* Should we just call off the rest of the season and start the Anaheim-Buffalo series right now? The Ducks are making a very good San Jose team look pretty bad. Combined the Ducks and Sabres are 32-5-6 for an .814 winning percentage
* Giguere has been fantastic the whole year. Having an insurance policy like Bryzgalov is definitely nice but if they can land an impact player in a deal at some point then I'd definitely pull the trigger
* The Ducks completely shut down the Sharks' big guns and outshot them 44-22
* You can't say enough about Chris Pronger. One thing that is so impressive this year is that he hardly takes any penalties (10 minutes) despite playing almost 30 min per game
* Another two goals for Selanne who was meant to be a Duck - 1.21 PPG in Anaheim and 0.97 PPG in Winnipeg/San Jose/Colorado for his career. Teemu is now one goal away from 500.
* Bryzgalov missed the game with a "lower body injury" - the sudden recall of a minor league goalie is one of the things that triggered the Forsberg rumours this afternoon
* Joe Thornton has had a subpar year by his standards - 5 goals, 23 points in 22 games and -6
* Despite the rivalry game between two very good teams, the attendance was slighly over 15K, well short of a sellout.
* In the Battle of Alberta, the Oilers were rewarded once again for signing Petr Sykora as he scored both goals in their 2-1 win
* Sykora is playing like the guy who was on a line with Elias and Arnott way back when
* Both goalies played well tonight, as is usually the case in a 2-1 game
* Hamrlik led all skaters with almost 31 minutes of ice time. The Flames had 6 players who logged under 10 minutes tonight.
* By comparison, the Oilers did not have anyone over 25 minutes, a testament to their depth
* Staios signed a four-year extension today worth $10.8 mil. Seems like a good deal for both sides, similar to what Corvo signed for. For my money I would much rather have Staios than Corvo
* The Canes are one of the most puzzling teams this year - one night they look unbeatable and the next they look inept in all areas and lacking fire. Must be a case of the Cup hangover
* Ward gave up 4+ yet again - the 10th time in 20 starts. If Carolina is going to be a legit Cup contender (or even a playoff contender) their goaltending is going to have to get MUCH better.
* Carolina had some great chances on the Powerplay but failed to score. Their 5-forward PP line is definitely fun to watch although they can still use an offensive D-man to be the quarterback
* Jagr had two-more tonight, passing Jari Kurri to become the highest scoring European born player of all-time
* Lundqvist played well tonight and has played a lot better in November on the whole, giving up 14 goals in 7 starts (2 per game) compared to 36 in his first 10 starts (3.6)
* Marcel Hossa scored his first of the year. Must have been cold there in Marian's shadow...
* Shanahan now leads the league with 17 - I don't think even Sather would have predicted the on-ice impact that Shanny has had this year
* The Rangers for traded Brad Isbister earlier in the day, acquiring him from the Canes. There were once great hopes for Isbister because of his size and similarity to Todd Bertuzzi but in this case he never became the player people thought he could be. He's now moving onto his 6th franchise and still has only cracked 20-goals or 40-points once
On Forsberg...
* I think at some point (if he can get and stay healthy) Peter Forsberg will be traded. With all the injuries he's had, Peter may not have a ton of time left so why shouldn't he go to a contender down the stretch? If he really is committed to Philadephia and they can find a price that they're comfortable to bring him back at, that can be done in the summer. In the meantime the Flyers need to get something for their asset - and they will likely be able to get quite a bit, even as a rental player. But first thing's first - they need to get a skate that he's comfortable in so he can get his confidence up.
Quick Injury Update
* Arnott will miss 3-6 weeks with a knee injury
* Morrow has a groin strain
* Blake has a groin injury and is questionable for the Kings' next game
* Crosby also has a groin injury but it sounds relatively minor
* Gaborik should be back by the end of the month
* Gomez, Kronwall and Holmstrom are ready to go
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1 comment:
it's still very early in his career, but if it's true that ferguson didn't acquire pronger b/c he didn't want to lose Alexander Steen, that's not looking like such a good move at the moment. Wish I could figure out what's wrong with Alex this season. Antropov's looking good tho!
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