’’<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> Saturday<br />
What: <strong>Flyers</strong> at Boston Bruins.<br />
When: 1:05.<br />
Where: TD Garden.<br />
TV/Radio: CSN/97.5-FM.<br />
Season series: First meeting.<br />
What to watch: Boston having a strong first half, challenging Montreal for<br />
Northeast Division lead. . .Bruins are tied for the fewest home power-play<br />
goals in the NHL with only nine. On the flip side, the <strong>Flyers</strong>’ power play is<br />
sixth overall in the league.<br />
Wayne Fish: 215-345-3070; e-mail: wfish@phillyburbs.com; twitter:<br />
@waynefish1<br />
Burlington County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662107 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Pronger opens up about life after injury<br />
by Wayne Fish<br />
VOORHEES – Known for never giving up the battle on the ice, Chris<br />
Pronger vows to maintain that philosophy in the biggest fight of his life away<br />
from the rink.<br />
Although he’s been sidelined by vision and concussion problems since<br />
November, 2011, the standout defenseman says he hasn’t completely ruled<br />
out the possibility of returning to the <strong>Flyers</strong> some day.<br />
It would take a miracle, given the scope of his health woes. But if there’s a<br />
guy who could pull off such a feat, it would have to be the towering<br />
defenseman.<br />
Pronger chose Thursday to speak with the media for the first time since<br />
Dec. 1, 2011, just over a month after he was hit in the right eye by a high<br />
stick from Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski on Oct. 24, 2011.<br />
During a 40-minute press conference at the Skate Zone, Pronger covered a<br />
wide range of topics, from the possibility of coming back in the future to the<br />
depression he has experienced to where things stand with day to day living.<br />
Some of the high points:<br />
Why open up now?*“I didn’t think the time was right (before). The focus<br />
needs to be on the team and those guys that were playing.’’<br />
Has he considered retirement?*“This doesn’t look like that sort of (press)<br />
conference, so no. I'm presently trying to get healthy and work toward<br />
getting healthy. That’s where it’s at.’’<br />
What are the most problematic symptoms?*“I’ve made improvements. I still<br />
have symptoms. I still get symptoms with loud noises, bright lights and a lot<br />
of moving parts and things like that. It’s not as bad as it was but I still do get<br />
them. There are a lot of things that have gotten better. My eye is still<br />
troubling. It’s not working properly. I don’t have peripheral vision and a lot of<br />
things that have worked well for me in the past. I keep having to get<br />
stronger and stronger glasses.”<br />
Your chief doctor, Michael Collins (University of Pittsburgh) has advised you<br />
not to play. Why hold out hope? “I have some vulnerabilities that he’s very<br />
worried about, (ones) that may or may not go away. No matter how long it<br />
takes, I have to get healthy that’s my main focus and goal.”<br />
Would you be in favor of the NHL making visors mandatory? “I would be for<br />
it, but the problem is you go down a slippery slope of allowing the league to<br />
start implementing their own rules and what are they going to change<br />
next?’’<br />
Is the concussion the major issue or your eyes? "It's both. The concussion<br />
was to my vestibular system and obviously my ocular system took a drastic<br />
blow when I got hit in the eye. They're kind of correlated together. The eye<br />
is kind of intertwined with the concussion to create all the dizziness and<br />
lightheadedness as I move my head and make different motions. It just<br />
poses a problem. You get disoriented. I guess that's the easiest way to say<br />
it."<br />
In reality, Pronger wouldn’t be inclined to retire right now because it would<br />
cost his team about $4.9 million per year against the salary cap. So,<br />
another official announcement won’t be coming for about four more years,<br />
which is the term of his contract.<br />
So he passes the time doing some video scouting for the <strong>Flyers</strong> and trying<br />
to be a good father and husband at home, although at times that can be<br />
challenging.<br />
“You get agitated very quickly,’’ Pronger said. “When the symptoms start<br />
piling up, start getting a headache and loud in the house, there’s bright<br />
lights, kids running around screaming, all that stuff, you are on edge as it is.<br />
“You’re ticked off that you are not playing the game you love, that you can’t<br />
go do what you want to do every day. Then you are even more ticked off<br />
because you’ve got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse and your<br />
eyes and you’re light-headed and dizzy and your kid comes over and you<br />
snap. You’re not being the father you want to be.<br />
“It changes your personality a little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I<br />
still get a ‘G-r-r-r’’ on from time to time and have to catch myself, take<br />
myself out of the room and make sure I’m a little better.’’<br />
Pronger has two sons (ages 10 and 8) and sometimes it’s difficult for them<br />
to understand what’s going on.<br />
“It’s tough,’’ he said. “Sometimes they do (understand) and sometimes they<br />
don’t. As a kid, you have a pretty short memory and you forget. It is what it<br />
is. They’re kids. They are going to be rambunctious and crazy at times.<br />
Sometimes that can really get you on edge.’’<br />
There’s probably a better chance of Pronger winning the lottery and getting<br />
hit by lightning the same day than ever playing hockey again. If that’s the<br />
case, is he comfortable leaving the game, even if it’s not on his terms?<br />
“I had no regrets,’’ Pronger said. “I played to the best of my ability. Played<br />
to win and was fortunate enough to have won a Stanley Cup and a couple<br />
gold medals and played on some really good teams.’’<br />
“I can say I left the game with nothing to prove.’’<br />
Burlington County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662108 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Grossmann questionable for Pens game<br />
by Wayne Fish<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Nick Grossmann, who suffered a hip flexor injury in<br />
Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Rangers in New York, did not skate<br />
Wednesday (the team was off) and is listed as “day to day.’’<br />
His status for Thursday night’s home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
is uncertain.<br />
A group of four players, including injured defenseman Andrej Meszaros<br />
(shoulder, day to day), did skate.<br />
General manager Paul Holmgren left the Skate Zone early due to illness<br />
and was not available for comment.<br />
Also defenseman Kurtis Foster, who missed Tuesday’s morning skate in<br />
New York due to illness, did not skate Wednesday.<br />
However, Holmgren did say before leaving that if Grossmann can’t play,<br />
Foster will be his replacement.<br />
Malkin back<br />
Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin recently was forced to miss four games due to<br />
injury but he returned with a bang the other night against Tampa (two<br />
assists) and will be in the lineup Thursday night.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> will attempt to keep Sidney Crosby off the Wells Fargo Center<br />
scoreboard for a third straight game. That’s never happened before. In fact,<br />
Crosby had never gone more than one game without a point here until the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> stopped him opening night.<br />
For his career, Crosby has 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in 20 games at<br />
WFC. The Penguins are 12-6-2 in those games.<br />
The hottest player on the Penguins right now is Chris Kunitz, who come into<br />
the game with 12 goals and 28 points. But the number that stands out?<br />
Plus-17.<br />
Rinaldo on the rise<br />
No doubt the lockout helped Zac Rinaldo a bit during his few months with<br />
the Adirondack Phantoms. He’s making much better decisions this year and<br />
is not so much a defensive liability on the ice.<br />
“I worked on a lot of things,’’ he said. “I realized (in Glens Falls) that I don’t<br />
have to kill guys every time I hit them. Sometimes I ease up and they throw<br />
the puck away. That’s probably the biggest thing I brought from the AHL to<br />
here.’’<br />
“Rhino’’ is also a popular figure in the locker room and that’s something else<br />
he has going for him.<br />
Part of that popularity stems from personal accountability on the ice. With<br />
Jody Shelley gone for the season, it’s up to Rinaldo to maintain some law<br />
and order.<br />
“I’m not going out chirpin’ all game, backin’ down from fights and being a<br />
rat,’’ he said. “I’m just hitting ... playing hard-nosed hockey, getting under<br />
guys’ skin and that’s probably the best way I know.’’<br />
Braydon Coburn appreciates the fact that Rinaldo continues to work on all<br />
aspects of the game.<br />
“Every year you’re in this league you find out a little bit more,’’ Coburn said.<br />
“With ‘Rhino,’ you come in and they tell you to hit right away. You feel like<br />
you’re a little bit all over the place.<br />
“But I think he starting to find his game. It’s good for him that he’s found a<br />
role on that checking line (generally with players like Ruslan Fedotenko,<br />
Max Talbot or Harry Zolnierczyk).’’<br />
Wayne Fish: 215-345-3070; e-mail: wfish@phillyburbs.com; twitter:<br />
@waynefish1<br />
Burlington County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662109 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Pronger talks at <strong>Flyers</strong>' morning skate<br />
VOORHEES, N.J. - Chris Pronger's sudden appearance at the Skate Zone<br />
today followed a two-part televised interview on Canadian cable outlet<br />
Sportsnet. That interview was conducted by reporter Dan Murphy, who also<br />
happened to be the co-author of a book written last year by Chris' older<br />
brother Sean Pronger.<br />
But in his first interview with the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> media since a conference call<br />
Dec. 1, 2011, Chris Pronger didn't offer anything by way of promoting the<br />
book other than agree it's a good read.<br />
"Did you read it?" he said with a bellow.<br />
This was the end to a press conference that stretched nearly 40 minutes,<br />
and in that time Pronger was equal parts honest and sarcastic, jovial and<br />
sadly serious. In short, he was typical Chris Pronger.<br />
Some excerpts:<br />
Considering his appearance was accompanied by a press release in which<br />
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center concussion specialist Michael<br />
Collins makes it clear he's advised Pronger to never play hockey again,<br />
Pronger was asked if this was a retirement press conference:<br />
"This doesn't look like that type of conference, so no," he said. "I'm<br />
presently trying to get healthy and work toward getting healthy. That’s<br />
where it's at."<br />
On what he's dealing with symptom-wise:<br />
"I've made improvements. I still have symptoms, I still get symptoms with<br />
loud noises and a lot of moving parts, bright lights, things like that. It's not to<br />
the level it was, but I still do get them. There's a lot of things that have<br />
gotten better. My eye is still troubling. It's not working properly. I don't have<br />
peripheral vision. I don't have a lot of the things I have that have worked<br />
well for me in the past. ... I keep having to get stronger and stronger<br />
glasses. I just got another new prescription."<br />
More on symptoms:<br />
"It's an awkward feeling. It's something where if you haven't experienced it<br />
before you don't understand what (the doctor) is talking about. But it can be<br />
debilitating. I guess the biggest part is the depression. How you feel about<br />
yourself. How you feel about the injury and how dark you go down."<br />
On how his family has dealt with him during this time:<br />
“You get agitated very quickly. When the symptoms start piling up, you start<br />
getting a headache and it's loud in the house, there’s bright lights. Kids are<br />
running around screaming, all that stuff, you are on edge as it is. You’re<br />
pissed off that you are not playing the game you love, that you can’t go do<br />
what you want to do every day. Then you are even more pissed off because<br />
you got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse and your eyes and<br />
you’re lightheaded and dizzy and your kid comes over and you snap.<br />
"You’re not being the father you want to be. It changes your personality a<br />
little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I still get a 'grrr' on from time to<br />
time, and I've got to catch myself, take myself out of the room and make<br />
sure I’m a little better."<br />
Look for more on Pronger in the Friday print edition of the Daily Times.<br />
As for other things from today's morning skate, the <strong>Flyers</strong> may have to<br />
dress seven defensemen due to health reasons.<br />
All currently injured players - Matt Read, Andrej Meszaros, Nick Grossmann<br />
and Tye McGinn - all practiced with the club. Grossmann would not talk<br />
about his injury, which means he was told by management not to do so. He<br />
is believed to have a groin strain, but may try to play on it tonight.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> will have a sixth defenseman to spell time with Grossmann in<br />
seldom used Kurtis Foster. Unfortunately for him, he's been waiting for this<br />
after a bevy of healthy scratches - yet he's dealing with flu symptoms.<br />
Perhaps between the two of them, they can take minutes away from the<br />
healthy defenders.<br />
Meszaros (shoulder) apparently will not play. He stayed out on the ice long<br />
after the regular guys left the ice. McGinn (orbital surgery) stayed out there<br />
with him. And so was Mike Knuble, which would indicate that he'd be a<br />
healthy scratch.<br />
But if no one else was called up today, that only happens if Read would<br />
play.<br />
As for Read, he's obviously close to returning early from his muscle tear,<br />
but says he is still getting pain when he shoots the puck. So why consider<br />
rushing back in to play?<br />
"Why wouldn't I come back?" Read said. "This is my job. I love doing it. I'm<br />
not going to sit<br />
on the sidelines watch my teammates go through battles and I can't be out<br />
there. It's frustrating. So I'm going to do the most I can to get back into the<br />
lineup."<br />
Delaware County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662110 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>' early lead blows up in their faces in 5-4 loss to Pens<br />
By ROB PARENT<br />
PHILADELPHIA — Scott Hartnell knew that the perfect time for a rallying<br />
cry was right here, right now, in a quiet Wells Fargo Center locker room<br />
mere minutes after a season-worst, 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.<br />
The atmosphere in the room was appropriate, the direct result of the <strong>Flyers</strong>,<br />
for the first time in 20 years, blowing a three-goal lead and losing in<br />
regulation. The timing was also right because the <strong>Flyers</strong> had just blown a<br />
second straight game to a division rival, and at 11-13-1 have blown past the<br />
halfway mark of the season with their gear shifts locked in reverse and their<br />
brains farting at will.<br />
“It was a big letdown,” Hartnell said. “I don’t know why we would’ve stopped<br />
playing the way we were in the first period. We were fast, we were quick,<br />
we were hitting, we were getting into the extracurricular activities after the<br />
whistles. ... We were playing <strong>Flyers</strong> hockey.”<br />
Now stop that tape right there.<br />
It was “extracurricular activity” that Hartnell engaged in with Pittsburgh<br />
hothead James Neal immediately after the <strong>Flyers</strong> had scored on the power<br />
play to make it 1-0 11:18 into the game. Neal, who had casually tossed an<br />
elbow Claude Giroux’s way, was tossed in the box, ultimately costing his<br />
team the game’s opening goal. Rather than let that go, Hartnell decided to<br />
get in Neal’s face. As it turned out, Hartnell got tagged with an extra minor<br />
for unsportsmanlike conduct.<br />
So Hartnell had to watch from the box as the Penguins promptly tied the<br />
game on a Chris Kunitz power-play goal. Now, that small misfortune<br />
ultimately had little to do with the outcome. But it could have underscored<br />
the way the <strong>Flyers</strong> played, leading with their egos rather than their heads. It<br />
was the first time they gave up a three-goal lead and lost in regulation since<br />
Jan. 17, 1993 in a 7-3 loss to Detroit.<br />
Much worse than what happened with Hartnell and Neal was the way the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> first recovered from that Kunitz tying goal to post a 4-1 lead, then<br />
casually cast caution to the wind amid the thrill of offense. As a result, they<br />
made a series of defensive mistakes that led to Pittsburgh goals, which led<br />
to a comeback victory for the Penguins that won’t and can’t be forgotten.<br />
“We have to learn from this,” Giroux mustered. But first, they should look at<br />
the standings and realize they’ve dropped into a tie for 10th place in the<br />
Eastern Conference.<br />
“We had to know the Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t going to just sit back and<br />
hand over two points,” Hartnell said. “They were going to come hard. ... Lo<br />
and behold, before you know it, it’s 4-4. We just can’t do that. It’s<br />
embarrassing for our fans, it’s embarrassing for one another. We let<br />
another two points slip away.<br />
“Play like that,” Hartnell added, “and it’ll be a long summer.”<br />
In the past 16 meetings of Pennsylvania’s hockey finest, including playoffs,<br />
they have combined for 129 goals. That would be an average of just over<br />
eight goals per game. That would be terrible, if still making for terribly<br />
exciting games.<br />
This time it would be two goals for Kunitz, including the game-winner in the<br />
third period off a Kimmo Timonen turnover, along with three Sidney Crosby<br />
assists that would beat the <strong>Flyers</strong>. But it would be the way they treated their<br />
lead over the Penguins that really defeated them.<br />
Former captain Chris Pronger, standing for most of the game in the <strong>Flyers</strong>’<br />
management box overlooking the ice, couldn’t have liked to see his words<br />
go unheeded. Asked during a wide-ranging press session earlier in the day<br />
about the state of the <strong>Flyers</strong>’ defense, Pronger said, “When you try to get<br />
too cute and always make the perfect play, it’s not always there. It’s OK to<br />
throw it off the glass once in a while. The whole purpose of playing defense<br />
is to not let the other team score. ... I think if we just adhere to the KISS<br />
theory, I think we’ll be good.”<br />
Keep It Simple Stupid?<br />
Kiss that advice goodbye.<br />
Instead of paying attention to keeping their defensive zone clear, the <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
went about making those “cute” passes, took too many offensive chances<br />
and slowed up on their skating game, for them a fatal trifecta.<br />
So Pascal Dupuis scored 5:30 into the second period, then a cooled down<br />
Neal (8:13) and Tyler Kennedy (15:47) scored to tie it up.<br />
That sent <strong>Flyers</strong> goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to the bench, something that made<br />
him want to keep silent after the game. Backup goalie Brian Boucher kept it<br />
tied, for a while. But only 18 seconds into the third, Kunitz scored his<br />
second goal of the night with the help of Crosby, and the Penguins had the<br />
lead they needed.<br />
It almost wasn’t enough, as Hartnell appeared to tip-in a tying goal with<br />
12:53 left in regulation, but after a review Hartnell’s stick was said to be<br />
above the crossbar, wiping out the goal. For the <strong>Flyers</strong>, that seemed to<br />
wipe them out.<br />
“You can’t give leads like that if you want to keep making your way up in the<br />
standings,” Boucher said. “It’s taking your foot off the gas. In this league, if<br />
you just let up a little bit, you can get embarrassed.”<br />
TWO THUMBS UP<br />
Sidney Crosby had the setups ...<br />
Chris Kunitz had the finishing touches.<br />
TWO THUMBS DOWN<br />
Delaware County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662111 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> Watch Blog: Pronger re-introduces himself to <strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
By ROB PARENT<br />
VOORHEES, N.J. - Chris Pronger's sudden appearance at the Skate Zone<br />
today followed a two-part televised interview on Canadian cable outlet<br />
Sportsnet. That interview was conducted by reporter Dan Murphy, who also<br />
happened to be the co-author of a book written last year by Chris' older<br />
brother Sean Pronger.<br />
But in his first interview with the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> media since a conference call<br />
Dec. 1, 2011, Chris Pronger didn't offer anything by way of promoting the<br />
book other than agree it's a good read.<br />
"Did you read it?" he said with a bellow.<br />
This was the end to a press conference that stretched nearly 40 minutes,<br />
and in that time Pronger was equal parts honest and sarcastic, jovial and<br />
sadly serious. In short, he was typical Chris Pronger.<br />
Some excerpts:<br />
Considering his appearance was accompanied by a press release in which<br />
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center concussion specialist Michael<br />
Collins makes it clear he's advised Pronger to never play hockey again,<br />
Pronger was asked if this was a retirement press conference:<br />
"This doesn't look like that type of conference, so no," he said. "I'm<br />
presently trying to get healthy and work toward getting healthy. That’s<br />
where it's at."<br />
On what he's dealing with symptom-wise:<br />
"I've made improvements. I still have symptoms, I still get symptoms with<br />
loud noises and a lot of moving parts, bright lights, things like that. It's not to<br />
the level it was, but I still do get them. There's a lot of things that have<br />
gotten better. My eye is still troubling. It's not working properly. I don't have<br />
peripheral vision. I don't have a lot of the things I have that have worked<br />
well for me in the past. ... I keep having to get stronger and stronger<br />
glasses. I just got another new prescription."<br />
More on symptoms:<br />
"It's an awkward feeling. It's something where if you haven't experienced it<br />
before you don't understand what (the doctor) is talking about. But it can be<br />
debilitating. I guess the biggest part is the depression. How you feel about<br />
yourself. How you feel about the injury and how dark you go down."<br />
On how his family has dealt with him during this time:<br />
“You get agitated very quickly. When the symptoms start piling up, you start<br />
getting a headache and it's loud in the house, there’s bright lights. Kids are<br />
running around screaming, all that stuff, you are on edge as it is. You’re<br />
pissed off that you are not playing the game you love, that you can’t go do<br />
what you want to do every day. Then you are even more pissed off because<br />
you got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse and your eyes and<br />
you’re lightheaded and dizzy and your kid comes over and you snap.<br />
"You’re not being the father you want to be. It changes your personality a<br />
little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I still get a 'grrr' on from time to<br />
time, and I've got to catch myself, take myself out of the room and make<br />
sure I’m a little better."<br />
Look for more on Pronger in the Friday print edition of the Daily Times.<br />
As for other things from today's morning skate, the <strong>Flyers</strong> may have to<br />
dress seven defensemen due to health reasons.<br />
All currently injured players - Matt Read, Andrej Meszaros, Nick Grossmann<br />
and Tye McGinn - all practiced with the club. Grossmann would not talk<br />
about his injury, which means he was told by management not to do so. He<br />
is believed to have a groin strain, but may try to play on it tonight.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> will have a sixth defenseman to spell time with Grossmann in<br />
seldom used Kurtis Foster. Unfortunately for him, he's been waiting for this<br />
after a bevy of healthy scratches - yet he's dealing with flu symptoms.<br />
Perhaps between the two of them, they can take minutes away from the<br />
healthy defenders.<br />
Meszaros (shoulder) apparently will not play. He stayed out on the ice long<br />
after the regular guys left the ice. McGinn (orbital surgery) stayed out there<br />
with him. And so was Mike Knuble, which would indicate that he'd be a<br />
healthy scratch.<br />
But if no one else was called up today, that only happens if Read would<br />
play.<br />
As for Read, he's obviously close to returning early from his muscle tear,<br />
but says he is still getting pain when he shoots the puck. Will he be rushed<br />
back in? We'll see.<br />
Delaware County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662112 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>' Chris Pronger describes dark days battling concussion symptoms<br />
By ROB PARENT<br />
VOORHEES, N.J. — He was smart and a little snarky. Enlightening and<br />
somewhat frightening. With 15 months of bottled up emotions behind him,<br />
what Chris Pronger mostly brought with him to a Skate Zone microphone<br />
Thursday afternoon was a somewhat surprising willingness to lay himself<br />
bare.<br />
“It’s an awkward feeling,” Pronger said about life with concussion symptoms<br />
that won’t go away. “It’s something where if you haven’t experienced it<br />
before, you don’t understand what (the doctor) is talking about. But it can be<br />
debilitating. I guess the biggest part is the depression — how you feel about<br />
yourself, how you feel about the injury and how dark you go down.”<br />
Since the after-effects of a couple of unfortunate on-ice collisions early in<br />
the 2011-12 season, Pronger, the erstwhile captain of the <strong>Flyers</strong>, has been<br />
forced to learn all about symptoms that too many athletes find themselves<br />
battling.<br />
Dizziness. Fatigue. Chronic headaches. Blurred vision. Irritability. Lack of<br />
sleep. He’s had it all and then some.<br />
Nothing compares to the deep depression that has resulted. The state of<br />
mind that moved Pronger’s wife, Lauren, to tear up during an interview at<br />
the 2012 <strong>Flyers</strong> Wives Carnival when talking about how her husband’s<br />
behavior had been altered, and not for the better.<br />
All because of the blanketing sense of melancholy that Chris Pronger says<br />
he’s still battling.<br />
“Things happen for a reason,” Pronger said. “You sit there and you’re<br />
depressed and you can wallow and do the why-me. ... I’m sure I did for a<br />
few months when I didn’t really do anything. ... But eventually you have to<br />
kind of turn the page and start trying to get better and start working out and<br />
doing the right thing to make sure you’re there for your kids and your wife.”<br />
Pronger has sons, ages 10 and 8, and a 4-year-old daughter. His daily<br />
routine, he’s happy to say, includes “carpooling them around.” But dealing<br />
with his kids, he admits, has turned out to be one of the most difficult things<br />
for him.<br />
“You get agitated very quickly,” Pronger said. “When the symptoms start<br />
piling up, you start getting a headache and it’s loud in the house; there’s<br />
bright lights. Kids are running around screaming, all that stuff, you are on<br />
edge as it is. You’re pissed off that you are not playing the game you love,<br />
that you can’t go do what you want to do every day. Then you are even<br />
more pissed off because you’ve got a headache and it’s getting worse and<br />
worse and you’re lightheaded and dizzy and your kid comes over and you<br />
snap.<br />
“You’re not being the father you want to be,” Pronger added. “It changes<br />
your personality a little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I still get a<br />
‘grrr’ on from time to time, and I’ve got to catch myself, take myself out of<br />
the room and make sure I’m a little better.”<br />
Pronger’s problems are essentially two-fold. He traces the bulk of his<br />
symptoms to when he was hit in the eye in Toronto by the stick of the Maple<br />
Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski, who was following through with a shot in a game<br />
Oct. 24, 2011. Pronger missed six games after that and returned to play five<br />
more. But he got banged into the boards Nov. 17 in Phoenix, and after<br />
playing one more game went out of the lineup with what the <strong>Flyers</strong> first<br />
termed a virus but what was subsequently revealed as concussion<br />
symptoms.<br />
After that, he said, “I sat around for five or sixth months doing nothing.”<br />
Progress since then has come, but very slowly. He said he misses the<br />
camaraderie of a locker room, the daily routine of hockey season, which is<br />
all he’d known for nearly 20 years.<br />
“I’ve made improvements,” Pronger said. “I still get symptoms with loud<br />
noises and a lot of moving parts, bright lights, things like that. Not to the<br />
level it was.<br />
“There’s a lot of things that have gotten better. My eye is still troubling. It’s<br />
not working properly. I don’t have peripheral vision, I don’t have a lot of the<br />
things that have worked well for me in the past.”<br />
What he has, however, is the love and support of his family, and along with<br />
carpooling chauffeur, he has another job of sorts.<br />
He “helps out” in a player development role for old friend Paul Holmgren<br />
and coach Peter Laviolette. Maybe as the symptoms continue to slowly<br />
clear, that role could be expanded.<br />
“I watch some of our games and just give (Holmgren) some feedback on<br />
things he might want to work on,” Pronger said. “Or help players out. See<br />
little things on the ice that might help them out. That’s pretty much what I’m<br />
doing right now.”<br />
Pronger has been placed on the long-term injured reserve list, which<br />
enables the <strong>Flyers</strong> to hack nearly $5 million off their salary cap. All Pronger<br />
can’t do is retire. He’s under contract through the 2015-16 season.<br />
Yet he says he wouldn’t retire, anyway. His unplanned press conference<br />
Thursday came complete with a press release in which University of<br />
Pittsburgh Medical Center concussion specialist Michael Collins not only<br />
called Pronger a model patient, he also said Chris Pronger should never<br />
consider playing hockey again.<br />
“I have some vulnerabilities that (Collins is) very worried about,” Pronger<br />
said. “That may or may not go away. No matter how long it takes, I have to<br />
get healthy. That’s my main focus and goal.<br />
“It will be difficult, but the good things in life are never easy. You have to set<br />
goals and try to push yourself to attain them and reach them. This is no<br />
different. I have to keep working at getting healthy and working to get<br />
myself back to as close to 100 percent as I can get, and we’ll kind of reevaluate<br />
after that.”<br />
It’s all Chris Pronger can do. That, and keep working on his patience skills.<br />
Delaware County Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662113 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Read, Grossmann could play vs. Penguins<br />
March 7, 2013, 3:00 pm<br />
Could Matt Read, who has a rib cage injury, return to the <strong>Flyers</strong> lineup<br />
tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins -- four weeks ahead of schedule?<br />
It certainly appears that way.<br />
Read left the morning skate today with the other regulars who will play<br />
tonight while Mike Knuble took extra practice.<br />
That would imply Read is playing just two weeks after the <strong>Flyers</strong> estimated<br />
he would need six weeks to recover from the injury suffered against the<br />
Penguins on Feb. 20 in Pittsburgh, when he was hit by Evgeni Malkin and<br />
then Chris Kunitz in the first period.<br />
Can he play?<br />
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Read said, adding that the decision would be<br />
up to general manager Paul Holmgren and coach Peter Laviolette.<br />
Read admitted he still has significant pain in his ribs when shooting slap<br />
shots or even a wrist shot.<br />
So why come back? How can a player who has pain shooting the puck help<br />
his team?<br />
“I don’t know if I am coming back yet,” Read replied. “Just practicing with<br />
team today at the morning skate and go from there.<br />
“Why wouldn’t I want to come back? It’s my job and I love doing it. Not sit<br />
on the sidelines and watch my teammates go through battles and I can’t be<br />
out there. It’s frustrating.”<br />
Adding to this intrigue is that defenseman Nick Grossmann (groin) skated,<br />
but would not commit to playing.<br />
At the same time, Kurtis Foster, who has been a healthy scratch for the<br />
past nine games, came off the ice with the regulars rather than take extra<br />
practice.<br />
It’s possible the <strong>Flyers</strong> dress seven defensemen tonight in the event<br />
Grossmann starts the game, but can’t finish.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662114 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Pronger updates health; still suffering symptoms<br />
March 7, 2013, 12:30 pm<br />
VOORHEES, N.J. -- Lauren Pronger once said that post-concussion<br />
syndrome changed her husband, and “not in a good way.”<br />
Chris said it threw him into depression with her and his three children.<br />
“You get agitated very quickly,” he recalled. “When the symptoms start<br />
piling up, start getting a headache and loud in the house, there’s bright<br />
lights, kids running around screaming, all that stuff, you are on edge as it is.<br />
“You’re pissed off that you are not playing the game you love, that you can’t<br />
go do what you want to do every day. Then you are even more pissed off<br />
because you got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse and your<br />
eyes and you’re light-headed and dizzy and your kid comes over and you<br />
snap.<br />
“You’re not being the father you want to be. It changes your personality a<br />
little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it. But I still get a 'grrr' on from time to<br />
time and I gotta catch myself, take myself out of the room and make sure<br />
I’m a little better.<br />
“It can be debilitating. I guess the biggest part is the depression. How you<br />
feel about yourself. How you feel about the injury and how dark you go<br />
down.”<br />
Pronger met with the media for 40 minutes on Thursday at Skate Zone<br />
where he reiterated he won’t retire. He sat down fielded questions for 28<br />
minutes before meeting with reporters for another 12, and said he still<br />
hopes to someday play again. He was accompanied by his agent, Pat<br />
Morris.<br />
Though he says he wants to play again, Pronger admits to having severely<br />
diminished vision and can’t even run without feeling ill.<br />
He has been under the care of noted neurologist Micky Collins at the<br />
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for the past 15 months.<br />
Collins, in a release, said Pronger has suffered “severe injury across<br />
multiple systems,” particularly, the vestibular system which integrates<br />
balance, vision and spatial recognition.<br />
“I’m just trying to get healthy and live a normal life and get better for myself<br />
and my family,” the <strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman said. “The rest will take care of<br />
itself.”<br />
Pronger took a stick to the right eye from Mikael Grabovski of Toronto on<br />
Oct. 24, 2011 and then incurred light and noise sensitivity on Nov. 19 at<br />
Winnipeg. In between, he took a couple hits in games that left him<br />
concussed, though no one knows for sure where and when.<br />
He has not played since the game in Winnipeg and is not expected to ever<br />
play again. However, because of salary cap rules, Pronger can’t announce<br />
his retirement without the <strong>Flyers</strong> incurring a $4.9 million cap hit. His contract<br />
ends after the 2016-17 season.<br />
At present, he is on the long-term injured reserve, which allows the <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
to use his cap money to help themselves in signing other players.<br />
When asked about the ridiculousness of not allowing a player such as<br />
himself who is clearly injured and should retire without salary cap<br />
consequences, Pronger laughed and said it was a better question for the<br />
NHL.<br />
Pronger explained his eye and head injuries are all part of post-concussion<br />
syndrome.<br />
“The concussion was to my vestibular system and obviously my ocular<br />
system took a drastic blow when I got hit in the eye,” he said. “They're kind<br />
of correlated together.<br />
“The eye is kind of intertwined with the concussion to create all the<br />
dizziness and lightheadedness as I move my head and make different<br />
motions. It just poses a problem. You get disoriented. I guess that's the<br />
easiest way to say it.”<br />
He no longer has peripheral vision and he regularly needs to replace his<br />
eye glasses for stronger magnification. He also lost his “sixth sense” of<br />
people around him which would make it dangerous on the ice.<br />
“At times I can be disoriented,” he said. “I can lose my train of thought. My<br />
cognitive skills are a little suspect at times. It comes and goes on certain<br />
days.<br />
“I can be sitting here and you might say what’s wrong with him and I’ll figure<br />
out what I was saying and start going again.”<br />
Pronger admitted to having diminished energy and can easily fall asleep.<br />
He has to avoid strenuous activity.<br />
“Anything where I have to move my body fast,” he said. “If I ride a bike<br />
where my heart rate gets up to high, I get symptoms. Pretty much anything<br />
where there’s a lot going on [I can't do].”<br />
Collins has already told him never to play again. So what gives Pronger the<br />
hope that he might?<br />
“It will be difficult, but the good things in life are never easy,” he replied.<br />
“You have to set goals and try to push yourself to attain them and reach<br />
them. This is no different. I have to keep working at it.”<br />
Lauren Pronger said over a year ago, all she wants is him safe at home<br />
with his family and his safety can never be assured again on the ice.<br />
“Obviously hockey has been a big part of my life for the last 19 or 20 years,<br />
and who knows where it goes from here, but you want to make sure you’re<br />
around for them, too,” Pronger said.<br />
He has found some hobbies: fishing and golfing. He sees an eye specialist<br />
twice a week. Though he reads, his eyes get tired.<br />
As for his level of depression right now, it’s “nowhere near where I was at.”<br />
And if he never plays again?<br />
“I don’t have any regrets,” he said. “I don’t say I wish I could have done this<br />
or that. I can say I left the game with nothing to prove.’’er to lead a normal<br />
life.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662115 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>-Penguins: What you need to know<br />
March 7, 2013, 11:45 am<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> vs. Penguins – 7 p.m., CSN<br />
Wells Fargo Center, <strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
Records<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>: 11-12-1 (Fourth in Atlantic Division, ninth in Eastern Conference)<br />
Penguins: 15-8-0 (First in Atlantic Division, second in Eastern Conference)<br />
Last meeting<br />
The last time these two bitter division rivals met, the <strong>Flyers</strong> came away with<br />
a wild 6-5 victory over the Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center on Feb. 20.<br />
Jakub Voracek scored his first career NHL hat trick and Wayne Simmonds<br />
potted two of his own – along with an assist – to help the <strong>Flyers</strong> to their<br />
second straight win over an Atlantic Division opponent.<br />
Thursday will mark the third of four meetings between the <strong>Flyers</strong> and Pens<br />
in 2013. The two teams have split the first two contests this season.<br />
Previous games<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> wasted a strong first period in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the New<br />
York Rangers. Goals by Voracek and Simmonds helped the Orange and<br />
Black jump out to a 2-1 lead in the first frame, but Ryan Callahan ruined<br />
that momentum by beating Ilya Bryzgalov in the final minute of the period.<br />
Callahan finished the game with two markers and a helper.<br />
Pittsburgh last played on Monday, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3.<br />
Evgeni Malkin registered a goal and an assist in his first game back after<br />
suffering a concussion on Feb. 22 against the Florida Panthers. Penguins<br />
captain Sidney Crosby also had a goal and an assist to bring his leagueleaing<br />
point total to 36.<br />
Who's hot<br />
Voracek has been stuffing the scoresheets over his past 10 games. During<br />
that span, the 23-year-old forward has seven goals and 10 assists. He is<br />
also leading the <strong>Flyers</strong> in scoring this year with 27 points in 24 contests.<br />
Simmonds has also had a hot hand for the <strong>Flyers</strong> as of late. The 24-yearold<br />
has four goals – three game-winners – and two assists in his past five<br />
games. He has also fired 16 shots on net during that span.<br />
For the Penguins, Crosby enters Thursday’s matchup with a five-game<br />
point-scoring streak. He has tallied four goals and seven assists in those<br />
games.<br />
Also hot for Pittsburgh is winger Chris Kunitz. The 33-year-old has recorded<br />
six markers and three helpers during his current six-game point-scoring<br />
streak. He is second on the Pens in scoring with 28 points (12 goals, 16<br />
assists) in 23 games this season.<br />
Keep an eye on ...<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong>’ defensive play hasn’t been particularly strong lately, as the<br />
team has allowed four or more goals in three of the last six games – all<br />
losses – and six of the last 10 overall. The Penguins are averaging 3.5<br />
goals per game, one of the top marks in the league, so the <strong>Flyers</strong> will need<br />
to buckle down and take care of their own end if they want to come away<br />
with a W.<br />
Malkin has absolutely lit up the <strong>Flyers</strong> in his career. In 38 regular-season<br />
games against the <strong>Flyers</strong>, he has recorded 21 goals and 34 assists. Look<br />
for <strong>Flyers</strong> head coach Peter Laviolette to match up defensive-minded center<br />
Sean Couturier as often as he can against Malkin.<br />
It’s no secret that the <strong>Flyers</strong> are looking to be a more disciplined team. They<br />
enter Thursday as the most penalized team in the entire NHL. However,<br />
they are also one of the best teams in the league at drawling penalties and<br />
have capitalized while on the man advantage. Over the past six games, the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> have recorded eight power-play goals on 25 chances.<br />
Did you know?<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> are 10-5 in their last 15 games – including playoffs – against the<br />
Pens, even though Pittsburgh has scored first in 10 of those meetings.<br />
Injuries<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>: Nicklas Grossmann (lower-body), Matt Read (torn ligaments in rib<br />
cage) and Andrej Meszaros (shoulder) are all listed as day-to-day,<br />
according the <strong>Flyers</strong> general manager Paul Holmgren.<br />
If Grossmann is unable to play against the Pens, Kurtis Foster is expected<br />
to take his place on the <strong>Flyers</strong>’ blue line, provided he is fully recovered from<br />
the flu.<br />
Jody Shelley (left hip surgery) and Tye McGinn (right orbital surgery) are on<br />
injured reserve and remain out.<br />
Penguins: Paul Martin, who hasn’t played since Feb. 28, is listed as day-today<br />
with a lower-body injury and could return to Pittsburgh’s lineup on<br />
Thursday against the <strong>Flyers</strong>.<br />
Sound off<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> have completed 50 percent of their schedule and are just 11-12-<br />
1. How much does that concern you and do you think they will make the<br />
playoffs?<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662116 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Home ice a disadvantage in <strong>Flyers</strong>-Penguins rivalry<br />
March 7, 2013, 9:45 am<br />
There’s a lot of strangeness to the current Penguins-<strong>Flyers</strong> series.<br />
The playoffs last season were bizarre, to say the least, and so was the last<br />
regular season meeting two weeks ago in the ‘Burgh where the <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
came from behind to win, 6-5.<br />
Tonight is yet another crucial game between the two, moreso for the <strong>Flyers</strong>,<br />
who remain 9th in the Eastern Conference with 23 points –- seven behind<br />
second-place Pittsburgh.<br />
Here’s the really odd part: In the last 23 games played between these two<br />
clubs, the road team has done better, with a 17-5-1 record.<br />
Under coach Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh has a stunning 8-2-1 record against<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong> at Wells Fargo Center.<br />
The Penguins are looking to better that tonight and the recent loss to Peter<br />
Laviolette’s club on home ice still stings them.<br />
“We're a little bitter about that game, to be honest,” defenseman Matt<br />
Niskanen told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.<br />
“We battled back, then they get a crazy one to win it. We're anxious as<br />
always to play them. We want to beat them.”<br />
Added winger Pascal DuPuis, “It's always nice to see the orange jersey, to<br />
see them on our schedule. We know what they're going to try to do. We just<br />
have to do a better job.”<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> need points, especially against teams like the Penguins, who<br />
have games in hand on them.<br />
“We’re slowly climbing,” Danny Briere said earlier this week. “We put<br />
ourselves in such a deep hole early on. We knew it wasn’t going to happen<br />
overnight. It was something that you have to chip away slowly.<br />
“We’re climbing up a little bit at a time. Obviously, I’ve heard that we’ve got<br />
a lot of teams that are right around us, teams that are ahead of us, that’s<br />
going to be our chance to make up some ground.’’<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662117 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Three keys to <strong>Flyers</strong> vs. Penguins<br />
March 7, 2013, 9:00 am<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> lost the opening game of their season to the Penguins on Jan.<br />
19, 3-1. (AP)<br />
Last month when these two teams met, The <strong>Flyers</strong> went to Pittsburgh and<br />
got a chaotic, but much-needed 6-5 win. This time, the <strong>Flyers</strong> will have the<br />
home-ice advantage. Here are three keys to the game:<br />
1. Put Rangers loss in rear view<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> have to focus on getting back to 500.<br />
2. Limit turnovers<br />
Sidney Crosby has points in five straight games. He will do his best to force<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong> to turn the puck over.<br />
3. Stay disciplined<br />
The Penguins’ power play is third in the league with a 25.6 percent success<br />
rate.<br />
Notes<br />
• <strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Nik Grossmann is day to day after leaving Tuesday's<br />
game in the first period.<br />
• Matt Read is nearing a return and is listed as day to day with a rib injury<br />
• Andrej Meszaros is still feeling discomfort in his shoulder and is also listed<br />
as day to day.<br />
• Tye McGinn skated for first time Wednesday since surgery near his eye --<br />
no timetable for his return.<br />
• Penguins Defenseman Paul Martin is listed as day to day<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662118 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> show inconsistency in 2nd period vs. Pens<br />
March 7, 2013, 11:45 pm<br />
With a 4-1 lead and all the momentum in the world, the <strong>Flyers</strong> had<br />
Thursday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in their hands after<br />
the first period, said captain Claude Giroux.<br />
But then the second period began.<br />
“We came out flat,” Giroux said. “And it cost us another two points.”<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong>, who were feeling good and confident after their effort during the<br />
first 20 minutes against the Pens, should have hit the ice for the second<br />
period with the same energy and killer instinct they had in the stanza that<br />
preceded it. But instead, they sat back, allowing their rivals to swiftly chip<br />
away at their lead and tie up the game. The Penguins went on to win, 5-4<br />
(see game recap).<br />
“The second period was not a good period,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “It<br />
was the opposite of the first period. In the first period, we were skating, we<br />
were physical, we put the puck behind them and looked to establish our<br />
game. And in the second period, they picked up their game, we stopped<br />
working. The second period went to them.”<br />
After their promising start, the <strong>Flyers</strong> surrendered second-period goals to<br />
Pascal Dupuis, James Neal and Tyler Kennedy. They stopped working,<br />
allowing the Penguins to send 12 shots in on Ilya Bryzgalov compared to<br />
the mere three they had on Tomas Vokoun. It was the first time since 1987<br />
against the New York Islanders that the <strong>Flyers</strong> allowed an opponent to<br />
erase a three-goal lead in the span of a single period.<br />
But why?<br />
“I don’t know,” Giroux said.<br />
Thursday night was yet another example -- albeit magnified -- of the <strong>Flyers</strong>’<br />
inability to put in complete, 60-minute efforts. They were guilty of it just two<br />
days ago in New York, in a game against the Rangers in which a 2-2 thirdperiod<br />
tie devolved into a 4-2 <strong>Flyers</strong>' loss. They’ve talked about the issue all<br />
season, and they had certainly talked about it heading into the Penguins<br />
affair.<br />
But to Kimmo Timonen, it’s not a matter of poor defense or weak<br />
goaltending or a struggling forecheck, though there were instances of all<br />
three in Thursday’s second period. It’s something else, something<br />
unfortunately much harder to correct.<br />
“When you have a 4-1 lead, the game is in your hands, big time,” Timonen<br />
said. “The crowd’s just into it. But what happened in the second period, we<br />
go on the ice, we’re not there for some reason. And that’s the mental issue<br />
to me.”<br />
That belief -- that the <strong>Flyers</strong>’ issue in the second period was more mental<br />
than anything else -- is a big part of why Laviolette elected to pull Bryzgalov<br />
from the game after Kennedy’s game-tying marker.<br />
Yes, Bryzgalov was part of the problem, but he wasn’t removed solely<br />
because he struggled to make the 12 saves he did put in. Laviolette needed<br />
to do something to wake up the skaters in front of Bryzgalov. He needed to<br />
do something to attempt to recapture the game’s momentum.<br />
“It was a big letdown,” Scott Hartnell said. “I don’t know why we would have<br />
stopped playing the way we were in the first period, we were fast, we were<br />
quick, we were hitting, we were getting into the extra-curricular activities<br />
after the whistles, and playing <strong>Flyers</strong> hockey.<br />
“And then we just sat back. When you do that, you got [Evgeni] Malkin and<br />
[Sidney] Crosby and these guys that are snipers that make plays, and if we<br />
play like that it’ll be a long summer.”<br />
The Penguins do deserve credit for not rolling over and giving away an<br />
easy two points. But unlike the <strong>Flyers</strong>, who seem able to identify their<br />
problems but unable to fix them, the Penguins regrouped during the first<br />
intermission and set themselves straight on the ice in the period that<br />
followed.<br />
“I don’t think we could have got much worse after the first period, so I think<br />
we could only go up from there,” said Neal, the Penguins’ left wing. “But a<br />
few guys said a few things, and we just knew we needed to be better. …<br />
We wanted to come back out and do what we need to do.”<br />
With the loss, the <strong>Flyers</strong> slipped into 11th place in the Eastern Conference.<br />
And in a big way, the difference between Thursday’s first period and second<br />
period perfectly exemplifies the highs and lows of this messy, disappointing<br />
2013 season as a whole.<br />
It’s easy to point fingers at Laviolette, to suggest his message is getting<br />
stale and that this -- not the players on the ice -- is the real reason behind<br />
the team's struggles. But even after Thursday’s frustrating second period<br />
and ugly loss, Hartnell held firm that the coach is not to blame for what<br />
happened.<br />
But if he isn’t, who is?<br />
“The whole team,” Zac Rinaldo said. “The whole team has to come together<br />
and give a 60-minute effort. It’s not one person, it’s not two people. It’s the<br />
whole team. The whole team has to be prepared for 60 minutes.”<br />
Tags:<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>, NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins, Scott Hartnell, Claude<br />
Giroux, peter Laviolette, zac rinaldo, James Neal, Ilya Bryzgalov, Kimmo<br />
Timonen<br />
E-mail Sarah Baicker<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662119 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Is it time to be worried about the <strong>Flyers</strong>?<br />
March 7, 2013, 11:15 pm<br />
Maybe it wasn’t their worst effort of the season. It was their worst loss.<br />
There have been some ugly results for the <strong>Flyers</strong> this year. They fell to<br />
Florida in a shootout at home. They dropped a game early to Tampa on the<br />
road. They got upended by Toronto -- twice. All of those were bad. But this?<br />
As beatings go, this beat them all.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> were up three goals. They were at home. They were facing their<br />
cross-state rival midway through a truncated season. It was a game the<br />
coach and the players all agreed they needed to win.<br />
They didn’t win. Penguins 5, <strong>Flyers</strong> 4 (see game recap).<br />
So, was it the worst loss of the year?<br />
“Yeah,” Claude Giroux allowed. “I mean, when you’re up 4-1, you have to<br />
find a way to close a game up. We know they’re a good team offensively. If<br />
we give them power plays, they’re going to put it back in our net and that’s<br />
what happened.”<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> needed a win on Thursday. They knew it and you knew it. There<br />
is no denying the importance or the leftover disappointment after a game<br />
like that. Because they had it. It was there for them. Then they gave it away.<br />
There were five goals in the first period alone. The <strong>Flyers</strong> scored four of<br />
them. Jake Voracek registered two by himself, at least one of which was a<br />
gross victimization of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. It was an<br />
embarrassing start for Fleury, who looked like he wanted to slink out the<br />
side door and bury his head in all the snow that never came this week. In<br />
what can only be described as a mercy move by Penguins head coach Dan<br />
Bylsma, Fleury was yanked to start the second period -- probably so he<br />
could lick his wounds and stitch together what was left of his pride.<br />
It was a great first period. But, as Peter Laviolette later lamented, “the<br />
second period was, really, the opposite of the first period.”<br />
The Penguins scored. Then they scored again. Then they tied the game.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> looked like someone had come along and sucker punched them<br />
in the gut. Except it wasn’t a sucker punch. They saw it coming and they<br />
still couldn’t stop it.<br />
“Before you know it, it’s 4-4,” Scott Hartnell said. “We just can’t do that. It’s<br />
embarrassing to the fans, it’s embarrassing to one another, and we let two<br />
points slip away.”<br />
By the third period, Ilya Bryzgalov was out and Brian Boucher was in. It<br />
didn’t matter. Penguins winger Chris Kunitz scored 18 seconds into the final<br />
frame and that was that. Another game. Another upside-down result for the<br />
flailing <strong>Flyers</strong>.<br />
Boucher said they took their “foot off the gas just a little bit,” but it was more<br />
like they stomped on the breaks while going full speed and then everyone<br />
went flying through the windshield. It was a grotesque crash.<br />
“It was a big letdown,” Scott Hartnell said. Then he added, “If we play like<br />
that, it will be a long summer.”<br />
Hartnell was hinting at what you already know: The season just began --<br />
and yet it’s almost over. They are running out of time.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> (11-13-1) only have 23 games remaining. They are currently on<br />
the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, their smudged noses<br />
pressed against the glass looking in at all the other teams ahead of them.<br />
