All-Purpose Hockey Thread II

That's the best news I've heard all day. Hopefully ESPN gets back on board, because some of these Versus matchups (Chicago-St. Louis) are just terrible, and I honestly cannot look at Engblom anymore. Also, I'm sure Bill Clement is a really nice guy, he just kinda gives me the creeps. Put Bucci and Melrose together on NHL Tonight, put Roenick or Hull in the studio as the third guy, and witness the magic.

Also, if the NHL Network does come to the US my wife might divorce me. I attended a buddy's wedding in Red Deer in August and spent hours in the hotel room watching classic 1996 playoff games. Yzerman was dynamite back then.

 

Peter Forsberg's groin
Injured again, how fragile
can a player be

God dammit!

And yes, I know it's a bad haiku.

 

From Detroit News re: Steve Yzerman plaque: The plaque will be hung in the entrance hall to the Red Wings dressing room. ... The plaque also features the misspellings of “consumate,” “synonimous” and “perserverance.”

Way to go, Red Wings PR!

 

I saw the plaque and it struck me that it's more impressive than what they have in Toronto for players inducted into to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

 

Cam Ward might well have played the greatest game EVAR. by a goalie that allowed three goals last night. The Pens had all kinds of great chances and Ward damn near singlehandedly kept the game close until late in the third.

First goal: Crosby on a 2-on-1 beats him five-hole. Legitimate goal.
Second goal: Recchi 2-on-1 pass that bounced in off a skate.
Third goal: Crosby pass on a 2-on-1 that bounced off the defender's stick and died in the slot. Ward played the pass and was slightly out of position and Crosby found it and banged it home. Not much he could do about it.

Fleury put up a shutout and was overshadowed by a guy that gave up 3. And I can't believe how defensively sound the Pens were. Freakish.

 

Ward was the Hurricane playing well at all last night. The Crosby goal off the skate was amazing.

I don't know which feed you watched. On the Carolina feed, they were talking about how Recchi (who was, of course, part of the Canes Cup-winning team) and Cam were sending text messages to each other yesterday joking about where Recchi would shoot if he had a scoring chance. I don't mind friends on opposing teams joking around after the game, but that just sounded weird to be doing on game day.

Fluery was impressive but not as impressive as Cam. Heck, if Grahame had been out there, he'd probably have been pulled sometime in the second period.

Carolina's blue line is hurt by sickness/injury, but that's no excuse for pitiful Hurricanes forecheck all game. The Pens just outhustled the Canes all night to pucks and won all the battles.

Eric Staal's continued struggles are vexing. The guys got all the talent in the world, but he just can't get out of his current funk. Cole was almost invisible last night as well.

 

I'm a Bos/Chi/Dal fanboy in all pro sports, and have legitimate reasons for what I'm sure seems a somewhat schizophrenic system of allegiances at first glance. Though I doubt those reasons are of general interest to the board...

May as well use this post to pay respects to Yzerman. I hated how he put the hurt on Dallas and Chicago over the years, but of course I can appreciate his contributions to hockey. So here's a grudging tip of the hat to Stevie Y.

Hope those who were disappointed to see what was indeed a dog-ass match-up between Chicago and St. Louis could at least enjoy the play of Khabibulin, who turned in a damn fine 38-save performance. He's the main reason the Hawks haven't fallen out of playoff contention yet, IMO. Nice to see the Blues melt down and allow Chicago 3 goals in 3-1/2 minutes to choke away the game. The Hawks suck, but the Blues suck even more.

 

This is the best news I've heard in awhile. I loved the NHL Tonight show.

I read a column last weekend that said he's going to be a trade deadline rental. Good luck to anyone who ante's up for Fragile Groin.

 

Mario and other Pens officials are meeting with Kansas City officials today. Hopefully this is posturing and something gets done in Pittsburgh, but it doesn't look good.

Under construction, the Sprint Center, the possible future home of the Pens:

 

It was a bad situation for him in Philly. I always questioned that move by Bobby Clarke, I knew they never got along. He was great in Edmonton in his first 15 game stint here, and that was just a couple of years ago.

 

Nedved's good in short stints. If he's in a place for a long period of time, his flaws become readily evident. It's akin to buying a used car. Initially, it gets the job done. But after awhile it proves to be a waste of money.

 

Which is why he was a good pickup for the Oil for the remainder of the season.