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To subscribe/unsubscribe from the LCS Hockey mailing list contact zippy@lcshockey.com You may access LCS Guide to Hockey on America Online at keyword "LCS Hockey". ------------------------------------------------------------------- Coyotes Heating Up the Desert ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino Don't look now, but the Phoenix Coyotes are the hottest team in the NHL. And no, it's not because they play in the desert. It's kind of hard to believe that the team consistently known for being inconsistent has put together one of the best starts the NHL has seen in quite some time. Through the team's first 15 games, the Coyotes have only lost twice and tied twice. More impressively, however, is the fact that Phoenix has allowed more than two goals in a game only once this season - an opening night 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. As of press time, the Coyotes are currently riding an 11-game unbeaten streak and haven't allowed an opponent to score more than two goals in 14 straight contest. That 14-game run is an NHL post-expansion record, as the Coyotes are the first team since the Original Six era that has posted such numbers. The 1958-59 Montreal Canadiens held opponents to two goals or less 18 straight times. Phoenix's streak of good luck is quite a turn of events from the last couple years when the Coyotes struggled just to win two games in a row. The only consistency they had then was that Nikolai Khabibulin would be in goal. But what version of Khabby opponents would see was always in question. This season Khabibulin is back in between the pipes on most nights for the Coyotes. And this time he's been able to show his A game on every occasion. In an era when goaltender statistics have dropped to a minisucule level, Khabibulin's numbers have become darn near invisible. Khabby has posted a 7-2-1 record with a 1.67 goals-against average, a .933 save percentage and one shutout. Jimmy Waite, Khabby's backup, has been no slouch either. He's recorded a 4-0-1 record with a 0.98 GAA, a .962 save percentage and a shutout. The goaltenders' jobs have been made a lot easier this season with the help of a solid defensive corps. The key to the defense is health. In past years the defense in Phoenix was hampered by injuries, causing an almost constant flow of players to come up from Springfield (AHL). The Coyotes used 14 different defensemen last season, including such household names as Brad Tiley and Sean Gagnon. That combination doesn't make for much confidence on a team. Especially when you don't even know the names of the guys you're counting on to stop the opposition from getting near your goaltender. This season has been a different story. The Coyotes' top six defensemen - Keith Carney, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky and Deron Quint - have played in all 15 of the team's games so far this season. That consistency can do a lot for a team's confidence. Speaking of consistency, Lumme, who was signed as a free agent in the off-season, has done wonders for the defensive corps. He has scored eight points and has posted a +9 plus/minus ranking. He has also taken a lot of the pressure off Numminen, who had been used to playing 30-35 minutes a game before Lumme arrived. "We're getting solid play defensively, not just from the goaltenders, but I think from our defensemen," said captain Keith Tkachuk. "You have Jyrki Lumme and Teppo Numminen, they make a big difference. This is the best defense we've ever had in this organization." So the defense and goaltending are solid. That leaves one question: What about the offense? In all honesty, it could be a heck of a lot better. Outside of the team's top three forwards - Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick, and Rick Tocchet - the rest of the offense has been sluggish. Roenick leads the team with 18 points (five goals) in 15 games, followed by Tkachuk's 17 points (10 goals) and Tocchet's 14 (seven goals). The oft-injured Dallas Drake has chipped in eight points in 12 games, but from there the Coyotes are getting into slim pickings. The goal output of Juha Ylonen, Bob Corkum, Greg Adams, Daniel Briere, Brad Isbister, Mike Stapleton and Mike Sullivan combined is eight. That's not good. Plus, the power play is one of the poorest in the league, ranked somewhere around No. 24. More forwards are going to have to step up and score some goals to take the pressure off the team's top three scorers. Adams, in particular, has been a disappointment. He's scored just once this season despite recording 57 goals during the past three seasons with the Dallas Stars. But while the rest of the offense searches for its scoring touch, the combination of Roenick, Tkachuk, and Tocchet have saved the day. Tkachuk definitely has been tearing the league up lately. His 10 goals ranks him among the league leaders. And his overall play and attitude have been improving as the season has gone on. That's a big step considering the amount of torture and suffering he went through at the hands of the Phoenix fans at the beginning of the year because of his contract situation. Barry Melrose of ESPN fame even went as far to say that Tkachuk could be the best player in the league right now. That's a bold statement, but there's no doubt the Coyote captain has played some excellent hockey. Tkachuk said he has faced a hard road to win back the people of Phoenix. "I totally understood it," he said. "I just think half the people were booing me the first game of the year, I knew it was going to happen. I was ready for it. "But now that we're winning. We're off to a fast start and I think it's been a lot better. There are no more boos. You just have to go out and play well as a team and to produce as an individual to win them back." Roenick and Tocchet have been excellent, as well. Tocchet seems to have regained that step in his game many thought was lost last season. He's pounding people along the boards and is getting into good position in front of the net. Roenick has been flying on all cylinders. He's throwing himself at people all over the ice like the JR Superstar of old and has regained the scoring touch he once had. He's not going to score 50 goals in a season anymore, but Roenick is still a talented player. All of this adds up to a lot of wins in Phoenix. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Phoenix Coyotes are winning games. And they're doing it on a consistent basis. Those are welcome words for all hockey fans spending their winters in the desert. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Dell........................Editor-in-Chief Zippy..................................Computer Boy Jim Iovino.............................Ace Reporter Matthew Secosky.......Does Not Have a Police Record Nicole Agostino.........Was Right About the Calcium Dan Hurwitz.........................Featured Writer John Alsedek........................Featured Writer Alex Carswell.................Anaheim Correspondent Matt Brown.....................Boston Correspondent Matt Barr.....................Buffalo Correspondent Simon D. Lewis................Calgary Correspondent Scott Pagel..................Carolina Correspondent Thomas Crawford...............Chicago Correspondent Greg D'Avis..................Colorado Correspondent Jim Panenka....................Dallas Correspondent Dino Cacciola.................Detroit Correspondent Aubrey Chau..................Edmonton Correspondent Vacant........................Florida Correspondent Matt Moore................Los Angeles Correspondent Jacques Robert...............Montreal Correspondent Jeff Middleton..............Nashville Correspondent Eric Witzel................New Jersey Correspondent David Strauss...............Islanders Correspondent Alex Frias....................Rangers Correspondent The Nosebleeders..............Ottawa Correspondents Eric Meyer...............Philadelphia Correspondent Bob Chebat....................Phoenix Correspondent Jerry Fairish..............Pittsburgh Correspondent Tom Cooper..................St. Louis Correspondent Al Swanson...................San Jose Correspondent Seth Lerman.................Tampa Bay Correspondent Jonah Sigel...................Toronto Correspondent Jeff Dubois.................Vancouver Correspondent Jason Sheehan..............Washington Correspondent Tricia McMillan...................AHL Correspondent James Clippinger..............College Correspondent Howard Fienberg.......................Correspondent Steve Lamb............................Correspondent ----------------------------------------------------------------- LCS Hockey - Issue 108 - November 25, 1998. All rights reserved because we, like, called ahead and stuff. Email address: info@lcshockey.com Street Address: 406 Sheffield Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601. Web Address: www.lcshockey.com Direct Address: Something from the meat case, Linda? ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Cullen Update: Cleveland Not So Bad ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Scott Tennant It ain't easy being an LCS Hockey hero and idol of millions from eight to eighty, but then nothing has been easy for Johnny Cullen the past couple of years. Cullen's road to recovery from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma finds him in Cleveland, Ohio, these days, plying his trade with the IHL's Cleveland Lumberjacks. The 34-year-old veteran forward was assigned to the Jacks on Oct. 26 by the evil Tampa Bay Lightning - a team that obviously wouldn't recognize talent and heroism if it slapped them across their sun-tanned faces. The 34-year-old veteran center started slowly but made a definite impact in his fourth game with Cleveland. He tied a team record with seven points in one contest, leading the Jacks to a 7-3 blowout of the defending Turner Cup champion Chicago Wolves on Nov. 7. Playing a regular shift and seeing plenty of power-play time, Cullen recorded two goals and five assists. That matched Dave Michayluk's team record set on Feb. 27, 1988. Ironically, Michayluk accomplished the feat against the Flint Generals, for whom Cullen was playing at the time. In fact, Cullen established a still-standing IHL record of 157 points that season. "I guess the hockey gods were on my side tonight," Cullen said after his seven-point outburst. "It was the kind of game where every bounce seemed to go in." Cullen's goal in Cleveland is obviously to work his way back to the NHL, but the question is, with which team? It probably won't be Tampa Bay. "Do I have a chance of going back up to Tampa again? No, I don't think so," he said. "But if I come down here and play well, maybe some other team will give me a shot." Cullen missed all of the 1997-98 season after a softball-sized tumor was discovered in his chest. A course of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and some excruciating rehab later, he was pronounced cancer-free last summer. Tampa invited him to training camp, eventually signing him to a two-way contract, and he made the Lightning roster to start the season. But Tampa struggled early on, and Cullen was to pay the price for it. Tampa Bay coach and GM Jacques Demers gave Cullen a choice. He could either retire and take an assistant coaching position, or he could accept a demotion to Cleveland. When push came to shove, Cullen took the trip to the minors. "I think they were pretty well shocked when I did that," said Cullen. "They never thought I'd come down here. But I told Jacques that I've come too far and I wasn't going to give up my comeback after only two weeks. "But if I'm down here and I realize it's not gonna happen, then I'll hang 'em up. But right now, I'm having fun. I went through hell for a year-and-a-half, and coming to the locker room now and being with the guys - even at this level - is fun." Cullen's biggest problem is conditioning. He was getting only about eight minutes of ice time per game in Tampa Bay, and it's been two years since he's played a full season. But with the Lumberjacks running three forward lines (instead of the NHL standard four), he is getting ample opportunity to get himself in shape. No matter what happens with his hockey career, though, his battle back from cancer has changed his life in more ways than one, and it's all for the better, he says. "One day my life was going along great," said Cullen. "I had a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter, and then they tell me I had cancer. So do I wake up everyday now and thank God I'm healthy? Sure I do. It could come back at any moment, for all I know. There are times when my wife and I get stressed out these days, and then say, 'Hey, what are we stressed out about? Look what we just went through.' If nothing else, an experience like this gives you perspective." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Decision on Fleury Still Pending ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino Theoren Fleury has been a member of the Calgary Flames his whole career. Back in the spring of 1989, the diminutive forward won over the hearts of Flames fans with his in-your-face, hard-hitting play. Fleury became the sparkplug for a veteran Flames squad as they defeated Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens to take home the Stanley Cup. The good times have come and gone in Calgary, but one constant has remained. Night in and night out, Fleury continues to charm fans at the Saddledome and captures their imagination as the 5-foot-6 center/winger speeds up and down the ice to take on opponents close to a foot taller than he is. Fleury has become a fixture in Calgary. But after this season, however, Fleury becomes an unrestricted free agent. And since he plays for the financially challenged Flames, there's not much hope that his team can make him a competitive offer. So the five-time All-Star and the Flames organization have some big decisions to make. Should he stay or should he go? To the dismay of many Flames fans, there has been a lot of talk already this season about the Flames trading their only star player. Rumors have Fleury heading to Philadelphia to play alongside Eric Lindros and John LeClair. But the rumors have died down since the Flyers acquired Keith Jones to fill the right wing position on the Legion of Doom line. Other possible destinations could be the Rangers or perhaps the Devils. But if the Flames don't trade Fleury before the trading deadline, the spotlight will turn on him. Can Fleury leave Calgary, a town he lives in and loves, for more money somewhere else? And what would the fans think? Would they think he left them for the almighty dollar, or would they wish him luck in his quest to compete with talented stars on another team? Fleury said in training camp that if he didn't have a contract by a certain date, he'd take offers from other teams after the season. So far, his statement still stands. "I think that, on one hand, maybe it would be good to have a change," Fleury said. "But on the other hand you look at a guy like Ray Bourque and how great of a player he's been for one team his entire career. And with free agency and whatnot, those things don't happen anymore. "It's pretty rare to find guys that have been on the same team for 10 years and longer." For the record, Fleury is in his 11th season with the Calgary Flames. And it seems that after all these years of wear and tear, the former team captain is showing no signs of slowing down. Fleury has scored 21 points in 20 games this season. He has 10 goals, including two hat tricks, is a plus-5 on a below average team and is second in the league with 84 shots. Today's Theo Fleury is a lot calmer on the ice than he was early in his career. You usually won't see him flying into corners and throwing himself at opponents along the boards. Fleury realizes that if he is going to have a long and successful career, he's going to have to be a smart player. There will be no more challenges against the league's tough guys, like the time during his rookie year when he jumped Ken Baumgartner from behind and proceeded to get pummeled. Fleury doesn't have to pull stunts like that anymore. He feels that he now has the respect of most players in the league. "I think I definitely have more respect from my opponents than I did before," he said. "I've been around long enough and people know that I'm going to compete hard every night. I don't think I'm as chippy as I used to be when I first came into the league. I've gotten a lot smarter. And I have to reserve my energy because I do play a lot." Fleury plays around 20 minutes a game for the Flames. He plays on the power play, short-handed, and at even strength. The organization knows how important he is, not only to the team, but to the community, as well. Without Fleury the team would be hard-pressed to attract as many fans as it does. Which makes the financial decisions surrounding Fleury all the more difficult to make. The organization must decide if keeping Fleury is crucial for the future of the franchise. If Theo Fleury leaves the fans in Calgary, it might not be long before the Flames are extinguished from the Alberta countryside, as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Defense Causing an Avalanche of Problems ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Greg D'Avis After toiling in obscurity for several years, Aaron Miller has unexpectedly become the star of the Colorado Avalanche defense. For most of the past two seasons, Miller was a sixth or seventh defenseman and occasional fill-in winger, rarely noticed except for a couple of good playoff performances. This year, though, Miller has been seeing more ice time than virtually anyone in the league -- about 30 minutes a night -- as the Avalanche defense has been reduced to bare bones by a near-supernatural rash of injuries. While recognized NHL defensemen like Sylvain Lefebvre, Adam Foote, Jon Klemm and Alexei Gusarov are injured, the Avalanche's no-name defense has risen in the past three weeks to help the team begin its resurgence after a lousy start. The defensive troubles began in the off-season, when Uwe Krupp signed as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings and Sandis Ozolinsh held out. No problem, said the Avalanche brain trust, because Klemm and Miller were ready for expanded roles and Wade Belak and Eric Messier were on the brink of becoming full-time NHL regulars. Then, in the first game of the season, Messier, who was counted on to take Ozolinsh's place on the power play, broke his elbow. Out `til January. Gusarov and Klemm were pressed into point-man duty, with little effectiveness. Soon enough, the injuries started mounting. Adam Foote injured his arm and still hasn't returned. Sylvain Lefebvre took a puck to the eye and still hasn't returned. Belak's always-troublesome groin acted up. Miller missed time with a concussion. The Hershey Express started up as the Avalanche started dragging players up from the minors such as Ted Crowley, Jeff Buchanan and Dan Smith, who's been back-and-forth between Hershey and Denver about 15 times this year. Trades brought in some fresh faces. Greg deVries came over from Nashville. Cam Russell came from Chicago. Both filled gaps, but neither has ever been a top-four defenseman. Meanwhile, the injured list continued to grow. In successive games in November, Jon Klemm and Alexei Gusarov both went down. Klemm is gone till spring, Gusarov for another month. Ozolinsh, who could be in the best bargaining position of any of the remaining NHL free agents, remains unsigned. And the no-name defense of the Avalanche acquits itself well. The corps has worked exhaustively with a basic four-man rotation of Miller, deVries, Russell and Smith, with spot time for Buchanan and fellow rookie Brian White. Bizarrely, as the defense has become decrepit, it's also improved. The Avalanche has given up more than two goals only three times in all of November. Hopefully, soon, Ozolinsh will be back in the fold, Foote and Lefebvre will be off the disabled list and Miller and Co. can return to a normal workload. But until then, the Avalanche's No-Name Defense is making a name for itself. ------------------------------------------------------------------- When Heroes Collide ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell Here at LCS Hockey, we don't know much. Hell, some might even say we're stupid. But we know one thing for sure: Darius Kasparaitis is the coolest player in the NHL. And that's not the Night Train talkin', either. It just doesn't get any better than the wacky Lithuanian. To know Darius is to love him. The biggest misconception around the league is that he's a dirty player. That couldn't be further from the truth. Darius is as clean as it gets. He never uses the stick. But rest assured, if there's a chance to hit someone he's going to take it. He never, ever, passes on a check. And since most guys don't like to get wrecked, most guys don't like Kaspar. But don't hate him for playing the game the way it's meant to be played. Even though he's a world-class defensemen, Kasparaitis does some of his best work off the ice. He's a funny, funny guy. A few recent examples occurred when the Penguins did some of that charity stuff, taking kids to a local store to load up on winter clothes. The little fella that got stuck with Darius was treated to some comedy, too. While the youngster was in the market for some boots, Darius did the ol' "pretend he asked for high-heeled shoes" bit. Aw, it was classic. Then when he accidentally tore down a shelf while getting the boots the tyke selected, Darius was quick to rabbit and blame the whole thing on the camera man. Rule number one in department store high jinks: always blame the union guys. While Darius is definitely in a world of his own when it comes to coolness, he does have some remote competition in Darcy Tucker. The gritty Tampa Bay center has scrapped his way into our hearts with his feisty, relentless play. Even at 5'10", 180 pounds, Tucker isn't afraid to mix it up. He'll go with anybody, anytime. And mess with one of his teammates, you mess with him. That's just the kind of guy he is. Seeing how they play similar styles and are both in the inner circle of LCS Hockey heroes, it would make sense that Kasparaitis and Tucker would be friends. Sadly, that's just not the case. But it's not all bad. While their mutual hatred does make things a little awkward at our office parties, the rivalry is one that all hockey fans can enjoy from afar... which is the only safe way to be involved when it comes to these two. It's tough to say exactly when the feud began, but all best estimates point to April 4th of last season. The Penguins waddled into the Ice Palace and were enjoying a 4-1 lead early in the second period when things got ugly. Kasparaitis collided with Tucker at center ice and a huge dog pile ensued. Tucker dropped the gloves and started throwing. Not known as a fighter, Kaspar did his best to survive. Both men received two for roughing to go along with their fighting majors, while Tucker also drew a misconduct. Fast forward until this past Thursday, November 19. Kasparaitis and the Penguins were back at the Ice Palace. The Birds were trying to close out a 5-1 win in the final minute of regulation when Bolt rookie Vincent Lecavalier ran over Tom Barrasso in the crease. With no penalty called on the play, Barrasso meted out some justice of his own, two-handing Lecavalier across the shin as he looked to circle the net and make his way back up ice. As play went the other way, Lecavalier stopped dead in his tracks in the right wing circle and seemed ready to escalate things further with Barrasso. Wanting to protect his netminder, Kaspar stepped in and started jawing with the supposed Bolt savior. Lecavalier responded by backing up and dropping the gloves. Having just seen the tail end of the incident, Wendel Clark assumed that Kaspar was trying to start trouble with Lecavalier, and being the bad man that he is, rode to the rescue. Unfortunately, this meant steamrolling Kaspar from behind. Darius never saw Clark coming and got laid out. He had no choice but to cover up as Wendel stood over him with fists ready to fly. Clark's a good guy, though, and didn't take advantage of Darius while he was down. I guess that whole checking-from-behind thing was just a momentary lapse in judgement. Anyway, as a linesman stepped in to break things up, Kaspar got to his skates and seemed to explain to Clark that he hadn't done anything to Lecavalier but was just standing up for his goaltender. Clark seemed to appreciate the argument, because the two engaged in quite the civil discussion without any further excitement. But things weren't over yet. As Darius was skating off the ice, he exchanged words with Tucker on the Tampa Bay bench. It's not clear exactly what was said, but the two really got into it. Tucker snapped. Billy Ranford had to physically restrain him from charging over the boards. All the while Kaspar stood his ground and kept yapping, even pointing at his nemesis in a rather threatening manner. Tucker was simply out of control on the Bolt bench, breaking his stick and appearing ready to leap out of his own skin to get a piece of Kaspar. Don't kid yourself, Tucker's pretty scary when he gets mad. Look in his eyes and it's as if someone else is driving. I don't want to say Tucker's insane, but after seeing Darcy in this condition my family now refers to our crazy Uncle Earl as just Uncle Earl. After shepherding Tucker out of the realm of sanity, Kaspar eventually made his way back to the Pittsburgh dressing room. Tucker continued to fume for the final 11 seconds of play before disappearing down the runway. It was just the beginning. As incredible as it seems, the Penguins and the men with lightning bolts on their pants were scheduled to meet again just two days later in the Steel City. A Tampa-Pittsburgh home-and- home series is quite the rare occurrence, but the Fates smiled on us this day, my friend. Would Kaspar knock somebody silly? Would Tucker make good on his threats? Aw, this was one NHL ticket worth its price in folding green. Fans didn't have to wait long for the festivities to begin. The very first time that the two were on the ice together, Tucker went looking for Kaspar. The puck had been shot into the Tampa Bay zone and Kasparaitis was cruising through center behind the play. Now what happened next is open for interpretation. The incident happened so far away from the puck that it wasn't clearly captured on video. One blurry, distant shot is all that was available. One fact was clear, however. Tucker got knocked the (sunshine) out! It appeared that Tucker attempted to run Kasparaitis only to have his plan backfire. Darius saw Darcy coming and exploded into him with a stiff check to the chest. Tucker got some serious air, covering a good 10 feet before crashing back first into the boards in front of the Pittsburgh bench. He remained motionless for several minutes. Obviously, you never want to see someone get hurt, but this was awesome. I mean, how often do we see guys barking at one another and then nothing happens? Well, not this time. Kaspar delivered. Just like Li'l Davey Cross, he's got the goods. He's a superstar in a superstar machine, takin' it to the sta-ars... emotion lotion! Yeah! With Tucker still out cold, Cory Cross jumped Kasparaitis and started dealing. Darius was unprepared for the attack and turtled. Cross got a double-minor for roughing, while Kaspar was saddled with two minutes for interference. Tucker was still lying on the ice long after the penalties were handed out. The worst is always feared in such circumstances, but Tucker ain't no joke. He slowly regained his senses and was helped to the Tampa Bay bench. Miraculously, Tucker didn't even miss a shift. Gotta like that. He was back on the ice just over a minute later to help kill the extra penalty to Cross. And he wasn't done being the center of attention. The Bolts had cleared the puck deep and Tucker was in hot pursuit. Barrasso took a step from his cage and rifled the puck to the right wing boards, getting a whack from Tucker across the stick for his troubles. It was undoubtedly a payback for the slash Barrasso had given Lecavalier the previous game. Tommy didn't care. He called Tucker out. Daren Puppa had just made a spectacular save at the other end of the ice when play had to be whistled because Barrasso was out near the Penguin stripe going with Tucker. Barrasso never dropped his gloves and popped Tucker a few good ones with his catcher before the rest of the gang arrived. Once things were calmed down, Tucker was ushered to the box sporting a freshly split bottom lip to go with his two for roughing, two for unsportsmanlike conduct, and 10-minute misconduct. Barrasso was given two for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. He also aggravated a back injury and never returned for the second period. It's unclear whether Tucker got the extra two for something he did on the ice or for his behavior once he arrived in the box. See, Kaspar was still serving his two minutes when Tucker joined him across the scorer's table. That's trouble. Kaspar was the last person Tucker wanted to see. It was quite the scene. There was Tucker, standing up screaming at Kaspar through the glass with blood-stained teeth and the spirit of Charles Manson dancing in his eyes. For his part, Kaspar remained seated and tried his best to hide a smile as he listened to the verbal assault. Tucker wove a beautiful tapestry of obscenity that is still hovering somewhere over Lake Erie. Removing the profanity, the gist of Tucker's declaration was that he was going to kill Kaspar. Pretty standard stuff. As he frantically adjusted his elbow pads and tugged at his jersey, Tucker repeatedly warned, "Just wait." Kaspar scoffed, "For what?" Another threat was greeted by Darius with the always reliable, "Go 'head." He then attempted to remind Tucker to just play hockey. The suggestion didn't halt Tucker's theatrics. Referee Kevin Maguire defused the situation somewhat by making sure that Tucker was escorted to the Bolt dressing room for the remainder of the period. The time away seemed to help. Tucker emerged for the second as the picture of composure. He was even seen calmly discussing matters with Maguire during the pre-period skate. I don't think Joanne Woodward changed personalities as quickly. Tucker's penalty time wasn't finished until half the middle frame was expired. Meanwhile, Kaspar roamed free and rang up a few more big hits, including a bone-rattling shot on Benoit Hogue behind the Pittsburgh net. Kaspar finished the game with an astonishing eight hits; five more than his nearest competitor on either team. The two combatants didn't share the ice again until the third period. The Lightning were still within striking distance and couldn't afford any stupid penalties, so Tucker placed the team above any shots at personal vengeance and simply skated by Kaspar on more than one occasion without so much as a word. The Pens, however, pulled away at the 15-minute mark of the third when Maxim Galanov blasted a slap shot high short side over Puppa to make the score 5-2. At 18:11, with the game out of reach and Kasparaitis on the bench, Tucker found a willing dance partner in Tyler Wright, another LCS hero. Wright is a gritty, gutty guy, but he's not really a fighter. Tucker laid the smack down on him with the People's Right Hand. The fight marked the end of this chapter in the Kasparaitis- Tucker story. A great time was had by all. Everything considered, this one has to go to Kaspar. Not only did the Penguins win both games, he provoked Tucker to speak in tongues on two occasions and scored a KO on another. That's fine work indeed. The importance of this latest confrontation has not been lost on us here at LCS. Construction has begun on a statue to commemorate the event. It depicts a scene of great hope, with Kasparaitis and Tucker working together to try and win a three- legged race. It's really amazing what one can do with duct tape and old liquor bottles. We're hoping to have it completed in time for their next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, December 15. Kasparaitis and Tucker... if only everything in life could be so meaningful. ------------------------------------------------------------------- More Stuff... ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell CULLEN UPDATE Johnny Cullen, LCS Hockey hero and the idol of millions from eight to eighty, is still skating for the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the IHL. At last check, Cullen has two goals and nine points in six games. It should be mentioned that seven of those points came in one game, but that's really neither here nor there. Hey, if you live in Cleveland and would like to be our temporary correspondent while Cullen calls the city home, just drop us a line at sportif@westol.com. COLORADO COMING BACK Last issue in the ol' More Stuff column it was mentioned how Washington has been devastated by injuries this season. Well, Colorado isn't too far behind. In an unbelievable rash of bad luck, the Avalanche blue line has been rendered unrecognizable thanks to injuries to Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, Sylvain Lefebvre, Jon Klemm, Eric Messier, and Wade Belak. For complete details on the situation, check out Greg D'avis' feature article elsewhere in the issue. Yet despite all the grief on defense, Colorado has rallied to an 8-9-2 record. That may not sound like much, but take away the 0- 4-0 start and the Avalanche are 8-5-2 in their past 15 games. Considering the injuries, that's really quite remarkable. They're currently only three points behind Edmonton for the division lead. The two main reasons for the turnaround are that Patrick Roy is once again stopping pucks and Peter Forsberg has started scoring goals. But don't overlook what GM Pierre Lacroix has done to turn the tide. Lacroix acquired Greg de Vries and Cam Russell in separate deals to help bolster the decimated defensive corps. Both were huge moves. Then he swiped Shjon Podein away from the Flyers for the painfully slow Keith Jones. Sure, Jones has fit in well with Eric Lindros and John LeClair in Philly, but he was dead weight in Denver. Podein is the type of hard-working, third-line winger with speed the club so desperately needed. Add him to Stephane Yelle and Rene Corbet, and the Avalanche could very well have the best third line in hockey. Hell, the top two lines are pretty damn swell in their own rights, with Forsberg between Claude Lemieux and Valeri Kamensky, and Joe Sakic centering Adam Deadmarsh and rookie ace Milan Hejduk. Lacroix has also addressed the matter of team chemistry. The first step was to trade his own flesh and blood, sending his son Eric to Los Angeles for Roman Vopat, who eventually was shipped to Chicago for Russell. Lacroix the Elder followed that up by signing Adam Foote to a contract extension. Foote, who was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of this season, was so frustrated with negotiations that he publicly said he would not be back in Colorado next season. That's never good for team morale. Thankfully, both parties came to their sense and Foote will remain the cornerstone of the blue line. Now all Lacroix has to do is sign Sandis Ozolinsh. That's easier said than done. Lacroix reduced his offer in length, pitching a two-year $6.6 million deal to Ozolinsh's agent hoping to pique interest with the promise of another pay day not so far off in the future. Ozolinsh's agent, whose name is like Thelonious Monk or something, declined. Monk and his client are sticking to their demands of something closer to $4 million a season. Lacroix says his offer includes incentives that could drive the annual salary up to the $4- million neighborhood, but Monk says there are no such incentives. He's even gone so far as to ask for a trade. Lacroix would be foolish to trade Ozolinsh. There just isn't another player on the planet that can bring what he does to a team. He's the best offensive defenseman in hockey. Period. Without him at the point, the Avalanche have no shot at a Cup. However, if he can get signed, and the rest of the defense mends, the men with feet on their shoulders will be right back in the heat of things along with Dallas and Detroit. DOES PITTSBURGH NEED TOUGHNESS? The debate in Pittsburgh is whether or not the team can continue to survive without a few more proven fighters. The only slugger on the roster is defensemen Chris Tamer, and his ice time has been reduced dramatically this season. It's tough for him to protect people when he's never on the ice. While the club really hasn't had a feared puncher since the days of Rick Tocchet, the subject has become a hot topic recently with the team getting smacked around a bit. On November 14, with the Penguins leading the Panthers 4-0 late in the third, Florida's Peter Worrell took a run at Aleksey Morozov and knocked him silly with an elbow. Worrell would later receive a three-game suspension from the league. Morozov suffered a concussion and still hasn't returned to action. Defenseman Jeff Serowik wanted to step in and challenge Worrell but quickly changed his mind when the 6'6" behemoth wanted to drop the gloves. With Serowik in trouble, veteran blueliner Bobby Dollas saved the day, stepping in to fight Worrell. The scuffle had predictable results, but it was Dollas' attempt that counts. Another Penguin was lost to a cheap shot in the very next game against Philadelphia. Late in the third, with the outcome decided, Roman Vopat crushed Victor Ignatjev from behind into the boards, injuring the blueliner's shoulder. Then the home-and-home series with Tampa Bay saw the likes of Wendel Clark, Cory Cross, Sandy McCarthy, Darcy Tucker, and Enrico Ciccone run roughshod over the Birds with little apprehension. Dollas actually had to fight Ciccone, eating an uppercut that split his lip, in order to once again protect his teammates. Afterwards Dollas could do little more than say, "I'm to old for this crap." The problem may have been highlighted even more when Tom Barrasso injured his back in a scuffle with Tucker. When your goaltender is getting hurt in fights, it might be time to make a move. The Penguins like to say that they have team toughness and that as long as everyone sticks together they'll be fine. But Dollas can't keep fighting 6'6" guys every night. At this rate he'll be dead by Christmas. The Penguins still have Petr Nedved up their sleeve. It would make sense that they'd try to get some muscle back in return, but then again the team seems confident that it can survive without it. In a perfect world where everybody respects one another and plays by the rules, the Birds might be able to rely solely on their speed and quickness. Unfortunately, the NHL is not a nice place. Teams know that the Penguins are soft. And you can bet it will be a weakness that gets exploited. Word on the street is that Edmonton's Bill Huard may soon be wearing the black and gold. Huard can throw. He'd be a good addition. