FTS 11/2/08

TOP STORY

Beast of the East vs. Least of the East

(Photo Credit: Shannon Stapleton: REUTERS)

Tomas Plekanec and Alexei Kovalev Celebrate the Comeback Win

Montreal Canadiens (8-1-1) over the New York Islanders (2-71) 5-4

AP/NHL.com Link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020155

If you looked at the scoreboard halfway through the 3rd period, you thought "Wow, the Isles are going to get a huge win at home tonight". If you checked the scoreboard about 20 minutes later, you're first thought was probably "Wow the Isles are really that bad". The New York Islanders carried a 4-1 lead in to the 3rd period, but couldn't hold on.

Alexei Kovalev would open the scoring for the game two minutes in, but Montreal wouldn't sniff the scoresheet until the 3rd period. PPG's from D Mark Streit (first game against his former team), Bill Guerin, and even strength goals from Jon Sim and Frans Nielsen would give the Isles breathing room. But Tomas Plekanec would storm back with two goals within about two minutes in the 3rd and Long Island native Christopher Higgins (who always seems to turn it on against the Isles) tied it with just under six minutes remaining. Kovalev would score the winner about a minute later. Isles G Yann Dennis made his first NHL start in three years and made 27 saves in the loss.

The Islanders are winless in six games (0-5-1) since a 4-3 overtime victory at Tampa Bay on 10/16. Their next game is Tuesday when they travel to MSG to take on the Rangers. The Canadiens have now won three in a row and will have five days off before they travel to play Columbus on Friday night.

OTHER HEADLINES

-New York Islanders G Rick DiPietro underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a meniscus injury and will miss four to six weeks.The Islanders said DiPietro had the surgery on Friday. DiPietro is 0-2-0 in three starts this season with a 3.91 GAA. He underwent offseason surgery on his hip and right knee, played in only one preseason game, then dressed but did not play in the Islanders' first four games. He lost 2-0 to Florida and 5-3 to Dallas, then was lifted after allowing two goals in the first period to Carolina on Oct. 25 and replaced by Joey MacDonald, who had started the Isles' first four games. The Islanders have recalled Yann Danis from Bridgeport of the AHL to replace DiPietro on the roster.

This is why you don't sign ANYONE to a 15 year deal. I don't care how young or good someone is. This deal set the trend for a lot of 12 and 13 year deals. For a guy like Ovechkin, I can see wanting to lock him up as long as possible (there are very few sure things in this league, but AO is one of them). And Neil Smith was the crazy one according to owner Charles Wang.

-Mats Sundin was in attendance on Thursday night at the Canucks 4-0 win over the Kings at the Staples Center. Sundin, who watched the game from a luxury suite with his agent JP Barry, was also joined by Canucks GM Mike Gillis. He has a two-year, $20 million offer on the table from the Canucks. Other teams that have shown interested in acquiring Sundin's services include the New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens as well as his former team, the Maple Leafs. He has yet to start skating and begin his comeback training.

RUMOR MILL

-The Senators are on the trail for a defenseman. Stars rearguard Trevor Daley is a name that has come up.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Edmonton Oilers (5-4-1) over the Carolina Hurricanes (5-3-2) 3-1

-Ray Whitney would get the Hurricanes on the board first in the first period, but that would be all for Carolina for the day. Shawn Horcoff tied it with a PPG in the 2nd period and captain Ethan Moreau would score two goals within the last two minutes of the game to get and seal the win for Edmonton. G Dwayne Roloson would make 33 saves for Edmonton while Cam Ward would make 29 for Carolina. Carolina thought it had tied the score with 43.1 seconds left when Eric Staal poked his own rebound toward the net. But replays showed goalie Roloson covered the puck before it crossed the goal line. Carolina played its first home game since 10/13 after going 3-3 on a season long 6 game road trip last week. They also started a stretch in which they will play 14 of 19 at home. Edmonton snapped a give game losing streak and this was the second game of a seven-game road trip.

Boston Bruins (6-3-3) over the Dallas Stars (4-6-2) 5-1

-Marco Sturm scored two goals and Patrice Bergeron added a goal and a great defensive play to help the Bruins get win #6 on the season. This was a chippy game with 146 penalty minutes assessed on the two teams, including 77 against Boston. Seven misconducts were handed out. Phil Kessel scored his 7th goal of the season while G Tim Thomas made 35 saves, including 21 in a second period in which he held the Stars scoreless despite a series of power plays. Sean Avery scored the lone Stars goal.

Buffalo Sabres (7-2-2) over the Washington Capitals (5-4-1) 5-0
-Miller stopped 29 shots for his eighth NHL shutout and Thomas Vanek scored twice as the Sabres to end Buffalo's two-game losing skid. Vanek leads the league in scoring with 11 goals. Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, and Daniel Paille also scored for Buffalo. Andrej Sekera had two assists for the first multipoint game of his NHL career. Tim Connolly played for the first time after missing the first 10 games of the season due hairline vertebrae fractures. He assisted on Roy's goal. Capitals LW Alexander Ovechkin is scheduled to rejoin the Capitals in time for Tuesday's game at Ottawa.

Toronto Maple Leafs (5-3-3) over the New York Rangers (10-3-1) 5-2

-This was a tale of two different games. The Rangers were outplaying the Maple Leafs through the first two and a half periods and held on to a 2-0 lead. The Leafs would storm back with five goals on backup goalie Stephen Valiquette in the last half of the 3rd Period and would steal the home victory from the Blueshirts. Toronto got it's goals from John Mitchell (he had two), Jason Blake, Pavel Kubina, and former Ranger Dominic Moore. Blake played his 600th NHL game The Rangers goals came from Ryan Callahan and Blair Betts.

New Jersey Devils (7-2-2) over the Atlanta Thrashers (2-7-2) 6-1

-The big news in this one is Devils G Martin Brodeur left the game in the 2nd period with a left elbow injury. It appears to be muscular, but the reports right now are saying it's a bruise. This would be the Devils 4th major injury of the year, losing already Brian Rolston (ankle), Bobby Holik (pinkie) and Andy Greene (hand). LW Zach Parise had two goals, LW Patrick Elias chipped in a goal and an assist, and D Johnny Oduya had three assists.

Chicago Blackhawks (5-3-3) over the Columbus Blue Jackets (4-6-1) 4-3 (SO)

-Blackhawks G made a career high 48 saves and Jonathan Toews would give Chicago the shootout winner in the first round. Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook (PPG) and Martin Havlat (PPG) would have the three Chicago goals while RJ Umberger (PPG), Fedor Tyutin (SHG) and Kristian Huselius would net the Columbus goals. Columbus outshot Chicago 51-24 for the game. The Blackhawks improved to 4-1-2 under coach Joel Quenneville.

Tampa Bay Lightning (4-3-3) over the Ottawa Senators (4-5-2) 3-2 (SO)

-Normally a tough guy, RW Evegeny Artyukhin would score the SO winner in the 8th round for Tampa Bay. Vincent Lecavalier and Matt Carle scored in regulation for the Lightning, who have won three in a row. Lightning G Mike Smith made 28 saves while Sens G Alex Auld stopped 32 shots. Antoine Vermette and Dany Heatley had the Ottawa goals. The Senators completed a four-game road trip at 2-1-1. Senators D Filip Kuba picked up his 12th assist in 11 games. Tampa Bay C Ryan Craig played for the first time since hurting his knee in 11/07. He started this season sidelined by a groin injury.

