Flyers-Sharks Sum
Philadelphia 0 0 0-0
San Jose 1 0 0-1
First Period-1, San Jose, Clowe 11 (Thornton, Burns), 1:22.
Second Period-None.
Third Period-None.
Shots on Goal-Philadelphia 10-7-9-26. San Jose 11-6-6-23.
Goalies-Philadelphia, Bryzgalov. San Jose, Niemi. A-17,562 (17,562). T-2:25.
Paul McCann: A Loss in Carolina and a Few Days Off
Craig Smith got the scoring started early in the first period, banging home a rebound, Jamie McBain tied it early in the second period before Colin Wilson gave the Preds a 2-1 lead with a hard work goal, depositing his own rebound.
The team is back in Nashville and practice today was cancelled, they have a few days before flying to Florida on Friday for Saturday’s game with the Panthers.
———————————-
“Murderer’s Row” – Tracking the toughest 14 days of the Predator’s season…
Points Available – 16
Points Gained – 11 out of 16
2/14 – Chicago – W 3-2
2/17 – @ Detroit – L 2-1
2/19 – @ Dallas – W 3-2
2/21 – Vancouver – W 3-1
2/23 – St. Louis – OTL 3-2
2/25 – San Jose – W 6-2
2/27 – Los Angeles – W 2-1
2/28 – @Carolina – L 4-3
———————————–
Random Notes…
- With 18 games remaining in the season, the Predators remain 5th in the Western Conference standings with 81 points, trailing division leading Detroit by 6 points and St. Louis by 4. The Predators lead Chicago by eight points. St. Louis has one game in hand over Chicago, Nashville and Detroit.
- Gotta like Colin Wilson’s game over the past four, creating scoring chances and chaos. Really good stuff.
- Deadline day acquisition Paul Gaustad was a scratch last night, due to an upper-body injury, perhaps an injury in his last game as a Sabre?
- Gotta give Columbus credit for hanging in there with the Red Wings last night.
- Observations from Raleigh last night indicate that Anders Lindback was very unhappy after the loss. He’s not exactly being set up for success… getting a lot of back ends of back-to-backs. Hard to stay sharp when you are not getting the ice time.
Tonight’s Impact Game
Toronto @ Chicago – The Leafs need a win to keep their flickering playoff hopes alive, Chicago needs a win to bust a three game losing streak and stay close to Nashville in the Central..
St. Louis @ Edmonton – A win for St. Louis means a tie for the lead in the Central and an extension of their lead over the Predators. Edmonton has been playing decent hockey… especially at home.
SportsClubStats Update
Predators Playoff Chances – 99.7%
Highest % Potential Playoff Opponent – St. Louis 49.8%, Detroit 38.0%
———————————-
You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for @PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates, but we are having a bit of fun by getting your input on Gnash introductions, weigh in on Twitter and who knows, we may use your introduction for the best mascot in the NHL at the next Preds game!
Also… make sure to “like” SlapShot Radio on Facebook… here’s the link.
————————————-
On the next SlapShot Radio
No show this week due to March Madness coverage on 102.5 the Game… Click here to listen or download any of our previous episodes.
————————————-
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Predators Buzz, a one-stop feed for all things Predators-related on HockeyBuzz. Your subscription includes a free 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month thereafter. For more information, click here.
Lightning clip lowly Habs as Stamkos nets 44th
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos scoring is nothing new. The goal from Adam Hall was a surprise.
Stamkos netted his NHL-leading 44th goal of the season and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the slumping Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Tuesday night.
“It’s been a challenge,” Stamkos said about the plight of the Lightning, who have made a series of trades recently and are without several key players. “There’s a lot of adversity we’ve had to overcome this last stretch.”
Tampa Bay’s injury list includes captain Vincent Lecavalier (hand) and defensemen Victor Hedman (upper body), Marc-Andre Bergeron (back) and Mattias Ohlund (knee).
