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NHL suspends Washington Defensemen Mike Green suspended for 3 games

From AP-

Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green has been suspended three games for elbowing Florida Panthers forward Michael Frolik in the head.

The NHL announced the discipline on Saturday.

Green delivered the hit in the first period of Friday night’s 4-1 win over the Panthers. Frolik was not seriously injured and Green was given a minor penalty for elbowing on the play.

The defenseman later had to be helped off the ice after bruising a thigh in a collision with Dmitry Kulikov while going for a loose puck.

The thigh injury may have kept Green off the ice for the same amount of time as the suspension handed down to him.

Here’s a video of his hit on Frolik.

It was without question, a deliberate elbow to the face. Then why was Green penalized only two minutes last night? BTW I was watching the game at the time.

Just one more instance of cockamamie officiating and disciplinary decisions involving the NHL. Florida Panther David Booth may finally come back next week from a concussion that happened as a result of a hit from Philadelphia Flyer Michael Richards. Richards drew a five minute penalty but no suspension and Booth is lost for 3 months. Green draws a two minute penalty, a 3 game suspension and Frolik is able to continue playing. Does anyone else think this is an appalling lack of consistency?

 

Shawn the Man- Florida beats Montreal 2-1

Tonight was just one more case of Tomas Vokoun carrying the team.(a Save percentage of .963 or only 12 goals allowed in the last 328 shots against him) For two plus periods he held Montreal to one goal. Unfortunately, Florida was its usual punchless self.

Then this happened at 3:01 of the third period.

Shawn ‘Keep your bags packed for Rochester’ Matthias scored on a penalty shot to tie the game at 1-1. Sorry about the video being in French.

Matthias who has been shuttling between Florida and the Panthers affiliate in Rochester New York all year, wasn’t through for the night. Almost nine minutes later, with assists by Michal Repik and Dominic Moore, Matthias put a goal in the net again. Florida was up 2-1 and that was all the team needed to win tonight.Shawn Matthias

I’ve been writing about Matthias for two years. He has put pucks in the net, not just tonight, but whenever he has gotten some support around him. Someone will point out he has just 5 goals this year and two in previous years. That’s seven goals in 46 games though.

He’s doing it in about 7 minutes of play a game. Also tonight wasn’t his first two goal game. He had one against Washington on Jan 19, 2008. It was only his second game ever. 19-year-olds who score two goals in a game isn’t impressive in Florida lala Panther land. It lands you in the AHL for the next season and a third with only 18 more NHL appearances scattered here and there.

Matthias has produced the numbers he has with the 4th line the Panthers have. Which consists of Nick Tarnasky or Victor Oreskovich and Kamil Kreps. Who have a combined 3 goals and 9 assists this year. Matthias has 5 goals and 2 assists in part-time play.

Florida has handled Matthias horribly. He has, with just one exception, been relegated to garbage duty but still scored goals. He even had a 3-game scoring streak in December. So what does Coach Peter DeBoer do? Ship him back to Rochester while players like Kreps, Gregory Campbell, Oreskovich, and Radek Dvorak continue to be punchless. Well Dvorak has two shorthanded goals on the year, and a hat trick night in early January. The rest of the time, he’s been shit on even strength or in power play situations, 9 goals and 12 assists or not for the year. In fact, Dvorak has had no more than one shot on goal in his last six games(and no points either I may add.)

Why is Matthias so misused? At least part of the problem is Coach Peter DeBoer’s preference for his ‘Kitchener boys’. Players like the mighty Gregory Campbell of 11 points for the year. I’ll bet anyone $20 that Matthias gets sent back to Rochester again before this season is over. There’s no way he can impress DeBoer enough to be kept in Florida. Just on this alone, if I could be Florida’s General Manager, I’d fire Peter DeBoer. Florida needs Matthias, with Horton out for a month at least and the team in a frenzied 6 to 8 team battle in the Eastern Conference for three playoff spots. Opening play tonight, Florida was 11th in the East, but only two points out of a tie for 6th!

 

Florida Panthers’ Nathan Horton to miss 4-6 with broken tibia

He is the team’s leading scorer. From AP-

Florida Panthers right wing Nathan Horton will miss four to six weeks with a fractured tibia.Nathan Horton

Panthers general manager Randy Sexton on Saturday said Horton’s injury doesn’t require surgery. Some of his recovery will occur during the NHL’s Olympic break in February, which Sexton called a “silver lining.”

Horton was injured Thursday night in Florida’s 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders. He was hit in the leg with a puck and had to crawl to the bench.