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Matt Johnson's gutless sucker punch that KO'd Jeff Beukeboom cost him more than just 12 games. Since the Los Angeles thug was labeled a "repeat offender," he will be forced to forfeit his salary for those games under the terms of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. Johnson, who makes $650,000 a year, will lose $95,121.96 due to his stupidity. While the money should probably go to Beukeboom, it actually goes into the NHL's Emergency Assistance Fund which is set up to throw real bitchin' parties on weekends at Bettman's house. Ninety-five grand will buy a lot of Jagermeister. The 12-game sentence and subsequent fine are a fitting punishment for Johnson's cowardly actions. However, it just further illustrates how light the penalty was for Tie Domi when he suckered Ulf Samuelsson a few years back. Johnson got 12 for hitting Beukeboom in the side of the face with his glove. Domi, who came up from behind and punched an unsuspecting Samuelsson in the nose and mouth with his bare fist, was given only eight games. The premeditated attack was the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed during an NHL game. Domi should still be in prison. LET HIM PLAY The Tampa Bay Lightning have said they want to bring Vincent Lecavalier along slowly, but this is ridiculous. Any slower and he'd be going backwards. In 19 games, Lecavalier has one goal and four points and is a -12. But it's not his fault. The top pick at this past Entry Draft has been seeing an average of 12 minutes a game for the Bolts, often with fourth-line talent. And he hasn't even played as many as 12 minutes in any of the past four games. In fact, he only saw 9:48 of ice time in the 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh on November 21. Although, he was allowed to serve a major penalty to Pavel Kubina late in the contest. I think we all realize how important it is for franchise players to learn how to serve major penalties. Keeping oneself busy for five minutes is a skill that needs to be honed to a razor's edge. As soon as Lecavalier makes a mistake he finds himself on the bench. Jacques Demers apparently believes that this is helping the youngster become a better player, but it's hard to imagine how. The only way to improve is to play. Young kids are going to make mistakes. It happens. But they have to play through 'em. A mistake is nothing to be ashamed off as long as you learn from it. That's difficult to do when you're a spectator. So far all Lecavalier is learning is that if he slips up he sits on the bench. Jacques, the goal is to build a hockey player, not train a dog. And why not play the kid? Where the hell are the Lightning going this year that they can't afford to let Lecavalier learn on the job? Fans are showing up to watch him dazzle with his skating and puck skills, not to see how straight his posture is. Let him play. CHICAGO-MONTREAL TRADE Are you wondering who won the Chicago-Montreal trade that saw the Blackhawks land Jocelyn Thibault, Dave Manson, and Brad Brown in exchange for Jeff Hackett, Eric Weinrich, and Alain Nasreddine? Well don't. Chicago won. I'd explain myself further, but this is the type of thing you either see right away or never at all... sort of like "Cannonball Run III." TIME FOR BURE TO MOVE Alexander Mogilny's knee injury could mean that Pavel Bure will be back in the NHL sooner than expected. With Mogilny slated to miss between four and six weeks, and with Todd Bertuzzi still on the shelf with a broken leg, the time is now for the Canucks to make a deal. GM Brian Burke has said he won't let the injuries force him into a bad trade, but Burke's not real bright to begin with, so who really cares? The Canucks need the situation to be resolved. And the league needs Bure on the ice. The leading candidate for the Russian Rocket would seem to be the Philadelphia Flyers. Chris Gratton and Dainius Zubrus could be headed the other way. How good would Bure look alongside Lindros and LeClair? That's sick. BROADWAY CLOSED LCS favorite "Broadway" Bernie Nicholls has been forced into retirement by San Jose GM Dean Lombardi. Aw, that's just wrong. Nicholls, 37, had two assists and was a -4 in 10 games this season for the Sharks. Hey, you gotta break some eggs to make an omelette. Bernie was just getting warmed up. Lombardi met with Nicholls over the weekend and basically told him he sucked and that he was done playing for the Sharks. Naturally, Bernie was stunned by the mandate. Lombardi did offer Nicholls a job with the organization, but he didn't specify what the job would be. He will reportedly work out the details over the Thanksgiving holiday, at which time Nicholls will make a decision about his future. Let me just say that LCS Hockey would love to have Nicholls on our team. So, Bernie, if you're out there, just say the word and you can be one of the few, the proud, the LCS Hockey correspondents. The pay is lousy and the hours are long, but other than that it's a piece of cake. Or, if you prefer pie, a piece of pie. Just say when. NEELY KNOWS Nicholls isn't the only LCS hero coming to grips with retirement. Cam Neely has finally reached the conclusion that he can no longer play in the NHL. The former 50-goal man attempted a comeback with the Boston Bruins but was only four practices into his 10-day tryout before pain in his hip wrested the decision from his hands. At a press conference on November 17, Neely spoke about his failed return to glory. "I'm completely fine with the fact that I can't play. I'm fortunate that I had the opportunity, that the Bruins gave me an opportunity. I know it wasn't the easiest of circumstances with the team, the coaching staff to let a guy that hasn't played for a couple of years interrupt things to see if I could play." "It was an opportunity that I was given that I didn't think I was going to get and it was fun for the days that I was out there," continued Neely. "But as each day I skated I felt the pain lingered longer than I would have liked. As I said yesterday, I know how I felt when I had to retire, pain wise, I know how I'm feeling now and I know how I was starting to feel as I progressed. And that's not really how I want to feel." When asked if he felt relieved that it was over, Cam agreed. "I think relief is a good word, to be honest with you. I tried to do this as quietly as possible. I started working out quite a while ago to get into better shape and to see if I could take it to getting on the ice again. It was something that I really didn't mean for it to get as carried away as it did. Although I was optimistic that I could take it to another level, I never really was sure how long I could keep pushing it. Because I know how I felt every day. When you don't have any relief at all from the pain, you have to wonder if you can really play again. I did have the opportunity to push it a little harder but it just never got as good as I would have hoped to keep pushing it." LCS Hockey would like to wish Neely nothing but the best. And, Cam, that writing offer is open to you too, buddy. Maybe you and Bernie could work on a column together, like a Point/Counterpoint deal. He could say something and then you could call him an ignorant slut. It's fun. Honest. WACKY STATS The NHL is finally starting to go public with some of those wacky stats of theirs. It's hard to believe that all these categories could be clocked accurately, but here's a list of some of the league leaders in a few obscure statistical categories through November 24. FACEOFF WINS 1. Steve Rucchin, Anaheim 309 (54.49%) 2. Doug Gilmour, Chicago 289 (55.57%) 3. Mark Messier, Vancouver 272 (52.10%) 4. Mats Sundin, Toronto 269 (55.92%) 5. Yanic Perreault, Los Angeles 246 (54.91%) ICE TIME (in minutes) 1. Chris Pronger, St. Louis 31.11 2. Brian Leetch, NY Rangers 30.76 3. Ray Bourque, Boston 30.30 4. Al MacInnis, St. Louis 28.91 5. Boris Mironov, Edmonton 27.06 NOTE: Joe Sakic plays the most of any forward, ranking 15th overall at 25.25 minutes per game. HITS 1. Todd Harvey, NY Rangers 59 2. Richard Matvichuk, Dallas 55 3. Curtis Leschyshyn, Carolina 54 4. Derian Hatcher, Dallas 53 David Harlock, NY Islanders 53 Dan McGillis, Philadelphia 53 NOTE: In case you're wondering, Darius Kasparaitis has 30 hits in just nine games. GIVEAWAYS 1. Wayne Gretzky, NY Rangers 48 2. Vladimir Malakhov, Montreal 47 3. Peter Forsberg, Colorado 45 4. Joe Sakic, Colorado 44 5. Vincent Damphousse, Montreal 42 TAKEAWAYS 1. Peter Forsberg, Colorado 59 2. Brian Rolston, New Jersey 36 3. Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver 34 4. Steve Rucchin, Anaheim 33 Matt Cullen, Anaheim 33 THANKSGIVING Normally at this time of year we usually run some sort of Thanksgiving feature where we list all the things we're thankful for. But to be honest, I just don't care anymore. I mean, it's the same thing every year... we're thankful for the kindness of the parole board, that the public drunkenness laws have been relaxed, that Prozac dissolves in gin, blah blah blah. I'm just not up to it. I got nothin'. So let me just wish a Happy Thanksgiving to you, our valued readers. And to our friends outside of the United States, Happy Thursday! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Discipline Campbell Style ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Matt Barr If new NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell were Kenneth Starr, Monica Lewinsky would be the one in hot water. Since the beginning of the season, Campbell has suspended 17 players a total of 60 games. Is Campbell a hangin' judge or is this another in a long list of examples of where the league goes wacky on the latest rules-emphasis mandate for the first two months of the season, then slinks back to its cave? Introducing Campbell as new Lord of Discipline in July, NHL Commissioner Basketball Jones said that an important part of Campbell's job would be to crack down on deliberate noggin knocks, such as the one Gary Suter laid on Paul Kariya last winter, which shelved Kariya for the Olympics and the rest of the season. The league is concerned about the safety and health of its players, fostering a family environment for fans by eliminating gratuitous violence, and also about making big piles of money. "Right now, if you look at it from a fiscal point of view," Campbell said in July -- meaning he got the hang of this league management insider gig early on -- "when you lose the top players it has a devastating effect." That's just exactly what I was thinking when I watched Pat LaFontaine announce his retirement this summer. Cynics among us saw an ass-backwards example of this Protect-the-Stars emphasis in Campbell's review of Eric Lindros' crushing check on Andreas Dackell in Ottawa on October 29. Lindros sort of took an extra stride, kind of left his skates a little, maybe had his elbow up a smidge, but no penalty was called on the ice. Not even delay of game, when the final 4:47 of the first period had to be played after intermission so they could scrape Dackell off the boards and ice. Campbell reviewed the incident, and Lindros was exonerated. Rightly so, because it was a legal hit. One wondered, though, whether that would have made a lick of difference if it had been say Mike Maneluk who mushed Dackell? Of course, that thought of one's was fleeting, since one can't imagine Maneluk mushing much of anything. Still, whether the rules are different for Eric Lindros than for minor cogs in the NHL's marketing machine, and whatever is behind the new ream of suspensions, they're doing the game good. Through November 25 of last season, Campbell's bombastic predecessor, Brian Burke, handed out a mere four suspensions, and only one was for actions on the ice. The other three were for verbal abuse of an official or for uttering racial slurs. Through November 25 of this season, Campbell has already dealt more than four times as many suspensions, with all save Reid Simpson's two-game vacation for throwing a water bottle at a fan being for actions taken on the ice. And there have been some significant suspensions. Los Angeles King tough guy Matt Johnson was given 12 games for sucker punching Jeff Beukeboom. San Jose's Andrei Nazarov was clipped for seven games after cross-checking Cam Russell in the face. There has also been one five-game sentence and three others of four games. Compare that to Burke who issued 25 suspensions all of last season for a total of 64 games, with the average penalty being 2.56 games in length. Suspensions themselves don't necessarily do the league any good, but consistency in handing them out sure does. Players under the previous regime didn't know whether the elbow to the head they were about to deliver would draw a four-game suspension or a chuckle of delight from Burke. Neither did fans, current or potential. And players, particularly the league's superstars in the goon cross hairs, didn't know whether they were going to be the next Kariya. Or LaFontaine. It says here that Campbell is the kind of steady, common-sense administrator that will keep this up. Asking a team of referees to consistently apply rules against obstruction for example is one thing. Human nature, that part of it anyway that wants to let the players play and wants to get a good table at Chez Paree before it gets too crowded, allows refs to be more lax as the season wears on. Suspensions are a different animal. They're more visible. Everyone in the world has seen the act in question before Campbell has to make a decision, not just 15,000 beered-up live witnesses (3,602, in Greensboro), and Kerry Fraser's decision to give Rumun Ndur two for obstruction-holding doesn't appear on ESPN2's Bottom Line forty-eight times during National Hockey Night. If Campbell leaves one thing to be desired compared to Burke, it's that he's unbearably dull. Speaking of the non-suspension of Lindros, Campbell acknowledged that it was a tough call and pointed out that the situation raised several issues the league needs to address and all that. Burke said, "It was a hard hit and an unfortunate injury, but if you don't want to get hurt don't play this game." That's why we miss Burke a little. But, to the league's credit, it no longer has an inmate as its warden. CAMPBELL'S HIT LIST PLAYER REASON LENGTH Ruslan Salei Slew Footing 5 games Keith Jones Blow to the Head 2 games Richard Smehlik High-sticking 1 game Turner Stevenson Elbowing 2 games Rob DiMaio Elbowing 2 games Denny Lambert Slashing 4 games Dave Manson Elbowing 3 games Matthew Barnaby Blow to the Head 4 games Bobby Holik Slew Footing 2 games Erico Ciccone Elbowing 1 game Sean Brown High-sticking 3 games Reid Simpson Fan Abuse 2 games Peter Worrell Elbowing 3 games Andrei Nazarov Cross-checking 7 games Richard Zednik High-sticking 4 games Matt Johnson Sucker Punch 12 games Craig Berube Abuse of Official 3 games ------------------------------------------------------------------- Here We Go Again... Hockey in the South ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Steve Lamb With the Predators inaugural season underway and the Atlanta Thrashers preparing for the second coming of the NHL in eleven months, sports radio hosts and other pundits are beating that old horse regarding hockey's survival in the South. "Can a northern sport make it in Dixie?" "Will football, baseball, and NASCAR fans support a Canadian game?" What nonsense. When the Flames left in 1980 they had the 2nd highest per game attendance average of Atlanta's four professional teams, following only the Falcons. For three of their four seasons, the IHL's Atlanta Knights attracted more fans than their Omni roommates, the Hawks. Georgia is already supporting three other professional hockey teams. The Central, or "Learn English" League has representation in the Columbus Cottonmouths (great jerseys) and the Macon Whoopee (even greater name). The East Coast Hockey League, which has flourished south of the Mason-Dixon, has a team in Augusta, the Linx. I can only imagine this in homage of the city's ties to the golfing world. Now I'll be the first to admit there's not a whole lot to do on a Friday or Saturday night in any of these nice towns. It's no wonder all three teams are doing well at the turnstiles. It's also no secret that a family of four can go to one of these games for less money than you could spend on a good meal here in Atlanta. This brings me to my next point. We all know the NHL is the only major, professional sport that lives or dies by the gate. If nobody went to an NFL game it wouldn't affect the day-to-day operation of the team. Their recent success notwithstanding, the Atlanta Falcons are living proof of that. The lack of a multi- million dollar television deal and this recent trend to turn hockey players into instant millionaires has been more than a little tough on the average fan at the ticket window. New teams coming into the league don't have the luxury of a five-year plan to build on their fan base. They are going to have to hit the ground running. This is just the message Thrashers GM Don Waddell is delivering to the local media. He has publicly stated that the team is prepared to go after one of the many top shelf goalies available as free agents next spring. It's downright impossible to imagine Patrick Roy signing with an expansion team, but as everyone knows, Ted Turner has a lot of money. It's not only a buyer's market in regard to players; there are more than a few good coaches looking for work. There is quite a lot to be excited about here in Atlanta these days. On October 9th, the Thrashers launched their one year out marketing campaign. "Game ONe Countdown" which will include advertising, education, and promotions such as the Nike/NHL Street Program, Youth Hockey Clinics, and Educational Outreach Initiative. Of the three, the Educational Initiative is the most intriguing. Beginning in January, the Thrashers will provide area schools with an "exciting program" that will educate students about hockey and invite their participation in the game. Right On! Instead of some boring film about plant cell reproduction, the kids will get to see slap shots, breakaways, and glove saves. Where were these folks when I was in school? One final thought: as a happy recipient of the league's largesse, my joy is somewhat tempered by the shared belief that expansion has had an overall negative impact on the quality of play. This topic has been discussed too many times for me to rehash it all over again. Having said that, I believe that for the long term future of the game we all love so much, it's the only inevitable choice. Gary Bettman obviously believes this is the straightest path to the TV network's bottomless pit of cash. The biggest rub against expansion is that it requires teams to keep players on their roster who may be past their prime and bring up young players too soon before they're ready. With the latter who knows, we just might uncover a diamond in the rough. As for the former, let me just say this. I attended my first NHL game in 1975. Mike Bossy, Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur, and Rogie Vachon were all in their prime. I also got to see Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Bobby Orr, and Stan Mikita. These guys, with the exception of Howe, were pretty much on their last laps. I'm just grateful I got the chance to see them. I'm now grateful my daughter will get a chance to see Gretzky, Gilmour, Kariya, Jagr, and Hull. Thanks, Ted. Thrasher Notes Of the top ten prospects in next June's amateur draft, six are from somewhere other than North America. To that end, the Thrashers have assigned three scouts to cover the European market. Sweden and the Czech Republic seem to be the best place to look for hockey players these days. Having worked with both the San Diego and Orlando franchises of the International League, general manager Don Waddell is expected to choose the IHL as the primary minor league affiliate. For proximity purposes, the leading candidates are Orlando, Cincinnati, and Chicago. This would make Atlanta only the fifth team with an IHL affiliation joining Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Phoenix. In keeping with late 20th century communications technology, the Thrashers have a website. Much like the team itself, it is an evolving, work in progress. It will offer some nice views of the new arena as well as the much coveted Thrasher merchandise catalog. The site can be found at www.atlantathrashers.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- One Man's Opinion: NHL 99 for the Playstation ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Howard Fienberg It's a cool step up on last year's installment, though at first glance it does not look it. The graphics actually seem to have taken a step back. But this is all perception, and first impressions, though important, can be very deceiving. NHL99 is damn fine, and still the closest most of us can get to strapping on a pair of skates and taking a cross-check from Eric Lindros. As always, when the new edition comes out, the presentation screens change a bit. They are nice, but not why you buy the game, so let's skip that stuff. Let's get to the nitty gritty. Coolest improvements: rendered-motion; checking; fighting; player creation; injuries; hot and cold streaks; coaching strategies; announcers; expansion draft. Worst problems: no limits on expansion draft; the play-by-play commentators; international rosters; fluidity of player movement between international and NHL. The graphics are now more realistic than ever. The frame rate does not come across as nicely, but player motion and reaction far surpasses previous versions. Players are responsive, and move the way players ought to. Apparently, Electronic Arts modelled the movement after a bunch of Vancouver Canuck players. Why Canucks? Because their summer started midway through last season, that's why. Players skate like angels when needed, and especially when you use the analog shock controllers, now finally worth the money. So sometimes they vibrate for no reason, or try to make you feel like you have been checked, only ten minutes late. So what? It's fun. You can't see the trouble you are causing when you send Claude Lemieux in to harass the goalie after the whistle sounds - but you can feel it instead. The checks are better than ever. NHL Breakaway was touted as having "rumble-pack checking." What the heck is that? Answers to Zippy. Rumble-schmumble, the checking on NHL99 rocks. Martin Straka CAN throw a check, and he can hit someone at top speed. But, like in real life, he is more likely to fall down himself, and rarely hurts anyone. Reality is cool like that. And the sounds and graphics to go with it are like budda. I mean butter, cause it's better for you. Scrapping is only slightly improved. At least we don't have to wallow in the fightless days of bygone editions, and the squeamish can turn it off. Perhaps the best part, aside from levelling Todd Marchant with a big haymaker, is the fighter's AI. A secret trick used to exhaustion is goading the opposition player into a fight and then letting yourself get pounded. Instead of sharing five minutes each, he takes a five-minute major and you get a two-minute minor. Now, the computer will pull it on you from time to time. And nobody does it more than Kasparaitis, that slimy weasel. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Apparently in Howard's neck of the woods, the term "slimy weasel" denotes respect. Because, as we all know, Darius Kasparaitis is the coolest player in the NHL. Thank you.) Player creation gives you a lot more options. You can choose two different looks for your player. You can decide on the type of player you want - anything from power forward to set-up man, point man to enforcer. Then you assign attributes as needed. I have yet to figure out how the game uses the leadership attribute, but it sounds neat anyhow. And the end result is more likely to be a good player than in the past, where any creation was definite 4th line material, unless he played for Tampa Bay. Injuries are new and improved - i.e. painful. Your player can get whacked gangsta style, or any number of ways (and the machine will happily replay the incident for your pleasure), and return to the lineup anywhere from five minutes to twenty games later. Injuries also occur more often than in previous editions. Along with the injuries are the return of hot and cold streaks, and the game can automatically juggle your lines to take advantage of them. Coaching strategies are getting closer to the real thing - you have more control over the aggressiveness of play, and more set plays to choose from (like my favorite, crashing the net like a freight train). The announcers use more interesting anecdotes about particular players and are better able to describe plays. The expansion draft option lets you run your own expansion draft for the new Predators, same as in the real league. I love this option - every expansion team needs a Wendel Clark. Which brings us to the problems. Notable among my draftees besides Clarkie are CuJo, Brett Hull, Benoit Hogue and Mike Richter. So Benoit is not, but you get the picture - free agency has no effect. My Predators went on a 10-game unbeaten streak! Back to the play-by-play, can't we get some new voices? Where are the Mike Langes, the Brian Engbloms, the Mike Emricks? The voices get stale fast, and I really do not care if there is "plenty of affordable NHL merchandise available in the building." Intermission is not for advertising. International play - that was cool, that was fun. Nothing compares to putting half the French squad down with injuries. But the rosters plain stink, and they are wholly inflexible. I don't care if Kariya didn't go to Nagano - I want him on my team! Who decided Whine Gretzky was the top-line center for Canada? Why isn't Vladimir Ruzicka on the Czech roster and Ruslan Salei on the Belarus roster? Who put Jaromir Jagr on the Czech second line? How come Ulfie Samuelsson is still eligible to play for Sweden? Where are my socks? These are the questions that perplex me. Given the limitations, you would think that you could change the rosters and bring in other players. But NOOO... you can make players defect, and send Al "MacDaddy" MacInnis to play for Kazakhstan, but you can't transfer players between the NHL and the international set. What if I wanted Nick Brain from Team England for my Toronto squad (anyone is an improvement) or Jeff Friesen for Team Canada? Well, we all know the usual story, and hey, it sure isn't changing much. EA's NHL series rules hockey video gaming. This was good with NHL93 and 94, took a nosedive for 95 and 96, and seemed to rebound on NHL98. All the while, no one else comes close. And that is still the way of the world. But good for those other companies for trying, it keeps pressure on EA. But what on earth happens next season? Secret agent 00NHL? Look forward to some wacky expansion draft fun, as several dozen more talentless minor leaguers join the garage league next season. Until then, happy headhunting. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Chimp Bytes: General NHL News and Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------- compiled by Zippy No More Pumper-Nicholls For Broadway Bernie by Joe Pellitier, Hockey History Guy Bernie Nicholls was apparantly forced to retire on November 23, 1998. You get the feeling he didn't really want to though. "I don't know what to say," Nicholls told the San Francisco Chronicle. "They've announced I'm done playing here. ... I don't know what I should do. It doesn't make any sense. I don't know how to answer any questions. I never expected it to be this way -- you kind of want to go out on your terms." The San Jose Sharks was pressured into retirement by San Jose Sharks general manager Dean Lombardi as he made it clear to Nicholls that there was no room for him on the team. "I don't like having to trade players, or deal with contract holdouts. But for me to tell a future Hall of Famer that you recommend this ... I spent the last 48 hours agonizing over it," Lombardi told the San Jose Mercury News. One would assume Lombardi made every attempt to find Nicholls a home somewhere in the NHL, but there were apparantly no takers. Bernie Nicholls retires with 475 goals and 734 assists for 1,209 points in 1,127 games with Los Angeles, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. At the time of his retirement, Nicholls ranked 32nd on both the all-time goals and assists lists, is 26th all-time in points. The three time all star was one of the NHL's best kept secrets for much of the 1980s as he played in relative anonymity in Los Angeles until Wayne Gretzky's arrival. After 5 consecutive 30+ goal seasons, Bernie, who celebrated goals with his patented arm-pumping "Pumper-Nicholl," teamed with the Great One to score 70 goals in 1988-89, as well as 150 points. He is one of just eight players in league history to score 70 goals in a season. He was on a torrid pace the following season as well but the Kings felt it was necessary to trade their long time playboy to add more depth now that Gretzky had arrived. He was sent to New York in exchange for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato on January 20, 1990. Though he had over a point a game in New York and became popular with the fans (they nicknamed him Broadway Bernie), he was quickly sacrificed in one of the NHL's biggest and most influential trades. The Rangers sent Broadway Bernie along with youngsters Steven Rice and Louie Debrusk to Edmonton in exchange for their Messiah - Mark Messier. After one exciting playoff with Edmonton, Nicholls had lost a step in his game and become more of a playmaker relying on his reputation of past glories. Nicholls was soon moved to New Jersey for Kevin Todd and Zdeno Ciger. Nicholls unfortunately didn't fit into coach Jacques Lemaire's defensive trap system, so they let Nicholls sign with Chicago as a free agent. After two years he move to San Jose via free agency, signing a one year contract. Nicholls re-signed with Sharks in the summer of 1998 but by November they told him he was not in their plans any longer. If you enjoy reading about past and present NHL Stars, be sure to visit Joe's LCS Hockey area title "Hockey Over Time"... where hockey memories never die... they just cough a lot. HULL SUES FOR MISQUOTED COMMENTS Former hockey star Bobby Hull has filed a lawsuit against a Moscow newspaper and the Toronto Sun for stories that quoted Hull making racial slurs and praising Adolf Hitler. The suit was filed Friday in Hull's hometown. On Aug. 25, the English-language Moscow Times quoted Hull as saying "Hitler had some good ideas, he just went a little bit too far." The story also said Hull made remarks about the black population in the United States and suggested the Nazis' plan to build a master race was not entirely flawed. The Toronto Sun picked up on the story the following day with the headline "Hockey Legend Shoots Off Mouth." "He's suing for libel and slander, he's suing for malicious and injurious falsehood. He's also claiming for punitive damages," Hull's lawyer, Tim Danson, said Friday in Toronto. NHL ALL-STAR VOTING The following are the players listed on the World All-Star ballot for the NHL All-Star Game that will be played against the North American All-Star team on January 24th in Tampa Bay: Centers Player Country NHL Club Sergei Fedorov Russia Detroit Peter Forsberg Sweden Colorado Bobby Holik Czech Rep. New Jersey Saku Koivu Finland Montreal Viktor Kozlov Russia Florida Igor Larionov Russia Detroit Robert Reichel Czech Rep. NY Islanders Martin Straka Czech Rep. Pittsburgh Jozef Stumpel Slovakia Los Angeles Marco Sturm Germany San Jose Mats Sundin Sweden Toronto Petr Sykora Czech Rep. New Jersey Alexei Yashin Russia Ottawa Alexei Zhamnov Russia Chicago Wingers Player Country NHL Club Daniel Alfredsson Sweden Ottawa Peter Bondra Slovakia Washington Pavel Bure Russia Vancouver Valeri Bure Russia Calgary Jaromir Jagr Czech Rep. Pittsburgh Valeri Kamensky Russia Colorado Sami Kapanen Finland Carolina Dimitri Khristich Ukraine Boston Alexei Kovalev Russia NY Rangers Sergei Krivokrasov Russia Nashville Jere Lehtinen Finland Dallas Alexander Mogilny Russia Vancouver Zigmund Palffy Slovakia NY Islanders Mikael Renberg Sweden Tampa Bay Martin Rucinsky Czech Rep. Montreal Sergei Samsonov Russia Boston Teemu Selanne Finland Anaheim Niklas Sundstrom Sweden NY Rangers Defensemen Player Country NHL Club Sergei Gonchar Russia Washington Roman Hamrlik Czech Rep. Edmonton Kenny Jonsson Sweden NY Islanders Darius Kasparaitis Russia Pittsburgh Uwe Krupp Germany Detroit Nicklas Lidstrom Sweden Detroit Boris Mironov Russia Edmonton Teppo Numminen Finland Phoenix Mattias Ohlund Sweden Vancouver Sandis Ozolinsh Latvia Colorado Robert Svehla Slovakia Florida Oleg Tverdovsky Russia Phoenix Alexei Zhitnik Russia Buffalo Sergei Zubov Russia Dallas Goaltenders Player Country NHL Club Dominik Hasek Czech Rep. Buffalo Arturs Irbe Latvia Carolina Nikolai Khabibulin Russia Phoenix Olaf Kolzig Germany Washington Tommy Salo Sweden NY Islanders Mikhail Shtalenkov Russia Edmonton The following are the players listed on the North American All-Star ballot for the NHL All-Star Game that will be played against the World All-Star team on January 24th in Tampa Bay: Centers Player Country NHL Club Jason Allison Canada Boston Ron Francis Canada Carolina Doug Gilmour Canada Chicago Wayne Gretzky Canada NY Rangers Eric Lindros Canada Philadelphia Mark Messier Canada Vancouver Mike Modano U.S. Dallas Joe Nieuwendyk Canada Dallas Adam Oates Canada Washington Michael Peca Canada Buffalo Keith Primeau Canada Carolina Jeremy Roenick U.S. Phoenix Joe Sakic Canada Colorado Pierre Turgeon Canada St. Louis Doug Weight U.S. Edmonton Steve Yzerman Canada Detroit Wingers Player Country NHL Club Tony Amonte U.S. Chicago Rod Brind'Amour Canada Philadelphia Shayne Corson Canada Montreal Adam Deadmarsh U.S. Colorado Theoren Fleury Canada Calgary Jeff Friesen Canada San Jose Bill Guerin U.S. Edmonton Brett Hull U.S. Dallas Paul Kariya Canada Anaheim John LeClair U.S. Philadelphia Owen Nolan Canada San Jose Mark Recchi Canada Montreal Brendan Shanahan Canada Detroit Keith Tkachuk U.S. Phoenix Pat Verbeek Canada Dallas Ray Whitney Canada Florida Rob Zamuner Canada Tampa Bay Defensemen Player Country NHL Club Rob Blake Canada Los Angeles Ray Bourque Canada Boston Chris Chelios U.S. Chicago Eric Desjardins Canada Philadelphia Steve Duchesne Canada Los Angeles Derian Hatcher U.S. Dallas Kevin Hatcher U.S. Pittsburgh Brian Leetch U.S. NY Rangers Al MacInnis Canada St. Louis Larry Murphy Canada Detroit Scott Niedermayer Canada New Jersey Chris Pronger Canada St. Louis Scott Stevens Canada New Jersey Darryl Sydor Canada Dallas Goaltenders Player Country NHL Club Tom Barrasso U.S. Pittsburgh Ed Belfour Canada Dallas Martin Brodeur Canada New Jersey Curtis Joseph Canada Toronto Chris Osgood Canada Detroit Mike Richter U.S. NY Rangers Patrick Roy Canada Colorado John Vanbiesbrouck U.S. Philadelphia Vote for your favorite All-Stars at your local NHL arena or at www.nhl.