Hall, however, helped pick up the slack. He added his second goal of the season for the Lightning, who are 11th in the Eastern Conference and trail eighth-place Washington by five points. Mathieu Garon finished with 23 saves.
“You never know when it’s going to come,” said Hall, a strong defensive forward. “Whether the points show it or not, you always find some way whether you’re scoring goals or killing penalties or (winning) faceoffs.”
Stamkos took a pass from Teddy Purcell, deked around goalie Carey Price and put the Lightning up 1-0 at 8:42 of the first period. Purcell, a game-time decision due to the flu, has 10 assists and 14 points during a career-high seven-game point streak.
Montreal got a goal from David Desharnais. The Canadiens, last in the Eastern Conference, have lost five in a row, getting outscored 16-5.
“It’s the worst feeling in the world,” left wing Max Pacioretty said. “The mood is down, everyone’s upset. It’s definitely not fun. We’ve got to find a way to break out of this.”
Tampa Bay went ahead 2-1 when Hall ended his 45-game goal drought, dating to the season opener Oct. 7 against Carolina, from the low slot off a pass from Ryan Malone 28 seconds into the second.
Desharnais had tied it at 1-all with 3:58 left in the first.
Malone was given an instigator penalty, 5-minute fighting major and a game misconduct at 8:16 of the second after a scuffle near the Canadiens bench. Montreal’s Brad Staubitz got 2 minutes for interference from the bench and a 10-minute misconduct on the play.
The penalties came 20 seconds after Montreal’s Alexei Emelin, who was involved in the scrum, finished serving an interference penalty for making contact with Malone.
“He took care of his own business,” Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said of Malone. “The blind hit he got there, that’s extremely dangerous. The puck didn’t even come close to him.”
The Canadiens, who entered with the NHL’s second-worst power play, failed to score on the ensuing 5-minute man advantage. Garon made an in-close save on Erik Cole, who had three strong scoring chances in the game.
“On the power play, you at least want to gain momentum,” Pacioretty said. “But you heard their fans when they killed off that 5 minutes. It gave them momentum.”
Blake Geoffrion, recalled from Hamilton of the AHL on Monday, was scoreless in his Canadiens debut. The 24-year-old forward is the fourth generation of his family to play for Montreal. His great grandfather was Hall of Famer Howie Morenz. His paternal grandfather was Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, another NHL Hall of Famer. Geoffrion’s father, Dan, played a season with the Habs.
“It was definitely a special feeling,” Geoffrion said. “I was pumped for tonight. It’s always disappointing to lose, obviously. Not a good feeling.”
Geoffrion had a drive from the right circle stopped by Garon midway through the first.
Game notes
Canadiens great Jean Beliveau had a stroke Monday night for the second time in two years and is being treated at a Montreal hospital. … The Lightning played without C Nate Thompson and D Brendan Mikkelson, who both have the flu. Boucher said he was not feeling well, and added that the sick list also includes Malone and some of the assistant coaches.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
|
TAMPA, FL – FEBRUARY 28: Eric Brewer #2 of the Tampa Bay Lightning looks up to greet fans as he heads out to the… (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images) |
Coyotes clip Canucks in SO for 6th straight win
Associated Press
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Phoenix Coyotes have had a knack for making big runs in February, charging their way into the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
This year’s surge has been impressive even for them. Actually, for anyone.
Mike Smith stopped 39 shots through overtime and two more during a shootout, Ray Whitney scored in the third period, and the Coyotes extended their point streak to 12 games by beating the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Tuesday night.
“That was a heck of a month by any team’s standards and we had to earn them both home and on the road,” Whitney said. “We beat some quality teams.”
Smith has been superb during the streak and was spectacular at times against the Canucks, allowing a goal on a carom in the first period and nothing else. He also stopped Alexander Edler and Mason Raymond in the shootout to extend his career-best and franchise-record winning streak to 11 games.