Nashville Predators (6-4-1) over the Florida Panthers (4-5-1) 3-2 (SO)

-Preds RW Martin Erat was certainly the star of this game. He scored the game tying goal halfway through the 3rd period and then scored the lone shootout goal to get the win. Ryan Suter now has assists in four straight games for Nashville. Shea Weber also scored for the Predators while Rostislav Olesz (playing his 200th NHL game) and Karlis Skrastins netted Florida's goals. Pekka Rinne made 24 saves while Craig Anderson turned away 30 in the loss. Florida's Nathan Horton played in his 300th career NHL game.

Pittsburgh Penguins (6-4-2) over the St. Louis Blues (5-5-0) 6-3

-Sidney Crosby WAS in the lineup despite suffering an injury against Phoenix and chipped in with two assists for the win. RW Miroslav Satan had a goal and two assists while Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist each (Goligoski, Kennedy and Talbot had the other three Pittsburgh goals). Ruslan Fedotenko left the Penguins' morning skate with an undisclosed injury and was scratched from the lineup. Pittsburgh placed Pascal Dupuis on the injured list with an undisclosed ailment and recalled forward Janne Pesonen from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL). Patrik Berglund scored the 10,000th goal in team history for St. Louis. Barret Jackman and T.J. Oshie had the other Blues goals. The Blues went 3-4 on their seven-game homestand and are 5-5 after a 4-1 start.

Minnesota Wild (7-2-1) over the Phoenix Coyotes (4-5-0) 3-2

-Eric Belanger scored with 9:25 left and Nicklas Backstrom stopped 25 shots to improve to 7-0-0 lifetime against the Coyotes. Benout Pouliot and Mikko Koivu scored the other two goals for Minnesota while Olli Jokinen had both Phoenix goals. The Wild, who are already without Marian Gaborik and Owen Nolan, lost defenseman Brent Burns minutes before the game to an upper body injury sustained in warmups. Tomas Mojzis, originally on the list of scratches, dressed and left in the second period with an upper body injury. Asked how long he could keep patching together lineups, Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said, "Until I die. And it's coming."

Calgary Flames (7-3-1) over the Los Angeles Kings (3-6-1) 3-2

-The Calgary Flames might have taken over the title as the hottest team in the NHL right now. Daymond Langkow scored the go-ahead goal with 3:37 remaining, Miikka Kiprusoff made 34 saves, and Calgary has now won 6 in a row. Adrian Aucoin and Eric Nystrom also had goals, and Todd Bertuzzi earned two assists in the Flames' seventh victory in eight meetings with the Kings. Kings C Oscar Moller scored both LA goals. Calgary has killed 25 of 26 power plays over the previous six games.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The Blue Jackets activated Raffi Torres off of IR. He was acquired from Edmonton in exchange for Gilbert Brule on 7/1, but injured a shoulder during a preseason game against Chicago on 9/29.

-Team Canada may be forced to change the look of its jersey for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver (courtesy of the Canadian Press):

http://tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/story/?id=254449&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_main

-The Ottawa Senators have been presented an ultimatum by Russian prospect Alexander Nikulin. Nikulin has stated that he will return to Russia if the Senators do not have a deal in place by Monday. He was a scratch Saturday night as the Binghamton Senators faced Bridgeport. The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that Senators general manager Bryan Murray has sent a memo around the league, but has received no interest in Nikulin due to the fact that teams are unsure if he will remain in North American if he is not given a roster spot on an NHL team.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

San Jose Sharks (9-2-0) @ Colorado Avalanche (6-5-0) - 8PM

-The Sharks are off to their best start in franchise history and are on a three game winning streak. The last two wins came against last year's Stanley Cup finalists. On the flip side, Colorado is reeling a little bit, losing two in a row (and not looking good in either game) after winning five in a row. The Avs went from leading the league in goals scored to only scoring two goals combined in two games (lost 3-0 to Calgary and 4-2 to Columbus). Look for the Avs to send Peter Budaj back between the pipes. Colorado and San Jose split four meetings last season.

Other Action:

Edmonton (5-4-1) @ Philadelphia (4-3-3) - 1PM

Toronto (4-3-3) @ Carolina (5-3-2) - 5PM

Calgary (7-3-1) @ Anaheim (6-5-1) - 8PM

Detroit (7-2-2) @ Vancouver (6-5-0) - 10PM

^ALL TIMES EASTERN

*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings

~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out on Wednesday evenings

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR EMAIL ANYTIME AT FROMTHESLOT@gmail.com

FTS - 11/1/08

TOP STORY

Canucks Survive in Anaheim

(Photo Credit: Jeff Gross - Getty Images)

Ryan Kesler, Mattias Ohlund, and Steve Bernier celebrate a 2nd period goal

Vancouver Canucks (6-5-0) over the Anaheim Ducks (6-5-1) 7-6 (SO)

AP/NHL.com Link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020149

Talk about a seesaw game. Things looked pretty normal after the first period with Anaheim holding on to a 2-1 lead. In the 2nd period, both teams would combine for seven goals. Vancouver would jump out to a 5-3 lead before Anaheim would storm back to tie it before the intermission. In the 3rd period, Steve Bernier would score a PPG to give Vancouver a lead until just under a minute remained. Corey Perry, who had four assists on the game already would net one of his own to force overtime.

Both goalies would stand tall in OT (Ducks G Jean-Sebastian Giguere would be pulled midway through the 2nd period for Jonas Hiller). The shootout would go 13 rounds before Canucks D Mattias Ohlund would finally send everyone home. D Kevin Bieksa would chip in a G and 2A for Vancouver while Steve Bernier scored twice. For Anaheim, Perry had a goal and four assists while Teemu Selanne (who has been red hot the past week) scored two goals and assisted on two of his own.

This was certainly a memorable game for Roberto Luongo's 500th career start. He is the 51st goalie to reach that plateau. Anaheim center Brendan Morrison played his first regular-season game against the Canucks since signing with the Ducks in July. The win gives Vancouver a California weekend sweep (beat LA on Friday 4-0) and there next game is Sunday when they host the Red Wings. The Ducks loss snaps a five game winning streak and their next game is tomorrow night when they host Calgary.

OTHER HEADLINES

-Penguins C Sidney Crosby is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury (it appears to be a lower body injury). It still isn't known if he will dress tonight against St. Louis.

-The late Alexei Cherepanov was playing illegally with Avangard Omsk apparently (courtesy TSN.ca)http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=254342&lid=sublink03&lpos=headlines_nhl

You know what's great about this story? Absolutely nothing! A 19 year old hockey player passes away due to an unknown heart condition. He could have potentially been saved if the ambulance had been at the arena, like it was supposed to have been. Oh, and the defribulator's battery was dead. Lets not figure our why those two statements ended up being fact and being major contributors to the tragic death of Cherepanov. Lets talk about how he "should" have been in the military (I say "should" because Russian hockey players not serving in the actual military is a practice that has been going on since the days of the Steel Curtain). Frankly, it has nothing to do with anything. Like I've said in this blog before, if the KHL wants to be on par with the NHL, than things like this CAN'T happen. Get your stuff together KHL and Russia.