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------- AHL News ------------------------------------------------------------------- by Tricia McMillan Player of the Week (Nov. 16): Hamilton goaltender Steve Passmore picked up the award after a week in which he was 2-0-1 with a 1.29 GAA and .965 save percentage. Passmore also had a shutout along the way. The AHL donates hockey equipment to kids hockey organizations in name of the POTW, but unlike most recipients of the award, Passmore asked the league to send the equipment to an organization in British Columbia instead of an area group. Player of the Week (Nov. 23): When Springfield and Portland finished in a 0-0 tie Nov. 22 for Robert Esche's first pro shutout, it sealed the deal on the rookie stopper's first POTW award. Esche allowed only two goals in the three games he played last week, stopping 90 of 92 shots and going 2-0-1 for the Falcons. Esche has accounted for 11 of the 15 points the Falcons have posted to date this season. Goaltender of the Month: OK, so it took the league awhile to get around to picking somebody. Let's face it, though, what with Marcel Cousineau, Martin Biron, Brian Boucher and Jean-Sebastien Giguere to choose from, it couldn't have been easy. But a decision was made and Giguere takes the title for October despite missing the Flames' first few games. Giguere went 4-0-2 in the six games for which he was available, with a 1.46 GAA and a .957 save percentage. At the time of receiving the award, not only did Giguere lead the AHL in GAA and save percentage, he was in the NHL. Moving Out?: As if losing streaks, the Canadian dollar and a small facility weren't enough trouble for one franchise, the Fredericton Canadiens are facing possible eviction from the Aitken Centre. The Centre belongs to the University of New Brunswick, who are proposing to convert the arena into a fitness facility, a change which would necessitate kicking out the baby Habs. The young Habs already run in the red due to the lack of seats in the Centre and removing most of the rest of the seats would be the final blow, but the University claims to be losing too much money at Aitken to continue operating the building as a hockey rink/convention center/community event center. While converting the Centre would not happen until at least after this season, such changes would likely also move out the UNB hockey team and numerous community events as well, and, as a consequence, no decision will be made in the near future. The Name Game: It's time for American Thanksgiving, so we should give some thought to family. So far the Portland Pirates haven't been winners, but by golly do they have the bloodlines, and not just in hockey - Craig Mills is the son of Dennis Mills, a Member of the Canadian Parliament representing the Toronto area and chairman of a subcommittee which oversees the impact of sports on Canadian economy and society. The elder Mills is presently occupied with attempting to revoke the tax exemption status of the NHLPA - a union to which the younger Mills belongs. Good thing they're not having their holiday this week or that would be one spirited Thanksgiving dinner. Hockeywise, Alexander Volchkov's father, Alexander Senior, was a prominent member of the Soviet elite teams of the 1970's and was also a member Russian team that played in the original tournament against Canada in 1972. Casey Hankinson is the younger brother of former Albany River Rat and Adirondack Red Wing Ben Hankinson, last seen in the IHL. Defenseman Todd Rohloff is the younger brother of former P-Bruin and current T- Blade defenseman Jon Rohloff. Alain Nasreddine, who played for Portland until he was traded to Montreal last week, is the older brother of Fredericton's Sami Nasreddine - and compliments of the trade, now Alain plays for Fredericton as well. And Mike Peluso is the first cousin of the recently retired NHLer of the same name. The Peluso clan apparently doesn't have much imagination with regard to names. "As you get to know our family, it gets worse," admits Peluso. "Both of our fathers are named Jim, and our grandfather is also Mike. My family is really weird." Not to mention in serious need of a baby names book. Hope I Die Before I Get Old: To keep the league young and vibrant, AHL teams are limited to six dressed players with 260 or more games in the AHL, IHL, NHL or European Elite Leagues - unless a player has over 600 games in those leagues, in which case he doesn't count as a veteran but more of a fossilized relic. The list of fossils in the league reads the same as last year - Hershey's Mitch Lamoureux, Philly's John Stevens, Portland's Kent Hulst, Hartford's Ken Gernander and Springfield's Rob Murray. It's fortunate for Philadelphia that Stevens doesn't count as a veteran, or they would have eight on their roster and would have to sit two guys every game. Both the Phantoms and Hartford still scratch a veteran every night. Confusion: On Nov. 15 it was the Phantoms' turn to play with jerseys on a Turn Back the Clock night - except they were a little confused. Since the Phantoms don't have a history to turn back to, they wore the other team's old sweaters, in this case the Maine Mariners, while opponents Portland wore their regular duds. The Phantoms jerseys were essentially Flyers jerseys with a different logo on the front. Then things got more confusing - the team silently auctioned the jerseys during the game - but the 'winners' of the silent auction still didn't get the jersey. They had to report to a live auction and keep bidding on the same item, with no guarantee of getting it after the live auction. Using Your Head - And Other Parts: There are weird goals, and then there are weird goals. For those of you just getting used to the 'silly shot', get ready for the 'butt shot'. During the Hershey Bears' Nov. 21 game with Hartford, Bear Dan Hinote was knocked into the crease and on top of Hartford goaltender Kay Whitmore by a WolfPack defenseman. Hinote wound up on his side, with his back facing the goal, lying on top of Whitmore. While Hinote and Whitmore tried to extricate themselves from each other's equipment, Rob Shearer took advantage of the opportunity to bank the puck into the net - off of Hinote's derriere. Give Hinote an ass-ist on that one. The Main Non-Event: After the shenanigans of the first Kentucky/Hershey matchup of the season, which landed Hershey's Scott Parker and Kentucky's Garrett Burnett some serious suspension time, the first rematch of the two on Nov. 22 in Hershey was pretty heavily hyped by both teams. The Bears even gave away 'Scott Parker masks' to the fans. As it turned out, Parker and Burnett were never on the ice at the same time in the game. Heck, nobody was on the ice at the same time as Burnett - he took exactly two shifts, both in the first period and the second only lasted long enough for the linesman to drop the puck before Burnett was in a fight. The fight was with Troy Crowder, whom Burnett sucker-punched in the original melee; this time, Crowder dropped Burnett with two punches and that was it for Burnett, who spent the remainder of the game opening and closing the bench door. Refunds, anyone? Sweating Small Stuff: Lance Ward scored his first professional goal as New Haven ended a five game winless streak on the Rock Nov. 10... Hey! The Pirates won! Portland nailed down Hartford 5-3 Nov. 10, carried by a pair of goals from Jean-Pierre Dumont and Mike Rosati's return. The Pirates still had to come from behind and take advantage of a hurting team though... The Worcester IceCats came up short in goal when both Rich Parent and Brent Johnson were recalled and Scott Roche was injured. They went with an untried ECHLer and beat the Falcons, 6-3 on Nov. 10. Goalie Dan Murphy had help though - the IceCats didn't allow Springfield a single shot in the third period... Hamilton ended a three-game winless streak by shutting out Cincinnati, 4-0, on Nov. 10. Steve Passmore stopped 34 shots... Hey! The Pirates won again! On home ice! They scored at home! (I mean the rink, you pervert.) Portland picked up goals from four different players and knocked down Hershey 4-2 Nov. 11. Serge Aubin scored both for Hershey... Providence's John Grahame notched his second shutout in less than two weeks Nov. 11 in a 5-0 win over Worcester... Albany rookie Pierre Dagenais scored over a goal a game last season. He needed over six weeks to get one in the AHL, but finally scored against Syracuse Nov. 11. Jeff Williams had three points in the same game... Lowell won their fifth straight game, defeating Saint John, who lost their third straight, Nov. 11... Jeff Libby's right eye was removed and he has gone home pending further medical procedures. Libby has visited the Lock Monsters and hopes to work with them in an off-ice capacity while finishing his degree at Maine, so he's staying busy already. The get-well notes posted to the Internet for Libby - approximately 465 of them - were delivered to the Lock Monsters Nov. 23 and should reach him shortly... Marc Denis stopped Eric Houde's sure fire goal with one second remaining in the Bears and Canadiens' Nov. 12 tilt. Fredericton went down to 0-11-1 in their last 12... Fredericton dropped their 13th straight on the 13th, losing 13 - OK, it was 14 - seconds into overtime to a Byron Ritchie goal. Neither the Habs nor the Beast could score until halfway through the third period... Cincinnati held a 'guaranteed win' promotion against Portland Nov. 13. Ouch. They won too, 3-1... Hartford's JF Labbe stopped Bruce Coles on a penalty shot attempt Nov. 13, then the man whose penalty brought the call, Brent Thompson, scored game-winner... Rookie Stefan Cherneski broke his kneecap in the same game and probably won't be back this season... Strange things happen on Friday the 13th. The Hamilton Bulldogs blew a third period 3-0 lead against St. John's and settled for a 3-3 tie, even more embarrassing since the Maple Leafs haven't won in eight games... Meanwhile Rochester took a 3-0 lead against Syracuse into the second - and then let the Crunch score four goals in less than nine minutes... Herbert Vasiljevs went nuts against Portland Nov. 13, with two goals and two assists as the T-Blades routed the Pirates 8-1. Steve Guolla also had three points, and Andy Sutton and Matt Bradley each scored their first professional goals... Psst - Providence is in first place. No kidding, really. The young Bruins won six straight and eight out of ten to leapfrog Hartford and Worcester... Speaking of those teams, only a crossbar prevented Hartford's Derek Armstrong from having a six-point night against Worcester. He settled for five assists after his goal attempt was deflected and Hartford took the win, 6-3... Herbert Vasiljevs was back against Cincinnati Nov. 15th, with two more goals and another assist for seven points in two nights... For fifty minutes, the Portland Pirates quite shockingly outplayed and outscored the Philadelphia Phantoms in Philly Nov. 15. But then the effects of eight games in ten days kicked in and the Phantoms scored twice in 17 seconds for a 4-2 win... Lowell's Mike Kennedy is rolling hard, and was involved in all three Lowell goals in their 3-3 tie with Worcester Nov. 15th... Dwayne Roloson, who has yet to play a minute in the NHL this season, had a one game conditioning stint in Rochester made much easier by Syracuse, who gave the Amerks 14 - yes, 14 - power-play chances. The Amerks made hay with five of them, and Dean Sylvester had a four-point night en route to the 6-3 win... Jesse Boulerice's suspension from the AHL is over and he returned to Phantom ice Nov. 15, just in time to pick a fight. Boulerice has a pretrial hearing Dec. 4, and if a trial is warranted it won't happen until 1999... Providence and Rochester each have nine players on their rosters who have already reached double digits in scoring... Besides Hartford's 9-0 record, Lowell is also perfect in their division at 8-0. Philadelphia is unbeaten in division at 3-0-1... The Worcester IceCats have already used more goaltenders this season, five, than they have at any time in their history... While Cincinnati is the second best home team in the league after Rochester, they still haven't won a game on the road... The Kentucky Thoroughblades won six straight at home, outscoring their opponents 34-11 in the process... Some of the Crunch rookies are starting out fine. Defenseman Michal Roszival is tied for the AHL lead in defense scoring with 14 points and winger Boris Protsenko leads rookies in goal scoring with nine... Dateline, Nov. 19 - nothing new under the sun. St. John's lost again, although for variety's sake they did it on the road this time, blowing a two-goal lead on Saint John. Fredericton also lost, 3-2, to Hamilton. At one point the two teams were a combined 0-21-3 in 24 games... Add Portland to that hideous combination, and you get a season long combined record of 12-39-2-4, for a winning percentage of .240. And just think - at least two of those three teams will still make the playoffs... Lowell is the only AHL team that has yet to give up a short-handed goal... The Bulldogs went nuts on Saint John Nov. 20, blasting the Flames 8-1 as Fredrik Lindquist had his first North American hat trick and Jim Dowd had a pair to boot... The Philadelphia Phantoms defeated Hartford 2-1 Nov. 20 in the third highest attendance game in the history of the AHL. The game, moved to the First Union Center due to a scheduling conflict, brought in 18,907... That game was also the first time this season the WolfPack lost a game in which they had scored first, and the first time they lost one after they led after two periods. They had been 8-0 and 10-0 in those situations... Jim Carey had a 31 save shutout for Providence against the Lowell Lock Monsters Nov. 20... Springfield borrowed perennial ECHLer Jim Brown for the weekend and he scored twice for them in a 4-1 win over St. John's... Hey! Freddie won a game! The Canadiens needed overtime but they did finally defeat the Beast of New Haven Nov. 20 for the Habs' first win in 15 games... Worcester's Jochan Hecht scored a pair of power-play goals less than two minutes apart en route to the IceCats' 5-2 win over Portland... There were but three goals scored in the Rochester/Cincinnati tilt of Nov. 20 - and they came in a span of 1:27. The Ducks sandwiched the Amerks' goal for the win... Saint John's Jeff Cowan had three points and Martin St. Louis had four, three of them in the first period, as Saint John topped Hamilton Bulldogs, 6-2 Nov. 21 and ended Hamilton's five game win streak... Hartford remained winless outside their division as they lost to Hershey, 5-2, on Nov. 21, allowing Ville Niemenen two goals and Rob Shearer three points, one of them weird... The last time Syracuse and Philadelphia hooked up, Craig Hillier and Brian Boucher had a 0-0 tie. On Nov. 21 it was Jean-Marc Pelletier picking up the shutout for the Phantoms, and the result was close to the same. But Richard Park scored with 1:43 left in the game for a 1-0 win... Providence's seven-game win streak ended Nov. 21 when Springfield's Joe Corvo scored 29 seconds into OT for a 2-1 win. It was the first time this season the Falcons won back-to-back games... Since being demoted to Portland, Matt Herr has failed to score in only one Pirates game and on Nov. 21 he scored the game-winner as Portland finally won - over Fredericton... Albany's Frederic Henry posted his first professional shutout, with 42 saves, on Nov. 21. It came against Adirondack, for which the Rats are all the more jubilant... The points were few and far between in Hershey Nov. 22 as Kentucky won 2-1 - both T-Blade goals were unassisted, and only one assist was given on Hershey's goal... Nov. 22 also saw two rookie goaltenders post their first professional shutouts. Fredericton's Mathieu Garon blanked Hamilton 3-0, only needing to stop 19 shots, and Springfield's Robert Esche stopped 34 shots to goose egg Portland... Catch being, Portland's Joaquin Gage also pitched a shutout, for the AHL's second 0-0 tie this season. It was the first time this season the Pirates got a point without Mike Rosati in the net... And on that same night, it finally happened - Hartford won a game outside their division, a 4-3 win over Philadelphia. They did it the hard way, letting the Phantoms have three power-play goals, including two in less than a minute in the third period, but managed to hold on... There was going to be more offense this year, right? Six shutouts in the AHL last week, 23 in the first 171 games, and a pace for 102 for the season, Yeah, offense... The Beast of New Haven have the best power play in the AHL at 24.5% efficiency - but they're only the 15th best power play at home... The Providence Bruins, no lie, lead the AHL in shutouts with four, two each from John Grahame and Jim Carey... The Bruins are also second only to Philadelphia in penalty killing success... While failing to win 14 times in a row, Fredericton lost by one goal in eight of those games. The young Habs lead the league in one goal games, with 12, and are a whopping 2-10 in those games... Saint John's Martin St. Louis is averaging two points per game since his return from Calgary... The Albany River Rats are unbeaten in their last six, the best current streak... Frederic Henry's shutout raised his save percentage to .932, good for third in the AHL - not bad for the rookie... When he's on, look out. Hamilton's Chris Ferraro has now had two five-point games this season, picking up another five spot against Saint John last week... Syracuse's Craig Hillier has allowed Philadelphia one goal in two games this season and didn't win either game... ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW JERSEY DEVILS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Rob Ftorek Roster: C - Bobby Holik, Bob Carpenter, Denis Pederson, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Sergei Brylin, Brendan Morrison. LW - Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Scott Daniels, Jay Pandolfo, Sasha Lakovic. RW - Patrik Elias, Randy McKay, Vadim Sharifijanov, Krzysztof Oliwa. D - Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko, Lyle Odelein, Kevin Dean, Sheldon Souray, Brad Bombardir. G - Martin Brodeur, Chris Terreri. Injuries: Dave Andreychuk, lw (bruised sternum, day-to-day). Transactions: Traded Bryan Muir, d, to Chicago for future considerations. Game Results: 11/11 Montreal W 3-0 11/13 Pittsburgh W 4-3 11/14 at Philadelphia L 6-1 11/19 Carolina W 3-2 OT 11/07 Florida T 3-3 11/08 at Carolina W 5-2 TEAM NEWS by Eric Witzel The New Jersey Devils continue to play red-hot hockey, and now sit alone atop the Atlantic Division. After starting out somewhat slow, they have gone 8-3-1 in their last 12 games, culminated by a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes to propel themselves into first place, previously occupied by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Head coach, Robbie Ftorek has got these boys playing a new style of hockey, unfamiliar to what anyone who has ever watched professional hockey in North Jersey. Not only is this new "offensive" system a lot more enjoyable from a fan's perspective, it's also producing results much quicker than anyone could have hoped for. Ftorek stated that, "Everyone is contributing on both ends of the ice," but there is still much work to be done. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils went into a defensive shell, only to see the score eventually be tied at 3-3. It took a goal by Randy McKay late in the third period to solidify goaltender Chris Terreri's third win of the season. Bobby Holik said, "We have to learn to put a team away when we have the chance, kick them when they're down." It is a difficult thing to do, to learn a new system. While it is still very early in the season, the Devils have shown very positive signs that they will, indeed, make this a winning scheme. Oliwa: A Scorer? In the game against the Montreal Canadians, tough guy Krzysztof Oliwa notched his first goal of the season. He certainly made the most of it, because it was the first goal of the game, and the eventual game-winner. When he's not using those soft hands around the net, he's using them on the opposition. He is tied with Toronto's Tie Domi for the league-lead with eight fighting majors. After scoring his goal, Oliwa was scratched from the very next game. Second Time Is A Charm In that same game, defenseman Scott Niedermayer was awarded his second career penalty shot. The Devils were in a 5-on-3 short- handed situation when Ken Daneyko banked the puck off of the boards and hit Niedermayer for a breakaway. He was pulled down from behind, and the officials immediately pointed to center ice. Niedermayer raced in on Canadiens netminder Jose Theodore, faked to his backhand, then wristed a shot through the pads for his first-ever penalty shot goal in the NHL. Nieds admitted that when he took his first penalty shot against Ken Wregget in 1996, he was extremely nervous - the result, a shot that hit Wregget in the middle of his chest. This time around, he said that he was much more relaxed, and just let the move happen. Now there's irony - relaxing during "the most exciting play in sports." Wake-Up Call The Devils' brief two-game winning streak came to a screaming halt when they took a road trip down to Philadelphia. The two teams played each other straight up for two periods, then the Flyers erupted for five third-period goals, giving the Devils a first class spanking, 6-1. This marked the most goals against in a single game for the entire season. If you want to look for a bright spot, youngster Vadim Sharifijanov scored his first NHL goal - cranking a slap shot from the left circle, beating Hextall high, glove-side. Taking The Streak On The Road The Devils had two wins against the Carolina Hurricanes sandwiched around a 3-3 tie with the Florida Panthers. The tie was the Devils' first of the season. The second game against the Canes marked the first of a five-game road trip, where they will take their three-game unbeaten streak to Dallas, Phoenix, Colorado, and Washington. The Devils have really shown that they can flourish under head coach Robbie Ftorek, and his offensive system. The lines are beginning to gel, the scoring is well spread out, the defense is trademark, and the goaltending is solid. Bottom line - the future looks bright in New Jersey. Bure a Devil? Vancouver GM Brian Burke is currently on a two-week trip to the East Coast where he is shopping super-scorer Pavel Bure. While refusing to play for the Canucks any longer, the speedy winger is working out with the Red Army team in his home in Russia. Bure is keeping in game shape, while anticipating a trade. The Devils are reportedly one of five teams who are in contention for the Russian Rocket - the Flyers, Rangers, Islanders, and Kings are the others. If you are a fan who would like to see Bure in a Devil sweater, don't hold your breath. He doesn't exactly fit the bill as a "team player," not to mention his $8 million price tag. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK ISLANDERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Mike Milbury Roster: C - Robert Reichel, Trevor Linden, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov. LW - Mike Watt, Mike Hough, Ted Donato, Tom Chorske, Gino Odjick. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Jason Dawe, Joe Sacco, Mariusz Czerkawski, Kevin Miller, Mark Lawrence. D - Kenny Jonsson, Bryan Berard, Scott Lachance, Richard Pilon, Eric Brewer, David Harlock, Barry Richter. G - Tommy Salo, Wade Flaherty. Injuries: Kenny Jonsson, d, has a concussion and is day to day. (All together now: But aren't we all?) Transactions: None. Didn't sign any Slovakian wingers that might score some goals. Or Russian ones either. Nope. Game Results 11/14 Washington L 5-3 11/17 at Colorado L 5-2 11/20 at Dallas L 4-2 11/21 at Nashville W 6-3 TEAM NEWS by David Strauss You know that kid's song that starts with "The wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round....?" And continues with "The wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round....?" And then finishes with a flourish of "The wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round....?" No? Well, you're lucky. But for the equivalent mental effect, just take a minute and go through all the big rumors Islander fans have heard about "big names" coming to Uniondale over the last couple of years. Jeremy Roenick, Alex Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov, and now Pavel Bure. Not that Islander fans wouldn't like to see any of these players in white, blue and orange, but after enough false rumors, they've begun to wonder if the Isles have just been casting out rumors for the hell of it. The latest round of these rumors have some substance to them, though, due to the continuing holdout of three time 40-goal scorer Zigmund Palffy. With Palffy playing with some girl's choir team in Slovakia, or some similar quality of play, the Isles have apparently offered the enigmatic winger to Vancouver straight up for Bure. ("Enigmatic" being the phrase you call European players when they do strange stuff. Canadian kids are just called "whackos.") The Canucks reportedly turned down the deal, and common speculation has concerned whether the trade would be expanded to include such players as Bryan Berard or Zdeno Chara on the Isles side, or Bret Hedican or others on the Vancouver side. Not just the Isles are after Bure. At various times, the Rangers, Kings, Flyers and Devils have led the chase for Bure, who refused this season to report to the Canucks in an attempt to bolster his trade demands. It is rumored the Rangers rejected a Canuck request for Niklas Sundstrom, top draft pick Manny Malhotra and netminder Dan Cloutier. "If we get a good deal, we'll pull the trigger," said Vancouver GM Brian Burke, who would not detail any discussions he has had with the Islanders for Bure. "If we don't, he's going to sit all year. There is no time frame." Islanders coach and GM Mike Milbury declined any comment (a first, I think) on the talks or a prospective deal. Burke and Milbury met at a Dallas hotel last week to conduct those talks, and Burke, scouting the Islanders against the Dallas Stars on Friday night at Reunion Arena, confirmed that the Islanders are one of "more than five teams" involved in those trade discussions. "I'll take the best package," Burke said. "The trade will take one of three forms. One is an elite player for Bure. There are players in the league I'd trade one for one. But, I don't think it makes a lot of sense -- because the team that trades value for value is no better at the end of the day. The second scenario is the team I trade him to gets the best player in the deal and I take back help at several different positions and some future considerations. The third scenario is to go with a bunch of draft picks and prospects." The Canucks will refuse as part of any deal to assume a percentage of the $8.3 million Bure is scheduled to earn this season, Burke said. New York papers have reported that Burke contacted Palffy's agent Paul Kraus last week, speaking to him for 10 minutes in an attempt to wiggle out a contract number. "[Burke] told me he's seen in the newspaper where I've asked for $7 million a year," Kraus said. "I told [Burke] to check with [Isles president] David Seldin regarding the three proposals I've made. He just seemed to be fishing." Last week, Kraus gave the Isles a third proposal he characterized as "significantly less" than the two-year, $13.1 million package that included a third-year option. It is believed Burke is not willing to go much beyond $5M per on a two-year deal for Palffy. The Isles also want Bure, a restricted free agent at season's end, signed to a contract extension. And the wheels on the bus go round and round.... ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK RANGERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: John Muckler Rosters: C - Wayne Gretzky, Manny Malhotra, Scott Fraser, Harry York, P.J. Stock, Marc Savard. LW - Esa Tikkanen, Adam Graves, Kevin Stevens, Brent Fedyk, Darren Langdon. RW - Niklas Sundstrom, Alexei Kovalev, Todd Harvey, John MacLean, Mike Knuble. D - Brian Leetch, Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Beukeboom, Mathieu Schneider, Peter Popovic, Jan Mertzig, Geoff Smith. G - Mike Richter, Dan Cloutier. Injuries: Ulf Samuelsson, d, (groin pull, day-to-day). Todd Harvey, rw (bruised, cut left elbow, day-to-day). Jeff Beukeboom, d (concussion, day-to-day). Transactions: Signed Eric Cairns, d, to contract. Asssigned Cairns to Hartford (AHL). Game Results: 11/10 at Tampa Bay W 10-2 11/11 at Florida L 4-1 11/13 Boston T 3-3 11/18 at Anaheim L 3-1 11/19 at Los Angeles W 5-1 11/21 at San Jose T 2-2 TEAM NEWS by Alex Frias Dan the Man: On the flight to Anaheim, all coach John Muckler wanted was to get his team steered in the right direction, that being the faraway land of .500. Well, three games later and an indecisive 1-1-1 mark, the Rangers come back to the East Coast with more questions and even less answers than when they left. In fact they wound up posing a previously unasked whopper: Who is their No. 1 goaltender? Having started 14 of 16 games before the trip began, the Rangers' net was Mike Richter's second home with youngster Dan Cloutier more like the teenager who occasionally gets the house all to himself. But after playing well in the win over Los Angeles and following that up with a 41-save effort that snatched a 2-2 tie from San Jose, neither the coach nor the 22-year-old goalie made it a point to remind everybody that Richter remains the unquestioned No. 1 goaltender. "Oh, he'll get his starts, no question about it," Muckler said. "If you're asking me who we're going to start on Wednesday (at Buffalo), I'll decide that. But Danny played exceptionally well. I mean, he won us the hockey game. He was the first star in my opinion." "Obviously not," said Cloutier when asked if his back-to-back performances would cause him to expect more frequent starts. "Our coach has been around for a long time and whatever decision he's going to make I'm going to respect and go with it. Obviously, he's our coach and he knows what's better for the team. But obviously, I'm happy with the way I played in the last two games. We'll see what happens." While Cloutier's play has raised a few eyebrows over who will backstop the Rangers most nights, Richter's new contract almost guarantees he'll carry the load. However, Cloutier has shown that he is ready to play in the NHL and sooner or later will be a full time goalie somewhere in the NHL. Probably sooner before later. "I think they've been pretty good with me so far and I'm just going to keep working hard and hopefully get more ice time. But if not, I'm just going to keep working hard to one day be the No. 1 guy." Alex the Great or the Fake?: To be or not to be, that is the question. That famous quote seems to be right on the money when it comes to Alexei Kovalev. He just can't decide what to be, a goal-scorer who uses his worldly talents to draw penalties and out-skill his opponents or a defensive mistake meandering aimlessly on the rink. Guess it's that time of the month to play the role of offensive powerhouse because after missing five games with a separated shoulder, he's skated with power and authority in the last two. He set up a goal and drew four penalties against the overmatched Mighty Ducks. He then played a commanding game against Los Angeles, drawing two more penalties, staging an impressive defensive show during one especially grinding shift and scoring his first two goals of the season. "I was thinking a lot during my shoulder injury that I have to play like I played before," Kovalev said. "That's why the Rangers drafted me and it's why they brought me here. I said, 'Why don't I come back to my game and play like I did before?' That's trying to control the puck and make plays." It's a high-risk style. But it is also a style given to 10 to 20-game spurts of dominance the likes of which these Blueshirts could use right now. Beuke-Kaboomed: Los Angeles is known for its numerous gangs and crews. Well, it looks like Kings tough guy Matt Johnson is in one of them after he sucker-punched Jeff Beukeboom, knocking him unconscious. Johnson was suspended 12 games by NHL senior vice president and director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell. "I know Johnson a bit. You like to give someone the benefit of the doubt, but I think it's something that could have been solved in the proper way," said Beukeboom, who hit the ice face-first and has no memory of the shift or the punch. "I think he knows who I am and I know who he is, and we play the type of game where it could have been solved the way hockey players solve it." ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Roger Neilson Roster: C - Rod Brind'Amour, Marc Bureau, Eric Lindros, Mike Sillinger. LW - Colin Forbes, Chris Gratton, Dan Kordic, John LeClair, Roman Vopat, Valeri Zelepukin. RW - Alexandre Daigle, Jody Hull, Keith Jones, Dainius Zubrus. D - Dave Babych, Ryan Bast, Andy Delmore, Eric Desjardins, Dan McGillis, Luke Richardson, Petr Svoboda, Chris Therien, Dmitri Tertyshny. G - Ron Hextall, John Vanbiesbrouck. Injuries: none. Transactions: Sent Dan Kordic, lw, to the Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL). Obtained Keith Jones, rw, from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Shawn Podein, lw. Obtained Roman Vopat, lw, from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Mike Maneluk, rw. Game results: 11/09 at Montreal L 5-1 11/13 Florida L 2-1 11/14 Devils W 6-1 11/17 at Pittsburgh W 4-1 11/20 at Carolina W 3-1 11/22 at Florida W 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Chuck Michio MORE HEADS ROLL Thirty-six years ago, a reporter asked Casey Stengel about the state of the 1962 Mets. Stengel told the guy, "We may keep losing, but not with the same guys." Recent history has certainly proven that Bobby Clarke is a kindred spirit. And when the Flyers recently went winless in seven straight, it didn't take a call to the Psychic Friends Network to figure out what was going to happen. First, Clarke shipped hustler Shjon Podein to the Avalanche for aging-but-fierce Keith Jones. And since Jones was immediately plugged into the Lindros line, that made rookie Mike Maneluk redundant. He didn't get to stay around long enough to complain much. Clarke shipped him to Chicago for hulking underachiever Roman Vopat just five days later. "We look at it as we replaced Maneluk with Jones on the Lindros line and Podein with Vopat," Clarke said. "We see Vopat as a big, grinding winger who can play some center, but we'll play him on the left side. He's more physical than what Maneluk is, and we need that type of player on the third and fourth lines." The shuffling has paid immediate dividends. The Flyers are 4-0 since acquiring Jones, who's banged home three goals (including two overtime game-winners) in that period. His trademark intensity also seems to have injected some spirit into a lifeless team. It's still early, but Jones looks like the best forechecker ever to join Lindros and LeClair. It would be totally premature to predict that Jones will continue his present scoring pace over the remainder of the season. His previous high in goals is 23. But don't forget the transformation that John LeClair made when he left behind his checking role in Montreal and joined Lindros. If Jones stays healthy, which is questionable considering his cranky knees, he seems a lock for at least 30 goals. Vopat hasn't received enough playing time to make an impression yet - except on the prone bodies of Victor Ignatjev and Nolan Pratt. He bludgeoned Ignatjev with a thundering body check in his only shift against Pittsburgh and TKO'd Carolina's Pratt two nights later with four nasty overhand rights. That's probably a reasonable showcase of his "skills." As they say in boys locker rooms all over the world, Vopat really "gets around." Incredibly, he's now been traded four times THIS SEASON! Not even Madonna covers that type of ground. The departure of Maneluk after such a brief trial may be troubling for many Flyers fans, especially since he didn't leave a particularly happy camper. Although Clarke maintained that Maneluk's salary demands were in part responsible for the trade, Maneluk called Clarke's statements "lies." Lies from Bobby Clarke? No way, Mike. WHO ARE THESE GUYS? Imagine you're a lifelong Flyers fan who's just emerged from a 14-month coma. Boy, would you be in for some surprises. Incredibly, every member of the 3rd and 4th lines from the team that broke camp last season is now retired or in another uniform. Remember the "Dan" line of Dan Lacroix, Scott Daniels, and Dan Kordic? Or the checking line of Joel Otto, Shjon Podein, and Trent Klatt that contributed so mightily at both ends of the ice? For those keeping score, Joel Otto retired, Scott Daniels was released, Dan Kordic was sent to the minors, and Lacroix, Podein, and Klatt have all been traded. THE BIG ONE? Bobby Clarke has certainly been busy so far this season, but most of his moves could be characterized as "tinkering." That may all be about to change. Would you believe that there are rumors that the Flyers, Canucks, and Islanders will hook up on a three-way deal that will ship Ziggy Palffy to the Flyers, Pavel Bure to the Isles, and Chris Gratton, a 1st-round pick, and either Brian Boucher or Jean-Marc Pelletier (both prized Flyers goaltending prospects) to the Canucks? Before anyone goes running out to grab a Flyers jersey with Palffy's name on the back, keep in mind that this one doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The reason that Palffy and Bure aren't playing right now is that the Isles and Canucks don't want to give into their salary demands. So how does swapping Palffy for Bure help the Isles? That said, it's an absolute fact that Vancouver GM Brian Burke was in the pressbox on November 17 to watch the Flyers take on the Pens. And it's probably safe to assume that he wasn't there to talk turkey with a team that's just filed for bankruptcy. That means that it's possible that Clarke and Burke are discussing a more direct deal to send Bure to the Flyers. I'm not buying that, either, though. Clarke's hatred of Russians is well-known. And he bashed Bure more openly than almost any other NHL figure this off-season. When informed that Bure wanted to go somewhere where he'd have more privacy off the ice, Clarke told reporters, "How about Moscow?" There's more. Canucks coach Mike Keenan has reportedly gone on record to say he'd take Chris Gratton and Dainius Zubrus for Bure. And here's perhaps the ultimate indicator that something is up. Clarke denied even talking to Burke. That should REALLY scare Gratton and Zubrus. GRATTON Speaking of Gratton, he's embroiled in another controversy. Though he's been officially cleared by the NHL, rumors persist that he made a racial slur directed at enforcer Peter Worrell during a Flyers-Panthers altercation on November 22. I missed the game myself, but my drinking buddy (and Carolina Panthers correspondent) Scott Pagel told me that even the most amateurish lip readers could pick up the statement, which rhymes with "clucking grape." Gratton, of course, denies those charges. "At no point in time did I make that comment," an emotional Gratton said at his locker stall after practice Friday. "What I said was, 'Learn how to play the game,' basically, with a couple of words I don't want to use. It's the heat of the battle and part of the game. But again, under no circumstance did I say something like that." At least he got his name in the paper for something other than his offensive ineptitude. HEXY BREAKS MARK Hats off to my favorite Flyer, Ron Hextall. With his 3-1 over Carolina on November 20, #27 passed Bernie Parent to become the Flyers all-time leader in regular season goaltending wins with 233. Regardless of what you may think of Hextall's abilities, he's embodied the Flyer spirit better than any player since the team's heyday in the late 80s. He's been to the heights, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy for his valiant effort to return the Cup to Philadelphia in 1987. And he's accepted the burden of the Flyers' recent failings with more dignity and class than any athlete in recent memory. Critics have questioned some of the goals he's allowed, but never his heart or his commitment to the orange-and-black. Congrats, Hexy. You'll always be on my first all-star team. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Kevin Constantine Roster: C - Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina, Tyler Wright, Kip Miller. LW - Stu Barnes. German Titov, Patrick Lebeau, Ian Moran, Martin Sonnenberg. