The Washington Capitals have won three of four games since scoring leader Alexander Ovechkin was sidelined with a shoulder injury at the start of the month, though Wednesday’s 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders didn’t come easy.

It certainly was one to remember. After starting goalie Jose Theodore allowed three goals on five shots in the first seven minutes, the Caps bounced back from a 3-1 deficit for a dramatic shootout win.

Backup netminder Semyon Varlamov turned in a remarkable performance, stopping 25 of 26 shots through two-plus periods and overtime. Then he allowed only one goal in 11 rounds of shootout action. The 21-year-old Russian gave up a goal to New York’s Jeff Tambellini in the first shot of the shootout, but then didn’t let a puck get past him for 10 straight rounds. The Capitals prevailed when Chris Clark beat Islanders goalie Dwayne Roloson with a wrist shot.

Repeatedly the Islanders tried to deke Varlamov and beat him low, but he kept the puck out of the net with an impressive series of leg saves. In the ninth round, Islanders wing Trent Hunter snapped a quick shot that looked like it might sneak through the five-hole, but Varlamov trapped it between his pads and then used his arms to grab the crossbar to stop from sliding into the goal with the puck.

It was the second solid shootout performance by Varlamov this season. He kept the puck out of the net for three rounds of a 3-2 shootout victory over the Nashville Predators on Oct. 17. Varlamov has now been successful on 13 of 14 shootout attempts in 2009-10, and no goalie with at least half as many shootout attempts faced can match his save percentage.

Highest Save Pct in Shootouts, 2009-10 Season
(min seven shootout attempts faced)

Goalie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ShO Att. . . . . .ShO GA. . . . . . . . Pct
Semyon Varlamov, Was. . . . . . . . . 14. . . . . . . . . . .1. . . . . . . . . . 92.9
Martin Brodeur, NJ. . . . . . . . . . . . 9. . . . . . . . . . .1. . . . . . . . . . 88.9
Marc-Andre Fleury, Pit. . . . . . . . . .8. . . . . . . . . . .1. . . . . . . . . . 87.5
Ray Emery, Phi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9. . . . . . . . . . .2. . . . . . . . . . 77.8
Three goalies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. . . . . . . . . . .2. . . . . . . . . .75.0

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury had a full summer to relive a couple of goals he would have liked to have back in Detroit’s Cup-clinching Game 6 victory. He had kept the Pens in the finals with his fine play, especially when he stopped 55 of 58 shots in Game 5 to extend the series, but the final game might have stuck with him longer.

One of those goals in the 3-2 finale was a third-period tally scored when a puck sat behind Fleury after a save, and the goalie pushed it into the net himself trying to cover up and get a whistle. It looked like déjà vu all over again in Game 1 of this year’s Stanley Cup finals, when Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart dumped a shot behind Fleury, which pinged off the goaltender’s skate and went into the net.

The boards at Joe Louis Arena, which seem to give missed shots extra juice on the rebound, also played tricks on Fleury. The 24-year-old goalie seems to have a history of soft goals even when he’s playing well, as he did throughout most of Pittsburgh’s playoff run, and the boards played a role in the first two games in Detroit. SI.com’s Michael Farber declared half of Detroit’s six goals in a pair of 3-1 victories to open the finals were ”gifts,” an easy thing to say if you’ve never spent time between the pipes.

Still, it’s true that Fleury did miss saves on shots that were less challenging than many of the difficult ones on which he made phenomenal stops. Likewise, he was terrific in Pittsburgh’s 4-2 victory in Game 4, when Detroit outshot Pittsburgh 39-31, but then departed Game 5 after allowing five goals on 21 shots in a 5-0 loss that put the Pens on the brink of elimination.

Fleury, of course, bounced back in Game 6 to help his team force Game 7. As in Pittsburgh’s Game 4 win, the Penguins were outshot in the final game, but Fleury stopped all but one of 24 shots he faced. The one that will make all the difference in the young man’s summer was the diving stop he made as Red Wings defender Nicklas Lidstrom rifled a shot at an open net with 1.5 seconds remaining. By the time Fleury bounced back on his feet, his teammates were mobbing him. They had claimed four of the series’ final five games and the Stanley Cup.

If not for that save, the Red Wings would have forced overtime. Considering the circumstances, it would be hard to imagine Pittsburgh recovering from Detroit’s game-saving goal to win in OT. It could have been another disappointing offseason for Fleury and the Penguins.

Thanks to a last-second dive and a game-saving stop, the summer months will be far more enjoyable for Fleury. Already he and his teammates have eaten hot wings from the Cup and hoisted it at a downtown Pittsburgh parade and a Pirates game.

A summer of fun awaits before the focus returns to winning the coveted trophy. . . again. For Fleury and the Pens, that will be another key difference between last summer and this one.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A year after winning the Stanley Cup hasn’t been the best of times for NHL clubs. At least not until the Detroit Red Wings bounced the Columbus Blue Jackets from the playoffs with four straight wins. The Red Wings secured the sweep Thursday when Johan Franzen netted a power-play goal with 46.6 seconds remaining in regulation.

With their dramatic last-minute victory, the Red Wings became the first defending Stanley Cup champion to advance in the playoffs in seven years. The curse of winning the Stanley Cup is over.

First-Round Fate of Last Six Stanley Cup Champions

Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cup Winner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Next Season
2002. . . . . . . . . . . . Detroit Red Wings. . . . . . . . .Lost to Anaheim Ducks, 4-0
2003. . . . . . . . . . . . New Jersey Devils. . . . . . . . .Lost to Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1
2004. . . . . . . . . . . . Tampa Bay Lightning. . . . . . .Lost to Ottawa Senators, 4-1
2006. . . . . . . . . . . . Carolina Hurricanes. . . . . . . Didn’t make Stanley Cup playoffs
2007. . . . . . . . . . . . Anaheim Ducks. . . . . . . . . . Lost to Dallas Stars, 4-2
2008. . . . . . . . . . . . Detroit Red Wings. . . . . . . . Beat Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-0

Prior to Detroit’s elimination-game win over Columbus, the last Stanley Cup champion to claim a playoff series was the 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche, who defeated the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks in the first two rounds before losing in the 2002 Western Conference finals to the team that succeeded them as champs, the Detroit Red Wings.

Those Red Wings are a reminder that the current defending champions can’t take anything for granted. The 2002-03 club was swept by the Anaheim Ducks, marking the second of four times in the last eight years that Detroit was an upset victim early in the postseason.

The 2000-01 Wings were the second seed in the Western Conference, but in the first round of playoff action lost to the seventh seed, the Los Angeles Kings, in five games. A year after the 2002 Stanley Cup champs were bounced by the Ducks, Detroit was the NHL points leader but lost to the sixth-seeded Calgary Flames in the second round of the 2004 playoffs.

Two years later, the Red Wings once again were the NHL points leader, going 58-16-8 to lead the league in points by a large margin in 2005-06. They faced the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, and with Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson averaging nearly 37 saves a game, the Red Wings were sent home to play golf.

With two Stanley Cups and four early exits in the last eight years, the Red Wings know their series sweep of the Blue Jackets is only the beginning if they are to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nearly 15 years after recording his first playoff shutout, New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur blanked the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 Thursday in a critical Game 5 matchup to tie Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy for the most postseason shutouts in a career.

No. 23 will be memorable for more than just tying Roy’s mark. Brodeur saved 44 shots to put the Devils a game up on the Hurricanes, the most he’s stopped in all 23 of his postseason shutouts.

Remarkably, Brodeur’s old mark for most saves in a playoff shutout was set in another 1-0 masterpiece. The future Hall of Famer recorded 38 saves in beating the Boston Bruins in overtime on May 12, 1995. Only one other time has he faced as many as 30 shots in a shutout, and that was his last one, against Tampa Bay on April 20, 2007, when he faced 31 shots. The Devils won that one, 3-0. Thursday’s victory was Brodeur’s third 1-0 win in the postseason.

Brodeur’s record-tying performance came in his 174th playoff appearance. He’s played in 73 fewer postseason matchups than Roy, who is the all-time leader in playoff games played and playoff wins (151). Brodeur is second in both categories and has 98 victories.

All-Time Leaders in Playoff Shutouts

Goalie. . . . . . . . . . . . . .GP. . . . . . .ShO
Martin Brodeur. . . . . . . .174. . . . . . . 23
Patrick Roy. . . . . . . . . . .247. . . . . . . 23
Curtis Joseph. . . . . . . . . 133. . . . . . . 16
Chris Osgood. . . . . . . . . 110. . . . . . . 14
Jacques Plante. . . . . . . .112. . . . . . . 14
Dominik Hasek. . . . . . . . 119. . . . . . . 14
Ed Belfour. . . . . . .. . . ..161. . . . . . . 14

Also noteworthy in New Jersey’s Game 5 victory was the performance of Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, who had 41 saves of his own. The only goal he allowed was a power-play tally by David Clarkson near the game’s midpoint.

“There was a lot of opportunities both ways—shot for shot,” Ward said after the game. “Marty made the saves, now we’ve just got to find a way. We are down 3-2 here, our backs are against the wall and there is a must win on Sunday.”

The uphill battle Carolina faces may be more difficult than Ward thinks. Brodeur, who turns 37 on May 6, has posted back-to-back playoff shutouts six different times in his career. A seventh would not only give Brodeur the record, but send the Hurricanes home.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens clinched the final two playoff berths in the Eastern Conference Thursday, but the final two spots in the West are still up for grabs as the regular season wraps up this weekend.

Three teams, all with 88 team points, compete for those two West berths. When the Nashville Predators secured a must-win over the Detroit Red Wings in a Thursday night shootout, they joined the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues as the only teams still legitimately in the West race.

The Predators, who had lost three of their last four games prior to their trip to Detroit, overcame a two-goal deficit in the final seven minutes of regulation to tie the score at 3-3. Jason Arnott ignited the comeback with his 31st goal of the season, and with the Preds on a power play and their goalie on the bench, J.P. Dumont knotted the score on a goal-mouth scramble with exactly a minute remaining. Arnott’s tally in the fourth round of the shootout saved Nashville’s season.

Odds still work against the Predators, as they close out the regular season in Minnesota Friday night while both the Ducks and Blues have two games remaining.

“This is the biggest game of the year,” Arnott said after netting the game-winner against Chris Osgood. “Tomorrow night will be the biggest game of the year.”

It’s hard to argue with Nashville’s leading goal scorer. The Predators face a Minnesota team that is still officially in the playoff hunt with 85 points and must win its final two contests to stay alive. The Wild are 22-11-7 at home.

Meanwhile, both the Ducks and Blues host division rivals Friday night. The Ducks face Dallas, against whom they are 2-2-1 this season but have lost twice on their home ice. The Blues square off with Columbus, and they are 4-1-0 against the West’s sixth seed. Anaheim finishes in Phoenix Saturday, and St. Louis travels to Colorado to play the team with the West’s worst record on Sunday afternoon.

The Predators needs plenty of help to advance. If they were to pull it off and the Blues were to earn the other postseason berth, all five teams in the Central Division would be playoff-bound. If the Ducks were vanquished, the San Jose Sharks, owners of the Western Conference’s best record, would be the only Pacific Division club vying for the Stanley Cup.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After securing the all-time record for NHL wins as a goaltender Tuesday, New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur celebrated Friday night with a 4-0 shutout for his 553rd career victory. The Devils were outshot in the win, but the future Hall of Famer stopped 35 shots in shutting down the Minnesota Wild.

The strong performance not only moved Brodeur two wins up on the previous record holder, Patrick Roy, it also pushed Brodeur within two shutouts of the all-time mark.