RUMOR MILL

-Rumors were beginning to heat up that LW Brendan Shanahan would sign with the St. Louis Blues. He spent time on the Blues from 1991-1994


-With the Maple Leafs actually playing good hockey, it looks like they are ready to start making deals now. Shockingly, Mats Sundin's name isn't coming up much here. Thrashers winger Ilya Kovalchuk and Panthers D Jay Bouwmeester are the rumored names.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Chicago Blackhawks (4-3-3) over the Dallas Stars (4-5-2) 5-2
-This was a close game through the first two periods. Dallas and Chicago were trading rushes and both moving the puck well. In the third period, the Blackhawks truly took control of the game and put it away with goals from Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien. RW Patrick Kane had a G and 2A while Brent Sopel and Cam Barker had the other goals for the 'Hawks. Nikolai Khabibulin made 21 saves in the win (perhaps showcasing him for a deal?). Loui Eriksson and Steve Ott had the two goals for Dallas. Dallas C Brad Richards missed the game with a lower-body injury. The Stars did not disclose how long Richards might be out. Dallas RW Jere Lehtinen missed his 11th game with a groin injury and D Doug Janik missed his sixth straight with an eye injury. Both are day to day and could return within a week.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-Devils D Andy Greene will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken hand


-NHL hands disciplinary action down to Columbus (courtesy NHL.com)http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=389725


-The Dallas Stars recalled left wing Chris Conner under emergency conditions from the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) The club also placed center Joel Lundqvist onto the Injured Reserve, as he is expected to be out four to six weeks with a shoulder injury.


-The Panthers reassigned C Shawn Matthias to Rochester (AHL). The move was made to make room for D Jassen Cullimore will return to the lineup tonight against Nashville.


-D Tyler Sloan was sent back down to the minors by the Washington Capitals on Friday after he finally got a chance to play in the NHL. Sloan returns to AHL-Hershey after four games with the Capitals, including one goal.The Calgary native was called up while defenceman Tom Poti was sidelined with a groin injury. But Poti returned to practice Thursday after missing two weeks.After more than 400 games in the minor leagues, the 27-year-old Sloan made his NHL debut Oct. 21 against the Calgary Flames in his hometown.


-The Montreal Canadiens suspended D Pavel Valentenko without pay on Friday after the prospect left the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) to sign a three-year contract with Dynamo Moscow. Valentenko was in the second year of a three-year, entry-level deal with the Canadiens organization, but opted to sign with Dynamo at the urging of his family. The NHL has raised the issue with the International Ice Hockey Federation. Valentenko will also need clearance from the Russian Hockey Federation before he can play for Dynamo in the KHL.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Washington Capitals (5-3-1) @ Buffalo Sabres (6-2-2) - 7PM

-The big story in this game is that LW Alexander Ovechkin will miss his 2nd straight game (he's back in Russia helping with a family illness issue). Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau says he thinks Ovechkin will be back for practice Monday. The Capitals have won two in a row and are coming off a 4-3 SO win over Nashville. Capitals D Tom Poti returns to the lineup after missing five games with a groin injury. The Sabres have lost three in a row (1 in the SO - @ Colorado) and are coming off back to back 5-2 home losses (Ottawa & Tampa Bay). The Sabres outscored the Capitals 16-10 as they won three of four meetings last season. The teams split two matchups in Buffalo.


Other Action:
Edmonton (4-4-1) @ Carolina (5-2-2) - 3PM
Dallas (4-5-2) @ Boston (5-3-3) - 7PM
NY Rangers (10-2-1) @ Toronto (4-3-3) - 7PM
Atlanta (2-6-2) @ New Jersey (5-2-2) - 7PM
Montreal (7-1-1) @ NY Islanders (2-6-1) - 7PM
Chicago (4-3-3) @ Columbus (4-6-0) - 7PM
Ottawa (4-5-1) @ Tampa Bay (3-3-3) - 7:30PM
Florida (4-5-0) @ Nashville (5-4-1) - 8PM
Pittsburgh (5-4-2) @ St. Louis (5-4-0) - 8:30PM
Minnesota (6-2-1) @ Phoenix (4-4-0) - 10PM
Calgary (6-3-1) @ Los Angeles (3-5-1) - 10PM


^ALL TIMES EASTERN



*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings


~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out on Wednesday evenings


FEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR SEND ANY THOUGHTS TO FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM

FTS - 10/31/08

TOP STORY

Red Wings Drown In The Shark Tank

(Photo Credit: AP)

LW Ryan Clowe celebrates a PPG as Detroit loses it's 2nd Straight West Coast Game

San Jose Sharks (9-2-0) over the Detroit Red Wings (7-2-2) 4-2

If you didn't know that new Sharks HC Todd McLellan was a former Red Wings assistant, now you do. The Sharks played Red Wings-style hockey. McLellan even predicted his first game against his former team would feature two teams that were mirror images of each other. "I thought we got 'Winged' tonight," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought they did everything exactly like we try to do. They just did it better tonight. We're going to look forward to playing them again. I think he's done a real good job. He's got a real good team over there."

Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves to keep the Sharks undefeated at home so far this season (6-0-0). San Jose got goals from Patrick Marleau, Ryan Clowe, Jamie McGinn, and Joe Pavelski. Devin Setoguchi added two assists. The Sharks have now won three in a row and their next game is Sunday when they travel to Colorado.

Detroit's two goals came from Marian Hossa and and Brian Rafalski. Detroit had won its past four games in San Jose, including two games in the 2007 playoffs. The Red Wings had scored at least one power-play goal in eight straight games, before being held scoreless on their two chances against San Jose. Detroit's next game is Sunday when they continue their west coast road swing in Vancouver.

The Sharks have been one of the better teams in the West over the past few seasons but have been stuck in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Nothing against Ron Wilson, but sometimes a team needs a shake-up to perform better. We see it all the time in other sports. New energy behind the bench might be exactly what the doctor ordered for this team. It's still early in the season, but San Jose looks real sharp and can match up against any team in the West. As for Detroit, they are still a top team in the NHL but have had the misfortune of running in to two of the hottest teams in the league. Vancouver has see-sawed this year and should be prime for the taking after they play Anaheim tonight.

OTHER HEADLINES

-Sidney Crosby left the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes last with an undisclosed injury. Crosby disappeared from the bench towards the beginning of the third and is listed as day-to-day. Penguins team policy does not allow disclosure of injuries.

-Daniel Alfredsson agrees to a 4-year extension with the Ottawa Senators (courtesy of TSN.ca)
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=254198&lid=sublink05&lpos=headlines_nhl

-Atlanta Thrashers defenceman Zach Bogosian, the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft, will be out indefinitely with a broken left leg. The injury won't require surgery. Bogosian was hurt when he was slammed into the boards by Philadelphia's Darroll Powe in the Flyers' 7-0 win in Atlanta on Tuesday night.

