Off Wing Opinion

In Raleigh, the Bruins edged the Hurricanes, 3-2, breaking a first place tie in the Northeast Division with the Maple Leafs. The Bruins trail Tampa Bay by three points for the Eastern Conference lead,as Boston has three games remaining with one in hand. With a 5-0 victory at home over the woeful Rangers, the Devils pulled themselves into a first place tie with Philly in the Atlantic Division. Steve Ovadia thinks the Flyers are just out of gas.

In St. Louis, the Blues dealt a nasty blow to the plyoff hopes of the Edmonton Oilers, dispatching the heroic Oilers 1-0. Doug Weight scored the game's only goal for St. Louis in the first period. Meanwhile in Nashville, the Predators crushed the Blackhawks, 5-2.

With only two games remaining on the schedule, Edmonton is tied with Nashville at 87 points for the eighth and final playoff spot, though the Predators have a game in hand and own the tiebreaker based on wins. St. Louis, also with three games remaining, is in seventh with 89 points.

And in also-ran news, the Capitals helped the Penguins get that much closer to drafting Alexander Ovechkin by dealing Pittsburgh a 4-2 loss in the capital of the free world. Trent Whitfield scored twice for Washington, while minor league re-tread Matt Yeats got the first win of his NHL career, posting 27 saves.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2004 at 1:44 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

In Tampa, the Lightning and the Senators played a wild third period where they combined to score six goals -- but in the end it was the Senators who prevailed, 5-4 in OT on a goal by defenseman Chris Phillips. Meanwhile, in Toronto*, the Maple Leafs beat the Thrashers, 4-2, pulling them into a tie for first place in the Northeast Division with idle Boston, with the Senators only one point behind Toronto. The Leafs got some bad news earlier in the day, when it was learned that they would lose winger Owen Nolan for three weeks after a knee injury he suffered over the weekend.

(Off the ice, the league has approved the sale of the Thrashers to a group of investors led by Steve Belkin.)

With three games to go, the Buffalo Sabres have three points to make up if they want to catch the New York Islanders for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Last night, the Sabres just did what they had to do, waxing Columbus 6-0, as Dmitri Kalinin scored twice.

Ask yourself this question: who would you rather be this morning, Sabres GM Darcy Reiger or Islanders GM Mike Milbury? Something tells me that Reiger, who recently had his contract renewed by Sabres owner Thomas Golisano, is sleeping much more soundly these days.

Heck, I grew up as an Islanders fan, and now I'm even rooting for the Sabres.

Out West, Detroit dispatched Minnesota, 5-4, but the real news came up in the booth courtesy of ESPN's Darren Pang. During the game, Pang reported that Wild goaltending coach Bob Mason, a former roommate of Pang's during their playing days with the Blackhawks, had analyzed the play of Wings goalie Manny Legace and found that the popular backup has trouble covering his five hole. The result -- two goals by Wild winger Alexander Daigle. If I were a Wings fan, I'd start hoping that Curtis Joseph starts healing up fast.

In Denver, the Avalanche beat Los Angeles 2-1 on Teemu Selanne's third period goal, his first in 20 games. The win broke a six-game winless skid for Colorado, the longest in franchise history. The loss also officially eliminated the Kings from the playoff race. The Kings are mired in their longest losing streak (0-7-0-1) since the 1983-84 season.

Steve Moore of the Avalanche made his first public appearance since he was attacked by Vancouver Canuck Todd Bertuzzi during a game in Vancouver on March 8th. Moore, who says he still doesn't know whether or not he'll ever play hockey again, was given a standing ovation when it was announced he was in attendance at last night's game.

Back in Vancouver, the Canucks beat Phoenix 6-1, to stay just one point behind Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division, and third place in the Western Conference. Markus Naslund scored his first goal in 11 games for the Canucks, and Dan Cloutier recorded his 30th victory of the season.

And in also-ran news, Florida defeated Carolina 3-1. Roberto Luongo had 28 saves for las Panteras.

In other off-ice news, doctors have cleared Dallas Stars defenseman Teppo Numminen to return to the ice after concerns about a heart condition led them to sideline him last week. With North Dakota knocked out of the NCAA hockey tourney, Zach Parise was free to sign a contract with the New Jersey Devils, forfeiting his final two years of college eligibility. Parise, who will join U.S. college hockey alumni like Brian Rolston*, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta, ought to fit easily into the lineup in New Jersey. The Devils also announced, that team captain Scott Stevens, who suffered a concussion that's kept him out of the lineup most of the second half of the season, is still not ready to return to the ice.

CORRECTION: Boy, this is definitely not my day.

Thanks to the Hockey Ninja for pointing out that Rolston no longer plays for the Devils. And thanks to John at Rutgers for reminding me that Gomez never played college hockey, but instead played two years with the Tri-City Americans in the WHL. Thanks for the heads up, but my larger point of the Devils and Lou Lamiariello making a point of drafting American college players still holds.

Oh, and the Leafs-Thrashers game was in Toronto, not Atlanta. I need to get more sleep.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2004 at 6:56 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Tampa Bay Lightning went over 100 points for the first time in franchise history after defeating the New Jersey Devils, 2-1. The win completed a season sweep of the Stanley Cup Champions for Tampa Bay, who now have a three point lead on Philly atop the Eastern Conference.

Out in Denver, the Red Wings tightened their grip on first place in the Western Conference with a 3-1 win over Colorado. Manny Legace, who may just have to be the starting goalie in the playoffs for Detroit, had 34 saves, as the Red Wings pulled seven points ahead of Colorado. The Avalanche, still waiting on several players to return from injury, are winless in their last five games. In the race for the President's Trophy for best record in the regular season, Detroit and Tampa Bay are tied with 101 points.