Whitney has continued to produce big goals and spectacular plays at 39, getting the tying goal in the third period and another in the shootout. Speedy Mikkel Boedker provided the perfect capper, beating Vancouver’s Cory Schneider with a nifty move in the shootout to seal Phoenix’s sixth straight win.
Sitting 12th in the Western Conference at the start of the month, the Coyotes moved into the Pacific Division lead with a nearly-perfect February, earning 23 of a possible 24 points and winning seven straight home games.
“Obviously, we’ve done some good things,” Smith said. “I think we’ve improved, and this month has been good for us. We’ve moved up the standings drastically and we just have to keep pushing, keep going forward.”
The Canucks were one of the busiest teams at Monday’s trade deadline, pulling off three deals they hope will add balance, size and toughness.
The trades with Columbus, Anaheim and Buffalo netted Vancouver four players: checking-line center Samuel Pahlsson, rookie forward Zack Kassian, defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani, and forward Andrew Gordon.
Gragnani didn’t play, but the rest of the new guys were in the lineup against Phoenix.
Vancouver played well in the finale of a six-game road trip, getting a first-period goal from Edler and a superb game from Schneider, who stopped 34 shots. The Canucks just couldn’t finish it off, walking off with one point instead of two after Smith stopped Raymond’s spinning attempt, and Schneider allowed two goals on three shots.
“It was a frustrating way to end the trip,” Schneider said. “We had a lead going into the third period and we don’t close the door. We’re a team that (usually) does that well.”
The Coyotes were quiet at the trade deadline, fearful of disrupting the chemistry of a team that had gone 10-0-1 in February. Phoenix picked up center Antoine Vermette from Ottawa for a second-round draft pick last week, but that was it for the dealing.
Once the puck dropped Tuesday night, these teams played like the NHL’s points leader and its hottest team: players flying across the ice, crisp passes tick-tacking through the zones, and shots sailing in from all directions.
Vancouver hit the post twice in the first 10 minutes and had a puck linger in the crease for what seemed like 10 seconds before it was cleared. The Canucks finally got a good bounce late in the period, when a shot by Edler from the right circle caromed off Coyotes defenseman Chris Summers, 9 seconds into a power play.
The good chances kept coming in the second period. The goalies were too good for any of them to go in.
Schneider stopped Vermette on a redirect midway through the period and sprawled out to keep the rebound from going in, too. He also made tough saves during a power play midway through, and stuffed Taylor Pyatt on a mini breakaway.
Smith wasn’t bad, either. He made difficult stops early in the second and did his best work late, sliding left to stop Kassian’s one-timer on an odd-man rush, and getting back to block Raymond on the rebound. He closed out the period with a snatching glove save on Daniel Sedin’s shot from the left circle, keeping Phoenix within 1-0.
“An excellent game by both goaltenders,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said.
Phoenix had good chances against Schneider in the third period and got one past him midway through, when Whitney gathered a long rebound off a long shot by Keith Yandle and backhanded it in for the tying goal.
The Canucks thought they had it won early in overtime on a 3-on-1 rush, but Smith stopped a one-timer on a pass between the Sedin twins. Kevin Bieksa also hit the crossbar late, and the shootout didn’t go well for the Canucks, who are glad to be headed home after earning eight points in six road games over nine days.
“I think with the schedule, this is going to be a big point in our season,” Schneider said. “It could go pretty bad or it could go pretty good. Fortunately we were able to salvage some points throughout the month.”
Game notes
Whitney has a six-game point streak. … The Canucks lead the NHL with 68 first-period goals. … Vancouver, the NHL’s fifth-best team on the penalty kill, turned aside all four of Phoenix’s advantages.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
|
GLENDALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 28: Antoine Vermette #50 of the Phoenix Coyotes poses for his headshot at Jobing.com Arena… (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images) |
Clowe scores lone goal, Niemi makes 26 saves as Sharks beat Flyers 1-0
SAN JOSE, Calif. – After struggling to stop anybody during a gruelling nine-game road trip, Antti Niemi and the San Jose Sharks stopped everything against the NHL’s most prolific offence.