RUMOR MILL

-Nikolai Khabibulin trade rumors are heating up. Like I suggested in an earlier blog, if Rick DiPietro's health is going to be a constant concern (and it will be for 13 more years), then maybe Isles GM Garth Snow needs to get on the line with Chicago and work something out. It looks like the Isles want to deal Mike Comrie and he'd be a good fit in Chicago.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Tampa Bay Lightning (3-3-3) over the Buffalo Sabres (6-2-2) 5-2
-The Lightning got back to .500 thanks to a big game from rookie C Steve Stamkos. It took him eight games to dent the score sheet, but had a big coming out party with two goals and an assist. Vinny Lecavalier added two assists (extending his points streak to 8 games) and the rest of the Lightning goals came from Ryan Malone, Jussi Jokinen and Paul Ranger. G Olaf Kozlig made 29 saves in the road win for TB. The Sabres have allowed 10 goals in their past two games, both regulation losses.

New York Rangers (10-2-1) over the Atlanta Thrashers (2-6-2) 3-2
-The Rangers are off to their best start through 13 games in franchise history. RW Markus Naslund scored the Rangers first goal and extended his points streak to five games (3G 4A in the span). 2008 addition Nikolai Zherdev is paying off big dividends early for the Rangers with a goal (on a SWEET backhand) and an assist and made a great defensive play on a Thrashers breakaway. D Dan Girardi scored the game winner with about six minutes remaining. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves to earn his league-leading 8th win. The Thrashers have the 2nd lowest point total in the league with 6.

Philadelphia Flyers (4-3-3) over the New York Islanders (2-6-1) 3-2 (OT)

-The Flyers have erased the memories of a bad start and have won four in a row since then. Jeff Carter scored two goals for Philly, including the PP game winner with 24 seconds left in OT. G Martin Biron made 34 saves in the win. Mike Knuble extended his point-scoring streak to four games (4G 1A-). Islanders D Mark Streit (3G 3A ) and C Doug Weight (4A) each extended their point-scoring streaks to four games. The Isles have the lowest point total in the league with 5.

Ottawa Senators (4-5-0) over the Florida Panthers (4-5-1) 2-1

-The Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period (Keith Ballard PPG), but wouldn't be able to hold on to it. Dany Heatley would tie it up and Chris Kelly would score the game winner (both in the 3rd period) and the Sens would earn their first consecutive wins of the season. On the flip side, it was Florida's first back to back losses of the season. Alex Auld made 25 saves for Ottawa while Tomas Vokoun made 29 saves for Florida.

Nashville Predators (5-4-1) over the Edmonton Oilers (4-4-1) 3-1

-Patric Hornqvist, Shea Weaber and Martin Erat would pot the three goals for the Preds and get them back above .500 since the third game of the season. G Pekka Rinne stopped 27 shots to earn his first win of the year in his 2nd start of the season. Sheldon Souray would score the lone goal (PP) for the Oilers in the loss. After opening the season with four wins, Edmonton has now dropped five in a row (one in OT)

Montreal Canadiens (7-1-1) over the Minnesota Wild (6-2-1) 2-1

-In the battle of the Koivu brothers (Saku for Montreal, Mikko for Minnesota), it would be the elder brother getting the victory. It marked the first time in NHL history that brothers who are both captains would play against one another. Wild D Brent Burns would open the scoring early in the 1st period, but Francois Bouillon would answer right back for Montreal three minutes later. D Andrei Markov would score a PP goal in the 2nd period and the Canadiens would kill an astounding 10 penalties in the game. Carey Price made 28 saves in the win. Wild RW Owen Nolan sat out with a lower-body injury. Lemaire said he expects Nolan to make the team's upcoming road trip. This was Montreal's 2900th road game in team history and Minnesota's 2nd straigh regulation loss.

Carolina Hurricanes (5-2-2) over the St. Louis Blues (5-4-0) 1-0

-The game would remain scoreless until about halfway through the third period when Hurricanes C Tuomo Ruttu would score on the PP. G Cam Ward made 19 saves for his sevent career shutout. This was the last game of Carolina's 6 game road trip (3-1-2). The Blues had not lost at home to Carolina since the 1999-2000 season. In the last 20 years, the Hurricanes franchise won just three games in St. Louis before Thursday's victory. G Chris Mason made 28 saves for the Blues.

Columbus Blue Jackets (4-6-0) over the Colorado Avalanche (5-5-0) 4-2

-G Fredrik Norrena had 30 saves, Jason Chimera and Derick Brassard had a goal and an assist each and Columbus got a rare win in Colorado (Columbus is 4-23-1-1 against Colorado all time). It was Norrena's first win of the season and it snapped a three game losing streak for the Blue Jackets. Andrew Murray and Jan Hejda also chipped in a goal each. Paul Stastny and Tyler Arnason scored power-play goals for the Avalanche, who lost their second straight following a five-game winning streak. Avalanche D Scott Hannan played in his 600th career game Thursday

Calgary Flames (6-3-1) over the Boston Bruins (5-3-3) 3-2

-This game was decided in the 2nd period when Calgary would score on two separate power plays to take a 2-1 lead (Dion Phanuef and Mike Cammalleri - each also had an assist). Dustin Boyd would give the Flames some comfort space and Calgary would hold on for the win. Phaneuf's power-play goal at 2:29 of the second period ended Bruins G Tim Thomas' shutout streak at 152 minutes and 14 seconds. Patrice Bergeron and Blake Wheeler scored for Boston, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Calgary C Wayne Primeau played in his 700th NHL game while D Robyn Regehr appeared in career game No. 600. Primeau is on his sixth NHL team while all of Regehr's games have come with Calgary.G Miike Kiprusoff and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur are the only goalies remaining that have played every minute of their team's games. Calgary C Matthew Lombardi remains sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Phoenix Coyotes (4-4-0) over the Pittsburgh Penguins (5-4-2) 4-1

-Shane Doan scored twice and added an assist, and the Phoenix Coyotes beat Pittsburgh 4-1 on Thursday night. Olli Jokinen also scored, Steven Reinprecht and Zbynek Michalek each had two assists and Ilya Bryzgalov made 27 saves for Phoenix. The big story here is Sidney Crosby was injuried in the game. "I had some discomfort," said Crosby, who left the game with less than 5 minutes left in the second period. "I decided that in the third period, it didn't seem like I could do much." What happened to Crosby is unclear. Television replays showed Crosby skate to the Penguins bench, sit down with a grimace and try to collect himself. The Penguins went more than 15 minutes before recording its first shot on goal and finished the first period with two.

Vancouver Canucks (5-5-0) over the Los Angeles Kings (3-5-1) 4-0

-Canucks G Roberto Luongo earned his 40th career shutout and became only the 28th goalie ever to record 40 regular season shutouts. Luongo's next appearance will make him the 51st goaltender to appear in 500 regular-season NHL games. Daniel Sedin and Kyle Wellwood scored a PP goal each (btw, Vancouver HAS to be glad that no one else claimed Wellwood when they put him on waivers) and Mason Raymond and Taylor Pyatt also scored for Vancouver. Henrik Sedin had two assists as well. Vancouver shut down seven LA power plays.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The Moscow Dynamo website reports that Montreal Canadiens D prospect Pavel Valentenko has signed a three-year deal with the KHL club. The news comes just after the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) gave him an indefinite leave to attend to family matters back in Russia. A Canadiens spokesman said the team was unaware of the signing.