With the Colorado loss, San Jose slipped into second place in the Western Conference after beating Calgary, 3-2. In St. Louis, the Blues downed Anaheim, 3-2, and moved into an tie for eighth in the West with Edmonton. By dint of the tiebreaker, if the season ended today, St. Louis would go to the playoffs. In New York, Nashville stayed ahead of St. Louis with a 4-2 win over the Rangers, and sit in seventh place with 84 points.

Back East, the race is staying interesting from top to bottom. In Boston, the Maple Leafs pulled to within one point of Boston after a 3-0 shutout of the Bruins. Ed Belfour got the shutout for Toronto, his eighth of the season, while the loss marked a team record eighth time Boston has been blanked this year. Hot on both their heels is Ottawa, who downed Montreal 4-0 at the Bell Centre.

And in the feel good story of the night, minor league goalie Wade Dublelewicz helped lead the Islanders to a relatively improbable 4-2 victory over the Flyers. Forced to play after starter Garth Snow left the game following a groin injury in the first period, Dublelewicz made 14 saves the rest of the way without yielding a goal. The win pulled the islanders eight points clear of Buffalo in ninth place, and suddenly trail seventh place Montreal by just four points.

In also-ran news, Carolina beat Florida, 3-2, while Minnesota thumped Chicago, 8-2. Alexandre Daigle, who is Minnesota's candidate for the Masterson Trophy, scored twice.

After a Florida vacation, John Buccigross is back, and funnier than ever:

Shjon Podein is back from Sweden. From his home in Minnesota he sent me two things: an autographed Swedish hockey card of Hakan Loob and a personalized autographed postcard of his Loobness. Shjon obviously told Loob what to sign on his message to me, but something got lost in the translation. It says, "To John! You had me and hello."

Read the rest, it's well worth your while. As an aside, I'll always remember Loob as an absolute killer in Strat-o-matic hockey.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2004 at 7:09 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Buffalo Sabres are not going down without a fight, as they pulled within six points of the New York Islanders for eighth place in the Eastern Conference after a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Both Buffalo and New York have six games remaining.

Out in Phoenix, Jarome Iginla scored his 39th goal, tying him for the league lead with Rick Nash of Columbus, as Calgary beat Phoenix 4-0. The Flames have pretty much locked down sixth place, but couldn't make up any ground on the teams in front of them, as both Dallas and Vancouver both posted victories. In Edmonton, a Bill Guerin OT goal gave Dallas a 4-3 win, but it was Brendan Morrow who was the hero in regulation as he scored inside the final minute to tie the game at 3.

Meanwhile in LA, the Canucks ended a five-game winless skid with a 1-0 shutout of the Kings. It was only the second win for Vancouver since Todd Bertuzzi was suspended earlier this month for the attack on Colorado Avalanche forward Steven Moore. Matt Cooke scored the lone goal for Vancouver, while an ailing Dan Cloutier got the shutout.

And in also-ran news, Columbus beat Minnesota 2-0, and Atlanta beat Washington, 3-2. The loss officially knocked Washington out of the playoff race, but they were unofficially eliminated before the start of the season when the team neglected to spend the money to retain the services of Ken Klee and Calle Johansson, now both manning the blue line in Toronto.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 25th, 2004 at 7:11 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Like a lot of folks, I'm rooting hard to see the Nashville Predators make the playoffs. But if they don't make it, the team will probably have to point to last night's 4-1 loss to Anaheim as one of the reasons why. Dropping points down the stretch to an inferior opponent is one thing. Dropping those points in front of a home crowd is another thing entirely. Scott Walker, who has just about played his guts out this season in pursuit of the first playoff appearance of his entire career, scored the lone goal for Nashville.

Can the Toronto Maple Leafs afford to lose home ice advantage in the playoffs? They seem to be acting as if they can, at least that's the conclusion I'm drawing after last night's 7-2 loss at home to Tampa Bay. Sure, Tampa Bay has become one of the top teams in the league, but losing 7-2 at home? In-ex-cus-able! Seven different players scored for the Lightning. And Tampa Bay head coach John Tortorella didn't yell at anybody after the game.

The Flyers kept pace with the Lightning in the East, dropping Carolina 4-2 in Raleigh. Boston kept pace with Philly with a 4-2 win over Ottawa. Speaking of Ottawa, Vancouver Canucks Op Ed has an interesting aside about the incentive-laden contract of Senators center Jason Spezza.

Deep in the swamps of Jersey, the Devils clinched a playoff spot with a 4-3 OT win over Florida. The victory was the 400th of Martin Brodeur's career. Though New Jersey is in sixth place, they're only two points behind Toronto in fourth with a game in hand. And did I mention that Scott Stevens is skating again?

Back in bucolic Uniondale, the Islanders shut out the Portland Pirates 3-0. Oh, excuse me, that was actually the Washington Capitals on the ice last night. Rick DiPietro posted his second shutout in as many games, but I'll start believing in him when he puts together performances like that over a matter of a month instead of just a week or two. The Isles now lead the Sabres by eight points for the final playoff spot.

Out West, San Jose beat Detroit 5-2 to clinch a playoff spot, completing an impressive comeback over last season's debacle. Congratulations rightly goes to head coach Ron Wilson and general manager Doug Wilson on a job well done. In Colorado, the Avalanche clinched a playoff spot as well after a 2-2 tie with Chicago. The better news is that Colorado center Peter Forsberg has returned to the lineup.