All-Time Leaders in NHL Shutouts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GP. . . . . .ShO
Terry Sawchuk. . . . . . . . .971. . . . . .103
Martin Brodeur. . . . . . . . 988. . . . . .101
George Hainsworth. . . . . .465. . . . . . 94
Glenn Hall. . . . . . . . . . . .906. . . . . . .84
Jacques Plante. . . . . . . . 837. . . . . . .82

Another Terry Sawchuk record is on the verge of falling. Brodeur, who has five shutouts this season, has 11 games remaining in the current campaign to set the new standard. He may appear to be a long shot, but the 36-year-old veteran has three shutouts in 10 games since returning from a torn biceps tendon in late February.

Something that stands out on the leader board is how few games George Hainsworth needed to record 94 shutouts. Hainsworth, who starred for the Canadiens and Maple Leafs in the 1920s and 1930s, played in an era when hockey scores were similar to what you expect from a soccer match.

Another Brodeur milestone will have to wait until next season. If the Devils goalie were to appear in all 11 remaining games, he would finish the season at 999 for his career. Whatever his total at season’s end, early in 2009-10, Brodeur will join Patrick Roy as the only goalies to appear in 1,000 games. Roy’s record is 1,029.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seven players scored at least 100 points in both 2005-06 and 2006-07, the first two post-lockout seasons in which rule changes sparked a scoring surge. The total slipped to two last season, when Washington star Alexander Ovechkin (65-47-112) and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin (47-59-106) topped the points leader board.

Malkin made it two consecutive seasons Tuesday night, as he surpassed the 100-point plateau by tallying two goals and three assists in a 6-2 rout of Atlanta. He matched a career high with five points and pushed his totals to 32 goals and 102 points on the season. Malkin is 10 points in front of teammate Sidney Crosby in the NHL scoring race, and Ovechkin trails by 12.

Not only did Malkin become the 17th player to score 100 points in a season since the lockout, he also gave the Penguins a 100-point man in each of the four post-lockout campaigns.

Penguins’ 100-Point Scorers since 2005-06

Yr. . . . . . . . Player. . . . . . . . . G. . . . . . . A. . . . . . . Pt
2005-06. . .Sidney Crosby. . . . . .39. . . . . . .63. . . . . . 102
2006-07. . .Sidney Crosby. . . . . .36. . . . . . .84. . . . . . 120
2007-08. . .Evgeni Malkin. . . . . . 47. . . . . . .59. .. . . . .106
2008-09. . .Evgeni Malkin. . . . . . 32. . . . . . .70. . . . . . 102

With 27 goals and 92 points, Crosby could join the 100-point club with eight in the Penguins’ final 10 games. Odds appear to be in his favor, as the 21-year-old center has been on a scoring tear over the last month. In his last 11 games, dating to Feb. 16, Crosby has six goals and 14 assists. Pittsburgh is 11-1-3 in this stretch, even with Crosby missing four games with a groin injury.

No other Penguin has half as many points as Malkin’s 102, or even Crosby’s 92. As elite scorers, Malkin and Crosby follow in the grand tradition of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. It’s been nearly 17 years since Lemieux led the Pens to their second of consecutive Stanley Cup championships, and Malkin and Crosby must lead the way if the Cup is to return to Pittsburgh any time soon.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two premium centers and a pair of playoff-tested wings were among the biggest names on the move at the NHL trade deadline Wednesday. Both Calgary and Columbus were looking for centers to work on scoring lines, and they added Olli Jokinen and Antoine Vermette, respectively. Bill Guerin, Mark Recchi, Erik Cole and a host of others also changed addresses. Let’s take a quick look at how some of these transplanted souls were doing before they were dealt.

The Flames picked up Jokinen from Phoenix before the deadline, giving them a scoring threat who has tallied more than 30 goals in four of the last five seasons. He’s a long shot to reach the 30 plateau in 2008-09, but with 21 on the season, he’ll give it a go with a new team and new linemates, who may include Jarome Iginla. Jokinen had a hat trick on Feb. 21, in the Coyotes’ 6-3 win over the Kings, and he tallied four goals and four assists in his last eight games with Phoenix, a stretch in which his team managed just two wins.

Seeded sixth, two points ahead of Edmonton, Nashville and Anaheim in a tight Western Conference race, the Columbus Blue Jackets are in pursuit of the franchise’s first-ever playoff appearance. The Blue Jackets found the center they needed in Vermette, acquired from Ottawa, and he presumably will center Rich Nash and Kristian Huselius on the first line. Vermette, who has just nine goals and 28 points after a career-best 24-29-53 season a year ago, has had a scoring touch of late. He recorded two goals and seven assists in his final 10 games with the Senators, though he was held pointless in the last three, all Ottawa losses.

The Penguins added some depth in the 38-year-old Guerin, who once was a big goal scorer and brings 105 games of playoff experience to a young team. In his last 12 games with the Islanders, however, dating to the start of February, Guerin managed just one goal and two assists. All but three of his 16 goals on the season were scored before New Year’s Day. Maybe Guerin, who scored eight goals in 16 games after a late-season move to San Jose two years ago, will be recharged by a playoff race.

Recchi, another playoff-tested forward, was dealt from Tampa Bay to Boston, giving the Bruins a veteran of 140 postseason games. Recchi, who turned 41 in February, scored 13 goals and 45 points for the Lightning this season. He’s found the net just twice in his last 13 games, but a five-assist night in his Tampa Bay finale on Sunday sparked an 8-6 victory in Calgary. Recchi had a goal and seven assists in his final four contests, and he’ll make his Boston debut with a four-game point-scoring streak.

Just eight months after he was dealt to Edmonton, Cole returns to the team with which he had spent his first six NHL campaigns. The Carolina Hurricanes reacquired the 30-year-old veteran, who had 16 goals for the Oilers after averaging 27 goals a year over the previous three seasons. Cole has been extremely streaky in an off year. He was held without a point during an eight-game stretch in early February, but he rebounded with four goals and an assist in his final seven games with Edmonton.

The New York Rangers added career-long Maple Leaf Nik Antropov, who has 21 goals and is on course to at least match his career high of 26 goals and 56 points, both recorded last season. He’s managed to approach his 2007-08 goal total despite a five-week stretch without one, which carried into late January. The 29-year-old veteran ended the drought with goals in three straight games at the end of the month, and beginning with that surge, he tallied eight goals and 11 points in his final 15 games as a Leaf.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 3:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After missing nearly four months following elbow surgery, New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur returned in fine style. The future Hall of Famer stopped 24 shots in a 4-0 win over Colorado Thursday night. He was sharp despite missing 50 games, as he was called on to make a few tough saves in each of the first two periods.

It was Brodeur’s third shutout in just 11 games this season, and it gave him 99 for his career. Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk, with 103 shutouts, is the only goalie to reach triple digits, and Brodeur is one away.

All-Time Leaders in Shutouts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Years. . . . . . GP. . . . . . . ShO
Terry Sawchuk. . . . . .(1949-70). . . . .971. . . . . . . .103
Martin Brodeur. . . . . (1991-08). . . . .979. . . . . . . . 99
George Hainsworth. . .(1926-37). . . . .465. . . . . . . . 94
Glenn Hall. . . . . . . . .(1952-71). . . . .906. . . . . . . . 84
Jacques Plante. . . . . (1952-73). . . . .837. . . . . . . . 82

The only goaltenders of Brodeur’s era to come close to his shutout total are Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour, each with 81. Next is Patrick Roy with 66. Although Brodeur has played on a perennial contender that has been a defensive juggernaut for much of his career, his 99 shutouts are quite an accomplishment.

Speaking of Roy, with New Jersey’s win over the Avalanche, Brodeur reached 545 victories to close within six of tying Roy’s NHL record. He is a good bet to surpass Roy’s total before the season ends.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Following a 1-4-1 skid over the last 10 days, the Tampa Bay Lightning are on course to finish with 70 team points, which would be the NHL franchise’s fewest since the 2001-02 season.

Since 2001-02, the Lightning have won a Stanley Cup -- in 2003-04 -- and they posted more than 90 points in four consecutive seasons after recording just 69 in 2001-02. The streak ended a year ago, when the Lightning crashed to the bottom of the NHL and missed the playoffs for only the second time in six seasons.

When you factor in the upswing in scoring in 2005-06, the year after the lockout, the team’s ability to put the puck in the net has been in decline since winning the Stanley Cup.

Lightning’s Goals per Game, 2003-04 through 2008-09
(NHL rank in parentheses)

2003-04 2.99 (3)
2005-06 3.00 (16)
2006-07 2.96 (12)
2007-08 2.70 (16)
2008-09 2.51 (26)

Last season, Tampa Bay traded away one of the big scorers from its Stanley Cup-winning team. Brad Richards, who tallied 26 goals and 79 points for the 2003-04 champions, was dealt to Dallas to free up cap money for a long-term deal for defenseman Dan Boyle.

The top scoring threats who remain are having off years, and it seems to be a trend for Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis.

Tampa Bay Goal Scorers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .06-07. . . . . .07-08. . . . . .08-09*
Vincent Lecavalier. . . . . .52. . . . . . . . 40. . . . . . . . 34
Martin St. Louis. . . . . . . .43. . . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . . 27
Vaclav Prospal. . . . . . . . .14. . . . . . . . 33. . . . . . . . 20

*current total projected over 82-game season

The 33-year-old St. Louis recorded 38 goals in 2003-04 and peaked at 43 in 2006-07. Lecavalier contributed 32 goals to the championship season, and he also notched his career high of 52 in ’06-07. St. Louis and Lecavalier together have just 45 this season.

Lecavalier, who turns 29 in April, scored 40 goals a year ago. That’s his only other season with as many as 40 in 10 NHL campaigns, so it may be more reasonable to expect 30-40 a season from him.

Vaclav Prospal’s 33-goal performance last season probably was an aberration. The 12-year veteran had never scored more than 25 goals in a season before, and he likely won’t do it again.

The Lightning added Ryan Malone (21 goals) over the summer, and 19-year-old rookie Steven Stamkos, the first overall pick the Lightning secured with their 2007-08 crash-and-burn, has tallied 11 in his first NHL stint.

Otherwise, the Lightning looked for a boost from free agent Radam Vrbata, who scored 27 goals for Phoenix last season, but had tallied just three goals when he left the team in December to return to the Czech Republic.

Jeff Hallpern, a pickup in the Brad Richards deal last season, scored 10 goals for Tampa Bay after the trade -- in 19 games. Then he blew out a knee playing for Team USA at the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Hallpern returned in December and has only four goals in 31 games.

These and other new additions were expected to push Tampa Bay back into contention this season, but it’s been a disappointing winter. And not only are the new guys to blame.

St. Louis has just four goals in the last 20 games. It’s four goals in the last 15 games for Lecavalier. Both have been unable to find the next in six straight contests, a stretch in which the Lightning are 1-4-1 and have scored just 14 goals.

It will be a second straight spring without playoff hockey in the Tampa area, as the Lightning have fallen 16 points behind the eighth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In early January, the Montreal Canadiens claimed four consecutive wins and scored at least five goals in each one. After erupting for four third-period goals in a 5-4 victory over Washington on Jan. 10, the fourth win in the streak, the Canadiens improved to 25-10-6. They were in the midst of a 9-1-1 surge, and their 56 points on the season ranked third in the Eastern Conference.

The All-Star Game in Montreal was another January highlight for the franchise, but it was in the games leading up to the All-Star break that Montreal’s season took a downturn. Since Jan. 20, when the Habs were shut down by goalie Kari Lehtonen and lost to the struggling Atlanta Thrashers, they have dropped nine of 11 games.

There are a pair of four-game losing streaks in this span, and the latest remains active after the Edmonton Oilers scored early and often in a 7-2 victory over Montreal Wednesday night. The Oilers hadn’t scored more than three goals in any of their previous seven games, but they found the net four times in the first period on Wednesday to stick Montreal with its seventh straight road defeat.