-The Nashville Predators have acquired forward Hugh Jessiman from the New York Rangers and defenceman Tim Ramholt from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Predators sent forward Josh Gratton to the Flyers on Thursday. The Rangers get future considerations for Jessiman. Jessiman has spent the past three seasons with Hartford in the AHL and Charlotte in the ECHL. Ramholt has played mostly in the minor leagues. Jessiman and Ramholt will be assigned to Milwaukee of the AHL.

-The Blues have signed goaltender Chris Holt. Holt played in two games with the Peoria Rivermen (AHL), posting a 2-0-0 record, a .915 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average. Holt spent the last three seasons in the New York Rangers system, splitting time between the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers and the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack this past season.

-Patrice Bergeron speaks out about the Brandon Sutter hit (courtesy of TSN.ca)

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=254249&lid=sublink09&lpos=headlines_nhl

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Vancouver Canucks (5-5-0) @ Anaheim Ducks (6-5-0) – 10PM

-This is an interesting match-up of two Western Conference foes. The Ducks are riding a five game winning streak and are coming off a big win over the Red Wings on Wednesday night. The Canucks are coming off a strong showing against LA last night (4-0 win). The Canucks are an enigmatic team this year. When they play well, they look outright dominant. When they struggle, they look like a ECHL team could beat them. Vancouver actually matches up well against Anaheim and this one should go deep in to 3rd period.

Other Action:
Dallas (4-4-2) @ Chicago (3-3-3) – 8:30PM

^All times Eastern

*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings
~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out on Wednesday evenings
FEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR SEND ANY THOUGHTS TO FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM

FTS - 10/30/08

TOP STORY

Anaheim Clips the Red Wings

(Photo Credit: AP Photo)

The Ducks Win The Battle of the Last Two Stanley Cup Champions

Anaheim Ducks (6-5-0) over the Detroit Red Wings (7-1-2) 5-4 (OT)

Both teams came in to this game on big winning streaks (Detroit had won 5 in a row, Anaheim won 4). It would be 2007 Stanley Cup champions defeating the defending champions thanks to a strong night from Teemu Selanne and some quick thinking from Francois Beauchemin.

Selanne had three goals on the season coming in to the game and would match that total by scoring his 21st career hat trick. All of those goals came on the PP and it tied the franchise record for power-play goals in a game (Paul Kariya). It gives the Finnish Flash 558 career goals and moved him past Johnny Bucyk into 21st place on the NHL career list, two behind Guy Lafleur.

Brian Sutherby would score Anaheim's 4th goal, but the winner would come on a heads-up play from D Francois Beauchemin in OT. Red Wings G Chris Osgood attempted a poke-check that sent the puck fluttering into the air. Beauchemin swatted at it and it went in the net. The Ducks waited out a video replay before they could celebrate their fifth straight victory.

Ryan Getzlaf had a career-high five assists in the game and Jean-Sebastian Giguere made 34 saves. It was also a career night for D Scott Niedermayer. His two assists set the Ducks' career record for assists by a defenseman with 127. The Ducks next game is tomorrow night when they host the Vancouver Canucks.

Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk each had two goals (one of Zetterberg's came on the PP) and Marian Hossa contributed two assists. G Chris Osgood made 29 saves in the loss. The Red Wings have scored at least one power-play goal in eight straight games and are 14-for-44 overall (31.8%). The Red Wings play tonight in San Jose.

OTHER HEADLINES

-Per an agreement between the NHL and NHLPA, the 2008-09 trade deadline will be 3:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, 3/4/09. It was originally scheduled for 3/3/09.

-Adam Mair is fined $2500 for hallway incident with Senator Chris Neil (courtesy TSN.CA)http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=254116&lid=sublink04&lpos=headlines_main

-Brendan Shanahan is done waiting for the Rangers to make an offer (a NY Post exclusive):

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10292008/sports/rangers/shanahan_wont_wait_for_rangers_135879.htm

RUMOR MILL

-Look for Toronto to make a deal for a defenseman from a Southeast Division team (Carolina or Atlanta).

-Red Wings D Andreas Lilja could be on the move as well. Rumored destinations are the Islanders or Thrashers.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Toronto Maple Leafs (4-3-3) over the New Jersey Devils (5-2-2) 6-5 (SO)

-Niclas Hagman proved to be the hero in the 4th round of the shootout last night with a nice move to put the puck by Martin Brodeur. The Maple Leafs got two goals and an assist from Matt Stajan and a goal and an assist from Alexei Ponikarovsky. Tomas Kaberle also chipped in with two assists. G Vesa Toskala made his fifth straight start for the Leafs and earned his first win against New Jersey in four tries. Brodeur was certainly tested in regulation and OT, making 43 saves. Five different Devils scored and D Andy Greene contributed three assists. Injuries to Brian Rolston (ankle) and Bobby Holik (broken pinkie) opened the door for RW Matt Halischuk to become the fourth player to make his NHL debut with the Devils this season.

Dallas Stars (4-4-2) over the Minnesota Wild (6-1-1) 4-2

-The Stars controlled this game from beginning to end to hand the Wild their first regulation loss of the season. Four different Stars scored for Dallas and Sean Avery had two assists. Rookie G Tobias Stephan earned his first NHL win with 19 saves. Marc-Andre Bergeron and Andrew Brunette had power-play goals for the Wild and RW Antti Miettinen, who signed with the Wild as a free agent after playing in Dallas last season, had an assist in his first game against his former team. Minnesota, which is 0-7-2 in Dallas since 2003, had only 11 shots in the final two periods.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The Maple Leafs are the NHL's most marketable franchise (courtesy of AP/ESPN.com)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3671513

-Sabres F Paul Gaustad will return to the lineup after recovering from thumb surgery. The injury occured in a pre-season game against the Wild.

-The Phoenix Coyotes assigned right wing Enver Lisin to the San Antonio Rampage (AHL). The 22-year-old Lisin has scored one goal in two games for the Coyotes this season.

-The Rangers have sent C Lauri Korpikoski down to the Hartford Wolfpack (AHL)

-This is a hockey site, but congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies for winning the World Series last night. They defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games. It was the Phillies first championship since 1980 and the city of Philadelphia's first championship since 1983.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Detroit Red Wings (7-1-2) @ San Jose Sharks (8-2-0) – 10:30PM

-We get out first clash of two Western Conference titans. This will settle the argument of who is the best team in the west in the early stages of the season. This will be Sharks HC Todd McLellan's first game coaching against the team he used to be an assistant coach for. McLellan has led the Sharks to their best start in franchise history (not bad for your first NHL head coaching gig) and San Jose is undefeated at home so far this season. The Sharks are coming off a 2-1 win over the Penguins where they played there best defensive hockey of the year. Evgeni Nabokov is expected to start in goal for the Sharks, but is 0-3-0 with a 6.35 GAA in his last four home starts versus Detroit. The Red Wings are coming off a 5-4 OT loss to the Ducks in Anaheim last night.