Ryane Clowe scored the lone goal early in the first period, and Niemi made it stand up with 26 saves for his fifth shutout as the Sharks celebrated their return home by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 on Tuesday night.
“He had struggled a little bit but I think tonight he played great, saw all the pucks,” Sharks captain Joe Thornton said. “This should definitely get his confidence back. He looked good and comfortable. It was nice to see.”
The Sharks had gone 2-6-1 on the 17-day trip that knocked them out of first place in the Pacific Division and into a precarious position for a playoff berth.
With little room for error in the final quarter of the season, the Sharks managed to hold on thanks to a strong bounceback performance by Niemi to beat the Flyers for the ninth straight time.
Niemi lost four of five games on the trip and didn’t even make it out of the first period in two of those games. But he was up to the task in his first meeting against the Flyers since beating them to win the Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010.
The Sharks allowed 35 goals during the road trip but gave up none to the NHL’s highest-scoring team, surviving a wild scramble in front of the net in the final minute when Torrey Mitchell and Daniel Winnik blocked shots, and Niemi made a save in the final seconds against Scott Hartnell.
“It was a perfect defensive game against the best offensive team in the league,” defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. “We set the bar pretty high. If we can do it against them we can do it against any team.”
Ilya Bryzgalov made 22 saves for the Flyers, robbing Thornton and TJ Galiardi early in the third period to keep the deficit at one. But Philadelphia never got the equalizer and remained 11 points behind the first-place New York Rangers in the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia was shut out for the second time in three games, also losing 2-0 last Thursday in Edmonton.
“It’s kind of tough when most of the shots from the defence are getting blocked,” Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr said. “We have to find a way to somehow get it in. Maybe shoot quicker a little bit, I don’t know. We’re waiting too much. We have to find better timing.”
The Flyers briefly lost forward Danny Briere late in the third period when his head crashed into the boards following a hit from behind by Vlasic. There was no penalty called on the play, and Briere returned.
“It seemed like a tough call,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It seemed like (Vlasic) pushed him head first, and somebody can get hurt like that. But I haven’t seen it to comment on it. He’s fine. Right now he is anyway.”
The game marked the San Jose debuts for Winnik and Galiardi, acquired before Monday’s NHL trade deadline for forward Jamie McGinn and two prospects.
But the Sharks were far from complete as All-Star forward Logan Couture sat out with a lower body injury after taking three hard hits in Minnesota on Sunday. Defenceman Douglas Murray remained sidelined by a throat injury, and coach Todd McLellan missed the game with concussion symptoms after being hit in the head by a stick in Minnesota. Assistants Matt Shaw and Jay Woodcroft ran the team in his place.
The Sharks got off to a fast start in their first home game since Feb. 10, with Clowe beating Bryzgalov with a wrist shot just 1:22 in. Niemi, who struggled most of February, did the rest. He made a pad save on a deflection, and stopped Brayden Schenn’s rebound attempt in the closing seconds of the period.
“That’s the Nemo that we know,” Shaw said. “He has that ability to win us a game, and he did that.”
The teams combined for just 13 shots in the second, with the Flyers failing on two power-play chances, and the Sharks unable to convert on their opportunity with the man advantage.
Bryzgalov kept it a one-goal game with a strong stop against Patrick Marleau, who was alone in front in the closing minutes of the second.
NOTES: The Sharks had the lead after the first period for just the 15th time in 62 games this season. They are 12-2-1 in those situations. … The Flyers haven’t won back-to-back games since Jan. 10-12 at Carolina and the New York Islanders. … Philadelphia was shut out for the fifth time this season. … Niemi has 18 career shutouts.
GARTH: #kickassian
In his first game with his new tam on Tuesday night, his coach, Alain Vigneault started him on a wing with the Sedin twins. After the gme, Zack talked about the special moment.