And in also-ran news, Pittsburgh defeated the Rangers, 5-2, at Madison Square Garden. Amazingly, the Penguins have won eight of their last ten, and are threatening to pass the Capitals to climb out of the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, that means the Penguins would have less of a chance of winning the NHL Draft Lottery, and missing out on a chance to draft Russian wunderkind Alex Ovechkin. Here's how the race from the bottom stacks up (games remaining in parentheses). Remember, you can only move up a maximum of four spaces in the draft, so here are the contenders to Mr. Ovechkin's services:

Pittsburgh 53 (5)
Columbus 54 (7)
Washington 55 (6)
Chicago 57 (7)
NY Rangers 65 (5)

I hate to say it, but I think the fix is in, and there isn't any way Pittsburgh won't get the first crack at Ovechkin. I feel like it's almost pre-ordained, like Pat Ewing going to the Knicks in the first NBA lottery.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2004 at 7:31 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

In Calgary, Dallas blanked the Flames, 4-0. Marty Turco had 29 saves for his 21st career shutout, and Shayne Corson scored twice for Dallas. The win moved Dallas to within two points of Pacific-leading San Jose, and moved them two points ahead of Vancouver and into fourth place in the West.

In Los Angeles, Luc Robitaillle got an assist on a Joszef Stumpel goal to break Johnny Bucyk's career record for points by a left wing, but the Kings still lost to Edmonton, 2-1. The win moved the surging Oilers into a seventh-place tie with Nashville, and one point ahead of St. Louis for the last remaining playoff spot in the West. With one game in hand, the Blues don't play again until Thursday night at home against Anaheim.

And in also-ran news, Mike Comrie scored with 24.2 seconds remaining in OT to give the Coyotes a 3-2 win over the Wild.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004 at 6:09 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Only four points separates the Buffalo Sabres from the New York Islanders in the race for the final playoff spot in the East, and that's exactly where the gap stayed last night after Tampa Bay beat Buffalo 3-1 last night. With both Chris Drury and Alexi Zhitnik on the shelf for the stretch run, things are looking bleak for the Sabres, but please don't underestimate the potential for the Islanders to self-destruct. They backed their way into the playoffs last year, and it looks like they think they can do it again.

The Kings are still on the outside looking in out West after a 5-3 loss to San Jose. Roman Cechmanek, who returned to action after missing 12 games with a groin injury, gave up four goals on just 13 shots before Andy Murray pulled him from the game:

"I haven't played for a long time, but I have to be ready for every game. I can't play like this," said Cechmanek, who had the second-lowest goals-against average in the NHL last season with Philadelphia.

My sources in L.A. are insisting that Murray ride current backup Cristobal Huet for the rest of the way. The L.A. loss, combined with Detroit's 1-1 tie with Phoenix, clinched a playoff spot for the Red Wings. At the end of the night, the Red Wings and the Lightning were tied for the best record in the league.

Things continue to be tight atop the Northeast Division. First place Boston bonked with Minnesota in town, dropping a 2-0 decision at home. Since entering the league four seasons ago, the Wild are undefeated in five games against Boston, outscoring them 20-6 over that span.

With the Boston loss, both Toronto and Ottawa gained ground. In Philly, Brian Leetch scored twice, and the Maple Leafs survived a late flurry from the Flyers to win 3-2. In scenic Kanata, Patrick Lalime stopped 23 shots to power the Senators to a 2-0 win over Colorado. At the end of the night, Boston remained in first in the division with 93 points, while Toronto and Ottawa are tied, one point back at 92.

Back out West, Calgary beat Columbus 2-0, while Vancouver lost 3-0 to the Stars in Dallas. With the loss, Dallas pulled within one point of Vancouver for fourth place in the West. Calgary remains in sixth place, just one point behind Dallas.

In also-ran news, Washington beat the Rangers 4-3 in OT. Kip Miller scored the game winning goal for Washington.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2004 at 12:55 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Just when you think the New York Islanders might pull away from the Buffalo Sabres for the last playoff spot in the East, they turn around and lose a game you think they ought to win going away. Last night, the Islanders jumped to a 2-0 lead over the Florida Panthers, only to fall in the end, 6-4.

Credit for the win has to be given to ex-Islanders goalie Roberto Luongo, who had 50 saves -- 26 in the first period alone when the Islanders threatened to run away with the game. One has to wonder out loud how the Islanders might be playing now if they had kept Luongo and Olli Jokinen, instead of packaging them in a deal that brought streaky winger Mark Parrish to New York.

Meanwhile, over in Atlanta, the Sabres took advantage of New York's stumble, defeating Atlanta 4-3 in OT. The win pulled the Sabres to within four points of eighth place New York with nine games remaining for both teams.

Viktor Kozlov had a goal and three assists in New Jersey's 6-1 drubbing of the Penguins. The Jersey win snapped Pittsburgh's season-high, five-game win streak, and gave the Devils some extra breathing room over Montreal in the Eastern Conference playoff race, still nipping at their heels just two points behind in sixth place. In off-ice news, the Penguins announced they will be cutting ticket prices across the board by an average of 11 percent next season. In order to break even next year (if there's a season at all), the Pens need to average 13,000 fans a game.

Back out West, the Blues clawed their way back into seventh place in the West after a 1-1 tie with Anaheim. Nashville is one point behind in eighth place with 80 points, the Kings one behind them with 79.

In also-ran news, Carolina beat Chicago, 3-2.

