Off Wing Opinion

This morning's roundup starts well South of the Mason-Dixon line, this time in Atlanta, where the Caps took down the Thrashers 6-5 (SO). After taking a 5-3 lead into the 3rd period, Washington yielded goals to Andy Sutton and Marian Hossa to tie the sccore at 5. After a scoreless OT period, Alex Ovechkin, who had a goal and three assists in regulation, gave the Caps the only goal they needed in the shootout, as Brent Johnson stopped all three Atlanta shooters. Besides his third period goal, Hossa also had four assists for Atlanta.

In Manhattan, Tom Poti scored his first goal since the end of the 2003-04 season, helping the Rangers to a 4-2 win at home over Tampa Bay. Rookie Petr Prucha also scored for New York.

The Poti goal sent Bird into apoplexy:

Holy crap.....did you see that friggin shot from Tom Poti? Where the hell did that come from and where can I get a case of that...

Here's HDH on Poti and his game-winner:

That headline might have a literal and figurative meaning for Tom Poti. Instead of a monkey on his back, maybe he had a Duck. Terrible Tom has been the subject of trade rumors all season long. He was most recently one of the players mentioned as part of a deal to bring Petr Sykora from the Mighty Ducks to New York. Poti has also been the target of very loud "boos" from the Garden crowd for quite some time.

Last night (for the most part) he turned those "boos" into cheers as he scored his first goal since March of 2004, and it just happened to be a desperately needed game winner.

Truth be told, as the Rodent points out, he really didn't play the greatest game. He took a couple of minor penalties and was caught out of position a few times. But this team needs some scoring from the blueline in a very bad way, and right now he is the only hope they have on the point. I would love to see him turn his career around right now. It would be a wonderful story. Do I think it is going to happen? Not really . . . he has been too disappointing too many times. But I can hope, can't I?

For more from the losing side of the ledger, check out John Fontana.

In Philly, the Ottawa express train to the playoffs was derailed, at least for one night, as the Flyers beat the Sens, 4-3. Simon Gagne had a goal and an assist in his first game back from injury.

In Boston, the Bruins beat the Leaffs, 4-1. But what caught my eye was the fact that Marius Czerkawski scored again for the Leafs, his third since being pulled from the scrap heap last week.

A pair of streaks came to an end last night as Florida dumped Buffalo, 4-1. The loss snapped Buffalo's seven game winning streak and goalie Martin Biron's 13 game winning streak. Jozef Stumpel had a pair of goals for the hosts.

In Denver, rookie Marek Svatos scored again, as Colorado beat Minnesota, 4-3. And finally, in lovely Glendale, the Coyotes edged the Sharks, 2-1. Curtis Joseph stopped 20 shots and Mike Comrie scored the game winner for Phoenix in the third on a power play.

And be sure to read my radio partner Rob Visconti and his thoughts on the shootout.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2005 at 10:38 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 Columbus, Stu Barnes and Phillipe Boucher scored twice each as the Stars downed the BJs, 5-3. Johan Hedburg had 23 saves for Dallas, while Rick Nash scored for the third time in as many games since returning to the Columbus lineup after an early-season injury. Here's a Dallas take from Mark of Andrew's Stars Page:

The only thing I have to say about last night's game is welcome back Philippe Boucher. That was quite an offensive performance, especially for a team that was getting a little stale offensively.

Overall, a pretty good road trip for the Stars. They got eight of a possible 12 points. I thought they struggled a bit at times over the last three games, but they still got four of six points in those games.

In other news of the BJs, the team has placed defenseman Bryan Berard on IR.

On Long Island, Trent Hunter scored twice, and Jason Blake had a goal and an assist in his first game back in the lineup after suffering a mild concussion in a 4-2 Isles win over the Devils. Rick DiPietro had 25 saves for the home squad.