“I was nervous to start, but I think I got better as the game went along,” said Kassian, acquired from Buffalo in the Cody Hodgson trade Monday making his Vancouver debut Tuesday.
“That first shift skating (on a line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin) is something I’ll never forget. It was a honor to play with them a bit.”
Kassian admitted after the game that he finally started breathing after the fisrt period. Nothing compares to first game butterflies, eh?
thanks, canucks.com
In 12:27 of TOI, Kassian imposed his 6’4 225 pound iron will on the Phoenix Coyotes. He skated 20 shifts, made 5 hits, went 2 for 3 on draws, took one shot on goal, and took a minor penalty.
***
Before the gme, Kassian spoke about his experience in Buffalo and his joy to be playing no in Vancouver.
***
Womdering where Paul Gaustad was in last night’s Predators-v-Hurricanes game?
If you were a follower of mine on Twitter (@SabresBuzz) you would have known long ago that Goose sustained an upper boy injury as a result of this dohsie-doh with Brandon Prust of the Ranger on the opening faceoff on Saturdy night.
Goose skated and participted in the full practice in Buffalo on Monday, before he was traded.
***
Tonight’s Cody Hodgson’s first ever game as a Buffalo Sabre. He will wear the #19 that he wore in juniors with th Brampton Battalion.
I like Lindy’s choice to play Hodgson in the Buffalo top six, at centre with Drew Stfford and Tyler Ennis.
Hodgson’s strngth is his ability to throw darts at the tape of the sticks of his lin mates. Hewill get the puck to 21 and 63 in the scoring areas, and will create high percntge scoring chances.
Ennis won th gold medal and played with Hodgson at the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa. He likes his nw liney.
thanks, sabres.com
**
Gaustad’s absence will be felt immediately tonight against th Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry trio.
For the past 3.5 weeks, Goose had been succssfully locking down the top lines of opponents with his bros, Gerbe and Kaleta. Their combined efforts are a huge factor in Buffalo’s recent 8-3-3 run.
Kaleta says that he will hav eto up hi game on the PK in order to off set the loss of Goose.
Question of the day:
Which Sabre steps into Goose’s lock-down line centre role? His PK and faceoff role?
Goose’s huge skates will be hard to fill.
I suspect that Ruff will rely on Leino to play the role of Goose tonight.
***
More after the game day skate
Kings shut out Wild as backup Bernier stops 26
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jonathan Bernier doesn’t have the luxury of getting into a regular rhythm for the Los Angeles Kings. The clear backup to Jonathan Quick, Bernier can sometimes go weeks between starts.
Yet when he does play, Bernier is still expected to be sharp, make saves and win games. On Tuesday night, Bernier looked like an everyday goalie, shutting out Minnesota 4-0 in a game with playoff implications for the Kings.
Despite being only his second start in February, Bernier stopped 26 shots, secured his first victory since Jan. 9, and didn’t give up a goal for the first time since shutting out Edmonton last March.
The performance came at a crucial time for Los Angeles (29-23-12). After losing five of six games, the victory over the Wild allowed the Kings to move into a tie with Dallas and Colorado for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
“I thought he was awesome, he was the best player on the ice,” Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. “It’s great for him. The last five or six minutes, the team played for their goalie because he’s given us a real good opportunity to win the game.”
Bernier found out after Monday’s loss at Nashville that he would be starting against the Wild.
“It’s not easy, but that’s my job,” Bernier said. “I’ve got to make sure I’m ready every time I step in if I want to get back in.”
Bernier’s fifth career shutout was largely free of drama. Minnesota (28-26-9) had very few sustained stretches in the Los Angeles zone and had few good scoring chances. The best opportunity for the Wild came on a second-period three-on-two break, but Bernier stopped Tom Gilbert’s shot from the slot.
“We kept everything to the outside,” Bernier said. “On that (power play) in the second period, I knew that was a big (penalty kill) for us and the boys did a heck of a job. From there after, we had a lot of confidence and we shut the door.”