Beating Pittsburgh could have acted as a catalyst to propel them through<br />
the rest of the year. Instead, you wonder if it will slow their progress.<br />
As only Bryzgalov could put it, over the first half of the season, the <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
were “not good” (see video). Win one. Lose win. Suffer an injury. Repeat.<br />
As treading water goes, the <strong>Flyers</strong> managed to keep their heads right<br />
around surface level despite the skates and pads and heavy expectations<br />
weighing them down. They can’t keep that up forever. Either they find a way<br />
to buoy themselves or they will be dragged under before long.<br />
That’s where the <strong>Flyers</strong> are at the moment. Despite the harsh reality, Zac<br />
Rinaldo tried to play it cool in the locker room after the game.<br />
“We’re not worried,” Zac Rinaldo insisted.<br />
Then he said it again.<br />
“We’re not worried,” Rinaldo repeated.<br />
Given the circumstances, that is hard to believe. If they aren’t worried, they<br />
ought to be.<br />
Tags:<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>, NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins, Claude Giroux, peter<br />
Laviolette, Scott Hartnell, Ilya Bryzgalov, Brian Boucher, zac rinaldo<br />
E-mail John Gonzalez<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662120 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> allow big lead to slip away in loss to Pens<br />
They outdid Pittsburgh in everything at the start.<br />
They even scored first.<br />
They had a three-goal lead after one period.<br />
And still, the <strong>Flyers</strong> lost Thursday night to the Penguins because … well,<br />
because they stopped playing Flyer hockey and never got themselves<br />
going again in a 5-4 loss.<br />
Essentially, the <strong>Flyers</strong> kissed away two points they absolutely, positively<br />
had to earn.<br />
“We talked about it after the first period that the Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t<br />
going to sit back and hand over two points,” Scott Hartnell said. “They were<br />
going to come hard.<br />
“Low and behold, before you know it, it’s 4-4. We just can’t do that. It’s<br />
embarrassing to the fans, embarrassing to one another, and we let another<br />
two points slip away … It was a big letdown. I don’t know why we would<br />
have stopped playing.”<br />
That’s 18 times now in the past 24 matchups between these two that the<br />
road team won.<br />
Peter Laviolette’s club came into the week in eighth place. This latest loss<br />
drops them to 11th in the Eastern Conference standings.<br />
Worse, the games this week against the “Big Three” so far have been a<br />
disaster.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> needed to get four of six points from their games against the<br />
Rangers, Penguins and Bruins before meeting Buffalo on Sunday. All they<br />
can get now is two on Saturday in Boston.<br />
“When you have a 4-1 lead, the game is in your hands big time,” Kimmo<br />
Timonen said. “What happens in the second period, we go on the ice and<br />
we’re not there for some reason.<br />
“That’s the mental issue to me. Somebody might [have] a different opinion.<br />
You have to be mentally prepared to go in there and do you job, [even] if it’s<br />
4-1 or 1-4.<br />
“Never change your game. That seems to be an issue for us, either way<br />
with the score.”<br />
It really puts the pressure on for a win in Beantown.<br />
“Go into Boston with a do-or-die attitude,” Hartnell said. “We’ve been saying<br />
it but now it’s time to get out there and back up our words and get a<br />
decisive win.<br />
“We played a great 20, but 20 doesn’t get you anything these days.”<br />
Ironically, the game-winner came off a turnover.<br />
Eighteen seconds into the third period, Timonen tried to contain a puck at<br />
center ice and instead it came back the other way with Chris Kunitz scoring<br />
his second goal of the night, breaking the 4-4 tie.<br />
“I tried to keep in,” Timonen said. “[Sidney] Crosby fell down and there’s a<br />
loose puck. I try to get it by the guy and he was close to me. That’s my<br />
mistake. I should have played it safe.”<br />
Hartnell appeared to retie it with 12:53 left but the official ruled “no goal,”<br />
saying his stick was higher than the crossbar.<br />
Laviolette felt the third period lacked “jam,” as well.<br />
“Even going out for the third period and the score is 4-4,” Laviolette said.<br />
“Being able to finish off games.<br />
“We have to do a better job than what we’ve done this year. We’ve had a lot<br />
of tie games and situations to win games and they’ve slipped away.”<br />
Though the <strong>Flyers</strong> started out strong with a 6-1 shot advantage, all the real<br />
action came into the final 9:45 of the first period. It was 4-1, thanks largely<br />
to James Neal taking three penalties.<br />
Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury seemed to have trouble the entire period<br />
with his catching glove, while Zac Rinaldo needed just a fight to get a<br />
Gordie Howe hat trick.<br />
Tomas Vokoun started the second period for Fleury and finished the game.<br />
Jakub Voracek began and ended the opening period with a power-play<br />
goal.<br />
Neal’s early elbow to Claude Giroux caused Hartnell to say something to<br />
him after Voracek’s first goal and then the two tried to fight, with Hartnell<br />
picking up an extra minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.<br />
The Pens' lone goal that period came off the resulting power play as<br />
Kunitz's first goal. He’s on a tear with six goals over his last five games.<br />
Rinaldo gave the <strong>Flyers</strong> a 2-1 lead at 15:06, rebounding Nick Grossmann’s<br />
point shot just as a Flyer power play expired.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> scored twice in the final 1:43 with Timonen beating Fleury<br />
shortside, and then Voracek picking up his 19th point in 10 games with a<br />
shot off Paul Martin’s skate at 19:52, making it 4-1.<br />
In retrospect, Neal seemingly took the Penguins out of the game. His slash<br />
on Flyer goalie Ilya Bryzgalov after a puck had been whistled dead was<br />
totally unnecessary.<br />
Still, Pittsburgh came roaring back with two goals less than three minutes<br />
apart and then tied it by the end of the middle stanza.<br />
“The effort is there but we need to execute out there,” Giroux said. “We<br />
have to find a way to close a game up. We knew they were a good team<br />
offensively …”<br />
The second period began with Pascal Dupuis scoring at 5:30.<br />
Mental mistakes plagued the <strong>Flyers</strong> against the Rangers on Tuesday and<br />
here, as well, with Braydon Coburn leaving Evgeni Malkin alone in the slot<br />
to take a Neal pass across the goal line from the corner.<br />
As Coburn raced over too late, the puck caught his skate into the net. Just<br />
like that, it was a one-goal game.<br />
Tyler Kennedy’s long-distance shot at 15:47 tied it, chasing Bryzgalov for<br />
Brian Boucher.<br />
“You go from a real strong first period to an inconsistent second period that<br />
ends up costing you a [game],” Laviolette said. “Certainly, it’s not where we<br />
want to be.”<br />
And yet, it’s exactly where the <strong>Flyers</strong> have been all season.<br />
Tags:<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>, NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
E-mail Tim Panaccio<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662121 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
Personality returns, vision hasn't for Pronger<br />
Written by Randy Miller<br />
VOORHEES — Chris Pronger walked into a second-floor conference room<br />
at the Skate Zone a couple minutes past noon Thursday wearing a gray<br />
suit, <strong>Flyers</strong>’ orange tie, a reddish-brown beard that matches his hair,<br />
eyeglasses and a big, fat smile.<br />
Finally ready to share the sad story of his new life as a 6-foot-6 giant who<br />
used to be an NHL great, Pronger plopped down in the one chair behind a<br />
table for his first interview with the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> media in more than 15<br />
months.<br />
Looking and sounding healthy, Pronger willingly and openly discussed living<br />
with post-concussion syndrome in 28 minutes of probing from a room<br />
packed with reporters. Afterward, Pronger hung around to do a television<br />
interview, then talked another 10 minutes with <strong>Flyers</strong> beat writers.<br />
Along the way, there was a lot of his usual friendly banter with the media,<br />
plenty of sarcasm and a bunch of one-liners.<br />
Nothing seemed different from when the five-time All-Star defenseman and<br />
former league MVP was throwing his body around, blocking shots and<br />
directing the <strong>Flyers</strong> power play from 2009-10 to the early portion of last<br />
season.<br />
The big guy who captained the <strong>Flyers</strong> in 2011-12 appeared to be having a<br />
good day.<br />
He wasn’t.<br />
“I got a headache right now and you wouldn’t know it,” Pronger said. “It’s<br />
just pounding. Back of the head. That’s the thing. You get used to it. I could<br />
sit and talk to people all day long, and you wouldn’t know if I have a<br />
headache or feel like crap because I’m just going to talk to you. When I<br />
really feel bad is when I have to move.”<br />
His life still isn’t the same and, according to his doctors, may never be.<br />
Doctors are telling him to take up fishing, saying throwing out lines would be<br />
good for him, and they’re encouraging him to play golf because it’ll make<br />
him concentrate.<br />
Pronger can work out, but he can’t run. He’s done some light skating during<br />
his 10-year-old and 8-year-old sons’ hockey practices, but when testing<br />
himself there, concussion symptoms returned.<br />
At 38, Pronger won’t retire — he has a contract through 2016-17 and<br />
quitting would force the <strong>Flyers</strong> to count his $4.9 million cap hit — but it’s<br />
clear that playing again would take a miracle.<br />
“I have some vulnerabilities that (my doctors) are very worried about,”<br />
Pronger said. “That may or may not go away. No matter how long it takes, I<br />
have to get healthy. That’s my main focus and goal.”<br />
Nowadays, his routine is driving his kids to and from school, daily workouts<br />
and visiting his eye doctor twice a week.<br />
Pronger says he’s “made improvements,” but he’s nowhere near 100<br />
percent healthy.<br />
“I still get symptoms with loud noises and a lot of moving parts, bright lights,<br />
things like that,” he said. “Not to the level it was, but I still do get them. My<br />
eye is still troubling. It’s not working properly. I don’t have peripheral vision.<br />
My eyesight ... I keep having to get stronger and stronger glasses.<br />
“At times I can be disoriented. I can lose my train of thought. My cognitive<br />
skills are a little suspect at times. It comes and goes on certain days. I can<br />
be sitting here and you might say what’s wrong with him, and I’ll figure out<br />
what I was saying and start going again.”<br />
Pronger is enjoying watching his children grow up — he also has a 4-yearold<br />
daughter — but they sometimes don’t understand his condition.<br />
“I get asked all the time, ‘Can you come on the trampoline?’” he said. “I’m<br />
like, ‘No, I’m not going on the trampoline. I’ll watch you.’ They’re kids. They<br />
forget.”<br />
Talking about his worst of times, Pronger admitted losing patience with his<br />
children.<br />
“You get agitated very quickly,” he said. “You’re (angry) that you are not<br />
playing the game you love, then you are even more (upset) because you’ve<br />
got a headache and it’s getting worse and worse. You’re light-headed and<br />
dizzy, and your kid comes over and you snap.<br />
“You’re not being the father you want to be. It changes your personality a<br />
little bit. I’ve gotten a little better with it, but I still get a ‘grrrr’ from time to<br />
time and gotta catch myself, take myself out of the room and make sure I’m<br />
a little better.”<br />
Pronger still traces his health issues to being struck in the right eye on the<br />
follow-through of a shot by Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski<br />
in an Oct. 24, 2011 game at Wells Fargo Center.<br />
Pronger returned after missing just six games, but fell face-first into the<br />
boards when hit cleanly by Phoenix Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal in his<br />
fifth game back. Then he was bothered by noise and lighting his next game,<br />
Nov. 19, in Winnipeg. He hasn’t played since.<br />
“I didn’t do anything for six months,” said Pronger, who relocated from his<br />
in-season home in Haddonfield to his permanent home in St. Louis last<br />
May.<br />
Then Pronger was bedridden with terrible headaches and he had trouble<br />
seeing. Emotionally, he was a mess.<br />
“There were some pretty dark days when the doctor was a little worried,”<br />
Pronger said. “I don’t know if he was that worried. He may tell you he was. I<br />
don’t think I ever got that far down, but there were some pretty dark days.”<br />
Pronger isn’t sure about his future.<br />
Staying in hockey is a possibility. Since last spring, he’s made like a scout<br />
watching <strong>Flyers</strong> games from his home and then passing along suggestions<br />
to general manager Paul Holmgren. He says he may some day be<br />
interested in becoming a part-time scout.<br />
He’s also not ruling out getting into broadcasting.<br />
“I learned a long time ago, never say never,” Pronger said. “Having said<br />
that, not in the near future.”<br />
Right now, Pronger just wants to get healthy, even if that means never<br />
playing hockey again.<br />
“Everybody that has ever played a professional sport would like to go out on<br />
their terms and very few get to,” Pronger said. “You want to be the guy to<br />
carry the Stanley Cup around and leave the game on a high note. As we all<br />
know, that rarely happens. I don’t know if this is the end or not. I guess time<br />
will tell and we’ll see how that goes.”<br />
Courier-Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662122 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> not worried despite blowing three-goal lead<br />
Written by Randy Miller<br />
PHILADELPHIA — When 20 minutes of hockey that was total domination<br />
for the <strong>Flyers</strong> and absolute humiliation for the Pittsburgh Penguins was<br />
over, Peter Laviolette returned to the home dressing room at Wells Fargo<br />
Center to warn his team about a letdown.<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> players talked about it among themselves, too.<br />
Then they went back out for the second period and blew everything they’d<br />
worked for, and eventually what seemed would be an easy and satisfying<br />
victory turned into a terrible 5-4 loss.<br />
“We play like that, it’ll be a long summer,” <strong>Flyers</strong> winger Scott Hartnell said<br />
after his team blew a 4-1 lead and lost in regulation for the first time since<br />
doing so in a 7-3 loss in Detroit on Jan. 17, 1993.<br />
This loss left the <strong>Flyers</strong> starting their second half of the season just as they<br />
did the first, with a home loss to their hated rival.<br />
Afterward, Claude Giroux called it the worst loss in what’s been a<br />
disappointing season.<br />
“Yeah, when you’re up 4-1, you gotta find a way to close the game up,” the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> captain said.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> built their big lead in a first period in which they outshot<br />
Pittsburgh 18-4, and in the process Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury<br />
sure looked rattled letting in a terrible goal before getting yanked.<br />
“We talked after the first period that the Pittsburgh Penguins are not going<br />
to sit back and just hand over two points,” Hartnell said. “They were going<br />
to come back, and lo and behold, before we know it, it’s 4-4.<br />
“We just can’t do that. It’s embarrassing to the fans. It’s embarrassing to<br />
one another and we let another two points slip away.”<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> reached .500 for the first time last Saturday, but now are 11-13-<br />
1 and tied with Winnipeg for 10th in the Eastern Conference after dropping<br />
the first two games of a killer week that includes another tough game<br />
Saturday afternoon in Boston.<br />
“We’re not worried,” <strong>Flyers</strong> winger Zac Rinaldo said after his first two-point<br />
game in the NHL.<br />
Chris Kunitz gave Pittsburgh its first lead just 18 seconds into the third with<br />
his second goal of the night off a pass from Sidney Crosby, who had three<br />
assists to pad his league-leading point total to 39 in 24 games.<br />
Kunitz whisked a one-timer from the right circle past <strong>Flyers</strong> goalie Brian<br />
Boucher, who took over in goal for Ilya Bryzgalov late in the second after<br />
the Penguins had tied the game.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> thought they’d tied the game at 5-5 into the third when Hartnell<br />
redirected a Kimmo Timonen shot from the point past Penguins goalie<br />
Tomas Vokoun 6:07 into the third, but the goal was waved off right away.<br />
A official review confirmed the referee’s call: Hartnell’s stick made contact<br />
with the puck above the goal, a no-no.<br />
“I took a look at it on the ice there,” Hartnell said. “It’s hard to tell. You think<br />
maybe at home you’d get the benefit of the doubt (from the referee), but if<br />
the video says it was too high, then it’s no goal.”<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> had another chance midway through the third period when<br />
Pascal Dupuis took a penalty, but a lot of pressure didn’t lead to a tying<br />
goal and the Penguins wound up holding on.<br />
“I don’t think we lack a killer instinct,” Rinaldo said. “I just think we need to<br />
put a whole game together. The first period ... we got the start we wanted<br />
and I think we got too comfortable with our lead. Every period, no matter<br />
what the score is, we gotta keep going.”<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong>’ loss left them beginning the second half the same way they<br />
began the season, with a home defeat to the Penguins, who won 3-1 in<br />
Philly on Jan. 19.<br />
This one seemed like a <strong>Flyers</strong>’ night early, as they scored three goals in the<br />
final 4:56 of a first for a 4-1 lead with hotter than hot winger Jakub Voracek<br />
scoring twice.<br />
The game seemed all but over, but wasn’t.<br />
“It was a big letdown,” Hartnell said. “I don’t know why we would have<br />
stopped playing the way we were in the first period. We were fast. We were<br />
quick. We were hitting. We were getting into the extracurricular activities<br />
after the whistles playing <strong>Flyers</strong> hockey, then we sat back.”<br />
Empty netters<br />
A month ahead of schedule, <strong>Flyers</strong> forward Matt Read returned from torn<br />
rib-cage muscles and played for the first time in two weeks. Read was<br />
scoreless with one shot and was a minus-2 in 16:37 of ice time. ...<br />
Defenseman Nick Grossmann played 18:53 and had a game-high five<br />
blocked shots after missing the final two periods of Tuesday night’s loss in<br />
New York with a lower-body injury. ... Mike Knuble and defenseman Kurtis<br />
Foster were healthy scratches for the <strong>Flyers</strong>, while forward Harry<br />
Zolnierczyk served the second game of his four-game suspension.<br />
Courier-Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662123 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> squander lead in 'embarrassing' loss to Penguins<br />
Written by Randy Miller<br />
Courier-Post Staff<br />
PHILADELPHIA — When 20 minutes of hockey that was total domination<br />
for the <strong>Flyers</strong> and absolute humiliation for the Pittsburgh Penguins was<br />
over, Peter Laviolette returned to the home dressing room at Wells Fargo<br />
Center to warn his team about a letdown.<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> players talked about it amongst themselves, too.<br />
Then they went back out for the second period and blew everything they'd<br />
worked for, and eventually what seemed would be an easy and satisfying<br />
victory turned into a disgusting 5-4 loss.<br />
"We play like that, it'll be a long summer," <strong>Flyers</strong> winger Scott Hartnell said<br />
after his team blew a 4-1 lead and lost in regulation for the first time since<br />
doing so in a 7-3 loss in Detroit on Jan. 17, 1993.<br />
This loss left the <strong>Flyers</strong> starting their second half of the season just as they<br />
did the first, with a home loss to their hated rival.<br />
Afterward, Claude Giroux called it the worst loss in what's been a<br />
disappointing season.<br />
"Yeah, when you're up 4-1, you gotta find a way to close the game up," the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> captain said.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> built their big lead in a first period in which they outshot<br />
Pittsburgh 18-4, and in the process Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury<br />
sure looked rattled letting in a terrible goal before getting yanked.<br />
"We talked after the first period that the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to sit<br />
back and just hand over two points," Hartnell said. "They were going to<br />
come back, and lo and behold, before we know it, it's 4-4.<br />
"We just can't do that. It's embarrassing to the fans. It's embarrassing to<br />
one another and we let another two points slip away."<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> reached .500 for the first time last Saturday, but now are 11-13-<br />
1 and tied with Winnipeg for 10th in the Eastern Conference after dropping<br />
the first two games of a killer week that includes another tough game<br />
Saturday afternoon in Boston.<br />
"We're not worried," <strong>Flyers</strong> winger Zac Rinaldo said after his first two-point<br />
game in the NHL.<br />
Chris Kunitz gave Pittsburgh its first lead just 18 seconds into the third with<br />
his second goal of the night off a pass from Sidney Crosby, who had three<br />
assists to pad his league-leading point total to 39 in 24 games.<br />
Kunitz whisked a one-timer from the right circle past <strong>Flyers</strong> goalie Brian<br />
Boucher, who took over in goal for Ilya Bryzgalov late in the second after<br />
the Penguins had tied the game.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> thought they'd tied the game at 5-5 into the third when Hartnell<br />
redirected a Kimmo Timonen shot from the point past Penguins goalie<br />
Tomas Vokoun 6:07 into the third, but the goal was waved off right away.<br />
A official review confirmed the referee's call: Hartnell's stick made contact<br />
with the puck above the goal, a no-no.<br />
"I took a look at it on the ice there," Hartnell said. "It's hard to tell. You think<br />
maybe at home you'd get the benefit of the doubt (from the referee), but if<br />
the video says it was too high, then it's no goal."<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> had another chance midway through the third period when<br />
Pascal Dupois took a penalty, but a lot of pressure didn't lead to a tying<br />
goal and the Penguins wound up holding on.<br />
"I don't think we lack a killer instinct," Rinaldo said. "I just think we need to<br />
put a whole game together. The first period ... we got the start we wanted<br />
and I think we got too comfortable with our lead. Every period, no matter<br />
what the score is, we gotta keep going."<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong>' loss left them beginning the second half the same way they<br />
began the season, with a home defeat to the Penguins, who won 3-1 in<br />
Philly on Jan. 19.<br />
This one seemed like a <strong>Flyers</strong> night early, as they scored three goals in the<br />
final 4:56 of a first for a 4-1 lead with hotter than hot winger Jakub Voracek<br />
scoring twice.<br />
The game seemed all but over, but wasn't.<br />
"It was a big letdown," Hartnell said. "I don't know why we would have<br />
stopped playing the way we were in the first period. We were fast. We were<br />
quick. We were hitting. We were getting into the extracurricular activities<br />
after the whistles playing <strong>Flyers</strong> hockey, then we sat back."<br />
EMPTY NETTERS<br />
A month ahead of schedule, <strong>Flyers</strong> forward Matt Read returned from torn<br />
rib-cage muscles and played for the first time in two weeks. Read was<br />
scoreless with one shot and was a minus-2 in 16:37 of ice time..<br />
Defenseman Nick Grossmann played 18:53 and had a game-high five<br />
blocked shots after missing the final two periods of Tuesday night's loss in<br />
New York with a lower-body injury. ... Mike Knuble and defenseman Kurtis<br />
Foster for healthy scratches for the <strong>Flyers</strong>, while forward Harry Zolnierczyk<br />
served the second game of his four-game suspension.<br />
Courier-Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662124 Phoenix Coyotes<br />
Game Day: Blues at Coyotes<br />
Blues (11-9-2) at Coyotes (11-9-3)<br />
Puck drop: 7 p.m.<br />
TV/Radio: FSAZ/KGME-AM (910).<br />
Projected Coyotes lines:<br />
Boedker-Hanzal-Sullivan<br />
Chipchura-Lombardi-Doan<br />
Korpikoski-Vermette-Moss<br />
Torres-Gordon-Johnson<br />
Ekman-Larsson-Michalek<br />
Yandle-Stone<br />
Klesla-Morris<br />
Smith<br />
Possible scratches: Rundblad and Bissonnette.<br />
Injury update: Winger Radim Vrbata is still on injured reserve with a lowerbody<br />
injury. He saw a doctor Thursday morning, but Tippett was unsure of<br />
his updated status.<br />
Projected Blues lines:<br />
Schwartz-Backes-Oshie<br />
Perron-Berglund-Stewart<br />
Porter-Sobotka-D’Agostini<br />
Cracknell-Nichol-Reaves<br />
Jackman-Pietrangelo<br />
Redden-Shattenkirk<br />
Russell-Polak<br />
Allen<br />
Likely scratches: Murray and Cole.<br />
Injury update: Tarasenko (concussion), Steen (upper-body) and McDonald<br />
(knee).<br />
On the team’s performance Wednesday in Anaheim:<br />
“The chances on both sides were miniscule last night,” coach Dave Tippett<br />
said. “Not an entertaining game from the chance point of view, but I think<br />
after the two games you saw here there were lots of goals scored. They<br />
went with a real mindset to clamp it down. I thought we had less chances in<br />
the game than we had the two games before, so obviously they clamped<br />
down a little bit. But from our standpoint, our execution was really poor,<br />
really poor. We did get a few chances. We hit a crossbar, hit a post. It’s a 1-<br />
0 game. One of those goes in for you you’re in the game, (and) it probably<br />
has a different look to it. We didn’t give up much, but we didn’t get much<br />
and that was the issue for us.”<br />
Other notes and news:<br />
The Coyotes are 22-20-4 in the second game of back-to-backs since the<br />
start of the 2009-10 season.<br />
The Coyotes are 7-2 when center Antoine Vermette records a point.<br />
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is a team-best plus-9.<br />
Winger Steve Sullivan has 23 goals and 51 points in his career against the<br />
Blues — his highest career scoring total against an NHL opponent.<br />
The Blues have given up two or fewer goals to the Coyotes in four of their<br />
last five games.<br />
In their past seven meetings, the Blues have allowed one power play goal<br />
in 26 chances to the Coyotes.<br />
Arizona Republic LOADED: 03.08.2013
662125 Phoenix Coyotes<br />
Phoenix Coyotes’ Dave Tippett impressed with Jason LaBarbera<br />
By Sarah McLellan azcentral sports Thu Mar 7, 2013 11:03 PM<br />
It’s not often this season the Coyotes have turned to backup goalie Jason<br />
LaBarbera but after the performance he delivered Wednesday in a 2-0 loss<br />
in Anaheim to the Ducks, perhaps that changes in the second-half of the<br />
schedule.<br />
“Barbs was solid,” coach Dave Tippett said about the goalie’s 22-save<br />
outing in which LaBarbera allowed only one goal. The other was an emptynetter.<br />
“Stopped a penalty shot, stopped another breakaway. He gave us<br />
the saves we need, but really in the game there was no sustained pressure<br />
from either team.<br />
“He gave us a solid game. It’s too bad we couldn’t get a goal for him.”<br />
Before the night off, No. 1 Mike Smith made 15 consecutive starts — the<br />
longest run of his career (outside of last year’s 16-game playoff run). His<br />
lengthiest stretch of work last year during the regular season was 11<br />
games.<br />
“I feel good physically,” Smith said. “I think mentally it’s kind of been a<br />
challenge, but I’m working on that and trying to stay upbeat. Early in the<br />
season, I felt physically it was more of a challenge but as the season’s gone<br />
on and you’re playing every other day, it’s more of a mental stress than<br />
anything else.”<br />
Smith was back between the pipes Thursday at home against the St. Louis<br />
Blues, and it’s likely he carries the workload for the immediate future.<br />
Smith missed four games earlier this season with a groin injury, but the<br />
Coyotes continue to evaluate both their goalies’ statuses on a daily basis.<br />
Games are too valuable to use a consistent rotation of Smith and<br />
LaBarbera but if LaBarbera can be as strong as he was against the Ducks,<br />
it makes it easier for the team to call on him.<br />
“(Goaltending coach Sean Burke) and I talk about it every day, where we<br />
are with Barbs and Smitty and where we think it should be rest versus keep<br />
going,” Tippett said. “We had talked about this week with four games in six<br />
days it was going to be hard for Smitty to take all those, so we thought the<br />
third game — especially getting four points early — you look for Barbs to go<br />
in there and steal one and he played well enough to do that. He didn’t get<br />
the offensive support he needed.”<br />
Set in stone<br />
The Coyotes have, finally, seemed to settle into a defensive rotation while<br />
David Schlemko recovers from a shoulder injury.<br />
Michael Stone made his seventh straight appearance against the Blues<br />
after previously splitting time with David Rundblad and Chris Summers<br />
before Summers was reassigned to the American Hockey League.<br />
“For me, I just try to take care of the ‘D’ zone,” Stone said. “I know I have<br />
the capability of being offensive, so I don’t have to go out of my comfort<br />
zone there. Lately I’ve been trying to be more aggressive and shut things<br />
down quicker, and the less time I have to play in my own zone the better.”<br />
Tippett called Stone’s game against the Ducks on Monday probably his<br />
best so far this season. Aside from scoring the game-tying goal in the third<br />
period, Stone was a plus-2 and had three hits. He also has earned powerplay<br />
time as a point man.<br />
“He moves the puck pretty well, shoots the puck very well, but he’s gotta<br />
get into the battles,” Tippett said. “He’s gotta be a hard defending guy. I<br />
don’t think he’s ever going to be a punishing player, but he’s gotta be a guy<br />
that’s engaged in those battles to defend.”<br />
Realignment reality<br />
The NHL Players Association approved a plan for realignment that would<br />
change the landscape of both conferences for the next two seasons.<br />
The proposal will now go before the NHL Board of Governors for its<br />
authorization. The new setup would be reviewed after the 2014-15 season.<br />
The proposed changes would have the Coyotes in the Pacific Division<br />
along with Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose and<br />
Vancouver.<br />
The Western Conference would feature two divisions, each carrying seven<br />
teams. The Eastern Conference would also have two divisions, but each<br />
one would have eight teams. Detroit and Columbus would move from the<br />
Western Conference to the East, while Winnipeg moves from the East to<br />
the West.<br />
The top three teams in each division would grab a playoff berth, and four<br />
wild-card spots would be given to the two next-best teams in each<br />
conference.<br />
“I think it makes a lot of sense for the league,” Tippett said. “I think it makes<br />
a lot of sense marketing- wise, TV-wise. There are a lot of factors that I<br />
think push it in the right direction.”<br />
Injury update<br />
Wing Radim Vrbata missed his ninth straight game with a lower-body injury.<br />
Vrbata saw a doctor Thursday morning, but Tippett hadn’t received a report<br />
on Vrbata’s status when he met with reporters before Thursday’s game.<br />
Meanwhile, Schlemko continues to improve.<br />
“I would say he’s within days not weeks now,” Tippett said. “We’ll l just see<br />
where that goes probably after the weekend.”<br />
Arizona Republic LOADED: 03.08.2013
662126 Phoenix Coyotes<br />
Phoenix Coyotes fall big at home to the St. Louis Blues<br />
By Sarah McLellan azcentral sports Thu Mar 7, 2013 10:40 PM<br />
GLENDALE -- The narrative in this abbreviated season rarely has stayed<br />
the same for the Coyotes, making this already bizarre trek to the playoffs<br />
even stranger.<br />
The principles of last season’s remarkable jaunt to the Western Conference<br />
finals have been there, surely, but only sporadically.<br />
The urgency, it would seem, to soak up points every game has trumped the<br />
defensive shell the Coyotes need to rely on, and strategy evolves into<br />
survival.<br />
And when that happens, as it did again in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the St.<br />
Louis Blues in front of 11,482 at Jobing.com Arena, it really is a toss-up if<br />
the Coyotes are effective.<br />
“We’re a team when we play our game, we can control the game,” captain<br />
Shane Doan said. “We can control possession of the puck. We can play in<br />
their zone. We can limit their chances and when we don’t play our game,<br />
we give up easy ones.<br />
“Right now we’ve got to find a way to eliminate that. We know what our<br />
game is, and we’ve got to do that more consistently. The identity of our<br />
team hasn’t changed. We’re still the same. We’ve just got to do it on a more<br />
consistent basis.”<br />
Earlier in the week, the Coyotes overcame third-period deficits to the<br />
Anaheim Ducks to secure shootout wins, masquerading as a team with no<br />
shortage of offensive options. Their ranking as the third highest-scoring<br />
team in the Western Conference — before this game — undoubtedly gave<br />
that act credibility.<br />
But they were shut out Wednesday in Anaheim and let a lead disappear in<br />
this one against the Blues.<br />
They reach the halfway point of this 48-game schedule with a mediocre<br />
showing (11-10-3), yet have enough points (25) to stay relevant in the<br />
Western Conference playoff race.<br />
“If we’re going to be successful in the second half, we have to recognize<br />
who we are,” coach Dave Tippett said. “There are going to be games you<br />
have to step out of your comfort zone to win, whether you have to score a<br />
few more goals, but right now we’re giving up too many chances.”<br />
The Coyotes fell behind at 13:07 of the first period when goalie Mike Smith<br />
kicked a rebound right to Blues wing Chris Stewart, who one-timed a shot<br />
past Smith.<br />
But the Coyotes, cashing in on their first shorthanded goal of the season,<br />
tied it after wing David Moss’ shot on a breakaway trickled through on Blues<br />
goalie Jake Allen with 1:06 left in the first.<br />
That turned into a 2-1 lead when Doan pounced on a loose puck in the slot<br />
41 seconds into the second, but the Blues recovered for three goals in the<br />
period to take a 4-2 lead.<br />
“Playing back-to-back, you’ve got to find a way to be a lot tighter<br />
defensively, especially when you’re up a goal and when you’re in back-toback<br />
games,” Moss said. “You might not have the legs, but you’ve got to<br />
find a way to be solid defensively.”<br />
The first happened when center Patrik Berglund gobbled up another Smith<br />
rebound at 5:47. Then Berglund used a spin move around defenseman<br />
Derek Morris to backhand a shot over Smith at 7:59.<br />
Finally, the Blues forced a turnover along the boards to set up Scott Nichol,<br />
who was left alone in front of the net at 10:23.<br />
“Some of the turnovers are really concerning because they’re the same<br />
people doing them in the same place,” Tippett said. “We’ll continue to<br />
address this but if it doesn’t get cleaned up, we’re going to have to try<br />
different options.”<br />
A give-and-go from Stewart to center Vladimir Sobotka at 6:53 of the third<br />
and a shot from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo at the top of the crease at<br />
15:04 capped off five consecutive goals for the Blues before defenseman<br />
Keith Yandle scored a power play goal with 25 seconds left.<br />
The defensive lapses have become a trend, and Smith, who totaled 23<br />
saves, has yet to reclaim his MVP-type status from last year.<br />
“We’re giving up too many chances, and right through our lineup – that<br />
goes from the goaltender on out we don’t have anybody we would say, ‘OK,<br />
this guy’s at the top of his game,’” Tippett said. “So that has to turn for more<br />
people and if that turns, we’ll be fine as a group.”<br />
Report<br />
Key player: Blues winger David Perron recorded four assists.<br />
Key moment: Only 2:12 after scoring the tying goal, center Patrik Berglund<br />
coupled a flashy spin move with a quick backhand shot to give the Blues a<br />
3-2 lead.<br />
Key number: 4 Goals allowed by the Coyotes in each of their past four<br />
home games.<br />
Why the Coyotes lost: When the Coyotes aren’t at their best defensively,<br />
they need goalie Mike Smith to be unbeatable. When that doesn’t happen,<br />
as was the case against the Blues, the Coyotes struggle. Too many<br />
rebounds wound up on the sticks of Blues players, and the offense couldn’t<br />
offer a momentum swing.<br />
View from the press box: Smith recently played the longest stretch of<br />
games (15) in his regular-season career. Perhaps the workload is part of<br />
the reason why Smith has been inconsistent, but the Coyotes can’t afford to<br />
not have him in the net most nights. Eventually, Smith has to become this<br />
team’s best player again for it to keep pace in the standings but the<br />
turnovers along the boards aren’t exactly putting him in a position to<br />
succeed, either.<br />
Arizona Republic LOADED: 03.08.2013
662127 Phoenix Coyotes<br />
Smith's struggles continue in Coyotes' loss<br />
Craig Morgan<br />
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Mike Smith didn't address reporters after the Coyotes'<br />
6-3 loss Thursday night to the Blues at Jobing.com Arena, so it's hard to<br />
gauge whether he was more upset with his own play or the play of the team<br />
in front of him.<br />
Either one was fair game after the Coyotes reached the midpoint of the<br />
season with one of their poorest performances all year.<br />
"That wasn't our team right there," coach Dave Tippett said.<br />
And Mike Smith wasn't the same goalie who lifted this franchise to its best<br />
season in the Valley one year ago.<br />
When you analyze the six goals St. Louis scored Thursday, there's not a<br />
single one you could fairly characterize as a bad goal. Two came on<br />
rebounds of hard shots – one that defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had<br />
a chance to clear. One deflected in off defenseman Derek Morris' stick, No.<br />
4 was a bang-bang play after a bad turnover by forward Kyle Chipchura in<br />
the defensive zone, No. 5 was a bang-bang play on which no Blues were<br />
covered, least of all goal scorer Vladimir Sobotka, and No. 6 pinballed off<br />
several players before settling onto Alex Pietrangelo's stick in the slot.<br />
"They're scoring goals when there's red jerseys around. They're just not<br />
doing much," Tippett said. "That's concerning."<br />
There is no question the Coyotes' defensive zone coverage and puck<br />
management are worse than last season. Opponents are generating too<br />
many quality scoring chances. For a team once known for keeping shots to<br />
the perimeter, the slot has become an open highway for opponents.<br />
Still, you can feel that something's not right with Smith. It's not that he's<br />
allowing a glut of bad goals; it's that he isn't stealing goals from the<br />
opposition like he did with regularity last season. He isn't tracking the puck<br />
as well, he isn't managing his rebounds as well and he isn't giving his team<br />
that boost of confidence because he hasn't had a lengthy stretch of<br />
consistency.<br />
"I don't know what it is," Tippett said. "I know some of the chances we're<br />
giving up are better chances than we would normally give up last year. That<br />
being said, Mike would tell you he wants his save percentage to be a lot<br />
better than it is."<br />
General manager Don Maloney told FOX Sports Arizona recently that the<br />
club would not be negotiating a new contract with the free agent-to-be<br />
during the season because the club's ongoing ownership saga prevents it.<br />
But at this point, it also looks like a prudent move.<br />
In his last four games, Smith has allowed 18 goals on 114 shots. His 3.09<br />
goals-against average ranks 39th in the NHL, and his .894 save percentage<br />
ranks 34th. Smith's financial bargaining power is quickly evaporating in<br />
what has to be characterized, thus far, as a disappointing second season in<br />
Phoenix.<br />
Is fatigue a factor? Maybe. Here's what he told Dave Vest of<br />
phoenixcoyotes.com recently.<br />
"Early in the season, I felt physically it was more of a challenge, but as the<br />
season has gone on and you're playing every other day, it seems more of a<br />
mental stress than anything else."<br />
If that's the case, why haven't the Coyotes played backup Jason LaBarbera<br />
a little more? LaBarbera's start in Anaheim on Tuesday was his first since<br />
Jan. 26 against Los Angeles.<br />
Tippett said before Thursday's game that he talks with goalie Sean Burke<br />
every day about the mental and physical state of his goalies, adding that<br />
the games are so important in this lockout-shortened season that they felt it<br />
best to ride Smith as much as possible.<br />
But it's been a bumpy ride at best. Is it time to alter that thinking, or is it just<br />
a matter of getting the rest of the Coyotes to play like that bunch that left the<br />
ice last May?<br />
"Last year for Smitty was his best year he's had in the league," Tippett said.<br />
"We have to try to get him back to the best year he's had."<br />
foxsportsarizona.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662128 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Pens’ Orpik considering wearing protective visor<br />
Brooks Orpik is among the team leaders in blocked shots for the Penguins.<br />
Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review<br />
By Josh Yohe<br />
Updated 8 minutes ago<br />
PHILADELPHIA — Many of the Penguins play without wearing a protective<br />
visor.<br />
One of their biggest names is thinking about making a change.<br />
Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who wore a visor only when it was required<br />
during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, has reconsidered since<br />
seeing Rangers defenseman Marc Staal sustain a possibly serious eye<br />
injury Tuesday night.<br />
“I guess there really isn't a valid excuse to not wear one anymore,” Orpik<br />
said.<br />
Many players prefer playing without a visor because they say it obscures<br />
their vision.<br />
“Some of the guys say that can't see as well,” Orpik said. “Well, I look<br />
around and see Sid (Sidney Crosby), Geno (Evgeni Malkin) and (Tampa<br />
Bay star Steven) Stamkos wearing visors out there. They're the best<br />
players in the game, and they have plenty of vision even though they use<br />
visors. There's probably no excuse anymore.”<br />
Staal's injury has reverberated through hockey. The defenseman was hit in<br />
the right eye by a slap shot during a game Tuesday against the <strong>Flyers</strong>.<br />
Staal will make a full recovery, according to the Rangers, but is out<br />
indefinitely.<br />
Orpik nearly endured a similar injury last season.<br />
“(Boston defenseman Zdeno) Chara sent a one-timer right by my face,”<br />
Orpik said. “You literally have no time to react.”<br />
Since Staal's injury, Orpik sounds like a changed man.<br />
“I think (a visor is) probably in my near future,” he said. “During the lockout,<br />
my college coach was all over me about it. You look around, coaches are<br />
all preaching so much stick on puck right now. That means more shots are<br />
deflected toward your face, and ice is so bad right now, a lot of those shots<br />
are on edge. It is more dangerous. You see it a lot.”<br />
Other Penguins are not adopting Orpik's stance.<br />
Forwards Craig Adams, Tanner Glass and defenseman Mark Eaton choose<br />
to play without visors. Staal's injury won't change that.<br />
Eaton's 8-year-old daughter pleaded with him to wear a visor after seeing<br />
the Staal injury.<br />
“She said, ‘Daddy, you need to put a visor on,' ” Eaton said. “That's the only<br />
thing that might sway me. But even that — it just is such a nuisance with<br />
the fog and water.”<br />
Adams, the team's player union representative, is hopeful that wearing a<br />
visor never becomes mandatory.<br />
“I think it should be up to the player to decide,” Adams said.<br />
Glass isn't interested in a visor.<br />
“Not one bit,” he said. “I got my eyeball hurt last year. We know the risks.<br />
It's something I deal with. I feel like I'm more in the game, not sitting behind<br />
the glass like a spectator.”<br />
Orpik, it seems, is OK with that.<br />
“It's something that would take getting used to,” he said. “But visors are a lot<br />
better now than they used to be. There's just no excuse.”<br />
Josh Yohe<br />
Tribune Review LOADED: 03.08.2013
662129 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Penguins rally from 4-1 deficit to down <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
By Josh Yohe<br />
PHILADELPHIA — Maybe the first 20 minutes Thursday served as the<br />
Penguins' final learning tool regarding the <strong>Flyers</strong>.<br />
From that point, they didn't hit back, didn't take foolish penalties and were<br />
wise with the puck.<br />
The sudden composure resulted in a 5-4 victory and was another blow to<br />
the struggling <strong>Flyers</strong>. <strong>Philadelphia</strong> trails the Penguins, who have a game in<br />
hand, by nine points.<br />
“This was big for us tonight,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “We needed<br />
this one.”<br />
Down, 4-1, through one period, the Penguins dominated the final 40<br />
minutes. Chris Kunitz scored twice, including the game-winner 18 seconds<br />
into the third period, and now has 14 goals.<br />
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby took a four-point lead in the NHL scoring<br />
race, producing three assists for his eighth three-point game since Feb. 2.<br />
Right wings James Neal, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis also scored.<br />
But what most satisfied the Penguins wasn't the comeback, but the way<br />
they shut down the <strong>Flyers</strong> during the final 19:42.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> recorded 18 shots in the first period for the Penguins but only<br />
14 during the remainder of the game.<br />
“It couldn't have gotten worse,” Neal said of the first period. “We could only<br />
go up from there. Some guys said a few things. Vouky (goalie Tomas<br />
Vokoun) said a few big words to get us going.”<br />
Vokoun replaced goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after the first period and didn't<br />
allow a goal. Of course, he wasn't asked to make many spectacular saves,<br />
as the Penguins picked up their defensive coverage and decision-making<br />
with the puck during the final 40 minutes.<br />
“We did a good job of not giving up too many tough ones,” Crosby said.<br />
“But he did a good job coming in.”<br />
The first period was a surreal reminder of what happens to the Penguins<br />
when they play by the <strong>Flyers</strong>' rules.<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> piled up four goals on Fleury, two of which came on the power<br />
play. Another came one second after a penalty expired, essentially giving<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong> three goals with a man advantage.<br />
Neal was in the center of the Penguins' problems, taking three penalties in<br />
the first period. When he exited the penalty box following <strong>Philadelphia</strong>'s first<br />
goal, Neal was confronted by <strong>Flyers</strong> left wing Scott Hartnell, which triggered<br />
the first of many first-period altercations.<br />
“I think that's happened a couple of times in this building,” Neal said. “He's<br />
doing what he's got to do, I guess.”<br />
The Penguins did what they had to do the rest of the evening and are 16-8-<br />
0 at the season's halfway mark — five points clear of the New Jersey Devils<br />
for the Atlantic Division lead.<br />
“This was a big step,” Niskanen said. “We did a good job of staying<br />
focused. We kept the third period calm, which is what we needed to do. We<br />
were pretty ticked with how the first period went, obviously. But no one hit<br />
the panic button. We knew it was time to compete harder and that things<br />
would turn around.”<br />
The Penguins were guilty of five penalties in the first period and only one<br />
the rest of the way.<br />
“I like how we came out and played,” Bylsma said, referring to the final two<br />
periods. “We stuck with it. Our guys stayed focused. We limited their<br />
opportunities. We played the right way. Maybe our best (period) with the<br />
lead in the third.”<br />
Tribune Review LOADED: 03.08.2013
662130 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Players OK NHL plan that puts Penguins in 8-team division next season<br />
By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<br />
PHILADELPHIA -- The NHL Players' Association has approved the league's<br />
realignment plan, which means the Penguins will shift to an eight-team<br />
division next season.<br />
They will be with <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, the New York Rangers, the New York<br />
Islanders, New Jersey, Columbus, Carolina and Washington in one of two<br />
Eastern Conference divisions.<br />
There will be 16 teams in the Eastern Conference, 14 in the West. Eight<br />
teams from each will qualify for the playoffs, with some of those being wild<br />
cards.<br />
The plan still must be approved by the NHL Board of Governors, but that is<br />
expected to be little more than a rubber-stamp vote.<br />
NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said the realignment plan will be reevaluated<br />
after the 2014-15 season.<br />
Post Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662131 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Martin to play for Penguins tonight vs. <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
March 7, 2013 1:08 pm<br />
By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<br />
PHILADELPHIA -- Defenseman Paul Martin says he plans to be in the<br />
Penguins' lineup when they face <strong>Philadelphia</strong> tonight at 7:08 at the Wells<br />
Fargo Center.<br />
Martin has not appeared in a game since suffering an unspecified injury<br />
during the Penguins' 4-1 loss at Carolina a week ago.<br />
Coach Dan Bylsma said everything pertaining to the Penguins' lineup will<br />
be "game-time decisions."<br />
Post Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662132 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Kunitz, Crosby spark comeback as Penguins shoot down <strong>Flyers</strong>, 5-4<br />
March 8, 2013 12:19 am<br />
By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<br />
PHILADELPHIA -- Nobody turned over a table in the Penguins' dressing<br />
room during the first intermission at the Wells Fargo Center Thursday night.<br />
Nobody launched into a high-decibel rant about his teammates' costly<br />
lapses in discipline or focus, either.<br />
Or even shattered a stick by smacking it off a wall.<br />
"That never happens in our dressing room," defenseman Kris Letang said.<br />
"Never."<br />
Doesn't mean they didn't have a reason to, though.<br />
By that point, they had spotted <strong>Philadelphia</strong> a three-goal lead and little had<br />
happened to suggest they'd be able to claw back into the game.<br />
Or prevent the <strong>Flyers</strong> from winning by double figures, for that matter.<br />
Surely, there was absolutely no reason to believe they would end up with a<br />
5-4 victory that would allow them to close out the first half of their season<br />
with an 16-8 record that's good for first place in the Atlantic Division and<br />
second place in the Eastern Conference.<br />
Not after they had been so badly outshot (18-4), outworked and out-battled<br />
during the first period.<br />
"We didn't play with enough emotion," center Sidney Crosby said. "We<br />
really weren't in the game at all. We had a lot of room to improve."<br />
They did just that.<br />
Quickly and emphatically.<br />
They began to consistently win the individual battles they had lost during<br />
the first period. To establish an effective forecheck. To launch pucks at<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who had been little more than an<br />
interested onlooker during the opening period.<br />
"The first and second periods were completely different games," Penguins<br />
left winger Chris Kunitz said.<br />
And it showed on the scoreboard.<br />
James Neal had taken a couple of needless penalties during the first, and<br />
the <strong>Flyers</strong> converted both into goals by Jakub Voracek.<br />
Zac Rinaldo and Kimmo Timonen also beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre<br />
Fleury at even-strength, and the man-advantage goal Kunitz scored during<br />
the Penguins' first power play of the game didn't figure to do much more<br />
than spoil Bryzgalov's chances for a shutout.<br />
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma changed goalies during the first intermission,<br />
replacing Fleury with Tomas Vokoun, and his players changed their<br />
approach at the same time.<br />
"We knew we didn't play the way we wanted," Letang said. "We just refocused<br />
and went to work."<br />
The adjustment took, and it didn't take long.<br />
Pascal Dupuis cut the <strong>Flyers</strong>' advantage to two at 5:30 of the second, as he<br />
got a pass from Crosby behind the net and beat Bryzgalov from between<br />
the left circle and the crease for his first goal in the past eight games. Neal<br />
got the Penguins to within one at 8:13, when his centering feed from the<br />
right side hit <strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Braydon Coburn in front and got past<br />
Bryzgalov.<br />
The Penguins' surge continued at 15:47, as Tyler Kennedy scored on a<br />
slap shot from the right side of the slot for his first goal in the past seven<br />
games.<br />
That tied the score and prompted <strong>Flyers</strong> coach Peter Laviolette to replace<br />
Bryzgalov with Brian Boucher.<br />
Which meant that Boucher ended up being tagged with the loss when<br />
Kunitz scored the winner to cap a 2-on-1 break with Crosby 18 seconds into<br />
the final period.<br />
That was Kunitz's second of the evening, 14th of the season and seventh in<br />
five games. Might be time for some of that talk about the need to get a<br />
winger who can score to play with Crosby to die down a bit.<br />
"He's just really, really focused," Crosby said. "It just seems like there aren't<br />
too many pucks where he's not getting a great shot away. He's ready to<br />
shoot it, and he's been putting it where he wants to."<br />
Penguins defenseman Paul Martin returned to the lineup after missing two<br />
games because of an unspecified injury. He logged 23 minutes and 54<br />
seconds of ice time and, aside from having a couple of <strong>Flyers</strong> goals deflect<br />
off him on their way past Fleury, had a generally satisfying return.<br />
"I feel bad for [Fleury]," Martin said. "But I felt good."<br />
He wasn't the only one feeling good in the Penguins locker room after the<br />
game.<br />
Exasperating as the first period had been for them, the comeback they<br />
pulled off -- on the road, against their arch-rivals -- made this arguably their<br />
most satisfying victory of the season to date.<br />
"You need those challenges, those tests," Crosby said. "I think the guys<br />
responded the right way."<br />
With no furniture harmed in the making of their comeback.<br />
Post Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662133 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Robert Morris hockey will not overlook first-round foe<br />
March 8, 2013 12:14 am<br />
By Jenn Menendez / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<br />
Fifth-seeded Robert Morris will open the Atlantic Hockey Association<br />
playoffs tonight against No. 12 seed Sacred Heart, a team the Colonials<br />
beat by a combined score of 13-7 a month ago in back-to-back games.<br />
The Pioneers (2-28-4) were mired in a season-long slump, but have come<br />
alive to go 2-2-2 in the past six games.<br />
The best-of-three series begins at 7:05 p.m. at 84 Lumber Arena, continues<br />
Saturday at the same time and concludes at 7:05 p.m. Sunday, if<br />
necessary.<br />
"We talked about respecting the playoffs," said Robert Morris coach Derek<br />
Schooley. "The playoffs are a new season. The effort you have to put in to<br />
advance and end somebody's season is tremendous.<br />
"[The Pioneers are] playing their best hockey of the year. They've got some<br />
very dangerous forwards that had a large number of points against us in<br />
those games. Up until the third period, those were close hockey games."<br />