Everybody knows that Blackhawks home games aren't on television, and that was probably a good thing last night during Nashville's 6-1 win over Chicago at the United Center. Paul Kariya scored twice for the Predators. Normally at this point, I'd tell you to check out Predators Den, but it looks like Jason Kirk is destined for the milk carton again.

In Calgary, Mike Cammalleri scored twice to lead the Kings to a 5-2 win over the Flames. The Flames had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Daymond Langkow and Jarome Iginla before LA stormed back with five unanswered goals of their own. LA's Jeremy Roenick will be out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks after suffering a broken finger in Monday night's game against Vancouver.

And speaking of Vancouver, they dropped a wild one to Edmonton at GM Place, 7-6. Ty Conklin got the win after replacing Jussi Markanen, who yielded four goals on just seven shots in the second period. For Battle of Alberta, it was a good news/bad news kind of result:

Wow, I haven't seen a goaltending duel like that since the mid-80's. Fantastic!

It is oddly comforting to know that no matter how bad our goalies play, we can still win. At least when we are playing Vancouver. I also found it amusing that Vancouver has so little faith in their backups that apparently giving up 6 goals isn't enough to get pulled. Boy that 7th was a bummer though, eh?

Speaking of which, it is a shame that Edmonton doesn't play Vancouver again until March, because we could really use the points.

And finally, in Anaheim, J.S. Giguere got his 100th career win in the Ducks' 6-3 win over the lowly Blues. Andy McDonald had two goals and an assist, as the Ducks scored the four fastest goals in the history of the franchise.

For a preview of tonight's games, click here.

UPDATE: More news on the Alex Ovechkin case.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More courtroom drama in the Moore-Bertuzzi case.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 22nd, 2005 at 1:58 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.

Ed Belfour finally passed Terry Sawchuk for second place all-time on the league's career win list after the Leafs crushed the Islanders 9-6 at the ACC. It was generally bad news all night long for the visitors, though rookie Rob Collins made his NHL debut at the tender age of 27 and recorded a goal and an assist.

Here's the Battle of Ontario on the aftermath:

Well that was a great tonic to the disaster that was Saturday's game. Anyone who was fooled into thinking the Leafs are a 9th place club based on Saturday's result was dealt a dose of reality last night.

This team at this juncture is not a first place team but they aren't a last place team either. I have always maintained since the beginning of the season that the Leafs will finish anywhere from 4th to 6th and I still believe that.

For more TO-related hockey goodness, check out the A Foot In The Crease podcast. Thanks to Jay Kumar for the pointer.

Igor Ulanov scored twice (though the ESPN.com scoring summary seemed to lose track of one of them) to give the Oilers a 5-4 win over Calgary and their third win in a row. Edmonton is now tied with the Flames for second in the Northwest, only two points behind Vancouver. Here's, who else, Sacamano at Battle of Alberta:

Without a doubt the best game of the year. My favorite part: Ullie gets a deuce. As I've said in the past, I love Ulanov -- every part of his demeanor just totally cracks me up. I wish they had snagged him for the post-game interview...

5 goals on Kipper is so sweet, but what is even better is that the way the Oilers scored those goals -- all 5 were almost entirely a function of outworking the Flames.

More joy from Covered in Oil:

Nothing says "early Xmas" like an OT win! Incredibly, and against his best efforts, the game wasn't ruined by referee Mick MaGoo. I punched a pillow when I saw his name on the screen, knowing that in addition to any phantom calls made by the refs, the actual penalties would amount to a full game of total powerplay. And indeed, that was pretty much the case. The Oilers probably didn't deserve to win early on, but the powerplay took care of the rest (this would explain how the Oilers could be a collective minus 12 to Vancouver's plus 11).

Ryan Miller didn't let being left of off the Team USA Olympic roster bother him, as he stopped 33 shots for Buffalo in a 2-1 (SO) win over Philly. That's nine straight road victories for the Sabres. Here's BFLOBlog on the play of Miller:

The good news for the Sabres was the strong play of Ryan Miller in his first game back. Not only did he look sharp during regulation and overtime but he was poised and in control while stopping three of four breakaways in the shootout. Miller has very good fundamentals in net. If you watch him instead of the puck you will see that he is very aware of his position on the ice in relation to both the net and the puck. He doesn

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 at 6:12 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.