It didn’t hurt that the Kings jumped on the Wild early. One night after feeling like they missed opportunities against the Predators, Los Angeles scored 44 seconds into the game and led 3-0 after the first period.
Justin Williams scored the initial quick goal when he tipped a shot from the point and the puck bounced through the legs of goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who stopped just 11 shots for Minnesota.
Dwight King gave the Kings a 2-0 lead midway in the first period as Los Angeles took advantage of a Minnesota defensive mistake. Anze Kopitar found King all alone in front of the net and he quickly converted.
Kopitar stretched the lead to 3-0 late in the first period when he ran a perfect give-and-go with Dustin Brown. Brown had a pair of first-period assists for the Kings.
That cushion was more than enough for Bernier against the Wild.
“It’s good to play with a lead,” Bernier said. “Everyone was calmer, we could just play our style. As a team, we really came out strong. We knew it was a really big two points for us.”
While Los Angeles was happy to have won a game against another team in the Western Conference playoff race, the Wild were disappointed after a game filled with turnovers and defensive mistakes.
“You create your own breaks in this game, we didn’t do that,” Minnesota’s Kyle Brodziak said. “We didn’t create any breaks because we didn’t deserve any and earn any. It’s another game where we started on our heels and they took it to us and we didn’t fight back.”
Offensively things weren’t any better.
“We had nothing offensively,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “There was too many things missing in our game to even have a sniff offensively. Puck support, battle level, going into hard areas, making plays, executing. It’s kind of a long list.”
Game notes
Brown has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in the past five games. … Los Angeles C Jeff Carter is still looking for his first point since being acquired from Columbus last week. … Gilbert, a Twin Cities native the Wild acquired Monday from Edmonton, was called for a holding penalty just 4:59 into the game. … The Kings, a popular preseason pick to make the NHL playoffs, went 5-7-2 in February. Minnesota, which had the best record in the NHL at one point in December, was 4-7-2. The Wild is 8-19-6 since a Dec. 10 victory at Phoenix. … Minnesota plays four of its next five games on the road.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
|
Minnesota Wild new defenseman Tom Gilbert warms up before the first period of a NHL hockey game against the Los… (AP Photo/Jim Mone) |
Rookie Eric Comrie stops 31 shots in Americans 3-1 win over Thunderbirds
KENNEWICK, Wash. – Patrick Holland had a goal and an assist and rookie Eric Comrie stopped 31 of 32 shots to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 3-1 victory Tuesday night over the Seattle Thunderbirds.
With the win, Tri-City (45-15-3) earned home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and remained atop the Western Hockey League with 93 points.
Seattle (21-39-1-1, 44 points), which hasn’t won in Kennewick since Jan. 27, 2008, a span of 22 games, failed to put distance between itself and Everett (43 points) in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Americans did all of their scoring in the first period as Holland, Connor Rankin and Justin Feser all found the net.
“Sometimes a quick start is a blessing and a curse,” said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, whose team has won seven in a row. “We relaxed a bit and they were stride for stride with us the rest of the way.”
Comrie picked up his 19th win of the season, and is 6-1 against Seattle.
“I’ve played them a lot and I understand what they do,” Comrie said of Seattle. “I know their systems and their plays. I’m happy to have 19 wins. I give full credit to my team, they go out and score a lot of goals.”
Tri-City’s Brendan Shinnimin saw his 10-game goal scoring streak come to an end, but he had two assists and has points in 14 consecutive games. He leads the league in scoring with 117 points.
Connor Sanvido scored Seattle’s lone goal, while rookie Daniel Cotton finished with 39 saves.
“The two young goalies were the highlight of the night,” Hiller said.
Eklund: San Jose Shows An Impressive Range Which Could Make Them Dangerous.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ME ON GOOGLE+.