Over at ESPN.com, Jim Kelley quotes extensively from a CBC interview with Ken Dryden about violence in the game. Unfortunately, because ESPN doesn't want you to visit another sports site, it won't simply link to the video archive of the interview, but I will (Real Player required).

At Puck Update, Steve Ovadia takes a closer look at all the rookies contributing in Colorado. At Canucks Corner, Tom Benjamin looks at Vancouver GM Brian Burke's combative relationship with the media.

In case you missed it, Tampa Bay is the best team in the NHL. Check out John Fontana's Bolts Mag for more. Vancouver Canuckss Op Ed is talking about suspensions and double standards. Want an English-language look at sports in Finland? Check out by buddy Samuli at East of Sweden.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2004 at 7:42 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Just when you think the Islanders are ready to drop out of the playoffs, they do something out of character -- like beat Tampa Bay, the best team in the league, 3-1. With the win, New York extended its lead over ninth place Buffalo for the final playoff spot to six points with only 10 games to go for both teams. Meanwhile, the seventh place Canadiens continued their effort to move up in the standings, beating Northwest Division leader Colorado, 4-2 at the Bell Centre. With the win, the Canadiens caught the Devils for sixth place with 87 points.

One night after pulling off a stunning comeback to beat Buffalo, the Maple Leafs fell to the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, 2-1. Travis Green, waived by Toronto earlier this season, scored twice for Boston. Back in the Midwest, Marian Gaborik awoke from a season-long coma to post a hat trick and a pair of assists in Minnesota's 5-2 victory over Ottawa. At the end of the night, Boston stayed atop the division with 93 points, Ottawa and Boston were tied in second with 90, and the Habs were only three behind them.

With a 5-3 win over the Kings, the Blues climbed back into seventh place in the West. They're tied with Nashville, who got a goal with just 22 seconds left in regulation from Adam Hall (Adam Hall?!) to force a 2-2 tie with Vancouver. Further North in the Pacific Division, San Jose got a pair of goals from Jonathan Cheechoo in their 3-3 tie with the Stars in Dallas. San Jose is still in first in the division with 88 points, just three ahead of the Stars. Back in Detroit, Calgary beat the Red Wings 3-1, and now are only a point behind Dallas for fifth place in the Western Conference.

And in Pittsburgh, the Capitals lost 4-1 to the Penguins. Out West, Edmonton beat Columbus 3-2. Why does it still matter? Because only five points separates Pittsburgh from Columbus and Washington for the worst record in the league, and the best chance to draft Russian wunderkind, Alexander Ovechkin. In other also-ran action, Anaheim beat Phoenix, 3-2 in OT.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2004 at 7:20 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

What would the NHL be like if every game could be as meaningful as last night's Sabres-Maple Leafs matchup from Buffalo last night? There was hitting, wide open play, scoring, fluke goals, freak goals, defensive breakdowns, shoddy goaltending and spectacular goaltending. And when it was all over, a crowd that sounded like it had been imported from Toronto had been treated to a stirring 6-5 OT comeback victory for the Leafs that saw Alexander Mogilny record the 1000th point of his NHL career in the city where it all started for him.

Unfortunately, the Sabres lost more than a game, as captain Chris Drury suffered a concussion after a brutal hit by the Leafs' Joe Nieuwendyk. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff was livid after the game:

"I thought what Nieuwendyk did is on the lines of a suspension," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "The guy has his helmet off and he fell on him and pounded his head into the ice.

"It was a gutless play on his part."

It was the second heartbreaking OT loss in a row for Buffalo, who blew a 5-2 third period lead to let the Leafs back in the game. On Saturday, Buffalo led Boston 2-0 before yielding three unanswered goals to lose 3-2 in OT. With Buffalo chasing the Islanders for the final playoff spot in the East, these are points they can ill-afford to lose. Buffalo has 72 points, four in back of the Islanders, who have one game in hand. As for the Leafs, they're tied for fourth in the East with Ottawa with 90 points, just one behind Boston in third.

Up in New York, the Rangers got one game closer to the golf course after losing to the Devils, 3-1. For the Devils, success has come off the stick blades of linemates Patrik Elias and Scott Gomez. Elias has scored 14 goals in his last 14 games, while Gomez has four goals and 22 assists in his last 15 games.

In an otherwise dismal season, the Atlanta Thrashers got something to cheer about when Dany Heatley scored the game winner to give the Thrashers a 1-0 victory over Carolina. Atlanta's Parsi Nurminen had 31 saves to get the shutout.

How does news of violence in hockey affect television ratings? Apparently, North of the Border, they rise. South of the Border, nobody notices. From today's Toronto Star:

In Canada, Hockey Night In Canada scored its highest regular-season ratings in almost a year. In the U.S., NHL broadcasts took enough of a dip to place second to taped curling.

The Toronto-Montreal game on CBC Saturday night was watched by an average per-minute audience of 1,604,000. That was the largest regular-season audience for the show since March 15, 2003, when 1,689,000 watched the Toronto-Vancouver game.

The second game of Saturday's doubleheader, between Vancouver and Ottawa, averaged 942,000 viewers, the third highest late-game audience of the season.

But ABC's Saturday afternoon broadcast of three regional games scored a 1.2 rating, the lowest-rated sports event of the weekend, finishing behind NBC's U.S. curling championships and Sunday's Arena Football League games (1.3).

In the final year of its five-year deal with the NHL, ABC is averaging a 1.3 rating for its two broadcasts, about the same as last year.

As for the fallout from last week, Tom Benjamin has some thoughts we should all consider -- like eliminating no touch icing, outlawing blows to the head, increasing penalties for high-sticking infractions, and:

Eliminate fighting.