Busy Thursday night in the league, with a boatload of interesting interconference matchups for every NHL fan. We should start in Philly, where an ice storm that prevented a few Flyers from getting to the rink on time delayed the start of their game with the Canucks by 30 minutes. The disruption didn't seem to bother Anson Carter, as he scored twice in Vancouver's 5-4 victory over the injury-depleted Flyers. Daniel Sedin, who along with his brother is really coming into his own, had three assists while Alex Auld, who Tom Benjamin thinks will keep the starting job vacated by an injured Dan Cloutier, had 39 saves. Meanwhile, Canucks fan J.J. Guerrero might have had something interesting to write, but he was distracted last night.

For those of you scoring at home, that's four straight wins for Vancouver, all over Eastern Conference teams.

Marty Turco had 25 saves and Jere Lehtinen and Brendan Morrow scored as the Stars shut out the Senators 2-0 in scenic Kanata. Senators fan Chris McMurtry is another blogger who has problems with officiating. Here's what he had to say about it after Ottawa's 6-2 win earlier this week over the Avalanche:

I realize I

This entry was posted on Friday, December 16th, 2005 at 12:04 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.

The best game of Tuesday night had to be in Atlanta, as the Thrashers held off a fierce third period comeback by the Red Wings to win, 7-6. After blowing a 6-2 lead at the start of the third period, Patrick Stefan scored with 4:11 to play to bail out the hosts. For Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk scored twice while Brendan Shanahan had a goal and four assists.

The New York Metro area hosted three games last night as the Rangers, Islanders and the Devils all played at home. We'll go East-West with the recap:

*In Uniondale, the Islanders' struggles at home continued, as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the visiting Wild. Marian Gaborik scored twice for Minnesota and Manny Fernandez had 32 daves. The Islanders got a scare in the third period as Jason Blake, second on the team in goals, was knocked unconcious.

Here's how Newsday's Alan Hahn saw it:

Blake, the speedy 5-10 winger who is second on the team with 13 goals, lost his edge while cutting and fell into the corner boards at 7:44 of the third. At the same time, Minnesota defenseman Kurtis Foster collided with Blake. It appeared Foster's knee slammed Blake's helmet into the boards. Blake was motionless on his back for several minutes. He was attended to by team doctor Elliot Pellman, trainers Rich Campbell and Andy Wetstein and two EMS technicians.

Blake regained conciousness after about three minutes and was transported to North Shore Hospital where he is receiving treatment for a concussion. Good luck Jason, and just get better.

In Manhattan, the visiting Canucks beat the Rangers, 3-2. Todd Bertuzzi had a goal for Vancouver and Alex Auld, now the number one goalie through the regular season due to the injury to Dan Cloutier, had 32 saves. Petr Prucha, one of the favorites over at Hockeybird, scored both of New York's goals.

In East Rutherford, Victor Kozlov got another critical shootout goal, as the Devils beat the Oilers 2-1 (SO). It was the second consecutive loss in a the shootout for the Oilers, who dropped to the Islanders on Saturday. Ty Conklin had 27 saves for Edmonton. Check in later at Battle of Alberta and Covered in Oil for more on the Oilers.

In other Edmonton-related news, Oilers fan Colby Cosh has returned from his tropical cruise junket. No word yet on whether he retunred with a tan.

In Carolina, Matt Cullen and Craig Adams each scored twice in a 5-3 Hurricanes win over Chicago. Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Blackhawks home games are still not on television.

Ethan Horton had a hat trick and Gary Roberts potted a pair in Florida's 7-3 win over Nashville. Earlier in the day, the Panthers exiled Nik Hagman to Chicago Dallas in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick and a skate sharpener.