Schooley said the Sacred Heart top line is a talented one led by wings Brian<br />
Sheehan, Ben Ketchum and center Eric Delong, who has two goals and five<br />
assists in the past six games.<br />
Game film, he said, shows a better team.<br />
"It just seems to be a different hockey team that's playing with a lot more<br />
confidence," said Schooley. "That's great for our guys. Great they're playing<br />
their best hockey of the year, because we know we've got to play our<br />
game."<br />
The Colonials (18-12-4) went to three games with No. 11 seed American<br />
International last year before finally advancing with a 4-3 win in overtime.<br />
This season, Robert Morris has played well down the stretch, going 4-2-2 to<br />
close the regular season after an 8-1 loss to Mercyhurst Feb. 5 that marked<br />
the worst loss in program history.<br />
"We're healthy, we are what we are and I think we're playing the best<br />
hockey of the year," said Schooley. "We're confident we're doing what we<br />
need to do to be successful."<br />
The Colonials are led by goalie Eric Levine, who has a 2.59 goals-against<br />
average and .930 save percentage, and in scoring by Adam Brace (13<br />
goals, 22 assists).<br />
Post Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662134 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Penguins Notebook: Orpik sounds like he's ready to wear visor at last<br />
March 8, 2013 12:05 am<br />
By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<br />
PHILADELPHIA -- There probably is a perfectly reasonable explanation for<br />
why Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik doesn't wear a visor.<br />
He just doesn't know what it is anymore.<br />
"I don't have a good excuse or a good answer," Orpik said after the<br />
Penguins' game-day skate Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. "So I'm not<br />
even going to try to make one up."<br />
Orpik said he fully anticipates having one attached to his helmet before<br />
much longer -- "It will probably be on there by the end of the year, I can tell<br />
you that much," he said -- but he appeared in his 609th NHL game<br />
Thursday night against the <strong>Flyers</strong> and, for the 609th time, his eyes were<br />
unprotected.<br />
The controversy over whether visors should be mandatory in the NHL flared<br />
again this week after New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal was<br />
struck near the right eye by a deflected puck.<br />
The Rangers subsequently announced that Staal is expected to make a full<br />
recovery, but several players have had their careers disrupted, if not ended,<br />
by eye injuries in recent seasons.<br />
Nearly three-quarters of players in the NHL now wear a visor, according to<br />
NHL Players' Association research. That includes a majority of the<br />
Penguins, including some guys who haven't always.<br />
"I didn't wear one for the first three or four years of my career," right winger<br />
Pascal Dupuis said. "Then, during the lockout in '04, I went to Switzerland,<br />
and I had to wear it over there. I put it on and kept it on."<br />
Dupuis suggested that visors be required for players entering the league,<br />
but that current players be given the option of not wearing one.<br />
He also noted there are some gray areas, like the one created by a rule that<br />
mandates an extra minor penalty for a visor-wearing player who instigates a<br />
fight and doesn't remove it before punches are thrown.<br />
"The enforcers, I wouldn't want them to take their helmets off to fight, if they<br />
have a visor on," Dupuis said. "At the same time, it's pretty scary stuff when<br />
there's something close to the eyes."<br />
And that, as Orpik noted, is something that is a constant threat.<br />
"There's such an emphasis on players defending, going stick-on-puck," he<br />
said. "And, with the way the ice conditions are ... you couple a lot of those<br />
factors together, and it's probably a lot more dangerous now."<br />
Realignment nearly done deal<br />
The players union has signed off on the league's realignment proposal,<br />
which means the Penguins will be in a new division next season.<br />
They will join <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Washington, Carolina, the New York Rangers,<br />
New York Islanders, New Jersey and Columbus in one of two eight-team<br />
divisions in the Eastern Conference.<br />
There will be 14 teams in the Western Conference, split evenly between<br />
two divisions.<br />
The top three finishers in each division will qualify for the playoffs, along<br />
with two wild-cards from each conference.<br />
The plan still must be approved by the NHL Board of Governors, but that<br />
looks to be little more than a formality since the proposal came from the<br />
owners.<br />
Kunitz turns into force<br />
Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz has a career-high seven-game points<br />
streak after scoring in the first period Thursday against the <strong>Flyers</strong>, and also<br />
has a personal-best goal-scoring streak of five games.<br />
He has meshed well with center Sidney Crosby -- "He's pretty easy to<br />
read," Crosby said. "He's up and down the wing and goes really hard to the<br />
net." -- and has been enough of an offensive force that opponents dare not<br />
focus solely on Crosby when their line is on the ice.<br />
"You'd better not just have two or three guys on Sidney Crosby and not be<br />
paying attention to [Kunitz]," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said, "because<br />
he's been a big weapon for us."<br />
Kunitz was the Penguins' No. 2 scorer before facing <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, and now<br />
he has 14 goals and 17 assists in 24 games.<br />
"Chris does a lot of little things well, to be a good complementary guy to<br />
play with," Bylsma said. "He goes hard to the net, he forces turnovers, he's<br />
a physical guy.<br />
"And, maybe more so this year than others, he's moved into that slot area<br />
and been a weapon with his shot and being open in that area. He's done<br />
that really well."<br />
Bryzgalov has big workload<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> goalie Ilya Bryzgalov made his 23rd appearance in <strong>Philadelphia</strong>'s<br />
first 25 games this season Thursday night.<br />
He has held up pretty well under that workload -- Bryzgalov started the<br />
game with a 2.68 goals-against average and .903 save percentage -- but it<br />
remains to be seen whether that will continue to be the case.<br />
Regardless, Bylsma made it clear after the game-day skate that the<br />
Penguins would not be inclined to make such demands of their No. 1<br />
goaltender.<br />
"That's not how much we would want Marc-Andre Fleury to play," he said.<br />
Fleury has appeared in 17 of the Penguins' first 24 games.<br />
Bylsma added that "Bryzgalov was brought in here to be the main goalie<br />
and the big guy, and ... he certainly has been that this year."<br />
Post Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662135 Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Penguins rebound from three-goal deficit to beat <strong>Flyers</strong>, 5-4<br />
March 7, 2013 9:48 pm<br />
By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<br />
PHILADELPHIA -- The Penguins rebounded from a three-goal deficit to<br />
defeat <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, 5-4, at the Wells Fargo Center tonight.<br />
The Atlantic Division-leading Penguins finished the first half of their season<br />
with a 16-8 record.<br />
Chris Kunitz gave the Penguins their first lead of the evening -- and the only<br />
one they would need -- 18 seconds into the third period, as he took a feed<br />
from Sidney Crosby and beat <strong>Flyers</strong> goalie Brian Boucher from inside the<br />
right dot for his 14th goal of the season and seventh in five games.<br />
Penguins defenseman Paul Martin returned to the lineup after missing two<br />
games because of an unspecified injury. Dustin Jeffrey replaced Joe Vitale,<br />
a healthy scratch, at center on the fourth line.<br />
Jakub Voracek gave the <strong>Flyers</strong> a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 11:18<br />
of the first period, when his shot from inside the right circle caromed off<br />
Martin and eluded goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.<br />
That marked the first time in the past eight regular-season meetings that<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> scored first.<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong> winger Scott Hartnell went straight at James Neal, who had been<br />
sent off for elbowing <strong>Philadelphia</strong>'s Claude Giroux at 10:45, as he came out<br />
of the penalty box and picked up an extra minor penalty during the scuffle<br />
that ensued.<br />
The Penguins used that power play to tie the game, as Kunitz beat <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
goalie Ilya Bryzgalov from close range at 12:05 for his 13th of the season.<br />
Assists went to Kris Letang and Crosby, the latter of whom had been shut<br />
out in his previous two games in <strong>Philadelphia</strong>.<br />
The <strong>Flyers</strong> reclaimed the lead at 13:06, when Zac Rinaldo punched a<br />
Nicklas Grossmann rebound past Fleury, and <strong>Philadelphia</strong> defenseman<br />
Kimmo Timonen put a shot off Fleury and into the net from the left-wing<br />
boards at 18:17 to make it 3-1.<br />
A bad period got a whole lot worse for the Penguins when Neal was<br />
penalized for slashing Bryzgalov with 15.2 seconds to go before the<br />
intermission, and the <strong>Flyers</strong> needed just 7.6 seconds to run their lead to<br />
three.<br />
Voracek got the goal, as his shot deflected off Martin before going between<br />
Fleury's legs.<br />
Tomas Vokoun replaced Fleury, who had allowed four goals on 18 shots,<br />
for the start of the second period.<br />
The Penguins seemed to regain their composure and focus during the<br />
intermission, and Pascal Dupuis cut the <strong>Flyers</strong>' advantage to two at 5:30 of<br />
the second.<br />
Dupuis took a feed from Crosby behind the net and beat Bryzgalov from<br />
between the left circle and the crease for his eighth of the season and first<br />
in eight games.<br />
Neal got the Penguins to within one at 8:13, as his centering feed from the<br />
right side hit <strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Braydon Coburn in front and got past<br />
Bryzgalov.<br />
The Penguins' surge continued at 15:47, as Tyler Kennedy scored on a<br />
slap shot from the right side of the slot for his first in seven games.<br />
That tied the game and prompted <strong>Flyers</strong> coach Peter Laviolette to replace<br />
Bryzgalov with Boucher, who ended up getting the loss because of the<br />
Kunitz goal early in the third.<br />
The Penguins are off until Saturday, when they will visit Toronto at 7:08<br />
p.m.<br />
Post Gazette LOADED: 03.08.2013
662136 San Jose Sharks<br />
Sharks lose to Flames, 4-1<br />
Associated Press<br />
Calgary, Alberta -- Former Shark Miikka Kiprusoff made 32 saves in his<br />
return from a knee injury to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-1 victory over<br />
the Sharks on Wednesday night.<br />
Blake Comeau scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period. Jarome<br />
Iginla, Roman Cervenka and Curtis Glencross (into an empty net) also<br />
scored for Calgary, which improved to 4-1-1 in its last six games.<br />
Joe Thornton had the only goal for the Sharks, who are 2-6-1 in their last<br />
nine.<br />
Slumped in his locker well after the game, Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle<br />
was searching for answers.<br />
"It happens. You go through streaks where you're not scoring and I<br />
understand that, but ...," Boyle said, shaking his head and trailing off.<br />
Thornton's goal was only his second since Jan. 27.<br />
"We're disappointed," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "We had an<br />
opportunity to win a game going into the third period and we didn't play very<br />
well. I thought the Comeau goal was a bit of a backbreaker."<br />
Calgary took a 2-1 lead at 2:57 of the third when Comeau burst down the<br />
right wing and snapped a shot inside the far post, past San Jose goalie<br />
Thomas Greiss.<br />
It was Comeau's first goal this season and just his second in the last 41<br />
games, dating to last season.<br />
Less than 2 minutes later, Iginla scored his sixth goal in the last five games<br />
by ripping a shot past Greiss from the slot after being set up by Jiri Hudler.<br />
Kiprusoff returned to the lineup after missing 13 games with a sprained<br />
knee. The 36-year-old goalie was injured in the second period of Calgary's<br />
4-1 win over the Red Wings on Feb. 5. Calgary went 6-5-2 during his<br />
absence.<br />
"We played a really strong game," said Kiprusoff, who began his NHL<br />
career with the Sharks 12 years ago. "You know with a team like that, at<br />
some point they're going to get shots, but we were able to play smart. We<br />
knew they were going to open up and we were going to get some chances."<br />
Kiprusoff was busiest in the third as the Sharks had the period's only two<br />
power plays and outshot Calgary 17-6. But they couldn't beat him.<br />
Greiss was making his first start for the Sharks in 10 games. Antti Niemi<br />
was given the night off after beating the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday<br />
night.<br />
Greiss finished with 22 saves on 25 shots.<br />
San Francisco Chronicle LOADED: 03.08.2013
662137 San Jose Sharks<br />
Streaker hops glass during Sharks game Wednesday<br />
Staff<br />
You wouldn't have caught it on the Sharks-Flames broadcast, but those<br />
inside the Scotiabank Saddledome Wednesday night were in for a bare<br />
surprise.<br />
A streaker -- donning just a pair of shorts -- made it onto the ice to the<br />
crowd's cheers before security escorted him away.<br />
Flames fans are no strangers to streakers. In 2002, a streaker wearing only<br />
red socks infamously knocked himself out when he landed on the ice.<br />
Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 03.08.2013
662138 St Louis Blues<br />
Blues updates: Allen has been playing plenty lately<br />
By Jeremy Rutherford<br />
PHOENIX - How badly are the Blues looking for quality goaltending?<br />
Consider that when Jake Allen takes the net tonight against the Coyotes, it<br />
will be his fourth start in six nights.<br />
Before his call-up from the Peoria Rivemen late Tuesday night, Allen played<br />
Friday at Rockford, at home against Grand Rapids Saturday and at Lake<br />
Erie Tuesday. In the three starts with the Rivermen, Allen stopped 73 of a<br />
combined 80 shots on goal.<br />
A 22-year-old rookie who's used to playing many games in a row, Allen said<br />
that he's not worried about fatigue being a factor tonight.<br />
"I don't mind it," Allen said. "You want to get into the net, you don't want to<br />
leave the net. I didn't even know it was four games in six nights to be<br />
honest. I get another chance and I'm just going to make the most of it. I<br />
didn't know if I'd get another opportunity this year and fortunately I did."<br />
After going 3-1 with the Blues with a .906 save-percentage, Allen returned<br />
to Peoria on Feb. 21. With the Rivermen, he went 1-3 with a 2.26 goalsagainst<br />
average, but in two of those four starts, the team's offense was<br />
shutout.<br />
"We've been struggling as a team, we're fighting for our lives at the bottom<br />
of the pack," said Allen, who says it's not that difficult to make the overnight<br />
adjustment to the NHL level. "I've been here ... I was up in playoffs last year<br />
and I've been here a couple of weeks this year. It's nothing new. You know<br />
what you're getting yourself into. You've got to be ready for it, and I feel like<br />
I am."<br />
I mentioned in today's article that Allen was prepared to go on Peoria's 12day<br />
road trip, taking warm clothes with him for a journey that will go through<br />
Canada. Now he's in Phoenix, where he doesn't need the warm clothes.<br />
As it turns out, Allen only has one suit with him, which will have to last for<br />
the remaining 4 1/2 days of the Blues' road trip.<br />
"I'll have to keep it as clean as possible," he joked.<br />
Some readers have tweeted or asked a question in my chat recently about<br />
Blues' optional practices: What makes a player decide if he practices and<br />
shouldn't the entire team practice when things aren't going well on the ice?<br />
After Tuesday's embarrassing 6-4 loss to Los Angeles, the Blues' had an<br />
optional practice Wednesday in Phoenix and there were approximately 15<br />
of the 25 players (including Andy McDonald and Jason Arnott) in<br />
attendance.<br />
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was one of the players on the ice<br />
Wednesday.<br />
"For me, a day like yesterday since we're traveling and sitting around all<br />
day, I like to just go out (on the ice) and move around a little bit,"<br />
Shattenkirk said. "I think a lot depends on how much you play. Someone<br />
like me or Alex (Pietrangelo), if you're going to play over 22, 23 minutes,<br />
maybe you take the option and rest up for the day. But for me personally,<br />
it's an everyday thing, wake up and see how you feel...there's even some<br />
days when coaches talk you out of it."<br />
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said that no one should read into who's on the<br />
ice for optional practice and who's not.<br />
"You have to be really careful when you evaluate (whether players should<br />
or shouldn't be on the ice)," Hitchcock said. "An optional is exactly that, and<br />
sometimes we ask people to take off and then somebody sees he's not on<br />
the ice and they don't really know what goes on behind the scenes. I think<br />
you're better off not evaluating them from our side and theirs."<br />
But with some observers, it doesn't sit well when players take an optional<br />
off following a loss like Tuesday's against the Kings.<br />
"A day off when you're not winning ...then you should probably be working<br />
on some stuff," Blues forward T.J. Oshie said. "But with this season, it's so<br />
much different than any other year. The more rest we can get the better and<br />
the more fresh we'll be for the game."<br />
I will have more on this in Friday's Post-Dispatch.<br />
FATIGUE FACTOR<br />
The Coyotes are coming off a 2-0 loss to Anaheim Wednesday night. The<br />
team returned home around 1 a.m. after the flight from Anaheim.<br />
It will mark the third in the Blues' last four games they will face a team<br />
playing on the second night of back-to-back games. They are 1-1 in those<br />
situations recently, with a win over Edmonton and a loss to L.A.<br />
"I think we can (take advantage)," Shattenkirk said. "In a way you have to<br />
approach it like they played last night and know that there's a fatigue limit,<br />
where it's going to set into their game. Obviously the quicker we can get it<br />
to that point, the better off we'll be."<br />
PRONGER SPEAKS<br />
Former Blue Chris Pronger held a press conference in <strong>Philadelphia</strong> today<br />
that was fairly revealing about his condition. Still under contract with the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>, Pronger never play again because of concussion symptoms and<br />
vision problems.<br />
Here's the story from the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> Inquirer.<br />
A week ago, Pronger was in St. Louis and visited the Blues' practice facility.<br />
He was even on hand for a pregame ceremony prior to the Blues-<br />
Blackhawks game, honoring defenseman Barret Jackman.<br />
Jackman had a chance to catch up with Pronger briefly and said he wished<br />
him well.<br />
"Hockey players have a lot of pride and you don't really talk about injuries a<br />
whole lot, but you ask how you're doing and just wish him well," Jackman<br />
said today. "You definitely feel for him and you hope that the day-to-day<br />
functions, being able to be with your family and live a normal life, is<br />
something he's able to do."<br />
ODDS & ENDS<br />
- The Blues have won two straight games and earned six of eight points at<br />
Jobing.com Arena dating back to 2008-09.<br />
- Tonight is Game No. 200 for Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.<br />
- The Blues recently signed prospects Joel Edmundson and Yannick<br />
Veilleux. for more on them.<br />
St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
662139 St Louis Blues<br />
Round Two: Blues a real contender in Western Conference?<br />
By DON REED<br />
TODAY'S QUESTION:<br />
After watching the Blues against the Kings this week and the Blackhawks<br />
this season, does anyone think they have any chance to beat either of<br />
those two teams in a playoff series this year?<br />
JOE STRAUSS:<br />
After breathlessly hyping Blues prior to the season, have we now spun 180<br />
degrees and characterized them as frauds? Seems a bit severe. Were we<br />
wrong then or now?<br />
There is need for help on the back line. Injuries have complicated the<br />
equation. Last season's run under Hitch was remarkable. It may also have<br />
been a bit of a mirage. The Kings game was inexcusable but this team<br />
appears somewhat exposed when confined to the Western Conference and<br />
Big Boy puck. Ownership needs to find the means to allow Armstrong a<br />
meaningful transaction.<br />
The happy talk narrative has come to an end and those who once<br />
espoused it are looking for pelts. I'm Cup Crazy but not crazy. Import a<br />
defenseman, recognize this isn't Elliott's year and get healthy. This team<br />
isn't as good as we may have liked but it's not a toxic waste dump. A midcourse<br />
correction seems like a legit compromise.<br />
JEREMY RUTHERFORD:<br />
The Blues have the potential to be contenders, but as they sit today, they<br />
are not a real threat in the West. They're 2-4-1 in their last seven games<br />
and their two wins came over No. 13 Edmonton and No. 15 Columbus.<br />
The Blues show their potential (see their first two periods in Los Angeles),<br />
but they're not a team that can compete for 60 minutes against clubs like<br />
Chicago and L.A.<br />
The Blues have several holes, most notably their goaltending, and when the<br />
position lets the team down, as it has many times this season, the players<br />
haven't proved to be mentally tough enough to overcome it.<br />
Unless the goaltending suddenly improves, and the Blues get some help in<br />
other areas, they are not real contenders and they might not even be a<br />
playoff team if they continue down the same path.<br />
JEFF GORDON:<br />
A healthy Blues team playing well could win the Stanley Cup. Trouble is,<br />
the team isn't healthy now and it isn't playing well. If the Blues continue their<br />
current course for a few more weeks, they could miss the playoffs entirely.<br />
The margin between winning and losing in the NHL is very small. The<br />
Blackhawks get points in every game, yet that team is not vastly better than<br />
the Blues. Chicago is playing extremely well and prevailing in mostly close<br />
games. The Blues are not.<br />
DAN O'NEILL:<br />
If the playoffs started tomorrow, no. The good news is, the playoffs don't<br />
start tomorrow and the Blues have time to get it going. You only need to go<br />
back to last season and the Los Angeles run to see what can happen. The<br />
Kings made a couple of tweaks and trades and they took off.<br />
The way things stand now, the Blues may have to make some tweaks, as<br />
well. But, as disappointing as their recent performance is, it's a little early to<br />
write them off.<br />
DAVE LUECKING (moundcitysports.com):<br />
Not the way they're playing now. Early, they looked like world beaters in a<br />
6-1 January, but the the wheels came off with that 0-4-1 skid to start<br />
February. They recovered with the 3-0 road stint backstopped by Jake<br />
Allen, but since the nightmare travel day from Vancouver, they're listing with<br />
a 2-4-1 mark in the past seven games. Goaltending has been a problem<br />
with Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak, but the team has done them no favors,<br />
playing poorly at times in front of them. The Kings game was a microcosm<br />
of the season: The Blues looked great in building the 4-1 lead, then looked<br />
awful in allowing five straight goals. Coach Ken Hitchcock was correct in<br />
saying the Blues probably weren't as good as their 6-1 start (or 3-0 trip) and<br />
not as bad as that 0-4-1 stretch. They're just about where they should be,<br />
on the bubble of being a playoff team.<br />
STEVE OVERBEY (Freelance sports writer):<br />
As of right now, the answer is no. But once the injured players come back<br />
and the goalies return to their early-season form, this group could be as<br />
deadly as any. Remember, the Blues won six of their first seven to start the<br />
year losing only to Chicago on a tough call. The Kings came from out of<br />
nowhere to win the Stanley Cup as the No. 8 seed last season. With a<br />
healthy McDonald, Steen and Tarasenko, the Blues can roll four pretty<br />
effective lines, which is what it takes for playoff success.<br />
For now, let's just hope The Note can tread water. Then look for a late<br />
regular-season push that could take them anywhere.<br />
St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
662140 St Louis Blues<br />
NHL realignment moves one step closer<br />
By Jeremy Rutherford<br />
PHOENIX • Hello Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota and Winnipeg. Good-bye<br />
Detroit and Columbus.<br />
The NHL’s realignment plan took a step toward becoming official on<br />
Thursday, when the players’ union gave its consent to the league.<br />
The NHL is expected to present the plan to its Board of Governors within a<br />
week and if ratified, the Western and Eastern conferences will be shuffled<br />
beginning in the 2013-14 season.<br />
“We will update the status of the process as future developments warrant,”<br />
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement.<br />
Under the proposed plan, the Western and Eastern conferences will remain<br />
but would house two divisions within each.<br />
The Blues’ division would feature Chicago, Nashville, Colorado, Dallas,<br />
Minnesota and Winnipeg. The team would lose longtime rival Detroit and<br />
also Columbus, which are headed to the East.<br />
The Blues still would face the Red Wings twice a season, as clubs would<br />
play a home-and-home series against every team in the league. But that’s<br />
down from the current six meetings a season, and eight just a couple of<br />
years ago.<br />
“It gives a different look,” Blues defenseman Barret Jackman said.<br />
“Unfortunately, you lose a big rival in Detroit. It’s going to be a tough one for<br />
the fans of both teams, but we’re going to get some other rivalries going<br />
with the new teams in the division.”<br />
The realignment plan creates an uneven number of teams in each<br />
conference. While each now has 15 clubs, the trading of teams will put 14<br />
in the West and 16 in the East. As they are formatted now, the playoffs will<br />
consist of 16 teams, with eight from each conference. But what could be<br />
new next season is a wild-card system in which the top three teams in each<br />
division make the playoffs, with the remaining two spots in each conference<br />
going to the remaining teams with the most points.<br />
The plan has one specific concern, regarding the fairness of eight of 14<br />
teams qualifying for the postseason in the West and eight of 16 in the East.<br />
“They obviously looked at it and geographically you have to do something<br />
so teams aren’t hindered by travel,” Jackman said. “You get 14 teams in our<br />
division, so you might have a better chance of making it, but you still have<br />
to be a top-eight team to move onto the playoffs, so it’s going to be tough<br />
on both sides.”<br />
The realignment proposal is a three-year deal. The union said that following<br />
the 2014-15 season it will be re-evaluated.<br />
Optional practices<br />
After Tuesday’s embarrassing 6-4 loss to Los Angeles, Blues coach Ken<br />
Hitchcock held an optional practice Wednesday in Phoenix.<br />
The schedule on non-game days has been lightened because of the<br />
condensed regular season this year. Still, some fans are questioning why<br />
certain players are electing not to practice, even it the workout is labeled<br />
“optional.”<br />
“You have to be really careful when you evaluate (whether players should<br />
or shouldn’t be on the ice),” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “An optional is<br />
exactly that, and sometimes we ask people to take off and then somebody<br />
sees he’s not on the ice and they don’t really know what goes on behind the<br />
scenes.”<br />
Blues defensman Kevin Shattenkirk was one of the players who did<br />
participate.<br />
“A lot depends on how much you play (in games),” Shattenkirk said.<br />
“Someone like me or Alex (Pietrangelo), if you’re going to play over 22, 23<br />
minutes, maybe you take the option and rest up for the day. But for me<br />
personally, it’s an everyday thing, wake up and see how you feel ... there’s<br />
even some days when coaches talk you out of it.”<br />
Added forward T.J. Oshie: “A day off when you’re not winning ... then you<br />
should probably be working on some stuff. But with this season, it’s so<br />
much different than any other year. The more rest we can get the better and<br />
the more fresh we’ll be for the game.”<br />
Bluenotes<br />
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo played in his 200th career NHL game<br />
Thursday. ... Healthy scratches were defenseman Ian Cole, forward Andrew<br />
Murray and goalie Brian Elliott.<br />
St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
662141 St Louis Blues<br />
Berglund lifts Blues to 6-3 victory<br />
By Jeremy Rutherford<br />
GLENDALE, Ariz. • Ahead two goals heading into the third period, the Blues<br />
had Thursday’s game against Phoenix in the bag, right?<br />
That’s probably what fans thought Tuesday night when they were dozing off<br />
in the final period with the same exact score vs. Los Angeles. The Blues<br />
dozed off, too, and wound up losing by two goals.<br />
On Thursday in the desert, two days after learning a stinging lesson, the<br />
Blues stayed the course and even turned it up a level in a 6-3 victory over<br />
Phoenix at Jobing.com Arena.<br />
“We talked about that ... we needed guys to step up,” Blues forward David<br />
Perron said. “We can all say the right things and say the right words, but at<br />
one point we have got to do it.”<br />
The Blues ended a two-game losing streak, picking up their first victory on a<br />
season-long five-game trip, which continues with back-to-back games<br />
against San Jose and Anaheim over the weekend.<br />
Perron and his new linemates were the table-setters for the Blues’ put-upor-shut-up<br />
attitude Thursday.<br />
Patrik Berglund scored two goals, Chris Stewart netted one goal and three<br />
assists and Perron added three assists for a nine-point night for the line.<br />
The trio has been together for just four games, and has combined for 14<br />
points in the last two.<br />
“They’re playing really well,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “They’ve<br />
really got some chemistry going. Hopefully they can keep it up.”<br />
Meanwhile, upon returning from Peoria to help stabilize the goaltending<br />
position, Jake Allen made 23 saves to pick up his fourth win in five starts<br />
this season.<br />
Allen made a couple of terrific saves early in the third period when the<br />
Blues, tempting fate, held the same 4-2 lead going into the third period that<br />
they had against Los Angeles in similar circumstances earlier this week.<br />
But after allowing the Kings four third-period goals Tuesday, the Blues got<br />
the first two goals of the final frame against the Coyotes on Thursday,<br />
building a 6-2 lead. Keith Yandle added a late power-play goal for the final<br />
score.<br />
“We came out in the third and played a solid 20 minutes,” Berglund said.<br />
“We obviously learned from it and we were saying in the locker room to<br />
keep playing. We even got another goal and another goal. We were strong.”<br />
The night got started by Stewart, who netted his ninth of the season to open<br />
the scoring. He banged in a rebound after a shot by Alex Pietrangelo. The<br />
goal gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with 6 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first<br />
period.<br />
The lead looked safe going into the first intermission when the Blues went<br />
on the power play with 2:49 to play in the period. But Pietrangelo had<br />
trouble with a pass from Perron on the man-advantage, and David Moss, on<br />
a breakaway, made the Blues pay with a shorthanded goal.<br />
Allen appeared to make the stop, but the puck trickled past him for a 1-1<br />
score with 1:06 remaining in the frame.<br />
“I had it all the way, too,” Allen said. “I knew he was going glove. I moved<br />
my body and everything into it. I have no sweet clue how it went through<br />
me, to be honest. I didn’t even see it go in the net, and I saw on the replay it<br />
barely went over the goal-line. It had eyes I guess. ... You move on.”<br />
But another Blues’ turnover at the start of the second period gave Phoenix<br />
the lead.<br />
Behind his own net, Blues defenseman Barret Jackman flipped the puck up<br />
the middle, and – perhaps surprised a bit – David Backes was strongarmed<br />
by a Phoenix player for the puck. It floated to captain Shane Doan,<br />
who buried it for a 2-1 Coyotes’ lead.<br />
Two turnovers, two goals. Here we go again, fans must have figured.<br />
Instead, Berglund and the Blues got going.<br />
Berglund put a shot on net and got his own rebound, pumping it past<br />
Phoenix goalie Mike Smith. His 10th goal of the year pulled the Blues into a<br />
2-2 tie just 5:47 into the second period.<br />
Berglund wasn’t done and neither were his linemates. Eight minutes into<br />
the second period, a pass from Stewart to Perron to Berglund landed on<br />
Berglund’s skate. He gather the puck, backed toward the net and<br />
backhanded his 11th past Smith for a 3-2 lead.<br />
“Perry and Stewy, they’re really hot,” Berglund said. “I’m just tagging along.”<br />
The Blues tagged on another goal before the end of the period.<br />
Scott Nichol registered his first point of the season midway through the<br />
second period. Nichol’s first goal in 39 games gave the Blues a 4-2 lead<br />
after two periods – the same lead they had against L.A. after 40 minutes.<br />
The Blues had not scored a third-period goal in their past two games, but<br />
found two on Thursday.<br />
Vladimir Sobotka, assisted by Stewart and Perron, scored his fourth of the<br />
season for a 5-2 lead. Pietrangelo netted his fifth of the year for a 6-2<br />
advantage.<br />
“We were opportunistic offensively,” Hitchcock said. “I thought on the third<br />
goal, we really started to dial it up on the checking side of things. It’s a good<br />
feeling. We still have a ways to go, but it’s a good feeling to get in and get<br />
rewarded for the work we’ve been putting in.”<br />
St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 03.08.2013
662142 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Tampa Bay Lightning notes: Malone returns from injury<br />
By ERIK ERLENDSSON<br />
By now LW Ryan Malone is used to the drill, sitting out games due to injury,<br />
trying not to push himself too fast to get back in the lineup.<br />
So after being pushed hard on the ice the past few days, Malone is set to<br />
return to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup tonight against Winnipeg after<br />
missing 13 games with an unspecified lower body injury.<br />
"It feels good (to get back),'' Malone said. "I think we just kind of took our<br />
time going about the rehab properly, I think (medical trainers) Mike (Poirier)<br />
and Mully (Tom Mulligan) did a great job with everybody, so it feels good<br />
and I'm excited to get back and play every game.''<br />
Malone was injured during a pregame soccer warm-up prior to the Feb. 10<br />
game at the New York Rangers. It's something Malone has become<br />
accustomed to, never playing more than 70 games in a full season since<br />
coming to Tampa Bay prior to 2008-09. He has missed time with a myriad<br />
of injuries.<br />
"Yeah, I'm kind of used to it, but that's just the way it goes, but I think we did<br />
everything properly to get back to where I am now to feel good,'' Malone<br />
said. "You don't want to come back too early for any reason, so it's the<br />
playoff push already? The last 25 games."<br />
Lightning head coach Guy Boucher said they will welcome Malone back<br />
with open arms but may reel in some of his ice time in a lesser role for the<br />
time being.<br />
"He hasn't played in a long time so I have to make sure I'm smart and give<br />
him the minutes he can manage,'' Boucher said. "It's not about giving him<br />
tons of minutes hoping he can do the job, it's about giving him the minutes<br />
he can manage. Obviously, he's a power play and penalty kill guy, plays on<br />
the top two lines, but I'll have to hold it back a little bit so he can look good<br />
when he is on the ice.''<br />
Garon improving<br />
Injured G Mathieu Garon has yet to skate since suffering an unspecified<br />
lower body injury during the second period at Pittsburgh on Monday.<br />
"He's still day-to-day, but I can't tell you anymore because I don't know any<br />
more,'' Boucher said. "<br />
General manager Steve Yzerman said he would be speaking to the team's<br />
medical trainers later today to determine when Garon would be back, which<br />
could be as soon as Friday.<br />
Nuts and Bolts<br />
Terry Crisp, the first head coach in Lightning history, will be on hand for<br />
tonight's game as part of the team's 20th anniversary celebration. Crisp,<br />
who serves as the television analyst for Nashville Predators broadcasts,<br />
spent time today talking with Tampa Bay G Anders Lindback who spent his<br />
first two years in the NHL with Nashville. … With Malone's pending return,<br />
Adam Hall is expected to be a healthy scratch. … The Lightning are<br />
scheduled to practice at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon at 11:30 a.m.<br />
Friday. … RW Marty St. Louis carries a four-game scoring streak,<br />
registering two goals and four assists in that span. … Boucher said C Vinny<br />
Lecavalier has been nursing a foot injury, sustained when he was struck by<br />
a Sami Salo shot late in the game against the Rangers on Feb. 2, but is<br />
beginning to feel better. Lecavalier, who has two goals and nine points<br />
since the injury after starting the season with four goals and 11 points in the<br />
first seven games, had his first multipoint game since Feb. 1 on Tuesday.<br />
Tampa Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
662143 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Tampa Bay Lightning rookies have been big contributors<br />
By ERIK ERLENDSSON<br />
The Syracuse-to-Tampa pipeline is flowing just fine these days, funneling<br />
Lightning prospects up from the minors and seamlessly integrating them<br />
into the Tampa Bay lineup.<br />
The Lightning will dress at least three rookies, and possibly a fourth, tonight<br />
when Tampa Bay hosts Winnipeg (7:30 p.m., Sun Sports). All have<br />
contributed on the ice.<br />
It sounds like a simple plan: develop players and plug them in slowly to<br />
build depth and establish organizational culture. It was part of the five-year<br />
plan general manager Steve Yzerman put in place when he was hired in<br />
2010.<br />
Though it also was the plan during previous regimes, it was never executed<br />
as successfully as it is now.<br />
Since the lockout ended and the NHL season began, every player the<br />
Lightning have summoned from the minor leagues has stepped right into<br />
the lineup and looked like a perfect fit.<br />
"Every waterfall starts with one drop of water,'' Lightning coach Guy<br />
Boucher said. "And every drop that you bring in, that makes a big difference<br />
because once you brought one and then two and then three, all of a sudden<br />
you have a line. And then you have a pair of defensemen that fit within your<br />
culture and eventually you have your waterfall.<br />
"So, right now, we have tons of drops, so we're trying to make a waterfall.''<br />
Tampa Bay has used four rookie forwards with no previous NHL<br />
experience: Cory Conacher, Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Richard Panik.<br />
They have combined for 12 goals and 31 points. They also have scored five<br />
game-winning goals, accounting for half of Tampa Bay's 10 victories this<br />
season.<br />
Even 26-year-old Pierre-Cedric Labrie, who appeared in 14 games with the<br />
Lightning last season and is listed as a rookie, looks more confident on the<br />
ice this season.<br />
One thing all five players have in common — they all played two months<br />
last season for head coach Jon Cooper as Tampa Bay's affiliate in the<br />
American Hockey League captured the Calder Cup championship. Winning<br />
breeds confidence, and having success in a system similar to the<br />
Lightning's aids in the transition to the NHL level.<br />
"They are learning good habits playing for Coop in the American Hockey<br />
League, that's No. 1,'' Yzerman said. "They're learning how to play<br />
responsible defense, so they are good all-around players, as well. So, they<br />
come in and they fit in."<br />
Conacher, the MVP in the AHL last season, is a legitimate Calder Trophy<br />
candidate and leads NHL rookies with 20 points and 13 assists. Killorn is<br />
tied for seventh among rookies with four goals and tied for 10th with eight<br />
points despite not being called up until Feb. 10. Both have been key<br />
contributors on the top two lines.<br />
Panik, who has since been sent back to Syracuse, looked electric at times<br />
and showed flashes of the player he can be once he becomes an NHL<br />
regular. Palat, who had assists in each of his first two games, came as<br />
advertised, a reliable two-way player capable of making plays.<br />
Cooper feels like a proud father.<br />
"It's unreal watching them come in wet behind the ears, buy into what we<br />
are preaching and become players,'' Cooper said. "All of us, players<br />
included, are fired up for the guys.''<br />
Not all have been Yzerman finds. Killorn was a 2007 draft pick under former<br />
general manager Jay Feaster, while Panik was a second-round pick by<br />
former general manager Brian Lawton.<br />
Conacher was a college free agent signed last season, and Palat was a<br />
seventh-round pick in 2011. And others currently in Syracuse are expected<br />
to see NHL action in the near future, including forwards Tyler Johnson, J.T.<br />
Brown, Brett Connolly and Vladislav Namestnikov, plus defensemen Mark<br />
Barberio and Radko Gudas. All but Barberio were acquired by Yzerman.<br />
Developing young players capable of making their way to the parent club is<br />
a vital part of Yzerman's vision for long-term success, particularly under the<br />
restraints of a salary cap.<br />
"You can't keep going out every summer and spending money on<br />
unrestricted free agents; the cost financially is high," Yzerman said. "So,<br />
you need young guys coming into the organization and these guys have<br />
been with us for a couple of years and know what we are trying to do.''<br />
And they are going out and doing it.<br />
JETS AT LIGHTNING<br />
WHEN: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.<br />
WHERE: The Forum, Tampa<br />
TV/RADIO: Sun Sports/970 AM<br />
INJURIES: Lightning — D Mattias Ohlund (knee), LW Benoit Pouliot (right<br />
arm), out; LW G Mathieu Garon (lower body), doubtful; Ryan Malone (lower<br />
body), questionable. Jets — D Tobias Enstrom (shoulder), D Zach<br />
Redmond (leg), RW Anthony Peluso (hand), out.<br />
All-TIME SERIES: Lightning are 40-25-10, including 1-0 this season<br />
NEED TO KNOW: This is the second of five meetings. …Tampa Bay is 26-<br />
8-4 all-time at home against Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise. …The Jets have<br />
been outscored 30-19 in the third period this season. …G Ondrej Pavelec<br />
has started 10 consecutive games for Winnipeg and head coach Claude<br />
Noel hinted Al Montoya might start tonight. Montoya is 3-2 with a 2.70<br />
goals-against average and .909 save percentage in six career games<br />
against Tampa Bay. …The Jets are 1-for-32 on the power play in the past<br />
13 games. …C Steven Stamkos has 21 goals and 38 points in 25 career<br />
games against Winnipeg. …Since winning five of six, Winnipeg been<br />
outscored 7-1 in consecutive losses.<br />
Tampa Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
662144 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Ryan Malone ready to return to Tampa Bay Lightning's lineup<br />
Damian Cristodero<br />
Ryan Malone was hurt before the Feb. 10 game at the Rangers during the<br />
team’s usual soccer ball kick-around.<br />
The Lightning should get a boost tonight against the Jets when left wing<br />
Ryan Malone returns to the lineup after missing 13 games with a lowerbody<br />
injury.<br />
“It feels good,” Malone said. “I think we just took our time with it and went<br />
through the rehab properly. So, it feels good, and I’m excited to get back for<br />
a big game.”<br />
Malone, 33, was hurt before the Feb. 10 game at the Rangers during the<br />
team’s usual soccer ball kick-around. Malone said he aggravated an<br />
existing condition when he tried to kick the ball.<br />
It took so Malone so long to get back, he said, because the team wanted<br />
him completely healed before he got back on the ice. A good plan as<br />
Malone has been injury prone. He has not played more than 70 games in<br />
any of his four previous Tampa Bay seasons, and in 20010-11 played only<br />
54.<br />
“We didn’t want to come back too early for any reason,” Malone said. “You<br />
want to do everything you can to help the team, but you want to make sure<br />
you do everything you can not to get injured again.”<br />
“Nothing is like a game,” Malone added, “but as much body contact as I<br />
could get in practice, we did. I’m fully healed and ready.”<br />
Expect Malone, who has four goals and five points in 10 games, to take his<br />
usual turns on the power play and penalty kill, though coach Guy Boucher<br />
said he will monitor Malone’s minutes.<br />
“He hasn’t played in a long timer, so I have to be smart and give him the<br />
minutes he can manager,” Boucher said. “I’m going to have to hold it back a<br />
little bit so he can look good on the ice.”<br />
Other stuff from the morning skate: With Malone back in the lineup, sounds<br />
as if forward Adam Hall will be scratched. … Center Steven Stamkos, with a<br />
league-best 17 goals, did not skate but is expected to play. Boucher said<br />
Stamkos simply deserved a rest. … Defensemen Marc-Ander Bergeron and<br />
Brendan Mikkelson also will be scratched. … As expected, Anders<br />
Lindback will be in net against Winnipeg. … Goaltender Mathieu Garon on<br />
Wednesday had an MRI exam on the lower body injury that forced him out<br />
of Monday’s game at Pittsburgh. He said the exam came back all clear and<br />
he will skate Friday and then re-evaluate. … Captain Vinny Lecavalier’s<br />
production has fallen off recently, but it coincides with his left foot injury,<br />
sustained Feb. 2, when he took a slap shot from teammate Sami Salo flush<br />
off the left foot. Lecavalier has two goals and nine points in 15 games since<br />
then. Before the injury he had four goals and 11 points in eight games. “It’s<br />
been tough for him,” Boucher said. “It affects his push-off, it affects his<br />
timing. Eventually, it’s his confidence. He was just trying to survive out<br />
there.” But Lecavalier has shown signs of a rebound with three assists in<br />
his past two games. His two-point effort Tuesday at New Jersey was his<br />
best overall since his injury. “I definitely feel stronger now,” he said. “It feels<br />
better every day.” Asked if a game or two off would have helped, Lecavalier<br />
said sitting out was never seriously considered, especially with the team<br />
struggling. “You want to be part of it,” he said. “You want to keep pushing<br />
through as a player. You ask any guys in this room. If the same thing<br />
happened, they would do the same thing. They want to keep playing and<br />
want to keep going.” … Rookie Cory Conacher said the head shot he took<br />
Tuesday from New Jersey’s Cam Janssen “hurt a little” but “I tried to get up<br />
as fast as I could to show no pain.” Janssen left his feet and used his<br />
shoulder to hit Conacher. Janssen got a charging penalty. There was no<br />
supplementary discipline from the league. “It was my fault for not guarding<br />
myself a little better and expecting the hit,” Conacher said, and added about<br />
teammate Victor Hedman confronting Janssen, “It’s the type of teammate<br />
you want. It’s important to have guys like that on your team. It shows a lot of<br />
character. You have to appreciate him doing that for me. … Terry Crisp, the<br />
Lightning’s first coach and now a television analyst for the Predators, will be<br />
honored at tonight’s game as part of Tampa Bay’s 20th anniversary<br />
celebration.<br />
Tampa Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
662145 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Lightning can't build on win, lose to Jets<br />
By ERIK ERLENDSSON<br />
TAMPA Same old story, same old song and dance.<br />
Tampa Bay returned home only to lose momentum in a game they almost<br />
had to have, dropping a 2-1 decision to division rival Winnipeg.<br />
Tampa Bay failed to build off a victory in New Jersey on Tuesday to close<br />
out a four-game road trip. The league's second-ranked home power play<br />
failed to give Tampa Bay any life against the league's worst-ranked penalty<br />
kill, going 0-for-4 on the night.<br />
The teams went back and forth in an entertaining opening period, looking<br />
like two teams battling for position in the division, coming into the game tied<br />
for second place in the Southeast.<br />
It was Winnipeg that struck first when Eric Tangradi came off the left-side<br />
boards, took two strides toward the net and snapped a wrist shot that beat<br />
Lindback shortside high 10:05 into the game. The goal was the first for<br />
Tangradi, acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh last month, since Oct. 15,<br />
2010 against the New York Rangers, a span of 50 games.<br />
The Lightning then went to work against the league's worst ranked penalty<br />
kill unit, a team Tampa Bay scored three power play goals against in the<br />
first meeting of the season. But the Lightning power play, which has<br />
struggled since that outburst against Winnipeg on Feb. 1, failed to convert<br />
on numerous chances, the first coming in the opening period on Evander<br />
Kane's high sticking penalty.<br />
Then Olli Jokinen took a goaltender interference penalty 3:05 into the<br />
second period that failed to result in a tying goal. The clincher in power play<br />
futility on Thursday, however, came at 7:57 when Mark Postma was called<br />
for interference and Mark Stuart was whistled for high sticking giving the<br />
Lightning a full two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play. But after four shots on<br />
goal, and a bit of overpassing with five forwards on the ice for the full length<br />
of the man advantage, Tampa Bay came away empty and started at a onegoal<br />
deficit entering the final period.<br />
That's when the highest-scoring, third-period team in the league went to<br />
work when Stamkos notched the tying goal 6:57 into the period. Ryan<br />
Malone, back in the lineup after missing 13 games, raced to a puck deep in<br />
the Jets' zone along the left endboards and was able to push a puck over to<br />
Marty St. Louis in the opposite corner. St. Louis then quickly put a pass on<br />
the stick of Stamkos at the top of the Winnipeg crease for a tap-in to tie the<br />
game.<br />
But just moments after rookie Ondrej Palat hit the post off a perfect set up<br />
in from Cory Conacher, Bryan Little came off the left side boards low to<br />
power past Marty St. Louis to regain the lead for Winnipeg with 4:08 left in<br />
regulation.<br />
Tampa Tribune LOADED: 03.08.2013
662146 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Lightning has dug tough hole<br />
Tom Jones<br />
TAMPA — The first half of the Lightning season didn't go exactly as<br />
planned.<br />
Well, I'm assuming when general manager Steve Yzerman put together the<br />
roster and coach Guy Boucher drew up the blueprints, the plan didn't<br />
include a five-game losing streak and then another five-game losing streak.<br />
I'm also assuming the plan did not include new goalie Anders Lindback<br />
taking this long to find his sea legs, or Ryan Malone getting hurt again, or<br />
seeing just how many back-breaking turnovers the defense could cough up<br />
on a given night.<br />
And, most of all, the plan wasn't to be treading and gulping water while the<br />
rest of the Eastern Conference swims toward the playoffs after Thursday<br />
night's 2-1 clunker to the Jets.<br />
Just imagine how dire things would be if the Lightning hadn't won six of its<br />
first seven games.<br />
Despite all the well-intentioned plans that have gone array, Yzerman says<br />
no major changes are coming.<br />
Boucher isn't going anywhere. Neither is captain Vinny Lecavalier or any of<br />
the Lightning's other major pieces. Don't look for the Lightning to go in<br />
search of another goalie or, for that matter, make any significant additions.<br />
What you see is pretty much what the Lightning is going to stick with for the<br />
second half, which, believe it or not, is already here.<br />
So here's what needs to happen in the second half if the Lightning is to<br />
salvage this season and make a playoff push.<br />
Stamkos has to keep being Stamkos<br />
Boucher bragged Thursday about how the Lightning has had 19 different<br />
goal scorers and was tied for the league lead in goals heading into the<br />
game against Winnipeg.<br />
"Scoring is not an issue," Boucher said.<br />
Well, that's not entirely true. The Lightning tends to pile on the goals in<br />
victories. It is 7-2 in games decided by three goals or more, but after<br />
Thursday's loss to the Jets, is 1-8-1 in one-goal games.<br />
The larger issue is many of its top players go into prolonged slumps.<br />
Lecavalier hasn't scored in nine games. Teddy Purcell has gone 10 games<br />
without a goal. Marty St. Louis had a 10-game drought earlier this season.<br />
Fortunately for the Lightning, Steven Stamkos, who scored Tampa Bay's<br />
lone goal Thursday for his league-leading 18th, is immune to such slumps.<br />
His longest stretch without a goal has been five games.<br />
Certainly the Lightning needs goals from everybody, but this team has little<br />
chance of making second-half noise if Stamkos doesn't stay red hot.<br />
The goalie has to steal a game here and there<br />
No team, well except for the Blackhawks, can bring its A-game every night.<br />
So every now and then, a team has to win a game that it has absolutely no<br />
business winning.<br />
The only way to do that is to have the goalie steal a game — you know, the<br />
type of game where you're outshot 40-15 and you end up winning 2-1<br />
because your goalie makes saves so good that even ESPN is forced to<br />
show the highlights.<br />
Right now, Lindback doesn't seem capable of producing those type of<br />
games, but the Lightning will need him or Mathieu Garon to stumble onto a<br />
couple.<br />
The Lightning must tighten up<br />
While it's true that Lindback has given up his fair share of soft goals — and<br />
you could make a strong case that both were on the shaky side in<br />
Thursday's game — it's also true that the Lightning has been way too<br />
careless with the puck.<br />
If you're going to get below-average goaltending, you have to play aboveaverage<br />
defense.<br />
It needs to win on the road<br />
Even if the Lightning plays fairly well at home down the stretch, it will need,<br />
perhaps, 14 or so points in the final 12 road games.<br />
That doesn't seem too much to ask until you realize in its first 12 road<br />
games, the Lightning went 4-8 for only eight points. That won't work in the<br />
second half.<br />
Final analysis<br />
Based on the Lightning's first half, a second-half comeback seems like an<br />
awful lot to ask. It's already five points out of the eighth and final playoff<br />
spot in the Eastern Conference. It's already six points behind the leader in<br />
the Southeast Division. That's a sizeable gap with only 24 games left.<br />
Stamkos said after the game that the Lightning might need to win 17 of its<br />
final 24 games to make the playoffs. That sounds about right.<br />
Is it impossible? Is the Lightning season over? Should it just start looking<br />
forward to next season?<br />
Well, no, no, and no.<br />
But does a second-half comeback appear likely? That, too, would be a no.<br />
Put it this way: I wouldn't plan on it.<br />
Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662147 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Jets' late goal sinks Lightning<br />
Damian Cristodero<br />
TAMPA — Center Steven Stamkos figures it will take 16 victories in the<br />
Lightning's final 24 games to make the playoffs — maybe 15, maybe 17.<br />
Whatever, "We have to think there are a number of points that it's going to<br />
take to be in the playoffs," he said, "or we're going to be out quick."<br />
Such talk, unthinkable during a 6-1-0 start, took on a dour sense of urgency<br />
after Thursday night's 2-1 loss to the Jets in front of a grumbly sellout crowd<br />
of 19,204 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.<br />
It was the seventh loss in nine games for the Lightning (10-13-1), which at<br />
the halfway mark of the lockout-shortened 48-game season is six points<br />