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Aleksey Morozov, Robby Brown, Dan Kesa. D - Darius Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher, Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Chris Tamer, Bobby Dollas, Neil Wilkinson, Jeff Serowik, Victor Ignatjev, Maxim Galanov. G - Tom Barrasso, Peter Skudra, Jean-Sebastian Aubin. Injuries: Tom Barrasso, g (back, day-to-day); Jiri Slegr, d (broken hand, 1-2 weeks); German Titov, lw (broken finger, day- to-day); Victor Ignatjev, d (shoulder, day-to-day); Ian Moran, lw (achy all over, day-to-day); Peter Skudra, g (left ankle, day-to- day). Transactions: Recalled Martin Sonnenberg, lw, from Syracuse (AHL). Game Results 11/13 at New Jersey L 4-3 11/14 Florida W 4-0 11/17 Philadelphia L 4-1 11/19 at Tampa Bay W 5-1 11/21 Tampa Bay W 5-2 TEAM NEWS by Jerry Fairish Do you smell what the Strak is cookin'? Martin Straka has been layin' the smack down around the NHL this season. His nine goals and 11 assists place him second on the Penguins behind Jagr's 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists), but there's no doubt that Straka has been the Penguins' top player this season. He put two goals past Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Daren Puppa Saturday at the Igloo; his first being an incredible individual effort. Killing a penalty In the first period, Marty took a lead pass from Pens defenseman Brad Werenka and was one-on-one with the Lightning's Craig Janney. Straka, using his amazing speed, blew past Janney on the outside and had a virtual breakaway on Puppa. Straka then skated in towards the net, cut to his forehand, but tucked the puck in the net on his backhand. It really wasn't even a shot. He just touched the puck with his blade and stopped it, allowing it to slide along the ice and just inside the left post as Puppa flopped to his side. It was wizard. Puppa never recovered. Straka added another in the third and the Pens defeated the Lightning 5-2 to take sole possession of first in the Atlantic Division. I had the opportunity to sit down with the Penguin center earlier in the week.* LCS: How are you? M.S.: "Yeah, yeah, yeah." LCS: Do you mind if I call you Marty? M.S.: "Yes." LCS: What should I call you? M.S.: "Sir, or...well...sir." LCS: What do you attribute your early season success to? M.S.: "Are you some kind of an idiot? Everyone knows it's the magic lint brush I carry around, not the mention the gallon of Mad Dog 20/20 I chug before each game." LCS: Is that Mad Dog you're drinking now? M.S.: "It ain't grape Kool-Aid, Chester" LCS: You seem very bitter. M.S.: "Will you get the $%#& out of here. Thomas, will you escort our 'friend' outside?" LCS: Thank you, Sir. I was then shown the door by Mr. Straka's personal droogie, Thomas. * Celebrity interview simulated. Nedved Trade?< The rumor mill around Pittsburgh is that the Penguins are about to pull the trigger on a big deal that involves Petr Nedved. The buzz around town is that the trade will involve the New York Rangers. It breaks down like this... New York Rangers would receive: Petr Nedved Kevin Hatcher Pittsburgh Penguins would receive: Alexei Kovalev Niklas Sundstrom $4 Million in cash Would this be a good trade? With the cash the Pens could receive, they'll be able to buy season tickets to their own games for the entire year. That's 42 solid games, people. What a deal! Also of Note... Tom Barrasso left Saturday night's game with a lower back injury. Why do I bring this up? I'll tell you. Last Sunday, our (LCS Staff, friends, and Dilweed) rosters had to be turned in for the RHL league. I was quite content in starting Beezer and my second goalie was going to be Ken Wregget. Enter Mike Dell, Editor-in-Chief. He was like, "Man, start Barrasso. He's like gonna kill the next two weeks. For real." Now for whatever reason I listened to him, and now he's out...again! Thanks, Mike Dell. Peace. ================================================================= ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE NORTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- BOSTON BRUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Burns Roster: C - Jason Allison, Anson Carter, Joe Thornton, Tim Taylor, Chris Taylor. LW - Sergei Samsonov, Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Peter Ferraro, Antii Laaksonen, Ken Belanger. RW - Dimitri Khristich, Steve Heinze, Per Johan Axelsson, Peter Nordstrom. D - Ray Bourque, Don Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe, Grant Ledyard, Dennis Vaske, Jonathan Girard. G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas. Injuries: None. Transactions: None. Game Results 11/13 at NY Rangers T 3-3 11/14 Dallas L 3-1 11/19 Florida T 5-5 11/21 Washington W 5-4 OT TEAM NEWS by Matt Brown Well, Cam Neely's comeback attempt only survived four practices, but it was sure fun while it lasted. Most rational Boston Bruins fans knew that a full comeback for Cam was a slim hope. But seeing the big guy out on the ice, streaking down the wing, and letting loose with that cannon of a shot, you had to hope. In the end, the mind and most of the body were willing, but the hip couldn't take it. There are three very positive outcomes to the attempt, however. First, Cam's recovery from a very painful condition progressed so well that a comeback was even worth considering. Even if he can't play NHL hockey any longer, at least he won't be reminded of it by a sharp pain with every step he takes. The second positive outcome is that Cam has come to terms with the situation. In his retirement, from the tearful press conference to the start of the comeback, Cam was a guy who felt cheated. He left the Bruins at a crappy time, after a season that was painful for reasons other than his hip, and he clearly left unhappy. However brief his comeback attempt, this time at the press conference, Cam was smiling, because he was leaving on his own terms, and he had come to grips with the fact that he could not sustain the rigors of an NHL season. The third positive aspect is that by truly coming to grips with the end of his playing career, Cam is able to look ahead clearly to a different future in hockey, whether it be coaching or scouting or broadcasting, and he will be able to apply his full energy to that new venture. Boston fans who want to see Cam do his thing will have to hope that he is willing and able to play on the Bruins alumni squad for charity. However, a note of caution to any local DJs or civic leaders who agree to play against Cam in an alumni squad game: leave the Ulf Samuelsson jersey at home. During the last two weeks, the Bruins haven't been all that busy. They had a break in the schedule of five whole days without a game before they took the ice against the Rangers in New York. That gave Kyle McLaren time to get back into the NHL rhythm, and it worked like a charm when Kyle scored a power-play goal four minutes into his first game back with the Bruins. Kyle winged a rebound past Mike Richter in the first, and the Bruins were all over the Rangers early on. However, in spite of firing 21 shots at Richter in the first two periods, the Bruins came out on the short end 2-1 going in to the third, and things got worse when Niklas Sundstrom deflected a shot past Dafoe early in the third. But Steve Heinze scored off of a Sundstrom turnover seven minutes later. Then Dimitri Khristich deflected a shot from Don Sweeney past Richter to forge a 3-3 tie with only 1:22 left in the game. Next the Bruins entertained the Dallas Stars, and excellent hosts they were. Brett Hull scored twice and assisted on an empty netter by Jere Lehtinen to lead the Stars to a 3-1 triumph. Hull's three points put him over the 1,000-point mark for his career. The first goal was a fluke off a Bruin's skate, the second was a billiard shot off Dafoe's mask that even Hull termed "lucky" and the third was, well, an empty-net goal - so how tough is that? Actually, the second goal was as masterful as lucky, with Hull holding the puck and faking Dafoe down to the point where Hull was ten feet from the net on the goal line with the puck, almost no shooting angle, but Dafoe sprawled like someone had tied his arms and legs to each other. Hull plunked the shot off Byron's helmet to give Dallas the winning lead. The Bruins' goal came from Joe Thornton, and only because the shot was off-speed and snuck through Roman Turek's pads. Otherwise, the Bruins were unable to dent Turek's armor. Not often do you see a legitimate donnybrook in today's NHL, but that was what we got when the Bruins played the Washington Capitals in their first rematch since the Caps doused the Bruins in last year's playoffs. The Caps had lost the previous night against Ottawa, and when things didn't go that well for the Caps in the first 11 minutes of the game, and some fairly nasty licks were exchanged, trouble was not far away. The tone for the evening was set by none other than Joe Thornton, who was high-sticked by Mark Tinordi, and before the whistle was blown on the delayed penalty, came back with a pretty serious charge that caught Tinordi by surprise. Thornton then dropped the gloves and came in swinging. Now, Mark Tinordi is hardly a girly slapfighter, but Joe pretty much held his own and showed that he was not to be trifled with. Washington players had taken a few liberties early on against smaller guys like Sergei Samsonov, and Dale Hunter had tommy-hawked Ray Bourque, but Thornton served notice that these Bruins were not going to get pushed around without responding. Thornton drew the line, and Craig Berube crossed it. He slashed Don Sweeney in front of the net, and Don, usually no ruffian, slashed right back. They then started tussling, and as a scrum started at the boards, new Bruin Ken Belanger, never to be nicknamed "Shrinking Violet," jumped into the fray, dragging Dale Hunter along behind him. At this point, all except the goalkeepers paired off, and with a linesman between them, Belanger and Hunter engaged in a slugfest. When they got tired of landing punches on the linesman's back, he was able to lead them over to the penalty box, and it looked like things were about to clam down. The linesman said something to Hunter and let go of his jersey, and Hunter did what a jerk will do, skating back to jump in on the Sweeny-Berube matchup, as if Berube wasn't a match for diminutive Don. However, the linesman still had hold of Belanger and would not release him, so Hunter was free to hunt heads. That's when Byron Dafoe stepped in. He saw Hunter heading for Sweeney and he left his crease to intercept. Now, it is a penalty for a goalie to leave his crease during a fight, but as soon as Byron got involved, that drew Olaf Kolzig, because opposing goalies make the best dance partners. Besides, Dafoe and Kolzig are best friends - Dafoe was Kolzig's best man at his wedding this summer. So they waltzed around stretching each other's sweaters for the rest of the brawl, trying desperately not to break out laughing at each other, and for the most part, succeeding. By that time, referee Mark Faucette had seen enough. When the dust cleared, Faucette had expelled all 12 players who were on the ice at the time, handing out 238 minutes in penalties, including double game misconducts to Berube and Belanger for their particular feistiness. Most of the players couldn't even remember a game where 12 players were banished in one sweep. So far, only one player has received a suspension, but this is one game tape that is going to get a good look at league headquarters. Craig Berube was suspended for three games for physically abusing a linesman during the fight. The "20-Minute Warrior" award goes to Ken Belanger, however. He has dressed for two games since being acquired from the Islanders, and in both games he has received a game misconduct in the first period. His presence has been meaningful, however, if only to share the enforcer burden with Ken Baumgartner. This has taken some pressure off of Baumgartner, especially against a bruiser-packed team like Washington, which lost six players in this fight and still had enforcer Chris Simon to spare. In an effort to shift the moron spotlight away from the players, Harry Sinden was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying "You know what it does? It shows us we can play with 13 players, and our payroll will [go right down]." Harry, of course, was being facetious, but coming from a guy who is considered "Mr. Cheapskate" by the fans, it wasn't the best remark, especially when one of the 13, Iron Man Ray Bourque, was obviously exhausted at game's end. Even Ray couldn't take this kind of kind of punishment game after game. At some point, to use a tortured old joke, a hockey game broke out. The Bruins had crafted a 3-0 lead, only to see Washington stage a comeback with two goals in the second period, including a short-handed goal by Peter Bondra. Bondra's goal was the first short-hander conceded by the Bruins this year, and came after Ray Bourque could not contain the puck at the point, and Bondra dazzled Darren Van Impe with an inside-out move that left Van Impe looking for his hockey stick while Bondra was taking goalie Rob Tallas to the cleaners. By the end of the third, goals by Brendan Witt and Steve Konowalchuk had tied the game at 4-4, and the Bruins were headed into their second straight overtime game after blowing a big lead. This time, however, a smart line adjustment by Pat Burns on the last overtime shift made the difference, as Burns brought out Jason Allison for the last minute with Steve Heinze and Anson Carter, in place of Joe Thornton. Heinze held the puck in the zone, and passed it to Carter. Anson used his strength to hold off a Caps defender, and touched the puck to Allison, who one-timed it past Washington backup goalie Rick Tabaracci for the game-winner with only 30 seconds left in the game. Whew! The final outcome was better than against the Florida Panthers two days before. In that game, the Bruins ran up a 4-0 lead and looked like they were going to croak the Panthers, until the wheels fell off the zamboni, figuratively speaking. The Panthers fired 45 shots at Byron Dafoe, the most against the Bruins this season, while the B's shot only 29 times against Sean Burke. Amusingly, the ESPN Sportzone recap of the game called him "Carolina's Sean Burke" and they were only half wrong - the guy played like he was still in Carolina. But his teammates bailed him out big time, scoring three times in two and a half minutes to tie the game at 5-5. That gave the Panthers a point in the standings and a moral victory at least, in a game the Bruins had no right not to win. Pat Burns was not amused, nor were the FleetCenter fans. Burns ran the team through a tough workout at the next practice, including on-ice pushups when Burns didn't think a line was giving it all. Maybe this attitude paid off at the end of the Capitals game. One of the biggest surprises of the past few weeks has been the decline of the Boston defense. Mean as it may seem, some of the problem falls in the lap of Kyle McLaren, who is still not quite himself yet on the blue line. Since his return, the Bruins have let in 15 goals in four games, after allowing only 23 goals in the first 14 games. McLaren has a +/- of -4, as well as a few scores against on the penalty kill. Needless to say, this isn't vintage McLaren. But then, the guy is only 22, so hopefully the real vintage years are yet to come. As he gets back into the saddle this season, his defense is likely to tighten up, and with it the Bruins winning percentage will rise. ----------------------------------------------------------------- BUFFALO SABRES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Lindy Ruff Roster: C - Michael Peca, Brian Holzinger, Curtis Brown, Wayne Primeau, Derek Plante. LW - Dixon Ward, Geoff Sanderson, Michal Grosek, Paul Kruse. RW - Vaclav Varada, Miroslav Satan, Matthew Barnaby, Rob Ray. D - Richard Smehlik, Alexei Zhitnik, Jason Woolley, Jay McKee, James Patrick, Darryl Shannon, Rumun Ndur. G - Dominik Hasek, Dwayne Roloson. Injuries: Richard Smehlik, d (thigh bruise, left 11/21 game in Toronto, day-to-day). Transactions: November 16: sent Dwayne Roloson, g, to Rochester of the AHL for a one-game conditioning assignment; recalled him the same day; assigned Erik Rasmussen, c, and Randy Cunneyworth, lw, to Rochester. Game Results 11/10 Ottawa T 2-2 11/12 at Washington W 2-0 11/14 Chicago W 6-1 11/20 Toronto W 4-1 11/21 at Toronto L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Matt Barr Reviving the QE Series The Sabres and Leafs met in a home-and-home series November 20 and 21 with first place in the division on the line. We're loving these new divisions. In the first game, at Buffalo, Canadian fans who packed the oranges were sent north disappointed as the Sabres won 4-1 and earned a share of the division lead. Sabre irritant Brian Spencer, fresh off a four-game suspension for an elbow to the head of Bruins defenseman Gary Doak, scored the back-breaking goal at 4:27 of the second. Spinner collected the puck at the blue line, slid down the right wing, faked pass and snapped a wrister that eluded Leafs backup goaltender Wayne Thomas to increase the Sabre lead to 3-1. Jim Lorentz, Andre Savard and Terry Martin also scored. Pat Boutette replied for the mostly flaccid Leafs. The highlight of the game was Don Luce's open ice thump of star Leafs center Darryl Sittler in the first. In his post-game press conference, coach Floyd Smith was asked whether he marked the occasion of being in first place for the first time in his tenure as significant. "I sure remember when we were last," he quipped. The worm turned at Maple Leaf Gardens the next night. Josh Guevremont scored a short-handed goal off some nice puckhandling mojo from Lorentz, who danced in on Leafs workhorse Mike Palmateer and chipped a behind-the-back backhander off the goaltender's left pad. Guevremont swooped in down the left slot and one-timed the rebound into the short side. Regrettably, Inge Hammarstrom scored on a second effort in the slot early and Errol Thompson made good on a breakaway late in the second, splitting Guevremont and a flailing Lee Fogolin on his way to evening the series. Leaf thug Tiger Williams, limited to six shifts in Buffalo, generally made a pest of himself, dumping Spencer, thumping Freddie Stanfield and bumping Dominik Hasek as and when necessary. (We loved Gerry Desjardins, but come on, he was no Hasek.) With the win, the Leafs upped their all-time record against Hasek to 2-11-3, and regained their two-point lead in the Adams Division. The Sabres have four (count em) games in hand. Hawk Ptooey In a more pedestrian game on November 14, the Sabres ran healthy scratch Jeff Hackett clear off the Chicago roster with a 6-1 drubbing at home. You've accomplished something in this league when you beat a team so bad they're driven to trade for Jocelyn Thibault. Your star for the evening was Parma, Ohio's own Brian Holzinger, who's settled back into his routine of looking like Joe Sakic every eighth game or so and the bastard offspring of Bryan Smolinski and Bob Bassen the other seven. Zinger got the Sabres on the board with under three minutes to go in the first period with a spin-around move in front of Andrei I-Want-a-Chance- to-Start-Ahead-of-Hasek Trefilov, called up from Gooberville of the Putz League by the Hawks for the start. Hackett was a healthy scratch as he'd been all but traded to Montreal. Zinger added two helpers and was a buzzsaw all night. Michal Grosek scored twice for Buffalo, including one off a memorable fake shot by Darryl Shannon which found Grosek's tape to the right of relief pylon Mark Fitzpatrick for an easy tap-in to make it 5-1. Ivan Boldirev scored the lone Chicago goal. (Ok, ok, I've beaten the theme to a pulp, I'm sorry.) Lindy Ruff shocked the Marena crowd by bringing in Dwayne Roloson to start the third. Once the surprise that the Sabres actually had a backup goaltender subsided, the crowd witnessed a performance that was a strikingly realistic interpretation of a goalie's first work in fourteen games. Rollie the Goalie's night was like one of those chairs in your aunt's family room that no one ever sits on except when there's company, and when you sit on it the vinyl creaks and sounds like it's going to crack, it was a lot like that. He did make one fine poke check on Doug Gilmour, though. And the Hawks, who are cranky these days, didn't get a chance to run Hasek. Capital Records On the 12th, the Sabres took a field trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Since they were in town anyway, they honored the recently departed Eastern Conference Champion Washington Capitals with a 2-0 shutout. "This was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from the Capitals," said Hasek. "We played an average game and they played a poor game." With that, the Caps fell to 4-7-3 and were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Caps coach Ron Wilson talked about being "lethargic," needing to "wake up," "letting yourself down," looking like you "don't give a damn," and then addressed the more pressing subject of the Caps' performance against the Sabres. The team held one of those closed door meetings after the game that have worked so well for coach Dirk Graham and the Blackhawks this season. Dixon Ward opened the scoring just 2:33 into the game, banking a snap shot off Mike Eagles' stick, off the post to the right of highly overpaid Olaf Kolzig and into the net. "I meant to do that," Ward said afterward. Miro Satan got the second goal, riding on the coattails of Michal Grosek, who outworked two Caps defenders and Kolzig in the low slot to keep the puck from being frozen till Satan could swoop in and pot it into an open net. Cementhead Craig Berube was in the crease on an apparent Caps goal late in the second. "I meant to do that," he said afterward. Berube isn't all that bright. Sabre killer Peter Bondra, who came into the game off a hat trick in his previous outing against Ottawa but with only two goals in the twelve games before that, was a non-factor, thanks to some major league shadowing by Michael Peca and a nice defensive play or two to keep Bondra from being sprung (see "Others Receiving Votes," below). Ottawa is Also a Capital, You Know Two nights earlier, the Sabres escaped a home game with Ottawa with a six-game unbeaten streak barely intact. Outshot 40-23 and awarded eleven fewer minutes in power plays, Buffalo emerged with a 2-2 tie. Lindy Ruff flipped out on NHL officiating after the game, bemoaning what he saw as a lack of respect. "We have no Lindros, we have no Yashin. It's as if they say, 'We can just give them penalties.'" Two-headed referee monster Rob Schick and Mike Leggo said words to that effect late in the third, as Erik Rasmussen was tagged with a five-minute charging major and a game for squishing Andreas Johansson against the glass. The Sabres played most of the overtime session a man short. Ruff was beside himself after the game. "Johansson sees a little speck (of blood) and rolls around like he was shot by a 30.06," he said. For his part Johansson claimed to be worried about losing an eye or some such nonsense, but there's no question his reaction contributed to the harshness of the penalty. After the highly-publicized hit Eric Lindros laid on Andreas Dackell two weeks earlier, you can't begrudge the Ottawa center for playing it up a little. The league reviewed the hit and declined to further penalize Rasmussen. Audette Requests Trade, "Misty" The Sabres and restricted free agent forward Donald Audette have agreed that Audette ought to make $5.7 million over three years. They've even agreed that he should be paid $1.2 million this season, $2 million in 1999-2000 and $2.5 million in 2000-01. Lace 'em up, Donnie! Well, as Alexander Mogilny used to say when Dave Snuggerud was constantly run out there on his left wing, "not so fast." The Sabres continue to insist on options for years two and three. "It's like signing a three-year contract but year-per-year, which makes no sense," Audette's agent, Gilles Lupien, who wasn't born yesterday, said. "They're just throwing numbers into the air and hoping we're going to jump at them." Deftly sensing an impasse after seven months of negotiations and after brothers-in-arms Alexei Zhitnik and Miroslav Satan were signed before the season opener, Audette requested a trade on November 10. "If they're not willing to do it, then maybe some other teams are," the winger said. The biggest prize to be had in trade these days, despite constant bleatings to the contrary out of Toronto, is likely Penguins 16-month holdout Petr Nedved. As of this writing, a deal involving the Rangers or Sharks seemed most likely to result in Nedved's relocation. After failing to land free agents Doug Gilmour and Ron Francis in the off-season, though, it might be worth some of Darcy Reiger's time to explore. Tough, though, to make a major deal that would no doubt involve quite a bit more than Audette in the wake of a nine-game unbeaten streak that's just recently concluded with a 2-1 road loss. Maybe Roman Vopat is available. Hot, Hot, Hot Some Sabres who were all that and a bag o' chips the last two weeks plus include: Jason Woolley, who tallied a goal and six assists and an ungodly plus-13 in his last eight games. Michael Grosek, five goals, four assists and plus-7 in nine games. Curtis Brown, three goals, four assists and plus-9 in seven. Miroslav Satan, four goals, six assists for ten points in nine games prior to the home-and-home with the Leafs. Dominik Hasek (yawn), who allowed six goals on 135 shots (.956 Sv%) in 285 minutes of action-packed hockey over the last five games. Dwayne Roloson, who stopped all 13 shots he faced against the Hawks in 20 minutes of ice time. Goaltender controversy brewing? The penalty killers, principally forwards Peca, Ward, Brown, Holzinger, Derek Plante and Geoff Sanderson, have killed off 52 of their last 55 man-advantage situations, and their last 24. Shades of Luce, Ramsay, Gare and Seiling! (I know, I said I'd stop...) Others Receiving Votes After potting a hat trick the first time around against the Leafs on Halloween, Sanderson has been mostly scoreless (pointless in five of seven since), but has continued to impress with his hustle. He had a real nice chance to tie the 2-1 loss in Toronto with about three minutes left by being hungry for the puck and going to the net and all that stuff your house league coach taught you. Jay McKee has made himself into a legitimate top-four defenseman. He's developed the confidence and smarts necessary to commit himself, pinching in at the point or taking the body at neutral ice, and has rarely failed to recover in time to be in position when necessary. McKee made a wonderful recovery in the Washington game, sprawling from behind to poke the puck away from an about-to-be-gone Peter Bondra in the Buffalo zone, preserving a 1-0 lead. Hockey's a Business On the 19th the Sabres announced that a whole bunch of people in suits and such were promoted to this, that or the other impressive-sounding position in the organization, which I can't for a moment imagine anyone much cares about, but one of them was my old boss Stan Makowski, son of the late mayor, who was named Senior Director of Facilities Management. So, I just want to take the opportunity to say congratulations, Stan, and I don't think I ever told you how much I dug that pocket Stanley tape measure you gave us for Christmas that one year.

Last Word "If I change the way I play, I'll be out of this league within a year." -- Matthew Barnaby ----------------------------------------------------------------- MONTREAL CANADIENS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Alain Vigneault ROSTER: C - Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton, Matt Higgins, Trent McLeary. LW - Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Terry Ryan, Patrick Poulin, Andrei Bashkirov. RW - Mark Recchi, Brian Savage, Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund. D - Vladimir Malakhov, Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Eric Weinrich, Brett Clark, Miloslav Guren, Stephane Robidas, Craig Rivet, Igor Ulanov, Alain Nasreddine. G - Jeff Hackett, Jose Theodore. Injuries: Saku Koivu, c (amdominal strain, day-to-day). Transactions: 11/16 - traded Jocelyn Thibaut, g, Brad Brown, d, and Dave Manson, d, to Chicago, in exchange for Jeff Hackett, g, and defensemen Eric Weinrich and Alain Nasreddine. 11/20 - Sergei Zolthok, c, and Dave Morissette, lw, returned to Fredericton (AHL). Game Results 11/09 Philadephia W 5-1 11/11 at New Jersey L 3-0 11/12 at Islanders L 4-0 11/14 Edmonton L 4-1 11/17 at Hurricanes L 5-4 11/19 Calgary W 4-3 11/21 Colorado L 3-2 TEAM NEWS by Jacques Robert Houle Makes Yet Another Bet With Hackett Montreal is unique in the NHL... For the best: because of its history. For the worst: because of its record of bad trades. Actually, it's no mystery that Les Canadiens have traded so many players for new additions who never lived-up to management and fans' expectations. The list would be too long to enumerate. The last episode of this trading saga took place last week as the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens swapped goalies and defensemen in a six-player trade. Reggie Houle sent goalie Jocelyn Thibault and defensemen Dave Manson and Brad Brown to Chicago for goalie Jeff Hackett (30 years old, 2-6-1 with a 3.78 average) and defensemen Eric Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine and future considerations. Tbo, 3-4-2 with a 2.61 goals-against average, was acquired in return of Patrick Roy two years ago under Mario Tremblay's reign. Now, the kid, 23, acknowledged that he was relieved after being traded to Chicago. Jocelyn was definitely not comfortable in Montreal. Since last summer, he kept on asking Houle to be shipped out somewhere else in order to put his career back on track. "I didn't feel comfortable for two years. I didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was always the scapegoat after a defeat," said Tbo. He also criticized the media and the fans whom he feels were wrongly blaming him when the Habs lost. Moreover, he was not convinced that he was Alain Vigneault's favorite. Jocelyn was very (happily) surprised to be sent to Chicago. A new life is on sight in Illinois: Tbo and his girl friend are expecting a baby. However, both the former Hab and the former Blackhawk lost on Saturday November 21. Chicago was defeated 5-0 by Los Angeles. Montreal registered its fifth loss in six games and Hackett his first loss in two games. Over the last seven games, the team was shutout against New Jersey and Islanders. The only encouraging thing is the fact that they lost to Carolina and to Colorado by only one goal. So what's the missing ingredient that will give the Habs the edge? Is this latest trade likely to benefit one or both teams? History doesn't favor the Habs. But as long as fans will show up at the Keg there are no reasons to expect other major changes. The team seems to be missing something that even Houle cannot buy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA SENATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Martin Roster: C - Alexei Yashin, Vaclav Prospal, Radek Bonk, Shaun Van Allen, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Martins. LW - David Oliver, Shawn McEachern, Marian Hossa, Magnus Arvedson, Andreas Johansson RW - Daniel Alfredsson, Stephen Leach, Andreas Dackell, Chris Murray, Phil Crowe. D - Lance Pitlick, Patrick Traverse, Chris Phillips, Sami Salo, Wade Redden, Radim Bicanek, Stan Neckar, Jason York, Janne Laukkanen, Igor Kravchuk. G - Damian Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt. Injuries: Marian Hossa, lw (torn ACL in left knee, out until Dec. 1); Janne Laukkanen, d (off-season abdominal surgery, out until Dec. 1); Stan Neckar, d (broken foot, out four weeks); Yves Sarault, c (sprained wrist, day-to-day); Radek Bonk, c (strained hip flexor muscle, day-to-day). Transactions: Nov 10 - Steve Leach, rw, cleared NHL waivers; Nov 12 - Steve Leach, rw, assigned to Detroit (IHL); Nov 18 - Sami Salo, d, Recalled from Detroit (IHL). Game Results 11/10 at Buffalo T 2-2 11/12 Edmonton T 1-1 11/14 at Toronto L 2-1 11/15 at Chicago T 2-2 11/20 at Washington W 4-1 11/21 Calgary W 4-1 11/23 Vancouver W 4-3 TEAM NEWS by The Nosebleeders Ah November, a wonderful month. Heading into this November, most Senators fans would disagree with that statement. Past Novembers for the Senators have been p-i-t-i-f-u-l. Last November the team was 2-10-1. It's almost become a month of hockey in Ottawa that can easily be completely ignored - as if it never really happened. A month where strange comments came from die-hards "I spent all weekend raking leaves and missed it, what was the score (YAWN) anyway?"... "Hey did I see a great college volleyball game on the weekend"... "No kidding, Katrina's really in the December issue." This November started out no differently. After early month decisive losses to Pittsburgh and Washington, the Senators added two ties to Buffalo and Edmonton, a loss to Toronto and then tied Chicago. By November 15th, they had one November win (November the 1st) and were carrying a six-game winless streak. The losing steak was their longest since - note the month here folks - November 97. However, by November 23rd, they were carrying a four-game unbeaten streak and had only one loss in their last seven games. We disrupt the team news to bring you this important message: Message to Marshies - "Please bring back the peanuts!!!" Someone Has to Pay for the Suits The NHL coaching salaries were out again, this time courtesy of The Hockey News. With the help of his three year off season deal, and 111% raise, Jacques Martin checked at 17th overall in the league's 'highest paid coaches' poll. Even with the raise, Martin's $426,530 salary still positions him under the $593,000 league average. The only salary not available in the report was that of New Jersey head coach Rob Ftorek. NHL coaches have been trying to form their own association and have been discreetly revealing their salary figures to help colleagues when it comes time for bargaining. Let's All Go to Buffalo The Dominator, Dominik Hasek, was the story in the Sens-Sabres 2-2 tie. He faced 40 shots including Daniel Alfredsson's point-blank shot off a Prospal centering pass and Andreas Johansson from close in. Curtis Brown scored a short-handed goal late in the second period. Ottawa converted on just one of eight power-play attempts. In the final minute of the third period Erik (the hammer) Rasmussen crashed Andreas Johansson into the glass, opening up a two-inch cut over the left eye. Rasmussen was assessed a well deserved major penalty. Johansson was clearly upset with the play "whether he gets a suspension is up to the league, but I think a player should be held responsible for his actions". Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff added fuel to this when he suggested that Ottawa should learn form the Lindros hit on Dackell that players settle their own score. He said "They say, 'Every time we get hit, let's just turn our back.' I don't like it". Neither do the Nosebleeders. * Dackell returned from the sidelines for this one after finally recovering from a concussion after a crushing hit by Philadelphia's Eric Lindros on October 29th. * Bruce Gardiner also returned to play. He had suffered a sprained ligament in right thumb October 23rd. * Steve Martins also suffered a minor eye injuries in the game. Martins happened innocently when he was hit by a puck in the third period. When asked about the possibility of wearing a visor in the future, the Harvard graduate also displayed his roots in Don Cherry academia. Don Cherry believes that players who wear visors are wimps. Martins refuses to wear a visor under the basis that "people regard players with visors as soft and unwilling to go into the corners." And We Thought the Slashing Ended After Halloween With many off to the parking lot, and just 14 seconds left in the game, the Oilers got a bad-angle Andrei Kovalenko wrist shot to go in past Ron Tugnutt. The Oilers extended their unbeaten streak to seven against the Senators (6-0-1 since January 18th, 1994). "Every time you shoot, there is a chance," Kovalenko noted. "I just tried to keep my shot at the net." Essensa made 33 saves, including 27 over the final two periods. Despite being outshot 4-0 in the overtime period the Senators did get one shot on net. Jason York tried a clearing pass in his own zone and ended up shooting it on Tugnutt, who was ready and kicked it away. * Daniel Alfredsson suffered a cut near his right eye after he was slashed by Sean Brown late in the second period. Brown was assessed a double minor and claimed that he lost balance and that the hit was accidental. Again the team did not retaliate. * Radek Bonk returned to the lineup while scratches included Chris Murray and Patrick Traverse. Shoulda Been a Tie Curtis Joseph stopped 27 shots in leading the Leafs past the Senators 2-1. The Senators had sustained pressure in the first period but Joseph stopped all 13 shots he faced. Both teams were 0 for 4 on the power play and both teams fired 28 shots. Robbed The Senators travelled west to take on the Hawks and if it were not for a called back late third period GOAL, yes GOAL, the Senators would have won. Igor Kravchuk scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Despite having two referees, it was waved off and replays confirmed that Andreas Johansson was in the crease. If he was it was not readily evident. * The tie should have been expected. The two teams had gone a combined 14 games without a win. * The Senators added additional practice time after the Chicago tie. Trivia Time Doug Gilmour's two assists in the Hawks game brought his total lifetime against the Senators to 15. Who leads in lifetime assists against the Senators? Answer at the end of this column. Happy Birthday to You Alexei Yashin turned 25 this month. And Finally the Win Alexei Yashin scored a goal and added an assist to lift the Senators past Washington 4-1 at the MCI Center (a few blocks from the Clinton hearings). Dackell's fourth of the season late in the second period brought the Sens lead to 4-1 and also broke a 0-for-17 spell on the power play. * Sami Salo, a.k.a. "Big Business," replaced Chris Phillips who sat out with back spasms. And Another Win For the second time in a row, Alexei Yashin was named the game's first star. Combined with a very lucky Shawn McEachern backhand goal, Yashin's two goals led the Sens to a 4-1 victory over the Flames. Fishy Business Chris Murray's father, Al, continued his tradition of bringing "lucky fish" to one of his son's teams. Murray arrived in Ottawa from Port Hardy B.C. with some 30 pounds of Pacific smoked salmon. And Yet Another Win The Senators finally beat Garth Snow. Snow, recently traded from the Flyers to Vancouver, had a 7-0-0 lifetime record against the team. Vancouver outshot the Senators 43-31 but Tugnutt stood tall in the victory. The Canucks were without Alexander Mogilny. The Canucks' 19 shots fired at the Senators' net in the third period represents the most this season. * Kravchuk's assist in the game was his 150th. Added to his 50 goals he now has 200 points. Not too bad. Drumroll Please... The current lifetime assists leader against the Senators is Adam Oates of the Washington Capitals with 35 assists. More Senators trivia and a chance to win 12 tickets against the Sharks on Friday March 26th, can be found on http://live.bottlerocket.com/senators. A Bit of Canadiana The Nosebleeders wish to sincerely congratulate all involved with this years Grey Cup including the victorious Calgary Stampeders who won it on a last-second Field Goal. Super Bowl organizers...take note. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Quinn Roster: C - Mats Sundin, Darby Hendrickson, Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley. LW - Fredrik Modin, Steve Thomas, Todd Warriner, Derek King, Kris King, Igor Korolev, Garry Valk. RW - Sergei Berezin, Tie Domi, Mike Johnson, Adam Mair, Lonny Bohonos. D - Sylvain Cote, Dimitri Yushkevich, Alexander Karpovtsev, Jason Smith, Daniil Markov, Kevin Dahl, Glen Featherstone, Tomas Kaberle, Yanick Tremblay. G - Curtis Joseph, Felix Potvin. Injuries: Alexander Karpovtsev, d (broken thumb, out 3-4 weeks); Felix Potvin, g (bruised ego, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game Results 11/11 Edmonton W 3-2 11/12 at Chicago W 10-3 11/14 Ottawa W 2-1 11/18 Washington L 4-1 11/20 at Buffalo L 4-1 11/21 Buffalo W 2-1 11/23 Calgary W 3-2 TEAM NEWS by Jonah A. Sigel YO-YO ROLLER COASTER SEASON CONTINUES One step forward, one step back. No matter how impressive the first is, nor how pitiful the second, one never seems to gain much ground. With the Maple Leafs this season, every time it seems they are firing on all cylinders, they throw out a real stinker that reminds many of the bad old days. Hard to figure for the team that has been in a dead hunt for first place, not just in their conference, not just division, but overall for the first time in my entire lifetime. What is difficult for leaf fans to grasp is that each time they return to the days of the 80's when there was nothing to cheer about, a quick glance at the standings still says all is okay. How can this be? How can a team that is supposed to be fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot be in the lead or near it as we approach the quarter pole? It just doesn't make sense. There have been flashes of brilliance and, well, umm, flashes of not so brilliance, yet they continue to rebound. One night they get completely outplayed in Buffalo and lose 4-1, not more than 20 hours later they are celebrating a hard fought 2-1 win over that same Buffalo team. This effort is continued two nights later against Calgary, and again another victory. What is strange is that the Leafs are not excelling in anything but the standings. Yes, they are playing harder (but not every night). Yes, they are skating faster, or should we say using more of their speed. But their power play is awful, as is their penalty killing. Statistically speaking, the duo of Cujo and the Cat have but together one of the league's worst records. They trail in almost all categories... except winning. Go figure. As long as they keep winning the pressure will not be so hot around the Gardens. This team must continue to do the little things correct and try to improve on the larger things. The next couple of weeks are going to be both a serious test for the team on the ice and off. They are playing a ton of games in a short amount of time, which is difficult in two ways. One, there is little time for practice. If they get in a tail spin, there's not much the coaches can do to work out of it. Second, and perhaps more importantly, are injuries. With a rapid succession of games and travel the body does tend to suffer fatigue. This could be a problem with far reaching effect well beyond the next couple of weeks. Should Sundin, Joseph (or Cat for that matter) or Cote (who has been a tremendous addition) join Karpovtsev (who was just starting to impress) and suffer a major injury, the yo-yo roller coaster will be heading down and not coming up. Further, the heat would certainly be turned up on Smith to make a deal to help the club, perhaps before he is ready. Speaking of trades, there is nothing to report on the Felix front. They had hoped to deal with Chicago and that went south. Smith and company had better hope the team's good fortunes continue. A long slide will certainly get the media smelling blood and the calling for help via a Felix deal will come fast and furious. Stay tuned and buckle up. It ain't over yet. ================================================================ ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CAROLINA HURRICANES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Paul Maurice Roster: C - Ron Francis, Keith Primeau, Jeff O'Neill, Kent Manderville. RW - Ray Sheppard, Sami Kapanen, Nelson Emerson, Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron. LW - Gary Roberts, Martin Gelinas, RPaul Ranheim, Bates Battaglia. D - Steve Chiasson, Glen Wesley, Adam Burt, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean Hill, Dave Karpa, Nolan Pratt, Mike Rucinski. G - Trevor Kidd, Arturs Irbe. Injuries: Steve Chiasson, d (back spasms, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game results: 11/11 at Anaheim L 5-4 OT 11/12 at San Jose L 3-0 11/14 at Los Angeles W 5-4 11/17 Montreal W 5-4 11/19 at New Jersey L 3-2 OT 11/20 Philadelphia L 3-1 11/22 New Jersey L 5-2 TEAM NEWS by Scott W. Pagel When we last left the Carolina Hurricanes, they were sitting atop the Southeast Division with a 6-5-3 record. If you remember correctly, I stated that the Hurricanes' upcoming schedule was going to show a lot about this team. A road trip to the West Coast against clubs like Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles was a perfect way to gain some ground and separate themselves in what is a weak division. Clearly, the Ducks, Sharks and Kings haven't exactly been ripping things up in the NHL, yet the Canes fell 5-4 and 3-0 before salvaging a 5-4 victory at LA. Going 1-2-0 wasn't what Paul Maurice's club had in mind, but three days later, on home ice, they produced another five-goal performance in downing Montreal 5-4. Test Result..."F" In the last issue, I said three games against New Jersey and Philadelphia in four days would be a good early test to see just what the young Hurricanes are made of. Well, Carolina went 0-3 and as a result, I guess I'll have to give them an "F". But, fear not, the season is far from lost at this point. The first loss to the Devils back on November 19 was a 3-2 defeat in overtime. The Canes once again held their own in a 3-1 setback to Philly the next night. It was a one-goal contest most of the night until Colin Forbes added an empty-netter. However, Sunday afternoon's loss to the Devils wasn't exactly pretty. Perhaps the biggest problem as of late has been the number of games the Hurricanes have played in a short span of days. On November 11, the team traveled to Anaheim before having a game in San Jose the following day. Two days later it was of to Los Angeles on the 14th. The Canes traveled back to Carolina for a game on the 17th and were right back on the road to face NJ on the 19th. It was back home to host the Flyers the very next day, before taking on the Devils two days later. "At that point, we were pretty much on fumes," Maurice told the press after their Sunday game. "We're a tired hockey club, there's no question about that. It's so difficult when I say this to you guys because the last thing I want to see in the papers is, `Maurice uses tiredness as an excuse.' "It's not an excuse, it's just a fact. There are plenty of hockey teams that win when they're tired and we haven't, which is disappointing. I don't have a problem with the physical effort and we're dragging our butts off." Stats and Stuff As I stated before, it's not exactly the end of the world. In fact, Carolina has actually picked up ground in the division. They now hold a two-point lead, despite going 2-5-0 and dropping three in a row - totaling 19 points! Since the last report, Florida has been the hottest team in the division going 2-2-2. Still, they've managed 17 points this season and sit in second place. The Washington Capital continue to struggle and sit in third. The Caps are 2-4-0 in their last six. Tampa Bay has just about fallen off the face of the Earth and are 0-5-0 in as many games. Nevertheless, they're only five points out of first! The Hurricanes are 2-3-0 in the second of back-to-games this year. Losses have come to LA, San Jose and Philly, with wins against Boston and Washington... Carolina is now 0-2-2 vs. the Flyers since moving from Hartford... This season they're 1-4-1 against teams from the Atlantic Division... Irbe has lost five of his last seven starts and has started six games in a row... Ray Sheppard extended his goal-scoring streak to five straight games with a goal vs. NJ Sunday. Finally! After going 0-for-44, Carolina finally scored a power-play goal. It came at the 10:33 mark of the first period off the stick of Robert Kron in the game against the Kings on November 14. Ten straight games went by in the span that dated back to October 24 against Ottawa. It was a game in which they won and went 1-for-5 with the extra man. Amazingly, the team was only 5-5 during the power-play slump. Not too bad all things considered. Carolina started the year with a 3-for-9 performance against Tampa Bay, but went 3-30 leading up to the drought! In the LA contest, they were 2-for-7 and followed that up with a 1-for-4 game vs. Montreal and a 2-for-4 showing at New Jersey. Since then, they've gone 0-for-9. Believe it or not, they're still not the worst in the league when it comes to ranking. While a 23rd ranking and a success rate of 10.58% isn't anything to brag about, Nashville, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Toronto are still lower. As far as penalty killing goes, the Canes have slipped there as well, dropping to 16th. Looking Ahead The Hurricanes will host the San Jose Sharks Wednesday before traveling to Long Island on Saturday (Nov. 28). They'll be right back in action on the 29th, having to travel all the way back home to host the Ducks for the start of a three-game homestand. On Dec. 2 they'll host Montreal and Dec. 4 Pittsburgh will be in town. They'll be on the road that night because the Canes have a game in Florida against the Panthers the next night. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FLORIDA PANTHERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Terry Murray Roster: C - Viktor Kozlov, Rob Niedermayer, Dave Gagner, Chris Wells, Steve Washburn. LW - Ray Whitney, Johan Garpenlov, Oleg Kvasha, Kirk Muller, Bill Lindsay, Peter Worrell. RW - Scott Mellanby, Dino Ciccarelli, Radek Dvorak, Mark Parrish. D - Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Paul Laus, Terry Carkner, Rhett Warrener, Jaroslav Spacek. G - Kirk McLean, Sean Burke, Kevin Weekes. Injuries: Dino Ciccarelli, rw (hairline fracture in back, out 1-2 weeks); Steve Washburn, c (torn right groin, out 1-2 weeks). Transactions: November 10th - Discovered Jeff Norton, D, was still on their roster. November 11th - Traded defenseman Jeff Norton to the San Jose Sharks for left wing Alex Hicks and a 1999 fifth-round draft pick. November 16th - Returned David Nemirovsky, RW, to Fort Wayne of the IHL. November 18th - NHL suspended Florida Panthers left wing Peter Worrell three games, without pay, and fined him $1,000 as result of an elbowing penalty against the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 14th. November 21st - Recalled left wing Dwayne Hay from New Haven of the AHL. November 23rd - Re-assigned Dwayne Hay, LW, to the Beast of New Haven (AHL). Game Results 11/11 NY Rangers W 4-1 11/12 at Philadelphia W 2-1 11/14 at Pittsburgh L 4-0 11/19 at Boston T 5-5 11/21 at New Jersey T 3-3 11/22 Philadelphia L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Matthew Secosky Florida has been diplomatic in their past six games, giving equal votes to wins, ties, and losses. The outcome? A 2-2-2 record and an excuse to make an obscure reference. Hey, Jerry! Deuces wild! After winning two big games against the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, the Panthers have gone winless in their last four contests (0-2-2). Yet despite the losing record, Florida has played some good hockey. Exhibit A is the November 19th game in Boston where the predatory cats found themselves down 5-0 but managed to fight back for a 5-5 tie. Exhibit B is Sunday nights game against Philadelphia. The Panthers outplayed and outshot (26-16) the Flyers, but lost when Keith Jones scored in overtime. In conclusion, Florida is the Citrus State. Random Notes Perhaps in response to last issue's 'overweight' comments, defenseman Robert Svehla has shed five and one half pounds. "He did show very good improvement from training camp to (Monday's) fitness test," Murray proclaimed to The Miami Herald. "We're seeing it in his quickness on the ice and his ability to come back after a shift. There's more quickness in the first two steps in his ability to close the gap defensively in our zone." Peter Worrell has been suspended for three games without pay in response to his use of 'The Panther's Elbow' in last Saturday's game in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh RW Aleksey Morozov was the recipient of the hard knocks and has been out of action with a concussion. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Demers Roster: C - Craig Janney, Vincent Lecavalier, Darcy Tucker, Daymond Langkow. RW - Mikael Renberg, Stephane Richer, Benoit Hogue, Rob Zamuner, Mikael Andersson, Andrei Nazarov. LW - Wendel Clark, Alexander Selivanov, Sandy McCarthy, Steve Kelly, Brent Peterson. D - Cory Cross, Karl Dykhuis, David Wilkie, Jassen Cullimore, Enrico Ciccone, Pavel Kubina, Mike McBain, Kjell Samuelsson, Andrei Skopintsev. G - Bill Ranford, Daren Puppa, Corey Schwab. Injuries: Wendel Clark, lw (back, day-to-day); Rob Zamuner, lw (groin, day-to-day); Kjell Samuelsson, d (foot, day-to-day); Mikael Renberg, rw (broken thumb, 2-3 weeks); Daren Puppa, g (pulled groin, 1-2 weeks). Transactions: Assigned Petr Sykora, d, and Paul Ysebaert, lw, to Cleveland (IHL). Suspended Sykora for not reporting. Recalled David Wilkie, d, and Corey Schwab, g, from Cleveland (IHL). Game Results 11/10 NY Rangers L 10-2 11/13 at Colorado L 8-1 11/14 at Phoenix L 4-1 11/19 Pittsburgh L 5-1 11/21 at Pittsburgh L 5-2 TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell Seth Lerman, your normal Bolt reporter, is off on a secret mission. I can't divulge the details of the covert operation, but he should be back for next issue. In the meantime, I'll do what I can. Start the music... The men with lightning bolts on their pants are doing their part to try and increase the amount of scoring in the NHL. The considerate guys they are, the Bolts are putting the overall welfare of the league ahead of their own earthly concerns, yielding 32 goals in their past five games. Aw, that's lovely. Things got all silly on November 10 when the Blueshirts came to the Ice Palace. It was quite the debacle. The Rangers rang up a 10 spot, with Kevin Stevens notching a hat trick and Ulf Samuelsson chipping in two goals for the New York cause. Whenever you give up five goals to Stevens and Samuelsson, you've got worry. Here at LCS, we call a 10-goal game a Happy Meal. You can do it too. It's fun. Here, watch, I'll use it in a sentence. "The Rangers blitzed the Bolts for a Happy Meal last night." Aw, that was great, that was fun... Billy Ranford took the brunt of the Happy Meal. Since Jacques Demers feared Puppa's back might tighten up on him if he came in cold off the bench, Ranford was forced to stay in net for all 10 goals against. That's not gonna help the ol' GAA. And stopping just 20 of 30 shots won't do wonders for the save percentage, either. And come to think of it, the kids probably wore disguises to school the next day... What better way to come off a 10-goal embarrassment than to travel west to face Colorado and Phoenix? Oh boy. The newly revitalized Avalanche belted the Bolts with a snow man in an 8-1 drubbing. At least the Peyote only got half as many goals the next night, but it was still a 4-1 loss. The Lightning returned home on November 19 to host the Penguins. Ranford was spectacular in net early, but he was fighting all by his lonesome. The Arctic Birds swarmed the cage with wave after wave of scoring chances. They eventually broke through in the second, exploding for five goals in the middle frame. Things got ugly at the end of the game, but read the feature article elsewhere in the issue for the details. The teams finished off the rare home-and-home series two nights later in Pittsburgh. The Penguins put five more goals on the board, with Marty Straka recording his second consecutive three- point effort to pace the Pens to a 5-2 victory. The aforementioned feature also talks about this game, so go check it out already. Pulled Puppa: Daren Puppa pulled his groin in the loss at Pittsburgh and will be sidelined 10 to 14 days. Wow, who would have guessed? Puppa injured. Will wonders never cease? Corey Schwab, who hasn't really ever been able to prove that he can do more than beat up diminutive Swedish netminders with heart conditions, was recalled from Cleveland to back up Billy Ranford. Splitsville: Former captain Paul Ysebaert was assigned to Cleveland of the IHL. Ysebaert, 32, led the Bolts in scoring last season with 13 goals and 40 points. Of course, he was also a brutal -43. I feel a little sick even typing that. In 10 games this season, Ysebaert had one assist and was a -5. Ysebaert wasn't real keen on returning to the minors and wanted the club to buy out his contract so he could go play in Europe. Unfortunately, Demers wasn't interested. The coach/GM would rather see Ysebaert orchestrate a trade for himself to another NHL team. Good luck. The Lightning also won't have defensemen Michal Sykora to kick around anymore. The 6'5", 225-pound Czech blueliner opted to return to his homeland rather than report to Cleveland. The club has suspended him indefinitely without pay until Sykora reports. Um, not gonna happen. Even though he's only 25, it would appear that Sykora's NHL playing days are over. No Go: The Ottawa Senators were reportedly interested in sending defensemen Stanislav Neckar to the Bolts in exchange for Alexander "Knuckles" Selivanov and Steve Kelly. The Lightning weren't interested, apparently thinking the asking price was too high. Knuckles is my boy. I mean, hell, I gave the guy the nickname. But let's face it, he's been just awful. It was painful watching him play in the 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh at home on November 19. Every time he touched the puck he gave it away. It was ridiculous. Yet just when you want to write him off for good he comes back with a strong showing, as he did the next time out with a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh. Selivanov is fresh from off-season wrist surgery so maybe that's why he had so much difficulty recently handling the puck. But even that excuse doesn't hold much water since the goal he scored was with a backhand deke and the assist came courtesy of a brilliant move to the inside around a defender and a sweet backhand pass. No, I'd venture to say that Selivanov's problems are, and always were, between his ears. C'mon, Knuckles! Snap out of it! Nazarov Nailed: Resident psychotic Andrei Nazarov was given a seven-game suspension by the NHL for cross-checking Colorado defenseman Cam Russell in the face on November 13. Nazarov is koo koo for cocoa puffs. He's so dirty he even scares the Scrubbing Bubbles. I didn't see the incident myself, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Nazarov deserved what he got... FoxSports Sucks: Former Lightning GM Phil Esposito has taken a job as an analyst with FoxSports. He'll be doin' the same sort of thing that Craig Simpson did last year, except when Espo does it the segments will probably make less sense and will ultimately end up in last place after a string of several ill- advised trades. For those of you that don't get FoxSports, consider yourself lucky. They're like the pathetic little brother that ESPN never talks about. If not for Lauren Sanchez, who happens to be real easy on the eyes, the whole thing would be a waste. Well, maybe not the whole thing. There are two other reporters that are pretty hot. One looks like Sara Silverman and the other has short blonde hair, fill in the names if you got 'em. Oh, I forgot, Keith Olbermann is joining on soon to anchor the studio show. Oooh, I'm impressed. Whatever, dude. Olbermann's got two good obscure references, one from "What's up, Tiger Lilly?" and the other from "Animal House." Outside of that he's beat. Dan Patrick carried him. Kenny Mayne could kick his ass. Anyway, good luck, Espo! Kjell Game: The Lightning are 6-5-1 when Kjell Samuelsson plays. When the human tripod doesn't make the lineup, the Bolts are 0-6-1. Stats and Whatnot: Wendel Clark leads the Lightning in goals with nine, even though he hasn't scored one since the Carter administration. Clark's also tied with Craig Janney (2- 12-14) for the team lead in points with 14. Daymond Langkow has been impressive since getting another shot with the big club. Langkow has bagged four goals and nine points in 14 games and leads the team with a +4. Sandy McCarthy leads the way in penalty minutes with 62. Rookie defenseman Pavel Kubina is second with 47. Keep an eye on Kubina, he could be a good one. He's got size, strength, and he can carry the puck. He could become an impact player. It's just too bad he made an incredibly stupid play near the end of the second Pittsburgh game when he checked Penguin winger Martin Sonnenberg from behind into the boards. Luckily, Sonnenberg was not injured. Kubina was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct. It will be astounding if he doesn't receive a stiff suspension from Colin Campbell. The hit was extremely reckless and could have ended Sonnenberg's career. Back to stats and whatnot, Cory Cross leads the team in ice time, playing an average of 22.83 minutes per game. He also leads the way with 30 hits. The recent defensive woes have ballooned Billy Ranford's goals- against average to a league worst 4.86. His save percentage has also taken a beating, dropping to .859. Meanwhile, Puppa checks in with a 2.87 goals-against and a .906 save percentage. ----------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON CAPITALS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Wilson Roster: C - Adam Oates, Andrei Nikolishin, Jan Bulis, Dale Hunter. LW - Joe Juneau, Richard Zednik, Steve Konowalchuk, Chris Simon, Tom Chorske. RW - Peter Bondra, Brian Bellows, Craig Berube, Kelly Miller, Mike Eagles, James Black. D - Calle Johansson, Mark Tinordi, Sergei Gonchar, Brendan Witt, Joe Reekie, Dmitri Mironov, Ken Klee. G - Olaf Kolzig, Rick Tabaracci. Injuries: Michal Pivonka, c (shoulder, 4 weeks); Yogi Svejkovsky, lw (sprained ankle, 1-2 weeks); Jan Bulis, c (ankle, 4-6 weeks). Transactions: Richard Zednik, lw, suspended four games for high-sticking Toronto defenseman Daniil Markov. Craig Berube, rw, suspended three games for physical abuse of an official. Sent Stewart Malgunas, d, to Portland (AHL). Game Results: 11/12 Buffalo L 2-0 11/14 at NY Islanders W 5-3 11/18 Toronto W 4-1 11/20 Ottawa L 4-1 11/21 at Boston L 5-4 OT TEAM NEWS by Jason Sheehan Caps Brawl for It All A brouhaha erupted Nov. 21st in Beantown. It was the Boston Tea Party revisited; an abnormal in-your-face 24-fist salute. Having lost badly the previous night to Ottawa (4-1), the Washington Capitals were in no mood to let any team bully them. Yet that is exactly what happened when Boston took an early 3-0 lead before the first period was halfway over. Then...BOOM! With 11 minutes 42 seconds gone in the period, all hell broke loose as all 12 players on the ice - including goalies Byron Dafoe and Olie Kolzig - got involved in the type of free-for-all only seen in pro wrestling; the only difference being that this was real with no preplanned choreography. Dafoe locked horns with Washington captain Dale Hunter, while Kolzig raced up the ice to fight Ken Belanger. Eventually, both goaltenders were spun into each other, and the fisticuffs were underway. One clause, though. Kolzig and Dafoe are best friends who used to live in a bachelor pad during off-seasons in Phoenix, and both were best men at each other's weddings. As a result, there was no bad blood between these friends. After Dafoe wrestled Kolzig's jersey to the ice, both goalies smiled at each other, as if they were wondering, "Can this really be happening?" "It's tough fighting your best friend," Kolzig said. "We respect each other quite a bit. It wasn't like he came after me. He went after one of our guys that broke away. I was going after one of their guys that broke away from the linesman. We ended up getting together." When law and order was finally restored, Mark Faucette did something a referee hasn't done this decade. He ejected all 12 players - Washington's Mark Tinordi, Dmitri Mironov, Ken Klee, Craig Berube, Hunter and Kolzig; and Boston's Ken Baumgartner, Peter Ferraro, Don Sweeney, Grant Ledyard, Belanger and Dafoe. Berube was suspended the next day by NHL Vice President Colin Campbell for fighting through a linesman's restraint to get to a Boston player. The Capitals' 137 penalty minutes are a team record for one period, and the combined 259 penalty minutes also set a record for one period of play. This team-bonding experience is exactly what the Capitals need. Coach Ron Wilson has been vocal the past two weeks about players who aren't giving it their all, although he hasn't named names. But finally, to Wilson's happiness, players took it upon themselves to create a spark and stick up for their teammates. This new attitude paid immediate dividends when the Capitals stormed back from the 3-0 deficit to send the game to overtime, knotted up at four. However, Washington only won the battle, not the war. The war ended when former Capital Jason Allison scored the game-winning goal with 30 seconds left in overtime. Another former Capital, Anson Carter, was stationed behind the net, to the right of goaltender Rick Tabaracci, before finding Allison alone in the slot. Allison wasted no time in zipping a one-timer past Tabaracci. "Our guys hung in there," said Wilson, who had never witnessed 12 players being tossed from a game. "We dug a hole early. But I'm proud of their effort. It's too bad the way things turned out at the end." Said Kolzig: "We wanted to come out and play hard. Maybe we played a little too hard. I like the way the team rallied. But the bottom line is we lost." Bruins coach Pat Burns thinks the fight stemmed from last season's first round playoff series, which Washington won, 4-2. "You could feel it coming when we got a big lead in the first period," he said. News and Notes Left winger Richard Zednik was suspended five games for high-sticking Toronto defenseman Daniil Markov in a Nov. 18 win at MCI Center.... Wilson put his team through an extensive videotape session after losing to Buffalo, 4-1, on Nov. 12. He closed practice to fans and the media, which is a violation of NHL regulations. The offense was reported to the league office, but no ruling has been made public.... Jan Bulis re-injured his ankle in Boston. Soft ice is said to have caused the problem.... Slow starts have plagued the Capitals. In four of their last five games, the opposition has scored the first goal in the opening three minutes of play. In the other outing, the Capitals were scored on by the eight-minute mark.... Washington, as of Nov. 25, resides in fourth place in the Southeast Division and 14th in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals have 15 points (6-9-3). Carolina leads the division with 19 points (8-10-3). The Capitals begin an eight-game road-trip Dec. 5th, the longest in team history. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Dirk Graham roster: C - Doug Gilmour, Mark Janssens, Chad Kilger, Alexei Zhamnov. LW - Dan Cleary, Eric Daze, Jean-Yves Leroux, Mike Maneluk, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Reid Simpson. RW - Tony Amonte, Dennis Bonvie, Jean-Pierre Dumont. D - Jamie Allison, Brad Brown, Chris Chelios, Paul Coffey, Christian LaFlamme, Dave Manson, Bryan Muir, Remi Royer, Trent Yawney, Doug Zmolek. G - Mark Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Thibault. injuries: Jamie Allison, d (wrist, day-to-day); Chris Chelios, d (groin, indefinite); Jean-Yves Leroux, lw (groin, indefinite). transactions: Traded Cam Russell, d, to Colorado in exchange for Roman Vopat, c, and a sixth-round draft pick in 1999 November 10; recalled Alain Nasreddine, d, and Jean-Pierre Dumont, rw, from Portland of the AHL, and assigned Jeff Paul, d, to Indianapolis of the IHL November 11; recalled Remi Royer, d, from Portland of the AHL and acquired Bryan Muir, d, from New Jersey for a conditional draft pick November 13; traded Jeff Hackett, g, Alain Nasreddine, d, Eric Weinrich, d, and future considerations to Montreal in exchange for Brad Brown, d, Dave Manson, d, and Jocelyn Thibault, g, November 16; traded Roman Vopat, c, to Philadelphia in exchange for Mike Maneluk, lw, and assigned Todd White, c, to Indianapolis of the IHL November 17. game results: 11/10 at St. Louis L 5-2 11/12 Toronto L 10-3 11/14 at Buffalo L 6-1 11/15 Ottawa T 2-2 11/17 at Nashville W 2-1 11/21 at Los Angeles L 5-0 11/22 at Anaheim L 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Tom Crawford @#$%!*~+&! Believe it or not, I attend church every Sunday. I don't kick stray dogs, I eat my vegetables, and I occasionally donate to charitable organizations. So why in the name of all that is holy am I forced to watch Chicago Blackhawks hockey? Coach Dirk Graham called his players' effort November 10 against St. Louis "a disgrace" to the Hawks uniform. It was the team's sixth loss in seven games, and their coach had challenged them publicly, so I was curious, almost eager, to see how the Hawks would respond two nights later at home against the Leafs. What the meager United Center crowd was treated to that night was a game so gruesome, so terrifying that mere words cannot do it justice. Chicago goalies Jeff Hackett and Mark Fitzpatrick had apparently shared a five-dollar rock before the pregame skate, because the 10 goals that the Leafs would score would come on only 30 shots, most of them weak wristers from the blue line. The Probert-Domi fight was a dud. The girl shooting the puck between periods was wearing jeans. Jeans!! The Blackhawks were so embarrassed with that performance that they went up to Buffalo two nights later and stank up the Aud (oh sorry, the Marine Midland Arena), losing 6-1. A hard, scrabbling 2-1 victory in Nashville provided a brief change of pace before the Hawks' southern California tour which consisted of blowout losses to Pacific powerhouses L.A. and Anaheim. If any doubt persisted before this Western swing, it has been fully erased: this is a bad hockey team. They do the little things bad, and they do the big things bad. They don't score goals, and they don't play defense. Their power play sucks, but not as bad as their penalty kill. Turn on their ownership-sanctioned radio broadcast and hear their paid hacks ripping the team, and you know this is as low as a team can get. The funny thing is, there are some good hockey players on this team. They're certainly no less talented than Toronto, Buffalo, Florida or any number of mid-level NHL teams. They just play bad hockey. Really bad hockey. Sickeningly god-awful hockey. I mean, I'll watch the IHL, I'll watch college hockey, cripes I even watched the women's Olympic tournament. But if the LCS Hockey publishers didn't pay me so much I sure as hell wouldn't watch the Blackhawks. Why, you might ask, would a reasonably talented team play like a herd of drug-addled courtesans? (Don't ask me how drug-addled courtesans play hockey, but it can't be good.) Could it be, I don't know . . . COACHING?! Actually, I don't know if it's poor coaching that's ruining this team, but as the old Magic 8-Ball would say, signs point to yes. The key piece of evidence against Dirk Graham's staff is the Hawks' ability to appear as if they've never played together, never practiced together, hell, never bumped into each other on the dance floor at Excalibur. With all the off-season changes in the Blackhawks' roster, one might think that getting acquainted might be an early season priority for this squad. And perhaps that's what Dirk has in mind when he throws four new lines out each game and then tweaks those combinations period to period, even shift to shift. Newcomer Doug Gilmour has centered, among others, Tony Amonte, Eric Daze, Chad Kilger, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, J.P. Dumont, Mike Maneluk, Reid Simpson, and Dennis Bonvie. Early on it looked like Amonte and Gilmour might have some chemistry, lately Amonte and Alexei Zhamnov have looked like a promising pair, but no trio has skated together long enough to get a feel for where each guy likes to be on the ice, or to get any timing on offensive rushes. Contributing further to the lack of continuity has been Graham's itchy trigger finger when it comes to benching those players he feels aren't playing "Blackhawk hockey". This often results, as it did in the November 10 game against St. Louis, in the Blackhawks' attempting to erase two- or three-goal deficits with Eric Daze on the bench and Reid Simpson and Dennis Bonvie on the power play. Worst of all, Graham seems to equate "Blackhawk hockey" with fighting of any sort. After the aforementioned St. Louis game, Graham said he only saw two guys on the ice worthy of wearing the indian-head sweater: Simpson and Bonvie. And what did these two NHL superstars do to earn their coach's good will? They picked fights in the first five minutes of the game. Not real hockey fights which grow organically out of a hard-hitting, emotional game. No, these were the perfunctory, uninspired wrestle-and-fall-down events where you can almost see one goon apologizing to the other during the fray: "Sorry, coach said I had to." Then Graham had the audacity to rip the rest of the team for not responding to such displays of courage and dignity. Yes, the game was a disgrace, but not for the reasons Dirk had in mind. It seems that, as feared, Graham's junior-B coaching tactics have confused the kids and alienated the veterans to the point where they're just not listening. Whether this season is salvageable or not remains to be seen, but maybe next year we can give a big-league coach a try. At Least We Got Rid of Weinrich With the swap of faltering goaltenders a wash for now, the six-player Hawks-Habs trade must be judged on the four defensemen involved. Brad Brown and Nasreddine look pretty much the same: big, marginally skilled, willing to mix it up; so the key to the deal is Weinrich for Dave Manson. And in a loud chorus Hawks fans reply "We'll take it." Weinrich was a league-low minus-13 at the time of the trade, but statistics don't do justice to the enormity of his defensive sins. He was a lock to commit at least one gross defensive miscue each game, more than once resulting directly in a goal for the opposition. Manson, on the other hand, has generally made the safe play in his three starts with the Hawks, and offensively doesn't suffer by comparison to Weinrich as much as reputation would have you believe. News and Notes Astute observers noted that Larry Robinson had his No. 1 power-play unit on the ice for a Kings' two-man advantage against the Hawks last Saturday. No problem, you say? Well, it was 4-0 Kings with a minute left in the game, so Ray Ferraro's goal to make it 5-0 could be construed as running up the score. However, two facts argue against any future bad blood over this incident. 1) It was in response to numerous cheap shots by the Hawks, and 2) The Hawks aren't interested enough to carry a grudge for more than half a period . . . . Jocelyn Thibault made his Hawks debut in net against L.A. and looked solidly mediocre, allowing five goals on 32 shots. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DETROIT RED WINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Scotty Bowman Roster: C - Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, Kris Draper, Sergei Fedorov. LW - Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Doug Brown, Tomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Brent Gilchrist. RW - Darren McCarty, Joey Kocur, Martin Lapointe, Mathieu Dandenault, Stacey Roest D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Larry Murphy, Jamie Macoun, Aaron Ward, Uwe Krupp, Anders Eriksson, . G - Chris Osgood, Kevin Hodson. INJURIES: Brent Gilchrist lw, (hernia, indefinite); Kirk Maltby lw (lower abdominal strain, day-to-day). TRANSACTIONS: None. GAME RESULTS 11/11 St. Louis W 6-2 11/13 Dallas L 5-1 11/16 at Calgary L 5-3 11/18 at Edmonton W 6-2 11/21 at Vancouver W 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Dino Cacciola ST. LOUIS Steve Yzerman moved past his boyhood idol Bryan Trottier for 10th place on the NHL career point list as the Red Wings roller over the the St. Louis Blues 6-2. Yzerman's goal and assist gave him 1,426 points, one more than Trottier. Yzerman wears number 19 in honor of Trottier. "Bryan Trottier was my favorite player," Yzerman said. "As soon as he came into the league I followed his entire career. In some ways I tried to play like he did. I've had the opportunity to meet him, and in my mind he is one of the best players ever. We all have role models, and he's mine." Yzerman tied Trottier with an assist on Slava Kozlov's goal, the last of Detroit's four first-period goals. He then moved ahead of his hero in the last minute of the second period when he completed an end-to-end rush that gave the Red Wings a 6-0 lead with a sweet move. The Grind Line had a good game, as well. Joey Kocur scored the first two goals and Maltby had three assists for the Red Wings, who have won two straight after a four-game losing streak. Kris Draper scored the third goal. Kocur hadn't scored a goal in his last 41 regular season games, since last Dec. 31, while Draper, who also had an assist, had no points and Maltby no assists this season before Wednesday. Defenseman Larry Murphy, who assisted on Yzerman's goal, played in his 1,411th career game to tie Harry Howell for second place among defensemen. Tim Hotrod tops the list at 1,446. An incredible milestone that should be passed barring any injury by the end of the season. The win was an important win for the struggling Wings. It put them and Blues tied on top of the Central Division with 16 points each. DALLAS For one night at least, the Detroit Red Wings didn't belong on the same ice with the rival Dallas Stars. Ignited by Joe Nieuwendyk's goal just seven seconds into the game, the Stars took their second win in two meetings this season between last spring's Western Conference finalists. But this victory was much more convincing than Dallas' 3-2 home win on Oct. 31 over the Red Wings. It was just the Stars' second win in their last 21 games at Joe Louis Arena. Darren McCarty's goal was the only one of 35 shots that got past Dallas goalie Ed Belfour. Chris Osgood allowed four goals on 14 first-period shots before Kevin Hodson replaced him to start the second. Hodson finished with 13 saves. It was determined that Osgood was playing with the flu. The only suspense the Wings had in the game was seeing how the Wings would avenge a first period hit from the Stars' Dan Keczmer that sent Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman to the dressing room for stitches. Keczmer elbowed Yzerman head first into the boards and, as Yzerman slumped to the ice, McCarty went after Keczmer. McCarty drew a double minor that led to Stars' goal. Keczmer was a marked man the rest of the game, although no major brawls occurred. Shades of Claude Lemieux all over again. Yzerman twice drew roughing penalties trying to mix it up with Keczmer in the third. "Stevie had to do that," Detroit's Brendan Shanahan said. "He's a proud guy. He challenged. That's why everyone has so much respect for him." "They got one right off the bat and then got a 4-0 lead early," Yzerman said. "As good as Dallas is defensively, that can make it very difficult." "The fifth goal broke our backs," Shanahan said. "We felt if we could make it a two-goal game after two periods we'd have a legitimate shot. We had our chances in the second period." The Stars return to Detroit in mid-December for a rematch. CALGARY The Wings have now lost six of their last eight games with the 5-3 loss to Calgary. "We're turning the puck over far too much and giving teams easy opportunities instead of forcing them to create chances," said Steve Yzerman. "We're forcing the issue, forcing plays and trying to hit home runs and teams are just sitting back and picking off the passes, counter-attacking us and getting scoring chances off the turnovers." Steve Yzerman, Uwe Krupp and Sergei Fedorov scored for the Red Wings, who were playing catch-up all night. At one point after the Flames had scored, coach Scotty Bowman pulled Osgood in favor of Norm Maracle. The goalie change seemed to spark the Wings. Detroit caught a bit of a break on its second goal when Krupp's point shot deflected off a Calgary defenseman and past goalie Tyler Moss. Osgood returned to the Detroit net at the start of the third period. Too little to late as the Flames dominated the entire game. EDMONTON The Red Wings couldn't wait to get back to winning hockey. The result was the Wings beating the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2. Captain Steve Yzerman led the way with two goals and an assist as the Wings scored three times in the first period. "That was an exception for us," Red Wings defenseman Larry Murphy said about Detroit's early jump. "We haven't played consistently lately. In a lot of games, we sit around for the first half. We get back into it late." Yzerman, Aaron Ward and Slava Kozlov scored in the first period for the Red Wings. Yzerman, Martin Lapointe and Sergei Fedorov completed the scoring for the Wings. After Lapointe's goal, Yzerman and Fedorov scored just over eight minutes apart in the third period. Goalie Chris Osgood made 19 saves for the convincing win. VANCOUVER The Red Wings started third-string goalie Norm Maracle. He made 28 saves as the Red Wings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 to complete their mini West Coast trip. "Before the game I told Osgood in the room, 'I'm a little nervous. I don't know if I can play in this league.' I had only played in a few games and that was a few years ago. But it's good to come out and the guys played really well and we got the win." Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman and Anders Eriksson all scored for the Red Wings who are now 10-8-0 in the Central Division. Unfortunately the Red Wings finished 0-for-6 on the power play. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASHVILLE PREDATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Barry Trotz roster: C - Darren Turcotte, Greg Johnson, Jeff Nelson, Patric Kjellberg, Sebastien Bordeleau. LW - Andrew Brunette, Blair Atcheynum, Scott Walker, Denny Lambert, Ville Peltonen, Jeff Daniels, Vitali Yachmenev. RW - Sergei Krivokrasov, Brad Smyth, Tom Fitzgerald, Patrick Cote. D - Joel Bouchard, Bob Boughner, John Slaney, Jamie Heward, Jayson More, J.J. Daigneault, Drake Berehowsky, Jan Vopat. G - Mike Dunham, Eric Fichaud. injuries: Joel Bouchard, d (back, 1-2 more days); Blair Atcheynum, lw (ACL in right knee, 4-6 weeks); Scott Walker, lw (separated shoulder, 2-3 weeks). transactions: Recalled Eric Fichaud, g, from Milwaukee Admirals (IHL); assigned Tomas Vokoun, g, to Milwaukee Admirals (IHL). game results: 11/10 at San Jose W 4-2 11/12 at Los Angeles W 3-1 11/14 at St. Louis L 5-1 11/17 Chicago L 2-1 11/19 St. Louis W 3-2 11/21 NY Islanders L 6-3 team news by Jeff Middleton Well, folks, we're going to try something new this fortnight. We're going to try a little different format, and be a little shorter than usual . . . just thought I'd let you know before you curled up with your laptop by the fire. FUN IN THE SUN It was a very pleasant trip to the Southern California coast for the Predators, as they played two contests and were victorious in both. Surprising the Sharks and the Kings on their home ice allowed the Preds to enjoy the long flight into St. Louis for the final game on the long swing. Nashville threatened a shutout for two periods against the Sharks, but allowed San Jose to get close before sealing up the win with Scott Walker's empty-netter. Against LA, the Predators gave up a short-handed goal before scoring three straight to close out the faltering Kings. ST. LOOEY BLUES Tired. . . .tired . . . . tired. No excuses, but the Predators had to be tired. After almost two weeks on the road, the Nashville crew had one more game against division rival St. Louis. For the first time all season, Mike Dunham looked fairly human, and was replaced at the beginning of the third period by Tomas Voukoun, who held his own for the remainder of the game. Unable to put together any sort of offensive attack the Predators found themselves down early and out of the game before too long. The Preds were able to even out the road trip at 3-3, though, quite respectable for such a long and arduous journey. SUCH A SPECIAL WAY TO LOSE One of the big problems that the Predators have faced this season has been the less than spectacular play of special teams. Having gone about 2 for 15328 in the last five games, the second of three straight division games brought the Chicago 'Hawks to town. As you may remember, Nashville choked when they played up in the Windy City in October, giving away the game in the last five minutes. Still searching for the first division victory, the Predators were once again weak on special teams and allowed a power-play goal and the shorthanded game-winner to Tony Amonte. REVENGE . . SO SWEET If Saturday night was any sort of sign of how an expansion team will typically compete with the league's elite, then Tuesday's rematch with the Blues was going to be an ugly affair. And it was - for St. Louis. After digging themselves a two-goal hole in the first 10 minutes of play, the Predators did something they had not done yet all season . . . they came back from a deficit to win. After getting a late goal in the first and an early goal in the third, forechecking madman Denny Lambert turned a poor play by St. Louis defenseman Todd Gill into a huge goal with 38 seconds left in the game. Cliff Ronning put Lambert's tape-to-tape pass past Jamie McLennan and the home crowd celebrated in the glow of, yes indeedly-doodly, a division victory. THE FIRST TIME IS ALWAYS THE HARDEST The New York Islanders have started to show early on this year that they have quietly put together quite a good little team. In the shadow of the Rangers, this New York team came to Nashville to give Tennessee their first taste of the Atlantic Division. Yuck, what the heck was that . . .sour milk? If you happened to leave at the end of the first period and return at the beginning of the third you be upset at the action you missed. Down 2-1 after one, the Preds found a clever way to dig a hole deeper . . . the power play. Giving up too many opportunities and too many shots, the Nashville boys gave up too many goals. Trying to pull within one game of .500 proved to be too much, as only two late goals prevented the final score from revealing the whooping that went down in Music Town. At least the Rangers are on the horizon. Notes: Okay so not everything is new . . . I kind of like the notes section . . . . Cliff Ronning scored his 200th career goal against Chicago . . . .the Predators have dug themselves 2-0 deficits in four straight contests - can you say: "Slow starters?" . . . . LW Ville Peltonen has produced admirably since coming back from the IR (4 G, 4 A) . . .the G(reg Johnson)A(ndrew Brunette)S(ergei Krivokrasov) line has fizzled a little bit . . . the Scott Walker/Cliff Ronning/Ville Peltonen line has picked up the slack . . . Barenaked Ladies kicked butt. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ST. LOUIS BLUES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Joel Quenneville Roster: C - Craig Conroy, Mike Eastwood, Pascal Rheaume, Pierre Turgeon, Michal Handzus. LW - Geoff Courtnall,Michel Picard, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra. RW - Jim Campbell, Kelly Chase, Scott Pellerin, Scott Young. D - Marc Bergevin, Todd Gill, Al MacInnis, Chris McAlpine, Rudy Poeschek, Chris Pronger, Jamie Rivers. G - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan, Rich Parent. Injuries: Grant Fuhr, g (groin 11/8, mid-to-late December); Jamie McLennan, g (back spasms 11/21, day-to-day). Transactions: Nov. 13 - Assigned Brent Johnson, g, to Worcester (AHL), assigned Libor Zabransky, d, from Worcester to Vsetin of Czech League; Nov. 17 - assigned Marty Reasoner, c, to Worcester. Game Results: 11/10 Chicago W 5-2 11/11 at Detroit L 6-2 11/14 Nashville W 5-1 11/19 at Nashville L 3-2 11/21 Dallas T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Tom Cooper Oh, That Good Old-Fashioned Chicago-St. Louis Rivalry With two ties on their resume from their previous two games, the St. Louis Blues looked for an outcome greater than one point as they returned from their three-game left-coast road trip. When they returned from the fun and sun of California, they found the hapless-since-1992 Chicago Blackhawks waiting for them. To pick up the two points they wanted in that game, they relied on just two players -- Pavol Demitra and Pierre Turgeon. Demitra had a hand in every goal on the evening, scoring twice and helping three times, and Pierre Turgeon scored those three goals as the Blues held off the Hawks 5-2. But the St. Louis offense wasn't the biggest factor in the game. That honor goes to the defense who allowed only 14 shots to reach goaltender Jamie McLennan, who was playing despite a sore thumb. Blues' head coach Joel Quenneville was pleased with his team's play throughout the entire game. "I can't think of a better game we've played this year," he said. "The offense was strong all night and the defense didn't let them have many scoring chances." Quenneville's opposing number, Chicago head coach Dirk Graham, was not as pleased with his team's effort as Quenneville, saying that the only players that showed up to play for his team were right wing Dennis Bonvie and left wing Reid Simpson, who both got into fights with Tony Twist and Kelly Chase, respectively. One Scary Road Trip One would say that a big loss to division rival Detroit would be the most devastating thing possible to the St. Louis Blues. A person who would say that wouldn't be aware of what happened on the trip to Detroit. As the team's charter plane prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, heavy winds shook the plane back and forth, causing many of the players and staff on the plane to wonder if they would even be around for that night's game against the Red Wings. "It was the scariest flight I've ever been on," forward Geoff Courtnall told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We came in and had to go back up and come down again." "We were going sideways," forward Tony Twist said. "How do you go sideways in a plane at 500 miles per hour?" The flight itself had to wear down the Blues, as they fell behind 4-0 after 40 minutes and eventually lost to the defending champions 6-2. Scott Pellerin and Jim Campbell were the only two players to score for St. Louis, who had 28 shots on the night. "They are the best team in the league, but we just gave them too much respect," defenseman Al MacInnis said. "We didn't compete. If you give them some room, they're going to make you look bad, and we did tonight." The loss was sort of bad for the team, especially if they planned to win the division. The two points Detroit picked up for the win tied them with St. Louis atop the Central Division. "We weren't ready to compete in an important game," Blues head coach Quenneville said. "It's a four-point swing. I know it's early, but it was still an important game and we didn't respond." Expansion Means Two Points After getting their butts handed to them on a platter in Detroit, the Blues headed home (this flight was smooth) to meet the expansion Nashville Predators. But this was not another expansion team. Coming into the game, the Predators were just three points behind the Central Divsion co-leader Blues. Nobody told St. Louis that. Al MacInnis and Pavol Demitra both netted their team-high eighth goals of the season as the Blues pinned a three-spot on the scoreboard in the first period and went on to beat the Preds 5-1. St. Louis outshot the newest club in the NHL 39-17, and their five goals in the first two periods were enough to chase Nashville's starting goaltender Mike Dunham before the third period. Rematch With Expansion Team Means Two Points, Right? Five days after pasting Nashville at home, the Blues traveled to the land of country music for the first time ever to try and defeat the Preds again. Uh, not that simple. St. Louis dented the scoreboard first when Pierre Turgeon and Pavol Demitra set up linemate Geoff Courtnall to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead 3:22 into the first. A little more than five minutes later, Craig Conroy made it 2-0 when he scored off of a three-on-two led by defenseman Chris Pronger. With 1:33 left in the opening period, Nashville narrowed the gap when Predator's captain Tom Fitzgerald and former-Bluenote Darren Turcotte helped Patrik Kjellberg put the puck in the net for the third time of the season, making it 2-1. After a scoreless second period, Ville Peltonen took Scott Walker's pass and blasted it past Blues goaltender Jamie McLennan to tie the game at 2-2 with just under 15 minutes left. With :39 left in the game, Denny Lambert intercepted an errant pass from Blues defenseman Todd Gill, and passed it to Cliff Ronning, who one-timed it past Jamie McLennan to give Nashville a 3-2 victory, their first victory ever against a Central Division opponent. For the Blues, being up two goals and then losing it at the last second was the worst way to lose this game. "Any time you're up 2-0, it's tough to lose a game like that when you stop doing the things you did to get up 2-0," said Chris Pronger, the Blues' captain. "It's a tough pill to swallow. In the third period is where you've got to be your strongest. We've done that a few times, and it's disappointing. It's frustrating." The Return of Brett Hu....What The Frig??? The Kiel Center was ready for something special. A crowd of 20,294 filed into the home arena of the St. Louis Blues to see one man return. A man who had one of the greatest careers of any player to ever wear a Bluenote on his chest. Finally, game time neared. The excitement that had been building since July 3 quickly turned to utter disappointed when the scratches were announced. The name of the man the 20,294 fans wanted to see was spoken over the PA system. "Number 22, Brett Hull." Naturally, the crowd booed. Brett Hull, the man who owns the Blues' career goal-scoring record, stayed in Dallas to nurse a bruised kidney. But his team showed up in St. Louis as the top team in the league when they took on the Blues. And Dallas's superiority showed early in the contest. On a power play eight minutes into the first, St. Louis goaltender Jamie McLennan stopped a Darryl Sydor shot but couldn't control the rebound, as Mike Modano put that home as Dallas took a 1-0 lead. A little more than eight minutes later, Grant Marshall extended that lead when he beat McLennan on his short side, giving Dallas a 2-0 lead. That goal was McLennan's last as he left the game after the first with back spasms. Rich Parent, the man who replaced McLennan, let in his first goal of the game when Jamie Langenbrunner scored on a power play 16:09 into the second to give Dallas a 3-0 advantage and complete control of the game. But St. Louis wasn't finished. 1:27 left in the second, Pavol Demitra scored on the power play. 3-1 Dallas. 15:43 left in the third, the rebound of a Tony Twist shot was put in the net by Mike Eastwood. 3-2 Dallas. 12:56 left in the third, Pascal Rheaume set up the puck for Pierre Turgeon who tied the game up from in front of the net. 3-3. Dallas head coach Ken Hitchcock had seen enough scoring as he pulled starting goaltender Roman Turek, who allowed three goals in 8:31, in favor of Ed Belfour. And Belfour slammed the door shut, sending the tied game into overtime. The Stars had the best opportunity in the extra frame when they had a power play for three minutes. The St. Louis penalty killing didn't let up anything as the Blues clawed back from three goals down and earned a tie with a 3-3 final. "They were more hungry than we were for 60 minutes," Hitchcock said of the Blues. "We tried to sit on it and once we got back on our heels, we couldn't get going again." So, all in all, the Blues didn't have a bad two weeks. Five points in three games is always good in my book. But one problem arose in the five games, and, once again, it involved a goaltender. Jamie McLennan is day-to-day with back spasms, meaning both of St. Louis's goaltenders are on the training room bed. It's up to rookie goaltenders to stop the puck. But the burden must be placed on the defense who needs to keep the opponents' shot total to a minimum. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE NORTHWEST DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CALGARY FLAMES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Brian Sutter Roster: C - Andrew Cassels, Rico Fata, Clarke Wilm, Cory Stillman, Bob Bassen, Jeff Shantz, Steve Dubinsky. LW - Ed Ward, Jason Wiemer, Dave Roche. RW - Valeri Bure, Theoren Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Greg Pankewicz, Martin St. Louis. D - Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse, Derek Morris, Todd Simpson, Steve Smith, Phil Housley, Sami Helenius. G - Ken Wregget, Tyler Moss, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Injuries: Michael Nylander, c (injured knee March 26, indefinite); Bob Bassen, c (suffered knee injury Sept. 18, indefinite); Ken Wregget, g (suffered back spasms Nov. 3, day-to-day); Jeff Shantz, c (suffered concussion Nov 14, returned Nov. 21). Transactions: Recalled Sami Helenius, d, from Chicago (IHL) Nov. 10. Game Results: 11/10 Los Angeles W 5-4 OT 11/12 Vancouver L 5-4 11/14 Anaheim L 1-0 11/16 Detroit W 5-3 11/19 at Montreal L 4-3 OT 11/21 at Ottawa L 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Simon D. Lewis Not Much to Report The Calgary Flames season goes much as one would expect it to. They are a few games under .500. They are prone to some errors attributable to their youth and inexperience. Theo Fleury is having a hot start as he approaches the promised land of free agency. Two wins against the two time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings have been highlights. Blowing a lead against Vancouver and losing in OT to the Habs have been definite lowlights. The surprise is that the Flames are challenging for the eighth and last playoff spot in the West. The latest road trip has started with two losses. In the "Goodenow/Bettman Free Agency NHL," where parity is an expired contract away, you can't afford to lose more than two in a row. Did you see how fast the Habs wound up in the cellar after a couple of injuries led to a string of losses. It does not take long. It's Still a Lot of Money to Most of Us On November 10 the Calgary Herald printed a story outlining the earnings of NHL coaches. It turns out that Brian Sutter is dead last with his $278,885 US. He is, however, being paid in Canadian dollars and that total is somewhere near $430,000. That looks a lot better. And, you know, you can live pretty well in Canada on that much money. Morris Has the Mo Mo, that's his nickname. It also stands for momentum. That's what 20-year-old Derek Morris is showing in his sophomore season in the NHL. A little cocky after his stellar rookie turn, the Flames defender came to camp overweight and out of shape. That changed in a hurry when he was paired with veteran Steve Smith who is nuts for conditioning. Now Morris is playing about 20 to 25 minutes a night with Smith and he's learning the right way how to be an NHL defenceman. With Phil Housley on the power play he's learning how to control the tempo of a match. That's a lot of experience to lean on. "When we talked about getting Housley this summer, the first thing I thought about was how much better he's going to make Mo," said coach Brian Sutter. "When Smitty came to the draft and said he wants to play once again, the first thing I thought about was Mo." So now Morris is eliminating the mental vapour lock which plagued him as a rookie and is really settling down. Some liken his potential to that of a Rob Blake. He's big, fast and tough. There is definite thoroughbred potential there. Sutter Grinds Goalies Ken Wregget is hurt, so now is the time for all young goalies to come to the party. Tyler Moss and Jean- Sebastien Giguere have split the duties since Wregget went down with back spasms. Neither has seized the proverbial brass ring. Their play has led to dressings down in the media by coach Sutter, especially after the two combined for a stinker against the Canucks. "Giggy knows he didn't play well. If a goalie at this level sees the puck on a shot from well out, he should stop it. Every time. And Mosser ... well, he lets in the first one he faces and then doesn't make a big save until a toe stop off Ohlund and then didn't have another one until right at the end of the game when they hit him in the tattoo. ... We're not playing bad. Far from it. ... I'm not criticizing, mind you, both of these guys are going to be good goalies but they'd better start realising they're being given an opportunity here not many other young goalies in this league get." Stay tuned. We're roasting goalies in Calgary...again. Ask Kidd, Vernon, Tabaracci and Roloson. ----------------------------------------------------------------- COLORADO AVALANCHE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Bob Hartley Roster: C - Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Chris Drury. LW - Valeri Kamensky, Rene Corbet, Milan Hejduk. RW - Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Shjon Podein, Jeff Odgers, Shean Donovan, Warren Rychel. D - Sylvain Lefebvre, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, Jon Klemm, Aaron Miller, Eric Messier, Wade Belak, Greg deVries, Jeff Buchanan, Cam Russell, Dan Smith, Brian White. G - Patrick Roy, Craig Billington. Injuries: Eric Messier, d (broken elbow, mid-January); Adam Foote, d (arm, day-to-day); Wade Belak, d (groin, day-to-day); Alexei Gusarov, d (finger, mid-December); Sylvain Lefebvre, d (eye, day-to-day); Jon Klemm, d (knee, early March). Transactions: Recalled Dan Smith, d, from Hershey (AHL); assigned Ted Crowley, d, to Hershey (AHL); traded Roman Vopat, lw, to Chicago for Cam Russell, d; traded Keith Jones, rw, to Philadelphia for Shjon Podein, rw; recalled Brian White, d, from Hershey (AHL). Game results: 11/10 at Phoenix T 1-1 11/13 Tampa Bay W 8-1 11/15 at Vancouver W 2-1 11/17 NY Islanders W 5-2 11/19 Vancouver L 5-0 11/21 at Montreal W 3-2 TEAM NEWS by Greg D'Avis Despite a flurry of personnel moves, due to trades and injuries, the Avalanche were starting to show signs of putting something together. The three big guns, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Valeri Kamensky, were all hot; Patrick Roy remembered he was Patrick Roy; the defense held together under the leadership of Aaron Miller; and the Avs put together their first four-game unbeaten streak of the year. After years of frustration, Phoenix had the Avs' number early this year, dominating them in two early-season games. So, a 1-1 tie could be counted as a moral victory. Roy, putting his early-season struggles behind him, was spectacular, which was nice, because the rest of the game was duller than dirt. Not so the next game, against the resurgent Tampa Bay Lightning. It was an old-fashioned Avalanche slaughter, as the boys in burgundy and blue racked up eight goals (including one by Alexei Gusarov, the first goal by an Avalanche defenseman this season), and Forsberg, Sakic and Deadmarsh looked swell. The next game was against Vancouver, who hadn't beaten the Avs in a regular season game since 1995, and that didn't change here. Colorado squeaked by as Adam Deadmarsh rang up both goals, and almost all was good -- except an injury to Jon Klemm, depleting the defensive corps even further. Valeri Kamensky came back from an injury to get hot the next game, with a hat trick and an assist against the mighty Islanders of New York as the Avalanche won 5-2 to extend their unbeaten streak to four games, and almost all was good -- except an injury to Alexei Gusarov, depleting the defensive corps even further. (Ah, the magic of copy and paste.) Remember two paragraphs ago, when I mentioned that the Canucks hadn't beaten Colorado since 1995? That was foreshadowing, except I didn't do it too well. The `Nucks came into McNichols Arena and slaughtered Colorado 5-0, the fourth shutout against the Avs this year (by Garth Snow, no less); the team's worst performance in, well, weeks; and Mike Keenan's 500th victory, making him and his pet rat very happy. Then, back on the road, and another win, as Patrick Roy beat his old pals in Montreal yet again. The game had a nice little ceremony, too, as former Nordiques and new Hall of Fame inductees Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet were honored. Still No Ozo As the Avalanche defense was reduced to a four-man rotation due to injuries, all-star Sandis Ozolinsh continued to sit in Latvia as contract negotiations lagged. Ozolinsh's agent Paul Theofanous reported that Ozo wanted a trade, frustrated by the lack of progress. GM Pierre Lacroix replied that he didn't want to trade Ozolinsh. Doesn't want to sign him much, either, it appears. More Trades The Avalanche shuffle continued as the team struggled. First, Roman Vopat continued his tour of every NHL city, as he went from Colorado to Chicago for Cam Russell without ever having played for the Avs. (Russell, despite me mocking him repeatedly upon the announcement of the trade, has done pretty well.) Then, scrappy right wing Keith Jones went to Philadelphia for scrappy right wing Shjon Podein, a pretty good trade -- Podein makes about $500,000 less per year than Jones (freeing up money to sign, say, Sandis Ozolinsh); Jones had been racked by injuries for the past two seasons; and Jones wasn't happy -- he admitted to being one of the players not pleased with Eric Lacroix's (now departed) presence in the locker room. Would more come? Stay tuned! Rumors continued to swirl around Valeri Kamensky and Claude Lemieux. The Return of Roy Patrick Roy kind of, well, stunk in the early going this year, prompting speculation that he was too old, that he had lost the desire, that he had been possessed by the spirit of Andre Racicot, etc. Well, November lit Patty's fire, perhaps in anticipation of all that turkey - he's on a five-game unbeaten streak (Craig Billington played that debacle against Phoenix), and hasn't given up more than two goals in a game since Nov. 4 against Toronto. Pretty good, eh? Signings Adam Foote, who'd already been demanding a trade in anticipation of the next offseason, and Jeff Odgers both were rewarded with contract extensions. It's never been the Avalanche way to take care of business early and avoid ugly squabbles in the summer, so this was a nice change of pace. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDMONTON OILERS ---------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Low Roster: C - Doug Weight Todd Marchant, Rem Murray, Boyd Devereux, Josef Beranek LW - Dean McAmmond, Mats Lindgren, Ryan Smyth. RW - Bill Guerin, Mike Grier, Andrei Kovalenko, Pat Falloon, Kevin Brown. D - Sean Brown, Roman Hamrlik, Craig Millar, Boris Mironov, Frank Musil, Janne Niinimaa, Brad Norton, Tom Poti, Marty McSorley. G - Bob Essensa, Mikhail Shtalenkov. Injuries: Doug Weight, c (injured knee, 10 more weeks); Marty McSorley, d (injured shoulder, two more weeks); Kevin Brown, rw (abdominal strain, day-to-day). Transactions: Recalled Brad Norton, d, from Hamilton (AHL). Game Results: 11/11 at Toronto L 3-2 11/12 at Ottawa T 1-1 11/14 at Montreal W 4-1 11/18 Detroit L 6-2 11/20 Anaheim W 3-2 OT 11/21 Phoenix L 3-2 OT TEAM NEWS by Aubrey Chau Norris Mironov? The local media has been tossing around talk about Oilers' defenceman Boris Mironov getting some serious Norris Trophy nominations. And why not at the rate he's going? Bobo and Al MacInnis of the St. Louis Blues are leading all defencemen in scoring, with 17 points a piece. All that and Boris has been playing some serious defence. He's playing around 28 minutes a game on most night, and for the past few games, he's been doing it on one good leg. Back on November 12th, against the Ottawa Senators, he was hit on the ankle by an Alexei Yashin shot. A couple nights ago, in Phoenix, Rick Tocchet blasted a shot off that exact same spot, the inside of his right ankle. He's getting it x-rayed to see if it's broken. Boris is a horse though, but he had to walk with a cane just to get around Monday. But Boris still played in the second period against the Coyotes, which really scored points with Ron Low, who said Mironov is "one tough character." Return of the Old Guy Remember Marty McSorley? Yes you must. Before the Oilers went on that crazy home winning streak, he was injured. He has started skating again, and he hopes to be back in two weeks against Phoenix on Dec. 2nd. But the Oilers have been doing pretty decent without him.think there's a spot for him? Bob in Pain? Goalie Bob Essensa did not play in Phoenix on Saturday, forcing Mikhail Shtalenkov to play back-to-back games in Anaheim and Phoenix. Playing his goalies in both back-to-back games was something Coach Lowtide said he wouldn't do. Apparently Goalie Bob hurt his knee during practise, he was supposed to get it checked out Monday. Offence Sputtering The Oilers power play was impotent against the Coyotes Saturday night when they had five chances. They're just 2-15 in their last three games. Other Guys Sputtering Let's see, Ryan Smyth, one goal; Dean McAmmond, zero goals. Can you guess who's in Coach Low's doghouse? You can bet Glen Sather is looking to unload these guys to whoever will take them, but he's in no rush, since the Oil are doing so well. They must be worth something, Smyth scored 20 goals in 65 games, while McAmmond netted 19 in 77 games last season. Hot Seat Rem "the Gem" Murray is sure looking good these days. Ron Low has moved him with Billy Guerin and Andrei (I try in contract years so I can make big money) Kovalenko. Hold it Todd! Todd MacFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic books and partial owner of the Oilers has designed a third jersey for the Oilers. He planned to unveil it Saturday when the Oilers were in Phoenix, his current home, but Oilers' PR guy Bill Tuele and Glen Sather put the reins in on that. I wonder how much MacFarlane would pay to change the name to the Edmonton Spawns? Other tidbits: How come we can't beat those damn Maple Leafs? Include the fact that Pat Quinn is a genius, it's because Curtis Joseph hardly ever loses to his former teams.just ask St. Louis. Brad Norton got some time up with the big team, as fellow defenceman Sean Brown was suspended on that high stick to Daniel Alfredsson a couple weeks ago. Rumour: The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking for a bodyguard for Jaromir Jagr, they are looking at seldomly used Oiler forward Bill (man, I don't get to play much) Huard. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VANCOUVER CANUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Mike Keenan ROSTER: C - Mark Messier, Peter Zezel, Dave Scatchard, Josh Holden. LW - Todd Bertuzzi, Brad May, Markus Naslund, Donald Brashear, Peter Schaefer. RW - Alexander Mogilny, Bill Muckalt, Trent Klatt, Steve Staios. D - Adrian Aucoin, Murray Baron, Bret Hedican, Jamie Huscroft, Bryan McCabe, Dana Murzyn, Mattias Ohlund, Jason Strudwick, Chris McAllister. G - Garth Snow, Corey Hirsch. INJURIES: Todd Bertuzzi, lw (broken leg, indefinite); Alexander Mogilny, rw (strained knee, 4-6 weeks). TRANSACTIONS: Assigned Bert Robertsson, lw, and Matt Cooke, c, to Syracuse ( AHL ); placed Brandon Convery, c, on waivers (claimed by Los Angeles ); recalled Chris McAllister, d, from two-week conditioning assignment in Syracuse; signed Bryan McCabe, d, to a three-year contract. GAME RESULTS: 11/12 at Calgary W 4-3 11/13 Anaheim W 5-2 10/15 Colorado L 2-1 10/18 at Phoenix L 4-2 10/19 at Colorado W 5-0 10/21 Detroit L 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Jeff Dubois As the Canucks embark on a five-game road trip, they do so without their top two wingers. Todd Bertuzzi will be out another three weeks with a broken leg, but he won't be alone, as Alex Mogilny will out at least that long with a strained knee. These injuries only increase the pressure on GM Brian Burke to deal Pavel Bure, and though Burke says he will not be pressured into making a deal, the Canucks' need for scoring punch should heighten his enthusiasm to complete a trade. Burke is currently on the East Coast and has personally met with Islanders boss Mike Milbury. Reports have Burke turning down a one-for one swap of Bure for Palffy, but there are other names being thrown around, including those of defencemen Bryan Berard and Zdeno Chara, or even a three-way deal involving Philadelphia that would see Rod Brind'Amour and prospect Brian Boucher come to Vancouver. The Islanders are just one of many teams in the Bure race that Burke has described as "heating up". It is believed that the Kings, Rangers, and possibly the Devils and Flyers are also interested. The Rangers may have the best shot, as Neil Smith has been promised the opportunity to beat any offer should a trade with another team be imminent. The Rangers would likely have to include two of Dan Cloutier, Niklas Sundstrom and Alexei Kovalev, or possibly all three if the bidding becomes high for a deal to be done. New York City seems a reasonable destination for the Rocket. The Rangers need someone who has already been introduced to inserting a puck into a net, and Wayne Gretzky certainly isn't going to hit maximum production passing to the likes of Mike Knuble. Bure's need for anonymity would be satisfied in the Big Apple and he'd certainly be a big draw at MSG. But if the Rangers are interested, so will the rest of the Atlantic Division. However it seems unlikely that New Jersey, always financially responsible, would acquire a player who would drive up the cost of other Devils (Hello, Mr. Lamoriello, it's Martin Brodeur's agent calling) and it seems doubtful that the Flyers would be able to throw big money at Bure and Lindros. So besides the Islanders and Rangers, the third bidder would seem to be the LA Kings. Any deal that the Kings would make would probably be geared towards youth. Olli Jokinen, who has found himself a spot with the big club, would almost certainly be included. Aki Berg would also look swell in a Canucks uniform, but he is signed in Europe and therefore cannot play in the NHL this season without clearing waivers (not gonna happen). With the emergence of Manny Legace, the Kings now have three capable goalies, so Jamie Storr might also attract the Canucks attention if they are not content with Garth Snow (29 years young). Burke originally predicted that the trade would be completed by Christmas, but the end of November seems a more likely scenario if the team's on ice play has any influence. While the Canucks lost Mogilny this passed week, they were also able to add a core player, re-signing Bryan McCabe to a three-year deal that includes a club option. McCabe rejoined the team for a game in Calgary, in which he made an immediate impact, scoring his first of the season. The gritty blueliner will solidify the defensive core that includes Mattias Ohlund, Adrian Aucoin, Bret Hedican and Murray Baron. Offensive contribution from the back end has been one of the keys to the Canucks' success this year, and McCabe's presence can only help, as he will often join the rush and sees action on the second power-play unit. Solid play from rookie Josh Holden left the Canucks with one too many centres on the roster. The victim of the Canucks first glut of depth down the middle since the days of Igor Larionov was young Brandon Convery. Convery had looked impressive in the 11 games he played, netting nine points. He was put on waivers and picked up by Los Angeles after two days in limbo. Many wondered why the Canucks would let Convery, one of their few scoring threats lately, leave for nothing, and the answer may be his inability to work under Mike Keenan's rigid coaching style. When asked if personal conflicts with Keenan influenced his departure, Convery answered, " You'd have to talk to him". But really folks, Mike Keenan running a player out of town? I can't see it. On the ice the Canucks play remains inconsistent. They continue to hover around the .500 level and remain behind Edmonton for the division lead. They have not yet suffered the prolonged losing streak that was expected of such a young team, but they haven't put three wins together all season either. After a close game at GM Place, both Joe Sakic and Adam Deadmarsh concluded that the Canucks are for real this year and that their improved conditioning and effort are quite visible on the ice. Though only a quarter in, it's looking as though the Canucks may make something of this season and...dare we say it, make the playoffs. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE PACIFIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Craig Hartsburg ROSTER: C - Matt Cullen, Travis Green, Josef Marha, Steve Rucchin, Marty McInnis. LW - Johan Davidsson, Ted Drury, Stu Grimson, Paul Kariya, Jim McKenzie. RW - Antti Aalto, Jeff Nielsen, Tomas Sandstrom, Teemu Selanne, Frank Banham. D - Mike Crowley, Kevin Haller, Jason Marshall, Frederik Olausson, Jamie Pushor, Ruslan Salei, Pascal Trepanier, Pavel Trnka. G - Guy Hebert, Dominic Roussel. INJURIES: Travis Green, c (strained left knee 11/20, day-to-day); Tomas Sandstrom, rw (fractured left wrist 11/08, out eight weeks); Teemu Selanne, rw (strained right thigh 11/11, day-to-day). TRANSACTIONS: 11/21, Recalled Frank Banham, rw, and Josef Marha, c, from Cincinatti (AHL). GAME RESULTS: 11/11 Carolina W 5-4 OT 11/13 at Vancouver L 5-2 11/14 at Calgary W 1-0 11/16 Los Angeles W 3-1 11/18 NY Rangers W 3-1 11/20 Edmonton L 3-2 OT 11/22 Chicago W 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Alex Carswell HOME SWEET HOME The Ducks wrapped up a brief homestand with a 4-1 win over the hapless Chicago Blackhawks. Anaheim went 3-1 at The Pond, lifting their overall home record to 6-3-2. The numbers are significant, first because the team now embarks on a six-game roadie, but, more importantly, because that "6" represents more than half the number of wins Anaheim generated at home all of last season (11-23-6). Overall, the Ducks ran their record to 9-7-4, good for 20 points, third in the Pacific Division and a tie -- for the moment at least -- with Detroit for third in the Western Conference. Consider also that their 4-2 record over the past half-dozen games has been earned despite the absence of Teemu Selanne, who has been resting a generally achy right side (ankle and thigh). The team's performance -- workmanlike, if not spectacular -- has taken the urgency out of Selanne's return, although he seems likely to go in game one of the road trip (vs. Detroit). Marty McInnis has been skating on the top line in Selanne's stead, and doing a damn fine job of it. Playing the starboard side along with Steve Rucchin and Paul Kariya, the versatile McInnis has racked up 5-9-14 totals in 13 games as a Duck. Though a right-hand shot, McInnis has been a center or left wing his entire pro career. He seems to have found some chemistry with Kariya, however, perhaps giving Craig Harstburg the luxury of splitting up his dynamic duo. And while that has never worked before -- Ron Wilson and Pierre Page both gave it a shot -- Anaheim now seems to have unprecedented depth up front. At this point, the price paid for McInnis -- a fourth-round pick in 2000 -- seems ludicrously low. NO ROAD WOES? With the team playing a solid, grinding game, the upcoming roadie doesn't seem as daunting as it might have in the past. Other than Detroit, against whom the Ducks usually put together a spirited, if losing, effort, the rest of the games seem winnable. Nashville, Carolina and Chicago, again, are certainly within reach, and Pittsburgh will likely be going without starter Tom Barrasso. Then, after a few days rest at home, the squad will commute up to play struggling San Jose. A .500 trip seems more than realistic; and if the team can come home with four wins or better, Ducks fans may be thinking Christmas arrived early. CENTER LINES Aside from the Big Unit, Hartsburg had been using Matt Cullen between Antti Aalto and Johan Davidsson -- the so-called "Center Line," because they're all natural centers. But with Travis Green's injury and the return of Josef Marha, the coach did some juggling and came up with a "Center-squared" line, replacing Cullen with Marha -- another natural center. The speedy Cullen then took the helm of a grinding line featuring Jim McKenzie on the left and defenseman-turned-winger Pascal Trepanier on the right. That left Ted Drury centering fourth-line wingers Jeff Nielsen (r) and Stu Grimson. Though called up due to the injuries to Selanne and Green -- who finally potted his first goal of the season before twisting his knee against Edmonton -- Frank Banham isn't liklely to stay around. He might not even dress. With McInnis producing and Marha back in good health, Hartsburg won't be looking for Banham's offense. WOW -- SPECIAL TEAMS Anaheim's special teams have been -- gadzooks! -- on fire of late. Well, for Anaheim, anyway. With the power play clicking at near 20% and the kill going at near 90%, the Ducks no longer need fear the men in stripes. That will be a key element not only as the team heads out on the road, but also as opponents toughen up -- realizing that a game versus the Ducks might not be the easy skate they had expected when the season got underway. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DALLAS STARS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head coach: Ken Hitchcock Roster: C-Mike Modano, Guy Carbonneau, Joe Nieuwendyk, Tony Hrkac, Aaron Gavey, Brian Skrudland. LW- Jamie Langenbrunner, Jason Botterill, Dave Reid, Brent Severyn, Jere Lehtinen, Jamie Wright. RW- Brett Hull, Mike Keane, Grant Marshall, Pat Verbeek. D-Derian Hatcher, Craig Ludwig, Darryl Sydor, Shawn Chambers, Richard Matvichuk, Sergei Zubov, Sergei Gusev. G-Ed Belfour, Roman Turek. Injuries: Brett Hull, rw (bruised kidney, day-to-day); Jere Lehtinen, lw (broken finger, 2-3 weeks). Transactions: None. Game Results: 11/11 Phoenix L 2-0 11/13 at Detroit W 5-1 11/14 at Boston W 3-1 11/20 NY Islanders W 4-2 11/21 at St. Louis T 3-3 Team News by Jim Panenka Kids - Too Much of a Good Thing is Bad, MMMK? Like it or not, the team that currently takes the ice for Stars games is no longer the same team that went all the way to the conference finals last year. Too many things have changed. The main thing that has changed is the delicate team chemistry. While some may say that Dallas came out ahead during all of the player transactions during the last two seasons, it seems more like too many of the players that are here now never paid the dues during the lean years of the Dallas Stars franchise. To put that in simple English: Dallas has too many hired guns. There was just a little too much tinkering with the lineup. The list is impressive: Brett Hull, Ed Belfour, Mike Keane, Brian Skrudland, Brent Severyn, and others. You might think that having those guys play on your team is a good thing, but that is only true when there is some sort of chemistry there. Now instead of getting a balanced, 60-minute effort from most players on any given game, the Stars are all over the map when it comes to amount of effort put into games, and amount of consistency during those games. That all could be dismissed away as growing pains. As a team gets better, and adds some "better" players, there are going to be natural periods of adjustment. But, on a more indefinable level the whole 'feel' of the team is much different this time around. Before, the Stars seemed to be a hard working group of guys who played well together and were pleasantly surprised when they evolved from a bottom-feeder into a true championship-caliber team. They were humble, and knew it took sweat and pain to win. Now, the Stars seem to be a championship-caliber team that is underachieving and has entirely too much confidence in its ability to 'turn it on' when it counts to win any game. They can now be found in the locker room saying 'we should have worked a little harder tonight, I think we should have prepared better' or words to that effect. To put it simply, although the Stars are a great team, they currently have some serious chemistry problems. Coach Ken Hitchcock has been quoted as saying that he is genuinely concerned over the lack of fire and consistency he has been seeing from his players. But, you have to take the entire report so far with a grain of salt. If you ask Hitch about some of these problems, he'll tell you that most of this was to plan - that he was trying to evaluate the new players first, give them a chance at the lineup, while re-evaluating all the returning players to make sure they still fit in their spot in the lineup. And to that end, Hitchcock has been literally changing every single line combination. Some of it was due to finding the right spot for Brett Hull. Some of it was due to looking at those young players. But now that the team has a few injuries (Brett Hull and Jere Lehtinen) and is having problems maintaining a consistent effort, Hitchcock has opted instead to find winning combinations and sticking with them. Now, the only problem with all that is the team is so upended because of all the continuous changes. And to be honest, they have a hell of a great record (second in the West) to show for it despite the challenges. Hull Takes a Back Seat Brett Hull was quoted recently concerning ice time. He says he was misquoted and begs everyone to give him a chance to drop the whiny, big-mouth stigma that has been attached to him since leaving the Blues. He said he was misquoted, and has no problems with his ice time. And coach Hitchcock was recently quoted as saying he has no problems at all with Hull, and was actually pleased with him so far. Since then, Hull has laid low and missed the spectacle of returning to St. Louis as a Star with a bruised kidney. It may have been the best thing to happen to this team since they acquired Hull. Now there will be a chance for the dust to settle, for Hitchcock to rethink his strategies, and for the players to question why they are here at this point to begin with. There is a chance that Hull may become a disruptive cancer to the Stars and ruin their season. There is also the chance that he may be enough of a disruptive influence to force the team into rethinking their mission, and come back out rejuvenated and ready to dominate the league as they should. It could go either way. Right now there is still too much up in the air. It would be a shame if this team tanked all the hard work of the previous two seasons - to go back from a contender to a pretender again. Something tells me these storm clouds will soon pass - but you have to be very careful - because there are deadly storms waiting in those clouds that could cause the death and destruction of a great championship season. It's now up to the Stars to decide if they want to maneuver around these storm clouds by getting back to being the team they should have been all along. ----------------------------------------------------------------- LOS ANGELES KINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Larry Robinson Roster: C - Brandon Convery, Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Ray Ferraro, Yanic Perreault. LW - Eric Lacroix, Steve McKenna, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson, Josh Green. RW - Russ Courtnall, Nathan LaFayette, Glen Murray, Sandy Moger. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Bodger, Mattias Norstrom, Steve Duchesne, Philippe Boucher. G - Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr, Manny Legace. Injuries: Stephane Fiset, g (groin, day-to-day); Jozef Stumpel, c (ankle, day-to-day); Doug Bodger, d (broken hand, 2-4 weeks); Rob Blake, d (broken foot, 4-6 weeks). Steve McKenna, lw (abdominal strain, day-to- day). Sandy Moger, rw (back strain, day-to-day); Russ Courtnall, rw (broken ankle, 4-6 weeks); Matt Johnson, lw (stupid goon, 12 games). Transactions: Picked up Brandon Convery, c, off of waivers from Vancouver. Sent Ryan Bach, g, to Long Beach (IHL); Matt Johnson, lw, suspended for 12 games by NHL for intent to injure Ranger defenseman Jeff Beukeboom. Game Results 11/10 at Calgary L 5-4 11/12 Nashville L 3-1 11/14 Carolina L 5-3 11/16 at Anaheim L 3-1 11/18 at San Jose L 5-4 11/19 Rangers L 5-1 11/21 Chicago W 5-0 Team News by Matthew Moore Flashbacks of seasons past in the past two weeks. The Kings have played absolutely horrible, losing six games in a row and the streak might have kept on going if the Kings hadn't played a team on a worse streak in Chicago. Good news: Jamie Storr came back from his groin injury and played his first game on November 21st, shutting out the Blackhawks. And thank God he has returned. The magic of Manny Legace was starting to rub off and the Kings record was suffering as a result. Storr was pretty sharp in the game, although he was never really tested by the brawling Blackhawks. Bad news: Kings winger Russ Courtnall broke his right ankle while blocking a shot. He will be out 4-6 weeks, which is quite a blow to the Kings as Courtnall is one of their chief penalty killers and also one of their most consistent forwards. The bodies keep on piling up in the Kings camp. Trade rumors continued about Pavel Bure making the trip down the coast from Vancouver. Kings names thrown out as going to the Nux are Jamie Storr and Olli Jokinen. All I have to say about that is: DON'T DO IT DAVE! Sure, Pavel Bure has talent just oozing out of him and can score his IQ (about 60) most seasons. But the boy is just one step better than a Nedved on the weasel scale and won't bring the Kings any closer to the promised land. That plus Jamie Storr is going to be a pretty darn good goaltender and only about to turn 23. Olli Jokinen is turning out to be a darned good player who might just turn into the spotlight player that the Kings are looking for to fill up the Staples Center. And he's only 19. Compare that to Bure, who has a history of knee injuries. It just wouldn't be smart to deal for the little wanker. Speaking of Olli Jokinen, he is turning into the player that the Kings hoped for when they drafted him last year. He is showing both the ability to score and to pass, especially when walking in traffic. And ever since he came up, the Kings power play hasn't sucked quite as bad. One player who has sucked is Steve Duchesne. Sure, he can't shoulder all the blame for the Kings having played so bad, but I think we can still try and make him feel like a pariah for his play. He has been nothing short of lousy, and is dragging the power play down with him. He was supposed to be a "savior" of the power-play unit, but he just isn't clicking on the Kings right now. I don't know how many times I have seen him where he had a shot on net through traffic available and what does he do? He tries to make the beautiful pass to a winger. A pass that usually gets chipped out to center ice by the opposition. One bit of advice Steve: next time you get those chances shoot the puck. You never know, it might just go in and if it doesn't go in then maybe the player you would have tried the pass to will have a good rebound opportunity. And finally, Matt Johnson showed why he will be nothing more than a goon for the rest of his life. Just a few days after Andrei Nazarov decided to go a cross-checkin', his long time fighting partner, Johnson decided that Jeff Beukeboom was enough of a punk in trying to trip Glen Murray, so he waited until Beukeboom had his back turned and Johnson runs up and punches him in the neck, sending Beukeboom down to the ice like he had been hit by a sniper. Now, I like a good, hard-hitting game as much as anyone (my prized possession is a signed Jay Miller jersey after all) but what Johnson did was simply sickening and made me embarrassed to be a Kings fan. And what does Johnson say about this play? "What I did was probably wrong." What a moron. This is the type of attitude that is destroying the NHL when combined with the lame-brained expansion. A total lack of respect for his fellow players, not seeming to care that he could seriously hurt Beukeboom by doing this. Whatever happened to playing hockey like a man where if you thought an opposing player was taking liberties with a teammate you would go drop the gloves and go toe to toe with the guy? In my book Johnson is damned lucky that he isn't thrown out of hockey and is instead only getting 12 games. The guy is a cheap shot artist who can bring nothing else to the table except for being big and able to throw hard punches while on skates. This just reminded me of another thing: maybe the Blackhawks fans should speak up and let their team know that playing hard and throwing checks is good. But being a bunch of goons is bad, with them seemingly preferring to turn a game into a nonstop scrum anytime they fall behind by two or more goals. They did the same thing in both games and it is sad to see. No wonder I am growing to dislike the NHL style of hockey more and more... ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHOENIX COYOTES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jim Schoenfeld Roster: C - Jeremy Roenick, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen, Daniel Briere. LW - Keith Tkachuk, Greg Adams, Jim Cummins, Mike Sullivan. RW - Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Brad Isbister, Shane Doan. D - Keith Carney, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky, Deron Quint. G - Nikolai Khabibulin, Jimmy Waite. Injuries: None. Transactions: None. GAME RESULTS 11/10 Colorado T 1-1 11/11 Dallas W 2-0 11/14 Tampa Bay W 4-1 11/18 Vancouver W 4-2 11/20 San Jose W 2-1 OT 11/21 Edmonton W 3-2 OT TEAM NEWS by Bob Chebat Phoenix continues to turn heads around the NHL as they stretched their unbeaten streak to 11 games with a pair of overtime wins on back-to-back nights. Dallas Drake returned from a minor concussion and delivered the game-winner against San Jose. It was Drake's second goal of the season. The goaltending duo of Nikolai Khabibulin and Jimmy Waite is currently tops in the league as well. Khabibulin suffered a hand injury two weeks ago and forced Waite into the starting role. Waite faced Colorado, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Vancouver during Nik's absence, and posted a 3-0-1 record and a goals- against average of 1.00, shut out the Dallas Stars, and was named NHL Player of the Week for November 9-15. Not bad for a 'backup' goalie. Khabibulin returned to the lineup on the 20th and was a key component in the win over San Jose. When a team goes 11 games without a loss, it is hard to imagine that any aspect of its game could need improvement, but the power play has been dismal for Phoenix. The power play is currently ranked 24th overall with just six goals in 62 chances. On the flip side of that, Phoenix is number one on the penalty kill overall, allowing only six goals in 64 chances. Another streak the Coyotes are keeping alive is consecutive games in which a team has allowed two goals or less. Saturday's win against Edmonton brought the record to 14, and sets the modern-day, post- expansion mark. The Coyotes are playing some very exciting hockey right now. While the season is still very young, they have made a statement to the rest of the NHL that they can indeed play with the big boys. The first 15 games have included two against Dallas, three against Colorado and one against Detroit. They have compiled a record of 4-1-1 in those six games, and have found themselves at the top of many NHL power rankings throughout the press. It's great being a Coyotes fan right now. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SAN JOSE SHARKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Darryl Sutter roster: C -Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Jarrod Skalde, Mike Ricci, Tony Granato, Jaime Baker. LW - Shawn Burr, Murray Craven, Stephane Matteau, Dave Lowry, Jeff Friesen. RW - Ron Stern, Owen Nolan, Joe Murphy. D - Bryan Marchment, Bill Houlder, Marcus Ragnarsson, Mike Rathje, Bob Rouse, Gary Suter, Andy Sutton. G - Mike Vernon, Steve Shields, Bruce Racine. injuries: Ron Sutter, c (back, day-to-day); Stephane Matteau lw (back; day-to-day); Gary Suter, d (tricep, rest of season). transactions: waived Bernie Nicholls, c; sent Andrei Zyuzin, d, to Kentucky; recalled Andy Sutton, d, and Jarrod Skalde, c, from Kentucky (AHL). game results: 11/10 Nashville L 4-2 11/12 Carolina W 3-0 11/18 Los Angeles W 5-4 11/20 Phoenix L 2-1 11/21 NY Rangers T 2-2 team news by Al Swanson Depending on your point of view, the most significant news out of SJ this issue is the current record -- 4-2-2 in the last eight games. After a start of 0-6-2 for the first eight, that is pretty significant. Again, depending on your point of view, the fact that Gary Suter is out for the rest of the season may be of more importance. Suter was expected to QB the Sharks rather powerless power play this year. Then again, maybe Bernie Nicholls (forced) retirement is on the top of your list. Bernie had just signed a one-year with options for another year contract worth a guaranteed $875k. Nice severance package. Your humble correspondent thinks all are newsworthy. The Sharks began the comeback from the horrible start with two wins over Tampa and Dallas last month. They then produced a couple of ties against St Louis and Anaheim before their most embarrassing loss so far at the hands of the expansion Nashville Predators. In the first period against the Preds, SJ managed only four shots on goal and sunk none. Nashville buried one on six shots. In the second, the Sharks shot 15 times, but again, couldn't put a biscuit in the basket. Nashville managed a paltry nine shots, but racked up two more goals. In the second period, they simply stank. The Sharks' Shawn Burr commits the most heinous of hockey crimes, he passes from behind his net to the center of the slot and right to former Shark and Q-Tips safety spokesman Darren Turcotte. Turcotte puts it past Shields easily as the SJ D broke down again. Nashville, however, would be the low point of the past two weeks, as the Sharks outshot LA by 40 to 30 and won that game, whipped Carolina 3-0 in a game against former `Wall' Arturs Irbe in a game where Mike Ricci, on a wraparound attempt, put it past Irbe while Ricci was sprawled out on the ice moving away from the net. No. 1 goaltender Irbe certainly didn't feel the love that the Arena used to show him on this visit. The Coyotes had come in and embarrassed SJ once this year and red-hot Phoenix looked to do it again on the 20th. San Jose, for three periods anyway, played coach Darryl Sutter's system of defense-first to the hilt. The system broke down 37 seconds into the overtime as the Dogs scored and handed the Sharks their first loss in overtime this season. In eight years, the Sharks have never beaten the NY Rangers. With New York and Wayne Gretzky not playing their best so far this year, lots of folks had their hopes up that the single regular season meeting in SJ this year might produce a W. Instead, the Sharks played a solid, if uninspiring, three periods of play before a wildly exciting, but scoreless, overtime. Referee Gregson, apparently needing corrective surgery to pull his head out, decided against calling most of the penalties the rest of the world saw that night until overtime. He than sat Ron Stern out for goaltender interference in what was obviously an accidental running over of Rangers' netminder Dan Cloutier. The Rangers failed to convert and the Sharks escape with a tie. They are no longer the worst team in the NHL as they are now tied for that honor with Chicago. On to Gary Suter. The team of docs in SJ decided that Suter needed to see a few other docs for second, third and fourth opinions. Unfortunately for Suter and the Sharks, they all agreed with team doc Arthur Ting. Suter would need further surgery and most likely sit out the season. Suter is SJ's highest paid acquisition and with the notoriously cheap-ass Gunds' running the show, Sharks fans were sighing as they knew that money had gone down the tube for this season. However, Suter restructured his contract, adding another season and deferring some income to latter years in order to free up some $ for another signing this year. Way to go, Gary!! God, if there were more like you! Lastly, Bernie Nicholls announced his retirement today. OK, maybe he didn't, but the Sharks did. The future hall-of-famer hasn't been on top of his game lately, looking flat-out scared when he actually got the puck. Along with Andrei Zyuzin, Broadway Bernie has to be the big disappointment this year. He has been asked to continue with the club in an as-yet-unnamed position. Speaking of Andrei, he was shipped off to Kentucky for a little re-education last week and thought the Sharks meant political re-education. He then applied for asylum in the US before finding out it was just a quick stint in the minors and not an internment camp. Those silly Russians! The Sharks look poised to do both some serious trades and to make some moves into the mediocre middle of the West. Dean Lombardi is shopping hard this week, claiming, "There's only 28 shopping days `til Christmas." No one, not even Mrs Lombardi, knows what he's talking about. Dumbo did recently add former Shark Jeff Norton to the roster and he's already made an impact. Norton has some big shoes to fill with Suter's absence, though. ================================================================ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT ISSUE: Issue 109 - Wednesday, December 9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player Stats through November 22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM P NO PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH GW GT S PCTG ANA L 9 Kariya, Paul 19 10 16 26 9 12 3 1 0 0 117 8.5 ANA C 20 Rucchin, Steve 19 6 14 20 9 10 0 0 1 1 48 12.5 ANA R 16 McInnis, Marty 19 6 10 16 4 18 3 0 2 0 33 18.2 ANA R 8 Selanne, Teemu 13 7 8 15 1 2 0 0 0 1 48 14.6 ANA R 17 Sandstrom, Tomas R 12 5 2 7 0 14 3 0 1 0 30 16.7 ANA D 2 Olausson, Fredrik 15 1 5 6 6 6 1 0 0 0 21 4.8 ANA D 25 *Crowley, Mike 15 2 3 5 -3 12 1 0 1 0 28 7.1 ANA C 22 *Davidsson, Johan 19 1 4 5 -2 8 1 0 1 0 17 5.9 ANA C 14 *Aalto, Antti 19 2 2 4 -3 4 1 0 0 0 17 11.8 ANA D 24 Salei, Ruslan 13 1 3 4 2 6 1 0 0 0 19 5.3 ANA L 32 Grimson, Stu 19 3 0 3 3 46 0 0 1 0 6 50.0 ANA L 33 McKenzie, Jim 17 2 1 3 -7 21 1 0 1 0 18 11.1 ANA C 39 Green, Travis 18 1 2 3 -1 18 0 1 0 0 42 2.4 ANA D 7 Trnka, Pavel 12 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 ANA C 18 Drury, Ted 13 0 1 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 ANA C 11 Cullen, Matt 17 0 1 1 -5 8 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 ANA R 19 Nielsen, Jeff 18 0 1 1 -4 4 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 ANA D 23 Marshall, Jason 19 0 1 1 2 45 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 ANA D 5 Haller, Kevin 19 0 1 1 2 34 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 ANA C 10 Marha, Josef 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 ANA L 12 *LeClerc, Mike M 2 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 ANA D 27 *Trepanier, Pascal 10 0 0 0 -1 20 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 ANA D 4 Pushor, Jamie 19 0 0 0 -3 24 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 BOS R 12 Khristich, Dmitri 18 10 10 20 -1 18 7 1 3 1 32 31.3 BOS C 41 Allison, Jason 19 6 12 18 -6 12 2 0 1 0 38 15.8 BOS L 14 Samsonov, Sergei 19 5 10 15 -8 2 2 0 1 0 35 14.3 BOS R 23 Heinze, Steve 18 6 4 10 -3 8 3 0 0 0 44 13.6 BOS D 20 Van Impe, Darren 15 4 6 10 2 24 3 0 0 0 23 17.4 BOS D 77 Bourque, Ray 19 1 9 10 -1 16 1 0 1 0 67 1.5 BOS C 6 Thornton, Joe 19 2 7 9 2 17 1 0 0 0 16 12.5 BOS C 42 Ferraro, Peter 17 4 2 6 5 30 1 0 1 0 19 21.1 BOS C 33 Carter, Anson 7 3 3 6 2 2 1 0 0 0 11 27.3 BOS D 36 Ledyard, Grant 17 2 4 6 0 23 1 0 0 0 23 8.7 BOS D 32 Sweeney, Don 19 0 5 5 -2 30 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 BOS L 11 Axelsson, P.J. 15 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 BOS D 25 Gill, Hal 19 1 2 3 -2 16 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 BOS C 19 DiMaio, Rob 16 0 3 3 0 27 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 BOS D 44 Ellett, Dave 17 0 3 3 3 6 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 BOS D 18 McLaren, Kyle 4 1 1 2 -4 2 1 0 0 0 12 8.3 BOS L 16 Belanger, Ken 11 1 1 2 1 72 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 BOS C 38 Taylor, Chris 18 1 1 2 1 8 0 0 0 0 29 3.4 BOS L 57 *Laaksonen, Antti M 6 1 0 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 BOS L 22 Baumgartner, Ken 19 1 0 1 0 54 0 0 0 1 5 20.0 BOS C 17 *Bates, Shawn 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BOS R 56 *Nordstrom, Peter M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS D 29 Vaske, Dennis M 3 0 0 0 -3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS D 55 *Girard, Jonathan R 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 BOS C 26 Taylor, Tim 4 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS L 51 *Henderson, Jay M 4 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BOS C 61 *Mathieu, Marquis M 7 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF L 18 Grosek, Michal 16 6 7 13 4 33 1 0 1 0 30 20.0 BUF R 81 Satan, Miroslav 16 4 9 13 4 8 2 0 0 0 29 13.8 BUF L 80 Sanderson, Geoff 16 7 4 11 7 6 1 0 0 0 35 20.0 BUF D 5 Woolley, Jason 16 2 9 11 11 16 1 0 1 0 50 4.0 BUF C 19 Holzinger, Brian 16 5 5 10 6 6 2 0 0 0 28 17.9 BUF C 37 Brown, Curtis 15 4 5 9 7 4 1 1 1 1 31 12.9 BUF L 15 Ward, Dixon 15 5 3 8 3 14 0 0 1 0 18 27.8 BUF D 44 Zhitnik, Alexei 16 4 4 8 2 24 1 1 1 0 37 10.8 BUF C 27 Peca, Michael 16 3 5 8 -2 26 2 0 1 0 32 9.4 BUF R 36 Barnaby, Matthew 12 2 4 6 1 36 0 0 1 0 17 11.8 BUF D 42 Smehlik, Richard 15 0 6 6 1 14 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 BUF C 26 Plante, Derek 11 1 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 0 20 5.0 BUF R 25 Varada, Vaclav 16 1 4 5 0 14 0 0 1 0 23 4.3 BUF D 74 McKee, Jay 15 0 3 3 1 12 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 BUF D 8 Shannon, Darryl 16 0 2 2 6 12 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 BUF L 32 Ray, Rob 16 0 2 2 1 47 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF C 22 Primeau, Wayne 9 1 0 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 BUF C 9 *Rasmussen, Erik M 4 0 1 1 4 17 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF D 3 Patrick, James 10 0 1 1 6 2 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 BUF D 29 *Holland, Jason M 3 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF L 17 Cunneyworth, Randy M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF D 40 *Ndur, Rumun 5 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BUF L 24 Kruse, Paul 11 0 0 0 0 52 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CGY R 14 Fleury, Theo 19 10 10 20 6 30 3 1 1 0 81 12.3 CGY R 12 Iginla, Jarome 19 7 7 14 -2 10 4 0 0 0 43 16.3 CGY R 8 Bure, Valeri 19 7 7 14 2 4 0 0 0 0 45 15.6 CGY D 6 Housley, Phil 19 1 13 14 4 8 1 0 0 0 37 2.7 CGY C 16 Stillman, Cory 18 5 8 13 4 14 1 0 2 0 43 11.6 CGY C 21 Cassels, Andrew 19 4 8 12 2 6 2 0 1 0 26 15.4 CGY L 24 Wiemer, Jason 19 2 9 11 1 74 0 0 0 0 35 5.7 CGY D 53 Morris, Derek 19 4 6 10 3 33 1 0 1 0 43 9.3 CGY C 11 Shantz, Jeff 17 4 1 5 -1 16 1 0 1 0 14 28.6 CGY L 25 Roche, Dave 16 1 3 4 -1 21 1 0 1 0 8 12.5 CGY C 18 Dubinsky, Steve 13 2 1 3 1 4 0 1 0 0 14 14.3 CGY C 23 *Wilm, Clarke 19 1 2 3 1 15 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 CGY D 27 Simpson, Todd 19 1 2 3 1 48 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 CGY D 55 Smith, Steve 18 0 3 3 -2 26 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CGY C 15 *St. Louis, Martin M 8 1 1 2 -2 6 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 CGY D 32 Hulse, Cale 19 1 1 2 -3 48 0 0 0 0 21 4.8 CGY D 5 Albelin, Tommy 15 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CGY C 44 *Fata, Rico 17 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CGY D 4 *Helenius, Sami 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY D 38 Charron, Eric M 3 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY R 33 Pankewicz, Greg 10 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 CGY R 42 Ward, Ed 17 0 0 0 0 21 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 CAR C 55 Primeau, Keith 21 8 9 17 0 25 3 0 2 0 48 16.7 CAR L 10 Roberts, Gary 21 4 13 17 2 42 0 0 1 0 29 13.8 CAR R 26 Sheppard, Ray 21 9 7 16 3 2 2 0 1 0 60 15.0 CAR R 24 Kapanen, Sami 20 6 7 13 1 2 1 0 3 0 53 11.3 CAR R 19 Emerson, Nelson 21 5 6 11 2 28 1 0 0 0 56 8.9 CAR C 92 O'Neill, Jeff 21 4 6 10 2 10 1 0 0 0 38 10.5 CAR D 3 Chiasson, Steve 18 1 8 9 4 12 1 0 0 0 54 1.9 CAR C 21 Francis, Ron 21 4 4 8 -7 8 0 0 0 0 24 16.7 CAR L 18 Kron, Robert 20 3 4 7 -2 2 2 0 0 0 35 8.6 CAR C 44 Manderville, Kent 20 2 4 6 3 10 0 0 0 0 19 10.5 CAR L 23 Gelinas, Martin 19 3 1 4 -3 6 0 0 1 0 31 9.7 CAR R 11 Dineen, Kevin 17 2 2 4 1 36 0 0 0 0 19 10.5 CAR D 7 Leschyshyn, Curtis 20 1 3 4 -1 32 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 CAR L 28 Ranheim, Paul 17 1 2 3 -1 4 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 CAR D 2 Wesley, Glen 21 0 3 3 2 6 0 0 0 0 27 0.0 CAR L 13 Battaglia, Bates 13 0 2 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CAR D 33 Karpa, David 21 0 2 2 1 32 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 CAR D 4 Pratt, Nolan 8 0 1 1 -2 24 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 CAR D 6 Burt, Adam 16 0 1 1 4 10 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CAR D 22 Hill, Sean 20 0 1 1 -1 12 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 CAR D 46 *Rucinski, Mike 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI R 10 Amonte, Tony 20 13 5 18 -10 20 5 1 2 0 73 17.8 CHI C 93 Gilmour, Doug 20 2 12 14 -8 10 1 0 0 0 30 6.7 CHI C 36 Zhamnov, Alex 19 2 10 12 -7 4 1 0 0 0 54 3.7 CHI L 55 Daze, Eric 17 6 4 10 -8 14 4 0 1 2 48 12.5 CHI L 14 *Maneluk, Mike 16 2 6 8 4 8 0 0 0 0 27 7.4 CHI D 7 Chelios, Chris R 15 2 5 7 2 38 1 0 0 1 38 5.3 CHI L 19 Moreau, Ethan 20 3 3 6 -6 40 0 0 1 0 29 10.3 CHI C 15 Kilger, Chad 20 3 2 5 -8 16 1 0 1 0 23 13.0 CHI D 4 Zmolek, Doug 17 0 5 5 0 32 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CHI L 25 *Cleary, Dan 20 2 2 4 -3 22 0 0 0 0 32 6.3 CHI C 26 *White, Todd M 8 1 3 4 0 6 1 0 0 0 8 12.5 CHI L 24 Probert, Bob 19 1 2 3 -5 80 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 CHI D 3 Laflamme, Christian 19 1 1 2 -5 20 0 0 0 0 19 5.3 CHI D 22 Manson, Dave 14 0 2 2 -4 48 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 CHI C 20 Janssens, Mark 16 1 0 1 -4 24 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 CHI D 77 Coffey, Paul 4 0 1 1 -3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 CHI R 22 *Mills, Craig M 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI R 16 Olczyk, Ed R 4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 CHI R 17 *Dumont, J.P. 5 0 0 0 -2 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CHI D 37 *Muir, Bryan 6 0 0 0 -3 2 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 CHI D 2 *Brown, Brad 8 0 0 0 -2 41 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI R 44 *Bonvie, Dennis 8 0 0 0 -3 39 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CHI R 27 *Jones, Ty M 8 0 0 0 -1 12 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI D 38 Allison, Jamie 9 0 0 0 -5 20 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI L 33 Simpson, Reid 10 0 0 0 -1 45 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CHI D 5 Yawney, Trent 12 0 0 0 -5 25 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CHI D 6 *Royer, Remi 16 0 0 0 -9 67 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 COL C 21 Forsberg, Peter 19 6 20 26 5 26 1 0 0 0 62 9.7 COL C 19 Sakic, Joe 19 9 14 23 -4 8 1 4 2 0 73 12.3 COL L 13 Kamensky, Valeri 17 6 8 14 -1 8 2 0 0 0 39 15.4 COL C 18 Deadmarsh, Adam 14 7 5 12 0 41 3 0 2 0 32 21.9 COL R 23 *Hejduk, Milan 19 3 9 12 -7 8 1 0 1 0 40 7.5 COL C 37 *Drury, Chris 16 4 5 9 1 18 2 0 0 0 32 12.5 COL R 22 Lemieux, Claude 19 6 2 8 0 22 3 0 2 1 71 8.5 COL D 5 Gusarov, Alexei R 17 1 7 8 3 10 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 COL L 20 Corbet, Rene 18 2 5 7 -1 28 1 0 1 0 31 6.5 COL C 26 Yelle, Stephane 19 2 1 3 -4 14 0 0 0 0 31 6.5 COL D 3 Miller, Aaron 17 1 2 3 -8 20 1 0 0 0 20 5.0 COL L 25 Podein, Shjon 19 1 2 3 -1 8 0 0 0 0 32 3.1 COL R 12 Donovan, Shean 14 1 1 2 0 13 1 0 0 0 19 5.3 COL D 2 Lefebvre, Sylvain R 13 0 2 2 -7 12 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 COL D 24 Klemm, Jon R 16 0 2 2 5 19 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 COL R 36 Odgers, Jeff 19 1 0 1 -4 72 1 0 0 0 8 12.5 COL D 52 Foote, Adam R 6 0 1 1 -3 17 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 COL D 15 Crowley, Ted 7 0 1 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 COL D 4 Russell, Cam 13 0 1 1 2 14 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 