Scoring hasn’t come easy of late for the Canadiens, as well. They scored just two goals in each of the four most recent losses, and have tallied more than two only three times during their 2-9-0 skid.

In this stretch, the Canadiens have been outscored 48-25. With three goals, rookie Matt D’Agostini is the only Hab with more than a pair during this span. Goaltender Carey Price, who missed the first three weeks of January with an ankle injury, returned at the start of the slide and has posted a 3.87 GAA and .864 save percentage.

The Canadiens have picked up just eight team points in the last month, and they have fallen to sixth in the conference standings, just four points ahead of the eighth-seeded Florida Panthers. After lopsided road losses to Calgary (6-2) and Edmonton (7-2) this week, Montreal’s promising season may be on the rocks.

A six-game road trip continues with stops in Colorado and Vancouver this weekend -- with the seven-game road losing streak in tow -- and then it’s on to Washington and Pittsburgh next week. The 2008-09 season could become a lost one if the Canadiens can’t snap a pair of losing streaks sooner rather than later.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The defensive-minded Minnesota Wild haven’t been nearly as dominant at home as in recent seasons, and they allowed 34 shots to the visiting Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night. It marked the seventh time in the Wild’s last 10 home games that they allowed more than 30 shots, but goaltender Niklas Backstrom stopped them all to blank Anaheim, 3-0.

With Backstrom carrying the load in this stretch of home games, stopping an average of 29.9 shots a night, Minnesota has managed to go 6-3-1.

It’s no wonder that the 30-year-old native of Finland ranks among the league leaders in both goals-against average and save percentage. He’s been quite a pickup for the Wild, who signed him in June 2006, after he had led Finland to the silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The Wild had Manny Fernandez on the roster as the No. 1 goalie, but Backstrom took over during an injury-shortened season for the incumbent. Backstrom’s performance made Fernandez expendable, and the Finn is firmly established as a top goaltender in just his third NHL campaign.

Since the lockout season, among goalies who have played at least 100 games, no one has a higher save percentage than Backstrom.

Highest Save Percentage, 2005-06 through 2008-09
(min. 100 games)

Niklas Backstrom . . . .925
Cristobal Huet. . . . . .921
Tomas Vokoun. . . . . .919
Martin Brodeur. . . . .917
Roberto Luongo . . . .917

Wednesday’s shutout was Backstrom’s sixth of the season, and he trails only 20-year-old Columbus rookie Steve Mason, who has seven. It was the 15th of Backstrom’s career, collected in 142 games.

Only four goaltenders have more shutouts in this three-year span, though Backstrom has recorded his in fewer games.

Shutout Leaders, 2006-07 through 2008-09

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G. . . . SO
Martin Brodeur. . . . .165. . . .18
Henrik Lundqvist. . . .185. . . .17
Evgeni Nabokov. . . . .165. . . .17
Roberto Luongo. . . . 174. . . .16
Niklas Backstrom. . . .142. . . .15

Scoring has never been a strong suit of the Wild, who have been a defensive juggernaut since joining the NHL in 2000. With Backstrom in net, the Wild won their first division title last season, and he’s a key player as his team vies for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference down the stretch.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been mired in a 10-17-1 slump over the last two months, though perhaps they’ll be recharged by their dramatic 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Tampa Bay Wednesday night.

The Penguins, who have fallen into 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings after coming within two victories of winning the Stanley Cup a year ago, began the third period trailing the Lightning 3-0. Evgeni Malkin put the lifeless Pens on the scoreboard 2:25 into the final period with his 23rd goal of the season, then wristed the game-winner past Lightning rookie Mike McKenna with 15.5 seconds remaining in overtime.

It was the second time this season that the Penguins have overcome a three-goal deficit in the third period, and Pittsburgh’s league-leading ninth victory when trailing after two periods.

Most Wins when Trailing after 2 Periods, 2008-09

Penguins. . . .9-17-0
Red Wings. . .6- 8-0
Canadiens. . .6-14-1
Rangers. . . . 5-13-2
Hurricanes. . 5-14-2

The Detroit Red Wings have been trailing after two periods far less often than the other teams on the list, but their nearly .500 record in those situations is remarkable. Maybe even more so than Pittsburgh’s nine wins.

What’s stunning about the Penguins’ third-period success, though, is that it’s produced more than one-third of the team’s 25 victories. While the playoff-bound Red Wings have won 33 games this season, the Penguins would be looking to 2009-10 if it wasn't for those comebacks in the final 20 minutes.

Surprisingly, the other time Pittsburgh overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period and won was against the Red Wings, who had a 5-2 edge with less than 14 minutes remaining on Nov. 11. Malkin also started that comeback, and Ruslan Fedotenko iced it in OT.

That win had to be an inspiration, coming early in a 10-2-2 Penguins surge that carried into early December. Wednesday’s win ended a three-game losing streak and allowed Pittsburgh to stay close to the eighth-seeded Florida Panthers.

The Penguins and their fans, still hoping for a long playoff run, want to see Wednesday's comeback become a defining moment of the 2008-09 season. There will have to be others along the way. If the Penguins are going to rebound down the stretch, it wouldn't hurt to win one at home against the Red Wings on Sunday.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Montreal wing Andrei Kostitsyn had a breakout season a year ago, joining Alex Kovalev on a productive second line and scoring 26 goals and 53 points in his first full NHL season.

After a slow start this fall, the 23-year-old Kostitsyn seems poised to take his scoring to another level in 2008-09. He’s arguably the hottest goal scorer on ice in the new year, with seven goals in eight games this month. Only Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk can match that total, though he can’t match the five-game goal-scoring streak that Kostitsyn takes into Montreal’s Tuesday night matchup in Atlanta with Kovalchuk’s Thrashers.

After a first-period goal in Montreal’s 5-4 shootout win in Ottawa Saturday, Kostitsyn has 16 on the season, just 10 fewer than in all of 2007-08. He’s found the net in five straight and has seven goals in the Canadiens’ last seven contests. He went scoreless in the Habs’ first game of 2009, but has a seven-game point-scoring streak that has netted 11 points during a 6-1-0 surge by the Canadiens.

With the Canadiens tallying five or more goals in five of their last eights games, they have managed to go 6-2-0 without their No. 1 goaltender, Carey Price, who is out with a lower body injury.

Kostitsyn has four power-play goals in this span, though it isn’t as though the man advantage has simply afforded him an abundance of shots on goal. He’s been one of the more efficient shooters among January’s top goal scorers.

Shooting Percentage in January
(min 3 goals)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Goals. . . . . .Shots. . . . . . Pct
Nathan Horton, Fla. . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . .10. . . . . . .40.0
Nikita Filatov, Cls. . . . . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . . . .8. . . . . . .37.5
Tomas Holmstrom, Det. . . . . . 3. . . . . . . . . .8. . . . . . .37.5
Andrei Kostitsyn, Mon. . . . . . .7. . . . . . . . .19. . . . . . .36.8
Gregory Campbell, Fla. . . . . . .3. . . . . . . . . .9. . . . . . .33.3
Mike Greer, SJ. . . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . .12. . . . . . .33.3

The 10th overall pick in the 2003 draft, Kostitsyn is developing into an elite scoring threat. He currently shares the team lead in goals with Robert Lang, both with 16, and they along with Kovalev and Alex Tanguay give the Canadiens four dangerous sharpshooters, each of whom has at least 10 goals this season.

The next big threat may be Kostitsyn’s younger brother, Sergei, who is just 21 and has eight goals in his first full season in the league. Five of those goals have come in his last 13 games, and he has 11 points in this stretch.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hockey fans vote to decide the starters for the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 25, and those in Quebec got out the vote and put four Canadiens on the ice for the first drop of the puck at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

The four Habs and pair of Penguins that fill out the Eastern Conference starting lineup are a talented group, but there’s something wrong that the league’s reigning MVP and scoring champ, Alexander Ovechkin, won’t be on the ice for the opening faceoff.

With 27 goals in 38 games this season, Washington’s Ovechkin shares the league lead with Philadelphia’s Jeff Carter, and the Capitals star ranks second with 53 points. Only Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, who won a starting berth in Montreal, has tallied more points (60).

Surprisingly, Ovechkin garnered fewer than 500,000 votes, compared to more than 1.2 million for each of five Eastern Conference forwards who finished ahead of him in the balloting. They include the All-Star starters -- Montreal’s Alexei Kovalev and Sidney Crosby and Malkin of the Penguins -- as well as two other Canadiens, Saku Koivu and Alex Tanguay.

Penguins fans also made some noise. Not only will Crosby and Malkin be starters, two Pittsburgh defensemen, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, received more than 1.3 million votes each, though they finished behind Canadiens Andre Markov and Mike Komisarek for starting assignments. Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, with nearly 1.5 million votes, finished second to the East starter, Montreal’s Carey Price.

Obviously fans in Quebec and western Pennsylvania did their part to secure bids for their favorite players, but it’s still hard to understand how Ovechkin could finish so far behind the pack. Was it his slow start? The 23-year-old left wing scored twice in the second game of the season, a 4-2 win over Chicago on Oct. 11, but those were his only two goals in his first 11 games of the season.

Since then, however, Ovechkin has 25 goals in 27 games, a stretch in which the Capitals are 19-7-1 and have taken over first place in the Southeast Division. When Ovechkin recorded a shorthanded score to clinch a 2-1 win over the Rangers Saturday, the Caps moved 10 points ahead of second-place Carolina.

With Saturday’s victory, Washington has won 11 of its last 12 games. Ovechkin has four game-winning goals during the Caps’ surge, and no one can top his goal scoring in this span.

NHL Goal & Point Leaders, Dec. 10 & Since

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GP. . . . . .G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GP. . . . . Pts
Ovechkin, Was. . . . . 12. . . . . .13. . . . . . .Backstrom, Was. . . . 12. . . . . . 19
Hartnell, Phi. . . . . . .12. . . . . . 9. . . . . . .Elias, NJ. . . . . . . . . 14. . . . . . 19
Staal, Car. . . . . . . . .12. . . . . . 9. . . . . . .Ovechkin, Was. . . . . 12. . . . . . 18
Datsyuk, Det. . . . . . .12. . . . . . 8. . . . . . .Datsyuk, Det. . . . . . 12. . . . . . 18
Eriksson, Dal. . . . . . .12. . . . . . 8. . . . . . .Parise, NJ. . . . . . . . 14. . . . . . 18
St. Louis, TB. . . . . . .12. . . . . . 8. . . . . . .Krejci, Bos. . . . . . . 12. . . . . . 17
Little, Atl. . . . . . . . .14. . . . . . 8. . . . . . .Savard, Bos. . . . . . . 12. . . . . . 17

The co-leader in points during this stretch is Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom. The 21-year-old center ranks fifth in the NHL this season with 33 assists, but no one can top his 16 during Washington’s 11-1-0 run.

Seven of those assists came on Ovechkin goals, including a pair in a 5-4 overtime win over the Islanders on Dec. 16. Backstrom helped set up an early goal by Ovechkin, then found him at the edge of the right circle for a wrister that gave the Capitals the victory with 10.7 seconds remaining in OT.

Arguably Ovechkin is the best player in the game, but he won’t be on the ice at the start of the NHL All-Star Game. That’s crazy, but the only numbers that really count are wins and team points. The surprising Capitals are second in the East in both wins (26) and points (55), behind the equally surprising Bruins. Undoubtedly leading the Caps deep into the playoffs pulls more weight with the league MVP than a fan vote for the local favorites.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 4:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Minnesota Wild claimed their first-ever Northwest Division title in 2007-08, and they opened the season 11-4-1 to secure first place in what has always been a highly competitive division.

