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You may say Anaheim’s net minding last night was not at all like Swiss cheese. From AP-
Jonas Hiller figured that all the Edmonton Oilers’ shots he faced kept him sharp.
The Swiss goalie matched the Anaheim record with 51 saves, and turned aside three shootout tries in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory over the Oilers on Friday night.
*****
Corey Perry scored in regulation and added the shootout winner in the Ducks’ first game on a five-game trip. Rob Niedermayer added a short-handed goal to help the Ducks improve to 18-12-3 with their fourth victory in six games.
Hiller, in goal with Jean-Sebastien Giguere on leave in Montreal following his father’s death, tied the franchise saves record set by Mikhail Shtalenkov against Ottawa in March 1998 and matched by Giguere against Detroit in March 2004.
Saving that many shots has to be fatiguing. Which is one of the worries I have with my favorite team, The Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson have been regularly asked to stop 40 shots in a night. Can they keep it up?
A David Booth hat trick was the key to the victory. After last night’s win, Florida has a record of 5-8-1. More importantly, the Panthers five-game road trip is at an end. Florida has home games this week against Tampa and Detroit.
Florida’s win last night marked the second time the cats have been able to beat a high flying California team. Their last win before Anaheim, came against the San Jose Sharks. After their loss to Florida, the Sharks ran off a 7-game winning streak that only came to an end last night.
As nice as the win was last night,(I watched the game. Memo to FSN- Cut out the idiotic in game commercials that fill 20% of the television screen while the puck is in play. They are very disruptive when it comes to watching a hockey game) Florida didn’t play much different than they have all this season. No offense(Other than David Booth), poor special teams, and way too many shots on goal allowed. Last night it was 45-26. You can’t keep asking Goalies Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson to be almost perfect every game. It still looks like a long year for South Florida hockey fans.
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How did anyone think Tampa Bay could be a Stanley Cup contender this year? linked with OTB Sports
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Wizbang Sports linked with How did anyone think Tampa Bay could be a Stanley Cup contender this year?...
Only 8 games into the 2008-09 NHL season and the Cats are already banged up at defenseman. From the Palm Beach Post-
CORAL SPRINGS — The Florida Panthers will turn to a familiar face to help get through its series of early-season injuries on defense.
General Manager Jacques Martin announced the signing of defenseman Jassen Cullimore on Tuesday. The 6-foot-5, 244-pound veteran played for the Panthers last season and was in training camp this year.
“I think he probably doesn’t need any transition time,” Martin said. “He’s familiar with our system. He was here in training camp, so he’s probably a good fit.”
Cullimore will replace defenseman Bryan Allen, who Martin said underwent successful knee surgery.
In 65 games last year, Cullimore tallied just 13 points, but his plus-21 ratio led the Panthers.
“He played real well here last year,” Panthers’ coach Peter DeBoer said. “He’s capable of playing in a shutdown role.”
Immigration issues in Canada may keep Cullimore from joining the Panthers before Thursday’s game against Ottawa. DeBoer had forward Wade Belak work with the defense on Tuesday to add some depth.
Martin also said that injured defenseman Cory Murphy will likely miss at least one month, but his injured shoulder will not need surgery.
Cullimore won’t be playing tonight against Ottawa. Cory Murphy is out for a month, Bryan Allen out indefinitely and Bryan McCabe isn’t ready to play after hurting his back. Wade Belak is going to play defense. Belak can fight and intimiidate but passing and shooting are beyond him.
I don’t think much of Cullimore, and neither does most of the NHL apparently. He couldn’t find work after not making the Panthers at the end of camp. On the other hand 38-year-old Bret Hedican(husband to Kristi Yamaguchi) got work again with Anaheim. What’s wrong with this picture?
Former Panther Alex Auld will be in goal tonight. Florida will also be without Center Stephen Weiss who is hurt too. Why then is Shawn Matthias still at Rochester then? I got the answer- The Florida Panthers management is hopeless.
Update- Florida called up Matthias. He is in uniform tonight.
The second of two head NHL coaching vacancies has been filled.
Craig Hartsburg is the new coach of the Ottawa Senators, the third time he has led an NHL team.
Hartsburg takes over from Senators general manager Bryan Murray, who finished the season behind the Ottawa bench after coach John Paddock was fired in late February.
Hartsburg also has coached in Anaheim and Chicago, and was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2002 to 2004. The 48-year-old Hartsburg has been coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the past five seasons.
Ottawa was, either the worst or second to worst(Only to the Florida Panthers*) underacheiving team in the NHL last year. The Senators are talented, but face troubles also. One of which is their goaltending situation.
Is Hartsburg going to help Ottawa? He has a lifetime sub .500 record, and hasn’t coached in the NHL for nearly a decade. To me the hiring looks questionable, especially with their being a large pool of experienced NHL head coaches available at the moment (John Tortorella, Pat Quinn, Marc Crawford to just name three).
*- Talking about the Panthers. When will GM(and former Head Coach) Jacques Martin get off his butt and hire his replacement? Martin is still doing interviews two months after being relieved of his head coaching responsibilities.
He was fired by San Jose less than a month ago. From AP-
TORONTO — Ron Wilson was introduced Tuesday as the new coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, less than a month after he was fired by the San Jose Sharks.
The 53-year-old Wilson appeared at a Tuesday news conference at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre after signing a four-year deal.
