Valentine’s Day is the last day for NHL hockey before the Olympics get underway. The United States and Canada both play their first game on Tuesday the 16th; the Americans play Switzerland and Canada play Norway.
Tongues are still wagging regarding the Leafs’ wheelings and dealings. Burke inflicting a culture change on his moribund club, yadda yadda yadda.
Haven’t heard anything about how long Cammalleri will be out for. Pacioretty has been sent to Hamilton.
The Coyotes, Avalanche and Kings have not fallen away and look pretty good for the playoffs. The Red Wings are in danger of missing out for the first time in twenty years.
Pacioretty was sent down a couple of days ago along with D’ Agostini, but Dags has been called back up due to Cammalleri’s injury. Still not sure how bad that is but Sportsnet is reporting he should be back sometime in the regular season. I hope so!
I’m looking forward to the Winter Olympics, as I always am, but this is the first time I’ll be paying close attention to hockey. I’ve really only gotten into it in the past three or four years, but if that wasn’t enough, Vancouver will be packed with Sharks players. They lead the league with 8 players in the 2010 Games.
Ten wins in a row for the Capitals, but how much does that mean? Beating Pittsburgh is a plus, but hardly enough to show they won’t fall apart against them in the playoffs like always. They’ve been winning even when the goaltending has been shaky, but how long can that continue?
When can a Caps fan finally conclude that they’re the real deal?
The Leafs really played an outstanding game vs the Devils, although the Devils are in a horrible slump. Phaneuf, Sjostrom and Giguere are really making Burke look like a genius.
I know one game doesn’t mean much, but the Flames lost miserably in a shutout to Philly while TO gets the shutout against the Devils the first game post-trade… blech. The new Flames actually didn’t play too bad themselves but the rest of the team looks to be still in a brutal rut - I wonder if Darryl Sutter plans to trade every single one of them away (except Kipper, of course).
Anyone else going to see any Olympic hockey? I got myself tickets to Russia vs. Slovakia in the preliminaries - I’m pretty pumped, with Halak playing well it might actually be a competitive game!
Enjoy the game! If Ovechkin is going to do as well with Team Russia as he is with the Caps (last I checked, his +/- is +33!!!), they will do well.
And I just want to say it: With the win at Boston last night, the Caps turn it up to 11!!!
Marty Turco had his first decent game in a long time as the Stars beat the Wild. The Stars are finally showing some signs of life as they try to remain in the playoff hunt. Modano scores his 92nd game winning goal, which actually moved him past Gretzky in the record book.
I’ve had a soft spot for Washington ever since the late '80s. If it’s possible to have a “second favourite” team, they’re probably it.
Modano is now tied with Mark Messier and Jeremy Roenick on the all time GWG list. One more and he ties Sergei Fedorov and Joe Nieuwendyk. Jagr is the all time leader with 112.
Habs stop the Canucks win streak. Cammalleri won’t need surgery, he should be back in 6-8 weeks.
Well at least as bad as the Wings look most of the time at least they have the Sharks as their bitches
Man, It’s hard to figure out exactly how, But the team is so much better with Holmstrom in the lineup. He is honestly the MVP by a wide margin with Lidstom falling off this year. About the middle of the first period of Tuesdays game was the first time I started entertaining the thought they Might miss the playoffs. Happily I had forgotten what that feels like, but unless Franzen really brings a big stick they do not look like a finals team this year.
Plus-minus is the most over-rated stat in hockey. I don’t know why people still list it as a top-line stat. It’s got far more to do with how good your team is than anything about a particular player.
Lots of rumors about Kovalchuk being traded. Where does he end up? I’d say the Kings or the Rangers. A major star probably will end up in the big market city.
If you account for the factors that affect it you can draw some interesting conclusions, though.
I would agree, though, that Ovechkin’s +36 is at least half due to his team; the #2 player in that stat is teammate Jeff Shultz, who nobody is saying is the next Ray Bourque, and the #4 player is yet another Capital, Niklas Backstrom.
Fascinating piece of trivia involving the Oilers/Flyers game last night. The Oilers beat the Flyers 1-0. Ryan Potulny scored the goal for Edmonton, against Philadelphia goaltender Michael Leighton.
The longest game in American Hockey League history took place on April 24, 2008. The Philadelphia Phantoms defeated the Albany River Rats 3-2 in the fifth overtime period.
Who scored the overtime goal for the Phantoms? Ryan Potulny. Who was the River Rats goalie? Yep, Michael Leighton.