behind the first-place Hurricanes in the Southeast Division and five behind<br />
the Ran-gers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.<br />
Worse, Carolina has a game in hand on Tampa Bay, New York has two,<br />
and the Lightning is two points from the bottom of the conference.<br />
It also fell to 1-8-1 in one-goal games.<br />
So much for building momentum off Tuesday's 5-2 win at New Jersey.<br />
But that's what happens when you can't put away prime scoring chances,<br />
Anders Lindback allows two soft goals and Marty St. Louis loses a puck<br />
battle that leads to Bryan Little's goal with 4:08 left in the third that breaks a<br />
1-1 tie.<br />
"Yup, it's a tall order," coach Guy Boucher said of a playoff spot. "But we're<br />
in the business of doing the impossible, and that's what it's going to have to<br />
be."<br />
Stamkos got his league-best 18th goal to tie the score 6:57 into the third.<br />
But for the second straight 2-1 loss at home (Feb. 26 to the Sabres), the<br />
Lightning could not convert its chances.<br />
Al Montoya made 28 saves, but the Lightning was 0-for-5 on the power<br />
play, including a second-period, two-minute five-on-three, Montoya diving to<br />
glove Vinny Lecavalier's point-blank shot.<br />
Matt Carle and Ondrej Palat hit posts in the third period.<br />
"We missed incredible, quality scoring chances, and it's biting us," Boucher<br />
said. "When you get 15 scoring chances to nine, you're supposed to win the<br />
game."<br />
That is if your defense and goaltending are sound.<br />
The Lightning had a season-high 14 giveaways, Lindback gave too much<br />
shortside room on Alex Tangradi's first-period goal and Little's goal squirted<br />
under him.<br />
"A quick, good shot on the first one. I just couldn't get over there," Lindback<br />
said. "The other, I gave too much space. I tried to stay compact, and it went<br />
in. It's unfortunate."<br />
So was St. Louis' defense on Little in a defensive zone corner — "I gave the<br />
outer corner, and it goes in the net," he said — and Brian Lee and Nate<br />
Thompson could have done a better job against Kyle Wellwood, whose<br />
hard work along the boards led to Tangradi's goal.<br />
Cleary, not what a playoff push is supposed to look like.<br />
"It didn't turn out the way I expected," St. Louis said of the season. "No, not<br />
at all."<br />
There's still time to turn things around — but not much.<br />
Jets 1 0 1 2<br />
Lightning 0 0 1 1<br />
Jets 1 0 1 2<br />
Lightning 0 0 1 1<br />
First Period—1, Winnipeg, Tangradi 1, 10:05. Penalties—Kane, Wpg (highsticking),<br />
11:45.<br />
Second Period—None. Penalties—Stuart, Wpg, major (fighting), :19;<br />
Crombeen, TB, major (fighting), :19; Jokinen, Wpg (goaltender<br />
interference), 3:05; Stuart, Wpg (high-sticking), 7:57; Postma, Wpg<br />
(interference), 7:57; Hedman, TB (tripping), 16:30; Brewer, TB (hooking),<br />
17:40.<br />
Third Period—2, Tampa Bay, Stamkos 18 (St. Louis, Malone), 6:57. 3,<br />
Winnipeg, Little 4 (Ladd), 15:52. Penalties—Winnipeg bench, served by<br />
Jokinen (too many men), :55. Shots on Goal—Winnipeg 13-7-8—28.<br />
Tampa Bay 12-6-11—29. Power-play opportunities—Winnipeg 0 of 2;<br />
Tampa Bay 0 of 5. Goalies—Winnipeg, Montoya 3-0-0 (29 shots-28 saves).<br />
Tampa Bay, Lindback 8-6-1 (28-26). A—19,204 (19,204).<br />
Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662148 Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
Bruised foot hobbles Lecavalier<br />
Damian Cristodero<br />
TAMPA — Captain Vinny Lecavalier conceded that his bruised left foot has<br />
been hindering him the past month, something that was obvious on the stat<br />
sheet.<br />
In eight games before the center took a slap shot from teammate Sami Salo<br />
flush off the foot Feb. 2 against the Rangers, the center had four goals and<br />
11 points. In 14 games since, he has two goals and nine points.<br />
"It was tough for him," coach Guy Boucher said Thursday. "It affects his<br />
push-off, his timing. He was just trying to survive out there."<br />
Boucher said he considered sitting Lecavalier for a few games to let him<br />
heal. But Lecavalier, 32, said that discussion did not go far.<br />
"You want to be part of it," he said. "You want to keep pushing through as a<br />
player. Ask any guy in this room. If the same thing happened, they would do<br />
the same thing. They'd want to keep playing and want to keep going."<br />
There are signs Lecavalier is mending. He has three assists over his<br />
previous three games, and his two-assist effort Tuesday against the Devils<br />
was his best all-around game since he was hurt.<br />
Against the Jets on Thursday, he had 22:01 of ice time, four shots on goal<br />
and won 13 of 18 faceoffs.<br />
"When Vinny is at his best, it makes a difference," Boucher said.<br />
"It's getting stronger," Lecavalier said. "It's getting better every day, for<br />
sure."<br />
MALONE PLAYS: LW Ryan Malone played after missing 13 games with a<br />
lower-body injury.<br />
"It feels good," he said before the game. "We just took our time and went<br />
about the rehab properly. So it feels good, and I'm excited to be back."<br />
Malone, 33, was hurt prior to the Feb. 10 game at the Ran-gers when<br />
during pregame soccer warmups he aggravated an existing condition. It<br />
took longer than expected to return, Malone said, because the team wanted<br />
him completely healed.<br />
Since coming to Tampa Bay in 2008-09, Malone has not played more than<br />
70 games in a season.<br />
"You want to do everything you can to help the team," he said. "But you<br />
want to do everything you can to make sure you don't get injured again."<br />
Malone, with four goals and six points in 11 games, showed no ill effects<br />
with 19:26 of ice time Thursday and winning a race for the puck to get a<br />
secondary assist on Steven Stamkos' goal.<br />
INJURY REPORT: Mathieu Garon's MRI exam on the lower-body injury that<br />
knocked him out of Monday's game with the Penguins was clear, the goalie<br />
said. He is on injured reserve retroactive to Monday. The first game for<br />
which he potentially is available is Tuesday at Florida.<br />
BONDING: LW Cory Conacher had nothing bad to say about the head shot<br />
he took Tuesday from New Jersey's Cam Janssen. In fact, the rookie said<br />
of the hit that caused no damage: "It was my fault for not guarding myself<br />
better and expecting the hit."<br />
Janssen got two minutes for charging, and there was no supplementary<br />
discipline by the league. He was, however, confronted after the hit by<br />
Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman.<br />
"I thought it was dirty," Hedman said. "So obviously, I want to step in there<br />
and prove a point that he's not doing that to one of our skill guys."<br />
"You have to appreciate him doing that," Conacher said. "It's the type of<br />
teammate you want."<br />
NICE SENTIMENT: Terry Crisp, the Lightning first coach and now a<br />
television analyst for the Predators, was honored as part of Tampa Bay's<br />
20th anniversary celebration, and he reveled in the spotlight.<br />
"I coached for 20-plus years. And I've been called a lot of things, and some<br />
of them I deserved," Crisp said. "But the nicest thing they call me is I'm an<br />
original Lightning, and that sticks pretty nice, I'll tell you."<br />
ODDS AND ENDS: The Lightning won 61 percent of faceoffs against the<br />
Jets. … C Adam Hall and defensemen Brendan Mikkelson and Marc-Andre<br />
Bergeron were scratched.<br />
Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662149 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
NHLPA gives its approval for realignment<br />
The union has agreed to the league’s idea of four divisions rather than six,<br />
with two eight-team divisions in the East and two seven-team divisions in<br />
the West.<br />
By: Kevin McGran Sports reporter, Published on Thu Mar 07 2013<br />
While the players of the NHL appear to have some reservations,<br />
realignment for next season seems all but done.<br />
The NHLPA issued a statement saying the union has given its approval to<br />
the league’s idea of four divisions rather than six, with two eight-team<br />
divisions in the East and two-seven team divisions in the West.<br />
“After discussions with the executive board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” NHLPA<br />
executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement.<br />
The agreement with the players will see the league realign for a minimum of<br />
three years, but the issue will be revisited.<br />
The players had been concerned that unbalanced conferences would mean<br />
it would make it easier for players in the West to make the playoffs.<br />
The league needed the association’s approval before it takes is plan to the<br />
board of governors.<br />
“The NHL Players’ Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised plan for realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season,” NHL<br />
deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed plan for realignment to the NHL board of governors for<br />
its consideration.”<br />
Nothing is carved in stone yet, but the latest chatter about realignment<br />
would see the Maple Leafs play in the Central Division with the Montreal<br />
Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red<br />
Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.<br />
The Atlantic Division would include: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, N.Y.<br />
Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pittsburgh and Washington.<br />
In the Western Conference, the Pacific Division would have: Anaheim,<br />
Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.<br />
And the Mid-West Division would hold: Chicago, Colorado, Dallas,<br />
Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.<br />
The top three teams in each division would make the playoffs, along with<br />
the four wild-card teams, which would be the best two non-division winners<br />
in each conference.<br />
Toronto Star LOADED: 03.08.2013
662150 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Vincent Damphousse and ex-wife come to truce<br />
Former Maple Leaf settles looming assault charges with ex-wife<br />
By: The Canadian Press Published on Thu Mar 07 2013<br />
MONTREAL - There may be a truce in a legal scrap between a former NHL<br />
star and his ex-wife in which both parties had filed assault charges against<br />
each other.<br />
Vincent Damphousse and his ex-wife Allana Henderson each filed assault<br />
charges in 2011.<br />
The Crown in the case told a court Thursday that it had proposed a<br />
settlement to both defendants.<br />
Damphousse and Henderson will study the proposals and are due back in<br />
court at the end of April.<br />
Damphousse, a former Montreal Canadiens captain and long-time NHLer,<br />
faces six counts of assaulting Henderson between 2008 and 2011.<br />
Henderson, his ex-wife, faces one charge of assault with a weapon and of<br />
theft of a briefcase in March 2011.<br />
Both Damphousse and Henderson have pleaded not guilty to their charges.<br />
Following his arrest, Damphousse's lawyer suggested the charges against<br />
his client stemmed from acrimonious divorce proceedings.<br />
The case has continued to work its way through the legal system but both<br />
sides have kept talking in the hope of having the criminal charges dropped.<br />
Damphousse was drafted sixth overall by Toronto in 1986 and started his<br />
career in that city before stops in Edmonton, Montreal and San Jose during<br />
an 18-year NHL career that ended following the 2003-2004 season.<br />
He won a Stanley Cup in 1993 with the Habs and served as the team's<br />
captain from 1996 to 1999.<br />
In 1,378 NHL games, he scored 432 goals and amassed 1,205 points.<br />
Damphousse is seen regularly on French-language TV as a hockey analyst.<br />
Toronto Star LOADED: 03.08.2013
662151 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Maple Leafs tough guy act has the Boston Bruins talking<br />
Bruins coach complimentary as Maple Leafs, Bruins set to clash<br />
By: Kevin McGran Sports reporter, Published on Thu Mar 07 2013<br />
The Boston Bruins don't need to see Frazer McLaren's knockout punch to<br />
know the Maple Leafs are a different team this year, a tougher one to play<br />
against.<br />
Bruins coach Claude Julien went so far as to call the Maple Leafs legitimate<br />
contenders.<br />
“They've done a great job with that team, the coaching staff,” Julien said<br />
prior to the Leafs-Bruins game Thursday night. “They are playing really well<br />
defensively. They've tightened up their game. Offensively, they're still a<br />
skilled team, but they're doing the grunt work.<br />
“They come at you hard. I'm one of those guys who believe they're a legit<br />
contender. No doubt about it. They play like one.”<br />
McLaren's knockout punch on Ottawa's David Dziurzynski on Wednesday<br />
night reverberated through the Bruins room.<br />
“Everyone saw that fight,” said Bruins forward Milan Lucic. “Both guys were<br />
willing to go. I don't have a problem with staged fighting at all. I never have<br />
and I never will. It's one of those things where a punch gets through.<br />
“A guy with that kind of power hits another guy. It's a physical sport,<br />
sometimes guys get hurt. It's the nature of the game.”<br />
The Leafs took the morning off, declining a chance for a morning skate prior<br />
to facing an old nemesis: the Boston Bruins, a team they haven't beaten in<br />
seven tries and nearly two years.<br />
The Maple Leafs find themselves rubbing elbows with the NHL's elite after<br />
they hit the the halfway point of the season.<br />
At 15-9-0, the Leafs sit comfortably in a playoff spot and closer to first place<br />
in the Eastern Conference (just two points shy of Montreal) than they are<br />
from ninth.<br />
With 30 points, they have the sixth-most points in the entire NHL and are<br />
looking more and more like a playoff team.<br />
“You never want to get too far ahead of yourself,” said Leafs goalie James<br />
Reimer after a 5-4 win over Ottawa. “We weren't as sharp as we should<br />
have been and we have to learn from that, but we have a good team, we<br />
have confidence in each other, that we can find ways to win.<br />
Toronto Star LOADED: 03.08.2013
662152 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Bruins' Lucic a fan of Maple Leafs' fighter<br />
By Rob Longley, Toronto Sun<br />
Rugged Bruins winger Milan Lucic wasn’t shy about joining in the debate<br />
over the staged fight between the Leafs’ Frazer McLaren and Ottawa’s<br />
Dave Dziurzynski on Wednesday night.<br />
While Lucic felt bad for the Sens rookie, who suffered a concussion, he has<br />
the utmost respect for McLaren, who he tussled with as a junior in the<br />
Western Hockey League.<br />
“I had three fights with him over the two years we played against each<br />
other,” Lucic said following the Bruins morning skate on Friday. “He was<br />
definitely a tough guy who knew how to take care of himself. He’s shown<br />
that with what he’s done so far this year.<br />
“He’s got size, he’s got long arms. He can brawl. He can play any way you<br />
want.”<br />
OTHER KESSEL ON FIRE<br />
Leafs sniper Phil Kessel didn’t light it up as a goal scorer during the first half<br />
of the NHL season, but another family member hasn’t had such problems.<br />
Kessel’s sister, Amanda Kessel — a junior at the University of Minnesota —<br />
has been named as one of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial<br />
Award honouring the best player in NCAA women’s hockey.<br />
Kessel has been on fire this season, a big reason her team is undefeated<br />
with a 36-0 record. In 32 games, she has 43 goals and 51 assists for 94<br />
points. Included in that run are 28 multiple-point games and 11 with at least<br />
four points. Minnesota teammates Megan Bozek and Noora Raty, a<br />
Finnish-born goalie, are on the ballot, too.<br />
VISOR ADVICE<br />
Claude Julien says he was an early advocate for helmets to be mandated<br />
for new players coming into the NHL. Now, with the frightful Marc Staal<br />
injury with a puck to the eye once again highlighting the dangers, Julien is<br />
making the same plea for visors to be adopted by all.<br />
“Whoever comes up from this year forward has to wear a visor,” the Boston<br />
coach suggested on Thursday morning. “If you’ve been brought up with a<br />
visor and you’re used to it, then why not wear it (in the NHL)?<br />
“There was a time when visors first came out that gave you a certain<br />
(cowardly) reputation. That’s gone, that no longer exists. Now a visor is<br />
about protection and if you’re used to it you should wear it. That’s an<br />
opinion of a coach. But there ar logistics as far as the NHLPA goes (in<br />
terms of personal choice).”<br />
BEAR FACTS ON LOSING<br />
It’s fair to say two straight losses has not been that big of a deal for the<br />
Leafs in years past when such streaks have gone on much longer.<br />
But this year is different with the Leafs not yet exceeding consecutive<br />
losses. But two losses for the highly rated Bruins was more unsettling,<br />
especially letting games slip away in the latter stages. The past couple of<br />
days had seen a lot of soul searching.<br />
“Our game has slipped a little bit, we’re not going to deny that,” Julien said<br />
at the morning skate. “We have to pick up our game. There are ups and<br />
down in a season. I’m not saying we’re down, but we certainly have to be<br />
better to get back where we want to me.<br />
“When you struggle, you don’t struggle in just one area.”<br />
Toronto Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662153 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Leafs' setback no reason to panic<br />
By Rob Longley, Toronto Sun<br />
BOSTON - Claude Julien is no fool, so when he called the Leafs “legit<br />
contenders” on Thursday morning, it may have just been a bit of coachspeak<br />
and little more.<br />
What did the Bruins coach have to lose, after all, given that his team had<br />
won seven in a row against their division rivals, a team Julien figured might<br />
be dog-tired later that night?<br />
The result may have been predictable then, a 4-2 Bruins win, but by no<br />
means was the final score the story of the game. While a win would have<br />
been a significant step forward for the Leafs, a loss is certainly no cause for<br />
panic.<br />
This loss, in fact, may have been cause for the opposite.<br />
They didn’t play like a tired team, they didn’t back down from any physical<br />
battled and, unlike most of the eight previous losses they now have against<br />
the Bruins, they didn’t wither away when trailing.<br />
“That was a hard-fought hockey game, that was a man’s game,” Leafs<br />
captain Dion Phaneuf said. “There was everything in it.<br />
“When we play our system, we feel and we know that we can be<br />
competitive with every team. When we play the style of play that we have to<br />
do to be effective, it gives us a chance to win every night.”<br />
Not on this night, though one or two fewer defensive errors and a good<br />
bounce here or there and the slide against the Bruins could have ended.<br />
Arguably, the Leafs played tougher and cleaner than in the win against the<br />
Senators the previous night and perhaps proved something in the process.<br />
“We played hard,” centre Jay McClement said. “I know the guys wanted to<br />
come out in a different way that they played the Bruins last year. It’s a good<br />
measuring stick for us. We’re right there with them. It was gutsy for us to<br />
come in here and play like that.”<br />
GAME ON<br />
It was only a half-hearted rendition compared to the one we heard last year,<br />
but when Tyler Seguin scored his sixth of the season, the TD Garden<br />
responded with the “Thank you, Kessel” chant. Seguin has struggled this<br />
season but, with his two goals (including an empty netter), he now has 15<br />
points in 14 career games versus the Leafs ... The Bruins were in full grindit-out<br />
mode in the third period and the Leafs’ inability to create traffic in front<br />
of the net made it even more difficult. When they finally got some traction,<br />
McClement got a tip-in goal to pull the Leafs to within one and make for an<br />
interesting final five minutes ... Defensively it was a mixed effort for the<br />
Leafs, who had held the Bruins to just 16 shots on goal through 46 minutes<br />
and 25 overall. That good work was neutralized by sloppy defensive play on<br />
two of the Bruins goals ... It’s now 716 days and counting since the Leafs<br />
last won in Boston ... Julien on Seguin and his three-point night: “He’s<br />
picked his play up the last couple of weeks. There’s no hesitation in his<br />
game.” ... The B’s eight-game winning streak over the Leafs is the longest<br />
in club history.<br />
HOW’S THAT, AGAIN?<br />
In case you missed it, here’s what Julien said about the Leafs: “I’m one of<br />
those guys that believes they are a legit contender, no doubt about it,” the<br />
coach said following Thursday’s morning skate. “They play like one.<br />
They’ve done a great job with that team, the coaching staff. They’ve really<br />
tightened up their game.” ... Not surprisingly, given the direction Carlyle<br />
gives his troops, James van Riemsdyk wasn’t buying it. “I think we are<br />
definitely heading in the right direction, but this is no time to be content.<br />
This is a time to step forward.” ... Nazem Kadri, you are not alone. The TD<br />
Garden PA man mangled Ben Scrivens’ name during player introductions ...<br />
Is it just me or does Scrivens make former Leaf Jonas Gustavsson look like<br />
a deft puckhandler? ... Julien’s comments caught the attention of Twitter,<br />
and the hashtag #legitleafs had some momentum throughout the night.<br />
Best response? We’ll go with “Claude was talking about the Blue Jays.” ...<br />
Carlyle on starting Scrivens: “We thought he gave us the best chance to win<br />
tonight.”<br />
QUICK HITS<br />
Plenty of talk around the Garden about Frazer McLaren’s KO punch of<br />
Ottawa’s Dave Dziurzynski. Boston’s Shawn Thornton knew what was<br />
coming when the Bruins dressing room opened following the morning skate<br />
and he wasn’t about to go there. As reporters approached Thornton he<br />
said: “Oh (bleep), here we go.” Then came the lone question from the<br />
scrum: Are you ready for Frazer McLaren and Colton Orr?” Thornton: “Oh<br />
(bleep), I’m out of here, I’m not talking about fighting.” ... There were plenty<br />
of big hits from both sides and one spirited first-period scrap between Mark<br />
Fraser and Adam McQuaid ... The Bruins had clearly been taking note of<br />
Kadri’s success and came out with a plan — to hit him and get under his<br />
skin. Andrew Ference dished out the biggest hit in the first, flattening him by<br />
the Bruins bench, which led to an extended chirping session with the Bruins<br />
players ... Don’t be surprised if we see more players try to rattle Kadri as he<br />
becomes a focus defensively down the stretch. How he handles it will be<br />
the next major test for the Leafs’ leading scorer, who now has 11 points in<br />
his past seven games ... We’ve seen how scrapping has helped the Leafs<br />
this season. Well, it doesn’t hurt the Bruins either. The B’s are now 8-3-1<br />
this season in games in which they’ve had at least one fight and 38-15-2<br />
over the past two seasons.<br />
Toronto Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662154 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
In today's NHL, you can just say no to fights<br />
By Mike Zeisberger, Toronto Sun<br />
The sickening sight of Senators forward Dave Dziurzynski lying face-first on<br />
the ice at the Air Canada Centre courtesy of Frazer McLaren’s lethal right<br />
fist will be for a long time embedded in the minds of all of us who were in<br />
the building to witness it.<br />
And in the aftermath, before the fighting vs. anti-fighting fraternities use this<br />
ugly incident as a stage to voice their own opinions, the most important<br />
thing, as former NHLer Nick Kypreos pointed out Thursday afternoon, is<br />
that “the kid is OK and has a full recovery.”<br />
We can all agree on that point, can’t we, people?<br />
After that, this issue gets as polarizing and as politically incorrect as<br />
possible, especially when Kypreos suggests that, as unpopular as the<br />
notion may seem, Dziurzynski could have avoided all of this.<br />
All the Sens rookie had to do when McLaren asked him if he wanted “to go”<br />
just 26 seconds into the game was to “just say no.”<br />
“In this league, you have the right to wear or not wear a visor,” Kypreos<br />
said. “And you also have the right not to fight, even if someone asks you to.<br />
“Twenty years ago, if you turned down a fight, you would be ridiculed in<br />
your own dressing room. You would be called a ‘chicken-bleep’ by your<br />
teammates. There was peer pressure to drop the gloves even if you didn’t<br />
want to.<br />
“It’s not that way anymore. Now you can turn down a fight without any<br />
repercussions. Heck, you’ve got guys now who get high-fived by their own<br />
teammates for turtling! If you would have tried that crap 20 years ago, you<br />
would have got beaten up worse in your own dressing room.”<br />
Like it or not, Dziurzynski could have rejected McLaren’s offer to scrap.<br />
That’s what had Sens general manager Bryan Murray scratching his head<br />
after the game. Why did the kid agree to drop the gloves with such a<br />
renowned heavyweight in the first place?<br />
Is it fair to make this a simple case of “Just say no?” Maybe not. At the<br />
same time, it is the players themselves, as Kypreos mentioned, who would<br />
rather have the right to make their own decisions rather than have their<br />
options legislated by the league, whether it comes to making face shields<br />
mandatory or taking fighting out of the game, staged or unstaged.<br />
The Marc Staal example underscores the point. A day after the Rangers<br />
defenceman was horrifically smacked in the eye by a deflected puck,<br />
NHLPA head Donald Fehr said Wednesday that, while his constituents<br />
have been strongly advised to wear visors, the mandate of the union is to<br />
give players freedom of choice.<br />
As long as the players association sticks to those guns, how do you get<br />
fisticuffs, staged or not, out of the game, especially when it does not appear<br />
many past and present players want it to leave?<br />
Perhaps you adopt an Ontario Hockey League system where you are<br />
suspended after a certain number of fights. But that still does not<br />
differentiate between staged fights and those policing-type bouts that some<br />
of us still feel are needed to offset the number of cheapshots in the game<br />
from escalating.<br />
Kypreos, for one, has every reason to want fighting banned after his career<br />
ended because of a September 1997 pre-season scrap against Ryan<br />
VandenBussche, an incident eerily similar to the McLaren-Dziurzynski one.<br />
But he doesn’t.<br />
“It looked like mine in ’97,” Kypreos said. “I fell face first. I was embarrassed<br />
by it. My life changed because of it. And I can live with that. Guys get hurt.<br />
Careers end. It’s no different than someone who rips open their knee. It’s<br />
not a game for the faint of heart.<br />
“I’d just say to the kid: ‘It’s humbling, so take your time, make sure you get<br />
healthy and get over it and start again.’ ”<br />
Kypreos believes even staged bouts serve as motivation.<br />
“You can’t deny the Leafs have a new feel they haven’t had for a long time,<br />
thanks in part to the McLarens, the (Colton) Orrs, the (Mark) Frasers,” he<br />
said. “They feel taller.”<br />
As for VandenBussche, he told Sportsnet The Fan 590 Wednesday that the<br />
Kypreos incident left him a more timid pugilist.<br />
“After that, I was a little more scared to fight,” he said. “You fear the<br />
consequences. You ask yourself, ‘Could that happen to me?’ ”<br />
For Dave Dziurzynski on Wednesday night, it did. And the one aspect the<br />
fighting and anti-fighting debaters agree on is that he gets well soon.<br />
Other than that, the fact that a player like Kypreos, whose career ended in a<br />
similar incident, still believes there is a place for fisticuffs in the game will<br />
only fuel the arguments for both sides.<br />
Toronto Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662155 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Maple Leafs a 'legit contender' for playoffs: Bruins coach Claude Julien<br />
By Rob Longley, Toronto Sun<br />
BOSTON - Randy Carlyle doesn’t want to talk playoffs for his Maple Leafs<br />
just yet, but the coach he will face tonight isn’t shy about making the leap<br />
for his latest opponent.<br />
Bruins coach Claude Julien called the Leafs “a legit contender” and a team<br />
that is dramatically tougher to play against than the one Boston dominated<br />
with six straight wins last season.<br />
“You just have to look at the game last night (a 5-4 win over Ottawa),”<br />
Julien said following his team’s morning skate in advance of tonight’s<br />
contest at the TD Garden. “They’ve done a good job with that team.<br />
They’ve definitely tightened up their game. I’m one of those guys who<br />
believe they are a legit contender.”<br />
Julien was no doubt engaging in some gamesmanship, but there’s no doubt<br />
teams and players around the league are taking notice of a Leafs team that<br />
has won its last three and could move ahead of the Bruins in the Northeast<br />
Division standings.<br />
The Leafs didn’t have a morning skate here after a late-night charter<br />
following the home win against the Sens. The Bruins, losers of their last<br />
two, had the night off and most players watched the game against Ottawa.<br />
“Different coach, different management, it looks like they have a whole new<br />
mentality over there,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. “It looks like they<br />
have a lot of confidence right now.<br />
“They’re a tough team because they definitely work hard and are very<br />
physical. They are buying into their system.”<br />
The Bruins will certainly be a stout test tonight as they look to get back on<br />
the winning track and build on thrie 14-3-3 record, their best 20-game start<br />
since 1979. Their current seven-game winning streak vs. the Leafs is the<br />
longest in the history of the Original Six rivals.<br />
There was much talk Thursday morning of the big knockout punch the<br />
Leafs Fraser McLaren knocked out Ottawa’s Dave Dziurzynski with on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
“Are you kidding, everyone saw it,” rugged Bruins winger Milan Lucic said.<br />
“I don’t have a problem with staged fighting at all. I never have and I don’t<br />
think I ever will.<br />
“It’s just one of those things where a punch gets through. A guy of his<br />
stature with that kind of power hits another guy ... it’s a physical sport.”<br />
Julien had a different view because of the harshness of the knockout.<br />
“Whether or not you are a fan of fights or not, it’s not something you want to<br />
see,” Julien said. “It didn’t feel good seeing that. It wasn’t pretty to watch.”<br />
Toronto Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662156 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Bruins show Leafs what's in store for them in loss<br />
By Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun<br />
BOSTON - The Maple Leafs made it past the foothills in the first half of their<br />
season, but their final 24 games will be a more arduous trip up the playoff<br />
mountain.<br />
With their element of surprise fading with each new game, Nazem Kadri<br />
getting more harsh treatment and divisional foes such as the Bruins still<br />
prominent on the schedule, there will be no free rides. The Bruins had a<br />
couple of days to read the glowing reports from Toronto’s opening half, with<br />
time to reflect on losing two third-period leads that knocked them from first<br />
in the conference. So they were ready to pounce when the Leafs dropped<br />
by Thursday after playing at home the night before against Ottawa.<br />
“We play teams like (Boston), you have to cut down on your mistakes,” said<br />
winger Jay McClement, whose late goal gave Toronto hope of an upset<br />
before a 4-2 loss. “We have to sustain what we’ve done, but we’re in a spot<br />
we like (15-10). We’re where we want to be and it’s easier than playing<br />
catch-up.”<br />
After lamenting his team “got out of its safe structure” with poor backchecking,<br />
coach Randy Carlyle would not criticize their work ethic under the<br />
schedule’s circumstances.<br />
“If we commit to that effort night in and night out, we’ll win our share of<br />
games,” said Carlyle.<br />
Boston did go with little-used backup goalie Anton Khudobin, who made 25<br />
saves, while Ben Scrivens allowed three on 24 shots with a Tyler Seguin<br />
empty netter tossed in.<br />
Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf had a rough night, minus two and an early<br />
third-period penalty. But he too has high hopes of the Leafs progressing,<br />
not regressing, in the second half.<br />
“Anytime you get to the halfway point, everything is ramped up,” Phaneuf<br />
said. “That will be even more evident in a year like this, a shortened season<br />
with games more condensed. Every game keeps getting bigger and bigger.<br />
You’ll see the intensity of each game increase down the stretch. We feel<br />
good about the way we’ve played and feel we’re in every game. But we<br />
know we can be better.”<br />
Leading scorer Kadri took his licks from the B’s, but had another goal.<br />
During four-on-four play in the second period after Phaneuf and Brad<br />
Marchand became entangled near the Leafs bench, Kadri broke away with<br />
the rejuvenated Clarke MacArthur and made it a 1-1 game. The latter<br />
lugged the puck after Carl Gunnarsson stole it at the Leafs line, with<br />
MacArthur threading it through two Bruins to Kadri.<br />
The young centre extended his points streak to seven games on the play,<br />
one shy of Phil Kessel’s team high last year and broke a Boston shutout<br />
streak of 149:19 versus Toronto going back to last season. He has 25<br />
points in 25 games. But Carlyle did not let him or linemates Leo Komarov<br />
and MacArthur off the hook for being lax on coverage on the winning goal<br />
by David Krejci.<br />
Kessel, meanwhile, was blanked for the seventh time in his past eight<br />
games against his former team and has been held to nine points in 20<br />
games overall. After Seguin finished off a 2-on-1 to make it 2-1, following<br />
Phaneuf losing his man, the “Thank You Kessel” chants fired up, in case<br />
anyone forgot Seguin was the pick Boston received in the trade.<br />
Boston is now 8-0-1 against the Leafs in the past nine meetings, including<br />
4-0 at home where they’ve out-scored Toronto 21-5. The Leafs now have<br />
two home games against Pittsburgh sandwiched between a trip to Winnipeg<br />
between now and Thursday.<br />
With anticipation of a fight or two breaking out, a first-period bout indeed<br />
occurred. Adam McQuaid and Mark Fraser went at it after Fraser caught a<br />
Bruin turning the wrong way and slammed him into the boards.<br />
“This year, the new personnel, we know we can compete physically with<br />
any team in the league,” said MacArthur. “You know we have a lot of guys<br />
who can answer the bell and stick up for teammates.”<br />
Right after a wild flurry that included Chris Kelly hitting the post, the Garden<br />
organist broke into Benny and the Jets for Scrivens’ sake. But the Bruins<br />
then created an odd-man rush for their opening goal. Seguin got off a shot<br />
as Phaneuf gave chase, but Patrice Bergeron beat James van Riemsdyk to<br />
the rebound. Seguin, Bergeron and Marchand all figured in the first two<br />
goals, while a nice rush orchestrated by Milan Lucic freed up Krejci alone in<br />
front of Scrivens late in the second.<br />
“Making the playoffs is our goal, but there’s a lot between here and there,”<br />
MacArthur said.<br />
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILT!<br />
Usually Dion Phaneuf would not be so enthusiastic to wish any Boston<br />
Bruin a happy birthday.<br />
But the Toronto captain did so for Milt Schmidt on Thursday night when the<br />
team legend was honoured for his 95th before the game. Phaneuf and<br />
Boston captain Zdeno Chara skated over to a gate near the Boston bench<br />
where Schmidt dropped the puck. He and Phaneuf had a quick greeting.<br />
“He looks good for 95. That’s unbelievable,” Phaneuf said.<br />
The Kitchener-born, Toronto-raised Schmidt has seen so much in his<br />
lifetime, playing in three different decades up to the mid 1950s, part of the<br />
famous Kraut Line, winning two Cups, having his number 15 retired and<br />
scouting Bobby Orr. He was also coaching the Bruins when Willie O’Ree<br />
caused a stir as the first black player in the NHL.<br />
“He isn’t black, he’s a Bruin,” was Schmidt’s famous quote.<br />
“I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world,” Schmidt told the Kitchener paper<br />
this week. “Many times, I think of Lou Gehrig and how he said he was one<br />
of the luckiest men in the world when he was sick and wasn’t expected to<br />
live too long. I put myself in his place, I can honestly say.”<br />
Toronto Sun LOADED: 03.08.2013
662157 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Marc Staal eye injury should be another wake-up call for NHL<br />
Cam Cole<br />
Marc Staal is 26, young enough that he never should have been in this<br />
position. The puck’s trajectory makes it so obvious that it would have struck<br />
a visor and bounced away.<br />
Each time another puck or stick strikes another National Hockey League<br />
player in or about the eye, and crimson splatters the ice, and teammates<br />
and opponents alike wave to the medics to get out there — hurry! — two<br />
emotions always shove all others aside.<br />
Watch Marc Staal take a puck to the face during Rangers vs. <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
The first is sadness.<br />
The second is anger.<br />
It was like that the night Marian Hossa’s follow-through of a clearing attempt<br />
sliced into Bryan Berard’s eye, instantly turning the former No. 1 overall<br />
draft pick’s future into a series of surgeries and finally a career muted by<br />
20/400 vision in one eye.<br />
It was like that the night a routine-looking deflected pass sailed upward into<br />
the face of Manny Malhotra, the puck catching him flush on the eyeball, for<br />
all intents and purposes reducing a splendid third-line centre, even after<br />
several procedures, into a defensive-zone faceoff specialist whose<br />
peripheral vision was so limited, eventually he had to be told for his own<br />
good that he couldn’t play any more.<br />
It was like that the night Mikhail Grabovski’s stick, on the follow-through of a<br />
shot at net, effectively ended the career of Philly’s Chris Pronger, a<br />
towering force of nature who always had seemed to play the game at a<br />
level, literally, above most of his fellow defencemen.<br />
And it was like that Tuesday night, when <strong>Flyers</strong> defenceman Kimmo<br />
Timonen’s point shot deflected off teammate Jakub Voracek’s stick and<br />
thudded against the right eyebrow of New York Rangers’ Marc Staal,<br />
sending the young defenceman to the ice clutching his face, screaming in<br />
pain, thrashing his legs — Images that, when his brother Eric saw them<br />
after his own game, made him, in his words “sick to my stomach.”<br />
“It’s scary to see,” said the Carolina forward, whose other NHL-playing<br />
brother, Jordan, is his Hurricanes teammate. “It’s an awful feeling … seeing<br />
him in that pain with his legs kicking.”<br />
And here’s where anger comes in. None of the Staal brothers wear visors.<br />
They are among the 27% of NHLers (recent data, figures may vary, check<br />
dealer for details) who, for reasons of their own, eschew eye protection.<br />
Maybe it’s a Thunder Bay manly-man thing, or a point of honor among<br />
brothers, maybe they just don’t like the feel of them, and couldn’t wait to be<br />
finished with junior hockey so they could take them off.<br />
That’s the explanation most often heard, and the one endorsed by the NHL<br />
Players Association: that it’s a personal choice, and ought to remain so.<br />
You can rip the NHLPA, if you like, for its cavalier attitude toward the health<br />
of its own members but the PA is only the players’ mouthpiece. This is the<br />
rank-and-file’s position. This is what they believe: that no one should be<br />
able to tell them they have to wear visors.<br />
Alan Eagleson aside, it almost makes you pine for the old days, when the<br />
league established the rules of engagement, when the NHLPA took the<br />
orders on safety issues, when the league simply said: “From now on,<br />
players must wear helmets.” Period. And the PA went along with it.<br />
Helmetless players already in the league were grandfathered, but everyone<br />
else had no choice.<br />
It took a death, Bill Masterson’s, from a massive head injury to get the NHL<br />
to act, but when it did, there was no forum for debate. There should be no<br />
forum for debate with visors, either. But then, we say that each time another<br />
player goes down, and then in a week or so, tops, we move on to other<br />
issues and this one slowly dies off.<br />
More than merely the players’ own myopia, though, is the really maddening<br />
aspect of what ought to be a simple, common-sense decision:<br />
The NHL, which goes to such great lengths to create and propagandize a<br />
department of player safety, and professes its deep caring for the welfare of<br />
the labour force, somehow never quite gets around to making visors a, um,<br />
hill it will die on in collective bargaining.<br />
The league will grind the players mercilessly over maximum contract length<br />
and salary cap and escrow and a thousand other points having to do with<br />
dollars — has lost a season-and-a-half in the last eight in order to draw its<br />
economic lines in the sand — but won’t go to the wall on eyes lost, multimillion-dollar<br />
assets wasted, lives ruined.<br />
If it simply said, “Visors mandatory, not negotiable. Now let’s move on to<br />
other points,” there would be some give-and-take on money issues, and the<br />
players would shrug and say: “Oh, OK. At least we got our dough.”<br />
If guys are not doing it someone else has to make the choice for them.<br />
Guys are wearing shot-blockers for their skates, they are wearing<br />
everything but a visor<br />
Don’t kid yourselves. That’s how it would be. If 73% of all NHLers already<br />
wear visors, and the number is up from 59% at the time of Malhotra’s injury,<br />
then the resistance movement is already pretty feeble and growing more so<br />
all the time.<br />
So why not just do it?<br />
“They have to,” Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said Wednesday.<br />
“If guys are not doing it someone else has to make the choice for them.<br />
Guys are wearing shot-blockers for their skates, they are wearing<br />
everything but a visor. It’s not good…I feel bad for Staal, and we all saw<br />
what happened here to Manny a few years back.”<br />
Marc Staal is 26, young enough that he never should have been in this<br />
position. The puck’s trajectory makes it so obvious that it would have struck<br />
a visor and bounced away, maybe leaving a momentary buzzing in the<br />
head, like a goalie hit in the mask, and nothing more.<br />
Instead … well, we don’t know yet. The Rangers don’t, Staal’s parents<br />
don’t, his brothers don’t. His high school sweetheart, Lindsay, who married<br />
the big defenceman in 2011, doesn’t.<br />
Maybe the eyebrow took the brunt of it, and there’s nothing broken that<br />
can’t heal, nothing lost forever. Maybe.<br />
They’re waiting for the swelling to go down.<br />
Sad to say (and angrily), it sounds all too familiar.<br />
National Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662158 Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
Here is the Leafs midseason report card<br />
Michael Traikos | 13/03/07 2:59 PM ET<br />
The halfway mark might be irrelevant to the head coach, but it does not<br />
mean we cannot evaluate the individual performances of the Leafs.<br />
Following the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 win against the Ottawa Senators on<br />
Wednesday night, head coach Randy Carlyle was asked what he thought of<br />
the team’s record at the halfway point of the season.<br />
As usual, Carlyle downplayed the significance.<br />
“Fifteen wins, that’s what it is. Thirty points, that what we have,” he said. “To<br />
me, it’s all irrelevant right now. We’re halfway through a season. We have a<br />
lot of work ahead of us, we’re going to meet some real good hockey clubs<br />
here and it’s going to start [Thursday] night in Boston.”<br />
The halfway mark might be irrelevant to the head coach, but it does not<br />
mean we cannot evaluate the individual performances of the Leafs. Here is<br />
our midseason report card (with more positive grades than we are used to<br />
handing out):<br />
A+<br />
Nazem Kadri<br />
GP 24 G 10 P 24<br />
The 22-year-old, who spent the last two years in the minors, is finally<br />
putting it all together. Despite receiving third-line minutes, Kadri is a point<br />
per game player ranked in the top-15 in scoring and leads Toronto forwards<br />
with a plus-13 rating.<br />
A<br />
James van Riemsdyk<br />
GP 24 G 13 A 6 P 19<br />
A change of scenery and an opportunity to play on the top line has<br />
apparently done wonders for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry<br />
Draft. His team-leading 13 goals are already more than the 11 he scored<br />
last season.<br />
Mark Fraser<br />
GP 21 G 0 A 4 P 4<br />
It is difficult to determine what is more surprising: that the stay-at-home<br />
defenceman is among the league leaders with a plus-16 rating? Or that<br />
Fraser, who played just four games in the NHL last year, even made the<br />
team?<br />
B+<br />
Phil Kessel<br />
GP 24 G 6 P 14 P 20<br />
Kessel, who went 10 games before scoring his first goal, is not finding the<br />
back of the net with his usual ease. But he is still finding ways to produce.<br />
He is tied for the team lead in assists and has eight power play points.<br />
Matt Frattin<br />
GP 10 G 7 A 3 P 10<br />
Started the year in the minors, but then scored 10 points in 10 games —<br />
including three game-winning goals — before being sidelined with a knee<br />
injury.<br />
James Reimer<br />
REC 9-3-0 GAA 2.57 SV% .921<br />
A knee injury sidelined Reimer for eight games, but the 25-year-old’s save<br />
percentage is ranked in the top 10 and he is back playing like the goalie<br />
who claimed the starting job two years ago.<br />
B<br />
Ben Scrivens<br />
REC 6-6-0 GAA 2.41 SV% .923<br />
Scrivens, who was the opening night starter and handled the No. 1 duties<br />
while Reimer was injured, is also ranked in the top 10 in save percentage<br />
and has given the Leafs depth in net.<br />
B-<br />
Tyler Bozak<br />
GP 24 G 6 A 8 P 14<br />
If this were an 82-game season, Bozak would be on pace for 47 points.<br />
They are not numbers indicative of a top-line centre. Still, his 54.7% faceoff<br />
success rate is among the NHL leaders.<br />
Dion Phaneuf<br />
GP 24 G 4 P 8 P 12<br />
The captain’s minus-7 rating is the worst on the team, but that is likely<br />
because Phaneuf is averaging more than 26 minutes per game and plays<br />
against the other teams’ top lines. Still, the Leafs would like more offence<br />
out of him.<br />
Cody Franson<br />
GP 21 G 1 A 14 P 15<br />
A healthy scratch for parts of last season, Franson has become the<br />
triggerman on the power play, where he has five of his defence-leading 15<br />
points.<br />
Jay McClement<br />
GP 24 G 4 A 5 P 9<br />
The short-handed specialist is part of the reason for the improved penalty<br />
kill and has become a versatile two-way forward.<br />
Carl Gunnarsson<br />
GP 16 G 1 A 6 P 7<br />
A hip injury kept Gunnarsson out of some games, but he is back playing top<br />
minutes on the backend.<br />
C+<br />
Mike Kostka<br />
GP 24 G 0 A 7 P 7<br />
The journeyman AHLer made his NHL debut this season and has<br />
surprisingly been one of the team leaders in minutes played.<br />
Frazer McLaren<br />
GP 16 G 2 A 1 P 3<br />
The other Bash Brother, who made Mike Brown obsolete, is tied for fourth<br />
in the NHL with six fighting majors and has surprisingly chipped in with two<br />
goals.<br />
Colton Orr<br />
GP 21 G 1 A 2 P 3<br />
Resurrected his career under head coach Randy Carlyle, who has at times<br />
given the enforcer third-line minutes alongside Nazem Kadri.<br />
C<br />
Korbinian Holzer<br />
GP 17 G 2 A 0 P 2<br />
The rookie defenceman has not looked out of place playing alongside<br />
Phaneuf on Toronto’s top defensive pairing.<br />
Mikhail Grabovski<br />
GP 24 G 6 A 4 P 10<br />
The second-line centre is not producing like a top player on a team should<br />
be, but Grabovski has also been placed in a shutdown role this season.<br />
Nikolai Kulemin
GP 24 G 2 A 11 P 13<br />
More and more it looks like the 30 goals that Kulemin scored in 2010-11<br />
were an anomaly. But as a two-way player and regular penalty killer, he has<br />
value.<br />
Clarke MacArthur<br />
GP 21 G 6 A 6 P 12<br />
With Frattin out with an injury, MacArthur has found chemistry alongside<br />
Kadri, having scored four goals and nine points in the last nine games.<br />
C-<br />
Leo Komarov<br />
GP 24 G 1 A 4 P 5<br />
A self-described pest, Komarov is ranked third in the NHL with 98 hits, but<br />
has had difficulty producing offensively.<br />
D<br />
David Steckel<br />
GP 12 G 0 A 1 P 1<br />
Usually the odd-man out amongst forwards, Steckel’s role as a faceoff<br />
specialist has been taken over by McClement.<br />
F<br />
Mike Komisarek<br />
GP 4 G 0 A 0 P 0<br />
The Leafs have completely given up on Komisarek, who has been a healthy<br />
scratch for 20 games. Expect him to be traded or bought out at the end of<br />
the season.<br />
John-Michael Liles<br />
GP 15 G 1 A 5 P 6<br />
The puck-moving defenceman has spent the last nine games in the press<br />
box and like Komisarek there does not appear to be an end in sight.<br />
INCOMPLETE<br />
Joffrey Lupul<br />
GP 3 G 0 A 0 P 0<br />
A slap shot from Dion Phaneuf fractured Lupul’s forearm in the third game<br />
of the season.<br />
Jake Gardiner<br />
GP 2 G 0 A 0 P 0<br />
A logjam on the blueline has the member of last year’s All-Rookie Team<br />
playing in the minors.<br />
National Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662159 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Canucks continue to struggle, lose in overtime to lowly Blue Jackets<br />
By Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun March 7, 2013<br />
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maybe the Vancouver Canucks aren't what they think<br />
they are.<br />
They fancy themselves among the elite of the National Hockey League but<br />
maybe they are nothing more than a .500 team, especially playing with only<br />
two experienced centres and one true right-side defenceman as long as<br />
Kevin Bieksa remains out.<br />
The Canucks looked anything but a contender here Thursday as they were<br />
beaten 2-1 in overtime by the Columbus Blue Jackets, who entered the<br />
night last overall in the NHL standings. Matt Calvert netted the winner on<br />
Cory Schneider at 4:03 of the extra period as Vancouver’s defensive-zone<br />
coverage evaporated and Calvert was able to walk into the slot and beat<br />
Schneider.<br />
The loss was Vancouver’s third straight and its fifth in the last six games (1-<br />
3-2). It seems only a matter of time until someone in the Northwest Division<br />
rises up and knocks the Canucks out of the division lead. Since their sixgame<br />
winning streak, they have won three of 11 games.<br />
In 23 games, they have won 11 times. In nine games that have gone<br />
beyond regulation, they have won three times. What is elite about this?<br />
“You’d like to think this is just one time in the season where things aren’t<br />
going right for you,” suggested Canuck winger Chris Higgins, grasping at<br />
straws. “One goal is not going to win on too many nights. We expect to<br />
score more than one with the talent we have on this team. It’s frustrating.<br />
Our last 10 games before this, we were 3-4-3 and that’s unacceptable and<br />
not where we expect to be at this point.”<br />
After a flat 40 minutes in which there was little emotion or hitting, the<br />
Canucks conjured up an early third-period goal by Henrik Sedin to pull even<br />
at 1-1.<br />
The Canucks had just seven hits through two periods and were unable to<br />
draw a single penalty to even test their slumbering power play. Henrik<br />
finally drew one midway through the third period — holding by Fedor Tyutin<br />
— but the extra-man attack came up empty, extending its drought to 16<br />
straight.<br />
The power play also had three opportunities Tuesday to produce a goahead<br />
goal against San Jose. It failed then, too. Canuck head coach Alain<br />
Vigneault likes to call them pressure moments and, when the pressure has<br />
been on lately, it’s been the opponent coming through with the clutch goal<br />
or large save, not the Canucks.<br />
“Well, we were down by a goal and we tied it,” Vigneault said, trying to find<br />
a silver lining. “But, at the end of the day, I’m looking at tonight’s game, and<br />
the last three that we played and, in my opinion, we played good enough to<br />
win but we didn’t. So, obviously, that’s not good enough. The game is about<br />
finding ways to win and getting that extra you need in these key moments<br />
where a player can make a difference.”<br />
Jannik Hansen, the hottest Canuck of late, had a chance to be the<br />
difference-maker Thursday on a clear-cut short-handed breakaway with<br />
4:49 left in regulation time but couldn’t beat Columbus netminder Sergei<br />
Bobrovsky. He admitted post-game he never released the shot he wanted.<br />
“I missed it completely,” he sighed. “I was trying to put it up under the bar<br />
but I put it in the middle of the net in his glove. You’re not going to score a<br />
lot of goals that way.”<br />
Henrik Sedin again blamed the power play, which he quarterbacks, for the<br />
lack of recent results. The Canucks were 0-for-1 Thursday.<br />
“We’re losing points because our power play isn’t good enough and that’s<br />
tough to take,” lamented the captain. “A lot of these games we have lost<br />
lately, we had the game on our sticks. We get a power play late, we get a<br />
chance to get a win a game late or in overtime and we haven’t done it.”<br />
Henrik said he understood if the team’s fan base was upset the Canucks<br />
were unable to subdue hockey’s bottom-feeders. It’s the usual response<br />
after an unexpected loss.<br />
“Yeah, that’s fair,” he nodded. “It’s a hockey market and people are going to<br />
talk. That’s fine. I think people maybe don’t give credit to other teams. The<br />
whole league has shown there is a lot of parity and it’s tough to get wins.<br />
We knew it was going to be this way. Teams at .500 are right in it. It’s going<br />
to be a tight race until the end.”<br />
The Canucks fell behind 1-0 midway through the opening period as onetime<br />
Canuck draft pick R.J. Umberger banged home a Nick Foligno<br />
wraparound attempt that hit the iron and bounced directly to him.<br />
Bobrovsky finished with 34 saves for the Blue Jackets, none bigger than the<br />
one on Hansen. Columbus has won three straight. Schneider stopped 25 of<br />
the 27 shots he faced. His personal record slipped to 6-4-3.<br />
The Jackets played most of the game with 11 forwards as feisty winger<br />
Derek Dorsett was injured on his first shift – it was later announced as a<br />
broken clavicle – on a hit by Andrew Alberts. Dorsett played just 18<br />
seconds.<br />
ICE CHIPS: The Canucks are scheduled to practise Friday in Columbus<br />
and then travel Saturday to Minnesota for Sunday’s date with the Wild ...<br />
Vancouver again lost the faceoff battle at 47 per cent (29-for-62). Henrik<br />
Sedin was 9-for-22, Mason Raymond 4-for-10 and Jordan Schroeder 3-for-<br />
9. Max Lapierre topped the Canucks at 11-for-19 ... Artem Anisimov and<br />
Derek MacKenzie were a combined 19-for-27 in the dot for Columbus.<br />
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662160 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Ex-Canuck Adrian Aucoin hasn’t Mess-ed much with shoot-first philosophy<br />
Former Vancouver blueliner embraces leadership role with young Blue<br />
Jackets<br />
By Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun March 7, 2013<br />
COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s a story straight from Vancouver Canuck folklore,<br />
featuring a young defenceman named Adrian Aucoin and the team’s<br />
captain, a guy named Mark Messier. Mike Keenan is in it, too.<br />
It was the 1997-98 season and Aucoin was just getting his feet wet in the<br />
National Hockey League. Messier, by this time, had already won six Stanley<br />
Cups and Keenan had just arrived to replace Tom Renney as coach.<br />
Aucoin had a booming shot from the point and was being encouraged by<br />
Keenan to use it at all times. Perhaps encouraged isn’t the correct word.<br />
Keenan demanded that Aucoin shoot, shoot and shoot some more.<br />
“I remember trying to pass a couple of times and Mike was going: ‘No, no,<br />
that’s not what you’re doing, just make sure you pound it,’ ” Aucoin recalled<br />
Thursday. “So we’re in practice one day and I take a one-timer and I hit<br />
Messier. I break his shin pad and clearly it hurt him a little bit. So he comes<br />
up to me and I am like ‘oh, boy.’ I didn’t know what to think.<br />
“Then he says: ‘OK, great. That’s the only way you’re going to get better.<br />
Keep shooting it.’ And I was, like: ‘OK, Mess.’ ”<br />
Aucoin did keep shooting and the following season he scored 23 times,<br />
setting a Canucks’ club record for goals by a defenceman that still stands<br />