It really was stacked against Team Teal…
Generally when a team returns from an epic road trip and plays their first home game they can tend to come out a bit flat. Add to that the team is missing their young star player/only reason Rick Nash wasn’t into their lineup. Add to that a struggling goalie who was rumored offered to their opponent in a trade the day before. Add to THAT the team is missing their head coach who was whacked by the stick of one of his players last game and is experiencing the dreaded “concussion like symptoms.”
Yeh, well…non of that mattered..at least not to these Sharks.
The Sharks showed up in a big way last night and played relentless hockey against the Flyers in a 1-0 defeat of Philadelphia in a game that proved stats and trends matter about as much as a 3:30 pm press conference given by a coach who hasn’t made any trades at the deadline when the coach says, “We talked to a lot of teams today trying to improve our team, but the fact that we didn’t make any trades should be viewed as a huge vote of confidence to the players on our squad.” (OK, so if you are dating someone try out that logic with them..”so I asked out with a bunch of girls this weekend and the fact I am with you should be taken as a huge vote of confidence…” rule: whenever you tell someone how something you are about to say “should” be taken you are not heading down a good path.)
But I digress..
I lived in Northern California for a spell, when engaged to my wife, so I have a soft spot for the Sharks and I must say the Sharks tonight were as relentless with their checking and as responsible with their choices as any Sharks team I have seen in some time. At times over the years the Sharks have mirrored the Flyers in many ways. Great regular season success, but not being able to get through the playoffs in one piece.
Tonight Sharks showed me a skill I don’t remember this team having mastered like this before…
The West, as conferences go is flat out brutal, but the key to success appears to often be in a team’s ability to play all kinds of styles of hockey games…from run and gun, to shut em down. From roller derby to roller hockey. Your team will have to win 1-0 games on one night and 6-5 games the next.
And there was also another true sign of optimism tonight for San Jose. Tonight saw a back to basics return of Anti Niemi. If you have read me for a few years you know Niemi has long been a personal favorite of mine. I have followed him closely and actually broke the story of his signing to the Hawks and I believe to the the Sharks as well. To watch Niemi play you won’t immediately feel like you are watching the next great thing…and yet there are three things Niemi does as well as anyone..and when he combines these traits he can even win you a Stanley Cup.
Niemi’s Game
1. Breaking Momentum. There is no goalie who catches and freezes more pucks than Niemi. He has no problem freezing the puck 10 times in 10 minutes if he can. He will stop the game often and when you play high powered offenses (like Philly or Vancouver) keeping them of their rhythm is a great strategy.
2. Incredibly quick down low. You simply can’t beat him along the ice.
3. Calm under pressure yet he loves to compete.
Tonight the Sharks were without Logan Couture (not because he is Blue Jacket) and I am sure many who watch them play on a more regular basis could find fault in the fact the team only found the net once..less than 2 minutes into the contest, but while you always need scoring what the Sharks showed for the final 58 minutes tonight was a clinic in taking away time and space from a Flyers team that loves to make very good offensive use of any time and space you’ll give them. The Sharks shut down Giroux, Jagr, and Hartnell…and maybe most impressively shut down the NHL’s third leading goal scorer for the month of February..
1. Stamkos 11 goals in February
2. Malkin 10 goals in February
3. Wayne Simmonds 9 goals in February.
As for the Flyers..they better have been taking good notes for they too return from their own road trip on Thursday night to face the Islanders. The same Islanders team who recently embarrassed the Flyers in Philly. It will be a must two points in the standings, but an even bigger statement game as well as a chance to get the offense going again.
Panthers send Maple Leafs to 9th loss in last 10
Associated Press
TORONTO — Another season is slipping away from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Chants of “Fire Wilson!” echoed through Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night as the Florida Panthers put the finishing touches on a 5-3 win over the sinking Maple Leafs, an all-too-familiar outcome for frustrated fans in Toronto. It was the ninth loss in 10 games for a team general manager Brian Burke decided against tinkering with ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.
