All-purpose hockey thread...

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

luongo had no shot on that because he was committed to playing a shot from straka. on the nieminen and prucha goals he was already sprawled out and on the final goal, he wasn't helped that nieminen screened him by beating the shit out of hill down low

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I know. I watched the game. Luongo went down on Straka's "shot attempt" and left the far side of the net wide open for Jagr. He ain't gonna miss many empty nets.

On a completely unrelated note, this thread just surpassed the 1,000 post mark. A hearty "nice job, eh" to SportsJournalists.com's hockey crew.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

and here's what it's like from the other side of the new york hockey scene, yikes..

For the Islanders, it keeps getting worse
Fans quite displeased as Islanders fall again, this time vs. old coach


Talk Back: Islanders
Talk about the Islanders throughout the 2005-06 season.
Hot farts in your face Mike Milbury!!!
Submitted by: Ant
4:59 PM EST, Jan 6, 2006 Hey Yash Kapoor, only a moron would belittle an injured player when hes on a stretcher. I'd love to get a wuss like you on the ice.
Submitted by: Harry
10:09 PM EST, Jan 6, 2006



BY ALAN HAHN
STAFF WRITER

January 7, 2006, 11:05 PM EST

As if Nassau Coliseum, the building they've been trying to replace for more than a decade, could get any uglier, it actually did last night for the Islanders.

One of the biggest crowds of the season turned out to witness a 3-0 loss for the home team against its former coach, Peter Laviolette, and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Martin Gerber's 30-save shutout capped a sweep of the home-and-home series for Carolina, which under Laviolette is running away with the Southeast Division and is on the heels of the Philadelphia Flyers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Islanders, meanwhile, continued going in the wrong direction, with a seventh loss in the past eight games and eighth in the past 11. At the midpoint of the season, they are seven points out of the final playoff spot in the East.

The crowd of 15,205 got ornery in a hurry. Chants that ranged from the usual ("Fire Stirling!") to the traditional ("Re-fund!") rose to the rafters, where dusty, faded championship banners hang. The crowd even got into a little "Bring Back Peter!" chorus for Laviolette.

"That's a nice thing," Laviolette said. "But Steve's doing a good job there. I know they're doing the best they can."

Laviolette guided the Islanders to two consecutive playoff berths in 2002 and 2003 but was fired after the 2002-03 season when many players told general manager Mike Milbury that he had lost the team's confidence. Though the players may have turned off to Laviolette's coaching style, the fans on Long Island never turned on him as they have on Stirling, who replaced him.

"It's different," Laviolette said, carefully watching his words to avoid disrespecting the current coaching staff. "The two years I was here . . . I don't even want to comment on it. It's not fair. It's never easy when things aren't going well."

Actually, earlier in the season, things weren't going well. Now it's approaching complete disarray.

Last night's game started with a bit of confusion with the lineup when the Islanders had only 19 players dressed, one shy of the usual, because of a transaction error. Forward Kevin Colley was supposed to be activated from the injured list and play, but a paperwork mistake kept him on the injured list for the game.

Jason Blake missed his second game with a rib injury. Eric Godard was suspended two games by the NHL earlier in the day for punching Justin Williams on Friday night, so it left the Islanders with just 10 active forwards.

But while that is just another example of concerning disorganization throughout the franchise, it was not the reason why the Islanders lost the game.

The reason, as it has been throughout the season, was bad penalties that resulted in power-play goals and, conversely, an inability of the power play to take advantage of opportunities.

The Islanders played an immaculate first period but failed to muster any kind of offense on two power-play chances.

In the second, the Islanders took four penalties -- two tripping, two hooking -- and it led to two power-play goals by Carolina. The Hurricanes scored three goals, by Rod Brind'Amour, Ray Whitney and Cory Stillman, on their first four shots of the period.

The Islanders had one more power play but again failed to generate much of anything.

"We've talked about this," Stirling said of the special- teams battle. "When we have a power play, it can be a momentum-builder for us or for them. And, conversely, their power play was a momentum-builder for them and a deflator for us. So it was a double-whammy when we couldn't get the job done in the first period."

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

this is interesting, less than 90 seconds left and down by one, the canucks have a 5-on-3..

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Rangers 4, Panthers 0

Rookies Display Talents in Rangers' Victory

By JASON DIAMOS
Published: January 8, 2006

After Henrik Lundqvist and Petr Prucha helped the Rangers to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers yesterday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, neither said he knew the official title of the N.H.L.'s award for rookie of the year.

Although Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals are considered the favorites to win the Calder Memorial Trophy for the league's best rookie, Lundqvist and Prucha are certainly deserving candidates.

"One kid's got 20 goals and one kid's one of the best goaltenders in the league," Rangers Coach Tom Renney said.