Horton has 17 goals and 29 assists in 51 games this season.

This blow to the Panthers can’t possibly be understated. The team is already without its leading scorer, David Booth, who suffered a concussion in a October game and hasn’t played since. Florida did win last night against Toronto, but that doesn’t change my perception that this team won’t be playing in the 2010 NHL postseason.

I was watching the Panther game that saw Horton get injured. He could barely get off the ice afterwards. The first report on the injury was a bruise. It looked like no bruise back on Thursday night.

 

The Magic Man- Florida beats Atlanta 1-0

It was nothing short of miraculous totally thanks to Goalie Tomas Vokoun that the Panthers were able to pull off a victory tonight. From AP-

Gregory Campbell scored midway through the second period and Tomas Vokoun made 27 saves in the Florida Panthers’ 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday night.Tomas Vokoun

Vokoun earned his fifth shutout of the season and won for the fifth time in his last seven home starts. Vokoun has made 101 saves in the last three games, all Panthers victories. Florida is on its fourth three-game winning streak of the season.

Whenever I start getting optimistic about the Panthers(they have more wins than losses now on the season), I remind myself that they haven’t had a winning streak longer than 3 games since the 2006-07 season. They can never get real hot, which is one reasons the team can’t get to the playoffs.

Vokoun was incredible tonight. He made a diving 2-pad safe early in the game. Later, he had to deflect away shot after Thrasher shot. Atlanta pulled their goalie and then when Florida committed a penalty, the team had a 6-4 advantage for the last 90 seconds of play.

Gregory Campbell in addition to scoring the only goal(with a helpful screen from Rusty Olesz) won a key faceoff in the last 20 seconds, and just a little while later, cleared the puck out of the Florida zone as the last few seconds ticked off the clock. Those plays got Florida the win tonight and make Campbell Co-MVP for a night but he still has played like crap this season for the most part and is a drain on the team.

Next up for Florida- A road trip to New Jersey and the NY Islanders.

Personal note- I just bought my first ever ticket to a Panther game. On Monday February 1st, I will see them play Anaheim. That’s one of 3 Florida games not on television this year. I am really addicted to Panther hockey, eh?

 

Collapse- Washington wins in shootout, beats Florida 5-4

Last night’s game was the low point of the Panthers 2009-10 season so far as I am concerned. From AP-

The Washington Capitals have already proven they can beat Florida without Alex Ovechkin. Having him in the lineup sure didn’t hurt, though.FL-Wash

Tomas Fleischmann scored in the sixth round of a shootout to give the Capitals a 5-4 comeback victory over the Panthers on Wednesday night.

Ovechkin, Jason Chimera, Brian Pothier and Nicklas Backstrom scored in regulation for the Capitals.

“We started working pretty hard in the second period and the third was the same thing,” Fleischmann said. We came back and lucky for us we did.”

Michael Frolik, Dominic Moore, Stephen Weiss and Gregory Campbell scored for Florida, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 33 shots.

Jose Theodore stopped all 15 shots he faced after replacing Michal Neuvirth with Florida leading 4-1 midway through the second period.

The Capitals goaltending was crappy last night, as it was the night before when the team lost 7-4 to Tampa. Why did I pick this team to win the Eastern Conference when their Goalies are so sub par? Particularly since I blogged about it multiple times during the 2008-09 season.

Last night’s game was depressing. It was at least the 2nd time this year Florida blew a 3-goal lead. You can’t ever let up against a potent offensive team like Washington. The Capitals were tired as they had to play back to back where as Florida hadn’t played a game since Saturday night.

Both the 2nd and 3rd periods saw Washington score in the first minute after play resumed. Florida came back to score two goals in the middle period, but couldn’t capitalize on some great scoring chances in the third.

Gregory Campbell got his first goal of the year finally. I expect Peter DeBoer to promote Campbell to the 2nd line any day now as a reward. No, I’m not being sarcastic.

Is there any good Florida Panther news out there? Last year’s leading scorer, David Booth, has begun to practice again. Booth hasn’t played since suffering a concussion almost three months ago.

Florida’s record is now 18-20-8. Not even Pollyanna would be confident enough to predict the Panthers making the 2009-10 NHL post season.

