FINE MASONRY
(Photo Credit - Mark Humphrey - AP)
Chris Mason pitches a shutout against his old team in Nashville
St. Louis Blues (9-8-2) over the Nashville Predators (10-9-2) 1-0 (SO)
Homecomings for players are always memorable. Sometimes they are memorable, sometimes they are forgettable. For Chris Mason, it doesn't get more memorable than a 47-save shutout, 2 saves in the shootout, and a 1-0 shootout win. It was the first time the Predators had been shutout at home since Jan. 13, 2004, a span of 148 games. The last time it happened, the Predators skated off with a 0-0 tie against Los Angeles with Mason in goal.
I was actually able to watch a good portion of this game, and Chris Mason made some spectacular saves in his 13th career shutout. This marked the most shots the Predators have recorded in a game without scoring. "It was a good night," said Mason, who spent parts of six seasons with the Predators. "This is definitely one of the top games in my career, so far. I was with Nashville for so long. It was just crazy." Mason gave a lot of credit to his teammates. "The guys blocked about a million shots, too," he said. "There were a lot of scrambles in front of the net and they cleared the pucks out. We got two points, and we battled our way to get them."
Mason outdueled Nashville's Dan Ellis, who also posted his first blanking with a 17-save effort but allowed shootout goals to David Perron and Brad Boyes. It was the seventh career shutout for Ellis. Both players beat him in the shootout with identical moves. Nashville outshot St. Louis 47-17 in an extremely physical game with a lot of good hits. The 30-shot advantage for the Predators was the largest in franchise history. Nashville outshot St. Louis 11-3 in the third period and 9-1 in overtime.
Despite the big shutout, Chris Mason will get to rest tonight as Manny Legace will man the crease for the Blues in Colorado tonight as St. Louis looks for it's 4th win in a row. Nashville has two nights off before they get a chance to rebound in Atlanta on Friday night.
OTHER HEADLINES
-Former Tampa Bay Lightning Associate Coach Mike Sullivan has returned to the team and will serve as associate coach to Interim Head Coach Rick Tocchet, Executive Vice President & General Manager Brian Lawton announced. In addition, Assistant Coach Cap Raeder will become goaltending coach and oversee the development of the organization's netminders in Tampa Bay, Norfolk(AHL), Augusta (ECHL), and unsigned prospects in the system. Wes Walz remains as an assistant coach on Tocchet’s staff.
-Another son of hockey great Patrick Roy is facing disciplinary action for on-ice behavior. Frederick Roy was suspended 15 games Monday by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for high sticking during the Quebec Remparts' game against the Montreal Juniors last Friday. Roy, a forward with the Remparts, struck Montreal defenseman Vincent Bourgeois in the mouth during a timeout. The league decided to suspend Roy after reviewing video of the incident and interviewing those involved. The suspension comes eight months after Roy's brother, Jonathan, was suspended for seven games by the junior hockey league for participating in on-ice fight. Jonathan Roy is facing criminal charges for attacking goalie Bobby Nadeau during a game. Patrick Roy was suspended for five games for the incident.
-Five years since his last NHL game, veteran NHL winger Claude Lemieux signed a contract to play for the Worcester Sharks (AHL). The 43-year-old Lemieux, a 20-year NHL veteran with Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado, Phoenix and Dallas is a four-time Stanley Cup Champion. He is also one of only eight players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams.
Atlanta Thrashers (8-10-2) over the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-9-5) 6-3
TOP PERFORMER = Thrashers C Todd White - 2 Goals
Calgary Flames (12-9-1) over the Los Angeles Kings (8-9-3) 6-2
TOP PERFORMER = Flames LW Curtis Glencross - 1 Goal, 2 assists
-Calgary traditionally plays well against the Kings and last night was no different. The Kings trailed Calgary 4-0 after two periods and were never really in this game. Jarome Iginla had a goal and an assist, Craig Conroy had three assists, Rene Bourque had two goals, and Matthew Lombardi had two assists. Former King Mike Cammalleri scored the first goal of the game against his former team. G Miika Kiprusoff made 23 saves in the win while G Erik Ersberg was pulled from the game for the first time in his first string of starts. Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar scored for Los Angeles. Kings D Denis Gauthier played his first game in Calgary since 2004. Gauthier played 384 NHL games in nine seasons with the Flames.
RUMOR MILL
-Everyone is looking at the Leafs to make a deal with GM Brian Burke within the week, but also look for them to make a big trade soon as well.
-The Canadiens are looking for a defenseman to help their power play
-The Flames are shopping D Cory Sarich (probably not the fit Montreal is looking for).
AROUND THE BOARDS
-The Tampa Bay Lightning traded minor league center Wyatt Smith to the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday for future considerations. Smith played in 18 games with Norfolk of the AHL this season. The 31-year-old forward has played in 211 career NHL games with Phoenix, Nashville, Minnesota, Colorado and the New York Islanders. The Lightning also reassigned goalie Karri Ramo to Norfolk.
-The Maple Leafs will be without D Jonas Frogren for up to six weeks after an MRI revealed two muscle tears in his arm, according to the Toronto Sun. Frogren's injury occurred during the first period of Toronto's 5-4 loss to the Blackhawks on Saturday night. "We thought it could be serious, but we really didn't know," Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher told the Sun. "It happened to Jonas on his first shift of the game but he kept playing (before leaving early in the second period)." The ailing Leafs squad had nine defencemen at one point this season but are now down to six. Ian White will be shifted to the blue line to fill in after spending nine games as a forward.
-Reebok announced Tuesday that it's enlisted Jason Spezza to market it's products. He will be joining other NHL stars such as Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur. In addition to wearing and marketing the company's gear, Spezza will be involved in "future development and insight into how we design products," said Len Rhodes, general manager of Reebok-CCM hockey.GAME OF THE NIGHT
Montreal Canadiens (11-5-4) @ Detroit Red Wings (14-2-4) - 7:30PM
I'm a sucker for Original 6 match-ups. This match up happens to put two of the best teams in the NHL against one another in Hockeytown. The Red Wings are coming off a 3-2 OT loss at Vancouver. However, they are 7-0-2 in their last 9 and their offense is registering 3.65 goals per game. The Red Wings also boast the NHL's top power-play unit with a 32.9 percent conversion rate (28-for-85). With a 4-4-3 mark this month, the Canadiens have slowed after going 7-1-1 in October. In its past two games, Montreal has lost consecutive games in shootouts, most recently Monday in a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders. Montreal's defense, giving up 2.55 goals per contest, has kept it competitive. However the Canadiens have scored more than three goals just once in their last 10 games -- a 4-0 win over Ottawa on Nov. 11. Additionally, Montreal has also converted just 15 of 100 power-play chances, and that has translated into a 3-2-3 record in one-goal games this month. Detroit has taken seven of its last home eight contests with the Montreal Canadiens. Despite splitting the last four meetings, the Red Wings also are 13-4-0 against Montreal since 1994.
Boston (14-3-4) @ Buffalo (9-8-3) - 7PM
Philadelphia (10-6-4) @ Carolina (11-9-2) - 7PM
THANKSGIVING NIGHT ACTION
^ALL TIMES EASTERN
`Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will be no blog tomorrow
*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out Monday evenings
~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out tonight!
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Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving I hope everyone gets to stuff their face on Turkey Day like I will be doing tomorrow. If you get the chance to try deep fried turkey, do yourself a favor and eat as much of it as you can.
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