The 23-year-old Prucha became the first Rangers rookie to reach 20 goals since Mike York had 26 in 1999-2000. Prucha's power-play goal 6 minutes 27 seconds into the second period gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead.

Lundqvist, also 23, became the first Rangers rookie to record two shutouts since Gilles Villemure had four in 1970-71. He tied his season high by making 38 saves; he also had 38 saves in a 4-3 shootout victory over the Panthers on Nov. 9 and in a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 29.

The Rangers ended a three-game losing streak yesterday to improve to 23-12-7. Jaromir Jagr scored twice to increase his league-leading point total to 65. He is third in the league with 27 goals.

Michael Nylander had three assists, Martin Straka added two assists and Ville Nieminen had a goal and an assist.

Jagr conceded that Ovechkin and Crosby, the No. 1 picks in the last two N.H.L. drafts, were the top candidates to win the Calder, and deservedly so.

"Those guys, they get a lot of publicity, but they're good," Jagr said. "There's no question about it. They're great. Ovechkin's got 25 goals and it looks like he's playing by himself over there. And Crosby's a great player.

"But Pruch, he's got 20 goals and for 20 games he didn't play much. And Hank, it's tough. But hey, I'm glad about it, so they don't get a big head."

Lundqvist, who was the 205th overall pick when the Rangers selected him in the seventh round of the 2000 entry draft, is 15-5-5 this season. He is 10-2-2 at the Garden, where the capacity crowd of 18,200 serenaded him with chants of "Hen-rik!" throughout the third period and after he was selected as the game's first star.

Lundqvist, who is from Sweden, was asked what he considered the best thing about living in New York.

"The Garden," he said without hesitation. "I love to come here and prepare for a game and go out there and play. I'm just enjoying it. The fans are just great. It makes it so much more fun to play here, with the atmosphere, the fans, the building. It's just great."

Prucha was the 240th overall pick when the Rangers selected him in the eighth round of the 2002 entry draft. When he scores, the Garden crowd has taken to calling out the first syllable of his last name, which is pronounced Proo-khah. The chant sounds a little like a boo.

Prucha, who is from the Czech Republic, reached 20 goals in the Rangers' 42nd game, tying Ulf Nilsson for fourth-fastest to 20 goals among Rangers rookies. Nilsson did it in 1978-79. (Don Murdoch scored his 20th goal in the Rangers' 26th game in 1976-77.)

Prucha is on pace to break the team record for most goals by a rookie, 36 by Tony Granato in 1988-89.

"I've never scored too much goals like I have this year," Prucha said. "I'm a little bit surprised."

The Rangers had envisioned Prucha spending most of this season at their top minor league affiliate in Hartford. He did not play in 8 of the Rangers' first 15 games, which included a brief stint in Hartford. He was sent down Oct. 28 and recalled Nov. 3. He has played in every game since.

Prucha said he did not think he had a chance of being named the league's top rookie.

"Maybe Crosby or Ovechkin," he said. "Not me. I cannot be rookie of the year."

He added: "I'm not a complete player like Crosby or Ovechkin. Here, I'm just a little piece of a big machine. Ovechkin and Crosby carry their teams."

SLAP SHOTS

Rangers center Blair Betts sprained his left knee on his first shift of the game, early in the first period. Betts, who will have a magnetic resonance imaging test today, said he feared there was damage to his medial collateral ligament.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

It's the new NHL. Penalties are actually called.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

HOW IS THIS THREAD 68 PAGES?!

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

By ignoring the anti-hockey posts.

Carry on boys.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

It's called C-O-N-S-O-L-I-D-A-T-I-O-N...instead of countless hockey threads, like, "Why the Oilers Suck" or "The Greatest Left Winger in NHL History",  we've carved out our own little ghetto here.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Ouch man, that hurt, but I suppose you have bragging rights tonight

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

people like hockey, cool ending for the canucks game. bertuzzi draws another penalty, looked like a dive at first but it was legit. salo hits the post but nobody sees morrison on the opposite side and he just drops the puck into the vacated net.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

That was a fantastic day for hockey. Even the Kings-Sharks game was fun, with the Kings nearly pulling even late in the game. Really enjoyed all the HDIC hoopla, including the Ode to Newfoundland from the junior game. God, I need to move to Canada.

By the way, I was at the Wolfpack game Friday night, and while I missed the pregame ceremonies due to traffic and a distance miscalculation, it was just a whole lot of fun to listen to Brass Bonanza in the Civic Center, with everyone standing and clapping, and cheerleaders at the balcony entrances in one end. It got me, a lifelong Bruins fan, to turn to my friend and say "they really, REALLY need to get NHL hockey back in this city."


Go Whale.