_ _ _ _ | | ____ __ | | ____ ___ | | ____ ___ | | ____ ___ | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY ================================================================ Five Star - ELECTRONIC EDITION - * * * * * ================================================================ Issue 117 April 4, 1999 288,000 bytes ---------------------------------------------------------------- Visit us on the web at http://www.lcshockey.com/ for all your hockey needs... not really. To subscribe/unsubscribe from the LCS Hockey mailing list contact zippy@lcshockey.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Lindros Injury Crushes Flyers Hopes ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino The chest injury to Eric Lindros sounds worse than a B-rated horror flick. If you haven't heard, Lindros' right lung collapsed after a game against the Nashville Predators. The Philadelphia Flyers captain was taken to the emergency room where four pints of blood was drained out of the lung. Four pints! For those of us who are not in the medical field, that's half of the amount of blood in a human body. A tube was inserted into Lindros' chest to pump the blood out. When the tube was in place, the action was wilder than the aftermath of an LCS Hockey office party. "They stuck that tube in me and we hit a geyser," Lindros told a Nashville paper. "The doctor tried to hold it in with his thumb. (Fluid) was flying everywhere. We overflowed the reservoir." Lindros' injury wasn't the only one the Flyers have suffered from of late. But it was the worst. Lindros will be out of action for the rest of the regular season and perhaps the playoffs if he can't recover fast enough. The cause of the injury was either a cross-check in the third period or, as Lindros believes, a hit in the corner in the first period. Originally it was thought a broken rib might have punctured the lung, that turned out not to be the case. And it was not, as LCS Hockey's Stat Girl and resident pre-med student first though, spontaneous pneumothorax, where alveoli rupture and air is released into the lungs, negating the negative pressure and leaving a person unable to inhale. It turns out the lung deflated because of a buildup of bloody fluid. The fluid seems to have accumulated from a burst vessel or artery inside Lindros' chest. The good thing is that the tube has been take out of Lindros' lung and he is hoping to return to Philadelphia soon. However it will be a long time before he can suit up again in a black and orange jersey. Without Lindros, the Flyers still have a solid nucleus to play with - unless the rest of the team is on the mend, that is. The first game without Lindros also saw the team play without John LeClair (bad back), Eric Dejardins (knee) and Mark Recchi (dizziness and achy all over). Not a way a team wants to gear up for the playoffs. With the injuries, the Flyers lost two games without putting up much of a fight. They lost to the Bruins, 3-0, and to the Rangers, 5-1. But the troops are starting to get healthy again. Or at least somewhat healthy. LeClair, Desjardins and Recchi should all be back in the lineup when the Flyers take on Pittsburgh Thursday night. Philly fans are hoping the return of those stars will stop the tailspin the team is currently in. After a terrible winless streak in March, it looked like things were going to turn around. The Flyers won four of six games (4-1-1) and started making a lot of Eastern Conference teams nervous. But then injuries decimated the team and a collective sigh of relief could be heard up and down the East Coast. There's no doubt that the Flyers are one of the most talented team in the league. But whether it be though injuries or just flat-out bad play, Philadelphia hasn't been able to put it all together when it counts. No team is going to feel sorry for the big, bad Flyers, however. Sure, they might send a get-well soon card to Lindros, but a note will probably be attached at the bottom: P.S. Wait until next year. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Dell..................................Editor-in-Chief Zippy............................................Computer Boy Jim Iovino.......................................Ace Reporter Matthew Secosky..............New Voice of the Lost Generation Nicole Agostino....Don't Know Nothin' Bout Birthin' No Babies Alex Carswell...........................Anaheim Correspondent Matt Brown...............................Boston Correspondent Matt Barr...............................Buffalo Correspondent John Alsedek............................Calgary Correspondent Chris Schilling........................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 Vacant...............................New Jersey Correspondent David Strauss.........................Islanders Correspondent Gregg Jensen............................Rangers Correspondent The Nosebleeders........................Ottawa Correspondents Chuck Michio.......................Philadelphia Correspondent Bob Chebat..............................Phoenix Correspondent Jerry Fairish........................Pittsburgh Correspondent Tom Cooper............................St. Louis Correspondent AJ DaSilva.............................San Jose Correspondent Seth Lerman...........................Tampa Bay Correspondent Jonah Sigel.............................Toronto Correspondent Jeff Dubois...........................Vancouver Correspondent Jason Sheehan........................Washington Correspondent Tricia McMillan.............................AHL Correspondent Peter Farkasovsky...............................Correspondent Howard Fienberg.................................Correspondent Wallace Hannum..................................Correspondent ----------------------------------------------------------------- LCS Hockey - Issue 117 - April 4, 1999. 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? ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Roy Entertains Fans, Himself ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino Goaltenders are a strange breed. Patrick Roy could make a strong case as the strangest of all. But for Roy, strangeness breeds success. You never know what you're going to see when Roy skates into the crease for the Colorado Avalanche. Most of the time Roy is completely focused on the task at hand. He can make the most difficult saves look easy. And then there are those other nights when Roy is, well, shall we say "goofy?" We shall say goofy. On these rare occasions Roy can be found wandering out of his net - a lot. He tries to play keep-away with the puck from forecheckers. He'll rub out forwards against the boards. He'll hack and whack and twitch like hell when an opponent gets anywhere near his crease. Roy can be one kooky bird. Case in point: The Avalanche's 5-2 win Saturday against Edmonton. St. Patrick made 30 saves in the game in his usual effortless manner. But by the end of the game, the ease of the contest seemed to make Roy bored. So bored that when the Oilers pulled goaltender Bob Essensa for an extra attacker and hoped to put more pressure on Roy, the Colorado netminder turned the tables and put the pressure on Edmonton. Roy, who has never scored a goal, tried his hardest to do so Saturday night in front of the home crowd in Colorado. As soon as the Oilers dumped the puck in, Roy was jolly on the spot to corral it and send it back down the other direction. Roy didn't just fire it from his crease or from behind the goal line. He skated out into the faceoff circles and launched it. And when that didn't work, Roy smacked his stick on the ice and called for passes from his own defensemen so he could try it again. Roy also played catch with a defenseman behind his own net before attempting to score at the other end. "I guess they respect my shot because they were all ready at the blue line," Roy told reporters after the game. "I tried (to score). I had my chances, I guess. Maybe it's going to come one day. I guess (the fans) enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a thrill for me." Roy didn't get a goal that night, but he did pick up an assist on Shjon Podein's empty-netter in the 5-2 win. Just another day in the life of Patrick Roy. If the game fails to gain his attention, he'll make some excitement of his own to entertain. When you're the all-time winningest goaltender in National Hockey League history, I guess you're allowed to take some chances and do some unorthodox things. Roy recently passed Jacques Plante to move into first place on the all-time win list. Roy has 407 career regular season wins to go along with his record 99 playoff victories. His total of 506 puts him one ahead of Plante, who played from 1952 to 1975 with six different teams. Plante was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978. Roy surely will join Plante when his career is over. But when will the 33-year-old veteran hang up the mask? Not at least for another two seasons. The 15-year veteran signed a two-year contract extension earlier this season that will pay him $7 million in 2000 and $9 million in 2001. And with the way Roy is playing these days, the end of the road still might be a few more years after that. "I'm going to play till I enjoy myself, until I'm going to perform well," the French-Canadian said. "And I think it's better to take it a year at a time and not start thinking about when I'm going to retire and all that." Ok, but when Roy does retire, he's going to go in wearing an Avalanche jersey, right? After that whole mess he got into his final days as a Montreal Canadien, he must not want to go being remembered as a member of Les Habitants... "If you ask me today which jersey I would wear, it probably would be the Montreal Canadiens if I had to," Roy said matter of factly. "But if I play another four, five, or six years and we win a few Stanley Cups (in Colorado), it might be a different question at the time." The way Roy is playing this season, there's a strong possibility that Colorado Cup No. 2 could be won this season. Roy currently has a 2.31 goals-against average, which is lower than is career low set in 1996-97 (2.32). He's won 27 games and has collected five shutouts. Roy said he's playing some of the best hockey of his career right now. That's a far cry from where Roy was at the beginning of the year, when Roy and the Avs struggled for weeks to win their first game of the season. "If I take away the my start of my season, I think I am having one of my best seasons," he said. "What I mean by that is, I've been playing consistent. "Let's say after that first maybe seven or eight starts, I played with some consistency from there. It was a tough start. It was a really slow start, but since then, things have turned around really well for me." The Avalanche haven't had to depend on Roy recently with the addition of Theo Fleury to an already powerful offense. Since his trade from Calgary, Fleury has teamed up with Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg to create one of the most dominant trios the league has seen in quite some time. But the Avalanche know that when the game is on the line, Roy will be there. And he will be focused. And maybe, if the Avs have a one-goal lead and an empty net at the other end in the Stanley Cup finals, Roy will get another chance for that elusive goal. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tugnuttier! ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell Sometimes you feel like a Tugnutt. Sometimes you don't. The Ottawa Senators have Tugnutt, the rest don't. Because... sometimes you feel like a Tugnutt, and sometimes you don't. All of Ottawa has felt like a Tugnutt this season, as goaltender Ron Tugnutt has helped lead the surprising Senators to the top of the Eastern Conference with a remarkable record of 43-21-11. For his part, Tugnutt has posted a career-high 21 wins, an excellent .927 save percentage, and a league-best 1.78 goals-against average, just one-hundredth of a point off Tony Esposito's modern-day goals-against record of 1.77. All in all, not too shabby for a 31-year-old journeyman netminder that was out of the league entirely not four years ago. "Well, it's been somewhat of a seesaw battle throughout my whole career," explains Tugnutt. "I think that you go through a lot of adversity, but I'm a believer, and that just makes you stronger. Although you go through tough times, it makes the good times that much better, and obviously, the way things are going this year, I'm having the time of my life." Tugnutt was originally drafted by the Quebec Nordiques (81st overall) in 1986. His first NHL start came with the Nords on December 29, 1987, in a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. It was a rare bright spot in his five-year stint with Quebec. For the uninformed, during the late 1980's and early 90s, the Quebec Nordiques were, shall we say, not very good? Shall we say terrible? We shall say terrible. In 1989-90, Quebec finished the season at 12-61-7. Tugnutt led all Nordique goaltenders in wins that season with five. No joke. That was even on the back of his hockey card. Of course, so was the fact that he also carried a 4.61 goals-against average. That's grief. But looking back on things, Tugnutt has fond memories of his days with the Nordiques. "I think I really enjoyed my time in Quebec," says Tugnutt. "They gave me a chance to play. Unfortunately, we were going through some rebuilding, and I think our average age was much younger than the age in Ottawa now. The Senators have basically done their rebuilding when I got here. They're improving every year. I think I'm finally in the right place at the right time, and it took a long time to get here." There was one shining moment of glory with the fleur-de-lis. It came on March 21, 1991 at Boston Gardens. With most of his Quebec teammates along for the ride, except for Joe Sakic who had three assists, Tugnutt stopped 70 of 73 Bruin shots to salvage a 3-3 tie. Ray Bourque alone had 19 shots on goal. The performance was so awe-inspiring that afterwards every Bruin player skated the length of the ice to shake Tugnutt's hand and an appreciative Garden crowd rewarded the effort with a standing ovation. This game also was the genesis of Dan Patrick's immortal call, "Save Tugnutt!" The next few years would prove trying for the Tugger. He bounced from team to team in a string of deals that had him on the road more than my man Jack Kerouac. On March 10, 1992, Tugnutt was traded by the Nordiques to Edmonton where he spent one rather uneventful season before being selected by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the 1994 Expansion Draft. He only appeared in 28 games with the Water Fowl before being moved to Montreal. His tour of the league didn't stop there. He made a mere 15 appearances with the Habs over parts of two seasons before signing with Washington prior to the 1995-96 campaign. Tugnutt would never suit up for the Capitals. He'd spend the entire 1995-96 season with their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. While most NHL veterans would balk at a full year in the minors, Tugnutt accepted the situation and turned it into a positive, even catching the eye of Ottawa GM Pierre Gauthier. When the call came, Tugnutt was ready. "I was looking to going to Europe and stuff like that, and I was given an opportunity to sign with Washington," recalls Tugnutt. "I think I got some great advice from David Poile who was the GM at the time in Washington, and that was what I needed to go down and play some games. I had been the backup goalie for the previous three years, I needed to get back in game shape, and stop pucks in game conditions, and actually learn to win again, which was a very important thing to do. I decided I'd give it one year in Portland to do that, and if things weren't going my way I was ready to move on. But Pierre Gauthier gave me a chance, and he felt I could help the team out, and things couldn't have turned out any better." Tugnutt's numbers have improved in each of his three seasons with the Sens. His goals-against has gone from 2.80 in 1996-97, to 2.25 in 1997-98, to his current mark of 1.78. His save percentage has shown similar progress, moving from .895, to .905, to .927. While the main reason for the dramatic improvement is the steady defensive team in front of him, Tugnutt has refined his game. No longer a small, flopping goaltender that relies on quickness, Tugnutt's much more aggressive in net, stands his ground, and works his angles with the best in the business. It's all proof of his maturation as a goaltender. "I think I've bulked up now. I'm up to 160, and I think I'm covering a lot more net," says Tugnutt. "But realistically, I think mentally I've gotten stronger. I think I'm squaring up to the puck more, which has been very important, and taking the shooter. I've got to give a lot of credit to my team, but if I was to say a big part of my game that's improved most it would be mentally." Tugnutt's been a vital part of the Ottawa resurgence that has seen the Senators go from doormats to dominant. The club made the playoffs for the first time two years ago, advanced a round last year, and appear to be on the verge of some swell things this time around, with many expecting the established pattern to continue with a showing in the Eastern Conference Finals or, dare say, the Stanley Cup. Evolution is a beautiful thing. "You look back at other teams, their past, how they've come through, and the Colorado Avalanche is a great example, they made a couple of small steps, and then they made a huge step," says Tugnutt. "And you would like to follow in those footsteps, but I think that, obviously, we have plans to get