COL D 29 Messier, Eric R 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL D 59 *White, Brian 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL D 6 *Belak, Wade R 6 0 0 0 -1 19 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 32 Buchanan, Jeff 6 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 43 *Smith, Dan 7 0 0 0 4 7 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 COL L 16 Rychel, Warren 9 0 0 0 0 27 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 COL D 7 de Vries, Greg 19 0 0 0 -8 32 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 DAL C 9 Modano, Mike 16 5 11 16 8 10 1 0 2 1 47 10.6 DAL R 22 Hull, Brett 15 6 9 15 5 10 2 0 2 0 62 9.7 DAL D 5 Sydor, Darryl 16 6 9 15 -3 8 4 0 1 0 52 11.5 DAL C 25 Nieuwendyk, Joe 11 5 4 9 -3 2 3 0 1 0 22 22.7 DAL R 15 Langenbrunner, Jamie 16 3 6 9 -4 20 3 0 0 0 28 10.7 DAL R 26 Lehtinen, Jere R 14 5 3 8 7 4 2 1 0 0 36 13.9 DAL R 16 Verbeek, Pat 16 4 4 8 -1 20 4 0 1 0 24 16.7 DAL D 56 Zubov, Sergei 16 1 7 8 -2 4 1 0 0 0 36 2.8 DAL R 29 Marshall, Grant 16 3 3 6 2 17 0 0 1 0 8 37.5 DAL D 2 Hatcher, Derian 16 2 3 5 5 20 1 0 1 0 17 11.8 DAL D 24 Matvichuk, Richard 16 2 2 4 6 10 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 DAL C 21 Carbonneau, Guy 15 0 4 4 -3 2 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 DAL D 4 *Gusev, Sergey 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 20.0 DAL C 41 Hrkac, Tony 11 1 1 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 DAL L 17 Severyn, Brent 8 0 1 1 1 19 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 DAL R 12 Keane, Mike 16 0 1 1 -4 25 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 DAL D 27 Chambers, Shawn 16 0 1 1 -4 12 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 DAL L 28 *Botterill, Jason M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 DAL C 23 Gavey, Aaron M 2 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 DAL D 6 Keczmer, Dan 5 0 0 0 -2 10 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 DAL L 46 *Wright, Jamie M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 DAL C 10 Skrudland, Brian 9 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 DAL L 14 Reid, Dave 14 0 0 0 -4 4 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 DAL D 3 Ludwig, Craig 16 0 0 0 -3 34 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 DET C 19 Yzerman, Steve 18 9 13 22 8 10 3 0 1 0 60 15.0 DET L 14 Shanahan, Brendan 18 10 8 18 6 26 1 0 2 0 80 12.5 DET R 25 McCarty, Darren 18 6 11 17 7 34 3 0 1 0 32 18.8 DET D 55 Murphy, Larry 18 2 13 15 5 28 1 0 0 0 35 5.7 DET C 91 Fedorov, Sergei 18 5 6 11 -3 4 1 0 0 0 45 11.1 DET D 5 Lidstrom, Nicklas 18 2 9 11 5 2 1 0 0 0 33 6.1 DET L 96 Holmstrom, Tomas 18 4 6 10 -1 16 3 0 2 0 29 13.8 DET C 8 Larionov, Igor 18 1 7 8 1 12 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 DET R 20 Lapointe, Martin 18 4 3 7 1 27 1 0 0 0 39 10.3 DET R 17 Brown, Doug 18 4 2 6 3 6 2 0 1 0 50 8.0 DET R 26 Kocur, Joe 16 2 4 6 0 30 0 0 0 0 9 22.2 DET R 18 Maltby, Kirk 15 2 3 5 -2 10 0 0 0 0 14 14.3 DET L 13 Kozlov, Vyacheslav 18 2 3 5 -3 2 1 0 1 0 45 4.4 DET D 44 Eriksson, Anders 18 1 3 4 0 12 0 0 1 0 17 5.9 DET D 4 Krupp, Uwe 10 1 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 DET C 33 Draper, Kris 18 1 2 3 -4 18 0 0 1 0 22 4.5 DET D 34 Macoun, Jamie 17 0 3 3 3 12 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 DET D 27 Ward, Aaron 15 1 1 2 -2 27 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 DET C 23 *Roest, Stacy 3 0 2 2 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 DET D 11 Dandenault, Mathieu 14 0 1 1 2 10 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 EDM R 9 Guerin, Bill 19 12 7 19 10 43 8 0 1 0 61 19.7 EDM D 2 Mironov, Boris 16 4 13 17 12 36 1 0 2 0 42 9.5 EDM R 51 Kovalenko, Andrei 18 8 8 16 9 14 1 0 2 1 35 22.9 EDM L 20 Beranek, Josef 17 6 10 16 8 6 3 0 1 0 31 19.4 EDM D 22 Hamrlik, Roman 19 2 9 11 0 24 0 0 0 0 37 5.4 EDM R 25 Grier, Mike 19 3 7 10 0 11 0 0 0 0 34 8.8 EDM L 17 Murray, Rem 15 5 4 9 0 8 0 0 1 0 25 20.0 EDM R 10 Falloon, Pat 19 5 3 8 2 4 3 0 0 0 27 18.5 EDM D 44 Niinimaa, Janne 18 0 7 7 9 24 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 EDM R 42 Brown, Kevin 12 4 2 6 -2 0 2 0 0 0 13 30.8 EDM C 19 Devereaux, Boyd 19 3 3 6 1 10 0 1 2 0 15 20.0 EDM C 26 Marchant, Todd 19 3 2 5 -1 10 1 0 0 0 38 7.9 EDM R 16 Buchberger, Kelly 19 2 3 5 0 20 0 1 1 0 13 15.4 EDM C 39 Weight, Doug R 4 0 5 5 -2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 EDM C 14 Lindgren, Mats 11 1 3 4 2 10 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 EDM L 37 McAmmond, Dean 17 0 4 4 1 16 0 0 0 0 35 0.0 EDM L 94 Smyth, Ryan 16 1 2 3 -5 14 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 EDM D 32 *Millar, Craig 18 0 2 2 -2 15 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 EDM D 5 *Poti, Tom 14 1 0 1 -1 14 1 0 0 0 15 6.7 EDM D 33 McSorley, Marty R 7 0 1 1 1 21 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 EDM D 8 Musil, Frank 9 0 1 1 -1 4 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 EDM D 23 *Brown, Sean 13 0 1 1 1 68 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 EDM R 7 *Lindquist, Fredrik M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 EDM C 21 Lacroix, Daniel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 EDM L 28 Huard, Bill 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA L 14 Whitney, Ray 17 5 8 13 -2 4 2 0 1 0 29 17.2 FLA C 21 *Parrish, Mark 18 9 3 12 0 4 3 0 2 0 40 22.5 FLA C 44 Niedermayer, Rob 18 5 6 11 -4 20 3 0 1 1 36 13.9 FLA C 15 Gagner, Dave 18 3 8 11 0 22 1 0 0 1 24 12.5 FLA L 25 Kozlov, Viktor 12 3 5 8 4 2 0 0 0 0 42 7.1 FLA D 55 Jovanovski, Ed 18 2 6 8 -5 42 0 0 1 0 36 5.6 FLA R 16 *Kvasha, Oleg 17 3 4 7 3 2 0 0 0 1 41 7.3 FLA R 27 Mellanby, Scott 9 2 4 6 -2 13 0 0 0 0 18 11.1 FLA D 24 Svehla, Robert 17 2 4 6 -5 20 0 0 0 1 32 6.3 FLA L 11 Lindsay, Bill 18 2 4 6 -7 31 0 0 1 0 33 6.1 FLA R 19 Dvorak, Radek 18 2 3 5 -7 8 0 1 0 0 39 5.1 FLA D 5 Murphy, Gord 18 0 5 5 3 4 0 0 0 0 29 0.0 FLA D 8 *Spacek, Jaroslav 18 2 0 2 0 8 2 0 0 0 24 8.3 FLA C 9 Muller, Kirk 18 1 1 2 -8 22 0 0 0 0 28 3.6 FLA D 2 Carkner, Terry 10 0 2 2 -1 19 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 FLA L 29 Garpenlov, Johan 17 0 2 2 -4 10 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 FLA D 3 Laus, Paul 18 0 2 2 0 66 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 FLA R 22 Ciccarelli, Dino R 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 33.3 FLA R 26 Nemirovsky, David M 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 FLA L 18 Hicks, Alex 8 0 1 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 FLA D 7 Warrener, Rhett R 9 0 1 1 -4 17 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 FLA L 28 *Worrell, Peter 14 0 1 1 1 63 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 FLA C 17 Washburn, Steve R 3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA L 12 *Hay, Dwayne 9 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 LAK L 20 Robitaille, Luc 21 10 9 19 1 10 1 0 2 0 83 12.0 LAK R 27 Murray, Glen 21 9 6 15 -6 10 2 2 0 0 69 13.0 LAK C 44 Perreault, Yanic 21 4 8 12 -2 10 1 2 0 0 55 7.3 LAK L 9 Tsyplakov, Vladimir 21 5 6 11 -4 12 0 1 1 0 30 16.7 LAK C 11 Convery, Brandon 13 2 7 9 5 12 0 0 1 0 13 15.4 LAK C 12 *Jokinen, Olli 9 4 4 8 6 4 2 0 0 0 17 23.5 LAK D 28 Duchesne, Steve 20 1 7 8 1 12 1 0 0 0 31 3.2 LAK D 4 Blake, Rob R 12 2 5 7 -1 14 0 1 0 0 38 5.3 LAK C 26 Ferraro, Ray 13 2 2 4 -4 27 1 0 0 0 14 14.3 LAK C 24 LaFayette, Nathan 17 2 2 4 1 18 0 1 1 0 24 8.3 LAK L 21 *Green, Josh 17 1 3 4 -5 6 1 0 0 0 25 4.0 LAK D 14 Norstrom, Mattias 21 1 3 4 1 10 0 1 0 0 19 5.3 LAK L 23 Johnson, Craig 17 2 1 3 -4 10 0 0 1 0 31 6.5 LAK D 48 *Visheau, Mark 5 1 2 3 -2 17 0 0 0 0 2 50.0 LAK C 15 Stumpel, Jozef 8 1 2 3 -5 0 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 LAK R 45 Moger, Sandy 14 1 2 3 -4 12 0 0 1 0 13 7.7 LAK R 19 Courtnall, Russ R 19 1 2 3 -3 6 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 LAK D 8 Bodger, Doug R 11 0 3 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 LAK D 6 O'Donnell, Sean 21 0 3 3 0 46 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 LAK D 3 Galley, Garry 13 0 2 2 -6 8 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 LAK D 43 Boucher, Philippe 20 0 2 2 -8 14 0 0 0 0 37 0.0 LAK C 22 Laperriere, Ian 12 1 0 1 -3 20 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 LAK L 17 Johnson, Matt 16 1 0 1 -2 49 0 0 0 0 1 100.0 LAK R 42 Bylsma, Dan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 LAK D 54 *Nemecek, Jan M 4 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 LAK D 7 McKenna, Steve R 10 0 0 0 1 12 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 LAK L 29 Lacroix, Eric 17 0 0 0 -6 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 MTL R 8 Recchi, Mark 19 5 15 20 -3 6 3 0 1 0 46 10.9 MTL C 25 Damphousse, Vincent 19 6 10 16 -2 22 3 1 1 0 54 11.1 MTL L 17 Brunet, Benoit 19 4 7 11 2 20 1 2 0 0 42 9.5 MTL L 49 Savage, Brian 13 5 3 8 -3 8 1 0 2 1 29 17.2 MTL D 38 Malakhov, Vladimir 17 5 3 8 1 41 3 0 1 0 38 13.2 MTL L 26 Rucinsky, Martin 13 4 3 7 -4 16 2 0 0 0 40 10.0 MTL L 27 Corson, Shayne 12 3 4 7 -3 12 2 0 1 0 22 13.6 MTL R 23 Stevenson, Turner 17 1 6 7 0 27 0 0 0 0 27 3.7 MTL D 22 Weinrich, Eric 17 1 5 6 -15 19 0 0 0 0 28 3.6 MTL D 5 Quintal, Stephane 19 0 6 6 1 23 0 0 0 0 27 0.0 MTL L 37 Poulin, Patrick 18 1 4 5 -2 11 0 0 0 0 19 5.3 MTL C 11 Koivu, Saku R 7 2 2 4 -1 0 0 1 0 0 11 18.2 MTL D 43 Brisebois, Patrice 13 1 3 4 -10 8 1 0 0 0 27 3.7 MTL L 24 Thornton, Scott R 7 2 0 2 2 28 0 0 0 1 10 20.0 MTL C 15 Houde, Eric 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 2 50.0 MTL D 52 Rivet, Craig 14 1 1 2 -2 26 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 MTL L 44 Hoglund, Jonas 15 1 1 2 -2 4 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 MTL D 55 Ulanov, Igor 17 1 1 2 -1 31 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 MTL D 29 Clark, Brett 18 1 1 2 1 10 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 MTL C 34 Zholtok, Sergei 16 0 2 2 -10 2 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 MTL L 46 *Higgins, Matt 15 1 0 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 MTL R 42 *Delisle, Jonathan M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL L 35 Bashkirov, Andrei 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL L 14 *Ryan, Terry M 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL D 48 *Guren, Miroslav M 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 MTL L 36 Morissette, Dave 7 0 0 0 1 35 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL D 56 *Nasreddine, Alain 8 0 0 0 -2 21 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL C 6 McCleary, Trent 17 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 NSH R 25 Krivokrasov, Sergei 18 9 7 16 6 16 3 0 2 0 54 16.7 NSH C 22 Johnson, Greg 18 2 13 15 4 2 0 0 0 0 35 5.7 NSH C 7 Ronning, Cliff 16 5 9 14 6 12 3 0 2 0 45 11.1 NSH L 19 Brunette, Andrew 18 5 6 11 2 16 2 0 1 0 26 19.2 NSH L 16 Peltonen, Ville 8 4 4 8 2 2 0 0 0 0 16 25.0 NSH C 24 Walker, Scott 17 2 6 8 4 33 0 1 0 0 19 10.5 NSH D 20 Heward, Jamie 15 2 5 7 -8 14 1 0 0 0 38 5.3 NSH L 10 Kjellberg, Patrick 16 3 3 6 -3 12 1 0 1 0 13 23.1 NSH R 21 Fitzgerald, Tom 18 3 3 6 -9 8 0 0 0 0 40 7.5 NSH D 5 Vopat, Jan 10 3 1 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 15 20.0 NSH C 9 Turcotte, Darren 16 2 2 4 -3 4 0 0 1 0 31 6.5 NSH L 32 Daniels, Jeff M 6 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 NSH R 23 Atcheynum, Blair R 12 1 3 4 0 10 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 NSH C 71 Bordeleau, Sebastien 16 1 3 4 -4 2 0 0 0 0 25 4.0 NSH C 7 Nelson, Jeff M 9 2 1 3 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 25.0 NSH L 28 Lambert, Denny 14 1 2 3 -1 51 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 NSH D 15 Berehowsky, Drake 13 0 3 3 1 41 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 NSH D 36 Daigneault, J.J. 14 1 1 2 0 16 1 0 1 0 12 8.3 NSH D 42 Bouchard, Joel R 8 0 2 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 NSH D 4 More, Jay 13 0 2 2 4 14 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 NSH D 27 Slaney, John 14 0 1 1 -2 6 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 NSH D 6 Boughner, Bob 17 0 1 1 -1 40 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 NSH R 43 Yachmenev, Vitali 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NSH L 8 Friedman, Doug M 1 0 0 0 -1 14 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NSH R 12 Smyth, Brad M 3 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NSH L 17 *Cote, Patrick 14 0 0 0 -1 67 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NJD C 16 Holik, Bobby 16 3 8 11 2 16 0 0 0 0 41 7.3 NJD L 23 Andreychuk, Dave 11 5 5 10 -2 4 3 0 2 0 24 20.8 NJD L 14 Rolston, Brian 18 2 8 10 -2 4 0 1 0 0 43 4.7 NJD L 20 Pandolfo, Jay 18 5 4 9 0 6 0 0 3 0 27 18.5 NJD C 17 Sykora, Petr 18 5 3 8 3 4 2 0 0 0 41 12.2 NJD D 27 Niedermayer, Scott 9 2 6 8 3 4 0 1 0 0 19 10.5 NJD R 21 McKay, Randy 14 5 2 7 5 41 0 0 3 0 31 16.1 NJD C 25 Arnott, Jason 17 3 4 7 0 9 1 0 0 0 42 7.1 NJD C 9 *Morrison, Brendan 15 2 5 7 -4 0 2 0 0 0 20 10.0 NJD D 4 Stevens, Scott 18 2 5 7 4 24 0 0 1 0 32 6.3 NJD C 10 Pederson, Denis 18 3 3 6 1 19 0 0 0 0 46 6.5 NJD L 26 Elias, Patrik 17 2 4 6 2 16 0 0 1 0 29 6.9 NJD C 18 Brylin, Sergei 9 2 2 4 1 6 2 0 0 0 11 18.2 NJD D 24 Odelein, Lyle 17 0 4 4 0 36 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 NJD D 28 Dean, Kevin 18 0 4 4 1 10 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 NJD R 8 *Sharifijanov, Vadim 8 1 2 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 NJD D 3 Daneyko, Ken 18 1 2 3 2 19 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 NJD D 6 Bombardir, Brad 13 0 3 3 -3 4 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 NJD C 19 Carpenter, Bob 15 0 2 2 -3 6 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 NJD L 29 Oliwa, Krzysztof 16 1 0 1 -2 57 0 0 1 0 16 6.3 NJD L 22 Daniels, Scott M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NJD L 32 Lakovic, Sasha 5 0 0 0 -1 33 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 NJD D 2 Souray, Sheldon 14 0 0 0 -3 19 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 NYI C 21 Reichel, Robert 20 5 14 19 -4 14 1 0 1 0 40 12.5 NYI C 32 Linden, Trevor 20 9 4 13 2 8 4 0 1 0 48 18.8 NYI C 13 Lapointe, Claude 20 6 7 13 2 12 1 1 1 0 41 14.6 NYI C 20 Smolinski, Bryan 20 5 8 13 2 12 3 0 1 0 63 7.9 NYI D 29 Jonsson, Kenny 18 4 5 9 1 10 3 0 0 0 15 26.7 NYI R 12 *Watt, Mike 19 3 6 9 2 2 0 0 0 0 19 15.8 NYI D 34 Berard, Bryan 20 2 7 9 1 14 1 0 1 0 48 4.2 NYI R 25 Czerkawski, Mariusz 19 5 3 8 1 4 2 0 0 0 41 12.2 NYI L 15 Donato, Ted 21 1 7 8 1 8 0 0 0 0 29 3.4 NYI L 24 Odjick, Gino 18 4 3 7 -1 113 1 0 2 0 26 15.4 NYI R 10 Dawe, Jason 18 2 3 5 1 8 0 0 0 0 25 8.0 NYI D 38 Richter, Barry 14 1 4 5 -5 2 0 0 1 0 16 6.3 NYI D 7 Lachance, Scott 19 0 5 5 -1 12 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 NYI D 6 Harlock, David 19 1 3 4 -1 22 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 NYI D 4 *Brewer, Eric 14 1 2 3 -2 2 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 NYI R 11 Miller, Kevin 17 1 2 3 -4 6 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 NYI C 17 Nemchinov, Sergei 20 2 0 2 -7 6 1 0 0 0 17 11.8 NYI D 2 Pilon, Rich 16 0 2 2 1 27 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 NYI R 14 Sacco, Joe 16 1 0 1 -6 4 0 0 1 0 27 3.7 NYI R 44 Lawrence, Mark M 6 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 NYI L 18 Hough, Mike 9 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 NYR C 99 Gretzky, Wayne 19 2 15 17 -6 4 1 0 0 1 42 4.8 NYR D 2 Leetch, Brian 19 2 12 14 -1 14 1 0 0 0 46 4.3 NYR R 20 Harvey, Todd 16 6 7 13 4 28 3 0 1 1 29 20.7 NYR L 9 Graves, Adam 19 6 3 9 -1 29 2 0 0 0 39 15.4 NYR L 17 Stevens, Kevin 18 5 4 9 3 18 1 0 1 0 28 17.9 NYR R 15 MacLean, John 19 7 1 8 1 10 2 0 0 0 51 13.7 NYR R 24 Sundstrom, Niklas 19 4 4 8 -9 10 1 0 0 0 20 20.0 NYR D 25 Schneider, Mathieu 16 1 7 8 -3 4 1 0 1 0 36 2.8 NYR R 27 Kovalev, Alexei 14 3 4 7 -6 12 1 0 1 0 35 8.6 NYR C 33 Savard, Marc 7 2 5 7 5 2 2 0 0 0 14 14.3 NYR C 6 *Malhotra, Manny 13 4 1 5 -2 2 0 0 1 0 14 28.6 NYR R 22 Knuble, Mike 19 1 3 4 -5 6 0 0 0 0 25 4.0 NYR D 23 Beukeboom, Jeff 18 0 3 3 -1 35 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NYR D 5 Samuelsson, Ulf 18 2 0 2 1 22 0 0 0 0 12 16.7 NYR C 21 Fraser, Scott 14 0 2 2 -3 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 NYR D 34 Popovic, Peter 17 0 2 2 -3 10 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 NYR L 10 Tikkanen, Esa 17 0 2 2 0 20 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 NYR D 8 Mertzig, Jan 18 0 2 2 -2 6 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 NYR D 26 Finley, Jeff M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR D 14 Smith, Geoff 4 0 0 0 -5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR C 32 York, Harry 5 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NYR C 28 Stock, P.J. 5 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR L 37 Fedyk, Brent R 9 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYR L 19 Langdon, Darren 13 0 0 0 -4 31 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 OTW C 19 Yashin, Alexei 17 5 11 16 3 10 2 0 0 0 77 6.5 OTW L 15 McEachern, Shawn 17 6 7 13 -3 10 1 0 1 0 47 12.8 OTW C 13 Prospal, Vaclav 17 3 9 12 0 4 1 0 0 0 25 12.0 OTW L 21 Johansson, Andreas 17 7 3 10 2 14 3 0 2 0 48 14.6 OTW D 6 Redden, Wade 17 2 8 10 8 8 0 0 1 0 24 8.3 OTW C 20 Arvedson, Magnus 15 3 6 9 3 14 0 1 1 0 25 12.0 OTW D 29 Kravchuk, Igor 17 1 8 9 -1 8 1 0 0 0 40 2.5 OTW C 14 Bonk, Radek 16 5 2 7 0 10 0 0 2 0 17 29.4 OTW R 12 Oliver, David 17 2 5 7 1 4 0 0 0 0 18 11.1 OTW R 10 Dackell, Andreas 13 4 2 6 -1 2 2 0 0 0 20 20.0 OTW D 33 York, Jason 14 2 4 6 2 8 1 0 0 0 25 8.0 OTW C 25 Gardiner, Bruce 11 2 3 5 3 15 0 0 1 0 12 16.7 OTW D 4 Phillips, Chris 15 3 1 4 -7 20 2 0 0 0 22 13.6 OTW R 17 Murray, Chris 15 1 3 4 -2 33 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 OTW C 22 Van Allen, Shaun 17 2 1 3 -1 6 0 1 0 0 13 15.4 OTW C 16 Martins, Steve 10 2 0 2 1 4 0 0 0 0 12 16.7 OTW D 24 Neckar, Stanislav R 3 0 2 2 -1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 OTW R 28 Leach, Steve M 9 0 2 2 -1 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 OTW D 3 *Traverse, Patrick 10 0 2 2 -3 2 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 OTW D 2 Pitlick, Lance 17 1 0 1 2 19 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 OTW L 26 Crowe, Phil 8 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 OTW L 37 Sarault, Yves R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 OTW D 23 Bicanek, Radim 4 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 OTW R 11 Alfredsson, Daniel R 4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 OTW D 5 *Salo, Sami 5 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 PHI C 88 Lindros, Eric 19 11 14 25 14 26 1 1 0 1 70 15.7 PHI L 10 LeClair, John 19 12 9 21 12 6 4 0 2 1 64 18.8 PHI C 17 Brind'Amour, Rod 19 8 12 20 2 6 5 0 1 1 41 19.5 PHI D 3 McGillis, Dan 19 1 10 11 7 10 1 0 0 0 40 2.5 PHI D 37 Desjardins, Eric 15 2 8 10 2 10 2 0 0 0 35 5.7 PHI L 20 Jones, Keith 16 5 4 9 0 26 1 0 2 0 21 23.8 PHI L 12 Forbes, Colin 18 4 2 6 1 14 0 0 2 0 23 17.4 PHI D 6 Therien, Chris 16 1 3 4 0 6 1 0 0 0 26 3.8 PHI C 77 Gratton, Chris 19 0 4 4 -5 32 0 0 0 0 33 0.0 PHI C 19 Daigle, Alexandre 14 2 1 3 -3 2 1 0 1 0 18 11.1 PHI D 23 Svoboda, Petr 16 2 1 3 4 22 0 0 1 0 16 12.5 PHI L 26 Zelepukin, Valeri 11 1 2 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 PHI D 5 *Tertyshny, Dimitri 15 0 3 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 PHI C 28 Bureau, Marc 15 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 PHI R 8 Hull, Jody 16 0 2 2 1 6 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 PHI C 11 Sillinger, Mike 18 0 2 2 -8 8 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 PHI D 43 *Delmore, Andy M 2 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PHI D 32 *Bast, Ryan M 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI R 9 Zubrus, Dainius 19 0 1 1 -3 16 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 PHI D 22 Richardson, Luke 19 0 1 1 0 27 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 PHI L 21 Kordic, Dan M 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHI L 40 Zent, Jason M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI C 24 Vopat, Roman 9 0 0 0 -4 15 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PHI D 44 Babych, Dave 10 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 PHO C 97 Roenick, Jeremy 15 5 14 19 10 18 1 0 1 0 29 17.2 PHO L 7 Tkachuk, Keith 15 10 7 17 13 12 1 0 3 1 43 23.3 PHO R 22 Tocchet, Rick 15 7 8 15 9 29 1 1 1 0 34 20.6 PHO R 11 Drake, Dallas 12 3 5 8 9 8 0 0 1 0 24 12.5 PHO D 20 Lumme, Jyrki 15 2 6 8 9 10 0 0 1 0 36 5.6 PHO D 10 Tverdovsky, Oleg 15 4 3 7 10 4 2 0 1 0 25 16.0 PHO D 27 Numminen, Teppo 15 2 5 7 6 4 0 0 0 0 25 8.0 PHO C 36 Ylonen, Juha 15 0 7 7 7 4 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 PHO C 21 Corkum, Bob 15 1 3 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 27 3.7 PHO C 8 *Briere, Daniel 11 1 2 3 2 6 0 0 1 0 16 6.3 PHO L 17 Adams, Greg 15 1 2 3 -2 4 0 0 0 0 32 3.1 PHO R 16 Isbister, Brad 7 2 0 2 2 5 0 0 1 0 9 22.2 PHO C 14 Stapleton, Mike 14 1 1 2 2 4 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 PHO D 3 Carney, Keith 15 0 2 2 8 12 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 PHO R 15 Cummins, Jim 10 1 0 1 2 21 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PHO L 26 Sullivan, Mike 15 1 0 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 PHO D 4 Diduck, Gerald 15 0 1 1 6 32 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 PHO L 29 DeBrusk, Louie 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHO D 2 Helmer, Bryan 6 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 PHO D 5 Quint, Deron 6 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PHO R 19 Doan, Shane 15 0 0 0 -4 26 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 PIT R 68 Jagr, Jaromir 18 5 20 25 8 22 4 0 0 0 67 7.5 PIT C 82 Straka, Martin 18 9 11 20 9 8 1 1 1 0 42 21.4 PIT C 14 Barnes, Stu 18 9 5 14 2 4 5 0 2 0 54 16.7 PIT C 20 Lang, Robert 18 7 6 13 -3 2 1 0 1 0 36 19.4 PIT L 9 Titov, German 17 3 9 12 2 6 2 0 1 0 24 12.5 PIT D 4 Hatcher, Kevin 18 2 10 12 6 10 1 0 0 0 40 5.0 PIT D 5 Werenka, Brad 18 3 8 11 10 19 1 0 3 0 20 15.0 PIT R 44 Brown, Rob 18 4 3 7 2 8 2 0 0 0 24 16.7 PIT C 38 *Hrdina, Jan 18 2 5 7 -4 8 1 0 1 0 16 12.5 PIT D 48 Serowik, Jeff 18 0 6 6 0 8 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 PIT R 95 Morozov, Aleksey 15 3 2 5 -1 0 0 0 0 0 23 13.0 PIT D 47 *Galanov, Maxim 12 3 0 3 2 4 2 0 0 1 14 21.4 PIT C 37 Miller, Kip 15 1 2 3 -2 8 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 PIT D 8 Dollas, Bobby 18 1 1 2 -3 40 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PIT L 18 Lebeau, Patrick R 8 1 0 1 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PIT D 11 Kasparaitis, Darius 9 0 1 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 PIT D 46 Ignatjev, Victor 11 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 PIT R 28 Kesa, Dan 14 0 1 1 -2 19 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PIT L 45 *Sonnenberg, Martin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PIT C 12 Pronger, Sean 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 PIT D 6 Wilkinson, Neil R 3 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PIT D 71 Slegr, Jiri R 6 0 0 0 -2 20 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 PIT D 24 Moran, Ian R 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PIT C 29 Wright, Tyler 11 0 0 0 -1 9 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PIT D 2 Tamer, Chris 11 0 0 0 -2 32 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 SJS L 39 Friesen, Jeff 15 7 7 14 0 8 3 0 0 0 51 13.7 SJS C 19 Sturm, Marco 17 4 5 9 2 22 1 1 0 1 26 15.4 SJS C 18 Ricci, Mike 17 3 5 8 -4 6 0 0 1 1 16 18.8 SJS L 21 Granato, Tony 16 4 3 7 3 12 0 1 1 0 34 11.8 SJS R 11 Nolan, Owen 15 1 6 7 -3 16 0 0 0 0 32 3.1 SJS C 14 Marleau, Patrick 17 4 2 6 0 2 1 0 1 0 24 16.7 SJS R 17 Murphy, Joe 13 3 3 6 -1 2 1 0 0 0 41 7.3 SJS D 3 Rouse, Bob 17 0 6 6 1 8 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 SJS L 37 Matteau, Stephane 14 0 5 5 3 17 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 SJS C 12 Sutter, Ron R 9 3 1 4 3 9 0 0 1 0 13 23.1 SJS D 40 Rathje, Mike 17 3 1 4 4 8 1 0 0 0 19 15.8 SJS D 2 Houlder, Bill 17 2 2 4 1 8 2 0 0 0 14 14.3 SJS R 22 Stern, Ronnie 15 1 3 4 1 25 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 SJS L 32 Craven, Murray 17 1 3 4 -2 8 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 SJS L 26 Lowry, Dave 11 2 1 3 1 6 0 0 0 1 8 25.0 SJS D 4 Zyuzin, Andrei M 12 2 0 2 2 10 2 0 0 0 23 8.7 SJS C 8 Skalde, Jarrod 5 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 10.0 SJS D 6 *Hannan, Scott M 5 0 2 2 0 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 SJS D 5 Norton, Jeff 7 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 SJS D 10 Ragnarsson, Marcus 9 0 2 2 0 12 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 SJS C 9 Nicholls, Bernie 10 0 2 2 -4 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 SJS D 27 Marchment, Bryan 17 0 2 2 -4 37 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 SJS C 13 Baker, Jamie M 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS D 20 Suter, Gary R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS L 7 Burr, Shawn 5 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 SJS D 42 *Sutton, Andy 6 0 0 0 -2 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 STL L 38 Demitra, Pavol 17 9 9 18 7 8 6 0 2 0 49 18.4 STL D 2 MacInnis, Al 17 8 9 17 12 16 5 0 2 2 67 11.9 STL C 77 Turgeon, Pierre 17 8 8 16 3 10 1 0 1 1 56 14.3 STL D 44 Pronger, Chris 17 2 11 13 5 24 1 0 0 0 41 4.9 STL L 14 Courtnall, Geoff 16 3 7 10 3 22 0 0 1 0 44 6.8 STL C 15 *Reasoner, Marty M 14 1 6 7 0 4 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 STL C 22 Conroy, Craig 17 1 6 7 2 4 0 0 0 0 33 3.0 STL L 34 Picard, Michel 11 3 3 6 -2 4 0 0 1 0 15 20.0 STL R 48 Young, Scott 15 2 4 6 4 4 0 0 0 0 41 4.9 STL C 32 Eastwood, Mike 17 2 3 5 3 10 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 STL C 10 Campbell, Jim 15 1 4 5 -6 8 0 0 0 0 27 3.7 STL L 33 Pellerin, Scott 17 3 1 4 -1 10 0 0 0 0 32 9.4 STL C 26 *Handzus, Michal 17 0 4 4 -5 14 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 STL L 18 Twist, Tony 14 2 1 3 -1 37 0 0 0 0 10 20.0 STL C 25 Rheaume, Pascal 8 1 2 3 2 16 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 STL R 39 Chase, Kelly 9 1 2 3 1 27 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 STL D 6 Rivers, Jamie 17 0 2 2 5 8 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 STL D 5 Gill, Todd 17 0 1 1 -7 10 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 STL D 20 Poeschek, Rudy 3 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 STL D 19 McAlpine, Chris 15 0 0 0 -6 16 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 STL D 4 Bergevin, Marc 16 0 0 0 -5 19 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 TBL L 17 Clark, Wendel 19 9 5 14 -3 10 4 0 0 0 55 16.4 TBL C 21 Janney, Craig 19 2 12 14 -3 6 0 0 0 1 19 10.5 TBL C 16 Tucker, Darcy 19 7 4 11 -7 46 1 2 1 0 41 17.1 TBL C 18 Langkow, Daymond 14 4 5 9 4 11 1 0 1 0 27 14.8 TBL R 20 Renberg, Mikael R 15 2 7 9 0 4 1 0 0 0 29 6.9 TBL D 4 Cross, Cory 19 2 7 9 -2 31 0 0 0 0 27 7.4 TBL R 29 Selivanov, Alexander 16 2 6 8 -4 6 0 0 0 0 43 4.7 TBL D 5 Cullimore, Jassen 16 3 1 4 -2 26 1 0 1 0 23 13.0 TBL C 8 *Lecavalier, Vincent 19 3 1 4 -12 2 2 0 0 0 27 11.1 TBL L 7 Zamuner, Rob R 11 1 3 4 2 4 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 TBL D 13 *Kubina, Pavel 17 1 3 4 -4 47 0 0 1 0 28 3.6 TBL D 23 Sykora, Michal M 10 1 2 3 -7 0 0 0 1 0 24 4.2 TBL R 34 Andersson, Mikael 17 1 2 3 -4 2 0 0 0 0 21 4.8 TBL L 33 Hogue, Benoit 15 0 3 3 -8 14 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 TBL R 10 McCarthy, Sandy 19 0 3 3 -8 62 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 TBL R 44 Richer, Stephane 6 1 1 2 -6 0 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 TBL C 11 Kelly, Steve 10 1 1 2 -8 10 0 0 1 0 6 16.7 TBL D 39 Ciccone, Enrico 11 1 1 2 -1 22 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 TBL D 6 Wilkie, David 9 0 2 2 0 17 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 TBL D 28 Samuelsson, Kjell R 9 1 0 1 -2 16 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 TBL R 62 Nazarov, Andrei 11 1 0 1 -1 22 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 TBL L 47 Peterson, Brent 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 TBL L 15 Ysebaert, Paul M 10 0 1 1 -5 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 TBL D 14 Dykhuis, Karl 19 0 1 1 -13 14 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 TBL D 46 Skopintsev, Andrei 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TBL C 12 Cullen, John M 4 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TBL D 2 McBain, Mike 4 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 TOR C 13 Sundin, Mats 20 8 12 20 6 16 3 0 2 0 74 10.8 TOR R 32 Thomas, Steve 20 7 8 15 4 10 1 0 2 0 65 10.8 TOR R 22 Korolev, Igor 20 5 10 15 9 20 0 0 1 0 26 19.2 TOR L 7 King, Derek 19 7 6 13 -1 2 2 0 0 0 39 17.9 TOR R 20 Johnson, Mike 20 7 5 12 1 6 1 1 1 0 48 14.6 TOR C 18 McCauley, Alyn 20 4 8 12 -1 0 0 0 1 0 40 10.0 TOR D 15 *Kaberle, Tomas 18 2 8 10 1 6 0 0 1 0 19 10.5 TOR R 94 Berezin, Sergei 14 5 4 9 5 4 1 0 0 0 46 10.9 TOR L 19 Modin, Fredrik 20 4 3 7 7 6 0 0 0 1 41 9.8 TOR C 11 Sullivan, Steve 12 2 5 7 1 6 0 0 1 0 27 7.4 TOR D 3 Cote, Sylvain 20 2 5 7 12 10 0 0 0 0 33 6.1 TOR D 36 Yushkevich, Dimitri 20 1 6 7 1 36 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 TOR L 10 Valk, Garry 20 2 3 5 2 8 1 0 0 0 30 6.7 TOR R 28 Domi, Tie 20 1 4 5 0 75 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 TOR D 52 Karpovtsev, Alexander 14 1 3 4 10 14 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 TOR D 25 Smith, Jason 20 0 4 4 -3 19 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 TOR L 12 King, Kris 20 2 1 3 -4 40 0 1 1 0 15 13.3 TOR D 55 *Markov, Daniil 16 1 1 2 -6 8 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 TOR D 2 Eakins, Dallas 5 0 1 1 3 11 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 TOR D 4 Dahl, Kevin R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 TOR L 8 Warriner, Todd 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TOR D 38 Tremblay, Yannick 8 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 TOR C 14 Hendrickson, Darby 11 0 0 0 -2 6 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 VAN C 11 Messier, Mark 19 9 11 20 4 17 4 2 2 0 34 26.5 VAN R 89 Mogilny, Alexander 19 4 13 17 4 28 0 2 0 1 30 13.3 VAN D 2 Ohlund, Mattias 19 4 10 14 3 16 1 0 1 0 40 10.0 VAN D 6 Aucoin, Adrian 19 7 6 13 7 20 4 1 0 0 43 16.3 VAN L 19 Naslund, Markus 17 7 5 12 -1 6 1 0 0 0 36 19.4 VAN R 17 *Muckalt, Bill 19 6 5 11 6 25 1 1 1 0 30 20.0 VAN C 22 Zezel, Peter 17 5 5 10 4 12 1 0 2 0 25 20.0 VAN L 9 May, Brad 14 1 7 8 0 10 1 0 0 0 20 5.0 VAN D 3 Hedican, Bret 18 1 7 8 9 18 0 1 0 0 19 5.3 VAN R 20 Scatchard, Dave 19 3 4 7 4 46 0 0 1 0 30 10.0 VAN C 44 Bertuzzi, Todd R 10 4 2 6 6 8 1 0 1 0 21 19.0 VAN D 4 McCabe, Bryan 6 3 2 5 1 17 0 1 0 0 8 37.5 VAN R 26 Klatt, Trent 18 1 3 4 5 2 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 VAN L 8 Brashear, Donald 19 1 2 3 -4 39 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 VAN L 15 *Schaefer, Peter 5 1 0 1 -2 2 1 0 0 0 3 33.3 VAN D 5 Murzyn, Dana 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 VAN C 14 *Holden, Josh 9 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 VAN D 7 Huscroft, Jamie 13 0 1 1 -2 42 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 VAN D 25 Staios, Steve 19 0 1 1 -1 43 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 VAN D 36 McAllister, Chris 4 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 VAN D 18 Robertsson, Bert M 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 VAN L 24 *Cooke, Matt M 7 0 0 0 -5 8 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 VAN D 34 Strudwick, Jason 15 0 0 0 -3 37 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 VAN D 23 Baron, Murray 18 0 0 0 4 31 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 WSH C 90 Juneau, Joe 18 6 7 13 -4 12 2 1 1 0 55 10.9 WSH C 77 Oates, Adam 18 5 7 12 -1 6 3 0 0 0 33 15.2 WSH D 15 Mironov, Dmitri 18 2 8 10 3 46 2 0 0 0 47 4.3 WSH R 12 Bondra, Peter 18 7 2 9 0 16 0 1 1 0 78 9.0 WSH L 23 Bellows, Brian 18 3 5 8 -2 8 1 0 1 0 54 5.6 WSH D 6 Johansson, Calle 18 1 6 7 1 8 0 0 0 1 40 2.5 WSH L 17 Simon, Chris 17 2 4 6 -4 38 0 0 0 0 22 9.1 WSH C 8 Bulis, Jan 5 2 2 4 4 0 0 0 1 0 7 28.6 WSH C 28 Black, James 12 2 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 16 12.5 WSH C 13 Nikolishin, Andrei 9 1 3 4 2 4 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 WSH D 2 Klee, Ken 17 1 3 4 -5 34 0 0 0 0 25 4.0 WSH D 24 Tinordi, Mark 18 0 4 4 -1 55 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 WSH L 44 Zednik, Richard 6 2 1 3 1 14 1 0 1 0 13 15.4 WSH D 19 Witt, Brendan 12 1 2 3 -3 15 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 WSH D 29 Reekie, Joe 9 0 3 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 WSH R 34 Svejkovsky, Jarolsav R 7 2 0 2 2 4 0 0 1 0 15 13.3 WSH L 27 Berube, Craig 18 2 0 2 -4 80 0 0 0 0 17 11.8 WSH C 36 Eagles, Mike 9 1 1 2 -3 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 WSH L 26 *Herr, Matt M 12 1 1 2 -2 6 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 WSH L 10 Miller, Kelly 13 0 2 2 -2 4 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 WSH L 9 Chorske, Tom 14 0 2 2 -2 6 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 WSH L 22 Konowalchuk, Steve 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 WSH D 4 Gonchar, Sergei 5 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 WSH L 18 Halverson, Trevor M 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 WSH D 39 Poapst, Steve 1 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 WSH D 38 *Baumgartner, Nolan M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 WSH D 3 Malgunas, Stewart M 7 0 0 0 -4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 WSH C 32 Hunter, Dale 18 0 0 0 -5 50 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goaltender Stats through November 22 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TM NO GOALTENDER GPI MINS AVG W L T EN SO GA SA SPCT G A PIM ANA 31 Hebert, Guy 17 1039 2.02 8 5 4 1 2 35 532 .934 0 0 0 ANA 30 Roussel, Dominic 2 117 2.56 0 2 0 1 0 5 58 .914 0 0 0 BOS 34 Dafoe, Byron 16 938 1.98 5 5 5 1 3 31 461 .933 0 0 17 BOS 35 Tallas, Rob 4 232 2.07 2 2 0 1 1 8 106 .925 0 0 0 BUF 30 Roloson, Dwayne 1 20 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1.000 0 0 0 BUF 39 Hasek, Dominik 16 958 1.82 8 4 4 0 3 29 476 .939 0 0 2 CGY 30*Moss, Tyler 6 308 2.53 2 4 0 0 0 13 157 .917 0 1 0 CGY 31 Wregget *RES* 11 632 2.85 3 5 2 1 1 30 301 .900 0 0 4 CGY 47*Giguere, Jean-Sebast 3 206 3.50 2 1 0 0 0 12 113 .894 0 1 0 CAR 1 Irbe, Arturs 17 1017 2.06 7 7 2 2 2 35 486 .928 0 0 2 CAR 37 Kidd, Trevor 5 258 4.19 1 3 1 0 0 18 118 .847 0 0 0 CHI 30 Fitzpatrick, Mark 12 600 2.60 3 4 2 1 0 26 277 .906 0 0 0 CHI 41 Thibault, Jocelyn AL 10 589 2.85 3 5 2 0 1 28 282 .901 0 0 0 CHI 29 Trefilov *MNR* 1 25 9.60 0 1 0 0 0 4 20 .800 0 0 0 COL 33 Roy, Patrick 15 907 2.71 6 7 2 1 0 41 371 .889 0 0 10 COL 1 Billington, Craig 4 239 3.26 2 2 0 1 0 13 98 .867 0 0 0 DAL 20 Belfour, Ed 13 712 1.94 8 3 1 0 0 23 269 .914 0 0 2 DAL 1 Turek, Roman 5 262 2.06 2 0 2 0 0 9 105 .914 0 0 0 DET 38*Maracle, Norm 2 75 1.60 1 0 0 0 0 2 34 .941 0 0 0 DET 30 Osgood, Chris 16 899 2.34 9 7 0 3 2 35 405 .914 0 0 2 DET 31 Hodson, Kevin 2 99 3.64 0 1 0 0 0 6 41 .854 0 0 0 EDM 35 Shtalenkov, Mikhail 10 603 2.39 6 4 0 0 0 24 273 .912 0 0 0 EDM 30 Essensa, Bob 10 541 2.77 4 4 1 1 0 25 232 .892 0 1 0 FLA 1 McLean, Kirk 7 409 2.64 2 3 1 0 1 18 187 .904 0 0 0 FLA 31 Burke, Sean 12 695 2.85 4 4 4 0 0 33 320 .897 0 0 0 LAK 35 Fiset *RES* 4 203 1.48 3 0 0 0 0 5 93 .946 0 0 0 LAK 1*Storr, Jamie 3 137 2.19 1 1 1 1 1 5 55 .909 0 0 2 LAK 32*Legace, Manny 15 843 2.63 2 9 2 4 0 37 411 .910 0 1 0 LAK 31*Bach, Ryan 2 88 4.77 0 2 0 0 0 7 60 .883 0 0 0 MTL 60*Theodore, Jose 9 497 3.14 3 5 0 0 0 26 225 .884 0 0 0 MTL 31 Hackett, Jeff 12 642 3.64 3 7 1 3 0 39 301 .870 0 0 6 NSH 1 Dunham, Mike 16 941 2.87 7 8 1 0 0 45 548 .918 0 0 0 NSH 29*Vokoun *MNR* 2 80 3.75 0 1 0 0 0 5 30 .833 0 0 0 NSH 35 Fichaud, Eric 1 60 5.00 0 1 0 0 0 5 25 .800 0 0 0 NJD 31 Terreri, Chris 3 180 1.67 3 0 0 0 0 5 58 .914 0 0 0 NJD 30 Brodeur, Martin 15 906 2.38 8 6 1 1 1 36 365 .901 0 0 0 NYI 35 Salo, Tommy 19 1109 2.60 9 10 0 2 4 48 500 .904 0 0 10 NYI 30 Flaherty, Wade 3 84 3.57 0 1 0 0 0 5 31 .839 0 0 2 NYR 39*Cloutier, Dan 6 308 1.95 2 1 2 0 0 10 172 .942 0 0 0 NYR 35 Richter, Mike 15 858 2.73 3 7 4 2 2 39 403 .903 0 0 0 OTW 31 Tugnutt, Ron 6 338 2.31 2 1 1 1 0 13 158 .918 0 0 0 OTW 1 Rhodes, Damian 13 692 2.51 6 5 2 0 0 29 287 .899 0 0 0 PHI 34 Vanbiesbrouck, John 14 857 1.89 6 4 4 0 1 27 284 .905 0 0 2 PHI 27 Hextall, Ron 5 297 2.42 3 2 0 0 0 12 105 .886 0 0 0 PHO 28 Waite, Jimmy 5 305 0.98 4 0 1 0 1 5 130 .962 0 0 0 PHO 35 Khabibulin, Nikolai 10 609 1.67 7 2 1 0 1 17 253 .933 0 0 4 PIT 35 Barrasso, Tom 8 385 2.03 4 2 0 0 1 13 151 .914 0 1 20 PIT 30*Aubin, Jean-Sebastie 5 309 2.52 3 1 1 0 1 13 112 .884 0 0 0 PIT 1*Skudra *RES* 8 401 2.69 2 2 3 1 1 18 147 .878 0 0 0 SJS 31 Shields, Steve 5 290 2.28 0 2 2 0 0 11 133 .917 0 0 0 SJS 29 Vernon, Mike 13 752 2.47 4 6 3 1 2 31 316 .902 0 0 0 STL 31 Fuhr *RES* 7 379 2.06 3 1 2 0 0 13 153 .915 0 0 2 STL 30*Parent, Rich 2 85 2.12 0 0 1 0 0 3 28 .893 0 0 0 STL 29 McLennan, Jamie 11 578 2.60 4 4 2 0 0 25 209 .880 0 0 0 TBL 93 Puppa, Daren 13 691 2.87 5 6 1 1 2 33 350 .906 0 1 0 TBL 30 Ranford, Bill 9 457 4.86 1 5 1 0 0 37 262 .859 0 0 0 TOR 31 Joseph, Curtis 15 907 2.58 7 6 2 0 1 39 405 .904 0 2 0 TOR 29 Potvin, Felix 5 299 3.81 3 2 0 1 0 19 142 .866 0 0 0 VAN 30 Snow, Garth 16 885 2.58 7 7 1 0 2 38 440 .914 0 0 2 VAN 31 Hirsch, Corey 6 255 2.59 2 2 0 0 0 11 133 .917 0 0 0 WSH 40 Rosati *MNR* 1 28 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 1.000 0 0 0 WSH 37 Kolzig, Olaf 15 784 2.76 5 7 1 1 2 36 358 .899 0 0 17 WSH 31 Tabaracci, Rick 5 281 2.78 0 2 2 0 1 13 136 .904 0 0 0 ================================================================================== lcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeyandscenelcshockeylcshockeynolcshockey ==================================================================================