This is the tough one for hockey fans. Very few of us will deny enjoying a good scrap and many of us can buy into the rationale that allowing fighting prevents worse than fighting. Even if that is so, and even if Don Cherry spouts reality, the battle for wider public opinion has been lost. Perception is reality.

The mainstream media piled on hockey at least in part because the sport allows fighting. In one sense that is fair because Bertuzzi was surely trying to provoke a fight with the sucker punch. But the more important point is that because fighting is permitted the perceptions about the incident were blown all out of proportion. The Bertuzzi moment happened, but it doesn't very often.

Hockey shouldn't kid itself. It is an emotional, violent game. Even without fighting, a Bertuzzi moment will happen at some point down the road. They can't be entirely eliminated. If Don Cherry is right, more of them might even happen if frontier justice is stamped out.

It doesn't matter.

Read it all right now. We've got some serious thinking to do.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2004 at 7:11 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Break up the Penguins!

What else can you say after seeing the Black and Gold take down the Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the Air Canada Centre? Rico Fata, Ric Jackman, and Alexi Morozov all scored for Pittsburgh, who have won their fourth straight. The Pens are still dead last in the NHL with 44 points. Toronto is fourth in the East with 88, though I'm sure it doesn't feel like that right now.

The Senators failed to pull away from the Maple Leafs, falling 4-2 to the Flames in Calgary. Marcus Nilson, picked up at the deadline by Calgary from las Panteras, scored twice. Ottawa holds down third place in the East with 88 points, Calgary is in sixth, tied with L.A. but ahead on the tiebreaker with 77 points.

Back East in Philly, Brendan Morrow scored with 35 seconds left to give Dallas a 2-2 tie with the Flyers. Philly remains second in the East with 91 points, Dallas is in fifth with 84. In Buffalo, Mike Knuble got his 100th career goal in OT, to give Boston a 3-2 victory over the Sabres. With the point for the regulation tie, Buffalo crept one point closer to the Islanders in eighth in the East, who lost 5-4 to San Jose. Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice for San Jose. Back in Montreal, Olli Jokinen scored twice for las Panteras, including the OT game winner in a 3-2 win over les Habitantes.

Elsewhere, St. Louis got a second period goal from Eric Weinrich in a 1-1 tie with Nashville. By dint of the tie, the Predators remain one point ahead of the Blues for the last playoff spot in the West. In Columbus, Curtis Joseph finally returned from the injured list, and got the win in Detroit's 4-2 victory over Columbus. Red Wings center Jason Williams, a healthy scratch for the last 20 games pressed into service after injuries to Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper and Robert Lang, scored twice.

And finally, in the swamps of Jersey, the Devils took down the Blackhawks, 6-4. Patrik Elias scored twice for New Jersey.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2004 at 12:58 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Both the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks returned to the ice last night for the first time since the ugly incident Monday night where Todd Bertuzzi attacked Colorado center Steven Moore.

In Edmonton, Adam Foote scored twice, including the game winner in OT, as the Avalanche prevailed over the Oilers, 3-2. Back in Vancouver, one of the players brought in at the trade deadline to bolster the Canucks' lineup, winger Geoff Sanderson, scored a third period goal to force a 1-1 tie with Minnesota.

Last night in Carolina, the best team in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning, crept closer to the first 100 point season in the history of the franchise with a 4-2 win over the Hurricanes. John Grahame had 31 saves for the Lightning, as Arturs Irbe yielded three goals on only 12 shots before being lifted for an extra skater with 19 seconds remaining. It was Carolina's first game since team captain Ron Francis was traded to Toronto.

In his short stay in Washington, D.C., Mike Grier's incredible work ethic earned him the respect of his teammates, and the role of defacto captain. But that didn't stop Washington GM George McPhee from trading him away for a 19-year old prospect the Caps will need to sign soon if they want to avoid losing him back to the draft.

On Wednesday night, Grier got to play his first game in the uniform of his new team, the Buffalo Sabres, and helped them thoroughly crush his old club, getting a goal and two assists in a 6-0 shutout at MCI Center. In off-ice news, Caps owner Ted Leonsis announced that McPhee and head coach Glen Hanlon will be retained through next season. A lockout next season is a near certainty, and Leonsis is looking to conserve cash. With both men under contract through the end of the 2005 season, it simply doesn't make sense to dismiss them, only to pay two more salaries while the league lies in Limbo.

With a 3-1 win in Phoenix, the Kings vaulted themselves into a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference. Cristobal Huet had 22 saves for L.A.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2004 at 6:41 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

If the Devils don't get Scott Stevens back in time for the playoffs, it looks to be an awfully short trip -- at least that's the impression I'm getting after seeing the Devs drop a 3-1 decision at home to Philly.

On Long Island, management and ownership decided not to break up the roster, or trade away any prospects to bolster the Islanders for their playoff run. And after the deadline, the team promptly lost, 3-2 in OT to St. Louis. But hey, Alexi Yashin's back, that should help? Maybe not.

Gary Roberts scored twice and Ed Belfour had 15 saves in Toronto's 5-0 shutout of Florida. 18 new players made their season debut with the Leafs -- or at least it felt that way after the deadline. The Bruins kept pace with their Northeast Division rival with a 3-2 win over Nashville. Joe Thornton scored twice.

Luc Robataille scored goal number 650 of his career in the Kings' 3-2 win over Phoenix.

From the points you can't afford to lose department -- Minnesota beats San Jose, 4-3 and Pittsburgh downs Dallas 4-0.