Other Action:

Tampa Bay (2-3-3) @ Buffalo (6-1-2) – 7PM

Atlanta (2-5-2) @ NY Rangers (9-2-1) – 7PM

NY Islanders (2-6-0) @ Philadelphia (3-3-3) - 7PM

Ottawa (3-5-1) @ Florida (4-4-0) - 7:30PM

Edmonton (4-3-1) @ Nashville (4-4-1) - 8PM

Montreal (6-1-1) @ Minnesota (6-0-1) - 8PM

Carolina (4-2-2) @ St. Louis (5-3-0) - 8:30PM

Columbus (3-6-0) @ Colorado (5-4-0) - 9PM

Boston (5-2-3) @ Calgary (5-3-1) - 9PM

Pittsburgh (5-3-2) @ Phoenix (3-4-0) - 10PM

Vancouver (4-5-0) @ Los Angeles (3-4-1) - 10:30PM

^All times Eastern

*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings

~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out on Wednesday evenings

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR SEND ANY THOUGHTS TO FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM

Dropping The Gloves with Andrew Bogusch - 10/29/08

(Andrew Bogusch will contribute a regular column every week to FTS. Any comments can be sent to FromTheSlot@gmail.com)

Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford should be upset that his first round pick from last June was knocked unconscious Saturday night on Long Island. But he shouldn’t be calling out Doug Weight or the NHL in the aftermath of the veteran center’s hit on Brandon Sutter.

Yes, the replay shows Weight’s elbow coming up a bit as he finishes the check. Yes, Sutter was absolutely helpless as he tried to corral the puck. But don’t we always say, “play the body”? Should Weight be asked to factor in ALL the possible outcomes of an open-ice hit before making one?

Weight did not go out of his way to harm Sutter. If he wanted to accomplish that, his forearm and/or stick would have been involved as he drove through the 19-year old. What if Weight realized Sutter was in a vulnerable position and didn’t hit him? And then Sutter went down the ice and put the puck in the net. And the Islanders lost by one goal. What then gets said to Weight on the bench or in the locker room (or written here)?

This is not to say players should have utter disregard for their colleagues. It’s to say there’s only so much we can ask of them as they fly around the ice trying to win games. Had Sutter not been in such a crouch playing the puck, Weight does not hit him in the head, and maybe Sutter just has the wind knocked out of him, and then we’re not even discussing this.

This was just a perfect storm of circumstances that lead to an ugly, scary, but acceptable hit. Rutherford has to defend his players, especially after seeing a number of them laid out since the start of last season, but this is not Exhibit A when asking for change to the game.

* * *

The new week begins with Marian Gaborik still in Minnesota and Mats Sundin still in limbo. It’s been three weeks since GM Doug Risebrough and Gaborik’s agent, Ron Salcer, have discussed a new deal. Salcer told ESPN.com this weekend he hasn’t turned down a 7-year, $70-million-dollar deal, or one for 8 and 80 – as has been reported. Whether that’s true or not, $10 million per year is close to what it’ll take to keep Gaborik. And it just doesn’t make sense for the Wild to pay him that. Let’s forget whatever financial limitations the organization has – Gaborik is too much of a health risk to be paid like that (he’s on injured reserve as of Monday, don’t forget).

It’s clearly time for Risebrough to move Gabby. The distraction will only become more annoying for his team as the season progresses. Obviously, if Risebrough were to wait until the trade deadline, a team might go crazy and overpay for Gaborik. But they also might not. I’d pull the trigger now when everyone thinks they’re still alive and needs a potential 50-goal scorer.

As for Sundin, we expect him in Los Angeles in the near future, maybe to begin training for a return to the league. Big deal – hopefully, Sundin’s waiting game never ends. Star players deserve certain perks – a suite on the road, an extra piece of steak at a team meal, a whole row on the team plane – but not keeping multiple organizations waiting and hoping for them. It wasn’t cool when Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne did it last year in Anaheim, and it’s not cool that Sundin is doing it now. First of all, he should have waived his no-trade clause last spring if he truly cared about the Maple Leafs and winning the Stanley Cup. And now, he should already be in someone’s lineup grinding through the fall.

And the lineup he should be in the most right now – the Chicago Blackhawks’. That type of player in that type of market would be a major boon for the League. But most importantly, Chicago needs a second center, preferably one with Sundin’s experience, to play “behind” Jonathon Toews. So Dale Tallon, do something with Nickolai Khabibulin to free up cap space and then place a call to Sundin’s representation.

* * *

The Shootout…Saturday might have featured every team in action, but we cannot forget the craziness that went down on the ice Friday night. Not only was Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin dropping the first puck at her SECOND game this year, but her red carpet tripped Blues goalie Manny Legace, injuring his hip. Rangers head coach Tom Renney missed the end of his team’s win in Columbus after taking a stick to the head during a pile-up in front of the NY bench. And Anaheim center Todd Marchant scored in Ottawa by slapping a puck out of mid-air from the top of the right faceoff circle. Jason Smith was dropping it after catching Teemu Selanne’s dump-in. The puck floated past an unsuspecting Alex Auld.

Kudos to the Blackhawks for their Winter Classic jersey. It should be a hot-seller at the NHL Store in NYC, but I can do without the scripted D the Red Wings are going with.

And if you think NHL referees have gone penalty-crazy, I watched my first two college hockey games of the year this weekend – Michigan @ BU in person Saturday night and Minnesota @ Wisconsin on TV Sunday night. Each game had over 20!!! combined power-plays. There was some exciting action, including a late Gopher comeback, but no game can be fun with that many penalties.

FTS - 10/28/08

TOP STORY

I Think We Are Going To Need A Bigger Boat

(Photo Credit: Paul Sakuma - AP)

Pittsburgh Offense Turned In To Chum

San Jose Sharks (8-2-0) over the Pittsburgh Penguins (5-3-2) 2-1

When you see Sharks vs. Penguins on the schedule, your first thought is that will probably take at least four goals to win this game. It's tough to score more than one goal when you're held to only 11 shots. The Sharks cracked down defensively and beat backup G Dany Sabourin twice to earn the victory. Joe Pavelski scored an early SH goal while Mike Grier scored the game winner on a nice backhand (Ruslan Fedotenko had the lone Pittsburgh goal) with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. With C Marcel Goc sitting out again to rest his sore back, LW Jamie McGinn made his NHL debut for the Sharks, but only played a little bit on the 4th line. Sabourin made 32 saves in the Pens first regulation loss of the season.

Sharks HC Todd McLellan has been stressing defense in practice over the past week after San Jose allowed 6 goals against the Flyers and being shutout by the Panthers 4-0. The win keeps the Sharks undefeated at home at 5-0 and gives them the top record in the conference. They'll get a chance to prove they are the best in the West when they host the Red Wings on Thursday night.

As for Pittsburgh, this is their 2nd straight tough loss. After allowing the Rangers to tie the game with 8 seconds left on Saturday, they couldn't muster up any sort of offensive rhythm against the Sharks. Pittsburgh scratched C Maxime Talbot with an undisclosed injury and D Hal Gill also sat out his third straight game due to an injured right hand.The Pens will get a chance to rebound at Phoenix on Thursday night.