Since Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom held the Penguins to a single goal on Nov. 18, and blanked them in a shootout for a 2-1 victory, Minnesota has endured a 6-12-1 slump. More recently, the scoring has dried up. In a 2-8-1 skid since Dec. 5, the Wild have scored more than two goals just twice. They have been held to a single goal in five games, as well as blanked once by Nashville, 1-0, on Dec. 6.

The Wild have tallied just 18 goals in the last 11 games, an average of just 1.6 a game. Only the Predators (1.5) have averaged fewer goals per game than Minnesota during the Wild’s 2-8-1 slide, though Nashville has gone 4-6-1.

Minnesota Wild, 2008-09
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Through 12/4. . . . . . . Since 12/5
Goals/Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6
Goals Allowed/Game. . . . . . . .2.3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6

The Wild remain among the league’s stingiest teams in goals allowed, but it’s nearly impossible for a team to win more often than it loses when it fails to average two goals a game.

With a 17-16-2 record, Minnesota has fallen into last place in the Northwest Division. The club is in the midst of one of the toughest stretches of its schedule, which included a 2-1 loss to the first-place Flames in Calgary Monday night. The Wild, who have been playing without top scorer Marian Gaborik for nearly the entire season, managed just 24 shots against Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. With the loss, they fell 10 points behind Calgary in the Northwest.

The Wild have slipped into 11th place in the Western Conference standings. With games against San Jose (Wednesday), Detroit, division rival Colorado, Boston and Philadelphia in the next 10 days, the Wild could fall out of the playoff race quickly if they don’t rediscover a scoring touch soon.

The injury-prone Gaborik has a big say in the future of the franchise, both in the short-term and the long-term. The right wing, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, has averaged 35 goals for every 82 NHL games played over his eight-year career, but he has appeared in more than 65 games only once in the last four seasons.

Contract negotiations on a new deal have stalled and Gaborik has been on the trade market, but it will be hard to find a big spender for the 26-year-old wing. Gaborik missed two months with a groin injury before returning to action in mid-December. He isn’t fully recovered, though, and sat out losses to Chicago and Calgary this week. If the Wild are going to make a run at a playoff berth, they will need Gaborik on the ice.

In light of Gaborik’s pending departure at season’s end, the Wild will face a big decision as the March 4 trade deadline approaches. The front office may push harder to move him if the team falls out of the playoff chase.

The young franchise has sold out every one of its 352 home games, including playoffs, but something was different Sunday afternoon, when the Wild lost to the Blackhawks, 4-1, at the Xcel Energy Center. When the home team came off the ice after being outshot 15-4 in the first period, the locals booed -- an extremely rare occurrence in the history of the franchise. The booing was even louder at the close of the second period, after which the Wild had collected a total of just 10 shots and trailed 3-0.

In a 4-1 defeat, the punchless Wild were soundly outplayed by the young and inspired Blackhawks, who set a franchise record with their ninth consecutive win. After years of struggle, the Hawks are selling out their building regularly for the first time in more than a decade. After the response by Wild fans Sunday, you have to wonder if Minnesota’s sellout streak might come to end if the team falls out of the playoff picture early.

Gaborik's future in Minnesota, as well as the fate of the Wild's 2008-09 season and the franchise's sellout streak, may be decided in the next 10 days.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Simply by the luck of the draw, and thanks to a couple of injuries, Red Wings goaltender Ty Conklin has started both of the two NHL games played outdoors, and he is likely to be in net Thursday when the Chicago Blackhawks host Detroit at Wrigley Field.

Getting the call for the Winter Classic would make Conklin the only NHL player to appear in all three outdoor contests. The 32-year-old Anchorage native signed with Detroit before the season to back up Chris Osgood, but the No. 1 guy is out with a groin injury.

Osgood has bounced back quickly, and according to Mike Mouat with the Detroit Red Wings Examiner, he participated in full practice Monday for the first time in three weeks. Osgood’s status for Thursday is uncertain, but Mouat pointed out that he’s seen new goalie pads with the crest from the 1926 replica jerseys that the Red Wings will wear at Wrigley -- and they belong to Conklin.

Whatever weather strikes Chicago Thursday, Conklin will have seen it all already. He manned the net and couldn’t break a sweat in sub-zero temperatures during the inaugural event in Edmonton. That was Nov. 22, 2003, when he and the Oilers lost a 4-3 decision to the Montreal Canadiens. Staying warm when the puck was down in the other end was a problem.

At Ralph Wilson Stadium in suburban Buffalo last New Year’s Day, Conklin was the starter for the Pittsburgh Penguins when No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was hurt. Visibility was the issue in Conklin's second outdoor encounter, as temperature readings were higher but swirling snow created a winter wonderland. Conklin stopped 36 shots and claimed a 2-1 shootout victory over the Sabres.

One of the lasting visual images of the Buffalo game was of Penguins star Sidney Crosby, decked in Pittsburgh’s vintage powder-blue jersey with arms raised, celebrating his game-winning shootout goal with snow falling all around.

The lone goal off Conklin was scored by Brian Campbell, a Sabres defenseman who ripped a wrist shot over the goalie’s shoulder early in the second period. Campbell will be in a Blackhawks jersey Thursday, when he will become just the third NHL player to appear in more than one outdoor game. Montreal wing Georges Laraque was Conklin’s teammate with both Edmonton and Pittsburgh for the two previous events.

After parts of three seasons in Edmonton, Conklin has been on four teams since the start of the 2006-07 campaign. Yet, he’s managed to be in line to play all three outdoor games.

“Either I follow it around, or it follows me around,” Conklin recently told Chris Johnston of The Canadian Press. “I don’t know which is which.” One thing Conklin does know is that he’ll be ready to go when the puck drops at the Friendly (Winter) Confines on New Year’s Day.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Giants WR Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself with an illegal handgun last month in a Manhattan nightclub, was it possible to find a media outlet that wasn’t sifting through every dirty detail? Let’s face it, bad behavior sparks internet interest and sells newspapers.

On the other hand, what might be dubbed a random act of kindness, committed a few days before Burress stupidly fired a bullet into his own leg, was overlooked by nearly every media outlet in Chicago.

For two weeks of each NHL season, the Blackhawks vacate the United Center to accommodate the circus. This year’s typically grueling road trip kicked off in Phoenix and included stops in Dallas and Toronto over a five-day span. The swing across the continent was only the beginning. After three days off, which allowed the players and coaches to stop home for a brief stay prior to Thanksgiving, the Hawks moved on to the West Coast for games at San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles.

The team was booked for a commercial flight to Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 22, after a 5-4 victory over the Maple Leafs. Instead, the players stayed behind in Toronto that night, bypassing a chance to be at home and sleep in their own beds. They rented a couple of buses and headed north the next morning, traveling two hours into rural Ontario to Gravenhurst, where Blackhawks GM Dave Tallon was attending his father’s funeral.

Tallon was touched and surprised by the team visit, as was the staff and customers of a small-town McDonald’s on the bus ride back to Toronto the next day. The players were hungry and made the fast-food stop, where the team’s young stars, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, were featured in a promotional card set available at the chain. Photos of both players hung on the restaurant’s walls. And in this hockey-crazy part of Canada, reportedly every player getting off the team buses was known to hockey fans there.

The players returned home, where they had one less day to be with family before departing for San Jose and a Wednesday night showdown with the Sharks. No matter how you view the gesture -- a noble effort or simply the right thing to do -- the lack of coverage by even Chicago media is a reminder that not all professional athletes are wasting their time and resources finding trouble in nightclubs, running dog-fighting rings or collecting DUI arrests.

Professional sports are loaded with good citizens who work hard at their game and raise families, without fanfare, and many of them participate in an abundance of charity work. Media coverage makes it easy to have a less-than-complimentary opinion of pro athletes, who often are unfairly judged as a group by those generating the off-the-field headlines.

It’s beyond their control. There’s the phrase that “no news is good news.” It seems to be equally true that "good news is no news."

Posted by Thom Henninger at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There are few hockey fans out there, except perhaps for a few blindly loyal Bostonians, who would have predicted that the Bruins would lead the NHL’s Eastern Conference in goals scored and team points at this juncture.

Sure, the young Bruins were a surprise team a year ago, but much of that success was based on a stingy defense. It was far from certain that the team would take the next step offensively this season

Thanks to solid play by the defense and No. 1 goalie Tim Thomas, a balanced offensive attack and the emergence of budding star Phil Kessel, Boston is 19-6-5 through 30 games. For the season, only San Jose (22-3-2) has more wins, though no NHL club has held opponents to fewer goals per game (2.04).

Although Thomas ranks second in the league in both goals-against average (1.90) and save percentage (.940), the difference maker has been Kessel. The right wing, who turned 21 in October, already has 17 goals -- and only the Flyers’ Jeff Carter (20) and Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek (20) have more this season.

The Bruins lost for the first time in six games Wednesday night, dropping a 3-1 decision to Washington, but the Caps couldn’t keep Kessel off the scorecard. He assisted on Boston’s lone goal to extend his point-scoring streak to 13 games. Failing to tally a goal ended a six-game goal-scoring streak, but the red-hot Bruin has 10 goals and seven assists during his 13-game run.

With 11 goals each, only Carter and Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin have recorded more goals since Kessel’s points streak began on Nov. 13. Only Ovechkin (24) and Penguins Sidney Crosby (22) and Evgeni Malkin (22) have more points. Ovechkin was good for a goal and an assist in Washington’s win on Wednesday.

Can you say “breakout season”? Kessel scored 11 goals in 70 games as a rookie two years ago. Last season he tallied 19 in 82 contests, and already the sharpshooter has 17 goals in 2008-09. With Kessel leading the way, it looks like a breakout campaign for the young Bruins, as well.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 1:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although the Vancouver Canucks improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine games Saturday night, the Northwest Division’s first-place club lost its star goalie less than five minutes into a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Roberto Luongo, one of the NHL’s best goaltenders, suffered a left groin strain on what appeared to be a routine save. Early on Monday, according to Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province, Luongo underwent an MRI exam and was seen without crutches at GM Place, the Canucks’ home rink. Still, he is likely to miss at least a few weeks. Groin ailments are frustrating injuries that can take weeks or even months to heal. For now, he’s listed as week-to-week.

Losing the 29-year-old veteran for an extended period could prove costly to the 14-6-2 Canucks. He’s been a difference-maker in net, even playing on a competitive team, as he has since joining the Canucks in a trade with Florida before the 2006-07 season.

Vancouver Goaltenders, Since the Start of the 2006-07 Season

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W-L-OTL. . . . . . . . . .GAA. . . . . . . . . . . . SvPct
Luongo. . . . . . . . . . .93-56-17. . . . . . . . . . 2.31. . . . . . . . . . . . .920
Others. . . . . . . . . . . .9-9-2. . . . . . . . . . . .2.68. . . . . . . . . . . . .903

Luongo’s impact on a game is especially evident when his team doesn’t play well. Prior to his arrival in Vancouver, the goaltender turned in an impressive performance nearly every night to keep the lowly Panthers in games. He regularly ranked among the league leaders in save percentage during his Florida years, despite playing on sub-.500 teams and consistently facing high shot totals.

In each of his final two seasons in Florida, Luongo led the league by a large margin in shots faced. Over his last three seasons with the Panthers, 2002-03 through 2005-06, he was in net for nearly 7,000 shots, which were at least 1,000 more than all other goaltenders.

Luongo’s Final Three Years with Florida Panthers, 2002-03 through 2005-06

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W-L-T-OTL. . . . . . . . GAA. . . . . . . . . . . . .SvPct
Luongo. . . . . . . . . . .80-89-23-9. . . . . . . . .2.70. . . . . . . . . . . . . .921
Others. . . . . . . . . . . .9-18-7-5. . . . . . . . . 3.00. . . . . . . . . . . . . .900

The difference in wins and losses was less significant playing for the struggling Panthers, but any team is going to be better with Luongo on the ice.