today. He didn’t stay a Canuck forever and was dealt to the Tampa Bay<br />
Lightning in 2001 for netminder Dan Cloutier. He has since played for the<br />
New York Islanders, Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames and Phoenix<br />
Coyotes and is now, at age 39, in his first year as a member of the<br />
Columbus Blue Jackets.<br />
Despite the many moves, he hasn’t lost his desire to play. He has hauled<br />
his five kids, ranging in ages from three to 12, around North America. He<br />
and wife Caroline are both from Ottawa but they own homes in Chicago and<br />
Scottsdale, Ariz. They are all on board, he says, and loving the ride. Aucoin<br />
is making $2.25 million on a one-year contract.<br />
“What drives me? Just showing up at the rink every day is awesome,” he<br />
said before the Jackets and Canucks met at Nationwide Arena. “Clearly the<br />
one thing you want as you get older and your role diminishes is to still be<br />
able to contribute and whatnot at some level. I would love it if I could play<br />
high 20 minutes and be a power-play guy but that’s not my role anymore.<br />
“It’s a different gig. We’re a team that is kind of in transition so I am needed<br />
for a leadership role. Columbus called me right away on July 1 and we<br />
talked about all their young defencemen and how they didn’t have many<br />
older guys so it was just a really good fit. Like I said, just coming to the rink<br />
today is still as much fun as it was when I was a kid and you can’t knock me<br />
for that.”<br />
Nobody is knocking Aucoin, who was drafted 117th overall by the Canucks<br />
in 1992. Vancouver’s first pick that June was the immortal Libor Polasek,<br />
followed by Mike Peca in the second round. Aucoin has outlasted many<br />
other Canuck picks as well and appeared Thursday in his 1,090th regularseason<br />
game. He’s in his 17th season.<br />
He also has the distinction of scoring a goal on his first NHL shot, May 3,<br />
1995, in San Jose against Arturs Irbe. He then scored on his first shot in the<br />
’95 playoffs and on his first shot in his one and only all-star game in 2003-<br />
04.<br />
“That’s my claim to fame,” he noted, laughing.<br />
Aucoin realizes this season could be it for him but he isn’t yet ready to<br />
declare that he’ll be hanging ’em up.<br />
“You know what? It’s literally where I’m at, at the time,” he said. “I have<br />
some days where I think I’m completely done and I have some days where I<br />
think I could play for another 20 years. So I think it will just be how the<br />
season here goes and how the summer goes. Even though I wish I could<br />
plan ahead, and my wife wishes I could plan ahead, it’s always tough to<br />
do.”<br />
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662161 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Should the Canucks pull the goaltender in overtime? (No.)<br />
Harrison Mooney, on March 7, 2013 –<br />
The fact that the NHL doesn’t consider shootout wins when breaking ties in<br />
the standings is hilarious to me. 46 ties have been settled already this NHL<br />
season by way of the shootout, meaning 46 points in the standings have<br />
been awarded through it, but when it comes settling ties in the standings,<br />
it’s no good. If the NHL really wanted to be consistent, they’d settle ties in<br />
the standings with an emergency shootout. Or, if it’s too difficult to get the<br />
two gridlocked teams together, a coin toss.<br />
Yes, the shootout is silly and random. As multiple people have pointed out,<br />
it’s a total crapshoot. But when the Canucks are bad at it, as they are so far<br />
this season, it invariably leads to all sorts of equally silly, random<br />
suggestions on how to improve their fortune. Try this guy. Try that guy. Go<br />
in fast. Go in slow. Deke. Shoot. Swap goalies.<br />
Or, in my new favourite innovation, courtesy Jonathan McDonald of The<br />
Province, pull goalies. Not during the shotoout, of course. But in advance of<br />
it. Let’s all pause to examine this head-scratcher:<br />
The Canucks are now 2-5 in the shootout this season with, at this pace,<br />
another five to six shootout losses coming in the next seven weeks.<br />
Incredibly, they were 8-7 in the shootout last season. But let’s just say, for<br />
argument’s sake, that they’re not particularly good at this part of the game.<br />
And let’s just say, anecdotally at least, that you give them better odds of<br />
winning the overtime. You know, the Sedins and all that. So wouldn’t you do<br />
anything to win the overtime? Let’s just throw it out there. Just as the<br />
Canucks once revolutionized the power play with that fabulous drop pass<br />
that no longer exists, they could revolutionize overtime. When Scott Gomez<br />
got that goalie-interference penalty in overtime, the Canucks spent two<br />
minutes playing 4-on-3. What if they’d pulled Schneider? What if they’d had<br />
the balls to take that risk? It is a risk, of course. Few people know that,<br />
according to NHL rule 84.2, you can pull your goalie for an extra attacker in<br />
overtime, but if the other team scores you forfeit the point you automatically<br />
get, just for getting to overtime. It might be ballsy, even foolish, but I’d<br />
applaud that move, even just one time. That power play was intense;<br />
imagine if they’d had another guy out there. Don’t laugh at the idea; it might<br />
just work.<br />
Or… we could laugh at the idea. Sure, it could pay off, since sometimes<br />
really stupid gambles work out, such as betting on Katniss to win The<br />
Hunger Games. But why would anyone take this particular risk?<br />
Just to review: since a shootout loss is all but a foregone conclusion,<br />
according to McDonald, the Canucks should show some balls and pull the<br />
goalie for the extra attacker if you happen to get a powerplay in overtime.<br />
Nevermind that you lose the charity point if the other team scores on you,<br />
which is now much, much easier to do, because you might score on them.<br />
Here’s rule 84.2, which I’m guessing the NHL didn’t think would ever come<br />
into play, but wrote into the rulebook just in case:<br />
84.2 Overtime – Regular-season – Extra Attacker - A team shall be allowed<br />
to pull its goalkeeper in favor of an additional skater in the overtime period.<br />
However, should that team lose the game during the time in which the<br />
goalkeeper has been removed, it would forfeit the automatic point gained in<br />
the tie at the end of regulation play, except if the goalkeeper has been<br />
removed at the call of a delayed penalty against the other team.<br />
In effect, rather than banking the point, a necessity, especially in the<br />
gridlocked Western Conference where only 4 points separate 3rd from 11th,<br />
then trying to win another point in what is essentially a 50/50 draw, give<br />
back the point you just won in the hopes that you double down.<br />
Listen. The Canucks aren’t as bad in the shootout as we think. Yes, they’re<br />
an unfortunate 2-for-7 right now, their shooters are shooting 21.7 percent<br />
(or about 15% below the league average) and their goaltenders have a<br />
pretty crummy .565 save percentage (10% below league average). But,<br />
again, a great deal of the shootout is luck. Those are some bad luck stats.<br />
But last season, the Canucks had good luck. They won 8 of 15 shootouts,<br />
making them one of the league’s top 10 teams in the skills competition.<br />
Only 7 teams had more wins, and they were one of only 11 teams with<br />
more wins than losses.<br />
The year before featured just 10 teams with more wins than losses. This<br />
time, the Canucks were not one of them. In fact, only three teams have<br />
been above .500 in the shootout two years in a row: Pittsburgh, Colorado,<br />
and New Jersey. And before you think these teams are magical outliers,<br />
New Jersey is winless in three shootouts this year.<br />
For the most part, the shootout is random. Some years you get good luck.<br />
Some years you don’t. It’s rare to get good luck two years in a row. The<br />
personnel on this team really hasn’t changed. The Canucks are no better or<br />
worse than they were at the shootout last season. They’re just not getting<br />
as fortunate.<br />
And hell, even if they were as bad as some believe, pulling the goalie still<br />
wouldn’t be the sensible thing to do. One of my favourite lines from Cam<br />
Charron spells this out nicely: “Even if they’re a good offensive team, the<br />
weird thing about hockey is that in any given moment, with any given player<br />
on any given spot on the ice, there’s no spot where a player is expected to<br />
score more than 50% of the time.”<br />
But if that’s a little too nebulous, consider that, over the last two years, in<br />
27:07 of 5-on-3 time, the Canucks have scored 6 goals, or one every 4:31.<br />
In other words, in two or fewer minutes on a 5-on-3, their chances of<br />
scoring are below 50%. Plus the Vancouver net is empty, so there’s that to<br />
worry about.<br />
In effect, rather than banking the first point and trying your luck with, say, a<br />
sub-50% shot at the second (because in this hypothetical, they’re worse<br />
than average, remember), pulling the goalie means your odds of getting the<br />
two points drop below 50% anyway, and your odds of getting no points<br />
skyrocket up from 0%.<br />
Why would anyone ever do that?<br />
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662162 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Game Day: Columbus coach still wary of Canucks despite recent<br />
Vancouver swoon<br />
By Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun March 7, 2013<br />
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets may sit last overall in the<br />
NHL standings but they are hotter than the sinking Vancouver Canucks, the<br />
team they will entertain today at Nationwide Arena (4 p.m., Sportsnet<br />
Pacific, Team 1040).<br />
The Jackets haven't lost in regulation in their last four games (2-0-2) while<br />
the Canucks have three regulation defeats and a shootout loss in their last<br />
five (1-3-1). The Blue Jackets are better on the penalty kill - seventh to the<br />
Canucks 19th - and better in the faceoff circle - 16th to the Canucks 22nd.<br />
Nevertheless, Jackets coach Todd Richards is fearful of what his skaters<br />
will face today.<br />
"I think they're one of the elite teams in the league," Richards said following<br />
CBJ's morning skate. "Numbers-wise, standings-wise, to me it doesn't<br />
matter. I look at their history, what they've been able to do over the past 4-5<br />
years, the personnel they have and the coaching they have. There is a lot<br />
of consistency in how they play and the things that they do. That's the<br />
reason why I consider them one of the elite teams."<br />
Richards is a big fan of Daniel and Henrik Sedin and wonders if his defence<br />
will be up for the challenge.<br />
"The uniqueness with the Sedins, the chemistry they have, their ability to<br />
make plays in the offensive zone when you think there are no plays to be<br />
made, they find ways to make plays and create," Richards said. "Our young<br />
defencemen, who have played really good hockey for us, this is going to<br />
pose something different for them, I think."<br />
The Canucks, who have won just five of 14 games outside the Northwest<br />
Division (5-5-4), are expecting to have their hands full with the Jackets,<br />
especially since their own power play hasn't scored in six full games.<br />
"I've watched five of their last six games and they come to play," head<br />
coach Alain Vigneault said of the Jackets. "They play a high percentage<br />
game, they work extremely hard, they finish all their checks and they're a<br />
team that, right now, doesn't seem to be turning the puck over very many<br />
times. So it's going to be another very tough game in a very tough<br />
conference."<br />
The goaltending matchup will feature Cory Schneider (6-4-2) versus Sergei<br />
Bobrovsky (5-6-3). One player to watch on the Jackets is Port Moody's<br />
Ryan Johansen, who will centre a line with R.J. Umberger and Nick Foligno.<br />
Johansen, 20, was the fourth overall pick in the 2010 entry draft.<br />
He played during the lockout for the American League's Springfield Falcons<br />
and was sent back down for two weeks in February. Consistency was the<br />
issue, he explained. Johansen has one goal, four points and is a ghastly<br />
minus-10 in 15 games this season.<br />
"I wasn't doing what I needed to do to stay in this league, I guess," he said.<br />
"So it was kind of a wakeup call, you could say, for me going down knowing<br />
I needed to bring it every night. Since I've been back up, I've been playing<br />
better and more consistently and I just have to keep that up."<br />
The Canucks will have one lineup change as Andrew Alberts returns on<br />
defence to replace the injured Keith Ballard (charley horse). Ballard is on<br />
the trip but did not skate today. Kevin Bieksa (groin) went for a twirl at the<br />
conclusion of the Canucks skate.<br />
ICE CHIPS: Referees for tonight's game are Steve Kozari and Justin St.<br />
Pierre... Vinny Prospal leads the Blue Jackets in scoring with 14 points...<br />
Columbus is 1-5-1 when scoring first. The Canucks are 8-2-4... The Jackets<br />
are 2-3-1 versus the Northwest Division while the Canucks are 2-1-2<br />
against Central Division teams.<br />
INJURIES: The Canucks will be without C Ryan Kesler (foot), D Kevin<br />
Bieksa (groin) and D Keith Ballard (charley horse)... The Blue Jackets will<br />
be missing D James Wisniewski (foot), C Brandon Dubinsky (knee) and D<br />
John Moore (shoulder). D Fedor Tyutin (overall body soreness) will be a<br />
game-time decision.<br />
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662163 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Ex-Canuck Adrian Aucoin and a tale worth telling<br />
Elliott pap<br />
It’s a story straight from Canuck folklore, featuring a young defenceman<br />
named Adrian Aucoin and the team’s captain, guy named Mark Messier.<br />
Mike Keenan is in it, too.<br />
It was the 1997-98 season and Aucoin was just getting his feet wet in the<br />
NHL. Messier, by this time, had already won six Stanley Cups and Keenan<br />
had just arrived to replace Tom Renney as coach.<br />
Aucoin had a booming shot from the point and was being encouraged by<br />
Keenan to use it at all times. Perhaps encouraged isn’t the correct word.<br />
Keenan demanded that Aucoin shoot, shoot and shoot some more.<br />
“I remember trying to pass a couple of times and Mike was going: ‘No, no,<br />
that’s not what you’re doing, just make sure you pound it,’ ” Aucoin, now a<br />
member of the Columbus Blue Jackets recalled Thursday. “So we’re in<br />
practice one day and I take a one-timer and I hit Messier. I break his shin<br />
pad and clearly it hurt him a little bit. So he comes up to me and I am like<br />
‘oh, boy.’ I didn’t know what to think.<br />
“Then he says: ‘Okay, great. That’s the only way you’re going to get better.<br />
Keep shooting it.’ And I was, like: ‘Okay, Mess.’”<br />
Aucoin did keep shooting and, the following season he scored 23 times,<br />
setting a Canucks’ club record for goals by a defenceman that still stands<br />
today.<br />
Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662164 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Van Provies, Kadri edition<br />
Jason Botchford<br />
BEST FACT I<br />
The Toronto Maple Leafs never offered Nazem Kadri for Roberto Luongo in<br />
any trade proposal.<br />
BEST FACT II<br />
The Canucks never asked for Nazem Kadri at the June draft. They may<br />
have asked for Kadri and Tyler Bozak months later, but it was not a thing at<br />
the draft.<br />
Later the Canucks were centring a deal around Bozak, who is on an<br />
expiring contract and was slotted for their third line. They were looking for<br />
more than Bozak and asked for Kadri to sweeten the pot. TO said no dice.<br />
BEST FACT III<br />
Roberto Luongo refused to waive his no-trade clause at the draft to go to<br />
Toronto. Negotiations with the Leafs did not last long at the draft.<br />
And because obvious is obvious, the Canucks could not have made a deal<br />
with Toronto then, and didn’t turn down a deal in June because they got<br />
greedy and were holding out for more.<br />
BEST HIT<br />
Andrew Alberts crushed Derek Dorsett, breaking his clavicle. Dorsett is out<br />
for the season. Players don’t cheer injuries, but doubt there will be much<br />
sympathy for the Jackets aggravator.<br />
BEST REALITY<br />
“As a group, Roberto, Rollie and myself, we expect two or fewer goals<br />
every night.”<br />
— Cory Schneider. The problem is the goalies have kept it to two or under<br />
only four times in 11 games. Without sensational goaltending, the Canucks<br />
struggle to win.<br />
BEST COMPLIMENT<br />
“I’m looking at Zack’s game and David Booth and they are doing everything<br />
they can possibly do to help us on the scoresheet. They’re not getting any<br />
breaks right now.”<br />
— Alain Vigneault on Kassian and Booth, neither of whom have scored<br />
since January. At least they have one fan during this slump.<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662165 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Tanev’s worth a shot on Canucks’ ailing power play<br />
Jim Jamieson<br />
They tried everybody but the janitor before Alex Burrows got a turn with the<br />
Sedins, so maybe it’s time to try something equally outside the box with the<br />
Canucks’ power play.<br />
Like, say, Chris Tanev on the point?<br />
OK, now that I’ve got your attention, stay with me here.<br />
Canucks coach Alain Vigneault gets credit for putting Burrows – who was at<br />
the time considered just an agitating checker — alongside the Swedish<br />
telepaths. Yes, it was an instant hit – Burrows scored a goal in that third<br />
period in St. Louis on Feb. 10, 2009 so didn’t get yanked back to the<br />
checking line the next game. He also scored another 15 goals and 26<br />
points over the remaining 29 regular season games of that season and has<br />
averaged close to 30 goals a season (real or prorated) ever since.<br />
Props to AV for making a canny move, but let’s not forget that Burrows was<br />
the seventh player to skate on a line with the Sedins that season.<br />
Sometimes counter-intuitive moves lead to great discoveries.<br />
Which bring us to the Canucks’ power play, a special teams unit that used<br />
to be feared in the NHL. You remember those days? From the 2009-10<br />
season through to 2011-12, the power play was ranked no lower than fifth.<br />
Need a key goal or get a power play in overtime? It was money.<br />
But now – and really since mid-way through last season – there hasn’t been<br />
anything like that dynamic. Minute-long possession shifts by the Sedins<br />
seem like a distant memory. Intimidating blasts from the point? Christian<br />
Ehrhoff and Sami Salo are gone, Alex Edler is still trying to find consistency<br />
and newcomer Jason Garrison is trying to fit in.<br />
The Canucks’ power play – which clicked 24.3 per cent of the time when it<br />
led the NHL in 2010-11 – is at a poor 15. 9 per cent so far in this wacky<br />
short season and has a dreadful 20th ranking. They are 0-for-15 over the<br />
last six games.<br />
You know it’s costing the Canucks points. In a 3-2 shootout loss to San<br />
Jose on Tuesday, the Sharks took a penalty in overtime but the Canucks<br />
could barely muster a scoring chance in the ensuing four on three.<br />
Yes, there are extenuating circumstances. Certainly, the Canucks miss<br />
Ryan Kesler, who was in integral part of the first-unit power play’s success<br />
when it dominated.<br />
The Canucks have tried a few new wrinkles this season. They had Daniel<br />
Sedin at the left point – but it’s clear he’s more dangerous down low –<br />
although he has just two power play goals this season. The last two games<br />
rookie forward Jordan Schroeder has been on the first-unit point, but<br />
everyone in the building knows he’s not going to shoot.<br />
So now we get to Tanev, a 23-year-old who has just one goal and seven<br />
points in 76 career NHL games but has already established himself as a<br />
top-four D-man based on air-tight defensive play.<br />
No, Tanev is not going to intimidate anybody with his shot, but after the<br />
Sedins he sees the ice as well – or better – than anyone else on the<br />
Canucks and is the team’s best passer from the back end. He may be the<br />
guy who can tee it up for Edler. Certainly, there’s only one way to find out.<br />
Tanev also has some common traits with Burrows. Like Burrows was,<br />
Tanev has been under-estimated through much of his hockey career. Both<br />
have proved the doubters wrong.<br />
Maybe it’s time to see if the similarities go any further.<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662166 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Bieksa and Ballard out. Alberts and Barker in. And they’re together<br />
Jason Botchford<br />
The Canucks blueline made it through the first five weeks of the season<br />
without an injury.<br />
Those were the days.<br />
Both Kevin Bieksa, out with a groin, and Keith Ballard, out with a Charley<br />
horse, will miss tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.<br />
Bieksa was at the rink and took a twirl on the ice, but is not healed after<br />
coming back Saturday against the LA Kings only to suffer a setback.<br />
Ballard did not skate, but may test things out at the team’s practice on<br />
Friday.<br />
You see now why the Canucks feel they always have to carry eight<br />
defencemen?<br />
Both Cam Barker and Andrew Alberts will play, and Vigneault said they’ll be<br />
on the same pairing too. That should be fun.<br />
Alberts sat out the first 17 games of the season, and Barker the first 18.<br />
The much-maligned Barker felt he improved during Tuesday’s game<br />
against San Jose, and he was trusted late for a huge penalty kill against the<br />
Sharks in a 2-2. Eat your heart out, Ballard.<br />
In fact, it was Barker who made the save of the game, stopping a Ryane<br />
Clowe wrist shot with his “junk.”<br />
“I’m feeling good and as we go along here, I’m feeling like I’m getting back<br />
into the groove,” Barker said. “I’m definitely feeling that way.<br />
“It was tough sitting out that long. I just had to be patient. I knew my chance<br />
would come and I just had to be ready for it.<br />
“I’m happy to be in and I’m going to keep building on my game.”<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662167 Vancouver Canucks<br />
They don’t shoot, they don’t score: Power play paralysis is costing Canucks<br />
points<br />
By Jason Botchford, The Province March 7, 2013 11:03 PM<br />
COLUMBUS — The Canucks only had one power play last night, but it was<br />
late and it provided them a chance to win.<br />
The Canucks not only didn’t score, they didn’t get a shot on net.<br />
If you’re looking for crises surrounding the Vancouver Canucks — and who<br />
isn’t? — there’s no better place than the power play.<br />
Sure, the Canucks have only one top-line centre, a third line that hasn’t<br />
scored since January and an Andrew Alberts-Cam Barker pairing. Those<br />
problems are easy to comprehend.<br />
What’s not is a power play that, even with the Sedins and Alex Edler, is on<br />
a miserable 0-for-16 run.<br />
What’s more troubling is the Canucks sit 29th in the NHL on the season in<br />
shots-per-power play minute. Generally, no shots means no goals. That<br />
suggests this is more than a slump. It just may be a trend.<br />
“If our power play steps up once every game, or once every second game,<br />
maybe we would have had six or seven wins in the past 11,” Henrik Sedin<br />
said. “That’s been the problem.<br />
“I think in a season, you go through ups and downs. But this is a short<br />
season and people are going to notice more.”<br />
How can you not notice?<br />
The first power play unit, which was once loaded, now looks desperate.<br />
The team has cycled through Jason Garrison, and Jordan Schroeder on the<br />
point. That hasn’t worked yet.<br />
Some are even calling for Chris Tanev to be on it. Is it really that bad?<br />
Alex Burrows hasn’t flourished in front of the net. In fact, he may never work<br />
out there. He has just 19 power play points in his career.<br />
Other than having a burst when Ryan Kesler came back, the Canucks<br />
power play has dipped below mediocre and hovered right over disaster.<br />
Even the Sedins admitted it became far too predictable, which is a nice way<br />
of saying opponents have figured them out.<br />
“I think early in the season, we were trying too many set plays,” Henrik said.<br />
“It was too easy to read. Because of that, we really couldn’t find the right<br />
movement with each other. It left us guessing.<br />
“But the last two or three power plays against San Jose were extremely<br />
good. And even [last night] I thought we had more movement. It’s starting to<br />
feel a lot better with Burr now.<br />
“Burr should have had one. I think it’s on the right track. But we are losing<br />
points right now because our power play isn’t good enough.”<br />
He’s right. They are losing points because of it. And Burrows did have one<br />
glorious chance on the man-advantage where he easily could have scored.<br />
But Burrows’ shot re-directed off of a stick and drifted wide of the net.<br />
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was it was the only chance the<br />
Canucks had.<br />
Jannik Hansen missed the net twice. Daniel Sedin missed it once. Then,<br />
Edler turned the puck over, and another power play slipped through the<br />
Canucks’ fingers.<br />
What was once the great equalizer, a dangerous unit which made teams<br />
pay if they took liberties, has drifted down to 20th in the NHL in power play<br />
goals.<br />
This, after finishing fourth last year and first the year before. It’s hard to<br />
believe that Sami Salo and Ryan Kesler could have made this much of a<br />
difference.<br />
“You can say all you want about other parts of the game, but that’s been the<br />
difference, the power play has to step up,” Daniel Sedin said.<br />
“It’s a fine line between being a great power play and being average. You’re<br />
moving the puck faster, and the passes are sharper.<br />
“That’s what we have to get back to.”<br />
Of course, what’s not helping the Canucks is their lack of opportunities. Just<br />
once in the past seven games have they had more than two power plays.<br />
They got one against Columbus on Thursday and no one was complaining.<br />
There were no borderline calls the officials missed.<br />
Bluntly, this team is just not drawing penalties.<br />
“It was a great game called by refs,” Henrik acknowledged. “It was one of<br />
those games where the [Jackets] were always on the right side of the play.<br />
“When you play teams that want to trade chances, they have to hook you<br />
and hold you. But these guys, they are always between you and their net.”<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662168 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Van Provies Nightly Awards: Blue Jackets 2, Canucks 1 OT<br />
By Jason Botchford, The Province March 7, 2013<br />
BEST FACT I<br />
The Toronto Maple Leafs never offered Nazem Kadri for Roberto Luongo in<br />
any trade proposal.<br />
BEST FACT II<br />
The Canucks never asked for Nazem Kadri at the June draft. They may<br />
have asked for Kadri and Tyler Bozak months later, but not at the draft. It<br />
may have come up later when the Canucks were centring a deal around<br />
Bozak, who is on an expiring contract and was slotted for third line.<br />
BEST FACT III<br />
Roberto Luongo refused to waive his no-trade clause at the draft to go to<br />
Toronto, and negotiations with the Leafs did not last long. The Canucks<br />
could not have made a deal with Toronto, and didn’t turn down any deal<br />
because they got greedy and were holding out for more.<br />
BEST HIT<br />
Andrew Alberts crushed Derek Dorsett, breaking his clavicle. Dorsett is out<br />
for the season. Players don’t cheer injuries, but doubt there will be much<br />
sympathy for the Jackets aggravator.<br />
BEST REALITY<br />
“As a group, Roberto, Rollie and myself, we expect two or fewer goals<br />
every night.” — Cory Schneider. The problem is the goalies have kept it to<br />
two or under only four times in 11 games.<br />
BEST COMPLIMENT<br />
“I’m looking at Zack’s game and David Booth and they are doing everything<br />
they can possibly do to help us on the scoresheet. They’re not getting any<br />
breaks right now.” — Alain Vigneault on Kassian and Booth, neither of<br />
whom have scored since January.<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662169 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Vancouver, this is your wakeup call: Lifeless Canucks limp to OT loss<br />
against lowly Columbus<br />
By Jason Botchford, The Province March 7, 2013<br />
COLUMBUS — If losing to the Blue Jackets didn’t get the Canucks'<br />
attention, maybe the fact they’ve won just three of 11 will.<br />
A Canucks team which too often appears to live by the motto “we’re fine”<br />
may finally have had enough after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Western<br />
Conference’s worst team.<br />
Because it doesn’t matter how much puck possession they’ve had, or how<br />
many shots they’ve fired in the direction of the net, three wins in three<br />
weeks isn’t good enough.<br />
“We talked about this before the game, ‘respect the opponent,’” Daniel<br />
Sedin said. “We are a better team than we are showing right now. We are a<br />
better team than the results we are getting.<br />
“Maybe we’ve been playing all right, but it’s not good enough. We have to<br />
step it up and put a few wins together.”<br />
Yes, this qualifies as adversity. Even if the Canucks still sit third in the<br />
West. They are a team that looks like it’s soaking in a bathtub filled with<br />
average. All that’s missing is a Kyle Wellwood-shaped rubber duckie.<br />
The Canucks now have 11 wins in 23 games on the season, and are 5-5-5<br />
against teams outside the comfy Northwest. These are not championship<br />
numbers.<br />
“This is not where we want to be and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t<br />
turn it around because the negativity outside this room is going to grow,”<br />
Chris Higgins said.<br />
Oh, it’s growing.<br />
The Canucks did manage to get up for Saturday’s game against the L.A.<br />
Kings. But they have faded since. You may be feeling some deja vu. It’s<br />
eerily similar to what happened last year after their euphoric January win<br />
against the Boston Bruins.<br />
You would have thought the Jackets would be exactly what the spiralling<br />
Canucks needed Thursday. They were a cupcake opponent with enough<br />
sprinkles on top to make them an honourary member of the Northwest<br />
Division.<br />
The Canucks owned the Jackets. They had run up a 10-0-1 record in their<br />
past 11 games. But nothing is a gimme for Vancouver these days.<br />
Columbus scored first, after Mason Raymond gave up on Nick Foligno<br />
behind the net. The Jackets then barricaded their zone like a fortress before<br />
ending the game in the most ridiculous of ways.<br />
Henrik Sedin had scored 1:05 into the third to tie the game at one. Jannik<br />
Hansen had a chance to win it with a shorthanded breakaway late, but<br />
couldn’t score.<br />
That set up Matt Calvert, who had 13 career goals, to play overtime here.<br />
He essentially went end-to-end and scored with 56 seconds left. Calvert<br />
managed despite looking like he didn’t want to shoot. Really, the Canucks<br />
left him with no choice.<br />
Calvert shook Henrik Sedin with a spin move near centre ice, then stick<br />
handled his way around a flopping Alex Edler who ended up on his belly.<br />
As Calvert hung onto the puck, he glided toward the net. The Canucks<br />
backed off, presenting him with the slot like it was an offering to a pagan<br />
god. Calvert had no choice but to snipe one past Cory Schneider.<br />
“I saw a guy going backdoor and I went that way,” Tanev said. “Maybe I<br />
should have just slid and tried to block a shot.”<br />
The Canucks miss Kevin Bieksa, who was out with a groin injury. But Edler<br />
going pylon has been a far bigger problem.<br />
The Canucks have one legitimate top-line centre. But the power play<br />
dipping well below mediocre has cost them more.<br />
Against the Blue Jackets, the Canucks could only draw one penalty. There<br />
was no blaming the refs, either. The officials called a good game.<br />
Instead, the problem was Vancouver’s lack of speed and aggressiveness,<br />
which also suggests a lack of interest.<br />
“This is a tough position for us,” said David Booth, who hasn’t scored a goal<br />
this year but got rave reviews from head coach Alain Vigneault after the<br />
game.<br />
“I know teams go through it during the year, but it being a shortened<br />
season, it has a little bit more weight to it. We have to stop making excuses<br />
and get two points.”<br />
Columbus showcased their defensive mindset off the start, icing the puck<br />
three times in the first five minutes. Good times. If they were trying to suck<br />
the energy out of a half-full building, it worked.<br />
The Canucks did get a good chance early when Booth flew around Fedor<br />
Tyutin, dipped below the goal line and then drove to the net, in front of<br />
Sergei Bobrovsky. But he couldn’t jam it in. What else is new? He’s goalless<br />
on the year.<br />
But Booth’s was one of the Canucks' few power moves of the night. Mason<br />
Raymond had a similar chance when Vancouver had its best flurry in the<br />
second.<br />
There wasn’t much else, save for a Alex Burrows chance on their third<br />
period power play which ended up deflecting off Calvert’s stick.<br />
“I don’t think we had too many opportunities off the rush,” Higgins said.<br />
“They had two, three guys around the puck and won too many battles below<br />
the goal line.<br />
“We need to be better.”<br />
They sure do.<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662170 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Canucks Gameday: Columbus ‘another tough game’ against hard-working<br />
opponent, says Vigneault<br />
By Jason Botchford, The Province March 7, 2013<br />
COLUMBUS — The Blue Jackets have got points in four straight games<br />
and all anyone wants to talk about is the Chicago Blackhawks.<br />
Go figure.<br />
The Blue Jackets are in fact riding a two-game win streak, and it’s their<br />
longest of the season. Maybe they can ride it to a win against the<br />
Vancouver Canucks.<br />
They are due.<br />
The Canucks are a gaudy 10-0-1 against the Jackets, and have outscored<br />
them 42-23 over that stretch. And you thought the Canucks had it easy just<br />
in the Northwest division.<br />
But the Canucks aren’t exactly brimming with overconfidence, as head<br />
coach Alain Vigneault pointed out.<br />
“Most of our games against Columbus have been the same, hard and<br />
demanding,” Vigneault said. “On some nights we’ve been able to capitalize<br />
a little bit quicker on some of their mistakes.<br />
“I must have watched five of their last six games and they come to play a<br />
high-percentage game. They work extremely hard and they finish all their<br />
checks. They are a team that, right now anyway, doesn’t seem to be turning<br />
the puck over very many times.<br />
“It will be another tough game.”<br />
Normally you might scoff at Vigneault for his caution, but this game will be<br />
made tougher by the fact the Canucks will be without Kevin Bieksa and<br />
Keith Ballard. Both are injured, Bieksa with a strained groin and Ballard with<br />
a charley horse. Without them, both Cam Barker and Andrew Alberts will<br />
play, and Vigneault said they’ll play on the same pairing.<br />
That could be concerning. But the bigger problem is the power play. It has<br />
gone 0-for-15, ranks 20th in goals and 29th in shots on net. That last<br />
ranking is unreal. Only Winnipeg is worse. How can a team with the Sedins<br />
and Alex Edler be 29th in the NHL in power-play shots on net?<br />
It is alarming even without Ryan Kesler, and has to have the team secondguessing<br />
its decision to let Sami Salo walk in free agency.<br />
“I think teams are very aggressive against us,” Vigneault said. “They are not<br />
giving our guys a lot of time. We haven’t really been able to get on a<br />
momentum or a roll. The last five or six games we’ve got one or two power<br />
plays a game. It’s tough to get some rhythm.<br />
“It’s probably the area we spend the most amount of time in practice<br />
working on. Hopefully it’s going to pay off.”<br />
Cory Schneider will get the start, his second consecutive. That has not<br />
happened often this year.<br />
“I’m always wanting to play, the more you can play in a row, the better you<br />
feel,” Schneider said. “What I’m hoping to find right now is a good rhythm.<br />
Because we are going to have a real busy schedule after this trip, so I think<br />
we’re both going to have to be sharp.<br />
“I felt better over the course of the San Jose game. I was a little busier in<br />
the third. It’s fun playing those games. Anyone can play when it’s 3-0 or it’s<br />
4-1, but those 2-2 games or 1-1 games, the ones where the game is on the<br />
line, those are the games you have to really show up and make those<br />
saves.”<br />
Does this mean Roberto Luongo will finally get a start in the Xcel Energy<br />
Center? The Canucks play there Sunday and Luongo, who has an abymsal<br />
record in Minny, hasn’t started their since 2010.<br />
Asked about it, Vigneault provide nothing more than a goofy grin.<br />
We’ll see.<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662171 Vancouver Canucks<br />
Tanev’s worth a shot on Canucks’ ailing power play<br />
Posted by: Jim Jamieson<br />
They tried everybody but the janitor before Alex Burrows got a turn with the<br />
Sedins, so maybe it’s time to try something equally outside the box with the<br />
Canucks’ power play.<br />
Like, say, Chris Tanev on the point?<br />
OK, now that I’ve got your attention, stay with me here.<br />
Canucks coach Alain Vigneault gets credit for putting Burrows – who was at<br />
the time considered just an agitating checker — alongside the Swedish<br />
telepaths. Yes, it was an instant hit – Burrows scored a goal in that third<br />
period in St. Louis on Feb. 10, 2009 so didn’t get yanked back to the<br />
checking line the next game. He also scored another 15 goals and 26<br />
points over the remaining 29 regular season games of that season and has<br />
averaged close to 30 goals a season (real or prorated) ever since.<br />
Props to AV for making a canny move, but let’s not forget that Burrows was<br />
the seventh player to skate on a line with the Sedins that season.<br />
Sometimes counter-intuitive moves lead to great discoveries.<br />
Which bring us to the Canucks’ power play, a special teams unit that used<br />
to be feared in the NHL. You remember those days? From the 2009-10<br />
season through to 2011-12, the power play was ranked no lower than fifth.<br />
Need a key goal or get a power play in overtime? It was money.<br />
But now – and really since mid-way through last season – there hasn’t been<br />
anything like that dynamic. Minute-long possession shifts by the Sedins<br />
seem like a distant memory. Intimidating blasts from the point? Christian<br />
Ehrhoff and Sami Salo are gone, Alex Edler is still trying to find consistency<br />
and newcomer Jason Garrison is trying to fit in.<br />
The Canucks’ power play – which clicked 24.3 per cent of the time when it<br />
led the NHL in 2010-11 – is at a poor 15. 9 per cent so far in this wacky<br />
short season and has a dreadful 20th ranking. They are 0-for-15 over the<br />
last six games.<br />
You know it’s costing the Canucks points. In a 3-2 shootout loss to San<br />
Jose on Tuesday, the Sharks took a penalty in overtime but the Canucks<br />
could barely muster a scoring chance in the ensuing four on three.<br />
Yes, there are extenuating circumstances. Certainly, the Canucks miss<br />
Ryan Kesler, who was in integral part of the first-unit power play’s success<br />
when it dominated.<br />
The Canucks have tried a few new wrinkles this season. They had Daniel<br />
Sedin at the left point – but it’s clear he’s more dangerous down low –<br />
although he has just two power play goals this season. The last two games<br />
rookie forward Jordan Schroeder has been on the first-unit point, but<br />
everyone in the building knows he’s not going to shoot.<br />
So now we get to Tanev, a 23-year-old who has just one goal and seven<br />
points in 76 career NHL games but has already established himself as a<br />
top-four D-man based on air-tight defensive play.<br />
No, Tanev is not going to intimidate anybody with his shot, but after the<br />
Sedins he sees the ice as well – or better – than anyone else on the<br />
Canucks and is the team’s best passer from the back end. He may be the<br />
guy who can tee it up for Edler. Certainly, there’s only one way to find out.<br />
Tanev also has some common traits with Burrows. Like Burrows was,<br />
Tanev has been under-estimated through much of his hockey career. Both<br />
have proved the doubters wrong.<br />
Maybe it’s time to see if the similarities go any further.<br />
Vancouver Province: LOADED: 03.08.2013
662172 Washington Capitals<br />
Open thread: Capitals vs. Panthers<br />
Posted by Katie Carrera<br />
The Capitals host the Panthers tonight in a quest to not be the last place<br />
team in the Eastern Conference. Speaking of conferences, the NHLPA has<br />
approved realignment and the new plan has quite a few changes in store<br />
for Washington so be sure to check out all the details.<br />
Braden Holtby makes his 11th consecutive start after going 7-3-0 with a<br />
2.24 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in the previous 10.<br />
He’ll be opposed by Florida rookie netminder Jacob Markstrom, who is 1-2-<br />
0 with a 2.36 GAA and .931 save percentage. For more on how Holtby is<br />
handling his heavy workload and why Philipp Grubauer is backing him up<br />
again, check out this post from earlier in the day.<br />
Discuss the game in the comment section below and based on warmups<br />
here’s what the lineup should look like:<br />
Forwards<br />
Hendricks-Ribeiro-Ovechkin<br />
Fehr-Backstrom-Brouwer<br />
Chimera-Beagle-Ward<br />
Wolski-Perreault-Crabb<br />
Defense<br />
Alzner-Kundratek<br />
Erskine-Carlson<br />
Schultz-Oleksy<br />
Goal: Holtby, Grubauer.<br />
Scratches: Tom Poti, Michal Neuvirth (ill) and Aaron Volpatti.<br />
IR: Mike Green (groin), Marcus Johansson (concussion), Jack Hillen and<br />
Brooks Laich (groin, non-roster).<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662173 Washington Capitals<br />
NHLPA approves realignment<br />
Posted by Katie Carrera<br />
NHL realignment is officially a go. The NHL Players’ Association issued a<br />
statement Thursday evening that it has signed off on the league’s<br />
realignment plan, with the stipulation it be re-evaluated following the 2014-<br />
15 season.<br />
Pending the approval of the NHL Board of Governors, which is believed to<br />
be a formality, the Capitals will be in an eight-team division along with<br />
Pittsburgh, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New<br />
Jersey, Carolina and Columbus beginning with the 2013-14 season.<br />
Realignment will reunite the Capitals with many of their old Patrick Division<br />
rivals; it will also force them to vie for a playoff berth against teams that<br />
have often occupied the top of the Eastern Conference in recent years.<br />
Under the new plan, the NHL will have divisional playoffs rather than<br />
current conference playoffs. The top three teams in each division will qualify<br />
for the playoffs and the final two postseason berths will go to the teams with<br />
the most points remaining in each conference and they will represent the<br />
No. 4 seeds. That could allow for five teams to reach the playoffs from one<br />
division and three from the other.<br />
Within one conference, the division winner with the most points will face the<br />
wild-card team with the fewest even if it requires playing in the opposite<br />
division. From there, No. 1 plays No. 4 and No. 2 plays No. 3. The winners<br />
of those series would play each other for a divisional championship; then<br />
the winners of the Atlantic and Central face off in Eastern Conference finals<br />
and the winners of the Mid-West and Pacific meet in the Western<br />
Conference finals. The champions from the Eastern and Western<br />
Conference will then meet for the Stanley Cup final.<br />
One of the major complaints from the players about this and the league’s<br />
previous proposal are the unbalanced divisions — the two Eastern divisions<br />
both have eight teams while the two Western divisions each have seven,<br />
thus making it slightly easier to reach the postseason in the West.<br />
In the regular season, teams in the Atlantic will play 30 games against its<br />
own division – facing two teams five times and five teams four times; 24<br />
games against the other division in the Eastern Conference – three games<br />
against every team, rotating which club has the extra home game each<br />
season; and 28 games against the Western Conference teams – once<br />
home and away.<br />
Here’s how the divisions will shake out:<br />
Atlantic: Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>,<br />
New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Carolina<br />
Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets.<br />
Central: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida<br />
Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and<br />
Toronto Maple Leafs.<br />
Mid-West: Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars,<br />
Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Lous Blues and Winnipeg Jets.<br />
Pacific: Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles<br />
Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks.<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662174 Washington Capitals<br />
Capitals weigh in on visor debate after Marc Staal injury<br />
Posted by Katie Carrera<br />
When a deflected shot struck New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal<br />
on the face near his right eye Tuesday night, it reignited the discussion<br />
about whether visors should be mandatory in the NHL.<br />
Staal is out indefinitely, but the Rangers released a statement that two<br />
different doctors believe that he will make a full recovery. He’s far from the<br />
first player to suffer a scary injury from a puck or errant stick to the face. In<br />
fact, they seem to occur annually, sparking debate as to whether NHL<br />
players should be forced to wear visors for additional protection.<br />
Visors have been mandatory in the American Hockey League since 2006,<br />
and they’re required in many European leagues and tournaments as well.<br />
NHL players have always preserved their choice to wear, or not wear,<br />
visors.<br />
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d see them grandfather in some kind of visor rule<br />
and make it mandatory for everyone to wear a visor,” Jason Chimera said.<br />
“It’s a personal choice. I’ve always had the personal choice to do it. ”<br />
Chimera is one of only five Capitals players who don’t wear a visor; Matt<br />
Hendricks, John Erskine, Brooks Laich and Aaron Volpatti are the others.<br />
Defenseman Tom Poti took a puck to his eye in the 2010 playoffs and has<br />
worn a visor ever since.<br />
Chimera, 33, has gone so long without wearing a visor that when he does, it<br />
“messes up your sightlines,” but said he’s definitely considered adding one<br />
to his helmet.<br />
Jason Chimera is one of five Capitals who don't wear visors. (Jonathan<br />
Newton/The Washington Post)<br />
Jason Chimera is one of just five Capitals players who don’t wear visors.<br />
(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)<br />
“I’ve worn one in world championships and stuff and that kind of thing,”<br />
Chimera said. “I’ve thought about it, for sure. Your mom’s always pressing<br />
you, your wife’s always pressing you. But it’s one of those things that<br />
maybe a little stubbornness comes in. When you see stuff like [Staal’s<br />
injury], though, it certainly makes me think twice about it.”<br />
Karl Alzner toyed with the idea of playing without a visor during training<br />
camp in 2011-12 but ultimately opted to continue wearing one. He prefers<br />
to have the additional protection but believes that players should be able to<br />
decide for themselves whether to wear one.<br />
“It’s not worth it to me. I remember the first couple of years I’d get a new<br />
visor every two or three games because I kept getting hit in the face<br />
[against] the visor, so I think if I wasn’t wearing a visor I’d look a lot different<br />
right now,” Alzner said. “I still think guys should have the choice. If they’re<br />
willing to take the risk then they’ve got to deal with it if they do get hurt.”<br />
Mike Ribeiro, 33, said he’s worn a visor throughout most of his career. He<br />
can see a point coming in the future where the NHL will eventually adopt a<br />
rule that forces all new players to use a visor, while allowing those who<br />
were already in the league by a certain season to have the choice – much<br />
like it did with helmets.<br />
Capitals Coach Adam Oates never considered wearing a visor during his<br />
playing days. He would if he were playing now, though, because he<br />
believes that additional equipment like helmets and visors have caused<br />
players to become more reckless on the ice.<br />
“When we came in the league, the helmets were grandfathered. And you<br />
never want to see anybody hurt, but I think part of the concussion problem,<br />
and part of the high sticks, is from the helmets,” Oates said. “There were no<br />
issues back then because guys respected each other differently. I<br />
remember when the first college guys came out, I remember [Wayne]<br />
Gretzky got cut in his ear and he blamed the college game. And in a sense,<br />
he’s right. Because the college kids wear masks their whole lives and they<br />
play with their sticks up way more.”<br />
To be clear, Oates didn’t say that Staal’s injury was a result of reckless<br />
play. But he believes that players aren’t as careful because they’re all<br />
skating around with more protection. According to NHLPA-gathered data,<br />
more than 70 percent players wear visors.<br />
“So to me that means there’s a lot more recklessness because of it,” said<br />
Oates, who believes it should be a choice. “There’s some guys that don’t<br />
want it. You should have that right.”<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662175 Washington Capitals<br />
Capitals ‘fighting against ourselves’ to move up the standings<br />
Posted by Katie Carrera<br />
Following a come-from-behind, 4-3 overtime victory against the Boston<br />
Bruins, the Capitals are preparing for an opponent of a different sort<br />
Thursday night in the Florida Panthers.<br />
Florida is the only team in the Eastern Conference with a worse record than<br />
the Capitals, which means whoever wins the tilt at Verizon Center will have<br />
the privilege of not occupying last place in the East. It’s two points<br />
Washington can’t afford to let slip away.<br />
“I think we have to get up more for this one,” goalie Braden Holtby said.<br />
“Every game we win, the next one means more because we’re giving<br />
ourselves a better chance every time we get two points. Tonight means the<br />
same. Every game, it doesn’t matter who it’s against. We’re fighting against<br />
ourselves so we’re trying to prepare the exact same way and bring good<br />
effort.”<br />
Despite winning seven of their last 10 heading into the matchup with<br />
Florida, the Capitals have remained lodged in the conference basement. It’s<br />
particularly difficult to make up ground in this shortened season because<br />
with only in-conference play, some team in front of them is gaining points<br />
on any given night.<br />
It means that the Capitals have precious little room for error as they try to<br />
climb up the standings.<br />
“It’s frustrating. I always look at it and I keep thinking to myself, ‘Did they<br />
forget to update those standings?’ because I feel like we should be getting<br />
closer and closer, but we just aren’t,” Karl Alzner said. “But you can’t let that<br />
get you down. Our record has been a lot better in the last 10 games or so<br />
and it’s got to continue to be like that.<br />
“We always have to see our last ten games being around a 7-3 or 8-2 if we<br />
want any chance,” Alzner said. “We put ourselves so far behind that I guess<br />
we should expect to see ourselves down towards the bottom for a while, but<br />
there’s nothing else we can do right now besides play hard and win.”<br />
Based on the morning skate, Tom Poti and Aaron Volpatti will be the<br />
healthy scratches tonight against the Panthers. Wojtek Wolski, who scored<br />
his first goal in a month against Boston, will be on the fourth line while Jeff<br />
Schultz will play alongside Steve Oleksy after sitting out as a healthy<br />
scratch against the Bruins.<br />
Coach Adam Oates has made it clear that he wants Wolski to solidly within<br />
the system first and foremost rather than focusing on point totals.<br />
“He has to play the game. If you play the game correct, he’s got the skillset,<br />
he’ll get some points,” Oates said. “For me, I need him to play solid, and if<br />
he does, gets rewarded with a goal tonight, great. That’s a bonus.”<br />
Based on the morning skate here’s what the lineup should look like tonight<br />
against Florida:<br />
Forwards<br />
Hendricks-Ribeiro-Ovechkin<br />
Fehr-Backstrom-Brouwer<br />
Chimera-Beagle-Ward<br />
Wolski-Perreault-Crabb<br />
Defense<br />
Alzner-Kundratek<br />
Erskine-Carlson<br />
Schultz-Oleksy<br />
Goal: Holtby, Grubauer.<br />
On the injury front, Marcus Johansson (concussion) and Jack Hillen (upperbody)<br />
both took part in the workout. Mike Green did not skate and will miss<br />
a sixth game this season with a groin injury.<br />
And Brooks Laich, who has yet to make his season debut because of a<br />
lingering groin problem, still hasn’t skated with the team since Feb. 16. The<br />
utility forward was on the ice in shorts and sneakers this morning, though,<br />
doing some stick work with General Manager George McPhee’s son,<br />
Graham.<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662176 Washington Capitals<br />
Michal Neuvirth sick, Capitals recall Philipp Grubauer (updated)<br />
Posted by Katie Carrera<br />
The Capitals recalled goaltender Philipp Grubauer from the American<br />
Hockey League’s Hershey Bears Thursday morning because Michal<br />
Neuvirth is sick once again.<br />
Grubauer, 21, is expected to back up Braden Holtby, who is slated to make<br />
his 11th straight start tonight when the Capitals host the Florida Panthers at<br />
Verizon Center. This is the second time in eight days that Grubauer has<br />
been recalled because Neuvirth has fallen ill.<br />
Nicklas Backstrom and Troy Brouwer have also recently been sick, but<br />
Coach Adam Oates is optimistic it won’t continue to spread through the<br />
team.<br />
“I hope it’s isolated; I hope it’s just because of wear and tear,” Oates said.<br />
“Immune systems are not what they should be because of conditioning<br />
problems from the beginning.”<br />
Grubauer made his NHL debut against the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong> on Feb. 27,<br />
stopping all of the 14 shots he faced in a 33-minute relief effort in<br />
Washington’s 4-1 loss. He has not yet arrived in Washington, though, so<br />
video coach Brett Leonhardt is serving as the second goaltender during the<br />
morning skate in Arlington.<br />
Neuvirth, 24, hasn’t played since Feb. 7 at Pittsburgh, when he was pulled<br />
after allowing two goals on 11 shots. Since Neuvirth last made an<br />
appearance, Holtby has become the Capitals unquestioned option in net,<br />
going 7-3-0 with a 2.24 goals-against average and .934 save percentage<br />
(286 of 307) in his past 10 starts.<br />
At this stage it’s unclear if Neuvirth would be healthy enough to start either<br />
of Washington’s back-to-back games this weekend. Oates said he still<br />
wants to split the starts at the Islanders Saturday and against the Rangers<br />
Sunday between Holtby and whichever other goaltender is healthy.<br />
“I’d still like to split them, whether it’s Grubauer or Neuvy,” Oates said,<br />
adding that he’s not overly concerned about Holtby being mentally fatigued.<br />
“I’m not so worried about it but it’s a lot of hockey for him.”<br />
Holtby himself isn’t concerned about physical fatigue at all as he prepares<br />
to make his 11th straight start but he acknowledged that over the course of<br />
a season fending off mental fatigue requires a different type of effort on his<br />
part.<br />
“That’s always the first thing to go. It always is. I think as a goaltender you<br />
notice it more because it’s more demanding as a goaltender, obviously<br />
everyone knows that,” Holtby said. “When you’re tired from flying back and<br />
forth, travel and whatnot it’s never really your body. You know the right<br />
things to do to make sure your body is feeling fine, it’s always your mental<br />
fatigue that some games you don’t want to play, you’re tired and you have<br />
to find a way to battle through that and make sure you can bring that focus<br />
to the table and that’s part of being a professional.”<br />
Holtby said the mental fatigue usually creeps in during warmup or early in<br />
the first period, before he’s fully immersed in a game. He’s learned mental<br />
tricks over the course of his career to help hone his focus and fight off any<br />
doldrums.<br />
As for his current workload, Holtby is happy to play every game if the<br />
Capitals ask him to.<br />
“My mindset has always been I want to play every game and I shouldn’t get<br />
tired,” Holtby said. “If I played a whole season straight I believe I can play<br />
like the rest of the guys in here and keep my body in shape and mentally<br />