On the road in Columbus, Peter Forsberg scored again to lead the Flyers to a 3-1 win over the BJs. Unfortunately for Philly, Simon Gagne will be on the shelf with a groin injury for a couple of weeks. Jan Hrdina, who had been declared missing by Interpol, scored for Columbus.

In Montreal, the Canadiens cruised to a 5-2 win over Phoenix. Jose Theodore had 27 saves for the hosts. And finally, in St. Louis, the Blues celebrated the demotion of Patrick Lalime with a 3-0 shutout of woeful Pittsburgh. Curtis Sanford had 21 saves and got his third career shutout. Combined, the two teams went 0 for 15 on the power play. I guess you had to be there.

UPDATE: Blake has been released from the hospital with what is being described as a moderate concussion.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 at 6:12 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.

The performance gap between teams in professional can be almost too small to detect sometimes. Anybody who has ever been out on the ice knows that all too well, as most of us, even at the lowest level of competition, know what it's like to give your all for 2+ periods, but then still get buried in the end.

That must be how the Colorado Avalanche feel this morning after a 6-2 thrashing at the hands of the Ottawa Senators. After making it into the third period tied at 2, the Senators scored four unanswered goals in the last period, leaving the Avalanche looking like so much hockey road kill. Dominik Hasek had 22 saves, and I don't know why anybody thinks the Sens need to trade for a replacement for Martin Havlat when Brandon Bochenski keeps scoring.

A Leafs team without Eric Lindros and Ed Belfour managed to hold off the Ducks in Toronto, 3-2. My favorite moment of the night: Keith Carney having a vapor lock and clearing the puck right onto the stick of Kyle Wellwood who promptly wristed the puck past J.S. Giguere. Mikael Telqvist had 29 saves in place of Belfour.

Here's The Meatriarchy from The Battle of Ontario:

In other good news Tie Domi suffered a shoulder injury. Can we now pretend it is a serious injury and sit him out for a half dozen games? Just a thought.

Ouch.

Meanwhile, the stands were a little more crowded than usual at the ACC last night:

Inquiring minds need to know: Why were 14 NHL teams watching the Maple Leafs last night?

Some teams, in fact, assigned two scouts to view the Leafs play an otherwise uninspired Monday night match against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

"Why are we all here?" one NHL scout repeated the question. "It's either a slow night in the industry or everybody is looking at the same thing."

Steve Yzerman might be sitting out a couple of more games with a groin tear, but Ken Holland's transition plan for the team continues apace last night as Henrik Zetterburg scored twice in a 3-1 win over terminally ill Pittsburgh. Chris Osgood only needed to stop 16 shots in the win.

Elsewhere in Hockeytown, Jiri Fischer met with the media to discuss his future on the ice -- something that looks like a foregone conclusion:

Both Fischer, 25, and Red Wings team physician Dr. Tony Colucci admitted that three weeks after the episode which nearly claimed Fischer's life, no one is certain as to the cause for the irregular heart beat.

That alone is a virtual assurance that Fischer won't return to the ice.

Without answers, no one was even willing to ponder the question as to when Fischer might be back.

"You do what you like to do," Fischer said. "But staying alive is most important."

Good luck to Fischer and his fiance.

In St. Louis, the struggling Blues gave Patrick Lalime his walking papers after a freakish goal on Saturday night gave the Rangers an OT victory.

Once Lalime clears waivers, he'll be joining the AHL's Peoria Rivermen, where I'm guessing he'll be buying most of the post-game beers:

The goaltender, an NHL All-Star starter in 2002-03, will easily be the highest-paid player in the American Hockey League - this season, and maybe any season - at $2.43 million.

Lalime's salary is believed to be more than the entire payroll of any AHL team, and will double Peoria's player payroll, making the Rivermen the highest-priced team not in the NHL.

Well, maybe highest-priced team not in the NHL in North America. Something tells me a team or two in the Russian Super League probably has them beat.

And, finally, for the latest from John Buccigross, click here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2005 at 6:53 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.