Even coach Ron Wilson couldn’t blame the fans for calling for his job.
“It’s frustrating, but understandable,” he said. “We didn’t do anything at the trade deadline and we came out tentative to say the least. We talked ad nauseum to the team about the (last) 20 games and finding our focus and we weren’t ready to start the game.”
That was painfully evident with the score 1-0 just 13 seconds in. Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn let the puck slip off his stick right after the opening faceoff — “I messed up there pretty bad,” he said later — before Marcel Goc one-timed a shot past James Reimer.
The hole got bigger two minutes later when Mike Santorelli finished off a 2-on-1 and put the Leafs behind 2-0 for the fifth straight game.
“We’re embarrassed to go out there and play like that in front of our home fans,” said Schenn.
Toronto owns the NHL’s second-longest playoff drought at seven years — behind only the Panthers — and Florida is currently in position to end its run of futility by leading the Southeast Division. There was no disguising the importance of Tuesday’s game for either franchise and the visitors earned full marks for the victory.
Santorelli finished with two goals while Goc, Jason Garrison and Stephen Weiss each added one for Florida. Jose Theodore finished with 28 saves.
“Look at how close the standings are, every point is so important,” said Santorelli. “This was a big win for us.”
Phil Kessel, Nikolai Kulemin and Joffrey Lupul replied for the Maple Leafs, who sit just four points out of playoff position in the Eastern Conference despite going 1-8-1 since Feb. 7.
Burke and Wilson were each hopeful that the passing of the trade deadline would ease some of the burden on the group. There was no evidence of that against Florida.
“It was a tough month for guys in our room. That’s not an excuse, that’s the reality of playing in big market like Toronto,” said captain Dion Phaneuf. “There’s a lot of media coverage, there’s a lot of rumors and as a group a lot of guys had a lot more stress than they probably needed.”
This one was particularly difficult for Reimer, the embattled goaltender who couldn’t really be faulted for the shoddy play in front of him. His first save of the game came almost 11 minutes in — he was cheered sarcastically — as the Panthers looked set on protecting the early advantage.
“Earlier in the game, we didn’t do anything to help him,” said Wilson.
Toronto briefly had some life after Kessel scored his 32nd goal of the season midway through the second period, but Clarke MacArthur was sent off for a penalty soon after and Santorelli converted a rebound to make it 3-1.
The mood turned ugly after Garrison scored his 14th of the season at 4:38 of the third period to extend the advantage. That set off the first round of chants calling for Wilson’s job, something two local columnists have put in print recently. Burke tried to quell that talk with a vote of confidence for his coach on Monday, but it clearly didn’t soothe the paying customers.
“Every guy is embarrassed, it’s tough to go through a game like that,” said Schenn. “Whether you’re not getting the bounces or the breaks or things just aren’t clicking, you can make any excuse you want but it’s definitely not fun right now.”
The Wilson chants were renewed after Kulemin and Weiss traded goals 61 seconds apart and only subsided in the waning minutes because fans cleared out of the building en masse. The Leafs had little time to recuperate with a game in Chicago on Wednesday night.
They desperately need to do something to turn the tide.
“Yeah, you do get exasperated and you get frustrated,” said Wilson. “But tomorrow’s a new day, the sun will probably come up and we’ve got to pull up our bootstraps and get going.”
Game notes
Wilson coached his 1,400th career NHL game, tying him with Pat Quinn for fourth on the all-time list … The Panthers were missing leading scorer Kris Versteeg to a lower-body injury … Toronto scratched Colby Armstrong and Cody Franson … Florida is 11-2-2 against Canadian teams this season. It visits Winnipeg on Thursday.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
|
TORONTO, CANADA – FEBRUARY 28: Sean Bergenheim #20 of the Florida Panthers shoots during warmup before NHL action… (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images) |
To get the latest news and notes on the Los Angeles Kings, check out the team’s blog from ESPNLosAngeles.com. Blog