strong.”<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662177 Washington Capitals<br />
Caps’ confidence is up after win against Bruins<br />
Posted by Andrew Simon<br />
The Capitals believe that Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime win against the Bruins<br />
will provide them with more than a desperately-needed two points in the<br />
standings.<br />
For one thing, Washington is now 7-3-0 in its past 10 games and is coming<br />
off a shutout of Winnipeg and a comeback victory over Boston, which has<br />
the second-most points in the Eastern Conference. That puts confidence at<br />
a high entering Thursday’s home contest against the Panthers, the only<br />
team below the Capitals in the conference.<br />
“We know this week and last week are very crucial to putting us in a spot to<br />
make the playoffs,” forward Troy Brouwer said at Wednesday’s optional<br />
skate at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. “If we lose any more ground, it’s going to<br />
be kind of hopeless going forward.<br />
“Big win a couple days ago against Winnipeg, huge win last night, and<br />
Florida had a good win last night as well. The guys’ confidence is up right<br />
now, and we need points and going forward, another big divisional game<br />
tomorrow night. Guys are excited right now, real excited to be at the rink.”<br />
While the Capitals are languishing near the bottom of the standings, they<br />
are within five points of the eighth playoff seed. Thursday’s game is the first<br />
of three in a four-day span.<br />
“The schedule doesn’t let up, so you’ve got to try to win every way you can<br />
and keep playing well,” Capitals Coach Adam Oates said. “We’ve got a<br />
tough schedule now, that’s why [today’s practice] was an optional. Guys<br />
need rest, guys are banged up. Every team’s going through it, and you’ve<br />
just to stay the course.”<br />
The surge from Tuesday’s win could help offset any fatigue.<br />
The Capitals trailed 3-0 after one period, pulled within a goal in the second<br />
and tied it up on Wojtek Wolski’s shot at 13:55 of the third. Eric Fehr’s<br />
sprawling goal 37 seconds into overtime gave Washington a win that<br />
defenseman Tom Poti said it could use “as a stepping stone.”<br />
“It’s huge for our confidence to come back against a team like the Bruins,<br />
who are one of the top teams in the East,” Poti said. “And down 3-0 with<br />
two periods left to play, to come back, I think it was a big emotional win for<br />
us, and I think it can lift our spirits and get our swagger back a little bit by<br />
saying, ‘We’re down 3-0, big deal, it doesn’t matter.’”<br />
Now it’s on the Capitals to carry that into Thursday night.<br />
“You’ve got to turn the page,” Oates said. “It’s a new game tomorrow, and<br />
we’re right back at it.”<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662178 Washington Capitals<br />
Tyson Strachan may face suspension for hit on Jason Chimera<br />
Posted by Katie Carrera<br />
Jason Chimera had just made a backhand pass in the neutral zone when<br />
Florida Panthers defenseman Tyson Strachan delivered a blindside hit to<br />
the veteran forward’s head.<br />
Chimera, 33, crumpled to the ice with 8 minutes, 57 seconds gone in the<br />
second period of the Capitals’ 7-1 win over Florida on Thursday night and<br />
immediately went to the dressing room. Strachan led with his left shoulder<br />
and elbow; Chimera was defenseless.<br />
“I did not see it during the game. I saw the replay, and it’s one of those<br />
things. A guy’s not looking at you and it really didn’t have any effect on the<br />
play,” defenseman Steve Oleksy said. “It’s tough as a player, but you’ve got<br />
to try to find a way to get out of the way on that play. You know a guy’s<br />
vulnerable when you’re coming across there and you’ve got to try to make<br />
an effort to get out of the way.”<br />
After missing roughly five minutes to be tended to by Washington’s medical<br />
staff, Chimera returned to the game and skated another nine shifts.<br />
Chimera wasn’t made available to reporters after the game, but Coach<br />
Adam Oates said the forward escaped significant harm.<br />
“I think it’s a little late. I do,” Oates said of the hit. “I’m glad Chimer’s OK,<br />
[that’s] the most important thing.”<br />
Strachan received a five-minute major penalty for interference and a game<br />
misconduct. Given that it was a blindside hit with the head as the principle<br />
point of contact, it’s likely Strachan will face a suspension for the hit.<br />
“To me it looked like it was an elbow, once I saw the replay,” Matt<br />
Hendricks said. “It looked like Jason was looking up ice to see where the<br />
puck went, and Strachan came through with what looked like could have<br />
been a clean hit, but I think he got his elbow up high.”<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662179 Washington Capitals<br />
Capitals’ 7 goals swamp Florida<br />
By By Katie Carrera,<br />
Eight minutes, 10 seconds. That’s all the time it took for the Washington<br />
Capitals to set the red goal light ablaze and take control of their game<br />
Thursday night against the Florida Panthers at Verizon Center.<br />
The Capitals scored four goals in that opening 8:10 — the second-fastest<br />
span to four goals to open a game in franchise history — and the start<br />
paved the way for a thorough 7-1 drubbing of an injury-ravaged Florida<br />
squad.<br />
“Of course everybody happy, but we don’t jumping around,” said Alex<br />
Ovechkin, who was one of three players to record three points. “In that kind<br />
of game it was kind of easy.”<br />
The Capitals improved to 10-11-1 with the win; their 21 points have them in<br />
12th place, five points out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference and six<br />
behind Southeast-Division leading Carolina with a game in hand.<br />
Seven players recorded a goal while 11 each recorded a point in a rout that<br />
was unlike any other Washington win, but one in which the result wasn’t<br />
exactly a surprise.<br />
The Panthers, who now sit last in the NHL, entered as the only team in the<br />
conference with a worse record than Washington and missing seven<br />
regulars because of injury, including two top-line forwards and two of their<br />
top defensemen. Heading into the game, though, the Capitals didn’t want to<br />
focus on all the reason that they should beat Florida.<br />
They can’t afford any semblance of complacency, not with every point<br />
crucial in their effort to move up the standings. When the pucks started<br />
flooding the back of the net in the first period, the message was to stay the<br />
course and focus on the system rather than let up, which can be so easy to<br />
do after racking up a significant lead.<br />
“Our concentration is there, our desire’s there,” said Troy Brouwer, who<br />
recorded a pair of assists. “Guys know that we need to get points here no<br />
matter what the situation is.”<br />
The rout began when defenseman John Erskine teed up a slap shot as he<br />
crossed the offensive blue line. It should have been a harmless, routine<br />
shot but it trickled underneath the arm of Florida starter Jacob Markstrom to<br />
make it 1-0 just 1:58 into the contest. Wojek Wolski scored on a wraparound<br />
72 seconds later for a sudden 2-0 lead on the Capitals’ first two<br />
shots of the game.<br />
The second goal prompted Florida Coach Kevin Dineen to yank the rookie<br />
goaltender in favor of backup Scott Clemmensen. He didn’t fare much<br />
better, giving up two goals on the first six shots he faced. John Carlson’s<br />
slapper off a faceoff win made it 3-0 only 5:38 into the game and then Alex<br />
Ovechkin made a smart feed from behind the net to Mike Ribeiro for<br />
Washington’s fourth goal at 8:10.<br />
“Four goals is obviously a lot in the league. Really, right after that, you’re<br />
concerned that we’re going to be a little flat. Because the intensity drops<br />
really fast. You didn’t really earn the goals,” Coach Adam Oates said. “It’s a<br />
good luxury but after that you’re really concerned that we’re going to lose<br />
our intensity and blow this, kind of thing.”<br />
Oates said he didn’t feel comfortable with the advantage until the Capitals<br />
added a fifth goal, but that marker wouldn’t come until after they had a<br />
scare of their own in less than nine minutes into the second period. Florida<br />
defenseman Tyson Strachan blindsided Jason Chimera with a hit to the<br />
head.<br />
“I saw the replay, and it’s one of those things. A guy’s not looking at you<br />
and it really didn’t have any effect on the play,” said rookie Steve Oleksy,<br />
who recorded two assists. “You know a guy’s vulnerable when you’re<br />
coming across there and you’ve got to try to make an effort to get out of the<br />
way.”<br />
The veteran forward went to the dressing room but returned after roughly<br />
five minutes and finished the game, taking nine more shifts after the hit.<br />
Strachan received a five-minute major for interference and a gamemisconduct<br />
for the hit, which may draw supplemental discipline from the<br />
NHL department of player safety. Chimera was not made available to<br />
reporters after the game.<br />
Twenty seconds into the power play from Strachan’s hit, Ovechkin made it<br />
5-0 with a shot from the left circle. Eric Fehr and Mathieu Perreault added<br />
goals in the third period, separated by one from Florida’s Jack Skille that<br />
ended a shutout bid for Braden Holtby (29 saves)<br />
The shellacking allowed the Capitals to extend their current momentum, a<br />
wave that has seen them go 8-3-0 in their past 11 games — progress that<br />
they don’t take lightly after starting the year 2-8-1. The players know it’s<br />
important to win any way they can now, but don’t want to get carried away<br />
with one lopsided triumph.<br />
“The mood’s always a lot better when you win a close, tight game, hardchecking<br />
game,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “Whenever you win a game<br />
like this there’s not quite as much excitement but guys are really happy.<br />
We’ve got a lot of confidence right now.”<br />
Washington Post LOADED: 03.08.2013
662180 Washington Capitals<br />
Capitals notes: Wojtek Wolski stays in lineup vs. Panthers<br />
By Stephen Whyno<br />
Wojtek Wolski broke his 11-game goal drought Tuesday, scoring at a<br />
crucial time in the Washington Capitals‘ victory over the Boston Bruins. But<br />
it was his all-around performance that kept the forward in the lineup for<br />
Thursday night’s game against the Florida Panthers.<br />
“He has to play the game,” coach Adam Oates said. “If you play the game<br />
correct, he’s got the skill set, he’ll get some points. For me, I need him to<br />
play solid.”<br />
Oates said goal-scoring from Wolski is a “bonus,” but that’s one of the<br />
primary reasons the 27-year-old forward is here. Signed to a one-year,<br />
$600,000 contract in the offseason, he has just three goals in 20 games.<br />
Wolski’s game suffered during his month without a goal, Oates said, adding<br />
that it affected some of his decision-making.<br />
“I had a game in Philly where I could’ve been better on the boards, I think,<br />
and a couple games before that I struggled a little bit,” Wolski said. “I think [I<br />
need to be] executing and making sure I’m good with the puck coming out<br />
of our zone.”<br />
Wolski was a healthy scratch Saturday at the Winnipeg Jets, and he could<br />
be back in the press box if his play slips back to that level soon.<br />
“Everybody’s got a leash,” Oates said. “So much of the game today is being<br />
able to get the puck out over your own blue line, chip it in, put it in the right<br />
spot in their end so we can forecheck and get territory and wear them out.<br />
… The scoring will come if you do that. The more we’re in their end, the<br />
more we’ll score. The more we whiff it in our own end, the more we’re in<br />
trouble.”<br />
Recently acquired tough guy Aaron Volpatti was made a healthy scratch as<br />
right wing Troy Brouwer returned from a one-game absence because of an<br />
illness.<br />
Neuvirth sick, Grubauer recalled<br />
For the second time in eight days, the Caps recalled goaltender Philipp<br />
Grubauer from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League to serve<br />
as Braden Holtby’s backup because Michal Neuvirth was sick.<br />
Neuvirth hasn’t played a game since Feb. 7, when he allowed two goals on<br />
11 shots at the Pittsburgh Penguins and was pulled. He would have started<br />
Feb. 27 at the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong> had he not been sick.<br />
“There’s some things you can’t control,” Oates said. “I feel bad for him.”<br />
With the Caps set to visit the New York Islanders and host the New York<br />
Rangers on back-to-back afternoons Saturday and Sunday, Oates had<br />
planned on giving Neuvirth one of those starts to spell Holtby.<br />
“I’d still like to split ‘em, whether it’s Grubauer or Neuvy,” Oates said. “It’s a<br />
lot of hockey for [Holtby], back-to-backs especially. And you’ve got to get<br />
your other guy a game here and there.”<br />
Grubauer, who was not on the ice for Thursday’s morning skate, made his<br />
NHL debut in relief at <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, stopping all 14 shots he faced.<br />
NHL realignment set for approval<br />
NHL realignment is good to go with the consent of the NHL Players’<br />
Association, executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement released<br />
Thursday afternoon.<br />
Pending approval of the Board of Governors, the NHL will realign into four<br />
divisions beginning with the 2013-14 season. The Caps will play in the<br />
Atlantic Division with the Pittsburgh Penguins, <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>, New<br />
York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes<br />
and Columbus Blue Jackets.<br />
Under the new playoff format, the top three teams from each division make<br />
the playoffs, and the two remaining teams in each conference with the most<br />
points qualify as wild cards.<br />
Laich on ice, without skates<br />
Brooks Laich has not skated since Feb. 16 as he battles a lingering groin<br />
injury. But the forward did make a cameo on the ice Thursday at the team’s<br />
practice facility.<br />
Laich did not even wear skates. He wore sneakers and shorts as he lofted<br />
pucks down the ice toward Graham McPhee, son of general manager<br />
George McPhee, who was practicing after the Caps were done with their<br />
morning skate.<br />
Washington Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662181 Washington Capitals<br />
NHL players divided on visor use even after latest gruesome injury<br />
By Stephen Whyno<br />
As he watched the replay of Marc Staal getting hit in the face with a puck<br />
Tuesday night, Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks reacted like<br />
most who saw it. “Ouch,” he said. “Hopefully it’s not too bad.”<br />
But as he knocked on a wooden bench in the Caps’ locker room, Hendricks,<br />
who like the New York Rangers defenseman does not wear a visor, said<br />
accidents happen.<br />
“Obviously you think about it,” Hendricks said. “[But] it would be hard for me<br />
to put one on.”<br />
He’s not alone.<br />
After Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson suffered a torn left<br />
Achilles tendon when he was cut by a skate blade last month, players<br />
around the league at least tried cut-resistant Kevlar socks. Caps general<br />
manager George McPhee even left a note for his players with a box of<br />
socks suggesting they make the switch.<br />
But even as Staal’s injury knocked him out indefinitely and heated up the<br />
debate, players aren’t rushing to attach visors to their helmets.<br />
“I still think guys should have the choice,” said Caps defenseman Karl<br />
Alzner, who wears a visor. “If they’re willing to take the risk, then they’ve got<br />
to deal with it if they do get hurt. But it’s a thing that’s been around for so<br />
long, not even wearing helmets at one point, you’ve got to let guys have a<br />
little bit of freedom.”<br />
Freedom is what the NHL Players' Association wants, even as visors have<br />
become much more prominent in the past decade. According to the<br />
NHLPA, 73 percent of players are wearing a visor this season, up from 69<br />
percent last season. The Hockey News reported just 28 percent of players<br />
wore a visor in 2001-02.<br />
Ex-NHL defenseman Mathieu Schneider, now special assistant to NHLPA<br />
executive director Donald Fehr, said the organization supports choice while<br />
educating players on the benefits of wearing visors. That appears to be how<br />
most players think.<br />
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d see them grandfather in some kind of visor rule<br />
and make it mandatory for everyone to wear a visor,” said Caps NHLPA<br />
representative Jason Chimera, who doesn’t wear a visor in the NHL but has<br />
in Europe and in international play. “It’s a personal choice; I’ve always had<br />
the personal choice to do it.”<br />
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL has “consistently” held the<br />
belief that there should be a rule mandating visor use.<br />
“The number of players using visors in the league has increased<br />
dramatically in recent years,” Daly said in an email Thursday. “It’s an<br />
ongoing dialogue with the players, the PA, our general managers and the<br />
NHL/NHLPA competition committee, and I suspect the dialogue will<br />
continue.”<br />
The dialogue was rampant in October 2011 when <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong><br />
defenseman Chris Pronger took a stick to the face from Toronto Maple<br />
Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski. While he tried to come back, the eye<br />
injury and concussion problems prevented Pronger from continuing his NHL<br />
career.<br />
Now Pronger, whose symptoms have left him agitated and often snapping<br />
at his children, said he wouldn’t mind visors becoming mandatory.<br />
“I think guys can do it. I don’t think it would be an issue,” Pronger told<br />
reporters in <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, as quoted by the Courier Post in Camden, N.J. “I<br />
just think you go down a slippery slope if you start allowing wholesale<br />
changes to stuff that players have had the ability to do on their own.”<br />
Adam Oates played 19 seasons and never considered wearing a visor.<br />
That would be different if he were playing today.<br />
“I would now, yeah,” the Caps’ coach said. “Seventy-five percent of the<br />
guys are doing it now. So to me, that means there’s a lot more recklessness<br />
because of it.”<br />
While Oates pointed to helmets and visors as one reason why players are<br />
more reckless with their sticks, he pointed out that Staal’s injury was just a<br />
freak accident. <strong>Flyers</strong> defenseman Kimmo Timonen let a shot fly that came<br />
up and struck Staal above his right eye.<br />
The same can be said for Pronger, or Caps defenseman Tom Poti, who<br />
took a puck to the right eye in the 2010 playoffs that required surgery. Or<br />
Vancouver Canucks center Manny Malhotra, who resumed his career after<br />
an eye injury in March 2011 before being placed on injured reserve last<br />
month.<br />
“That’s a thing with one of those unguarded moments. It just happens,” said<br />
Chimera, who is good friends with Malhotra. “I think you know the risk it can<br />
happen out there. Every time you see something like that, it certainly makes<br />
me think twice about it.”<br />
Plenty of players think twice but don’t make the switch, though only five<br />
Caps players don’t wear a visor: Hendricks, Chimera, defenseman John<br />
Erskine, left wing Aaron Volpatti and forward Brooks Laich. Alzner briefly<br />
toyed with the idea of playing without a visor before the 2011-12 season but<br />
ultimately decided against it.<br />
“It’s not worth it to me,” the 24-year-old said. “I remember the first couple of<br />
years I’d get a new visor every two or three games because I kept getting<br />
hit in the face [against] the visor. So I think if I wasn’t wearing a visor I’d<br />
look a lot different right now.”<br />
Unlike Kevlar socks, which require moderate adjustment, a visor changes<br />
the way a hockey player sees the ice.<br />
“I’ve always liked not having one on,” Chimera said. “You go for so long<br />
wearing not one that when you wear one it messes up your sight lines and<br />
stuff.”<br />
Still, Chimera, like many other players, deals with plenty of outside<br />
influence. His agent, Allan Walsh, posted on Twitter that while he<br />
encourages his clients to wear visors, he believes it’s a choice they should<br />
have.<br />
“I’ve thought about it, for sure,” Chimera said. “Your mom’s always pressing<br />
you, your wife’s always pressing you. But it’s one of those things that<br />
maybe a little stubbornness comes in.”<br />
Having visors grandfathered in so that current players have the choice while<br />
those entering the league must wear one seems to be the most logical<br />
answer. That would solve the “stubbornness” but also ensure, like with<br />
helmets, a generation from now every NHL player has that protection.<br />
“When you haven’t played with a visor for 12 or 15 years, it’s tough to put<br />
one on,” Alzner said. “It’s not a big difference, but it is a bit of a difference<br />
so I think that guys should still have the choice. Just make the right choice.”<br />
Washington Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662182 Washington Capitals<br />
Capitals take care of business by drubbing Panthers<br />
By Stephen Whyno<br />
The goal horn started to sound like a broken record. The red light twirled<br />
behind two different Florida Panthers goaltenders. Washington Capitals<br />
fans at Verizon Center chanted “We want wings” less than nine minutes into<br />
the first period.<br />
There was no drama necessary. The Caps simply took care of business by<br />
shellacking a wounded and woeful Florida team 7-1 on Thursday night.<br />
House of Pain's “Jump Around” played in the victorious locker room, but<br />
players didn't celebrate the drubbing.<br />
“Of course everybody happy, but we don’t jumping around,” captain Alex<br />
Ovechkin said. “In that kind of game it was kind of easy.”<br />
It was the kind of blowout that was impressive but should have been<br />
expected against the Panthers, who were playing without seven regulars,<br />
including two first-liners, one of their top defensemen and their starting<br />
goaltender.<br />
“It feels nice,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “We felt like we had a pretty<br />
good chance with their injuries and stuff. We thought that would help us out<br />
a lot. … But yeah, that’s a game we needed to win, and we’re happy we got<br />
it.”<br />
The Caps did everything they needed to pounce on their opportunities and<br />
extend their winning streak to three. In the process, they kept from falling<br />
into last place in the Eastern Conference and made up ground on the<br />
Southeast Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. They finished the night<br />
12th in the East.<br />
“For the standings it’s real big,” right wing Troy Brouwer said. “We had a<br />
couple nice bounces as far as our luck goes, and we were able to take it<br />
from there.”<br />
For a Caps team looking for a good start, it doesn't get much better than<br />
obliterating the Panthers with four goals in the first 8:10. It was the secondfastest<br />
to four goals in team history; the only better came Jan. 21, 1986,<br />
with four in 6:49.<br />
“In this league or in any league everybody's so good that usually – you don't<br />
want to say easy night – but there's not usually a night where you score<br />
goals in eight minutes and have a 4-0 lead,” said defenseman Steve<br />
Oleksy, who led the Caps in ice time.<br />
By the time the night was over, seven different players scored a goal and<br />
11 registered at least a point. Ovechkin, Mike Ribeiro and Wojtek Wolski<br />
each had three on a goal and two assists. And the Caps scored five-plus<br />
goals against the Panthers for the third time in as many meetings.<br />
It was a beat-down in the purest form of the term.<br />
“I think the goalie was really struggling,” Ovechkin said of Florida's Jacob<br />
Markstrom, who gave up two goals on two shots. “We had two shots and it<br />
goes in. Of course it give us lots of belief and we feel unbelievable. Like<br />
after first two minutes. So it works.”<br />
Coach Adam Oates called the hot start a “good luxury.” But he was worried.<br />
“Really, right after that, you're concerned that we're going to be a little flat<br />
because the intensity drops really fast,” Oates said. “In a game like that, I<br />
don't want to see one of my guys get hurt because you're not mentally or<br />
physically engaged in the game. It's a really tough thing.”<br />
Jason Chimera took a blindside hit from Panthers defenseman Tyson<br />
Strachan in the second period, but the left wing managed to return. And the<br />
Caps managed not to let up.<br />
“We were fresh off a game where we were down 3-0 in the first and we<br />
came back. I think that probably helped us that we knew it was far from<br />
over,” said goaltender Braden Holtby, who won his eight game in 11 straight<br />
starts. “We stuck with it. It's hard to play your game in those last two periods<br />
when you have a lead, but I think we did a very good job of it.”<br />
Oleksy said he had never been a part of a game like this. It's rare for a team<br />
to blow an opponent out of an arena this badly.<br />
That's why Oates wasn't talking about using this game as a confidencebuilding<br />
moving forward.<br />
“Almost like if it happened against us where, like, we've got to throw the<br />
tape away,” he said. “The league's not that easy. We've got to remove that.<br />
… Florida had one of those bad nights, and it's over.”<br />
Washington Times LOADED: 03.08.2013
662183 Washington Capitals<br />
Capitals score early, often in rout of Panthers<br />
Brian McNally<br />
There were still 58 minutes of hockey left to play, and it was only a single<br />
goal. But when defenseman John Erskine is shooting from just inside the<br />
blue line and the puck goes in anyway, it figures to be your night.<br />
So it was for the Capitals on Thursday evening at Verizon Center, where<br />
they thrashed the Florida Panthers 7-1 in a game that was all but over in<br />
less than nine minutes. Erskine scored 1:58 into it, a wraparound attempt<br />
by Wojtek Wolski slipped under the pads of rookie goalie Jacob Markstrom<br />
a little more than a minute later and the rout was underway.<br />
Two shots, two goals in 3:10 and Markstrom quickly found himself sitting on<br />
the bench. But veteran backup goalie Scott Clemmensen didn't fare much<br />
better. He allowed goals to defenseman John Carlson and then center Mike<br />
Ribeiro. At the 8:10 mark, after just eight shots, Washington was up 4-0 on<br />
the shell-shocked Panthers, who were playing without seven regulars.<br />
Realignment gets OK<br />
"We talked about [Florida's injuries], but we know they went into Winnipeg<br />
the other night with injuries, too, and they walked all over Winnipeg,"<br />
Erskine said. "We were ready for them."<br />
It was the second-fastest four goals scored by the Caps in a game. The<br />
only time they have done better, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, is<br />
Jan. 21, 1986, when they scored four against the Minnesota North Stars in<br />
just 6:49. Eleven different Washington players recorded a point.<br />
The victory kept the Caps (10-11-1, 21 standings points) out of last place in<br />
the Eastern Conference. It was also their third consecutive win and their<br />
best performance yet in a stretch of games that has seen them go 8-3 since<br />
Feb. 9.<br />
Markstrom helped get things started. Erskine found himself with time to<br />
shoot as he crossed into the offensive zone and sent a routine shot at the<br />
net. He couldn't have expected Markstrom wouldn't glove it cleanly and<br />
have it bounce over his shoulder and into the net instead. The Panthers<br />
might have shaken that one off, but just 72 seconds later Wolski came<br />
clean around the net and stuffed a puck through. It was his second goal in<br />
as many games after a 10-game pointless streak.<br />
A borderline hit by Florida defenseman Tyson Strachan on Caps forward<br />
Jason Chimera led to the fifth goal. Alex Ovechkin scored 20 seconds into<br />
the five-minute major penalty at 9:17 of the second period. Chimera was<br />
knocked to the ice for a time but returned to the game. Strachan was<br />
ejected.<br />
"I don't know if we had the best two first shifts that we wanted, but we were<br />
able to get that [first] goal," Ribeiro said. "And then we just kept rolling from<br />
there."<br />
Washington Examiner LOADED: 03.08.2013
662184 Washington Capitals<br />
In NHL, freedom to add visor or not to add visor<br />
Brian McNally<br />
It is a decision every NHL player is free to make, and the majority of them<br />
want to keep it that way. According to the NHL Players' Association, a<br />
majority of its membership is against the idea of making visors on helmets<br />
mandatory.<br />
There is no question that visors can prevent catastrophic eye and face<br />
injuries. Just this week New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, who<br />
doesn't wear a visor, took a puck to the right eye. He is now out indefinitely.<br />
And yet despite 73 percent of NHL players wearing visors, players prefer to<br />
have the option.<br />
"I've thought about it, for sure," said Capitals forward Jason Chimera, one of<br />
only four players on the team who doesn't wear a visor. "Your mom's<br />
always pressing you. Your wife's always pressing you. But it's one of those<br />
things that maybe a little stubbornness comes in. When you see stuff like<br />
that, though, it certainly makes me think twice about it."<br />
And that's because visors can affect players' sight lines. They have to<br />
weigh the benefits of that with the very real risk of serious injury. Staal's<br />
recent scare again pushed the issue to the forefront. Another case Chimera<br />
knows well is his good friend Manny Malhotra, who plays for Vancouver. He<br />
suffered a serious left eye injury March 16, 2011, in a game against<br />
Columbus.<br />
For a time doctors thought Malhotra's sight was in jeopardy. But he returned<br />
later that season to play in the Stanley Cup finals with the Canucks.<br />
Ultimately, however, even after playing all last season, Malhotra's vision on<br />
the ice had been compromised. He appeared in nine games this year<br />
before Vancouver placed him on injured reserve. It is unclear whether he<br />
will play again.<br />
"I still think guys should have the choice. If they're willing to take the risk,<br />
then they've got to deal with it if they do get hurt," said Washington<br />
defenseman Karl Alzner, who toyed with dropping the visor before last<br />
season but ultimately decided to keep it. "You've got to let guys have a little<br />
bit of freedom."<br />
Washington Examiner LOADED: 03.08.2013
662185 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Byfuglien man of few words on personal life; ready to face Lightning<br />
By: Gary Lawless<br />
TAMPA -- Dustin Byfuglien broke his silence on Thursday after the Jets'<br />
morning skate and, in keeping with the private nature of the man, had little<br />
to say about his family matters.<br />
Byfuglien did not travel to south Florida with the Jets on Sunday and arrived<br />
just over an hour prior to the team’s 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on<br />
Tuesday.<br />
The Jets (10-11-1) meet the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight (6:30 p.m.,<br />
TSNJets, TSN 1290 and Byfuglien spoke with the media following the Jets<br />
morning skate.<br />
Byfuglien travelled to Roseau, Minn. to attend his grandfather’s funeral.<br />
Byfuglien is known around the Jets organization for having a big sense of<br />
humour and a bigger heart. But he’s private when it comes to talking with<br />
the media and is disciplined in his approach. He speaks on his schedule<br />
and not that of anyone else.<br />
"I had a thing with the family and I don’t want to talk about it but I had to go<br />
home for a bit," said Byfuglien.<br />
The Jets arranged for Byfuglien to fly from Winnipeg to Toronto and then<br />
Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday in an attempt to skirt a storm that hammered<br />
the U.S. midwest.<br />
"I was in economy. Just like you guys. It was chaos and a long day. It was<br />
different. I put the headphones on and went to sleep," chuckled Byfuglien,<br />
who normally has a business-class style seat on the Jets private plane.<br />
"It was different. You don’t have as much time to think and prepare<br />
especially when you haven’t been around. I had some things to get done to<br />
be ready."<br />
Arriving just prior to game time and in a different emotional headspace<br />
didn’t prevent Byfuglien from playing.<br />
"Did I think about not playing? No not really. It was something I thought I<br />
needed to do to clear the head," he said. "At first, I didn’t know what to think<br />
or how I was going to react. But when it was time to go it was just react and<br />
don’t think. It was hockey. It was all business."<br />
Winnipeg will start Al Montoya (2-0-0) in goal and Tampa Bay will counter<br />
with Anders Lindback (8-5-1).<br />
Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 03.08.2013
662186 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Right approach, right results<br />
By: Gary Lawless<br />
Tampa, Fla. -- Do the right things and a team wins games. Win games and<br />
good things happen to a team.<br />
The Winnipeg Jets saw that cause and effect on Thursday night as they<br />
played the style required for them to be successful and earned a 2-1 win<br />
over the divisional rival Tampa Bay Lightning.<br />
The victory resulted in the Jets shooting up from 11th in the Eastern<br />
Conference standings to ninth. Winnipeg now owns a .500 record at 11-11-<br />
1 for 23 points, just three back of a playoff spot in the East.<br />
"That's the way we want to play every night. It was a good battle from both<br />
teams. We did the right things as a team, which we didn't do the last two<br />
games and they were losses," said veteran defenceman Mark Stuart.<br />
First period<br />
-- Eric Tangradi has been given an opportunity by the Jets, playing in 16<br />
games since being acquired, but his window of opportunity was in danger of<br />
being closed after failing to produce any points. A first-period goal showed<br />
off his size and finish as he beat Lightning goalie Anders Lindback from in<br />
tight.<br />
"That felt great. I've been trying to contribute and I think I have with my size,<br />
but scoring is something I have to do as well," said Tangradi. "Hopefully this<br />
will give me more opportunity and I can build on this."<br />
Second period<br />
-- A key coming into this game for the Jets was staying out of the penalty<br />
box, as Tampa has one of the league's most dangerous power plays.<br />
Things went awry for Winnipeg as both Stuart and Paul Postma ended up in<br />
the box at the same time. Goalie Al Montoya came up with some key saves<br />
and the Jets escaped the second still leading 1-0.<br />
"All the guys did a great job on the penalty kill," said Montoya. "They didn't<br />
let them have many shots and when they did, I was able to see them and<br />
then our guys cleared pucks away. It was a big win for us."<br />
Third period<br />
-- The heat turned up in the third period as Lightning sniper Steven<br />
Stamkos scored his league-leading 18th of the season. Montoya had no<br />
chance and the Lightning found themselves even at home with lots of<br />
mileage left on the clock.<br />
But the Jets proved resilient and Bryan Little cashed in with a quick shot<br />
that left Lindberg wanting.<br />
After the buzzer<br />
-- Jets head coach Claude Noel pointed to his team's penalty-killing in the<br />
game and in particular in the second period as the key to the win.<br />
"The turning point in the game was the 5-on-3 for the full two minutes. We<br />
lost (Mark) Stuart and were down a defenceman so that's why I called the<br />
timeout, to keep the people fresh."<br />
Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 03.08.2013
662187 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Montoya near-perfect in tough gig, as he must be<br />
By: Gary Lawless<br />
TAMPA, Fla. -- Al Montoya is like an emergency room doctor -- he never<br />
knows when he's going to get some action or what it will entail. But he'd<br />
better be near-perfect or the results will be disastrous.<br />
Montoya got tapped on Thursday with his team in a dangerous tailspin and<br />
he provided the footing they needed to get stabilized.<br />
Montoya was strong from beginning to end and gave his team key saves in<br />
difficult moments. His only sin was getting out of the way of a Steven<br />
Stamkos heater early in the third period of a 2-1 win for the Jets.<br />
"That was great. We were embarrassed the last time we came in here for<br />
whatever reason and we knew we wanted to get that one back," said<br />
Montoya, referring to an 8-3 loss back on Feb. 1. "We knew this would be a<br />
tough road game and we had to keep the score down in this building and<br />
we did that."<br />
Montoya is the understudy to No. 1 Ondrej Pavelec, who had reeled off 10<br />
straight starts before coach Claude Noel determined it was time to give his<br />
starter a break.<br />
"I've been in this league and done a lot of things. Played a lot of games and<br />
not played a lot of games. It's a matter of getting in there when you get a<br />
chance and doing your job," said Montoya.<br />
One of the issues the Jets dealt with last season was the drop-off in<br />
goaltending when Pavelec gave way to backup Chris Mason. Montoya has<br />
been near-perfect when given the chance to play and now owns a 3-0<br />
record.<br />
"Montoya was good. He made a few key saves. He looked comfortable and<br />
like he could see the puck. He was good all night for me," said Noel. "That's<br />
a really tough task to come in every 10 games or so and do the job he did.<br />
Our hat goes off to him and his teammates appreciate the job he did."<br />
There's so little room for error with the Jets now as they try and push for the<br />
playoffs and Pavelec can't play all the games. But when he's out, there can't<br />
be a letdown in goaltending. It's simply too important.<br />
Montoya can't be a liability. He must be an asset, and he was just that on<br />
Thursday night.<br />
Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 03.08.2013
662188 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Jets-Panthers summary March 7<br />
By: Staff Writer<br />
First Period<br />
1. Winnipeg, Tangradi 1, 10:05<br />
Penalty -- Kane Wpg (high-sticking) 11:45.<br />
Second Period<br />
No Scoring<br />
Penalties -- Stuart Wpg (fighting, major), Crombeen TB (fighting, major)<br />
0:19, Jokinen Wpg (goaltender interference) 3:05, Stuart Wpg (highsticking),<br />
Postma Wpg (interference) 7:57, Hedman TB (tripping) 16:30,<br />
Brewer TB (hooking) 17:40.<br />
Third Period<br />
2. Tampa Bay, Stamkos 18 (St. Louis, Malone) 6:57<br />
3. Winnipeg, Little 4 (Ladd) 15:52<br />
Penalties -- Winnipeg bench (too many men, served by Jokinen) 0:55.<br />
Referees -- Brad Watson, Tom Kowal. Linesmen -- Brian Mach, Jonny<br />
Murray.<br />
Attendance -- 19,204 (19,204).<br />
"ï"ï FOURTH LINERS:<br />
The Jets have used a combination of 10 players to fill out the bottom six<br />
spots of their forward group for a total of 132 man games. The group, which<br />
includes Nik Antropov, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Jim Slater, Chris Thorburn,<br />
Jamie Wright, Anthony Peluso, Kyle Wellwood, Antti Miettinen, Eric<br />
Tangradi and Mark Scheifele, combined for just seven goals and 12 assists.<br />
"ï"ï YZERMAN'S VISOR:<br />
Lightning GM Steve Yzerman discussed his view on visors Thursday night<br />
in the wake of Rangers' Marc Staal's season-ending eye injury: "It took me<br />
20 years but I wore one in my last year. I had an eye injury and put one on.<br />
It took a little getting used to but not that much. I would encourage everyone<br />
to wear one."<br />
"ï"ï UP NEXT:<br />
Winnipeg plays Florida tonight in Sunrise, Fla., before finishing its current<br />
road trip with a Sunday game in New Jersey.<br />
Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 03.08.2013
662189 Winnipeg Jets<br />
march 8 game lineup Jets vs Panthers<br />
By: Staff Writer<br />
"ï"ï ABOUT THE PANTHERS<br />
DEBUTS: Right-winger Jon Rheault was the fifth player this season to<br />
make his NHL debut for the Panthers. He did it Tuesday against the Jets.<br />
Others making thier NHL debut for Florida this season include Jonathan<br />
Huberdeau, Drew Shore, Quinton Howden and Mike Caruso.<br />
FARMHANDS: The Panthers are using nine players who have seen action<br />
in at least one game with their AHL affiliate in San Antonio this season.<br />
Drew Shore, Colby Robak, Nolan Yonkman, Tyson Strachan, Mike<br />
Santorelli, Erik Gudbranson, Mike Caruso, Jon Rheault and goalie Jacob<br />
Markstrom all have Rampage games under their belt this season.<br />
OUT OF THE BOX: For just the fifth time in Panthers history, the team went<br />
an entire game without being penalized Tuesday night against Winnipeg.<br />
The last time that occurred was Oct. 11, 2010 at Vancouver.<br />
WINNIPEG JETS<br />
31 Ondrej Pavelec<br />
35 Al Montoya<br />
4 Paul Postma<br />
5 Mark Stuart<br />
6 Ron Hainsey<br />
8 Alexander Burmistrov<br />
9 Evander Kane<br />
12 Olli Jokinen<br />
13 Kyle Wellwood<br />
14 Anthony Peluso<br />
16 Andrew Ladd<br />
17 James Wright<br />
18 Bryan Little<br />
19 Jim Slater<br />
22 Chris Thorburn<br />
24 Grant Clitsome<br />
25 Zach Redmond<br />
26 Blake Wheeler<br />
27 Eric Tangradi<br />
33 Dustin Byfuglien<br />
39 Tobias Enstrom<br />
44 Zach Bogosian<br />
80 Nik Antropov<br />
FLORIDA<br />
PANTHERS<br />
30 Scott Clemmensen<br />
35 Jacob Markstrom<br />
7 Dmitry Kulikov<br />
9 Stephen Weiss<br />
11 Jonathan Huberdeau<br />
12 Jack Skille<br />
13 Mike Santorelli<br />
14 Tomas Fleischmann<br />
15 Drew Shore<br />
17 Filip Kuba<br />
18 Shawn Matthias<br />
22 George Parros<br />
23 Tyson Strachan<br />
25 Jerred Smithson<br />
27 Alex Kovalev<br />
43 Mike Weaver<br />
44 Erik Gudbranson<br />
47 Colby Robak<br />
51 Brian Campbell<br />
57 Marcel Goc<br />
82 Tomas Kopecky<br />
88 Peter Mueller<br />
(Lineups subject to change)<br />
-- Lawless<br />
Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 03.08.2013
662190 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Buff breaks his silence<br />
By: Gary Lawless<br />
TAMPA, Fla. -- There are two Dustin Byfugliens. The one who former<br />
teammmates seek out after games and greet with bear hugs. Then there is<br />
the man who prefers his privacy where the media is concerned and isn't<br />
afraid to defend it.<br />
Byfuglien speaks when Byfuglien wants to speak. Good luck trying to<br />
convince him to do otherwise.<br />
Byfuglien broke his silence on Thursday after the Jets' morning skate and,<br />
as is the nature of the man, had little to say about his family matters.<br />
Byfuglien did not travel to South Florida with the Jets on Sunday and<br />
arrived just over an hour prior to the team's 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
Byfuglien travelled to Roseau, Minn., to attend his grandfather's funeral.<br />
Byfuglien is known around the Jets organization for having a big sense of<br />
humour and a bigger heart.<br />
"I had a thing with the family and I don't want to talk about it but I had to go<br />
home for a bit," said Byfuglien.<br />
The Jets arranged for Byfuglien to fly from Winnipeg to Toronto and then<br />
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Tuesday in an attempt to skirt a storm that was<br />
hammering the U.S. midwest.<br />
"I was in economy. Just like you guys. It was chaos and a long day. It was<br />
different. I put the headphones on and went to sleep," chuckled Byfuglien,<br />
who normally has his own business class-style seat on the Jets' private<br />
charter. "It was different. You don't have as much time to think and prepare,<br />
especially when you haven't been around. I had some things to get done to<br />
be ready."<br />
Arriving just prior to game time and an in different emotional headspace<br />
didn't prevent Byfuglien from playing.<br />
"Did I think about not playing? No, not really. It was something I thought I<br />
needed to do to clear the head," he said. "At first, I didn't know what to think<br />
or how I was going to react. But when it was time to go it was just react and<br />
don't think. It was hockey. It was all business."<br />
Byfuglien had an ordinary game on Tuesday according to his coach, Claude<br />
Noel.<br />
"I thought he was fine," said Noel. "It wasn't his best game but he wasn't an<br />
issue. I thought he should play and he wanted to play. It was good for him."<br />
Winnipeg Free Press LOADED 03.08.2013
662191 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Dustin Byfuglien's return to hockey helped him deal with grandfather’s<br />
death<br />
By Ted Wyman<br />
TAMPA, FLA. - Hockey has been therapeutic this week for an emotional<br />
Dustin Byfuglien.<br />
Byfuglien still didn’t want to talk about the family matter which drew him<br />
away from the Winnipeg Jets on Monday and forced him to arrive in<br />
Sunrise, Fla., just 80 minutes before a game against the Florida Panthers.<br />
“I just had a thing with the family,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about it, but I<br />
had to go home for a bit.”<br />
Byfuglien was actually attending his grandfather’s funeral Monday, and said<br />
he was dealing with a lot of emotions.<br />
“At first, I didn’t really know what to think or how I was going to react (when<br />
he got on the ice) but when it was time to go, it was time to play and once<br />
you get on the ice it was all hockey, all business.”<br />
On Tuesday he had to deal with flight delays and cancellations and it took<br />
him a long time to get to South Florida.<br />
“It was just like any other travel, just like you guys trying to get down here,”<br />
he said. “It was chaos, it was a long day. It wasn’t easy but it was<br />
something I had to do.”<br />
In a rare situation for a millionaire hockey player, Byfuglien had to sit in<br />
economy seats on the flights.<br />
“It was different … it was all right,” he laughed. “Just put the headphones on<br />
and go to sleep.”<br />
Byfuglien arrived at the BB&T Center at 6:10 p.m. and was on the ice at 7<br />
p.m., for the warmups.<br />
“It was definitely a little different,” he said. “Especially when you haven’t<br />
been around, you don’t have as much time to sit and think and prepare. It<br />
was just a matter of having to do what you’ve got to do.”<br />
Byfuglien, who has three goals and 10 points this season in 17 games and<br />
is averaging a team-high 24:33 in ice time, was asked if he considered not<br />
playing on Tuesday night.<br />
“No, not really. It was something that I needed to do. Just clear the head<br />
and go play.”<br />
Like the rest of his teammates, Byfuglien was angry about the listless<br />
performance in Florida and had a sour taste in his mouth all day<br />
Wednesday.<br />
“We definitely weren’t happy after the game but it’s something you’ve got to<br />
let go, you’ve got to move on,” he said.<br />
Winnipeg Sun LOADED 03.08.2013
662192 Winnipeg Jets<br />
No quit this night<br />
By Ted Wyman<br />
TAMPA, Fla. -- It was exactly the type of response Winnipeg Jets coach<br />
Claude Noel wanted to see from his players.<br />
Humbled two nights earlier in an uninspired loss to the Florida Panthers, the<br />
Jets bounced back and played an excellent road game Thursday night,<br />
getting a late goal from Bryan Little to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 at<br />
the Tampa Bay Times Forum.<br />
From backup goaltender Al Montoya, to a group of penalty killers who killed<br />
off five Lightning power plays, including a two-minute, two-man advantage,<br />
to a fourth-liner who scored his first goal of the season the Jets put in a<br />
complete effort.<br />
"You are just looking for a response and the response really has to be in the<br />
players' play and I thought we got that," Noel said after the Jets improved<br />
their record to 11-11-1 on the season. "The bench was alive, our guys were<br />
into the game and I thought we were good.<br />
"We were all disappointed and asked ourselves questions and we knew we<br />
had to win the game in order for us to move forward because otherwise it<br />
just gets more negative. It was good, I'm pretty happy."<br />
Right from the opening faceoff the Jets came out with more intensity and<br />
energy than they showed at any point in Florida and it paid off when Eric<br />
Tangradi scored his first goal as a Jet and second of his 56-game NHL<br />
career midway through the first.<br />
The Jets held the lead for almost 40 minutes but NHL goal-scoring leader<br />
Steven Stamkos finally tied the game 6:57 into the third and the Jets had to<br />
hold off a flurry of Lightning chances before Little scored the winner with<br />
4:08 left in the game.<br />
"It was a pretty ugly game in Florida and everyone knows our effort wasn't<br />
good enough," Little said. "Tonight our effort was a lot better, we worked a<br />
lot harder and everything was more consistent about our game. It was a<br />
division game and it was a big two points.<br />
"No one likes to hear that they are getting outworked, so I thought we did a<br />
great job tonight of responding and I thought we deserved to win."<br />
Montoya and penalty killers like Ron Hainsey, Zach Bogosian, James<br />
Wright and Jim Slater deserve a lot of credit for the victory.<br />
Montoya, who had not played in 10 games, was stellar in picking up his<br />
third win of the season, taking away angles with his great positioning and<br />
makes some key saves off some of the best shooters in the NHL.<br />
"Coming in here tied with them in the standings, this was a big game for us<br />
and you've got to keep the score down in this building," Montoya said. "We<br />
did that tonight.<br />
"It's not easy when you go in there every couple of weeks, but at the same<br />
time I'm not going to make an excuse about it and just be prepared."<br />
To a man, the Jets and Noel pointed to the job of the penalty killers as the<br />
biggest key. Blue-liners Mark Stuart and Paul Postma both went off at 7:57<br />
of the second period but the Lightning couldn't capitalize.<br />
"They did an awesome job," Montoya said. "(The Lightning) had a tough<br />
time entering the zone and when they did we were pouncing all over loose<br />
pucks in the zone. I had to make one or two saves but I knew where the<br />
puck was going and once I made the saves the fellas did a great job of<br />
batting the puck out of the zone."<br />
One of the best signs from the Jets was the number of players who talked<br />
about the fact that this win means very little if they can't come up with a<br />
similar performance back in Florida Friday night.<br />
"This is huge but you have to realize, you enjoy tonight, cause it's a quick<br />
turnaround and we're going to have to get right back in there," Montoya<br />
said.<br />
The injury-ravaged Panthers lost 7-1 at Washington Thursday night, but<br />
have been a tough opponent for the Jets every time the teams have faced<br />
off this season.<br />
"We're gonna want to get back into Florida and put our best foot forward,"<br />
Noel said.<br />
The success or failure of this road trip hinges on it.<br />
Winnipeg Sun LOADED 03.08.2013
662193 Winnipeg Jets<br />
Tangradi nets his first<br />
By Ted Wyman<br />
TAMPA, Fla. -- If he keeps shooting the puck like that, it won't be long<br />
before Eric Tangradi scores his second goal as a Winnipeg Jet.<br />
Tangradi got his first goal since joining the team 11 games ago Thursday<br />
night in a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.<br />
He roofed a shot to the short side on Lightning goalie Anders Lindback to<br />
give the Jets a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.<br />
"It felt great "¦ it's been a while since my last one," Tangradi said. The last<br />
one came in the 2010-11 season when he was with the Pittsburgh<br />
Penguins.<br />
"It's a big lift off my shoulders to finally get that first one. It's tough when you<br />
are playing but not contributing so this is a nice feeling."<br />
Just getting a goal from a fourth-liner is big for the Jets, who get precious<br />
little offensive contribution from that area.<br />
- Wyman<br />
Winnipeg Sun LOADED 03.08.2013
662194 Winnipeg Jets<br />
A win and is he back in?<br />
By Kirk Penton<br />
Why not throw Al Montoya back between the pipes?<br />
He was superb on Thursday night in Winnipeg's 2-1 win over the Tampa<br />
Bay Lightning, and the Jets just seems to play better in front of him.<br />
Ondrej Pavelec played on Tuesday night in the 4-1 loss to the Florida<br />
Panthers, and he wasn't the sharpest. It's time for head coach Claude Noel<br />
to start giving more ice time to the Jets who play well, and Montoya played<br />
great on Thursday night.<br />
So give him the start in the rematch against the Panthers on Friday night,<br />
and then you can go back to Ondrej Pavelec on Sunday in New Jersey.<br />
AROUND THE GLASS<br />
It was evident in the first few minutes of the game that the Jets felt bad<br />
about their showing in Florida, which was arguably their ugliest of the<br />
season. When you think about it, they should have had plenty of energy<br />
early on because they didn't waste any of it on Tuesday.<br />
You can bet Ron Hainsey enjoyed Wednesday's day off, even though he<br />
and the Jets didn't deserve it after Tuesday's pitiful performance. Hainsey<br />
spent his winter in hotel conference rooms battling the NHL for whatever<br />
the NHL Players Association could get in the new CBA, and one of those<br />
was four days off a month. Wednesday was one of those days, and there<br />
was nothing Noel could do about it to get his team on the ice.<br />
Hainsey looked like he was still on the beach in the first period, however,<br />
turning the puck over in his own end for about the millionth time this<br />
season.<br />
Kyle Wellwood has been one of the best Jets on this road trip, and his work<br />
on Eric Tangradi's game-opening goal was a thing of beauty. He kept the<br />
puck away from a couple of Lightning players, and then the puck ended up<br />
on the stick of Tangradi.<br />
Despite that, Wellwood ended up getting only 6:05 of ice time, and Tangradi<br />
had even less with 4:48. So much for rewarding good play with more ice<br />
time.<br />
It sure didn't hurt that Jim Slater slashed the stick out of Cory Conacher's<br />
hands just before Tangradi scored. It was a savvy, veteran move by Slater<br />
and went unnoticed by the two referees on the ice.<br />
Only three teams in the Eastern Conference have more road wins than<br />
Winnipeg's seven: Pittsburgh, Boston and Toronto.<br />
No teams in the Eastern Conference have fewer home wins than<br />
Winnipeg's four.<br />
Paging Nik Antropov, who has just one goal and has won only 42.9% of his<br />
face-offs this season.<br />
The last time the Jets played in Tampa they gave up three power-play goals<br />
in the first period, so it was quite the opposite situation when they killed off<br />
a two-man disadvantage in the second period. Montoya made a great save<br />
on Vincent Lecavalier during the penalty kill, and he, too, showed some<br />
veteran savvy when his helmet "accidentally" fell off during the Lightning's<br />
strike. Noel told reporters after the game that it was the biggest moment of<br />
the contest for his team.<br />
Believe it or not, the Jets are no longer the worst penalty killers in the<br />
league. That dubious distinction now belongs to the Florida Panthers.<br />
Dustin Byfuglien made a curious decision on a second-period power play<br />
when he passed the puck back to Montoya, who looked surprised when the<br />
disc came his way. Why is Byfuglien passing to a goalie who rarely plays?<br />
It's not Montoya's job to handle the puck.<br />
As good as the night was for the Jets, Hainsey and Zach Bogosian both<br />
went into the corner to chase the puck in the third period, leaving Steven<br />
Stamkos all alone in front of the net. Blake Wheeler tried desperately to<br />
cover for his two teammates, but it was too late and Stamkos buried his<br />
league-leading 18th of the season.<br />
There's no way to prove this without asking him, but it looked like Evander<br />
Kane thought twice about making a pass late in the third period. He was in<br />
the corner of the offensive zone with the puck, facing the boards, and it<br />
looked for about half a second that he was going to try a no-look pass into<br />
the slot before deciding at the last minute to keep the puck and go behind<br />
the net. It was a smart decision that allowed the Jets to keep possession<br />
and not potentially cause an odd-man rush going the other way.<br />
The Jets have scored three goals in their last three games against three<br />
sub-.500 teams. That's still a reason to be concerned.<br />
The bottom line for the Jets in the victory is they've simply continued their<br />
inconsistent play. They had an awful game on Tuesday, and they had a<br />
solid game on Thursday. They are a .500 team when it comes to points<br />
percentage, and they moved back into ninth place in the Eastern<br />
Conference. The journey continues.<br />
Winnipeg Sun LOADED 03.08.2013
662195 Websites<br />
ESPN / Midseason picks for awards<br />
By Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun<br />
Hart Trophy (MVP)<br />
Crosby<br />
Burnside's pick: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Interesting race shaping up for the NHL scoring title, as Sidney Crosby and<br />
Steven Stamkos are going toe to toe, while Stamkos also is setting the<br />