In Vancouver’s first game without Luongo Monday night, backup goaltender Curtis Sanford faced the Detroit Red Wings, who are second in the league in goals per game with 3.65. Sanford gave a Luongo-like performance. The Canucks were outshot 34-24, but came away with a 3-2 overtime victory on a power-play goal by Daniel Sedin.

Sanford, who has posted three wins in the last five days, has a 2.33 GAA and .919 save percentage in five appearances this season. Those are solid numbers, but now he’ll be asked to carry the load for the Northwest Division’s first-place club.

“We’re rallying around each other,” Sanford said after the win. “We have each other’s back out there and we’re going to find a way to get through all this.”

The Canucks got it done Monday night, improving to 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. That doesn’t mean holding onto first place will be easy.

Vancouver has a home-and-home series with division rival Calgary this week. The second game kicks off a seven-game road trip that includes stops at Detroit, Minnesota, Colorado and Edmonton. All four Northwest Division foes will get a rare reprieve from one of the game’s best goaltenders.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Only four NHL clubs have recorded 40 of fewer goals this season, but one of them is the first-place team in the Northwest Division, the Minnesota Wild. At 10-4-1, they’re the only one of the four teams above the .500 mark, thanks to a stout defense that has been a Wild trademark since joining the league eight years ago.

The stingy Wild have allowed just 30 goals in 15 games this season. Only one other team in the league has allowed fewer than 40 goals, and that would be the surprising Boston Bruins (39). The 10-3-4 Bruins have given up just 2.06 goals a game in 2008-09; only the Wild have a lower average (2.00).

Unlike the low-scoring Wild, however, the Bruins have had more of a scoring touch, especially compared to last season. They’ve tallied 52 goals and average 3.00 a game, which puts them solidly in the middle of the NHL pack. That’s markedly better than the 2.51 per-game average that ranked 24th in the league a year ago.

In 2007-08, no Bruin scored as many as 30 goals, and only Marco Sturm (27) and Chuck Kobasew (22) reached the 20 plateau. This season, Boston has generated a balanced scoring attack that includes six players with five or more goals: fast-starting, 21-year-old Phil Kessel (7), Sturm (6), Marc Savard (6), rookie Blake Wheeler (6), 20-year-old Milan Lulic (5) and defenseman Dennis Wideman (5). The only team that can match the Bruins with six five-goal scorers is Philadelphia.

Boston is in the midst of an 8-1-1 surge, a stretch in which Sturm leads the way with five goals and Savard has 10 points. More importantly, the Bruins have allowed just 15 goals (1.50 a game) during this span. Most of the credit goes to No. 1 goaltender Tim Thomas, as the Bruins rank 23rd in the league for fewest shots allowed per game (31.4), but first as a team in goalies’ save percentage (.935).

At the start of the season, Thomas and Manny Fernandez shared goaltending duties, but Thomas has taken over lately by posting a league-leading .945 save percentage. He’s started 11 of 17 games, going 6-2-3, and ranks second to only San Jose’s Brian Boucher with a 1.76 goals-against average.

During Boston’s 8-1-1 run, Thomas has allowed just nine goals and posted a .961 save percentage in seven games. The 34-year-old veteran faced at least 30 shots in six of those seven games en route to a 5-1-1 record. Thomas posted back-to-back shutouts on consecutive nights in Edmonton and Vancouver early in the streak.

It’s a similar situation in Minnesota. The always defensive-minded Wild are 16th in the league for fewest shots allowed per game (30.1) -- currently the highest single-season average for shots allowed in franchise history -- yet they are second in save percentage behind the Bruins this season (.934).

Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom has allowed more than three goals only once this season -- in a 4-3 overtime loss to Buffalo on Oct. 23. Since then, the 30-year-old native of Finland has posted a 1.90 GAA and .940 save percentage in nine games. He’s just 6-3-0, however, as the Wild scored just three goals in his three losses.

Backstrom always seems to be on his game at home. In his last 12 regular-season appearances in St. Paul, dating to March 15, the Wild’s No. 1 goalie is 11-0-1 with a 1.40 GAA and .950 save percentage. He has shut out the Kings, Canucks and Coyotes in this span.

The Wild have allowed an NHL-low four power play goals this season, and the next-lowest total is seven by the Rangers. Backstrom certainly deserves his share of credit for the success of the penalty-killing unit. For the season, he is 10-3-1 with a 2.00 GAA and .934 save percentage. Backstrom ranks among the NHL’s top five in wins, GAA and save percentage.

Getting enough scoring will be a season-long concern for the Wild, but both the Wild and Bruins will need to tighten up their defensive game to win division titles. So far, the No. 1 goalie has been terrific for both first-place teams. Neither club will maintain its current winning percentage, though, if the goaltender has to face 30+ shots a game, post a sub-2.00 GAA and one of the league’s best save percentages all the season long.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goaltender Cristobal Huet must have expected to play more regularly when he quickly signed with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent last July. In just his fifth start in 11 games Saturday night, however, the 33-year-old veteran gave his team nearly two games’ worth of saves in a 4-3 shootout win in Columbus.

The French-born Huet stood up to 51 Blue Jackets shots -- including seven in overtime -- and saved 48 of them. Huet stopped three more in the shootout to play a critical role in his second win since joining the Hawks. Both his shots faced and saves were career single-game highs.

Huet signed a four-year deal with Chicago, and presumably not to share time in goal. In his fifth NHL season in 2007-08, he set a career high with 32 wins between Montreal and Washington. He ranked sixth in the league with a .920 save percentage and 10th with a 2.32 GAA. After joining the Capitals in a February trade, Huet went 11-2-0 with a 1.63 GAA and .936 save percentage.

It seemed incumbent Nikolai Khabibulin, in the final year of the multiyear deal he signed in 2005, was on his way out. The Blackhawks ran him through waivers, but a trade never came to pass in the weeks leading up to training camp. Perhaps there will be more of a trade market for him some point in the season, but until then, Huet and Khabibulin share the Chicago net.

On Saturday, Huet became the fourth goaltender to face as many as 50 shots in a game this season. He shares more than that with the three others:

50+ Shots Faced in a Game, 2008-09

Goalie. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Opponent. . . . . . . . . . . Sh. . . . . . .Score
Cam Ward, Car. . . . . . vs NYI on 10/25. . . . . . . . . .60. . . . . . . .4-3
J.S. Giguere, Ana. . . . vs Mon on 10/25. . . . . . . . . 51. . . . . . . .6-4
Cristobal Huet, Chi. . . vs Cls on 11/1. . . . . . . . . . .51. . . . . . . .4-3 (SO)
Tomas Vokoun, Fla. . . .vs SJ on 10/24. . . . . . . . . . 50. . . . . . . .4-3

All four goalies in the 50-shots club have posted victories -- all in a one-week span.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Detroit Red Wings have shut down the scoring punch of the young Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals. The Penguins were held to just 41 shots in the two games, and Chris Osgood has back-to-back shutouts to improve to 12-2 since taking over for Dominik Hasek in Game 4 of Detroit’s first-round matchup with Nashville.

Osgood, who has a 1.38 GAA and .939 save percentage in 15 postseason games, is the fourth goaltender in NHL history to post consecutive shutouts in Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup finals. The 35-year-old veteran is the first since New Jersey's Martin Brodeur turned in a pair of 3-0 home victories over Anaheim to start the 2003 finals.

Consecutive Shutouts to Open a Stanley Cup Finals

1926 Clint Benedict (Montreal Maroons). . . . . . . . . .vs. Victoria Cougars
1945 Frank McCool (Toronto Maple Leafs). . . . . . . . .vs. Detroit Red Wings
2003 Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils). . . . . . . . . vs. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
2008 Chris Osgood (Detroit Red Wings). . . . . . . . . . .vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Clint Benedict, a Hall of Fame goaltender, was one of the earliest stars among the league’s netminders. In leading the Montreal Maroons to the Stanley Cup championship in 1926, Benedict blanked the Victoria Cougars three times in four games -- including the first two contests. When the Maroons secured the Cup in the fourth game, Benedict became the first NHL goalie to win titles with two different teams. He also won with the Ottawa Senators in 1920, ’21 and ’23.

Benedict also may be the first NHL goaltender to wear a mask. After taking a shot to the face in February 1930, he donned a leather mask with an oversized nose and some padding around the mouth and forehead. He didn’t stick with it, though, and his career ended a short time later after taking a shot to the throat.

With Hall of Fame goalie Turk Broda serving in the military, Toronto rookie Frank McCool set a record of 193 scoreless minutes in the 1945 Stanley Cup finals. He blanked Detroit by scores of 1-0, 2-0 and 1-0, but the Red Wings came roaring back to win the next three games. Toronto won Game 7, 4-3, as McCool finished with four playoff shutouts in 13 games to complete one of the finest rookie seasons in NHL history.

Nicknamed “Ulcers” for his nervous manner, McCool held out the following year. He played in just 22 games before Broda returned from military duty, and McCool never played in the NHL again.

In 2003, future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur shut out Anaheim by identical 3-0 scores in Games 1 and 2 of the finals. The Ducks roared back to win the next two games at home, making it a best-of-three series. Despite being held scoreless in the first two contests, the Ducks pushed the series to seven games, but Brodeur stopped 24 shots for another 3-0 win and his third shutout of the series in Game 7.

So, Benedict, McCool and Brodeur all recorded a third shutout en route to winning the Cup. Osgood has at least two cracks at matching the others, but he’s probably more interested in following the path of the 31 teams that have won the first two games of the finals at home. Thirty have captured the Cup.

The next step for Osgood and the Red Wings is to beat Pittsburgh at home, where the Penguins haven’t lost a game since Feb. 24. Going into Wednesday night’s Game 3, the Pens have won 16 straight at Mellon Arena.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Eastern Conference finals will be a Pennsylvania showdown between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, two of the six expansion clubs to join the league in 1967. They have been rivals for decades, but the young Penguins and rebuilt Flyers don’t have all that much history.

Or do they?

According to AP Sports Writer Alan Robinson, what history they do share coaxed Pens star Evgeni Malkin to say some less-than-complimentary things about his team’s third-round opponent.

In an entertaining look at the history between the two franchises on Monday, Robinson mentioned a few recent incidents that have sparked budding enmity between this spring’s Eastern Conference finalists. Malkin hasn’t forgotten an 8-2 loss in Philadelphia on Dec. 11, when the Flyers bullied the Penguins and knocked them off their game. Flyers fans showered the Pittsburgh bench with popcorn before it was over.

Then there’s the matter of Malkin being cut on the left cheek by the skate of the Flyers’ Mike Richards on March 16. In the teams’ next meeting on April 2, they began fighting less than a minute into Pittsburgh’s 4-2 win, a heated, rough-and-tumble victory that secured the Penguins’ first division crown since 1997-98.

If Philadelphia gained some revenge in the season finale four days later, when a 2-0 victory cost the Penguins the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, a number of Flyers were grumbling. The Penguins rested Sidney Crosby and played a disinterested game.

"Maybe they're scared of us, I don't know," Flyers center Jeff Carter said after the game. "I'm not really into throwing games for matchups in the playoffs. You play to win and you never want to lose a game." By losing their finale, the Penguins faced Ottawa instead of Boston in the first round, and they swept a Senators club that had lost 10 of its final 12 games when the series was over.

It will be Biron in net for sixth-seeded Philadelphia, Marc-Andre Fleury for the No. 2 seed Penguins. Fleury is 8-1 in the postseason and ranks first among the four conference finals starters with a .938 save percentage.

