Nice to see that Lars Eller had three helpers too. If he can keep doing that when the season starts for real, that’ll take the sting out of the Halak deal.
Avery? I never would have guessed! 
(Yeah, Malkin. And Letang’s not much of a brawler either – the only fight I remember him being in was when Scott Hartnell bit his finger)
Yeah, I’m satisfied with what I’ve seen so far of Eller. I think he’ll work well with that team. I’m still waiting for Pouliot to show us how good he is…he comes so close and yet never quit succeeds!
That goal by Plekanec was sick. He looked like he had all the time in the world and just popped it into the net on the wrap around. For that matter, the goals by Cammalleri and White were sweet too - both of them just holding long enough to get the goalie to move before striking.
Can someone invent a get-taller pill? And give one to David Desharnais? I like him, and can’t help but think if he was 5" taller he’d be in the NHL by now. His bad luck to be in an organization that already has Gionta, Gomez and Cammalleri.
That’s Captain [del]Shorty[/del] Gionta, to you.
Not yet, it isn’t! Not 'til he shows up with a C on his sweater!
It’s there. You just can’t see it because it’s very very small.
HENDERSON HAS SCORED FOR CANADA!!!
38 years ago today.
I wasn’t anywhere, 'cause it was six and a half years before I was born.
Watching highlights from the Pens-Caps '96 first round. Washington won the first two in Pittsburgh, then the Pens won four straight, three of them in [del]Washington[/del] Landover, including the four-OT Game 4. Lemieux got thrown out, and Ken Wregget stopped a Joe Juneau penalty shot in OT, before Nedved ended it in the last minute of the seventh period.
I remember that. The bars had closed , but there was no way that they were going to kick us out…that was one hell of a long game.
Islanders lose Streit and Okposo for “indefinite” periods of time, and sign Mike Mottau. A trifecta of bad luck for a team I had decent expectations to take a step forward this year.
At the least I was hoping they’d finish ahead of the Rangers.
In other news, Kovalchuk is a pretty good goal scorer and got the Devils their first preseason win last night.
It’s official - we have a Captain! The Canadiens have confirmed the worst kept secret ever in announcing thatBrian Gionta is the Hab’s 28th Captain. Jokes about smurfs and needing to find lower-case letters abound, but regardless, I think it’s a good choice. Any one of a bunch of the guys could have been good, but Gionta is signed for 4 more years, he’s shown good leadership and he’s a good communicator. By all accounts, he’s also learning a bit of French, too.
Go Habs Go!
ETA: Also, it seems a tropical storm has cancelled a pre-season game between the Panthers and - who else? - the Hurricanes! 
I agree, Gionta is a good choice.
He wore an A with the Devils, and his leadership was never an issue. I’m sure that if he had stayed in NJ there would be a vocal minority of people who’d prefer to see him wear the C over Langenbrunner… though they’d generally be shouted down by those that believe Parise is next in line.
I watched the Flames and Coyotes last night on TSN. It was very well miked. I first noticed when I could hear the conversation between a player and ref during an after-whistle scrum and then really noticed when a player dropped a “WTF?” after Staios slashed the stick out of his hands. I had to smile a little because that is exactly my reaction when that happens to me in rec hockey. Those NHLers really are just like us.
Anyone else notice excellent television audio in other rinks around the league?
A weird random question which I didn’t think needed its own thread.
I remember reading a book on the history of hockey when I was a kid. I could swear it mentioned that a lot of goaltenders went insane in the early days of hockey due to the stress of playing the position. Am I remembering this correctly?
Either that or too many pucks to the head? Masks it seems weren’t really used until 1959.
Goalies are generally considered to not be quite right in the head (as a classic example, see Roy and his line jumping and goalpost conversations), even more so back then with no masks to protect them from the flying pucks!
Lots of goalies died young. Terry Sawchuk was only 40. Jacques Plante died at 57. Frank McCool, nicknamed “Ulcers,” died at 55 of, well, ulcers. Glenn Hall (still alive) would throw up before every game.
Not only did they play with no masks, but goaltending equipment back in the forties and fifties and earlier was rudimentary compared to what goalies have now. Having to stick your bare face in there, knowing that broken cheekbones and noses and deep cuts to the forehead are inevitable, well, that can’t be good for one’s sanity level. And you had to perform all-out all the time, because if you were the seventh best goalie in the world, you were in the minors, making not very much, and probably not learning much in the way of employable skills.
The Leaf curse strikes again. Kris Versteeg’s name is mispelled on the Stanley Cup, with the “S” and the “T” transposed.
And even as late as twenty years ago, equipment still wasn’t up to par: scariest goalie accident EVER shudder After that, goalies began wearing neck guards. (No pictures or video, fortunately)
(I like a good hockey fight as much as anyone, but skate injuries are the one thing that really disturbs me)
Who was the guy who died the year his team won the Cup, his body was lost, and then they never won again…until they finally located his body? (I THINK it was the Leafs)