In Atlanta, the Rangers beat the Thrashers 2-0, their first victory over them in seven games (0-6-1).

Up in Calgary, the latest version of the "Battle of Alberta," ended in a 1-1 tie for the Flames and Oilers.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2004 at 7:48 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

That splatter mark you find on the road on the way to the ferry at Tsawwassen would be the Vancouver Canucks. One week after gamely fighting back to tie the Avalanche on the road in Denver, the Canucks gave up five first period goals to Colorado at home, on the way to a 9-2 wipeout. It was a quick turnaround for the Avalanche, who had been overwhelmed by the Flames, 7-1 just a day before.

But the big news out of Vancouver was the premeditated act of skullduggery performed by Todd Bertuzzi on Avalanche center Steven Moore. You'll recall it was Moore who delivered a clean hit to Marcus Naslund on February 16th, giving him a concussion and sending him off the ice for three games. Though there was a lot of talk before last week's rematch in Colorado of revenge, though there weren't any incidents.

But with last night's game thoroughly out of hand, Bertuzzi decided it was time to take things into his own hands:

Bertuzzi was chasing Moore around the ice midway through the third.

Bertuzzi, Naslund's linemate and close friend, punched Moore in the head from behind while skating at center ice. The 245-pound Canucks winger then jumped on Moore's back and drove him face first into the ice, knocking him unconscious.

"Obviously, I think we all feel bad about someone getting hurt," Naslund said. "Todd feels awful about it and is very sorry. I know it might not mean much right now. As weird as it seems, I don't think that was Todd's intentions. He obviously gave him a sucker punch but he feels really awful about it right now."

Trainers from both teams rushed to Moore's side while players from both teams squared off for more fights. Moore was motionless on the ice with a puddle of blood pouring onto the ice around him.

"It was disgusting," Avalanche defenseman Derek Morris said. "I haven't seen anything like that in my seven years of playing hockey. This was premeditated; this was the worst thing I've seen."

I'm on the record saying that fighting has a place in the game. But as we all know, there are rules. And Bertuzzi has broken those rules -- written and unwritten -- something which resulted in the league suspending him indefinitely pending a review of the incident.

Make no mistake, at times the game we love is the most brutal of all professional sports. And for those on the outside looking in, last night's incident defines our sport in a way that a spectacular goal of the stick of Naslund never could. Without seeing a video replay of the incident (NHL2Night takes Mondays off here in the States), it's hard to judge what penalty would be appropriate, but I'm guessing his suspension is going to be lengthy.

In Detroit, the Lightning got a third period goal from Fredrik Modin to force a 1-1 tie with the Red Wings. With the point, "Da Bolts" clinched there second Southeast Division title in as many seasons, and sit atop the NHL with 91 points. Now comes the challenge of keeping the team focussed, and fresh, now that a playoff spot has been clinched with a little less than a month to go in the season. In Anaheim, Montreal scored three times in the third period on their way to a 5-2 win over the Ducks.

Here in D.C., a little less than 18,000 fans showed up on a Monday night and cheered for ex-Cap Peter Bondra for his first visit back to Washington since being traded to Ottawa ten games ago. Sprinkled among the vintage Bondra jerseys in Caps colors, were more than a few folks who were sporting the new Ottawa duds for the first time. BTW, the Senators won 4-1.

And in Columbus, the Hurricanes polished off the Blue Jackets, 4-1. Aaron Ward scored twice in his first game back from an injury.

The deals are coming faster now that the deadline is upon us, with nine trades coming yesterday alone -- the biggest perhaps being the Avalanche obtaining Matt Barnaby from the Rangers. Valeri Bure goes from Florida to Dallas, while Steve Webb is going to make a triumphant return to Long Island. Anson Carter's stay in Washington was a short one, as the Caps send him to LA for a prospect. The Flyers got Vladimir Malakhov from the Rangers, something which let them send Chris Therien to Dallas.

Remember, the deadline is 3:00 p.m. EST, with more than a few big names still available. Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2004 at 7:18 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

If Brian Leetch was feeling any ill effects after his trade from the New York Rangers to the Toronto Maple Leafs, it didn't show last night as he tallied three assists in Toronto's 6-2 win over the visiting New York Islanders. The biggest beneficiary of Leetch's presence has to be defenseman Bryan McCabe, Leetch's on-ice partner, who scored twice for the Leafs. Guess they won't be missing Sergei Gonchar in Toronto.

And speaking of Gonchar, he had a successful debut as well, scoring a third period goal in Boston's 3-1 win over the Rangers. In addition to Gonchar's goal, Joe Thornton scored twice for Boston, while Felix Potvin faced only 17 shots in goal to get the win. Jaromir Jagr scored his 26th goal of the season for New York, and at $11 million per season, that's nearly $425,000 per goal this year. Not exactly cost effective.

In off-ice Rangers news, Eric Lindors suffered a torn shoulder while shooting pucks in practice this week, potentially delaying his return to the lineup, and limiting the ability of the Rangers to ship him out of town in exchange for a bag of pucks or a skate sharpener.

On the other hand, there's Raffi Torres, a forward playing in Edmonton who was an afterthought in the deal that brought Brad Isbister to Edmonton from the Islanders last season. Torres scored his 19th goal of the season last night, helping Edmonton to tie St. Louis 1-1. Torres makes only $800,000 a season, which means his goals have only cost the Oilers a little more than $42,000 a piece so far this season -- an incredible bargain if you ask me. Serial malcontent Petr Nedved, recently acquired from the Rangers, assisted on the Torres goal.