pace in his pursuit of another Rocket Richard Trophy as the leader in goals<br />
scored. But Crosby's Penguins are a threat to win the Cup and they have<br />
been without Evgeni Malkin, at least for a short while, which means Crosby<br />
has once again shouldered a significant offensive burden for a team that<br />
ranks second in the league in goals per game and third on the power play.<br />
Meanwhile, Stamkos' Lightning have been in a weekslong slide and don't<br />
bear much of a resemblance to a playoff squad. Patrick Kane warrants<br />
serious Hart Trophy consideration, too, with his renaissance with the<br />
streaking Blackhawks. Ottawa netminder Craig Anderson's injury has<br />
hampered his Hart stock, and Pekka Rinne lurks on the outskirts of the<br />
MVP discussion, but it's hard to give this award to anyone but the Penguins'<br />
captain right now.<br />
Kane<br />
LeBrun's pick: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks<br />
To me, it came down to Kane, Crosby and Stamkos, and the latter is hurt in<br />
this voting by his team struggling. Flip a coin between Kane and Crosby. It's<br />
awfully nice to see No. 87 healthy and back to the top of his game in<br />
Pittsburgh after what he went through. And my guess is he will win the Hart<br />
Trophy once the real voting begins at the end of the season. But for my<br />
midseason pick, I'll go with Kane. A tip of the hat to the Blackhawks star<br />
who has refocused himself on his craft and has been spectacular, night in<br />
and night out, in leading the NHL's best team to first place.<br />
Honorable mention: Steven Stamkos, Tampa; Craig Anderson, Ottawa; Eric<br />
Staal, Carolina; Thomas Vanek, Buffalo; John Tavares, N.Y. Islanders;<br />
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit; Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit; Jonathan Toews,<br />
Chicago; Pekka Rinne, Nashville.<br />
Norris Trophy (defensive player)<br />
Letang<br />
Burnside's pick: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins<br />
Definite changing of the guard at least at the midpoint of the season when it<br />
comes to evaluating the game's best defenseman. Kris Letang has<br />
emerged as a workhorse along a Penguins blue line that has its fair share<br />
of up-and-down moments. Still, Letang is a plus player who logs more ice<br />
time than any other defenseman in the Eastern Conference outside of Dion<br />
Phaneuf of Toronto (we don't count the injured Erik Karlsson). Letang also<br />
leads all defensemen in point production. Letang, who observers believe<br />
hasn't hit his full stride yet, plays a much different game than Niklas<br />
Kronwall of Detroit, who might be Letang's main competition for the Norris<br />
at this point of the season given the evolution of Kronwall's offensive game.<br />
Not to be forgotten is the underappreciated Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the<br />
Phoenix Coyotes, who might be one of the game's smartest defenders.<br />
Slowly but surely, Ryan Suter is rounding into form in Minnesota, and the<br />
Wild have crept up the standings to challenge for the Northwest Division<br />
lead as he has played better (he leads the NHL in average ice time per<br />
game). Still, at the halfway point, Letang would edge out his competition in<br />
our books.<br />
Kronwall<br />
LeBrun's pick: Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings<br />
Kind of amazing when you have a list that doesn't include Shea Weber or<br />
Drew Doughty, but I think it's only a matter of time over the last half of the<br />
season that those guys will find their way into the conversation. Both<br />
players are playing much better since early-season struggles. For me, it<br />
came down to Kronwall and Letang for the midseason award. I chose the<br />
Red Wings veteran because, on a blue line that lost Nicklas Lidstrom and<br />
Brad Stuart and is trying to survive committee-style, Kronwall has had to do<br />
even more and has elevated his game in doing so. He is playing 24 minutes<br />
a game and is among the defenseman scoring leaders, and everyone<br />
knows about his physical play. I think he deserves the nod right now.<br />
Honorable mention: Zdeno Chara, Boston; Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Phoenix;<br />
Ryan Suter, Minnesota; Andrei Markov, Montreal; Alex Pietrangelo, St.<br />
Louis; Duncan Keith, Chicago; Marc Staal, N.Y. Rangers; Francois<br />
Beauchemin, Anaheim; Victor Hedman, Tampa; Kevin Shattenkirk, St.<br />
Louis.<br />
Vezina Trophy (goaltender)<br />
Niemi<br />
Burnside's pick: Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks<br />
Lots of factors to consider with this one, most notably the injury to Craig<br />
Anderson, who still leads the NHL with a .952 save percentage and is<br />
second with a 1.49 goals-against average but hasn't played since Feb. 21<br />
with an ankle injury. Corey Crawford, likewise, has battled injury and split<br />
time with Ray Emery for the league's best team, the Chicago Blackhawks.<br />
While his numbers are sparkling, the shared workload likely will hurt him in<br />
terms of Vezina consideration. Pekka Rinne, a Vezina Trophy finalist the<br />
previous two seasons, has been the main reason the goal-starved<br />
Predators are still in the playoff mix. But for me, the Vezina buck stops with<br />
San Jose's Antti Niemi. Niemi has been the catalyst to a Sharks resurgence<br />
after a horrible stretch of play. His 10 wins are one off the league lead, and<br />
his 1.83 GAA and .935 save percentage are impressive while he ranks<br />
seventh in the league in ice time. And in 13 of his 18 games this season,<br />
Niemi has allowed two or fewer goals.<br />
Anderson<br />
LeBrun's pick: Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators<br />
I know Anderson has been hurt the past few weeks, but at least for a<br />
midseason nod, how can you not reward the guy with a league-leading 1.49<br />
GAA and .952 save percentage? I mean, come on. I think Tuukka Rask and<br />
Niemi also deserve strong consideration. Not too many people have noticed<br />
what Niemi is doing this season, but, as Sharks center Logan Couture said<br />
to me recently, "He's been our MVP." Rask has been rock solid, taking over<br />
as No. 1 from Tim Thomas and not blinking once.<br />
Honorable mention: Corey Crawford, Chicago; Carey Price, Montreal;<br />
Tuukka Rask, Boston; Viktor Fasth, Anaheim; Pekka Rinne, Nashville; Kari<br />
Lehtonen, Dallas; Henrik Lundqvist, N.Y. Rangers; Jimmy Howard, Detroit.<br />
Calder Trophy (rookie)<br />
Huberdeau<br />
Burnside's pick: Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers<br />
This is a tough one because the range of candidates covers forward and<br />
defense, good teams and bad, those who started fast and faded, and those<br />
who have come on as the season has progressed. At the midpoint, there<br />
are two defensemen, Justin Schultz in Edmonton and Dougie Hamilton in<br />
Boston, who are on the Calder radar. The forwards short list includes<br />
Jonathan Huberdeau, who leads all rookies in goals; Cory Conacher, who<br />
leads in points; and Brendan Gallagher, who has of late been the most<br />
dynamic of first-year players for the red-hot Montreal Canadiens. But I'm<br />
going to go with perhaps the best player on the worst team in the NHL, and<br />
that means Huberdeau gets the nod. With the Panthers ravaged by injury<br />
and sinking in the standings, his play has been a beacon of light in an<br />
otherwise dark void.<br />
Huberdeau<br />
LeBrun's pick: Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers<br />
Huberdeau is so much fun to watch. He's electric. A scout told me he can't<br />
believe the kid's awareness all around him, that most rookie forwards need<br />
more time to develop that kind of vision. I think his biggest challenge will<br />
come from Hamilton, who has impressed in Boston in his first NHL season,<br />
and everyone knows how much harder it is to crack this league as a<br />
blueliner.<br />
Honorable mention: Cory Conacher, Tampa; Brendan Gallagher, Montreal;<br />
Justin Schultz, Edmonton; Nail Yakupov, Edmonton; Dougie Hamilton,<br />
Boston; Alex Galchenyuk, Montreal.<br />
Jack Adams Award (coach)<br />
Boudreau
Burnside's pick: Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Ducks<br />
Tough, tough category. It's hard not to examine the work Joel Quenneville<br />
has done with the peerless Blackhawks and just give him the award right<br />
now, especially given the rumblings that perhaps Quenneville's position in<br />
Chicago wasn't all that secure at the start of the season. And of course<br />
there's Paul MacLean, a finalist last season who has done yeoman's work<br />
in Ottawa where the Sens are without Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza and<br />
Craig Anderson. But the Ducks are off to a franchise-best start after a<br />
tumultuous 2011-12 season that saw Randy Carlyle dispatched. Boudreau<br />
has shown a deft hand in integrating Swedish sensation Viktor Fasth in<br />
goal, and has gotten maximum production from guys such as Kyle Palmieri,<br />
Nick Bonino, Daniel Winnik and Andrew Cogliano. He also has managed to<br />
keep his big guns firing in spite of the potential distraction Corey Perry's and<br />
Ryan Getzlaf's contract situations continue to represent.<br />
MacLean<br />
LeBrun's pick: Paul MacLean, Ottawa Senators<br />
Not sure the Senators can keep hanging in there all the way through, but<br />
it's amazing what they accomplished in the first half given the injury losses<br />
headlined by Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza. Truly an incredible coaching<br />
job by MacLean. There are a number of others who truly deserve the nod.<br />
Mike Babcock has had to coach his butt off through all the injuries in<br />
Detroit, especially given his blue line. Michel Therrien and Carlyle have<br />
similarly changed the culture in their respective Original Six towns, both the<br />
Habs and Leafs surprising stories in their own right. Boudreau's work in<br />
Anaheim is sensational; the Ducks were 13th in the West last season and<br />
now are second in the conference. Alain Vigneault has had to deal with his<br />
well-documented goalie drama in Vancouver. And what of Quenneville?<br />
The guy hasn't lost a game in regulation in the first half of the season! All<br />
worthy of a midseason Jack Adams.<br />
Honorable mention: Michel Therrien, Montreal; Claude Julien, Boston; Joel<br />
Quenneville, Chicago; Randy Carlyle, Toronto; Alain Vigneault, Vancouver;<br />
Mike Babcock, Detroit.<br />
GM Of The Year<br />
Bowman<br />
Burnside's pick: Stan Bowman, Chicago Blackhawks<br />
Hard trophy to assign a winner to because the nature of the job is to keep<br />
one eye on the present and one eye on the future. But Stan Bowman has<br />
done a masterful job of retooling the Blackhawks after a couple of turbulent<br />
seasons following their 2010 Stanley Cup win. The acquisition of<br />
defensemen Nick Leddy and Johnny Oduya has given the Blackhawks<br />
unprecedented depth along the blue line, and taken some of the pressure<br />
off Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. The team stood behind star Patrick<br />
Kane when there were rumors it had had enough of his partying ways, and<br />
he responded with an inspired season. Then there are the contributions of<br />
youngsters such as Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw, who have helped<br />
replenish the depth that was lost in the wake of the Cup win. And let's not<br />
forget the team's decision not to throw out the goaltending tandem of Corey<br />
Crawford and Ray Emery after last spring's disappointing turn against the<br />
Phoenix Coyotes in the first round of the playoffs. While Peter Chiarelli and<br />
Marc Bergevin in the East and Bob Murray in the West have shown to be<br />
astute judges of talent and the needs of their teams, I have to give the nod<br />
to Bowman.<br />
Chiarelli<br />
LeBrun's pick: Peter Chiarelli, Boston Bruins<br />
It just impresses me how Chiarelli has always managed his salary cap. The<br />
Bruins won the Cup in 2011 and have not lost any player of significance<br />
since. The core is mostly signed for years to come. And by moving Tim<br />
Thomas' cap hit to the Islanders, Chiarelli freed up $5 million more in cap<br />
space, pretty amazing. He's my pick at the midseason for GM of the year.<br />
Honorable mention: Marc Bergevin, Montreal; Ray Shero, Pittsburgh; Jim<br />
Rutherford, Carolina; Ken Holland, Detroit; Dean Lombardi, L.A.; Bob<br />
Murray, Anaheim.<br />
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ESPN / Five players who need to step up<br />
By Scott Burnside<br />
Carle<br />
1. Matt Carle, Tampa Bay Lightning<br />
When Carle signed a whopping six-year deal worth $33 million with the<br />
Lightning this past summer, the expectation was that he would help with the<br />
power play and the transition game, thus alleviating some of the defensive<br />
problems that plagued the Bolts last season. After a 6-1 start, the Lightning<br />
have gone 4-11-1 and fallen below the playoff bubble in the Eastern<br />
Conference. Carle has gone eight straight games without a point and has<br />
just one goal in his past 13 games. A postseason berth isn't out of the<br />
question, but Tampa Bay -- 26th in goals allowed per game -- is going to<br />
have to be a lot better on the defensive side of the puck if that's going to<br />
happen.<br />
Havlat<br />
2. Martin Havlat, San Jose Sharks<br />
The same issues dog the talented Sharks winger: durability and lack of<br />
timely production. So far, Havlat has delivered neither this season. After<br />
starting the season with a four-game point streak, he has just two points in<br />
his past 16 games. He left a game against Nashville this past weekend with<br />
an injury and did not play Tuesday. The team defense and goaltending<br />
have kept the team afloat in recent weeks, but Havlat is going to need to do<br />
more to ensure another postseason berth for San Jose.<br />
Weber<br />
3. Shea Weber, Nashville Predators<br />
Weber has slowly started to come around offensively, but it's not enough if<br />
the Predators are going to join the playoff fray for the eighth time in the past<br />
nine playoff seasons. And a playoff berth is unlikely unless their offense --<br />
30th in the league in goals per game -- gets going. And the offense won't<br />
get going until the power play -- 26th in the league -- gets going. A season<br />
ago, Weber led the team with 10 power-play goals, the most among NHL<br />
defensemen. This season, he has no goals and just three power-play<br />
assists through the Preds' first 23 games, highlighting just how much he<br />
and the Preds miss Weber's longtime partner Ryan Suter.<br />
Richards<br />
4. Brad Richards, New York Rangers<br />
The Rangers' top center has gone 11 games without a goal, and the<br />
Rangers are hanging on to the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.<br />
A season ago, Richards scored 25 times, seven on the power play. This<br />
season, he has just two goals in total, none with the man advantage. On top<br />
of that, he was recently filled in by another Patrick Kaleta cheap shot that<br />
saw him miss Tuesday's game against the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>. Never mind<br />
the Stanley Cup many observers predicted New York was destined to win,<br />
the Blueshirts need more Brad Richards than they've seen in the first half if<br />
they want to assure themselves a ticket to the playoff dance.<br />
Pominville<br />
5. Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres<br />
A season ago, Pominville was the Sabres' only 30-goal scorer. And<br />
although the Buffalo captain got off to a good start in January, his<br />
production has gone south as the Sabres fell to the very bottom of the<br />
Eastern Conference. Pominville has managed to score in just two of<br />
Buffalo's past 14 games (three goals) and has just one power-play goal on<br />
the season. Given that the Sabres own the worst power play in the league<br />
by a country mile, you don't have to look very hard to see what Pominville<br />
and the Sabres need to do in the second half if they're going to crawl back<br />
into the postseason hunt.<br />
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ESPN / Rumblings: Fighting, Pronger and more<br />
By Pierre LeBrun<br />
The debate on "staged fighting" carried on Thursday in the wake of the<br />
scary knockout from the previous night’s game in Toronto.<br />
Only 26 seconds into the latest installment of the Battle of Ontario,<br />
Toronto's Frazer McLaren decked Dave Dziurzynski when he caught the<br />
Ottawa forward flush with a right to the chin, sending him face down to the<br />
ice. Dziurzynski needed help getting off the ice and the Senators<br />
announced he has a concussion.<br />
For now, though, I wouldn’t expect a knee-jerk reaction from the NHL.<br />
Colin Campbell, the NHL’s senior vice president and director of hockey<br />
operations, told ESPN.com Thursday that, unless a general manager wants<br />
to add it as an agenda item, the subject is not currently scheduled to be<br />
discussed March 20 when the 30 GMs gather in Toronto.<br />
That can change, however, if this topic once again heats up and gathers<br />
more momentum.<br />
Let’s remember that Campbell and the 30 GMs agreed to bring in a new<br />
rule after their March 2009 meetings that would see two players get 10minute<br />
misconducts on top of their five-minute fighting majors for bouts right<br />
off a faceoff.<br />
But the new penalty was blocked by the NHL Players’ Association in June<br />
that year via the Competition Committee -- NHL tough guys voicing their<br />
displeasure with the rule.<br />
Many hockey people don’t like staged fights because they feel they don’t<br />
have a meaningful place in a game. Fights that come from the heat of the<br />
moment, from teammates avenging another, etc. are considered part of the<br />
game by most hockey people. But the staged fights annoy many GMs,<br />
which is why they attempted to bring in that rule four years ago.<br />
"They’re just plain stupid," one NHL GM told ESPN.com Thursday, referring<br />
to staged fights. "But what are you going to do about it?"<br />
Either way, Campbell said Thursday that the league has continued to<br />
monitor/discuss the topic of staged fights internally since 2009, but there’s<br />
nothing in the works to do anything about them at this point.<br />
According to research done by my other employer, TSN in Canada, 39 of<br />
185 fights this season -- prior to Thursday’s games -- were directly off<br />
faceoffs, aka staged fights.<br />
That’s more than 1 in 5 for those counting at home.<br />
One league did take action this season. The Ontario Hockey League, which<br />
features some of the world’s most talented junior-aged players,<br />
implemented a new rule that sees players suspended two games for each<br />
fighting major they receive once they’ve surpassed the 10-fight threshold for<br />
the year. The league was targeting serial fighters with the rule.<br />
The result? Fighting is down 27 percent in the OHL this season.<br />
"We feel that the new fighting standards, new fighting rules, have had a<br />
positive impact in terms of, first of all, reducing the one-dimensional player<br />
in terms of his frequency of fights -- which is what we initially set out to<br />
target -- and secondly, the overall decrease of 27 percent has certainly, in<br />
our view, been a very positive by-product of the new rule as well," OHL<br />
commissioner David Branch told ESPN.com Thursday. "Right now we’re<br />
very pleased with the adjustment to our game.<br />
"What we really look at, too, is attracting the best, young skilled players to<br />
our league. That’s what we really want to be about. We’re the No. 1<br />
development league in the world for the National Hockey League. We want<br />
to make sure the Connor McDavid’s of the world want to come and play in<br />
our league and we’re mindful for their well-being."<br />
It’s a rule that the NHL has kept an eye on this season, but I don’t suspect<br />
it’s something that will see the light of day in the big league.<br />
For starters, NHL teams could get around the rule by demoting/promoting<br />
tough guys once there’s danger of a player getting close to the threshold.<br />
The NHL has a wider pool of players to choose from in that regard.<br />
So the answer, if there is one at all, is not clear for the NHL.<br />
But I suspect the debate will continue.<br />
Pronger GM material?<br />
Chris Pronger hasn’t retired yet, but it’s a given at some point in time.<br />
He’s not going to play again, but for salary cap and CBA reasons he won’t<br />
officially retire while there’s still four more years after this season remaining<br />
on his seven-year, $34.55 million contract. Because the contract took affect<br />
after Pronger turned 35, the <strong>Flyers</strong> would still take that cap hit if he retired,<br />
but do not take the cap hit while he is on long-term injured reserve.<br />
Once that’s resolved, you wonder what’s in store in his post-playing future?<br />
How about NHL management?<br />
People close to Pronger told ESPN.com Thursday that he’s got GM<br />
material written all over him. As it is, he’s already been helping <strong>Flyers</strong> GM<br />
Paul Holmgren this year, scouting players on video for <strong>Philadelphia</strong> and<br />
watching the odd junior game.<br />
Just like Steve Yzerman went from Hall of Fame playing career to learning<br />
the management side for a few years under Ken Holland and Jim Nill in<br />
Detroit, there are some who feel Pronger would do the same with the<br />
<strong>Flyers</strong>, or elsewhere.<br />
Blues' goalies<br />
Jake Allen got the start in goal Thursday night in Phoenix and, if he gets on<br />
a roll, it could be his job for a bit.<br />
It’s officially about the hot hand now in St. Louis. Whoever is making saves<br />
will stay in goal.<br />
The Blues entered Thursday with the worst save percentage in the NHL<br />
(.870) after posting the No. 1 save percentage in the league last season<br />
(.929).<br />
Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott have struggled, and the defensive coverage<br />
in front of them hasn’t been ideal, either.<br />
For whatever reason, the Blues seemed to play some of their best hockey<br />
in front of Allen during his earlier call-up this season, so he gets another<br />
shot now with the team in desperate need of some saves and some wins.<br />
Speaking of the Blues, sources around the league say GM Doug Armstrong<br />
is on the lookout for a left-handed, top-four type blueliner, a guy who can<br />
play with either Alex Pietrangelo or Kevin Shattenkirk on either of the top<br />
two pairings.<br />
Easier said than done at midseason, and it might have to be something<br />
Armstrong waits until the summer to get.<br />
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ESPN / Fighting realignment too risky for NHLPA<br />
By Pierre LeBrun<br />
I’m not surprised that, in the end, the NHL Players’ Association gave its<br />
consent to the NHL’s realignment plan.<br />
While there were still reservations among player membership regarding the<br />
unbalanced 16/14 split in conferences, it wasn’t worth the fight it would<br />
have become.<br />
Had the NHLPA pushed, the league could have had the matter resolved<br />
through a systems arbitrator whose decision would have been binding. A<br />
source told ESPN.com that had the league turned to an arbitrator to decide<br />
realignment and the ruling came in the league's favor, the union would have<br />
had to play under that system for as long as the NHL wanted. By agreeing<br />
on the matter, the players get to re-evaluate the four-division system after<br />
two seasons, and have only consented to play in the system for three<br />
seasons.<br />
Secondly, NHL owners still haven’t consented to participating in the Sochi<br />
Olympics next February. Perhaps not worth poking the bear on realignment<br />
if your players desperately want to go to Sochi.<br />
The league delivered its proposed realignment plan to owners nine days<br />
ago, but the union waited until Thursday to give its response.<br />
There’s a tremendous time pressure element, because the NHL’s schedule<br />
maker has usually finished next season's schedule matrix by this time of<br />
year.<br />
But, the NHLPA needed more time to gather the proper feedback from its<br />
membership.<br />
All 30 player reps -- which constitute the executive board -- were fully<br />
debriefed on calls and in face-to-face meetings in some cases. But the reps<br />
were also seeking feedback from their own teammates.<br />
So the process took a while, with every team playing nearly every second<br />
night in a compressed schedule.<br />
Now all that remains is an ownership vote and realignment is a go. That<br />
vote should materialize within the next week. What remains to be decided if<br />
is the owners want to meet in person to do it, or execute it via fax vote.<br />
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ESPN / NHLPA OK with realignment plan<br />
By Pierre LeBrun<br />
While there were still reservations within the NHLPA regarding the<br />
unbalanced 16/14 split in a new realignment, it wasn't worth the fight it<br />
would have become, Pierre LeBrun writes.<br />
After much thought, the NHL Players' Association has given a thumbs-up to<br />
the league's proposed realignment plan.<br />
"After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,'' NHLPA<br />
executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement Thursday night.<br />
Both sides confirmed to ESPN.com that the NHLPA gave its consent to play<br />
in the proposed four-division system for three seasons -- through the 2015-<br />
16 season -- but they will begin to re-evaluate the system after two<br />
seasons. Therefore, no changes would be made to the system before the<br />
2016-17 season.<br />
New-Look NHL<br />
The NHL has proposed a new realignment plan that would feature playoff<br />
wild-card spots and four divisions. The four-division alignment would look<br />
like this:<br />
Pacific Division Mid-West Division<br />
Anaheim Chicago<br />
Calgary Colorado<br />
Edmonton Dallas<br />
Los Angeles Minnesota<br />
Phoenix Nashville<br />
San Jose St. Louis<br />
Vancouver Winnipeg<br />
Central Division Atlantic Division<br />
Boston Carolina<br />
Buffalo Columbus<br />
Detroit New Jersey<br />
Florida New York Islanders<br />
Montreal New York Rangers<br />
Ottawa <strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
Tampa Bay Pittsburgh<br />
Toronto Washington<br />
All that remains now is for the NHL's 30 owners to vote on the plan in order<br />
for it to go into effect for the 2013-14 season. A source told ESPN.com on<br />
Thursday evening that the NHL hopes to hold the board of governors vote<br />
within the next week.<br />
"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised plan for realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season," NHL<br />
deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "Our next step will be to<br />
bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for<br />
its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future<br />
developments warrant."<br />
The NHL sent details of its realignment plan to owners Feb. 26 after<br />
discussing it for more than three weeks with the NHLPA.<br />
The league had hoped to get consent last week, but had to wait because<br />
the NHLPA needed more time to get feedback from its membership. All 30<br />
team player reps held calls or had face-to-face meetings with union officials<br />
to discuss the realignment plan, and some players had reservations about<br />
unbalanced conferences, a source told ESPN.com.<br />
The NHL's realignment plan calls for 16 teams in the Eastern Conference<br />
next season. Columbus and Detroit would move there from the Western<br />
Conference, which would be left with 14 teams. The plan also calls for the<br />
league to go from its current six-division format to four.<br />
The realignment plan also introduces wild-card playoff spots within the<br />
conferences.<br />
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ESPN / Need to know: It was a sickening night<br />
By Pierre LeBrun<br />
Today’s Need to Know blog should focus on Chicago’s remarkable, historic<br />
point streak continuing with a rallying victory over Colorado on Wednesday<br />
night. But I can’t bring myself to ignore what transpired in Toronto.<br />
The sight of Ottawa Senators forward Dave Dziurzynski lying on the ice,<br />
knocked out, after getting pounded into submission by Toronto Maple Leafs<br />
heavyweight Frazer McLaren sickened me to no end.<br />
Oh, wait, no one ever gets hurt in a hockey fight, right?<br />
What a crock.<br />
Dziurzynski has a concussion and I’m happy it’s not worse.<br />
I’m not here to suggest a fight can’t swing the momentum of a game.<br />
Jarome Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier swinging fists in the 2004 Stanley Cup<br />
finals was a thrilling moment and I was there to cover it. Those are<br />
emotional bouts that are part of the fabric of the game.<br />
But this? Can you say "staged fight?" Battle of Ontario and these two guys<br />
drop the gloves 26 seconds into the game?<br />
There’s no heat-of-the-moment here. This is a predetermined affair that had<br />
zero consequence on the outcome of the game.<br />
Just plain old stupid is all it was, with an unfortunate consequence.<br />
There’s no easy answer here. I’m not calling for all-out ban on fighting<br />
because like many, I’m not sure what the NHL game would be like either if<br />
the rats got to run around with their sticks up without fear of retribution.<br />
But what I am saying is that I’m sick and tired of seeing these senseless<br />
types of fights in our game. And that was a senseless fight.<br />
My fear is that one day a player isn’t going to recover from one of these<br />
punches. This is a fear I can tell you that the higher-ups at the NHL’s head<br />
office also share deep down.<br />
It just seems to me that today’s NHL tough guy hits harder than ever before.<br />
Which only stands to reason, because today’s NHL player is also bigger<br />
and faster and shoots harder than ever before. The game continues to<br />
evolve in that direction.<br />
Mind you, a former NHL tough guy -- via text message Wednesday night --<br />
disagreed with my notion that tough guys hit harder today, referring me to<br />
watch any of Joey Kocur’s fights from back in his day.<br />
Point taken. My source dropped the gloves in the NHL, I did not, so his<br />
insight here would have more value than mine.<br />
Either way, even if they’re not hitting harder, we are certainly more aware<br />
now about head injuries and the long-term health risks involved. That in<br />
itself should be enough to get everyone thinking more about this.<br />
And, from a society standpoint, we’ve become less tolerant of these kinds<br />
of violent acts. Our appetite for this kind of thing has changed.<br />
I mean, I could barely bring myself to watch rest of that Senators-Leafs<br />
game Wednesday night, I was so sickened by that fight.<br />
The only solution I’ve heard about that has any kind of merit is to introduce<br />
a sliding scale, or a threshold if you will, that after a certain number of<br />
fighting majors the player faces a suspension.<br />
The Ontario Hockey League introduced something like that this season,<br />
suspending players for two games after they’ve passed the 10-fight<br />
threshold on the season. The point is to minimize the impact of serial<br />
fighters and while I don’t have the exact statistics, multiple media reports<br />
during the OHL season pointed to fighting being down this season in the<br />
league.<br />
It’s a rule that I can tell you the NHL has watched very closely. In fact, Colin<br />
Campbell, the NHL’s senior vice president and director of hockey<br />
operations, told me back in September when the OHL announced this rule<br />
change that he had been in contact with the junior league on this.<br />
"They talk to us when they make rule changes like this," Campbell told<br />
ESPN.com back in September. "We’ve discussed the aspect of fighting<br />
over the years. We had a couple of initial discussions about this last spring.<br />
They were thinking about implementing some sort of quota. I mentioned to<br />
him we had debated that internally in hockey operations at the NHL level."<br />
I’m not sure the NHL would ever get the mandate to introduce something<br />
similar, but if my vote counted, it would be a hearty yes.<br />
How can you not feel that way after Wednesday night?<br />
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FOXSports.com / Terry Crisp reminisces about Lightning's start<br />
Andrew Astleford<br />
TAMPA, Fla. — He has witnessed many firsts, so memories of a Tampa<br />
Bay original brought a smile to his face once more.<br />
On Thursday night, Terry Crisp stood deep inside Tampa Bay Times Forum<br />
and marked a vision's growth. Twenty years ago, in the 1992-93 season,<br />
the Parry Sound, Ontario, native coached the Tampa Bay Lightning during<br />
their inaugural campaign.<br />
There were a number of unknowns then: Could hockey survive in Florida?<br />
How long would a game of ice last in a state of beach sand and sun? But<br />
watching an uncertainty become sustainable, then a contender over time,<br />
then a Stanley Cup champion made those early doubts disappear.<br />
"When you first started thinking, 'Oh, Florida, nice. We're a part of it,' you<br />
got the feeling, 'Let's enjoy it while we can,'" said Crisp, who coached the<br />
Lightning in parts of six seasons from 1992-97.<br />
"It kept dodging the bullet and getting better. Suddenly, you reach the top of<br />
the mountain in (the 2003-04 season), and you win a Stanley Cup. I mean,<br />
how many franchises in the NHL would love to say they won the Stanley<br />
Cup in that short of span, in that given time?"<br />
Crisp returned to watch that success story on Thursday, during Tampa<br />
Bay's 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. He recalled a simpler time for the<br />
NHL's Florida experiment, one that's celebrating its 20th anniversary.<br />
There was the initial season at Expo Hall — capacity 11,000 — on the<br />
Florida State Fairgrounds. The Lightning's first victory happened at the<br />
humble building, on Oct. 7, 1992, when Chris Kontos scored four goals in a<br />
7-3 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks that stands as one of the region's<br />
signature hockey moments.<br />
Then there were the years at Suncoast Dome in St. Petersburg, Fla.,<br />
nicknamed the "Thunderdome," before the franchise found a home across<br />
the bay. All are memories that formed a foundation.<br />
Time changes, though. So do perspectives. As Crisp received a glimpse of<br />
the 50-foot, $5 million high-definition video board at Tampa Bay Times<br />
Forum, the passing of years was evident. The NHL's Florida experiment<br />
had grown up.<br />
"The scoreboard is probably worth more than most of our whole team's<br />
salary that first year here," Crisp said with a laugh.<br />
The Lightning developed an identity in time, of course, with help from a man<br />
who knew about beginnings. Before joining Tampa Bay, Crisp played as a<br />
center for the inaugural St. Louis Blues team in the 1967-68 season. Later,<br />
he became a center for the inaugural New York Islanders team in the 1972-<br />
73 season.<br />
After leaving Tampa Bay with a 142-204-45 record, he was fired 11 games<br />
into the 1997-98 season, Crisp became an analyst for the Nashville<br />
Predators — marking another franchise he saw rise from its start. He's in<br />
his 15th season calling hockey in the Music City.<br />
"I was fortunate enough that when I was out of coaching, I went right into<br />
TV," said Crisp, who also coached the Calgary Flames from 1987 to 1990.<br />
"And you've got to admit, there's nothing better than being an athlete. The<br />
athlete is the greatest you can possibly be for participation. The next-best is<br />
a coach — for the action, for being part of it. And then the third, to me, is<br />
being a TV or a radio announcer.<br />
"When training camp rolled around, the juices started to flow again. You<br />
want to get back. You want to do it. When the playoffs rolled around, you<br />
really wanted back in."<br />
For a moment Thursday, he was back with a beginning, back with hockey's<br />
start in the Tampa Bay region. Before the national anthem, a spotlight<br />
focused on him as he stood near the glass in a corner of the darkened rink.<br />
His name was announced over the public-address system. A crowd of more<br />
than 19,200 roared. He raised his right palm in thanks.<br />
Twenty years later, the NHL's Florida experiment has become more than a<br />
vision. Twenty years later, after all the memories, its first leader holds close<br />
an original.<br />
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FOXSports.com / Colorado rocky? Columnist suggests feud between<br />
O’Reilly, Duchene<br />
Mike Halford<br />
Is there animosity within the Avalanche dressing room?<br />
According to the Denver Post, it sure feels that way.<br />
The are reportedly hard feelings between centers Matt Duchene and Ryan<br />
O’Reilly, once the closest of buddies.<br />
The two broke in together as 18-year-old rookies in 2009-10, but their<br />
relationship appears fractured after O’Reilly held out before the Avs<br />
matched a two-year, $10 million offer sheet he signed with Calgary.<br />
Duchene, meanwhile, re-upped with Colorado on a modest two-year, $7<br />
million deal in June.<br />
Here’s more, from Mike Chambers of the Post:<br />
I’m not sure they even speak to each other now. After the Avs regained<br />
O’Reilly’s services by matching the Calgary Flames’ offer sheet for the<br />
restricted free agent and holdout a week ago, Duchene used only quick,<br />
politically correct answers to sum up his feelings about O’Reilly’s pending<br />
arrival.<br />
On multiple occasions, he said “each player has his brand” and O’Reilly is<br />
“a good player.”<br />
Tuesday in Detroit, Duchene opened up to an ESPN reporter as I pulled out<br />
the video camera for some blog material. By Wednesday the video was<br />
being played across North America, and people undoubtedly began to<br />
notice why Duchene has a beef with O’Reilly.<br />
Here’s the video in question:<br />
The ‘money’ quote from Duchene, so to speak…<br />
“For me, I don’t care about any of that. I just want to play hockey. If I did<br />
look at it that way, maybe I would have done what he did.<br />
“But I signed in June and I love being an Av, everything about it. I love<br />
cheering for this team and that’s all that matters for me.”<br />
It’s easy to see why Duchene would be frustrated with how the situation<br />
played out. Aside from affecting the Avs on the ice — O’Reilly missed the<br />
first 19 games of the year — it also caused havoc off it.<br />
The Calgary offer sheet fiasco put the Avs (and Flames) in the spotlight for<br />
all the wrong reasons, with media folk chiding both organizations for how<br />
poorly the situation was handled.<br />
Prior to the offer sheet being signed, O’Reilly’s father wrote a scathing<br />
email to the Denver Post, blasting the Avs organization and how it handled<br />
contract negotiations.<br />
Earlier, defenseman Shane O’Brien said the situation had “gotten ugly.”<br />
What’s not helping things is that the Avs are losing. They have just one win<br />
in their last seven and only scored four goals in their last three, which only<br />
adds to the frustration level.<br />
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NBCSports.com / Report: Dallas boasts NHL-best attendance increase<br />
Mike Halford<br />
The Stars have to be pleased that, approaching the midway mark, they’re<br />
currently sitting eight overall in the Western Conference.<br />
They’re probably equally pleased with how many fans have shown up to<br />
watch them play.<br />
Here’s more, from the Morning News:<br />
The improvement is a positive sign for a franchise that is currently boasts a<br />
mediocre 11-9 record and often plays fourth fiddle when it comes to<br />
professional teams in the metroplex.<br />
Last season, the Stars struggled mightily at the gates and finished only<br />
ahead of the Phoenix Coyotes with an average of 14,227.<br />
A series of factors likely played into the increase.<br />
Stars owner Tom Gaglardi spent large in the offseason, bringing in Jaromir<br />
Jagr and Ray Whitney as free agents before acquiring Derek Roy from<br />
Buffalo via trade. The club also dropped $26.25 million to secure its lone<br />
All-Star from last year, Jamie Benn.<br />
The Dallas sports scene is also experiencing something of a lull right now.<br />
The Mavericks sit 11th in the NBA’s Western Conference with a 27-33<br />
mark, the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs for the third straight year<br />
(granted, the NHL and NFL didn’t overlap this season) and the Rangers lost<br />
the services of 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton.<br />
As for other NHL clubs? Unsurprisingly, the Chicago Blackhawks lead all<br />
teams with an average of 21,580 fans per game.<br />
It’s a perfect storm right now for huge attendance numbers — Chicago is<br />
currently in the midst of a historic undefeated streak and plays at one of the<br />
league’s largest arenas (with standing room, numbers can get upward of<br />
22,000).<br />
Overall, the NHL teams are averaging 17,668 fans per game, up two<br />
percent from 2011-12.<br />
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NBCSports.com / NHLPA approves realignment<br />
Jason Brough<br />
NHL players are officially on board with the league’s plan for realignment.<br />
“After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent<br />
to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season,” said the<br />
union’s executive director, Don Fehr, in a statement released Thursday<br />
evening.<br />
In December of 2011, the NHL announced a “radical” realignment plan that<br />
split the league into four “conferences” as opposed to its current structure of<br />
two conferences with three divisions in each.<br />
However, the NHLPA eventually scuttled the plan, citing concerns over<br />
travel as well as the fairness of the proposed playoff qualification system.<br />
The league’s last reported proposal was back to two conferences —<br />
Western and Eastern — with four divisions.<br />
Eastern Conference<br />
Atlantic Division<br />
Carolina<br />
Columbus<br />
New Jersey<br />
New York Islanders<br />
New York Rangers<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong><br />
Pittsburgh<br />
Washington<br />
Central Division<br />
Boston<br />
Buffalo<br />
Detroit<br />
Florida<br />
Montreal<br />
Ottawa<br />
Tampa Bay<br />
Toronto<br />
Western Conference<br />
Mid-West Division<br />
Chicago<br />
Colorado<br />
Dallas<br />
Minnesota<br />
Nashville<br />
St. Louis<br />
Winnipeg<br />
Pacific Division<br />
Anaheim<br />
Calgary<br />
Edmonton<br />
Los Angeles<br />
Phoenix<br />
San Jose<br />
Vancouver<br />
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly released the following statement<br />
following the union’s announcement:<br />
“The NHL Players’ Association confirmed to us today that it has consented<br />
to a revised plan for realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season. Our next<br />
step will be to bring the proposed plan for realignment to the NHL Board of<br />
Governors for its consideration. We will update the status of the process as<br />
future developments warrant.”<br />
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NBCSports.com / Frenzy or flop? Lombardi talks about the trade market<br />
Jason Brough<br />
Will it be a busy NHL trade deadline? Or, like the past couple of hyped-up<br />
affairs, will it fall flat?<br />
Granted, there’s still almost a month before April 3, and a lot of stuff can<br />
happen in that time (like trades!), but Kings general manager Dean<br />
Lombardi doesn’t provide a ton of hope for fans (and blogs) who love the<br />
wheeling and dealing.<br />
According to Lombardi, non-playoff teams have become loathe to trade<br />
away pending unrestricted free agents.<br />
“Even mid-range players, many teams are now deciding to keep them and<br />
try to sign them versus giving them away for a second- or third-round pick,”<br />
Lombardi ESPN.com recently. “That’s something that’s changed in this<br />
business since I got in it; very different. Some teams are looking at that No.<br />
4 or No. 5 defenseman and saying, ‘I’m not replacing him this summer, I<br />
need to keep him and sign him.’”<br />
We saw this last year with players like Tim Gleason re-signing in Carolina<br />
and Francois Beauchemin re-upping with the Ducks.<br />
Add to the equation the tight standings as a result of the shortened season<br />
and there may be fewer teams in full-on selling mode than is typical at the<br />
deadline.<br />
But don’t worry, we’ll still hype it up.<br />
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NBCSports.com / Daly: NHL wants mandatory visors<br />
Jason Brough<br />
The day after Rangers defenseman Marc Staal took a puck in the eye, once<br />
again igniting the debate over visors and whether they should be<br />
mandatory, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has weighed in on the<br />
issue, putting the onus squarely on the players for their own health and<br />
safety.<br />
“The league continues to support a rule that would make visors mandatory<br />
in NHL games,” Daly told the New York Times in an e-mail. “As you know, it<br />
has been the consistent position of the Players’ Association that they are<br />
opposed to mandating visor use, that it should be a matter of ‘player<br />
choice,’ and that increased visor use by players should be achieved through<br />
continued education and sensitization to the dangers associated with nonuse.<br />
I believe that continues to be the Players’ Association’s position,<br />
although I cannot speak for them.”<br />
Even after watching Staal’s injury, Rangers forward Rick Nash was still<br />
supportive of a player’s choice to go without a visor.<br />
“I’ve never played a game without one,” Nash told the New York Post. “That<br />
being said, I’m not in favor of making visors mandatory.<br />
“I believe it should be your option. Maybe I’m older-school, but we’re<br />
playing the highest level of hockey in the world and I just think we should be<br />
allowed to make that decision ourselves.”<br />
An update on Staal’s condition is expected sometime today.<br />
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USA TODAY / Billy Beane compares 'Moneyball' streak to Heat,<br />
Blackhawks<br />
Bob Nightengale and Erik Brady,<br />
Beane says of win streaks: 'When you're in the middle of it, you don't<br />
understand the magnitude.'<br />
Dual current streaks by Chicago Blackhawks and Miami Heat catching the<br />
eyes of even casual fanss<br />
Once Oakland's win streak reached 20 games in 2002, Beane says 'we<br />
were exhausted.'<br />
The Oakland Athletics won an American League record 20 consecutive<br />
games in 2002. General manager Billy Beane will never forget the bottomof-the-ninth,<br />
pinch-hit homer that won the last one.<br />
"Heck, you make movies out of that,'' Beane says, a sly reference to<br />
Moneyball.<br />
All of this comes up now because the Miami Heat and Chicago Blackhawks<br />
are on historic streaks of their own. If they keep going, Hollywood just might<br />
have to make movies about them, too.<br />
A double feature would be nice.<br />
Beane makes a surprising admission about that screenwriter's dream of a<br />
streak.<br />
"I didn't really enjoy it while it was going on," he says. "When you're in the<br />
middle of it, you don't understand the magnitude. You don't appreciate it<br />
until late."<br />
STREAKING: Heat, Blackhawks root for each other<br />
Beane points out the Anaheim Angels paced the Athletics nearly win for win<br />
during that stretch.<br />
"What people forget is that we had to win," he says. "The Angels won 16 of<br />
19, and we had to keep winning to stay in first. It was necessary for us to<br />
stay that strong. Looking back, it's hard to believe we could be in that<br />
groove for that amount of time.<br />
"We had a lot of exciting endings in that streak. You have to have the talent,<br />
but you also have to have the bounces and some luck involved.''<br />
Beane had a feeling that the 20th win would be the end of the line.<br />
"When Hatty (Scott Hatteberg) hit that homer for our 20th, we had a<br />
Thursday off-day, and we almost knew that was it," Beane says. "We were<br />
exhausted. We had so many comebacks. We were going to Minnesota<br />
where it was a tough place to play. We were aware it was about to end."<br />
The mounting wins meant mounting pressure.<br />
"It starts to become a little bit of a burden, too," Beane says. "It interrupts<br />
the ebbs and flow of the season. You have all of the media attention, and<br />
we had the Angels breathing down our neck, and they didn't deal with any<br />
distractions.''<br />
The Miami Dolphins, who have the NFL's only perfect season, famously<br />
celebrate when the last NFL team loses each season.<br />
Does Beane root against any American League team that might eclipse the<br />
Athletics' streak?<br />
"No, not at all," he says. "It never entered my mind. In football, you see<br />
teams approach the '72 Dolphins. There's not that many teams that<br />
approach it in baseball. Maybe if someone comes close, I'll have to check<br />
myself again.''<br />
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USA TODAY / Heat, Blackhawks pull for each other as streaks roll on<br />
Erik Brady, Kevin Allen, Jeff Zillgitt,<br />
When a team goes on a streak, it's always the loss to end it that people<br />
remember. But for the Heat and Blackhawks, it's enjoy the ride as long as<br />
possible — and cheer for each other.<br />
Blackhawks GM Stan Brown says two streaks at once like "looking up and<br />
seeing two Halley's Comets"<br />
Jakie Sandefer has a message for the Miami Heat and the Chicago<br />
Blackhawks: Enjoy your streaks now, because when they're over, you'll<br />
always think more about the loss that ended them than you will all those<br />
wins.<br />
Sandefer, 76, is a retired oilman who was a halfback on the Oklahoma<br />
Sooners football teams that won 47 consecutive games straddling five<br />
seasons in the 1950s. He'll tell you it was a great ride, but ask what he<br />
remembers most and he'll tell about a bitter 7-0 loss to Notre Dame.<br />
"Just remember that the only ones that never lose are the ones that never<br />
play," he recalls coach Bud Wilkinson telling the vanquished Sooners.<br />
"I have thought about that through the years," Sandefer says. "If you don't<br />
want to lose, don't compete, because you are going to lose at some point."<br />
So true, and yet it seems an ethereal, faraway truth to teams in the midst of<br />
mind-bending, odds-defying win streaks — or, in hockey's case, point<br />
streaks — of the kind that somehow seem as if they might never end, when<br />
a team of surpassing talent is hotter than heat, such as the Heat.<br />
Miami has won 16 consecutive games, nearly halfway to the NBA record of<br />
33. It's the talk of the league, and much of the land, but not of their locker<br />
room. Just as a baseball team never speaks in the dugout of a no-hitter in<br />
progress, Heat players don't talk about The Streak among themselves,<br />
though they'll offer comment to the media, when asked.<br />
For all of that, LeBron James will freely speak of others' streaks. He scored<br />
on a driving left-handed layup in the closing seconds of Wednesday night's<br />
97-96 squeaker against the Orlando Magic. Afterward, James<br />
(@KingJames) and Blackhawks star Patrick Kane (@88PKane) tweeted at<br />
each other.<br />
@kingjames Back at you LeBron. Keep rolling<br />
— Patrick Kane (@88PKane) March 7, 2013<br />
The Blackhawks also won in nail-biting fashion Wednesday, coming from<br />
behind to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. They are 21-0-3, with all three<br />
overtime losses coming in shootouts.<br />
They are riding a point streak of 24 consecutive games since opening day,<br />
halfway to the 48 games of this lockout-shortened NHL season. Is it really<br />
possible the Blackhawks could go through an entire regular season, even a<br />
truncated one, without a regulation loss?<br />
Bentley University math professor Richard J. Cleary figures that at one<br />
chance in 1,000. He thinks the Heat have a much better chance of winning<br />
their remaining regular season games, which he figures at around one<br />
chance in 170 (when viewing each game as an independent event) or<br />
closer to one in 200 when factoring in tough road games.<br />
What are the chances both streaks could make it to their respective<br />
season's end? Cleary pegs that at one in 250,000. "Better than the chances<br />
of winning the lottery," he says, "but not very likely."<br />
HEAT: Shane Battier just shoots threes all day<br />
BLACKHAWKS: Kane goes from basement to stardom<br />
The Blackhawks' point streak is now at 30 games, going back to last<br />
season, approaching the record 35-game point streak set by the<br />
<strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong> in 1979-80.<br />
"In the dressing room, we don't talk about the streak that much,"<br />
Blackhawks center Dave Bolland says, "but we have it in the back of our<br />
heads."<br />
During their title-winning heyday, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots<br />
set the NFL record with 21 consecutive wins overall from 2003 to 2004,<br />
including a Super Bowl XXVIII victory over the Panthers. The streak ended<br />
midway through the 2004 season, but New England went on to win its<br />
second straight Super Bowl.<br />
In perhaps a microcosm of his entire career, Peyton Manning led the Colts<br />
to an NFL-record 23 consecutive regular-season wins from 2008 to 2009.<br />
Indianapolis lost in the wildcard playoffs following the 2008 season.<br />
Jerry West and the Lakers won an NBA-record 33 consecutive games<br />
during the 1971-72 season that saw Los Angeles win a then-record 69<br />
games and its first championship since moving from Minneapolis.<br />
During a run of 10 national titles in 12 years (an impressive streak of its<br />
own), legendary coach John Wooden, center, and the UCLA men's<br />
basketball team won 88 consecutive games from 1971 to 1974. The streak<br />
ended here with a 71-70 loss at Notre Dame on Jan. 19, 1974, a date star<br />
center Bill Walton (32) says is seared in his memory.<br />
Maya Moore and the Connecticut women's basketball team set the NCAA<br />
mark with 90 consecutive wins from 2008 to 2010, claiming two national<br />
titles during the run. UConn's streak ended with a 71-59 loss to Stanford.<br />
During his final season in the majors, Hall of Fame pitcher Christy<br />
Mathewson helped the New York Giants amass an MLB-record 27-game<br />
unbeaten streak in 1916. The Giants' run included 26 wins and one tie.<br />
Phil Cavarretta and the Cubs set the National League record with 21<br />
consecutive wins at the end of the 1935 season. The streak helped Chicago<br />
clinch the best record in the majors that year, but the Cubs lost the World<br />
Series to the Detroit Tigers.<br />
The Moneyball-era A's set the American League record with 20 consecutive<br />
wins in August and September of 2002. Oakland got win No. 20 in dramatic<br />
fashion when Scott Hatteberg hit a walk-off homer here in the bottom of the<br />
ninth to beat the Royals 12-11.<br />
Bobby Clarke (16) and the <strong>Flyers</strong> ran off an NHL-record 35 consecutive<br />
games with at least a point early in the 1979-80 season. <strong>Philadelphia</strong> went<br />
25-0-10 during the streak that propelled the team to the best record in the<br />
league and a Stanley Cup Final appearance.<br />
The Penguins hold the NHL record for most consecutive victories, ripping<br />
off 17 wins in a row at the end of the 1992-93 season. Coming off back-toback<br />
Stanley Cup titles, though, coach Scotty Bowman and Pittsburgh lost<br />
in the second round of the playoffs.<br />
The Blackhawks are currently on an NHL-record streak of 24 consecutive<br />
games with a point to begin a season. Chicago is 21-0-3, with all three<br />
overtime losses coming in shootouts.<br />
Led by Hall of Fame coach Bud Wilkinson, Oklahoma set the NCAA<br />
Division I football record for consecutive wins with 47 straight from 1953 to<br />
1957. The streak, which ended with a 7-0 loss to Notre Dame on Nov. 16,<br />
1957, included three consecutive undefeated seasons and back-to-back<br />
national championships.<br />
Division III Mount Union owns the two longest win streaks in NCAA football<br />
history. Coach Larry Kehres guided the Purple Raiders to 54 straight wins<br />
and three national titles from 1996 to 1999. Mount Union quickly started a<br />
new streak and won 55 straight and three more championships from 2000<br />
to 2003.<br />
The Penn State women's volleyball team won 109 consecutive matches,<br />
including three national titles, from 2007 to 2010. The streak ended early in<br />
the 2010 season, but the Nittany Lions recovered and went on to win their<br />
fourth straight NCAA championship.<br />
Richard Petty, arguably the greatest race car driver ever, holds countless<br />
NASCAR marks, among them a record 10-race winning streak during the<br />
1967 season.<br />
Legendary Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez won the first 87 fights of his<br />
career, from his debut in 1980 to 1993. He fought Pernell Whitaker to a<br />
draw, then won his next two fights to run his unbeaten streak to 90 before<br />
suffering the first loss of his career against Frankie Randall on Jan. 29,<br />
1994.<br />
Next Slide<br />
It's front of mind for many sports fans, and beginning to be even for some<br />
nonfans. Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman is getting "Holy Cow"<br />
texts from college pals.
