By Allan Muir
Here’s the problem with leaving your playoff fate in the hands of another team: Anything can happen.
Usually that means the other team that’s battling you for a spot draws on its own desperation to win and knock you out. Or the team they’re playing might not be fully inspired to carry your flag.
And sometimes the game can be taken out of their hands completely.
Ryan Miller was pulled Friday night after some misadventures with the puck and four goals allowed. (Jerome Davis/Icon SMI)
By Allan Muir
An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:
• We’ve seen this before, haven’t we? A proud goaltender, waving in mock appreciation as a home crowd serenades him with a Bronx cheer? Yeah, Ryan Miller seemed as tired of the First Niagara Center crowd as they were of him after a couple of brutal goals led to an 8-4 Rangers’ win that ended Buffalo’s playoff hopes. Very easy to see him demanding a trade after that display.
• “Yes sir, just like clockwork, you can count on Brad Richards to record a hat trick once every 896 games.” That’s the great lead from Larry Brooks, writing about the veteran’s first career three-goal game in the rout of the Sabres.
• Like everyone else in Boston, the Penguins experienced an unusual day on Friday.
• It became apparent early on that as long as the manhunt for the bomber continued, the show could not go on in Boston. The postponement and rescheduling of Friday’s game means the Bruins play their final six games in a span of just nine days.
• A struggling Milan Lucic could be benched for today’s rescheduled matinee against the Penguins. That should please Bruins fans who are tired of watching him float through games.
• Mike Heika, who offers as entertaining a read as anybody out there these days, says the Stars were taught a valuable lesson in how to impose your will by the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. They probably would have preferred two points, but that lesson might pay greater dividends down the road.
Their season finale on April 27 will likely determine the playoff fates of the Red Wings and Stars. (Tony Ding/Icon SMI)
By Allan Muir
Herewith, the first of our looks at the final week of regular season action. Today, the Western Conference. Check back Sunday for the East.
Just two teams — Chicago and Anaheim — have officially clinched berths in the Western playoffs, there really are just two spots up for grabs.
Four clubs — Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Jose and St. Louis — are virtual locks that will close out the campaign by jockeying for position. That leaves four others — Minnesota, Columbus, Dallas and Detroit — to battle it out for the seventh and eighth seeds.
If past seasons are any indication, this race will go down to the final weekend. Here’s how each team’s chances stack up.
By Allan Muir
We’re not quite sure what was behind the Dodgers’ Pride Night that the Los Angeles Kings hosted on Thursday night. It’s not like the defending Cup champs needed to coat-tail off a team that just got swept by the Padres and is averaging a whopping 2.73 runs per game, but maybe the chance to work up a pregame sweat in Dodger Blue warm-ups was too great to pass on.
And hey, any chance to wheel 85-year-old legend Tommy Lasorda out in front of an adoring L.A. crowd is probably worth the effort, right?
Sort of. Lasorda, on hand for the ceremonial puck drop, has probably looked happier on his way to see the proctologist than he did as he waddled out to center ice where Dustin Brown and Jack Johnson were waiting. He chatted briefly with the Kings’ captain, dropped the biscuit, shook hands with Brown…and then turned his back and walked away, completely blowing off the Blue Jackets’ Johnson.
Now, etiquette states that the puck dropper shake the hands of both players, but maybe Lasorda was unaware of that fine hockey tradition. It’s possible, right?
Nope. The snub was intentional. “You do not talk to the opposition,” he later told a Fox Sports reporter.
What a competitor.
Johnson appeared to take it well, smiling as he skated off.
By Allan Muir
The NHL Network has its flaws — that’s a post for another day — but it deserves full marks for treating yesterday’s trade deadline like E! handles a Kardashian wedding. The wall-to-wall coverage (courtesy of TSN, mixed with its own cut-ins) fed our boundless fascination with an event that has no chance of living up to the hype, but keeps us transfixed anyway.
But one of the best views it offered came well after the event coverage had ended. Later in the evening, the league provided a video look at the behind-the-scenes trade call that finalized the deal that saw the Rangers send Marian Gaborik to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
His confidence restored after a rocky stint with the Flyers. Sergei Bobrovsky is turning into a franchise goaltender. (Photo by Paul Vernon/AP)
By Allan Muir
It’s been a long time since fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets had much to cheer about. More to the point, it’s been a while since they’ve had a team they could really get behind.
But this season’s group, led by last week’s NHL First Star Sergei Bobrovsky, is revealing itself to be a scrappy, competitive and very likeable bunch. And while a slow start has them outside the playoff mix, a string of strong efforts has paid off in a five-game winning streak that ranks the Blue Jackets as the NHL’s hottest team and has them positioned just four points out of eighth in the tightly packed Western Conference.