OTHER HEADLINES
-Which rookies are staying and which are going (courtesy of TSN.CA):

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=254046&lid=sublink05&lpos=headlines_nhl

RUMOR MILL

-Nothing to report today

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Washington Capitals (5-3-1) over the Nashville Predators (4-4-1) 4-3 (SO)
-Caps LW Alexander Semin chipped in a goal and an assist to continue leading the league in points while C Michael Nylander scored the winner in the shootout. Washington won the game despite being without Alexander Ovechkin (he is home in Russia tending to family matters). Including Semin, six different Washington players had points. The Predators did rally late in the 3rd period to earn a point. Jason Arnott had two goals while JP Dumont chipped in with three assists. Nashville is 1-3-1 on the road this season and has been outscored 22-15. The Preds have scored at least three goals in eight straight games, but have allowed at least three in the past six.

Philadelphia Flyers (3-3-3) over the Atlanta Thrashers (2-5-2) 7-0
-The Eagles went down to Atlanta and beat the Falcons by a touchdown...wait wrong sport. The early season swoon seems to be behind thew Flyers as they've now won three in a row and are back to .500. Mike Knuble, Simon Gagne and Joffrey Lupul each scored two goals for Philadelphia and Antero Niittymaki stopped 24 shots in his fourth career shutout. If losing by seven goals wasn't bad enough, Thrashers rookie D Zach Bogosian, the No. 3 pick in this year's draft, didn't return after Philadelphia's Darroll Powe slammed him into the boards midway through the second. He left under his own power, but you don't want to see someone take a hit like that.

Tampa Bay Lightning (2-3-3) over the Toronto Maple Leafs (3-3-3) 3-2
-Toronto played a very, very good game last night. The problem was that Vinny Lecavalier had his best game of the year (by a long shot), scoring two highlight-reel goals while Mike Smith made 37 saves (and even had an assist) en route to the win. Rookie C Steve Stamkos earned his first NHL point (assist) and Jussi Jokinen scored the other goal for Tampa. D Mike Van Ryn and winger Matt Stajan had the two Toronto goals. Toronto D Jonas Frogren, scratched Saturday to make room for Jeff Finger, was out of the lineup again along with Ian White and Carlo Colaiacovo.

Montreal Canadiens (6-1-1) over the Carolina Hurricanes (4-2-2) 3-2 (SO)
-Captain Saku Koivu potted the lone shootout goal and the Canadiens snapped a 9 game winning streak for the Hurricanes in Montreal. Alex Tanguay scored on a penalty shot in the final seconds of the first period (Alexei Kovalev scored the other goal) and Price stopped 31 shots for Montreal, which closed out their homestand at 4-1. Rod Brind'Amour and Anton Babchuk scored the Carolina goals and G Cam Ward made 23 saves in the loss. Andrei Kostitsyn returned to Montreal's lineup after missing two games because of a concussion. Rookie center Brandon Sutter and defenseman Joni Pitkanen were both out of the Hurricanes' lineup because of injuries sustained Saturday in a 4-3 road win against the New York Islanders.Sutter is out indefinitely with a concussion from an open-ice hit by the Islanders' Doug Weight. Pitkanen tore the meniscus in his knee and is expected to be sidelined for a month.

Calgary Flames (5-3-1) over the Colorado Avalanche (5-4-0) 3-0
-Curtis Glencross scored his first goal as a Flame and it broke a scoreless tie in the 3rd period to give the Calgary the shutout victory. Rene Bourque and Mike Cammalleri scored the other goals for the Flames and Miika Kiprusoff stopped 22 shots to earn the shutout. Colorado had it's five game winning streak snapped (coincidentally, their last loss came to the Flames). Calgary C Matthew Lombardi missed his second straight game with an upper body injury.

Boston Bruins (5-2-3) over the Vancouver Canucks (4-5-0) 1-0
-Michael Ryder scored his second goal of the season midway through the first period and that would be all the Bruins needed to win their 2nd straight 1-0 game (3rd straight overall). G Tim Thomas stopped 31 pucks for his 2nd straight shutout in consecutive nights. The Bruins, who went into Edmonton on Monday with the NHL's worst-ranked penalty-killing record, turned aside all three PP opportunities for a second straight night.It was also the first hometown game for second-year Bruins LW Milan Lucic. Canucks D Sami Salo was back after missing three games due to a groin injury and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves for the Canucks, who have npw lost four of five.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The Montreal Canadiens honored the three most successful coaches in their history on Tuesday night when they unveiled columns in the Bell Centre mezzanine for Dick Irvin, Hector (Toe) Blake and Scotty Bowman. The line of columns on Builders' Row is to feature the 10 former Canadiens coaches and executives in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Each has pictures and brief biography of the coaches, who between them won 16 of the Canadiens 24 Stanley Cups. The unveilings were part of the club's 100th anniversary celebrations. (courtesy: Canadian Press)

-Stars C Joel Lundqvist will miss 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury.

-The Coyotes have claimed defenseman Ken Klee off re-entry waivers from the Anaheim Ducks. Klee appeared in three games with the Ducks this season. Last season, he played in 72 games with the Atlanta Thrashers, recording 1-9-10 and 60 penalty minutes.

-The Panthers have agreed to terms with D Jassen Cullimore on a one year deal. Cullimore played in 65 games with the Panthers last season and paced the club with a +21 rating, with three goals and 10 assists, while averaging 18:04 of ice time per game. He was originally signed as a free agent by Florida last season

-New York Islanders defenceman Andy Sutton is expected to play Thursday at Philadelphia. He missed the first eight games of the season due to hand surgery. The Isles will take any rearguards they can take right now because they are also missing defensemen Brendan Witt, Radek Martinek and Freddy Meyer.

- Vancouver Canucks C Rick Rypien will be out indefinitely and needs to undergo surgery for a sports hernia. He was out last week because of a viral infection.

-The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned forward Nikita Filatov to the Syracuse Crunch (AHL). Filatov recorded one goal and had a plus/minus rating of +1 in four games with the Blue Jackets this season. He was only the fourth player in franchise history to score a goal in his NHL debut.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Detroit Red Wings (7-1-1) @ Anaheim Ducks (5-5-0) – 10 PM

-It’s a rematch of the Western Conference Finals from 2007 and it features two of the hottest teams in the league. Detroit has won five in a row and the Ducks have won four in a row after starting the season 1-4. This is the first game at home after a four game road trip for Anaheim. The Red Wings have scored at least a PP goal in 7 straight games and are now a lethal 12 for 37 on the season (32.4%)

Other Action:
Toronto (3-2-3) @ New Jersey (5-2-1) – 7:30PM
Minnesota (6-0-1) @ Dallas (3-4-2) – 8:30PM
^All times Eastern


*My weekly power rankings, "Plus/Minus" comes out Monday Evenings

~Andrew Bogusch's weekly column debuts tonight!

FEEL FREE TO POST COMMENTS OR EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM

FTS - 10/28/08

TOP STORY

Quack to .500

(Photo Credit: Jeff Hinckley - Columbus Dispatch)

The Ducks celebrate the go-ahead 3rd Period goal in the victory

Anaheim Ducks (5-5-0) over the Columbus Blue Jackets (3-6-0) 3-2

It's amazing what two weeks can day for a team. Anaheim got off to one of the worst starts in the league and people around the league were left scratching their heads. Going through customs must have done something to the Ducks, because they swept the 3 game Eastern Canada road trip and extended their streak to four tonight. The game would be tied at 2 until just under four minutes remained when Teemu Selanne scored on the power play. He now has points in his last three games.

Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf would score the other goals (and both had assists) for Anaheim while Blue Jackets Centers Jiri Novotny (SHG) and Derrick Brassard scored for Columbus. Ducks G Jean-Sebastian Giguere made 30 saves in the win while Frederik Norrena turned away 21 pucks in the Jackets third straight loss. The game was played before 10,494, the smallest NHL crowd ever at Nationwide Arena.

Columbus did get some good news in the form of RW Jared Boll returning after sitting out the last five games with a concussion. The Blue Jackets head out to Colorado to play the red hot Avalanche on Thursday night.

The Ducks will return home after a four game road trip with a three game home stand. The home stand kicks off on Wednesday with the Red Wings.

OTHER HEADLINES

-Caps LW Alexander Ovechkin will miss Tuesday night's game with the Nashville Predators. He will be in Russia, visiting his grandfather, who has health issues. AO’s status beyond that will be determined on a day-to-day basis.

-The Columbus Blue Jackets have placed goaltender Pascal Leclaire on IR and activated right wing Jared Boll off the IR

-Maple Leafs Rookie D Luke Schenn will not be sent back to the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL:
http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=388922

RUMOR MILL

-Gaborik Update: Between Gaborik being hurt and the Wild winning lately, this makes things a bit easier for Minnesota. They can wait on a good deal coming to them. There might not be an updates here for awhile

-The Sens having Spezza on the trading block hasn’t been too high of a profile story, but it’s been there. With the Sens off to a rough start, look for Ottawa to start entertaining offers for him.

LAST NIGHT’S RECAP

Ottawa Senators (3-5-1) over the Buffalo Sabres (6-1-2) 5-2
-The Senators snapped a 4 game losing streak and the Sabres lost for the first time in regulation. Ottawa C Jason Spezza scored two goals and added an assist. The rest of the Senators goals came from Dany Heatly, Christopher Schubert and Shean Donovan. G Alex Auld made 25 saves in his 3rd straight start for Martin Gerber (pulled leg muscle). Ottawa D Filip Kuba had his eight-game point streak snapped. Clarke McArthur and Derek Roy had the Buffalo goals. Commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance (see Around The Boards for why).

NY Rangers (9-2-1) over the NY Islanders (2-6-0) 4-2
-It took 12 games for Chris Drury to dent the goal column, but he did it twice tonight in Uniondale. Scott Gomez and Ryan Callahan also contributed goals, D Michal Rozsival had two assists and G Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves for his 7th win of the season. Head Coach Tom Renney took over sole position of 4th place on the Rangers all time victory list. Kyle Okposo scored his first goal of the season for the Isles and D Mark Streit netted the other. G Rick DiPietro sat out again with a "lower-body injury" (no details on how long he'll be out) and Joey McDonald made 35 saves in the loss. Yann Danis got the call from Bridgeport of the AHL to be the backup.The Islanders also announced that D Brendan Witt would miss three to four weeks with an undisclosed injury.

Minnesota Wild (6-0-1) over the Chicago Blackhawks (3-3-2) 3-2
-Wild C Mikko Koivu is helping to fill some of the void left by the injured Marian Gabroik. His three assists were key in the one goal lead over Chicago last night. Andrew Brunette, Antti Miettinen and Brent Burns (who left the game with a lower body injury in the 2nd period) scored the goals for Minnesota while Patrcik Sharp and Duncan Keith had the two Blackhawk goals. Nicklas Backstrom made 34 saves en route to ending Chicago's seven-game point streak. The Blackhawks also remain winless on the road and the Wild's PK remains perfect on the season (22 for 22). Cam Barker, the #3 pick in the NHL draft in 2004, was called up from AHL Rockford before the game and made his season debut for Chicago.

Boston Bruins (4-2-3) over the Edmonton Oilers (4-3-1) 1-0 OT
-In a game that was filled with end to end action and some great saves, Bruins D Dennis Wideman ended the fun at 3:18 of OT with a shot over Dwayne Roloson's gloveside shoulder. Bruins G Tim Thomas made 27 saves for his 8th career shutout and Dwayne Roloson made 35 saves in the loss. This was the first time Boston has won back to back games this season. Edmonton begins a seven game road trip on Thursday in Nashville and won't return home until 11/13 against Toronto. Edmonton winger Fernando Pisani was back in the lineup after missing two games with a back injury. Bruins winger Chuck Kobasew skated for the first time since Boston's season opener this past weekend and may return during the current three-game road trip (he's been out with a broken leg).

Detroit Red Wings (7-1-1) over the Los Angeles Kings (3-4-1) 4-3 SO
-Red Wings C Valterri Flippula scored the game-tying goal with 1:54 left in the 3rd period off a turnover and the Red Wings extended their winning streak to five. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg scored in the SO for Detroit to clinch the victory. Zetterberg and Marian Hossa (PP) scored the other goals for Detroit while LA got goals from Oscar Moller (PP), Kyle Calder and Alexander Frolov. The Kings have allowed three goals in eight short-handed situations during their last two games, after killing off all 27 opponents' power plays in their first six contests. Detroit has scored at least one power play goal in seven straight games and is 12-for-37 overall.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The NHL Network began producing and airing their own games last night
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=388902

-Canadiens forward Andrei Kostitsyn practiced Monday in his usual spot with Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev. It's the second time he has skated since being concussed two weeks ago. Kostitsyn is awaiting medical confirmation to decide whether he will face the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday or miss his third game. He was hurt last week when he was hit hard into the boards by Kurt Sauer of the Phoenix Coyotes. Kostitsyn's head slammed against the glass and he landed face-first on the ice after the hit.

-The Islanders unveiled their new 3rd jerseys tonight:
http://islanders.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=388905 (courtesy of islanders.com)

-Blackhawks Defensemen Jordan Hendry and Niklas Hjalmarsson were sent down on Sunday.

-The 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships will be in Buffalo, NY:
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=253969&lid=sublink05&lpos=headlines_nhl

GAME OF THE NIGHT
Pittsburgh Penguins (5-2-2) @ San Jose Sharks (7-2-0) – 10:30PM

The San Jose Sharks look to remain undefeated at the HP Pavilion tonight when Sidney Crosby and the Penguins come to town. The Sharks have outscored opponents 18-7 in their 4 wins there this season. San Jose is coming off a 3-0 win at Tampa Bay on Saturday night while the Penguins are coming off a 3-2 SO loss to the Rangers at MSG after blowing a 2-0 lead. The Penguins, who haven't visited San Jose since Nov. 4, 2006, have lost five straight there.

Other Action:

Nashville (4-4-0) @ Washington (4-3-1) – 7PM

Philadelphia (2-3-3) @ Atlanta (2-4-2) – 7PM

Tampa Bay (1-3-3) @ Toronto (3-2-3) – 7:30PM

Carolina (4-2-1) @ Montreal (5-1-1) – 7:30PM

Colorado (5-3-0) @ Calgary (4-3-1) – 9:30PM

Boston (4-2-3) @ Vancouver (4-4-0) – 10PM

^All times Eastern

*My weekly power rankings, “Plus/Minus” comes out Monday Evenings

~Andrew Bogusch's weekly column debuts tomorrow

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