No one has faced more postseason shots than Biron (395 -- an average of 32.9 a game). After allowing four goals in Philadelphia’s Game 1 loss to Montreal in the Eastern Conference semifinals, he posted a .930 save percentage and stopped 133 of 143 shots in four consecutive wins over the Habs.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have a long history. For years, it was the Flyers manhandling the Penguins in their 1970s heyday, when Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Bill Barber and Bill Clement anchored talented Philadelphia teams. And the Flyers have won the last three playoff matchups -- in 1989, 1997 and 2000, overcoming a five-goal, eight-point game by Mario Lemieux (1989) and a five-overtime game in Pittsburgh (2000).

This is a great Pittsburgh team, but the Penguins face a key rival that has already knocked off two of the East’s top three seeds going into the conference finals in Pittsburgh Friday night.

Believe it or not, this is the first time the Flyers and Penguins have met in the conference finals. With the juices flowing in the last few games between them, hockey fans may be in for a memorable series.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that the NHL regular season is history, with the playoffs set to begin on Wednesday, it’s a good time to look back at how last summer’s free agents performed with their new teams in 2007-08.

The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers made the most offseason noise in the free-agent market, and one could make a case that they and the St. Louis Blues enjoyed the biggest payoff.

Daniel Briere left Buffalo for Philadelphia and led all of last summer’s free agents in both goals and points. He and teammate Scott Hartnell combined for 55 goals with their new club.

Most Goals & Points by 2007-08 Free Agents

Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G. . . . . . . . . .Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pts
Daniel Briere, Phi. . . . . . . .31. . . . . . . . . .Daniel Briere, Phi. . . . . . . 72
Petr Sykora, Pit. . . . . . . . .28. . . . . . . . . .Scott Gomez, NYR. . . . . . .70
Keith Tkachuk, StL. . . . . . .27. . . . . . . . . .Paul Kariya, StL. . . . . . . . .65
Radim Vrbata, Pho. . . . . . .27. . . . . . . . . Petr Sykora, Pit. . . . . . . . . 63
Chris Drury, NYR. . . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . . . Chris Drury, NYR. . . . . . . . 58
Scott Hartnell, Phi. . . . . . .24. . . . . . . . . Keith Tkachuk, StL. . . . . . .58

The Rangers’ two big signings before the season, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, collected 128 points. Among the 18 free agents with 50+ points in 2006-07 before changing teams, Gomez was one of only four players who tallied more points in 2007-08. After recording 13 goals and 60 points with the New Jersey Devils in 2006-07, he followed up with 16 and 70 in his first year in New York.

The other free agents to improve their point production in 2007-08 were Pittsburgh’s Petr Sykora, Viktor Kozlov of the Islanders and Chicago’s Robert Lang. The 31-year-old Sykora recorded his highest point total in six years with 28 goals and 63 points. Kozlov and Lang both finished with 54 points this season.

Also in this group of 18 players with 50+ points before signing a free-agent contract last summer is Keith Tkachuk, who returned to the St. Louis Blues. He matched both his goal and point total of the year before with 27-31-58 for a second straight season.

Among the 10 players with 25+ goals before becoming free agents, no one surpassed his 2006-07 total. Only Tkachuk matched his with 27. In 2007-08, however, free agents Sykora (28) and Radim Vrbata (27) joined the 25-goal club.

Overall, the production of the 2007-08 free-agent class was down. Although Briere was good for 32 goals and 95 points in his final season with the Buffalo Sabres, you won’t find the Flyers complaining about his 31-41-72 campaign.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, it’s inappropriate that the title above is a take-off of a movie that’s 45 years old, yet it makes the point that today's NHL is a young man’s game. Not for those as young as the up-and-coming in tennis or gymnastics, but the top two point scorers in the league are barely old enough to order an alcoholic beverage when out in public with teammates.

Russians Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin lead the way with 92 and 89 points, respectively, and the 22-year-old Ovechkin is on his way to becoming the first 60-goal scorer since Mario Lemieux netted 69 and Jaromir Jagr tallied 62 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.

Among the 26 players who have scored 27 or more goals this season, eight of them are 23 years old or younger. With 54 goals in 68 games, Ovechkin has found the net at least 11 more times than anyone else in the NHL.

Most Goals by Players 23 Years Old or Younger, 2007-08

Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Age. . . . . . . . . . . . Goals
Alexander Ovechkin, Was. . . . . . . .22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Evgeni Malkin, Pit. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Rick Nash, Cls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Eric Staal, Car. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Dustin Brown, LA. . . . . . . . . . . . . .23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Corey Perry, Anh. . . . . . . . . . . . . .22. . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Anze Kopitar, LA. . . . . . . . . . . . . .20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Zach Parise, NJ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Los Angeles Kings, who rank last in points in the Western Conference, have to be encouraged by their two young goal scorers. Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar lead the Kings in goals, and they are the team’s best hope of returning to the playoffs anytime soon. By then Kopitar will be legal to celebrate the Kings’ first postseason appearance since 2002 with a beer.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, but not before 45 players changed addresses in 25 deadline deals.

The most stunning deal was Atlanta trading Marian Hossa to Pittsburgh after the rumor mill had the high-scoring winger moving to Montreal. Hossa, who scored 43 goals and 100 points last season, gives the Penguins a trio of scoring threats that is arguably the best in the league.

Evgeni Malkin leads the NHL with 84 points, and he’s been terrific with Sidney Crosby sidelined since mid-January by a high ankle sprain. The Penguins add Hossa to the mix and get Crosby back in the next 2-3 weeks. With Hossa’s scoring touch and passing ability, his star teammates stand to benefit as much as he does.

Hossa, who has 26 goals and 56 points to lead all players traded near the deadline, joins his new team after scoring three goals and five assists in his final six games with the Thrashers. Among the group of traded players, no one can top Hossa in goals and points this month.

Most Points in February by a Player Dealt near Trade Deadline
(February points prior to trade deadline)

Player, New Team. . . . . . Gms. . . . . . . .G. . . . . . . . . .A. . . . . . . . . . Pts
Marian Hossa, Pit. . . . . . . .10. . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . . . . 10
Andrew Ladd, Chi. . . . . . . .11. . . . . . . . .4. . . . . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . . . . 10
Jussi Jokinen, TB. . . . . . . .12. . . . . . . . .3. . . . . . . . . . 5. . . . . . . . . . . 8
Brad Richards, Dal. . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . . .2. . . . . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . 6
Jan Hlavac, Nsh. . . . . . . . .10. . . . . . . . .2. . . . . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . . . . . 5

Tied with Hossa for February points is Andrew Ladd, who was traded by Carolina to Chicago for Tuomo Ruutu. Ladd has nine goals and nine assists on the season, but 10 of his 18 points have come in February. The 22-year-old wing, who won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes two years ago, had been held without a point only twice in his last nine games with Carolina. He went scoreless in the Blackhawks' 1-0 win over Phoenix Wednesday night.

Jan Hlavac quickly got on the board for his new team. Acquired from Tampa Bay on Tuesday, he scored Nashville's first goal in an 8-4 loss to Buffalo Wednesday. The Sabres fared even better. They got two first-period goals from trade deadline acquisition Steve Bernier in the win.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Parity seems to be a byproduct of the new NHL. Seven of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference are in first place or within five points of it. Only one team in the East, the Toronto Maple Leafs, is more than 10 points out of first.

In the Western Conference, only the Detroit Red Wings are far out in front in a division race. If you take the runaway Red Wings and Pacific-leading Stars out of the equation, the next 10 teams in the West standings are separated by just 10 points. Those 10 clubs are in pursuit of the West’s final six postseason berths.

Going into Friday night’s action, Vancouver and Calgary hold down the West’s final two playoff spots with 70 points. The next four team’s in the chase -- Phoenix, Colorado, St. Louis and Columbus -- are within five points of the Canucks and Flames.

Although parity is a key theme of the playoff push down the stretch, you won’t find it between the conferences. The West has a significant edge over the East in 2007-08.

East vs. West, 2007-08

Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Record. . . . . . . . Points
Eastern Conference (vs. West). . . . . . . .53-56-13. . . . . . 119 points
Western Conference (vs. East). . . . . . . .69-41-12. . . . . . 150 points

The Avalanche may be seeded 10th in the West with a little less than six weeks remaining in the regular season, but they top all Western clubs with a 7-1-0 record and 14 points against the East. The Ducks are 6-2-0 and the Red Wings are 6-2-1 facing Eastern teams this season, and that may not bode well for the East’s representative in the Stanley Cup finals.

Until then, however, parity rules as clubs vie to play postseason hockey.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook’s plus-minus was -5 entering December 19, but he’s compiled one of the league’s best ratings over the past two months.

Best Plus-Minus Rating – December 19 & Since

Nicklas Lidstrom, Det +21
Pavel Datsyuk, Det +19
Brent Seabrook, Chi +18
Johnny Oduya, NJ +18

Posted by Walter Lis at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It’s a good bet that a teenager will win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie, and you can add Peter Mueller’s name to the mix.

The eighth overall pick by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2006 draft, the Minnesota native has the gifts to make an immediate impact. The 6-foot-2 center rarely figured in the scoring for the first two months of the season, however, as he managed just a goal and an assist in his first 11 games.

Mueller broke through with a hat trick in a 6-5 road win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks on Nov. 7, but then he didn’t score a goal in six straight games.

The drought is over. Mueller has been held without a point in only three of the Coyotes’ last 16 games. It’s a run in which the teenager has tallied 10 goals and 10 assists. In that stretch, he’s surpassed his point total of the first 40 games of the season.

Mueller’s Scoring Surge

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gms. . . . . . . . G. . . . . . . . . .A. . . . . . . . .Pts
Through Jan. 8. . . . . . . . . .40. . . . . . . . . .9. . . . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . . .19
Jan. 9 & Since. . . . . . . . . . 16. . . . . . . . .10. . . . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . . .20

The goal-scoring surge began on Jan. 17. Mueller had picked up just two goals in his previous 19 games when he scored in three straight contests. After his streak was halted at three games, Mueller bounced back with two of four Phoenix goals in a 4-2 win in Columbus on Jan. 29.

Mueller registered his second career hat trick a week ago, giving Phoenix a 3-0 lead over Calgary after two periods on Feb. 5. The Flames rebounded with three third-period goals and went on to win in a shootout.

"It's bittersweet," Mueller said. "It's always nice when your line puts a few points up, but right now, those two points for the team are the biggest thing on our minds right now." With the loss, the Coyotes failed to jump over the Flames in their pursuit of a Western Conference playoff berth. Still, Mueller has to be excited about his recent scoring touch.

Mueller’s goal-scoring surge has pushed him to the top of the leader board among rookies. He’s one of four teenagers who have been finding the net this season.

Goal Leaders among Rookies, 2007-08

Rookie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Age. . . . . . . .Goals
Peter Mueller, Pho. . . . . . .19. . . . . . . . . 19
Jonathan Toews, Chi. . . . . .19. . . . . . . . . 15
Patrick Kane, Chi. . . . . . . . 19. . . . . . . . . 12
David Perron, StL. . . . . . . . 19. . . . . . . . . 10
Five rookies tied with. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

For what it’s worth, Mueller is the elder of the group. He turns 20 on April 14. The youngest is Chicago’s Patrick Kane, who remains a teenager until mid-November. One of these four teens will celebrate his 20th birthday soon after winning the Calder Trophy for an impressive NHL debut.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Anaheim Ducks lost to the Stars in Dallas Sunday afternoon, 5-2, ending a six-game winning streak and slowing a month-long surge in which the Stanley Cup champions had gone 12-2-1. The Ducks had defeated Dallas at home five days earlier, but Sunday they lost for the first time since Jan. 5.