 

Clobbered- Florida beats Pittsburgh 6-2

How many times do a defending Stanley Cup teams not just blow a two-goal deficit but allow six consecutive goals in a game? From AP-

Radek Dvorak scored three goals for his third NHL hat trick, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 46 shots as the Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 on Sunday night, sending the Stanley Cup champions to their season-high, fifth straight loss.FL-Pitt

Rostislav Olesz, Jordan Leopold and Steven Reinprecht also scored for the Panthers, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit and snapped a three-game losing streak. Nathan Horton, Michael Frolik and Gregory Campbell each had two assists.

Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy scored first-period goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for Pittsburgh, which has lost six of seven.

Dvorak is contributing after a slow start to this season. He had just 3 goals, two of which were shorthanded going into Florida’s game against the NY Islanders on December 14th or just three weeks ago.

Campbell did indeed get two assists but he is still without a goal for the season. Other than salary considerations there is no good reason for Coach Peter DeBoer to be giving this player so much time on ice. What is really at work here, is DeBoer playing favorites. He coached Campbell in a junior league.

The Panthers have many problems, and one of them is their poor handling of personnel. Last year the team had another non-contributing veteran, Brett McLean who wasn’t worth the roster spot when the team has scoring prospects in Rochester named Shawn Matthias and Michael Repik. Guess where Matthias and Repik are now?

The Penguins will bounce back from their current losing streak. I predict them to get to the conference finals this year. After the Penguins scored two goals in the first eleven minutes of play. With Florida coming off three consecutive defeats, I was almost ready to let my wife turn on the Filipino Channel.

Next up for Florida- A three game road trip through Canada. Games against Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Can Florida get this season righted before coming home to play Washington on January 13th? It would make a nice 48th birthday(Janurary 12th) present for this Panthers fan.

 

Florida Panthers winger David Booth’s season in jeopardy

He was the team’s leading scorer for the 2008-09 NHL season. From the Miami Herald-

The Panthers have been saying that injured winger David Booth is expected to return to the lineup sometime this month.

Coach Pete DeBoer on Saturday added some doubt to that timeline, saying that it’s possible Booth could be done for the season.

Booth, who led the team in goals last season, was knocked unconscious by Philadelphia captain Mike Richards in a brutal open-ice hit on Oct. 24. Booth sustained a major concussion and has resumed skating and working out. But DeBoer said Booth’s return is an uncertainty.

“David Booth is a wild-card factor whether or not he comes back,” DeBoer said after practice in Coral Springs. “We’re going on 30-plus games playing without him now, so we’re not counting on that.”

Booth was unavailable for comment Saturday but recently said he was excited about coming back.

I really hope Booth, for his sake, takes as much time to get healthy again again before returning to the ice. His health is more important than the Panther’s 2009-10 season. Even if Booth returned to Florida and played liked he did last season, I wouldn’t predict the Panthers to make this year’s playoffs.

Does anyone at NHL headquarters still believe the hit Michael Richards did on Booth wasn’t worth a suspension? A shoulder to the head and Florida is the one who gets penalized.(Booth lost for the season) Here is the video again and I’ll let OTB readers decide.

 

NHL Eastern Conference at the mid point of the 2009-10 season

Due to the Winter Olympics, the NHL season is being being played at a more accelerated rate than normal. For instance, prior to Christmas week the Florida Panthers had four games in a week, five straight weeks in a row.

A NHL season is 82 games in length. Half of 82 is 41. Most teams are at 41 games or more

New Jersey 39 games 28 wins 10 losses 1 overtime loss 57 points
Buffalo 40 25 11 4 54
Washington 40 24 10 6 54
Pittsburgh 42 26 15 1 53
Boston 40 21 12 7 49
Ottawa 41 21 16 4 46
Montreal 43 21 19 3 45
NY Rangers 41 19 17 5 43

Tampa Bay 41 16 15 10 42
Philadelphia 40 19 18 3 41
Atlanta 40 18 17 5 41
NY Islanders 42 16 18 8 40
Florida 41 16 18 7 39
Toronto 41 14 18 9 37
Carolina 41 11 23 7 29

Bold denotes all teams who would make the playoffs as of this minute.
The above standings are as of 6 p.m. on Saturday January 2nd.

Teams all but certain to make the playoffs- Buffalo, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Washington
Team that won’t make the playoffs- Carolina

That’s hardly rocket science based on the above.

I will be greatly surprised if Florida, NY Islanders, or Toronto are playing in the post season. The Panthers haven’t made the playoffs in 10 years and this will be no exception. How is a team that hasn’t won more than 3 games in a row since March 2008 supposed to get the momentum up for a playoff run?