Wilson was fired May 12 by San Jose after the Sharks lost to the Dallas Stars in the second round of the playoffs. He succeeds Paul Maurice, who was fired by Toronto last month after missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
“I’m the happiest person in the National Hockey League today,” Wilson said. “I’m fulfilling a dream.
Wilson played for Toronto back in the 70′s. In addition he coached at Anaheim and Washington before his stint in San Jose.
Can Wilson succeed in Toronto? The Maple Leafs have been mired mostly in mediocrity for a time span that predates Ron Wilson’s time as player with the team. The Leafs have Mats Sundin, but not a whole lot else that stands out. This dream job stands a good chance of ending up as a nightmare.
It was only his second ever NHL start.
CHICAGO – Rookie Corey Crawford stopped 19 shots to earn his first NHL win and shutout in his first start this season, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-0 on Wednesday night.
Dustin Byfuglien and Cam Barker each had power-play goals and an assist, and Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks, who won their third straight and ended Anaheim’s six-game winning streak.
The Ducks are 11-2 in their last 13.
Crawford made just his second career start in fifth NHL appearance. He had been recalled from Rockford of the AHL on Feb. 22 after Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago’s No. 1 goalie, was sidelined with back spasms.
Despite their recent hot streak, Chicago is on the outside looking in so far as the NHL playoffs are concerned.
From top to bottom, the standings
Detroit Red Wings 51-37-10-4-78
San Jose Sharks 50-28-15-7-63
Dallas Stars 54-29-20-5-63
Anaheim Ducks 53-27 20-6-60
Minnesota Wild 50-28-19-3-59
Calgary Flames 50-25-17-8-58
Vancouver Canucks 51-26-20-5-57
Colorado Avalanche 50-26-20-4-56
Phoenix Coyotes 50-27-21-2-56
Columbus Blue Jackets 52-25-21-6-56
Nashville Predators 51-25-21-5-55
St Louis Blues 49-23-19-7-53
Edmonton Oilers 53-23-25-5-51
Chicago Blackhawks 50-23-23-4-50
Los Angeles Kings 52-20-29-3-43
Note- The numbers above from left to right are- Games played, wins, losses, Overtime losses, total points
Teams in Bold are Northwest Division teams
I think its more than reason to say Detroit, San Jose, Dallas, and Anaheim are going to make the playoffs, while the LA Kings have no chance. Edmonton’s chances are slim also.
The closest division is the Northwest. Three points separate first to fourth place. I like Vancouver because of Goalie Roberto Luongo. The division is both talented and very tight and I could see anyone but Edmonton could come out on top and deservingly so. The Avalanche, Wild, Canucks nor Flames rate as mediocre or badly underacheiving teams unlike members of the Southeast Division.
All NHL teams will meet again once every season. From AP-
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – The NHL’s board of governors approved the sale of the Nashville Predators and changed the league’s scheduling format Thursday night to allow every team to face each other at least once every season.
Paul Kelly, the new executive director of the NHL Players Association, also addressed the league’s owners during a late-afternoon session to open the board’s two-day meeting at an elite resort on the Northern California coast.
After a three-year experiment in developing rivalries in hockey’s far-flung outposts, the NHL voted to go back to the scheduling format used before the 2004-05 lockout, most notably decreasing the current eight games against every team’s divisional opponents to six.
Starting next season, teams will play just 24 total games against their four divisional foes, 40 against the rest of the conference and 18 against the other conference — one game against all 15 foes, and three home-and-home series against wild-card opponents.
First let me state, my interest in hockey was only rekindled in the last year. Otherwise I had watched little of the sport since the end of the NY Islanders Dynasty in the early to mid eighties.
The arrangement where teams didn’t all meet seemed dumb to me. Fans in the west miss out on seeing players like Sidney Crosby and fans in the east miss getting to see……. well see what problem I have. LOL, make that former Florida Panther and ace goaltender Roberto Luongo. Now I can learn about the LA Kings, San Jose Sharks etc. To be honest I’m sick of Atlanta. You would be too if you had to see the Thrashers and Panthers cross sticks eight times a year.
The 2007-08 NHL season has its North American opener tonight.
DETROIT – If you don’t count two regular-season games played in London over the weekend, tonight is the NHL’s opening night.
The Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, who split two games in England against the L.A. Kings, are in Detroit to play the Red Wings.
Elsewhere, the Montreal Canadiens travel to Carolina to play the Hurricanes, the Ottawa Senators are at the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Dallas Stars visit Denver to play the Avalanche.
The Florida Panthers begin their schedule tomorrow with a road game at the New York Rangers. Based on the acquisition of Goalie Tomas Vokoun, the team’s play late in the 2006-07 season, and the current talent on the team, I’m predicting a third place finish in the Southeast Division and a playoff spot next spring.
Chris Pronger had his second brain-fart of the Playoffs with this hit on Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond and its going to cost him a suspension for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. As for the suspension the ESPN “Experts” disagree on whether or not the suspension is the right call. Pronger’s previous actions in the Playoffs made this suspension; I can’t deny he elbowed him in the head and that the player was hurt. Of course the Ducks were one of the most penalized teams in the NHL this season playing consistently on the verge of out of control. There is no doubt this will hurt the Ducks as Pronger plays nearly 30 minutes a game and is one of the cornerstones of the Duck’s defense, power play and penalty kill. Look for Ottawa to win tonight and head back to Anaheim with the series tied 2-2.
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