A month ago, speculation began that the Ducks were struggling with the “Stanley Cup hangover.” Cup champions celebrate all summer and often don’t start well early in the next season.

“The Stanley Cup hangover is not a myth,” Ducks general manager Brian Burke recently said to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Recent history suggests that’s true. The playoff fate of last year’s Stanley Cup finalists is far from decided, but the eight teams that appeared in the previous four Stanley Cup finals didn’t fare well the following season. Four of the eight failed to make the playoffs, and not one team won a first-round matchup the year after playing for the Cup. Last season, neither Carolina nor Edmonton -- the finalists a year earlier -- advanced to the postseason.

A month ago on Dec. 18, the reigning champs had lost three of four and were 15-15-4. A few nights earlier, they had allowed four power-play goals in a single period and dropped a 5-2 decision to Minnesota, a team that had scored just four goals in its previous four games.

On the 18th, the Ducks began their 12-2-1 surge by shutting out the Sharks in San Jose, 2-0. Corey Perry scored his 18th goal of the season for the only goal that mattered in the end. He found the net a team-high nine times in those 15 games. The 22-year-old wing, whose 26 goals lead Anaheim, is on course for 42, and he’s already surpassed his career high of 17 in 82 games last season.

Perry has a seven-game point scoring streak going into Wednesday night’s game, when the Red Wings stop in Anaheim during a West Coast swing. He continues to build on his breakout season, with five goals and seven assists in his seven-game run.

Another 22-year-old, Ryan Getzlaf, has a 14-game point scoring streak. He’s recorded six goals and 15 assists during his run. With a team-leading 57 points on the season, Getzlaf is one shy of tying his career high, set a year ago. His 38 assists are a career high and rank eighth in the league. Getzlaf is six days older than Perry, and both hope to be in the midst of another Ducks championship run when their mid-May birthdays roll around.

With the young kids putting up the points, no team won more games or picked up more points than the Ducks during their month-long surge.

Team Leaders in Points, Dec. 18-Jan. 18

Team. . . . . . .W-L-OTL. . . Points
Ana. . . . . . . . .12-2-1. . . . . . .25
Pit. . . . . . . . . 10-3-1. . . . . . .21
Det. . . . . . . . .10-4-1. . . . . . .21
Atl. . . . . . . . . .9-6-2. . . . . . .20

The Ducks moved back into the Pacific Division race in the last month, though Sunday’s loss to Dallas allowed the Stars to secure first place from the Ducks by a single point (61-60). The only other Western Conference club with more points is the Detroit Red Wings, with a league-best 74 that is 10 more than any other NHL club.

The Red Wings come calling Wednesday on a 20-4-2 run dating to Nov. 27. It’s a big test -- against a key conference rival -- to see if the Ducks have ditched the Stanley Cup hangover and are nearly ready for playoff hockey.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sidney Crosby, who led the NHL with 120 points last season at age 19, is the star in Pittsburgh. The Penguin known in some circles as The Next One is on course for his third straight 100-point campaign after being the first overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Crosby can’t help but overshadow teammate and 2004 second overall pick Evgeni Malkin, but it’s the 21-year-old Russian who has netted a team-leading 12 goals during Pittsburgh’s current 10-1-1 surge. Of course, Crosby assisted on eight of them, including two of his three goals Monday night in a 4-1 victory over the Rangers.

The hat trick was the second in 11 days for Malkin, who has 23 goals and 52 points through 45 games in just his second NHL season. He is the third player to net a pair of hat tricks in 2007-08, though the 11-day span suddenly looks far less impressive.

Players with Two Hat Tricks, 2007-08

Player. . . . . . . . . . . Date. . . . . . .Outcome. . . . . . . . . Date. . . . . . .Outcome
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atl. .11/1/07. . . . . 4-6 Ott (L). . . . . . . . 11/3/07. . . . . 6-4 TB (W)
Joffrey Lupul, Phi. .12/11/07. . . . .8-2 Pit (W). . . . . . . . 12/15/07. . . . 5-6 Car (SOL)
Evgeni Malkin, Pit. . .1/3/08. . . . . 6-2 Tor (W). . . . . . . . 1/14/08. . . . .4-1 NYR (W)

Joffrey Lupul of the Flyers recorded two tricks in five days last month, and Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk topped that in November. The Thrashers wing, who leads the NHL with 37 goals, scored three in back-to-back games with a single day off in the middle.

On Nov. 1, Kovalchuk tallied three third-period goals, but they weren’t enough to erase a 5-0 deficit in Ottawa. Two nights later, the Thrashers trailed Tampa Bay 4-1, but Kovalchuk scored three of Atlanta’s five unanswered goals for a 6-4 victory.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Walter Lis at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Currently riding a four-game winning streak, the Chicago Blackhawks are slowing creeping back in to the Western Conference playoff race. More importantly, this once proud franchise is starting to capture the imagination and support of their long suffering fans. The cornerstone of this revitalization has been the play of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, two first-year players who currently lead all NHL rookies in scoring.

Continue reading "Youth Rising In Chicago" »

Posted by Walter Lis at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

STATS LLC is in its seventh season of tracking faceoff winners every time a puck drops in an NHL game. In the first six seasons since STATS started collecting faceoff data in 2000-01, only one player has led the league in faceoff win percentage. He’s played for five teams in the last four NHL campaigns, and has demonstrated his expertise at each stop.

That player is Yanic Perreault, who has suited up for Montreal, Nashville, Phoenix and Toronto since the start of the 2003-04 season before joining the Chicago Blackhawks for 2007-08. The frequent changes of address haven’t kept Perreault from leading the league annually in faceoff win percentage among players who have taken at least 250 faceoffs in a season.

Perreault’s League-Leading Faceoff Win Percentages
(min 250 faceoffs)

Year. . . . . Team. . . WinPct
2000-01. . . Tor. . . . . 62.7
2001-02. . . Mon. . . . .61.3
2002-03. . . Mon. . . . .62.9
2003-04. . . Mon. . . . .65.2
2005-06. . . Nash. . . . 62.2
2006-07. . . Pho/Tor. .62.8

So, who would you expect to be leading the league in 2007-08? Yes, it’s Perreault, by a significant margin.

Leaders in Faceoff Win Percentage, 2007-08
(min 100 faceoffs)

Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . WinPct
Yanic Perreault, Chi. . . . . 66.7
Kris, Draper, Det. . . . . . . .61.5
Michael Cammalleri, LA. . . 61.1
Manny Malhotra, Cls. . . . . 61.0
Joe Thornton, SJ. . . . . . . 60.9
Mike Zigomanis, Pho. . . . . 59.8

Posted by Thom Henninger at 2:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Heading into the 2007-08 season, the Columbus Blue Jackets had recorded just 22 shutouts in their six NHL campaigns, and never more than five in a single season. The Blue Jackets, who recorded just four shutouts in all of 2006-07, set an NHL record with their fourth in October Thursday night.

Since the NHL began scheduling October games 65 years ago, at the start the 1942-43 season, no team had blanked its opponents more than three times for the month. The much-improved Blue Jackets, who are 5-3-1 on the season, had become the 26th team since 1942-43 to record three October shutouts before Thursday night’s 3-0 win over St. Louis.

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire, who has bounced back from an injury-plagued 2006-07 season that put his No. 1 job on the line this fall, has been in net for all four shutouts. When knee and leg injuries limited Leclaire to 24 games a year ago, Finnish import Fredrik Norrena took over, played well and posted the first winning record in Columbus history. But it’s been Leclaire carrying the load in the early going.

"He's on the mark," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said of his starter after a recent win, though the inspired play of the Blue Jackets in their own end also is a credit to the defensemen: Adam Foote, Rostislav Klesla, Ron Hainsey, Jan Hejda, Kris Russell and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.

In the course of blanking the Stanley Cup champion Ducks, 4-0, on Oct. 5, the Blue Jackets held Anaheim without a shot for the first 16 minutes of the game. By then, they had rifled 14 shots on net and scored twice. Leclaire faced 32 shots in shutting down Phoenix on Oct. 10, though he was seldom tested. The same was true in last Friday’s 3-0 win in Buffalo.

Thursday night’s victory marked the first time the Blue Jackets were outshot when shutting out an opponent, as Leclaire stopped a season-high 36 shots in blanking the Blues. What was most memorable about the game, however, was a between-the-legs goal scored by Rick Nash. The Blue Jackets star tallied a goal in his fifth straight game when he stretched to play the ricochet of a slap shot off the boards from the side of the net. He pulled in the puck and then lifted it between his legs and high into the top of the net.

Columbus goes for its sixth win of the season on Saturday, when the team squares off against San Jose at home. The Blue Jackets didn’t win their sixth game a year ago until Nov. 25.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not only have the Minnesota Wild started 5-0-0, making them the only undefeated team in the NHL, they have held opponents scoreless in three of those victories. The Wild were outshot in two of them, but Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding still blanked the opposition.

Backstrom was a terrific under-the-radar free-agent signing a year ago. The 29-year-old netminder, a veteran of the Finnish Elite League, took over for the injured Manny Fernandez near midseason and went on to lead the league in goals-against average. He was stellar in the season opener, a 1-0 win over Chicago despite a 27-24 shots advantage for the Blackhawks. Harding is a highly regarded 23-year-old rookie, who stopped 37 Anaheim shots Sunday in his only start of the young season. He now has three shutouts in eight career starts.

Not only did Backstrom and Harding make Fernandez expendable -- he was traded to Boston over the summer -- they are threatening the NHL team mark for October shutouts. Since the NHL began scheduling October games 65 years ago, at the start the 1942-43 season, no club has posted more than three shutouts for the month. The Wild still have seven October contests remaining to notch No. 4, including Tuesday night’s showdown with the Kings in Los Angeles.

Teams have recorded three October shutouts 25 times since 1942-43. The first was the 1950-51 Toronto Maple Leafs, and both the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils matched that total last season. The Wild, who allowed the fewest goals in the league a year ago and have given up just four in five games this season, have more than two weeks to set the new standard for posting zeroes in October.

Posted by Thom Henninger at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goaltenders usually have their own set of rules, both on and off the ice. This year’s NHL Awards do nothing to dissuade us from such thinking. For the first time since the NHL Awards Television Special began in 1983, there will be four finalists for an award. And sure enough, that award is the Vezina Tropy – awarded to the league’s most outstanding goalie.

Nominated this year (in alphabetical order) are Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils (seventh nomination), Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames (third nomination), Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers (second nomination) and Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks (first nomination).

Interestingly, none of the finalists led the league in save percentage or Goals Against Average – both honors went to Niklas Backstrom of Minnesota who finished the season with a 1.97 GAA and .929 save percentage in 41 games. Another possible omission is Dominik Hasek of Detroit, who had the second-lowest GAA at 2.05. Minnesota and Detroit finished first and second, respectively, in fewest goals allowed in the season.

Lundqvist had a fantastic finish to the season, leading all goaltenders who played in more than 10 games after the All-Star break with a 1.80 GAA and .934 save percentage. Unfortunately, his pre-All-Star GAA was a full goal higher at 2.83 along with a rather mediocre 19-15-2 record. In fact, a seven-game stretch in December saw Lundqvist relegated to backup duty to Kevin Weekes as he worked to improve his game and get over a flu bug. The Swedish Gold Medal winner certainly showed his abilities down the stretch and in the playoffs, but a more complete season from start to finish should merit winning an award.

Kiprusoff's play in net was the difference for Calgary being a playoff team in the competitive Northwest Division. The Finnish veteran once again was a workhorse, finishing with a 40-24-9 record in 74 games. The same could be said of Brodeur and Luongo, though – both of whom played in more games and had better statistical seasons. Kiprusoff finished the season with a solid 2.34 GAA and .917 save percentage, but neither of those stats ranked among the top eight goaltenders in the league.