Tampa Bay and Atlanta have been pleasant surprises this year. I’m still not convinced either team can make the playoffs. Particularly so in the case of the Lightning who are most impotent offensive teams in the league,(28th of 30 teams)

Honestly I think the teams who are currently 1-8 will all make the playoffs. There will be reshuffling but I think the 7 other teams each have enough liabililites that it will keep them out of the postseason.

 

Crystal Ball Time

My annual sports predictions for the upcoming year. Due to some unknown reason, I skipped doing this a year ago. What matters is I came back, right?

1 Cleveland beats the LA Lakers for the NBA Championship
2 Indianapolis defeats Arizona in the Super Bowl Crystall ball
3 San Jose defeats Washington for the Stanley Cup
4 St. Louis beats the Los Angeles Angels in the World Series
5 Tiger Woods returns to golf, wins at least one tournament but no major championships. That is a risky prediction in light of the fact that Tiger has won majors on 3 of this year’s host courses.(Augusta National, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews)
6 Phil Mickelson wins the US Open
7 Michelle Wie wins at least two tournaments, one of which is a major championship
8 Ji Yai Shin is LPGA player of the year
9 A non-Korean golfer will be LPGA rookie of the year
10 Yu-Na Kim wins figure skating gold at the 2010 Olympics
11 The Miami Dolphins don’t make this year’s playoffs but have a winning 2010 season
12 The Miami Heat make the playoffs but lose in the 1st round
13 The Florida Marlins have a winning record but don’t make the playoffs
14 Urban Meyer doesn’t return as coach of the Florida Gators
15 Joe Paterno announces his retirement after the 2010 Penn State season is complete
16 The Florida Panthers don’t make the playoffs
17 The Florida Panthers trade Goalie Tomas Vokoun
18 Manny Pacquiao loses to Floyd Mayweather
19 Kansas defeats Purdue for the NCAA Basketball Championship
20 Texas defeats Alabama in the BCS Championship game
21 Army has a winning football season and gets a bowl invitation
22 Washington Redskins fire Coach Jim Zorn
23 Serena Williams wins at Wimbledon
24 Versus and Directv finally settle their dispute
25 A North American horse racing track closes its doors.
26 Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula World Drivers Championship
27 New York Rangers fire Coach John Tortorella
28 The New Jersey Nets don’t finish with the worst record in NBA history
29 Connecticut defeats Tennessee for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship
30 At least half these predictions are wrong

We’ll come back on December 31st 2010 and see how I did.

 

Get the puck out of there- NHL wrap-ups as league takes break for Christmas

Where as the NBA will play games on Christmas day, the NHL won’t.(Florida announcer Billy Lindsay said there may be a clause in the league’s collective bargaining agreement with players that rules out holiday games) Therefore there is no hockey on either December 24th or 25th. My favorite team, the Florida Panthers, doesn’t return to the ice till December 27th.

The NHL is almost at the half way point of 2009-10. With all 30 teams having played at least 35 games. Due to the Winter Olympics and the over two-week break the NHL takes as a result of it, the schedule is accelerated this year.

Here are some random notes on games played yesterday and how the NHL shapes up at the moment.

The New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 4-1. Now Florida, Montreal who defeated Carolina 5-1, and the Rangers are in a three-way tie for the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Since the Rangers have played the fewest games, for the moment they have tiebreaks.

Pittsburgh routs Ottawa 8-2. The big news out of this game is the injury to Senator Winger Daniel Alfredsson. Alfredsson, who is Ottawa’s leading scorer, is expected to be out for a couple of weeks.

Ilya Bryzgalov shuts out Anaheim 4-0 to extend Phoenix’s home winning streak to 8 games. The Coyotes are currently 4th in the Western Conference standings.Steve Mason

If Phoenix is one of the pleasant surprises of the 2009-10 NHL season, the play of Columbus Blue Jacket Goalie Steve Mason ranks as one of this year’s biggest disappointments. A almost 3.50 Goals against average was only helped slightly as Dallas beat Columbus last night 3-1.

Backup Chicago Goalie Anti Niemi notches his 4th shutout of the year as the Blackhawks beat Detroit 4-0.

While not shutting out Tampa Bay, Philadelphia’s 3rd Goaltender of the year Michael Leighton looks impressive as the Flyers beat the Lightning 5-2. Before the game was played, Philadelphia’s practice had to be cancelled due to sewage line problem in their locker room.

Merry Christmas NHL. I hope the season is as exciting (and unusual) post Christmas as it was before the holiday break.

 
 


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