"Sometimes things can transcend the sports world and move into human<br />
interest stories," Bowman says, "and I think that's what this streak has<br />
done."<br />
By now, it almost feels as if the fortunes of the 'Hawks and the Heat are<br />
intertwined, with each side following the fortunes of the other from afar.<br />
"It's a hot topic, us and the Blackhawks," says Heat guard Dwyane Wade, a<br />
Chicago native.<br />
"I've heard the comments about which streak is better or more impressive,"<br />
Bowman says.<br />
Anaheim Ducks consultant Brian Burke thinks such comparisons are<br />
beyond foolish.<br />
"This is like looking up and seeing two Halley's Comets," he says. "It<br />
annoys me that people have to turn this into a debate about which streak is<br />
better. Just enjoy, because you are seeing something you won't see again."<br />
The Chicago Blackhawks have set an NHL record with points in their first<br />
24 games (21-0-3), or half the lockout-shortened season. A game-by-game<br />
look at the streak:<br />
Game 1: Jan. 19 at Los Angeles. Chicago's top offensive stars all chipped<br />
in to ruin the Kings' Stanley Cup banner-raising day. Marian Hossa scored<br />
twice, and Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each had a goal and an<br />
assist. Score: 5-2 Blackhawks<br />
Game 2: Jan. 20 at Glendale, Ariz. Dave Bolland (36) and Marian Hossa<br />
each scored twice against the Coyotes. Score: 6-4 Blackhawks<br />
Game 3: Jan 22 at Chicago. The Blackhawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead and<br />
held off a Blues rally. Goalie Corey Crawford (pictured) made 32 saves.<br />
Score: 3-2 Blackhawks<br />
Game 4: Jan. 24 at Dallas. The Stars scored the first two goals, but Patrick<br />
Sharp and Jonathan Toews forced overtime. Marian Hossa won it on an<br />
overtime power play. Score: 3-2 Blackhawks (OT)<br />
Game 5: Jan. 26 at Columbus: The Blue Jackets scored first, but Chicago<br />
got the next three. Captain Jonathan Toews scored the eventual winner.<br />
Score: 3-2 Blackhawks<br />
Game 6: Jan. 27 at Chicago. Defensemen provided the offense as Duncan<br />
Keith scored in the first period and Nick Leddy (left) in overtime to beat the<br />
Red Wings. Score: 2-1 Blackhawks (OT)<br />
Game 7: Jan. 30 in St. Paul, Minn. The Blackhawks scored twice to knock<br />
Josh Harding out of the game. Niklas Backstrom was perfect the rest of the<br />
way as the Wild won in a shootout. That ended Chicago's six-game winning<br />
streak, but kept their point streak alive. Score: 3-2 Wild (SO)<br />
Game 8: Feb. 1 in Vancouver. Roberto Luongo was solid with 27 saves, but<br />
the Blackhawks tied the game in the third period on a Patrick Kane goal.<br />
Luongo was perfect in the shootout. Score: 2-1 Canucks (SO)<br />
Game 9: Feb. 2 in Calgary. Backup goalie Ray Emery made 45 saves and<br />
Marian Hossa scored with 3.1 seconds left in regulation. Chicago won in the<br />
shootout. Score: 3-2 Blackhawks (SO)<br />
Game 10: Feb. 6 at San Jose. The Sharks scored two quick goal, but the<br />
Blackhawks rallied. Patrick Kane, right, scored the winner in the second<br />
period. Score: 5-3 Blackhawks<br />
Game 11: Feb. 8 at Glendale, Ariz. The hype going in was Raffi Torres<br />
facing Chicago for the first time since his hit on Marian Hossa. Jamal<br />
Mayers fought him early and the Blackhawks had an offensive explosion<br />
with Patrick Kane scoring twice in a four-goal period goal. Score: 6-2<br />
Blackhawks.<br />
Game 12: Feb. 12 at Nashville. Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford made<br />
17 saves and Patrick Kane scored from a bad angle to beat the Predators.<br />
Score: 3-0 Blackhawks<br />
Game 13: Feb. 12 at Chicago. The Blackhawks were going against Ducks<br />
goalie Viktor Fasth, who had yet to lose in his first year. He kept his streak<br />
intact, but Chicago got a point by getting to the shootout. Score: 3-2 Ducks<br />
(SO)<br />
Game 14: Feb. 15 at Chicago. This game was memorable because of a<br />
fight between captains Jonathan Toews and Joe Thornton. The Sharks<br />
center won the fight, but Chicago prevailed. Score: 4-1 Blackhawks<br />
Game 15: Feb. 17 at Chicago. Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews and<br />
Patrick Sharp gave the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead by the first minute of the<br />
second period. Los Angeles scored twice in the third but the Blackhawks<br />
killed off a late power play to win. Score: 3-2 Blackhawks.<br />
Game 16: Feb. 19 at Chicago. Marian Hossa had two goals then was<br />
knocked out of the game when Vancouver's Jannik Hansen hit him in the<br />
back of the head. Chicago gave up two goals after that, but prevailed in the<br />
shootout. Score: 4-3 Blackhawks (SO)<br />
Game 17: Feb. 22 at Chicago. San Jose's Patrick Marleau scored with 15<br />
seconds left in the first period, but once again, the Blackhawks rallied.<br />
Viktor Stalberg scored a bad-angle goal in the second and Brandon Saad<br />
(right) scored a short-handed goal in the third. Score: 2-1 Blackhawks.<br />
Game 18: Feb. 24 at Chicago. Corey Crawford, returning from an upperbody<br />
injury, made 28 saves and Andrew Shaw scored the only goal to beat<br />
Chicago. Score: 1-0 Blackhawks.<br />
Game 19: Feb 25 at Chicago. The Edmonton Oilers took the lead twice in<br />
the game, but the Blackhawks battled back to force OT. Marian Hossa (81)<br />
got the winning goal. Score: 3-2 Blackhawks (OT)<br />
Game 20: Feb. 28 at St. Louis. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews scored 12<br />
seconds in and added a second goal in the third period. Goalie Corey<br />
Crawford left after the first period with an injury and Ray Emery completed<br />
the shutout. Score: 3-0 Blackhawks<br />
Game 21: March 1 at Chicago. Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook<br />
scored in overtime to secure their 18th win of the season. Playing the<br />
second night in a row, the Blackhawks fell behind the Columbus Blue<br />
Jackets twice and gave up a tying goal in the final eight minutes. Seabrook<br />
tapped in a great feed from captain Jonathan Toews. Score: 4-3<br />
Blackhawks (OT)<br />
Game 22: March 3 at Detroit. Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane scored a<br />
power play goal with 2:02 left in their third and then scored the lone<br />
shootout goal against Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard. Score: 2-1<br />
Blackhawks (SO)<br />
Game 23: March 5 at Chicago. Bryan Bickell scored twice in the first period<br />
against the Minnesota Wild, and Patrick Kane added a big goal in the third<br />
as the Blackhawks set a franchise record with their 10th consecutive<br />
victory. Score: 5-3 Blackhawks.<br />
Game 24: Daniel Carcillo scored his first goal of the season with 49.3<br />
seconds left for the winner. The Blackhawks trailed the Colorado Avalanche<br />
2-1 in the third period and were short-handed when captain Jonathan<br />
Toews tied the game. Chicago played without injured Marian Hossa.<br />
The intertwining streaks carry sweet echoes of history. Heat President Pat<br />
Riley played on the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers team that holds that NBA<br />
record of 33 consecutive wins. And Bowman's father Scotty coached the<br />
1977-78 Montreal Canadiens, who held the NHL's second-longest point<br />
streak of 28 games until the Blackhawks passed it.<br />
Scotty Bowman, a consultant for his son's Blackhawks, thinks Chicago's<br />
streak is more impressive than Montreal's because of the increased parity<br />
in the NHL and this season's compressed schedule.<br />
"To me the most amazing thing of their streak is the schedule," he says.<br />
Wednesday "was their eighth game in 13 nights," meaning it's much harder<br />
to take them one game at a time.<br />
That's a sports cliché for the ages, but check out the way James artfully<br />
turns it inside-out.<br />
"We want to keep winning each game by itself," he says. "We don't really<br />
talk about the streak. We really don't get involved in it. We just go to the<br />
next game and play it out the way we've been playing the last games."<br />
Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook calls their streak "one of those<br />
cool things you never think will happen," but he knows it gives other teams<br />
a chance at glory, too.<br />
"We don't have easy nights because every team knows about the streak<br />
and wants to end it," Seabrook says. "We get every team's best, but I think<br />
that makes us better."<br />
The Oakland Athletics won an American League-record 20 consecutive<br />
games in 2002. General manager Billy Beane will never forget the bottomof-the-ninth,<br />
pinch-hit homer that won the last one.<br />
"Heck, you make movies out of that," Beane says, a sly reference to<br />
Moneyball.
"I didn't really enjoy (the streak) while it was going on," Beane admits.<br />
"When you're in the middle of it, you don't understand the magnitude. You<br />
don't appreciate it until late. … It starts to become a little bit of a burden,<br />
too. It interrupts the ebbs and flow of the season."<br />
Heat forward Shane Battier played on a Duke team that won 32<br />
consecutive games and a Houston Rockets team that won 22 in a row. Like<br />
the 2002 Athletics, neither of those teams won championships.<br />
"Our ultimate goal is to win another championship," Battier says of the Heat.<br />
"It's not to win a bunch of games in a row. It's a nice ride to be on, but we<br />
have bigger goals."<br />
The variety of ways in which they've won, Battier says, bodes well for the<br />
playoffs: "We've been able to win shootouts. We've been able to win<br />
slugfests. We've been able to do it with good defense. We've been able to<br />
do it with good offense."<br />
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat are on a 16-game<br />
winning streak, running through their competition. Flip through this gallery to<br />
see how they stretched it to 16.<br />
Game 1: Feb. 3 vs. Toronto Raptors. The streak begins with a bang as the<br />
Heat come out after a loss to the Indiana Pacers and breeze on the<br />
strength of 58 combined points by LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Score:<br />
100-85.<br />
Game 2: Feb. 4 vs. Charlotte Bobcats. LeBron James had 31 points and<br />
Dwyane Wade, pictured, added 20 and 12 rebounds in a closer-thanexpected<br />
win against the NBA's worst team. Score: 99-94.<br />
Game 3: Feb. 6 vs. Houston Rockets. Chris Andersen and the Heat blocked<br />
Chandler Parsons and the red-hot Rockets for their 20th home win. LeBron<br />
James and Dwyane Wade combined for 63 points. Score: 114-108.<br />
Game 4: Feb. 8 vs. Los Angeles Clippers. LeBron James scored 30 points<br />
on 11 shots, and Dwyane Wade added 20 with seven assists, six rebounds<br />
and four steals. Score: 111-89.<br />
Game 5: Feb. 10 vs. Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James bettered Kobe<br />
Bryant in a matchup of the NBA's most visible stars with 32 points, seven<br />
rebounds and four assists to Bryant's 28, six and nine. Score: 107-97.<br />
Game 6: Feb. 12 vs. Portland Trail Blazers. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade<br />
and Chris Bosh (not pictured) combined for 86 points, 26 rebounds and 16<br />
assists as James set an NBA record with six consecutive 30-point games<br />
with 60% shooting. Score: 117-104.<br />
Game 7: Feb. 14 at Oklahoma City Thunder. This NBA Finals rematch on<br />
the day before the All-Star break featured Kevin Durant, left, scoring 40 and<br />
LeBron James, right, 39. But James added 12 rebounds and seven assists,<br />
and the Heat swept the season series with the Thunder. Score: 110-100.<br />
Game 8: Feb. 20 at Atlanta Hawks. It was balance all the way for the first<br />
game after the All-Star break, with LeBron James, left, throwing in 24 points<br />
and others such as Chris Bosh and Norris Cole chipping in. Shane Battier<br />
had 17 in making five of eight three-pointers off the bench. Score: 103-90.<br />
Game 9: Feb. 21 at Chicago Bulls. Chris Bosh and the Heat played<br />
swarming defense on Joakim Noah and their East rivals while LeBron<br />
James had 26 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to guide the offense.<br />
Score: 86-67.<br />
Game 10: Feb. 23 at <strong>Philadelphia</strong> 76ers. The winning streak hit doubledigits<br />
with a triple-double from LeBron James, 33-point outburst by Dwyane<br />
Wade and this dunk by Chris Bosh. Score: 114-90.<br />
Game 11: Feb. 24 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James faced his former<br />
team, which put up a fight. James had 28 points but the big contribution<br />
came from Mario Chalmers, who had 16 and helped defend Cavs point<br />
guard Kyrie Irving, who had 16 on 6-for-16 shooting. Irving also injured his<br />
knee in the game. Scote: 109-105.<br />
Game 12: vs. Sacramento Kings. The Heat's only overtime game in the<br />
streak proved taxing but ultimately successful. LeBron James and Dwyane<br />
Wade, right, combined for 79 points, 23 assists, 16 rebounds, five steals<br />
and three blocks while players such as Norris Cole, left, put in extra minutes<br />
in the double-overtime showcase. Score: 141-129.<br />
Game 13: March 1 vs. Memphis Grizzlies. With LeBron James struggling<br />
from the field, the Heat's role players such as Mario Chalmers provided a<br />
balanced effort. But James put the Grizzlies away with a late three-pointer<br />
on a great pass from Dwyane Wade with 24 seconds left, then made five<br />
free throws to seal it. Score: 98-91.<br />
Game 14: March 3 at New York Knicks. Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks<br />
were mere spectators when LeBron James and the Heat decided to take<br />
over in a 54-34 second half to scrap back from a big halftime deficit. James<br />
finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Score: 99-93.<br />
Game 15: March 4 at Minnesota Timberwolves. Tempers ran high at the<br />
end of another Heat blowout, with T'wolves guard J.J. Barea (11) ejected<br />
for a flagrant foul on Heat guard Ray Allen, right. Dwyane Wade had 32<br />
points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for Miami. Score: 97-81.<br />
Game 16: March 6 vs. Orlando Magic. The Heat gave up a big lead to their<br />
in-state rivals, allowing Orlando to take the lead for much of the stretch run.<br />
But LeBron James' layup won it with 3.2 seconds remaining. James had 26<br />
points and Dwyane Wade added 24. Score: 97-96.<br />
Big names win big games. The Heat have James and Wade. The<br />
Blackhawks have Kane and Jonathan Toews.<br />
Sunday, Kane scored with 2:02 left in regulation and then scored the gamewinner<br />
in a shootout to give Chicago a come-from-behind 2-1 win at the<br />
Detroit Red Wings.<br />
"Patrick is a pressure player," Bowman says. "He had to make a perfect<br />
shot, and the puck was rolling. A lot of other guys would have fumbled it or<br />
shot it over the net."<br />
Streaks are built on plays like that. Take Wednesday, when the Blackhawks<br />
were trailing 2-1 to Colorado until Toews scored a pretty shorthanded goal<br />
to tie and Daniel Carcillo scored his first goal of the season with 49.3<br />
seconds left to give Chicago a 3-2 victory, their 13th one-goal win this<br />
season.<br />
"When it comes down a critical moment in the game, that's when we have<br />
had the composure and the calm to be able to execute," Bowman says. "All<br />
NHL players are talented, but when the pressure cranks up, the people who<br />
can manage that and let their talents take over are the ones who will<br />
execute."<br />
Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of<br />
Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End,<br />
agrees that talent is not the most important attribute of winning teams,<br />
whether in business or in sports.<br />
"It's not the talent alone, it's the talent in the team," she says, "people who<br />
either play above their level of talent, or below their level of talent,<br />
depending on who is surrounding them," and on the culture, and chemistry,<br />
of the team.<br />
Battier fondly recalls the 2008 Houston streak. "It was mostly a collection of<br />
non-All-Stars doing it. Obviously in Miami, we have LeBron, Dwyane and<br />
Chris (Bosh)," he says.<br />
"Once you win, it's easier to keep winning," Kanter says. "Momentum builds<br />
and even athletes don't think of it as being on a winning streak until there is<br />
an accumulation of some games. But then it motivates the team to work<br />
harder and … people will put in extra effort at those moments when it could<br />
fall apart.<br />
"No one wins forever. Even those who ultimately win the game are behind<br />
or they stumble, but it's the ability to recover from fumbles, mistakes,<br />
setbacks, and that's where confidence matters. When you start winning,<br />
confidence increases."<br />
Jerry West, who played on that Lakers team that won 33 consecutive<br />
games, thinks that is exactly the point. "Winning breeds winning," he says.<br />
"And winning breeds confidence. Teams like that expect to win. They<br />
believe in what they're doing."<br />
The Lakers' average margin of victory during their win streak was 17 points.<br />
"Oh, my gosh," West says. "We were murdering teams."<br />
And then came a 120-104 loss in Milwaukee that still stings. The Sooners'<br />
Sandefer is right. West doesn't think much about the 33 wins. He thinks<br />
often about how badly the Lakers shot in Milwaukee that day.<br />
"Like a death in the family," West says. "We didn't think we were going to<br />
lose, period."<br />
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USA TODAY / NHLPA approves NHL realignment proposal<br />
Mike Brehm,<br />
The NHL's first major realignment since 1998-99 took one step closer to<br />
reality when the NHL Players' Association gave its blessing.<br />
That is key because 14 months ago, a slightly different realignment setup<br />
fell through when the union didn't sign off by the league's deadline.<br />
As with the old plan, the league will go from the current six-division<br />
alignment to four and the Winnipeg Jets would move to the Western<br />
Conference. The difference this time is that the Detroit Red Wings and the<br />
Columbus Blue Jackets would move to the Eastern Conference.<br />
"Our next step will be to bring the proposed plan for realignment to the NHL<br />
board of governors for its consideration," deputy commissioner Bill Daly<br />
said. "We will update the status of the process as future developments<br />
warrant."<br />
Realignment became necessary when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to<br />
Winnipeg in 2011. The Jets have been playing in the Southeast Division<br />
this season and last.<br />
How the new plan would work:<br />
In the Eastern Conference Detroit would join the Boston Bruins, Buffalo<br />
Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers,<br />
Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators in the Central Division.<br />
Columbus would join the Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals,<br />
Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils, <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>, New York<br />
Rangers and New York Islanders in the Atlantic.<br />
In the Western Conference, Winnipeg would join the Chicago Blackhawks,<br />
Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and<br />
St. Louis Blues in the Midwest.<br />
That leaves the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San<br />
Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks in<br />
the Pacific.<br />
Under the playoff format, the top three teams from each division would<br />
make the playoffs. So would the next best two teams from each conference.<br />
Under the rejected format, the top four teams from each division made the<br />
playoffs.<br />
Even with the new format, there is an uneven chance of making the playoffs<br />
because the Eastern Conference has 16 teams and the West has 14. That<br />
was a concern of the NHLPA in 2012.<br />
But NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said that the new alignment<br />
would be re-examined after the 2014-15 season, giving everyone two<br />
seasons to see how it works.<br />
The move of the Red Wings and Blue Jackets is a selling point to those<br />
teams because they had some of the worst travel and road TV times as the<br />
lone Eastern Time Zone teams in the Western Conference. The Red Wings<br />
can also renew their rivalry with Original Six teams Montreal, Toronto and<br />
Boston, though they would play the Chicago Blackhawks fewer times.<br />
The Stars also benefit because they move into a division with other Central<br />
Time teams.<br />
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Wall Street Journal / How the Blackhawks Became Unbeatable<br />
By MIKE SIELSKI<br />
Dan Carcillo celebrates his game-winning goal on Wednesday night.<br />
Chicago<br />
Through their first 24 games of this truncated NHL season—a stretch during<br />
which they have not lost in regulation—the Chicago Blackhawks have<br />
shown they can win a game in just about any manner they want.<br />
No team in the National Hockey League gives up fewer goals per game,<br />
and only three have scored more often. When hockey people talk about<br />
Chicago, their voices take on a quiet, tremulous tone—as if they're<br />
describing a voodoo hex.<br />
But the black magic of the Blackhawks' streak lies not merely in what<br />
they've accomplished but in how they've accomplished it. Through the<br />
makeup of their roster and their style of play, they've thumbed their nose at<br />
the trendiest idea in the NHL: that a team's success is based primarily on its<br />
toughness—on its players' willingness to block shots and deliver bonerattling<br />
body checks. By comparison, the Blackhawks might as well play<br />
their games in sequins with a panel of fur-clad judges looking on and<br />
Tchaikovsky blasting in the background.<br />
Among the league's 30 teams, Chicago ranks 27th in hits and 24th in<br />
penalty minutes per game, and the average weight of a Blackhawks forward<br />
or defenseman is just 200.9 pounds. Only eight teams are lighter, and when<br />
it comes to building a winning roster, the inclination league-wide is that<br />
bigger is better. The Los Angeles Kings (210.4 pounds), last year's Stanley<br />
Cup champions, are the NHL's heaviest team, and the Anaheim Ducks<br />
(207.2), who this season have the second-best record in the Western<br />
Conference, are third.<br />
As Bill Clement, who analyzes the league for Comcast SportsNet, put it, the<br />
Blackhawks "can't play the Incredible Hulk." What they can do, though, is<br />
use their collective speed and stickhandling ability to gain, regain and retain<br />
control of the puck, effectively turning a hockey game into a 60-minute<br />
round of Keep Away.<br />
Patrick Kane eludes a defender.<br />
"When you have the puck a little bit more, it's tough to hit somebody,"<br />
defenseman Johnny Oduya said, "unless you want to hit your teammate."<br />
In the aftermath of its 2004-05 lockout, the league implemented a host of<br />
rules changes intended to open up the flow of play and cultivate more<br />
offense. But after a season-long spike in goal-scoring, teams figured out<br />
that if they dropped their skaters back on defense quickly, making the<br />
middle of the ice as crowded as a Times Square subway platform, they<br />
could keep opposing players on the perimeter of the rink. To penetrate that<br />
defensive shell, most teams sacrifice the puck, firing it into the zone in order<br />
to win it back amid the thicket of bodies near the net.<br />
The Blackhawks have rejected that philosophy. Stan Bowman, their general<br />
manager, had enjoyed watching the Detroit Red Wings teams of the late<br />
1990s and early 2000s that his father, Scotty, coached to three Stanley<br />
Cups. During that period, Scotty Bowman created "the Russian Five," a unit<br />
comprised entirely of Russian players who controlled the puck with such<br />
grace and synchronicity that the Blackhawks sought to emulate it<br />
themselves.<br />
"It was an unusual style," said Stan Bowman, who at 39 is the youngest GM<br />
in the NHL. "It equates to the Harlem Globetrotters."<br />
A dormant decade for the franchise—from 1998 to 2008, the Blackhawks<br />
made the playoffs once—allowed Bowman; his predecessor, Dale Tallon;<br />
and the team's player-personnel department to accumulate enough high<br />
draft picks to manifest their vision. The Blackhawks' four most talented and<br />
important players are all homegrown: forwards Patrick Kane (the No. 1overall<br />
pick in 2007) and Jonathan Toews (No. 3 overall in 2006) and<br />
defensemen Duncan Keith (a second-round selection in 2002) and Brent<br />
Seabrook (No. 14 overall in 2003). Through a series of trades and signings,<br />
Tallon and Bowman then added other players who fit the team's approach,<br />
and in 2008, the organization hired a head coach who preferred a high-<br />
tempo style, Joel Quenneville. The changes helped the Blackhawks win the<br />
Stanley Cup in 2010—the franchise's first championship since 1961.<br />
"They're totally unique," said Ray Ferraro, who analyzes the NHL for the<br />
Sports Network in Canada. "It's what you have available to play, the<br />
personnel you have. You can't turn singers into dancers."<br />
Quenneville's system demands that his forwards chase down the puckcarrier<br />
to disrupt an opponent's offensive thrust, and the Blackhawks'<br />
superior stickhandling skills have helped them create 249 takeaways this<br />
season, by far the most in the NHL. Once the Blackhawks do force a<br />
turnover, their forwards slingshot themselves back up the ice to attack an<br />
opposing defense at full speed.<br />
If the other team has recovered in time, the forwards won't dump the puck<br />
in; they'll double back and try to find another soft target. "Sometimes, it's all<br />
instinct," Kane said. "I've noticed I've had the most success when you can<br />
make a move and be by that first guy."<br />
To maintain such a fast pace, Quenneville divvies out playing time more<br />
equitably than most coaches do. No Chicago player averages more than 24<br />
minutes of ice time per game. "Later in games," Quenneville said, "we're<br />
fresher and doing the right things." And the team's success, according to<br />
Clement, affords Quenneville the confidence to stick with his role players<br />
even at a game's tensest moments.<br />
In the latest example, the Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on<br />
Wednesday night on Dan Carcillo's goal with 50 seconds left in regulation.<br />
A fourth-line left wing, Carcillo had not scored since Nov. 13, 2011—a span<br />
of 479 days.<br />
"We have four lines that can play pretty much against any line, no matter<br />
when they're out there," Kane said. "It's cool."<br />
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YAHOO <strong>SPORT</strong>S / NHL realignment plan an improvement, not perfect<br />
Nicholas J. Cotsonika<br />
One day, the NHL might have 32 teams. It might be split evenly into two 16team<br />
conferences and four eight-team divisions. The top four teams in each<br />
division might make the playoffs and face each other in the first two rounds.<br />
The Florida Panthers aren't too happy with the NHL's new realignment plan.<br />
One day. But not next season, and not the season after that. For now, it's<br />
just a vague vision. An NHL source insisted Thursday night that expansion<br />
is not in the works and won't happen for four or five years, if ever, despite<br />
all the talk about Seattle and suburban Toronto and Quebec City. The<br />
league has too many things to iron out before it can grow.<br />
And so, in the meantime, we're going to have to live with a realignment plan<br />
that is an improvement, but not perfect. The NHL Players' Association has<br />
decided to give its consent, but only after heavy internal debate, only for the<br />
short term and only because this is the lesser of a few evils. The NHL board<br />
of governors is expected to approve the plan soon, but not without some<br />
dissension.<br />
The NHL currently has two 15-team conferences and six five-team<br />
divisions. Under the plan, there will be two conferences and four divisions –<br />
two eight-team divisions in the East, two seven-team divisions in the West.<br />
The top three teams in each division will make the playoffs. The last two<br />
playoff spots in each conference will be wild cards, going to the teams with<br />
the next-best point totals.<br />
The schedule matrix will change. Every team will play in every arena at<br />
least once.<br />
The NHLPA gave its consent with the stipulation that the realignment will be<br />
re-evaluated after the 2014-15 season – or if the NHL relocates a franchise<br />
or expands at any point. The future of the Phoenix Coyotes remains in<br />
question.<br />
Under the collective bargaining agreement, the NHLPA had to give its<br />
consent, but it could not withhold its consent unreasonably. Had the players<br />
withheld their consent, the league would have kept the status quo or tried to<br />
implement the plan anyway, perhaps going to arbitration.<br />
The players did not consent after the board of governors approved the<br />
league's original realignment plan in December 2011. Two stated reasons:<br />
The odds of making the playoffs were imbalanced, and the league did not<br />
provide enough mock schedule and travel information. One unstated<br />
reason: The league simply did not consult with the players enough first,<br />
right before labor negotiations.<br />
Originally, the NHL proposed four conferences based on time zones – two<br />
with eight teams, two with seven teams – with the top four teams in each<br />
conference making the playoffs and facing each other in the first round. The<br />
players didn't like that 50 percent of the teams in two conferences would<br />
make the playoffs, while 57 percent of the teams in the other two<br />
conferences would.<br />
Under the NHL's new realignment plan, the Blackhawks could face tough<br />
travel in the playoffs. (AP)The new plan has the same imbalance. In one<br />
conference, 50 percent of the teams will make it. In the other, 57 percent<br />
will make it. Another flaw: The wild card could cause travel problems in the<br />
West. For example, the Chicago Blackhawks could finish first and have to<br />
face the Anaheim Ducks in the first round, while division rivals like the St.<br />
Louis Blues and Nashville Predators are matched up and have better travel<br />
despite lesser seeds.<br />
So why did the NHLPA give its consent this time?<br />
Well, it was no rubber stamp. Union leadership worked with the league for<br />
weeks, and it spent more time than the league wanted consulting with<br />
players – on conference calls, in large groups, in small groups – before the<br />
executive board made the decision. There were many different viewpoints<br />
and ideas.<br />
But the players appreciated that the league came to them first this time.<br />
They asked for mock schedules for three teams, and the league provided<br />
them. They didn't want to leave the Winnipeg Jets – formerly the Atlanta<br />
Thrashers – in the Southeast Division for a third season since their<br />
relocation. This is considered a temporary Band-Aid that will allow them to<br />
see how they like it.<br />
And frankly, it just wasn't worth going to war over this after a bitter lockout<br />
that cost almost half of this season. There really was no better option,<br />
because the NHL simply has more teams in the East and so many<br />
competing interests market to market. In the end, no matter what you do,<br />
not everyone is going to be happy.<br />
Realignment is like real estate. It's all about location, location, location.<br />
The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning don't like the plan, because<br />
they have to travel to Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, Montreal and<br />
Toronto for division games. (The idea is that they will sell tickets to<br />
snowbirds when those teams come to visit.) The Nashville Predators don't<br />
like the plan, because they lose the Detroit Red Wings as division rivals.<br />
But the Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets love the plan, because<br />
they were Eastern time zone cities playing in the Western Conference.<br />
Detroit owner Mike Ilitch had been lobbying commissioner Gary Bettman for<br />
15 years, so his team could have better travel and his fans could have<br />
better TV start times, and he felt he was owed the move to the East. The<br />
Wings are an Original Six team that sucked it up and played at a<br />
disadvantage for a long time. The Blue Jackets needed the move as they<br />
continue to establish themselves in the league.<br />
The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild love the plan, because they are in a<br />
division with teams in the Central time zone. They won't be going west like<br />
they used to. The Jets obviously love the plan because they won't be jetting<br />
to Carolina, Washington, Tampa and South Florida like they used to, and<br />
those teams have to be glad they're not going all the way to Winnipeg all<br />
the time anymore.<br />
Hey, it could be worse. The NHL could be a 21-team league with<br />
imbalanced divisions that put 16 teams in the playoffs. Good thing that's<br />
never happened.<br />
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YAHOO <strong>SPORT</strong>S / Three Periods: Staged fights have no place in the NHL;<br />
visor debate; pull up your safety socks<br />
Nicholas J. Cotsonika<br />
Nicholas J. Cotsonika's weekly Three Periods column will appear on<br />
Thursdays. This week's topics include fighting’s place in the NHL; Marc<br />
Staal’s eye injury and the visor debate; the case for cut-resistant socks;<br />
Brendan Shanahan and the department of players safety have a perception<br />
problem; coaching legend Scotty Bowman on the best young defensemen<br />
in the league.<br />
FIRST PERIOD: Time to bring down the curtain on staged fights<br />
Fighting is one thing. Staged fighting is yet another. There is no need or<br />
excuse for what happened Wednesday night, and if it dredges up the same,<br />
old tired debates, well, good. It should.<br />
Senators rookie David Dziurzynski was knocked out cold in his first NHL<br />
fight. (Reuters)The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Frazer McLaren fought the Ottawa<br />
Senators’ David Dziurzynski. They squared off, fists up. Then they danced,<br />
grappled and swung wildly. Finally, McLaren caught Dziurzynski with a<br />
right, and Dziurzynski dropped to the ice, face first, out cold. He suffered a<br />
concussion.<br />
It became the talk of the NHL at a time when the Chicago Blackhawks are<br />
on a 24-game point streak, the Los Angeles Kings are shaking off their<br />
Stanley Cup hangover and the playoff races are ultra-tight.<br />
“Did you see that punch last night?” said legendary coach Scotty Bowman,<br />
now a senior advisor to the Blackhawks, bringing up the subject in a<br />
conversation Thursday. “Oh, my god. That was real scary.”<br />
That was bad enough, if you don’t like any kind of fighting. But the rest of<br />
the story makes it hard to justify even if you think fighting has a place in the<br />
game.<br />
The fight came 26 seconds into the first period, so it didn’t arise from<br />
something that happened in the course of play. It was only to get a rise out<br />
of the Leafs and the crowd.<br />
It was a mismatch. McLaren, 25, is listed at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds.<br />
Dziurzynski, 23, is listed at 6-3, 204. McLaren has had 60 fights in the<br />
American Hockey League and 21 in the NHL. Dziurzynski has had 15 in the<br />
AHL. This was his first in the NHL.<br />
And here is the worst part: McLaren told reporters he challenged<br />
Dziurzynski and that Dziurzynski declined, only to change his mind.<br />
Dziurzynski never played major junior and was never drafted into the NHL.<br />
He signed with the Senators as a free agent winger and spent three<br />
seasons in the minors. This was his 10th NHL game.<br />
Speculating here, but maybe he felt obligated to go even though he isn’t an<br />
enforcer. You don’t back down. You’ve got to show you’re tough. When<br />
you’ve fought so hard to make it figuratively, you’ll fight literally.<br />
The culture has not changed, at least not enough.<br />
The NHL has not taken steps to curb fighting, even after the deaths of<br />
Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien in 2011. To be clear, the<br />
deaths of those enforcers could not be linked definitively to fighting, and<br />
each case was different. Still, the issues raised were legitimate – from the<br />
unique pressures of the role, to the effects head trauma might have.<br />
Why no action? The NHL thinks fans like fighting, that it acts as a<br />
thermostat and deters other types of violence, and that the players are<br />
willing combatants.<br />
Detroit's Jordin Tootoo fought off the opening faceoff twice earlier this<br />
season. (USA Today)At least there, the league has an argument. There is<br />
no question arenas roar when players drop the gloves. There is no doubt<br />
that fights release tension and keep players honest. And even though the<br />
science is still evolving, the players know more than ever before what they<br />
could be doing to their brains. It is informed consent, or close.<br />
“Obviously,” said the Detroit Red Wings’ Jordin Tootoo, “you’re putting<br />
yourself at risk.”<br />
But staged fights aren’t a reaction to the actual game. They’re only about<br />
show business or energy or intimidation or toughness. That’s it.<br />
“I think the biggest thing is creating emotion out there,” said Tootoo, who<br />
fought twice off the opening faceoff earlier this season. “I think it’s just a<br />
spontaneous decision. Obviously you want to get off to a good start. The<br />
first five minutes of every game is huge. Setting the tone right off the bat<br />
could be the key to a big win.”<br />
“Most of my fights are in the first period,” said the Edmonton Oilers’ Mike<br />
Brown, among the league leaders with five fights. “Just whenever<br />
necessary in my head. For me, I like to get energy in the game, whether it’s<br />
the start of the game or the start of a shift.”<br />
It would be difficult to draw a distinction between fights and staged fights in<br />
the rule book. As one NHL executive pointed out, say you add an extra<br />
penalty for a fight in the first 30 seconds of a game. What if someone takes<br />
a cheap shot in the first 30 seconds and a fight erupts as a result? Was that<br />
a staged fight? Where do you draw the line? How do you make that<br />
judgment, practically speaking, night after night?<br />
The NHL has debated ways of curbing fighting in general, such as<br />
establishing quotas that lead to automatic suspensions, as in the Ontario<br />
Hockey League. But the league obviously has not implemented anything<br />
like that yet, and it needs to take another look. A quota system should cut<br />
down on staged fights even more dramatically than overall fights. You<br />
wouldn't want to waste one of your fights on something silly, right?<br />
Fighting is supposed to be declining naturally, because the league is so<br />
competitive and teams can’t afford to carry players who can’t, you know,<br />
play. But while fighting has been trending downward and there are few pure<br />
enforcers left, fighting ebbs and flows. It is back up this season over last.<br />
Look at the Northeast Division, where the Buffalo Sabres added Steve Ott<br />
and John Scott because they failed to stand up to the Boston Bruins’ Milan<br />
Lucic after he ran their goaltender last season. Randy Carlyle loved his<br />
fighters when he won a Stanley Cup as coach of the Anaheim Ducks, and<br />
he loves them now as coach of the Leafs, who lead the league with 24<br />
fighting majors.<br />
“There's people that want it out of the game, but I don't think it's going to as<br />
quickly as some people would think, some people would like,” Carlyle said<br />
earlier this season. “I just think it's a fact of life in the NHL.”<br />
The truth hurts.<br />
SECOND PERIOD: Visors aren’t invincible, but every NHLer should wear<br />
one<br />
Should NHL players wear visors? Yes.<br />
An NHL equipment manager said Marc Staal's eye injury might've been<br />
worse if he was wearing a visor. (Reuters)But would a visor have saved the<br />
New York Rangers’ Marc Staal on Tuesday night? Maybe not. And it might<br />
have even made his injury worse.<br />
A veteran NHL equipment manager, who requested anonymity, said that in<br />
his professional opinion the shot that hit Staal in the face would have<br />
broken a visor and the pieces might have impaled his eye.<br />
The equipment manager watched the replay at real speed and in slow<br />
motion. He watched the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Flyers</strong>’ Kimmo Timonen fire a shot. He<br />
watched the puck deflect off the stick blade of the <strong>Flyers</strong>’ Jakub Voracek<br />
and strike Staal in the face. He saw Staal’s horrific reaction and the blood<br />
on the ice.<br />
He said every player should wear a visor. But he also said that visors are<br />
designed to protect players from things like errant high sticks. They are not<br />
designed to stop slapshots fired from high-tech sticks at high speed,<br />
especially when the puck hits a player straight on. They break, and when<br />
they break, they have sharp edges.<br />
This issue comes up every time a player suffers a serious injury, and this<br />
time it’s particularly pertinent. The <strong>Flyers</strong>’ Chris Pronger and the Vancouver<br />
Canucks’ Manny Malhotra are suffering from eye problems and likely won’t<br />
play again.<br />
The NHL favors mandatory visors. The NHL Players’ Association leadership<br />
encourages visors. And 73 percent of NHL players wear visors, an all-time<br />
high. But the NHL cannot make visors mandatory without the consent of the<br />
union, and the union represents the wishes of the players, and the majority<br />
of the players still favor personal choice.
It is understandable that players want personal choice. But the players need<br />
to understand that their personal choice affects other people – the fans,<br />
who pay to see players on the ice, not in the infirmary; their fellow union<br />
members, who pay higher escrow rates when more players are injured;<br />
their teammates, whose chances to win suffer because of injuries; and their<br />
teams, who pay them millions to play, not to sit out.<br />
The issue is so frustrating because the answer is so simple: Make players<br />
entering the NHL wear visors. They had to wear them at lower levels, so<br />
they won’t know any different and won’t need to adjust. Grandfather current<br />
NHL players into the rule, so they can keep their personal choice. It worked<br />
for helmets years ago. It would work for this.<br />
Just know that even if everyone wears a visor, not every injury will be<br />
prevented.<br />
THIRD PERIOD: Pull up your (cut-resistant) socks and get out there<br />
Another simple safety solution: Make cut-resistant socks part of the NHL<br />
uniform.<br />
Cut-resistant socks might've prevented Erik Karlsson's season-ending<br />
injury. (AP))It should have been done by now, and had it, the Senators’ Erik<br />
Karlsson might be contending for his second straight Norris Trophy as the<br />
NHL’s best defenseman instead of recovering from surgery to repair a<br />
sliced Achilles.<br />
Since Karlsson’s injury, the focus has been on cut-resistant socks worn<br />
underneath the uniform. They are highly effective. Some players wear them<br />
voluntarily, but they are not required. Karlsson wasn’t wearing them when<br />
the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke clipped him with a skate blade.<br />
But the uniform socks can be made of cut-resistant material, too. (Note: Not<br />
all are made of Kevlar.) At least one NHL team tested them last season.<br />
The equipment manager – the same one mentioned above – asked a<br />
couple of players to try some new socks in a couple of games. He didn’t tell<br />
them anything else, so he wouldn’t color their thoughts. He said he reported<br />
his results to the manufacturer in an email: “Nobody noticed a damn thing.<br />
Get them. I want them.”<br />
He doesn’t have them.<br />
“Where are they?” he asked.<br />
Good question. Had Karlsson been wearing them, there is a good chance<br />
he wouldn’t have been cut, at least not that badly. Other players might have<br />
avoided cuts to their legs, too, like the Wings’ Ian White.<br />
“They need one more layer of protection,” the equipment manager said.<br />
“They just need that one more layer.”<br />
OVERTIME: Perception problems with NHL’s punishment process<br />
Forget for a moment whether the Sabres’ Patrick Kaleta should have<br />
received a five-game suspension for boarding Brad Richards. The debate<br />
over the number of games is old now. Focus instead on the process.<br />
Patrick Kaleta's hit on Brad Richards. (Getty)This showed two problems for<br />
the department of player safety (DPS):<br />
One, a player has the right to an in-person hearing if he is going to be<br />
suspended for six games or more, according to the collective bargaining<br />
agreement. So when the news broke that Kaleta was having only a phone<br />
hearing, everyone knew he would receive no more than five games.<br />
Disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan and the DPS were being judged before<br />
they had even made a final judgment.<br />
Two, a player now has the right to appeal a suspension of six games or<br />
more to an independent arbitrator instead of commissioner Gary Bettman.<br />
This was a win for the NHLPA in labor negotiations. But this creates a<br />
significant divide between five games and six games, and in situations like<br />
this, it can look like the DPS is backing off to avoid an appeal. We have yet<br />
to see a test case.<br />
Shanahan should consider bringing in players for in-person hearings if they<br />
are even in the five- or six-game neighborhood. There is nothing to stop him<br />
from making a player come to New York and then giving him five, four or<br />
three games. It might make for more direct communication, more teachable<br />
moments and less noise on the outside.<br />
As for appeals, the DPS insists they are not a factor. The DPS does what it<br />
thinks is right, shows its work for everyone to see and stands behind it. But<br />
the perception problem actually could work the other way if the DPS starts<br />
issuing longer suspensions. Players would appeal via the NHLPA. Then,<br />
suddenly, it would be the union, not the league, taking heat.<br />
SHOOTOUT: Last shots from around the NHL<br />
– The lockout-shortened season has been blamed for the rash of injuries.<br />
But listen to Bowman: “I don’t think it’s all the schedule. I think it’s the<br />
nature of the game – players blocking shots, players playing with speed.<br />
The league is trying to make it as safe as it can, but accidents happen. You<br />
can clean it up all you want, but it’s still a body-contact sport.”<br />
– Bowman has been impressed with two young defensemen: the Phoenix<br />
Coyotes’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson and the Minnesota Wild’s Jonas Brodin.<br />
Mark these words: “You’ll see in a couple years. You’ll be talking about<br />
these guys among the top half-dozen defensemen in the league. That’s<br />
how good they are.” He loves their skating, skill and hockey sense – how<br />
passes are always tape-to-tape.<br />
– Ryan Suter has already faced the Predators since leaving as a free agent,<br />
but he did that at home in Minnesota. He will make his first trip to Nashville<br />
on Saturday night. It will be uncomfortable, but at least he seems much<br />
more comfortable now with the Wild. He has six points in his past five<br />
games.<br />
– Never saw this coming: the St. Louis Blues going with Jake Allen in goal,<br />
even though both Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak are healthy now. Elliott<br />
and Halak won the Jennings Trophy last season as the goals-against<br />
leaders. Now both are struggling and the Blues need a minor-leaguer to<br />
stop the puck.<br />
– The Wings’ Niklas Kronwall entered Thursday night second among<br />
defensemen in scoring with 18 points. But he scoffs at the idea he is a<br />
Norris candidate. “Stats only say so much, I think,” he said. “I know I need<br />
to be better.” He singled out one stat – his minus-3 – and said he needs to<br />
be more consistent in his own end and needs to make better decisions with<br />
the puck. “I have a few more levels to reach before I’m really satisfied,” he<br />
said.<br />
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