The award should come down to Brodeur and Luongo. Both goalies finished as the top two in the league in games played and wins while leading their respective teams to division titles. In fact, Luongo tied the league record for wins in a single season (47) while Brodeur actually set a new record with 48 wins! Brodeur had his normal stellar statistical campaign – a league-leading 12 shutouts and finishing third overall, highest of the Vezina finalists, with a .922 save percentage and 2.18 GAA. Luongo finished just below Brodeur in the rankings with a .921 save percentage and 2.29 GAA. More importantly, the 28-year-old Montreal native finally gained attention in Vancouver after playing five seasons in hockey oblivion known as south Florida. The Canucks scored 35 less goals this season compared to the 2005-06 campaign, but allowed 54 fewer goals to end up in the back of their net. That 54-goal differential over the last two years was the second-highest turnaround after the magical season of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it served as the catalyst for the Canucks returning to the playoffs.

My mind says Brodeur; my heart says Luongo. My suspicion is most will follow their heart and award the first-time nominee, Roberto Luongo, over the spectacular consistency of seven-time nominee, Martin Brodeur.

Posted by Marc Carl at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the player deemed to be the most valuable to his team by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association. This year’s finalists include two goaltenders, Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, and center Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. There will be a first-time winner this year, as Crosby and Luongo are first-time nominees while Brodeur finished third in his two previous nominations (2002-03 and 2003-04).

Much debate will be made whether a goaltender should win the Hart Trophy while goalies already have their own award (Vezina Trophy). The Vezina is given to the “goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position” while the Hart rewards value in terms of a team concept. Individual accomplishments versus team value -- not the same thing in my book. Brodeur and Luongo did not lead the NHL in GAA or save percentage, but the Devils and Canucks, respectively, would not have won a division title without their netminders. Goaltenders always have been treated differently than the rest of the players (hockey rule #32: always steer clear of a goalie putting on his pads), but not so differently that they can’t win a Hart Trophy. Assuming the three nominees have an equal shot at winning, let’s examine their credentials.

Brodeur won an NHL-record 48 games this season (10 wins coming in a shootout) while leading goalies in games played (78) and shutouts (12). The 14-year veteran’s consistency almost makes you forget just how good he is compared to everyone else. Since the 1996-97 season, Brodeur leads the NHL with 412 wins -- 118 more than the next goalie on the list (Ed Belfour). In that time, he’s lost defensemen the likes of Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer but with little to no drop-off in his production. Brodeur’s value can’t be overstated as New Jersey’s 216 goals scored were the fewest by a playoff team. The Devils provided him with 2.47 goals in support per game, the sixth-lowest total in the league and lowest among playoff goaltenders.

Luongo is on the other side of the spectrum. He’s seven years younger than Brodeur and tasting success for the first time after an offseason trade sent him from Florida to Vancouver. His numbers, though, are very similar. The 28-year-old was one win shy of tying Brodeur’s record-setting season while posting a career-best 2.29 GAA in 76 games. He was a major factor in the Canucks' 2.36 GAA this season -- a stark contrast to the 3.03 GAA from last year. Do you think Alex Auld, Luongo’s counterpart in Vancouver last season and for whom he was traded, would have led the Canucks from out of the playoffs last year to the Northwest Division title this season? Neither do I.

That leaves us with that Crosby kid -- arguably already the best player in the league. The 19-year-old wunderkind won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer with 120 points, becoming the youngest scoring leader among major pro sports. As if leading the league in scoring wasn’t enough, he helped Pittsburgh make a 47-point turnaround this year to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2000-01 season. Crosby had seven separate streaks of points in five or more consecutive games while only one streak of three games without a point. All that while playing amidst constant media attention and the uncertainty of where the Penguins organization would be playing next season.

Will a goaltender win the Hart for the first time since Jose Theodore in 2001-02 with Montreal, or will it a be a teenager for the first time since Wayne Gretzky won his first of nine Hart Trophies as a 19-year-old in 1980? Crosby has all the media hype around him (deservedly so) and likely will be helped by the “anti-goalie bias” facing Brodeur and Luongo. Each of the three finalists is a compelling case, but what Crosby did leading the Penguins this season was phenomenal. This Hart Trophy should be the first of many more in Sid the Kid’s long career.

Posted by Marc Carl at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Awards ceremonies always are ripe for debate (don’t even get me started on The Shawshank Redemption losing out to Forrest Gump for Best Picture at the 1995 Academy Awards). The NHL Awards ceremony to be held on June 14 in Toronto certainly will not stray in that regard. Featured is Sidney Crosby looking for his first Hart Trophy against arguably the two best netminders in the league, Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo, four goalies nominated for the Vezina, and three outstanding rookies -- two of which are from the same team.

Let’s first examine the rookies nominated for the Calder (listed alphabetically):

Calder Trophy (most outstanding rookie): Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins; Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche

If there were one award with four finalists, it should be the Calder Trophy. Consider the following rookies who aren’t even nominated for the Calder:

Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles -- 61 points in 72 games and the face of the Kings franchise
Dustin Penner, Anaheim -- tied for second among rookies with 29 goals
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose -- highest +/- of Sharks defenders and all rookie blueliners

Stastny truly established himself in the Calder race once the calendar turned to 2007, amassing 50 points in 44 games while registering a point in a rookie-record 20 consecutive games from February 3 through March 17. Staal consistently wowed the Penguins, and then the entire NHL, by making the team out of training camp and constantly improving. The 18-year-old set a rookie record as he led the league with seven shorthanded goals and finished tied for second among rookies with 29 goals.

The Calder should go to Malkin, though, as he was the most dominating rookie from start to finish. The 20-year-old Russian was the highest rookie point producer in all but one full month he played (Stastny bested Malkin by three points in February), and he is only the fourth rookie to post better than a point-per-game average since the 1994-95 season.

Player, Team, Season...........Games.....Points....Points/Game
* A. Ovechkin, Was, 2005-06....81..........106........1.31
S. Crosby, Pit, 2005-06...........81..........102........1.26
E. Malkin, Pit, 2006-07...........78...........85........1.09
* P. Forsberg, Que, 1994-95....47...........50........1.06
(* - won Calder Trophy)

What might be a more interesting debate is which of these rookies, including the three players not even nominated, will have a better career in the NHL. That story hasn’t been written yet, as each of the six rookies mentioned should have long careers ahead of them.

Coming up tomorrow, the Hart Trophy finalists...

Posted by Marc Carl at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boston's Marc Savard has been quietly putting together another good season after his breakout 2005-06 season in Atlanta. The Bruins' center is currently third in the NHL this season with 50 assists.

Most Assists, NHL Since 2005-06

Joe Thornton 152
Sidney Crosby 124
Marc Savard 119
Jaromir Jagr 113
Henrik Sedin 103

Posted by Walter Lis at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After getting off to a 3-7-2 start in 2006-07, the Calgary Flames have been red hot since early November, collecting 27 of a possible 36 points.

Best Record, 11/4 & Since
(based on percentage of available points)

Ducks 15-4-2 .762
Flames 13-4-1 .750
Sharks 15-5-0 .750
Predators 14-5-2 .714
Red Wings 11-4-3 .694

Posted by Walter Lis at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Although they were eliminated by Carolina, no existing franchise has played nearly as many best-of-seven series as the New Jersey Devils without ever being swept. In fact, only four of the league’s other 29 teams can also make the claim that they’ve never been swept, and two of those teams—Columbus and Atlanta—have never even reached the postseason!

NHL - Current Franchises Never Swept in Best-of-7 Series

Team - Best-of-7’s Played
Devils - 34
Lightning - 8
Predators - 2
Blue Jackets - 0
Thrashers - 0

Posted by Walter Lis at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Florida Panthers led the NHL in goals per game in February. However, they've slipped back to their previous lethargic pace recently.

Panthers Goals per Game by Month (with NHL ranks) – 2005-06

October 2.3 (27)
November 2.4 (25)
December 3.1 (T-14)
January 2.3 (28)
February 5.0 (1)
March 1.0 (T-29, last)

Posted by Walter Lis at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks has been very “clutch” this season, scoring 15 times in the third period with seven of them coming in the last five minutes.

Most Goals In The Last 5 Minutes Of The 3rd Period – 2005-06

Jonathan Cheechoo, SJ 7
Mike Knuble, Phi 6
Olli Jokinen, Fla 6
Scott Hartnell, Nsh 6
Justin Williams, Car 6
Ales Kotalik, Buf 6

Posted by Walter Lis at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Rangers are looking to make their first postseason appearance since guys like Gretzky, Messier and Leetch were still skating for the Blue Shirts (1996-97). New York has already topped its win total from all of 2003-04.

Teams with More Wins in 2005-06 Than Entire 2003-04 Season

New York Rangers 28 (27 in 2003-04)
Carolina Hurricanes 33 (28)
Los Angeles Kings 30 (28)
Phoenix Coyotes 24 (22)

Posted by Walter Lis at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing Nashville NHL fans have never seen is their team in 1st place this late in the season. However, with a regulation win tonight, the Predators will take over sole leadership in the Central Division.

Predators’ Latest Date With Share of 1st Place – All-Time

October 20, 2005 (6-0-0 record)
October 20, 2003 (3-2-0-0)
October 20, 2000 (4-1-1-0)

Posted by Walter Lis at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The elder statesmen of the Detroit Red Wings have been very productive this season. The Red Wings have gotten 39 goals from players less than 26 years of age, 44 from players between 26 and 30, 42 from players between 31 and 35, and 42 by players 36 and older.

Most Goals by Players 36+ Years Old

Detroit Red Wings 42
Colorado Avalanche 34
Pittsburgh Penguins 27
Florida Panthers 22
Atlanta Thrashers 18

Posted by Walter Lis at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Columbus Blue Jackets have picked up their game recently, winning six of their last ten games. Almost all of the Blue Jackets’ victories have been close this year. Columbus has won seven of their last 11 games, five of the seven victories have been by a single goal.

Highest Pct. of Victories by 1 Goal, 2005-06

Columbus Blue Jackets .750 (12/16)
Washington Capitals .733 (11/15)
Montreal Canadiens .714 (15/21)

Posted by Walter Lis at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Atlanta Thrashers boast the top goal-scoring trio in the league heading into tonight’s action. They battle Sidney Crosby and the Penguins tonight in Atlanta.

NHL, Most Combined Goals by Team Trio - 2005-06
(only the top trio for each team is listed)

Kovalchuk/Hossa/Savard, Thrashers 66
Heatley/Alfredsson/(Fisher/Spezza), Senators 64
Gagne/Knuble/Forsberg, Flyers 60
Staal/Brind’Amour/Williams, Hurricanes 57
Col, Det, NYR Trios Tied 54

Posted by Walter Lis at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Even without reigning MVP Martin St. Louis having a big season, the Tampa Bay Lightning boast one of the more balanced attacks in hockey.

Most 35 Point Scorers, 2005-06

Tampa Bay Lightning 3 (Prospal, Richards, Lecavalier)
Ottawa Senators 3
Atlanta Thrashers 3
Detroit Red Wings 3
3 Teams Tied With 2

Posted by Walter Lis at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

It’s no wonder that the NHL has legislated a reduction in the size of goaltending equipment, as the trend is obvious when looking at the leaguewide goaltending numbers for every fourth season since 1983-84. Will the new rules changes reverse this trend and increase scoring?

Goals-Against Average & Save Percentage, Entire NHL
(Every fourth season since 1983-84)

GAA Sv Pct
1983-84 3.94 .871
1987-88 3.71 .878
1991-92 3.48 .886
1995-96 3.14 .896
1999-00 2.75 .902
2003-04 2.57 .908

Posted by Walter Lis at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)