I’ll start the thread for March. This month is going to see a great playoff race in the Western Conference.
Tonight’s Dallas Stars/Phoenix Coyotes game has been a lot of fun. The Yotes came back to tie up the game with a Ray Whitney goal with about 45 seconds left to play after the Yotes had just pulled Bryzgalov. Just a few seconds later, the Yotes take a stupid hooking penalty and the Stars shot a game winning power play goal to win 3-2.
A great start to the month as a Caps fan. Goal to tie 1-1 with 45 seconds left, highlight reel goal by Ovie two minutes into overtime.
Which Caps team will show up on Thursday to play St. Louis?
Ugly game last night in Atlanta, but the Habs came out with a win despite having zero offense and a collapsible defense. Carey Price is a god.
Jaro Spacek is out 4-6 weeks for arthroscopic knee surgery* following a consult with famous Dr. Andrews in Birmingham. I wonder if we get a Buy 2, Get 1 Free discount on this one? Not as bad as Markov and Gorges, but still…I’m tired of defensemen going down with knee injuries!
*hilariously, I just typed out arthroscopic correctly on the first try, but had to correct “kneee” 
Bruins finish their road trip 6-0, something they haven’t done since 1972. What else last happened in 1972?
Any Habs fans still missing Halak?
Not me. I said to anybody who would listen (and a few who wouldn’t, like my lovely wife) that Price would be fine now that he was the undisputed number one. His mindset is probably healthier now than at any time since…oh, the start of '08-09.
I miss Halak only because I liked the guy (I also miss Chipchura only because his name was fun to say!)
I’m much happier that they signed Price than Halak though! I’ve been a Price fan since I started watching hockey (about as long as his NHL career) and love reminding my husband of how wrong he was about Price!
And for me, the fact that I think he’s cute is just a fun bonus 
Leafs get more points. God, this is torture. I know they won’t make the playoffs yet again, but the last month or so with Reimer in net has been amazing. Four points out of a playoff spot? Who’d a thunk it?
Jaro who? Seventh SO and 30th win of the season for Price as the Habs blank the Panthers 4-0 in South Florida.
Sounded like a home game for the Tricolore tonight.
Hoping the Sens re-sign Anderson. We need to spend money to get to the cap floor anyhow, and he was a fucking STEAL; we traded BRIAN ELLIOT for him? Finally a goalie trade that worked out for this team!
And Hal Gill with the game winner! That makes me inordinately happy.
Trevor Gillies of the NY Islanders suspended for 10 games. This time it was for a blow to the head of Cal Clutterbuck.
Canucks on a bit of slump their last 10 games… if you can call a 5-5-0 record in their last 10 a slump, but definitely not up to their winning ways for the rest of the season. I hope it’s just cruise control for the rest of the way to the playoffs where they will kick it into high gear.
And Milan Lucic’s high-stick to the head on Dominic Moore goes unreviewed by the league. Lucic is a chickenshit goon. What a fucking joke league discipline is - it’s nonexistent if you play for the Bruins. :rolleyes: It pisses me off even more since I like Dominic Moore (wish the Habs had resigned him) and it was Moore’s brother who had his career ended by Todd Bertuzzi.
In other injury-related news (the ones I’ve been more or less following anyways); Taylor Hall is done for the year after hurting his ankle in his first NHL fight. He was putting up pretty good numbers in his first year in the league on a pretty crappy team, and it sucks that his rookie year has to end like this.
Ryan O’Byrne is expected to be back playing either tonight or in the next couple of games for the Avalanche. I’m morbidly curious to see his face and what 100 stitches worth of facial lacerations looks like! In a display of badassery by O’Byrne, he played the last 30-40 seconds of his shift before skating to the bench with hisface all torn up (by Taylor Hall’s skate, as it happens) and bleeding all over the place. This same fact is a display of NHL refereeing incompetence, since play should have been stopped following such a severe injury.
And Goalie McSquirrley - Jonas Hiller - has pretty much been out since the ASG with dizziness and fatigue issues. It sounds like positional vertigo; I’ve had it a bit, and my mom and aunt are severely affected by it. It’s nasty, and really hard if not impossible to treat. As bizarre and weird a goalie as he is (which is why I love watching him), he’s also really talented and it would suck to have him out of the game due to this.
Habs play the Lightning tonight; if the playoffs started now, this would be their match-up. Could be an interesting game!
The Stars choked away another game last night losing in OT to the Ducks. Tonight, they’ve got to go play San Jose. The Stars total lack of defense and inconsistent goalie play have hurt this team the past two years. I’m thinking the Stars will start Raycroft tonight since Lehtonen lost last night.
Lucic is another goon people love to defend by arguing that he’s not just a goon but actually has some hockey skill, as if that excuses his behavior. It’s incredibly frustrating that he didn’t even earn a review for that hit.
It’s mind boggling to me that someone who has a son who plays in the NHL holds the position of official judge, jury and executioner. How Bettman allows such a blatant conflict of interests to persist is just beyond me.
What, in your estimation, is the likelihood that Joe Nieuwendyk re-signs Langenbrunner after this season?
Oh, but good ol’Colin Campbell doesn’t get involved with reviews involving the Bruins, because he’s impartial! Instead he hands it off to one of his employees…who obviously wouldn’t want to piss off their boss… Not enough :rolleyes: in the world.
I doubt you’d be complaining if Lucic was on your team. All this “goon squad” talk sounds like sour grapes to me.
Xan, look at the Gillies hit. Look at the Lucic hit. You really don’t think - at the very least - the Lucic hit deserved to be reviewed? Do you honestly think that had, say, Lapierre, or even nice-guy Plekanec done the exact same thing they wouldn’t be facing suspension?
I happen to think Lucic is a goon, but even just looking at these two events only and ignoring that opinion of him, it’s bloody clear the NHL disciplinary system has no standards, no integrity, and are biased and unfair in their disciplinary action. A few weeks ago, Gregory Campbell - Colin Campbell’s son - was repeatedly swinging an elbow pad into Tom Pyatt’s face. That - or anything else in that game - didn’t even get a glance from the NHL. Similar activities in a Pens-Ilses game led to “we will not stand for this” and “we have to send a message” posturing by the league. Why? Not because the latter game was worse. But notice the Bruins weren’t playing in it.
I love the game of hockey. I actually get sad when a day goes by and I can’t watch a game. But there is no way in hell the NHL is fair when it comes to applying rules (via their refs), league discipline, or related activities. The league is eroding this game, and that angers me.