DATER: Good news for Blue Jackets in this week’s Power Rankings
While a lack of true game-breaking talent requires a group effort up front, it’s been the Bobrovsky Show in net. He posted a 4-0-0 record last week, with a GAA of 0.77 and a save percentage of .972 to earn the First Star nod, but it wasn’t just a good week. Over his last eight games, the No. 1 Cop has gone 6-1-1, 1.53 and .941.
It’s been a startling turnaround that has Philadelphia fans wondering if they traded away the wrong goalie last summer and Columbus fans believing they have a player who can lead them back to the postseason.
To find out what’s behind Bobrovsky’s strong play, we went to Columbus goaltending coach Ian Clark. Here are the highlights of a conversation we had after today’s morning skate.
Was the Blue Jackets’ firing of GM Scott Howson too late of a move for the franchise? (Getty Images)
By Allan Muir
Scott Howson, the second general manager in the history of the Columbus Blue Jackets, was fired Tuesday night.
Certainly no one can be surprised by this, not even Howson himself. The Jackets were miserable under him, his feckless five-year tenure marked by ineffective drafting, under-performing free agents and inept asset management. The team performed accordingly, making the playoffs once on the back of a superlative rookie season from Steve Mason in 2007-08, then descending into the role of punching bag…and punchline.
But the move begs two questions. Why now? And was it too late?
Patrick Marleau has four multi-goal games to start the season. (Icon SMI)
By Allan Muir
A guide to this morning’s must-read stories around the NHL.
• Kevin Paul Dupont leads off Sunday’s best notes column with thoughts on Derek Sanderson and the latest cranky old man ramblings from Montgomery Burns Jeremy Jacobs.
• Is the seat under Caps’ GM George McPhee getting a little warm? He could be on the hook if the winless Caps don’t turn things around in a big way this season. That parade to the penalty box might be a big part of the team’s problem.
• With another two-goal game in Saturday’s 4-0 win over the hapless Avs, Eddie Munster Patrick Marleau ties a 96-year-old record.
• If last night’s Dallas-St. Louis contest was the first hockey game you’d ever watched, you could be forgiven to thinking that David Perron is the best player in the world. That was a jaw-dropping performance. Here are the highlights .
• Should the Maple Leafs offer sheet P.K. Subban? Only if they’ve somehow forgotten about giving up on the top-10 draft picks that turned into Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton.
Damien Brunner is adjusting nicely to life in the NHL. (AP)
By Allan Muir
A guide to this morning’s must-read stories around the NHL.
• In a perfect world — say, one where Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr chose to pursue family law instead of each other’s scalp — this would have been All-Star Weekend in Columbus. This hasn’t escaped the notice of team and local officials who already are pursuing a makeup date. We understand their urgency, but maybe they should want to wait until they, you know, have an All-Star caliber player on their roster to represent them.
• With a couple of beauty goals already to his credit, Swiss rookie Damien Brunner is making a quick adjustment to the NHL with the Red Wings. The 26-year-old says waiting until he was ready was critical to his development, but if he’d been ready to come over earlier, he’d be wearing a different shade of red today. Maybe he would have scored this goal for them instead last night.
• After letting Zack Kassian carry them through the first few games, the Sedins came to play last night in Anaheim. It was a statement game for the Canucks after blowing two goal leads in each of their last two contests.
• If the Calgary Flames have proven anything this season, it’s that they can go a full 20 minutes against anybody. Of course, they haven’t had the benefit of the summer’s two “key” acquisitions in the lineup. That changes tonight as Roman Cervenka and Jiri Hudler make their season debuts against Edmonton.
Should he stay or should he go? Roberto Luongo is valuable to the Canucks either way. (Bob Frid/Icon SMI)
By Allan Muir
• Maybe they can get that Strombone guy in return. If Vancouver GM Mike Gillis is saying on record that there’s a provisional deal in place for Roberto Luongo, the early season’s biggest drama must be about to close. Or not. Who knows. Key point is buried at the end of the column: Luongo’s been the consummate pro during all this trade speculation, preventing the process from turning into a soap opera. This time around, being the anti-Tim Thomas is a good thing.
• Let’s not discount this free beer idea. The special warmup jerseys and pregame speeches were swell, but the healing process actually began with a competitive effort last night in Columbus. New GM John Davidson promised that his team wouldn’t be outworked, and the Jackets backed him up in theirt 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit. A consistent, focused effort will go a long way in C-bus…at least for now…
• Must be the cooking. The Leafs have lost 12 of 14 at the ACC after being dropped 2-1 by the Sabres last night. At least it was a freebie for season-ticket holders.
• All things being equal, I’d take the blond. Ian Mendes has the scoop on the best behind-the-bench distraction since Taylor Stevens.
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