And since we're talking about budgets, lets turn to last night's Nashville-Pittsburgh game, a 9-4 victory for the up and coming Predators. While I was watching the Leafs-Islanders game on NHL Center Ice, I decided to surf through some of the other games, and just happened to tune in to the game from Pittsburgh. The difference couldn't have been more striking. While the atmosphere in Toronto was electric, Pittsburgh seemed like an open air morgue. You could literally pick out individual voices in the crowd on the game audio.

Out West, the Kings are still gamely struggling to grab a playoff spot, gutting out a 1-1 tie against Minnesota. They held a 1-0 lead going into the third period, but were foiled by a Jason Wiemer goal.

UPDATE: Off-ice, Thomas Heath of the Washington Post has written a guide to the NHL salary dump, Capitals-style. The Wings continue to be coy about Pavel Datsyuk's injury. With five picks in the first two rounds of the 2004 Draft, the Rangers may be aiming to do a deal with the winner of the draft lottery.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 5th, 2004 at 2:12 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

If the NHL had more matchups like the clash last night in Denver between Colorado and Vancouver, the league would have a lot fewer problems. Talent on the ice, flow, goal scoring, and a growing rivalry fueled in part by a vicious, but clean, hit during the last game the two teams played. The result -- a 5-5 tie that was anything but like kissing your sister. Joe Sakic had a hat trick, and Alex Tanguay scored twice, as the Avs were staked to an early 2-0 lead. But the Canucks hung around long enough to tie it up in the third on pretty power play goal by Mattias Ohlund.

My dream final four in the West: Detroit, Vancouver, Colorado and San Jose.

And speaking of San Jose, they won at home for the eighth straight time, defeating visiting Montreal 4-3. Vincent Damphousse (is there a name in hockey more fun to say than his?) had a goal and two assists against his old team, as he tied Yvan Cournoyer, "The Roadrunner," for 60th on the career goal scoring list. For reasons unknown, the recently acquired Alex Kovalev watched the game from the press box instead of suiting up for the Canadiens -- and it ticked off Barry Melrose on NHL2Night.

The injury bug bit the Red Wings twice yesterday, but that didn't stop them from ringing up a 2-1 win over Calgary. In a practice yesterday, Kris Draper suffered a torn rotator cuff. He'll be out a month. Then during the game, Mathieu Dandenault broke his right foot when it was struck by a Robyn Regehr slap shot in the first period. He's out four-six weeks.

At the end of the evening, Detroit leads the West with 87 points, while San Jose and Colorado are tied four points back with 83 in second. Vancouver is just one point behind in fourth with 82. Elsewhere in the West, Bill Guerin had a hat trick in Dallas' 4-2 win over Columbus, while Anaheim kept its mathematical hopes for a playoff spot alive with a 2-0 win over Minnesota.

Back East, Philly and Tampa Bay remain tied atop the Conference after both teams won last night. The Flyers beat Nashville at home, 5-2, snapping a three-game winless streak. Alex Zhamnox had a goal and two assists, and has seven points in six games since he was acquired from Chicago by the Flyers.

As for the Lightning, they gutted out a 5-3 win over Chicago. Martin St. Louis had two assists, and Nikolai Khabibulin had 27 saves for Tampa Bay. On the downside, Chicago's leading goal scorer, Kyle Calder, broke his leg with only seconds left in the game, and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

In Buffalo, the Senators dropped two points they couldn't afford to lose, getting beat by the Sabres, 4-3. Chris Drury scored twice for Buffalo, a team struggling to stay in the playoff race amidst rumors that leading scorer Miroslav Satan might be on the trading block.

In Jersey, the EGG line (Elias, Gomez, Gionta) continues to roll, combining for nine points in leading the Devils to a 5-2 win over Florida. New Jersey scored three times in the second period, driving Florida's Roberto Luongo from the Panthers net.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2004 at 7:49 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

When everyone looks back at the 2003-04 NHL season, the one move that might qualify as the smartest was made in Montreal, when ownership decided it was time to bring Bob Gainey back to the fold as the team's general manager. Last night, Gainey plucked Alex Kovalev off the scrap heap in New York, getting the under-achieving sniper in exchange for AHL winger Josef Balej and a second round pick in the 2004 draft. For Rangers fans, here's the book on Balej from Hockey's Future:

Lightning! This is the only word to describe the skating speed of Jozef Balej. His play is impressive to watch. Jozef is an offensive force to watch out for. He's a speedy right winger; if you blink, you might miss him.

He has a quick release with a nose for the net. He's at his best when he's moving his feet consistently, while fighting to enter the offensive zone. When he shoots alot, he scores alot.

Elsewhere on the trade front, the injury-riddled LA Kings picked up defenseman Nathan Dempsey. Dempsey had eight goals and 17 assists in 58 games this season, and averaged just under 24 minutes per game in Chicago.

With so many people down on the future of the NHL, perhaps we should give a round of applause to Jeffrey Vanderbeek, a member of the Executive Committee at Lehman Brothers who is leaving his post to purchase the New Jersey Devils:

Vanderbeek, 46, who has been with Lehman Brothers for 20 years, has been a minority owner of the Devils since Puck Holdings, an affiliate of the disbanding YankeeNets empire, bought the team in 2000.

Vanderbeek said he had been a Devils season-ticket holder for about 15 years. Before he moved to Warren, N.J., Vanderbeek lived in South Orange, not far from the team training complex in West Orange.

"It is tremendously exciting for me," Vanderbeek said in a telephone interview last night. "To be able to move to a dream job, I consider myself extremely lucky."

On the surface, last night's game between the Oilers and the Coyotes in Edmonton was just a match between two teams playing out the string. But the folks in Edmonton managed to fill the building to welcome native son Mike Comrie back home. Lustily booed every time he touched the puck, Comrie was held scoreless in Edmonton's 4-3 overtime win. Ryan Smyth had the game winner for Edmonton.

Here in D.C., we have a tradition of booing (well, more like whooping) whenever one of our former defensemen touches the puck on their return trips to MCI Center. Most of the time, that means Scott Stevens, but Caps fans never gave more grief to a returning player than they did to Larry Murphy. Who gets dumped on in your barn?

Mats Sundin scored twice in Toronto's 3-2 win over the Bruins. Eddie Belfour, making his second start in net since returning from a back injury, had 17 saves. With the win, the Maple Leafs moved ahead of the Bruins for first place in the Northeast Division.

After Tampa Bay's win over Colorado on Monday night, Tuesday provided a chance for the rest of the Southeast Division to "shine", with the four division also-rans all in action. At Madison Square Garden, the forgotten Patrik Stefan had three assists in Atlanta's 4-3 win over the listless Rangers. Pasi Nurminen had 26 saves, while Dany Heatley and Ilya "I'm picking splinters out of my butt" Kovalchuk scored for the Thrashers. In off-ice news, Eric Lindros hopes to begin practicing with his teammates again by the weekend.

Down in Raleigh, the Blue Jackets played the role of rude guests, shutting out the Hurricanes, 3-0. Marc Denis had 25 saves, and Rick Nash scored his 34th goal for Columbus, tying a team record that had been set by Geoff Sanderson last season.

In Washington, 12,628 fans, many disguised as empty seats, saw Roberto Luongo post his fourth shutout in his last seven games in Florida's 1-0 win over the Capitals. Sergei Gonchar, expected to be shipped out of D.C. any day now, missed his third straight game, this time as a healthy scratch. Sportsnet says Boston is in the lead for his services.

In Pittsburgh, the Islanders blew a 3-1 lead, and had to settle for a 3-3 tie with the Penguins. Luckily for the Isles, they have a 10-point lead over Buffalo for the final playoff spot. Back on Long Island, owner Charles Wang announced that anyone who purchases season tickets for the 2004-05 season, will get complimentary tickets to attend every Islanders home game in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The offer is capped at 5,000 tickets, and is only good if fans make their purchase for next season by March 21st.

And finally, in St. Louis, the Flames exploded for four goals in the third period in a 4-2 win over the Blues. Jarome Iginla had two goals and an assist for Calgary. After the loss, interim head coach Mike Kitchen is still looking for his first win.

And, as always, click here for the latest from ESPN's John Buccigross.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2004 at 12:18 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Maybe the Tampa Bay Lightning will get a little more respect in the wake of their 3-0 shutout of the Colorado Avalanche in Denver last night. Nikolai Khabibulin only needed 16 saves to get the shutout, as the Lightning kept David Aebischer busy at the other end of the ice, peppering him with 15 shots in the first period alone.

With the win, Tampa Bay is now tied with Ottawa atop the Eastern Conference with 84 points. And lest you think the Lightning owes its success to fattening up its record on the weak opposition in the Southeast Division, think again. While Tampa Bay is a respectable 9-6-3-0 against teams in their division, it's hardly overpowering.

This team is for real, and now its a real threat to take the number one seed in the East.

With the Avalanche being thoroughly outplayed at home last night, speculation that Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix will make a trade to shake up his roster was topic A on ESPN2's NHL Tonight. Most speculation now centers around a possible deal involving Washington goalie Olie Kolzig and defenseman Sergei Gonchar going West in exchange for defenseman Derek Morris and a package of prospects and draft picks. Matt at On The Wings has his doubts about that deal. As for Gonchar, he'd still prefer playing in Toronto.

With Ed Belfour's health still a question, the Leafs might be looking at Atlanta's Byron Dafoe.

Also out of Colorado, was Peter Forsberg's perfunctory denial that he wasn't going to play for MoDo in the Swedish Elite League next season.

A couple of weeks back, the Hockey Rodent made note of the fact that of all the teams in the Eastern Conference, Montreal had the toughest schedule down the stretch. So far, they've been up to it, with the Devils their latest victim after a 2-1 win at the Keg last night in Montreal. Jason Ward scored a power play goal with only 24 seconds remaining to salt away the win.

As for New Jersey, they simply aren't the same team without their captain, Scott Stevens. Their latest move, acquiring underachieving center Victor Kozlov from Florida, isn't going to fix what's wrong on the blue line, though it gives them some needed size up front (the Devils remind me a lot of the "Smurfs" teams that Herb Brooks coached in New York back in the 80s). Brendan Witt is available for the right price. And so is Lyle Odelein.

Talking to reporters in Montreal, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur had a dire prediction about a potential lockout next season:

"When everything is said and done, if we do have a lockout and we're out for a long time, I'm sure that teams will disappear, and it's too bad," Brodeur said Monday before the Devils' game against the Montreal Canadiens.

In Nashville, the Predators let two easy points get away, tying Chicago 2-2. Rookie goalie Adam Munro had 33 saves in his NHL debut (Munro is the fifth goalie the Blackhawks have used this year). Chicago tied the game inside two minutes when rookie Matt Keith scored his first NHL goal.

Philly's Keith Primeau says he's shooting to recover in time for the playoffs. And Newsday's Alan Hahn says the Islanders are in the hunt for Chris Pronger. But the Blues, and Pronger's agent, are doing their best to delfate the rumor.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2004 at 12:36 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.