as far as we can, and we would love to be in the Stanley Cup Finals, but we're not going to look that far ahead yet." Despite his impressive season thus far, Tugnutt has been splitting the goaltending chores with Damian Rhodes. Coach Jacques Martin has been employing his netminders in a pretty regular rotation, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the days of VanRichterBrouck on Broadway. But you can't really combine Tugnutt and Rhodes and get a cool, scary sounding name. I mean, the best you can come up with is TugRhodesNutt. And that's not good for anybody. "I think Damian and I both want to play pretty much every night, but I think that we understand that the situation here is kind of unique, where it seems to be working," says Tugnutt. "And I think that you don't want to rock the boat. If things are going well for both of us, that's okay. We have two goalies that are fresh every game, you don't have somebody that's tiring out and being injured, relying on a guy that hasn't played much at a key time. I think it's worked well for both of us. Jacques has a grasp on both of our mentalities. Most importantly, neither one of us has a big ego, and when you're not playing you're a big supporter of the team, and you obviously want to win." The competition for playing time hasn't affected the relationship between the two goaltenders. If there really is one. "It's different," offers Tugnutt. "We don't talk a real lot about other things, other than hockey and golf. I think those are the only two things we really have in common. We talk a bit about goalie equipment and certain ways to make saves, and both of us have an avid love for golf. Other than that, we don't really discuss a lot of things. We get along, but we don't exactly go for dinners and things like that. It's kind of a strange relationship." Whether the two-goaltender rotation continues into the postseason is of little concern. At least that's the company line. But rest assured Tugnutt wants to be the man. "Damian and I don't make the decision one way or another," says Tugnutt. "I think Jacques goes with whatever he feels. I'm not sure if we're going to go with a two-goalie setup in the playoffs, or if he's going to go to one guy. Time will tell." 1998-99 has been a charmed season for the man known as Tugnutt. He made his first ever All-Star Game appearance, he's near the top in most goaltending categories, and his team has proven itself to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. But there's still miles to go before he's done. "I don't want to dream and look too far ahead," cautions Tugnutt, "but obviously there are things that we feel we have a chance at, and us as with a few other teams, especially with the moves made at the deadline by some other teams, but we're very confident with our team, and we've worked hard to get here. There's only one way we'd really like to finish it, but we know it's a long way to go yet." One final thing. While preparing for this article, I stumbled across the official Ottawa Senators web site and found that they had a listing of some of Ron Tugnutt's favorite things. For example, did you know that Tugnutt's official nickname is in fact Tugger and that his favorite cologne is Paco Rabban? I rib you not. See, with me it's the exact opposite. My nickname is Paco Rabban and my favorite cologne is Tugger. But seriously, I don't wear cologne. Although, I do drink it. Don't kid yourself, mix some Old Spice and Vermouth and you've got an instant party, my friend. So now as a service to you, our valued readers, I'd like to reproduce that list of Tugnutt's favorites along with my own such prized selections. Contrast and compare. This way you'll get to learn a little more about Tugnutt and myself at the same time. And hopefully it will bring us all closer together. Thank you. Favorite Ron Tugnutt Michael Dell Music: Country Nirvana Actor: Val Kilmer ALF Food: Steak and Potatoes Rice and Potatoes Sport: Golf Drinking Youth Idol: Bernie Parent Gary Coleman Nickname: Tugger Alcoholic Leisure: Movies Sobering Up TV Show: PGA Golf Columbo Color: Black Jager Brown Travel: Hawaii Downstairs Clothes: Jeans and T-shirt Not Pants Astrology: Libra Lazy Bastard Cologne: Paco Rabban Jack Daniels ----------------------------------------------------------------- Playoff Race Update ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell Are you like me? Do ya, do ya have the Playoff Fever? That's okay, because neither do I. But the NHL postseason is just around the corner. Now's the time to update the races and see what's up. I intended to write a hilariously funny article doing just that, full of sarcasm and lame jokes, but unfortunately an emergency shortly before deadline made it impossible. Yes, that's right, I dropped the bottle. So I'll just make this all brief like. In the East, what the hell, I'll say the Senators will hold off the Devils for the top seed. New Jersey has the easier schedule, but winning the conference means more to the Sens. They'll be mission men. Carolina is locked into the three hole thanks to the kindness of its Southeastern buddies. Toronto should have the fourth slot all wrapped up. The confusion starts from five to eight. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are both crippled by injuries. Buffalo has had all sorts of grief scoring goals. Of late, Boston has been the best of the four, but they're hardly a powerhouse. Boston and Buffalo each have a game in hand on their Pennsylvania rivals. And the Bruins would seem to have the easiest schedule, drawing Florida once and Tampa Bay twice in its final six games. Pittsburgh has four of its final five games on the road, and the Birds blow away from the Igloo. And then there's also Jagr causin' worry in the room. Look for Pittsburgh to plummet and Boston and Buffalo to move up. Out West, Dallas is cemented at the top. Colorado will hold off Detroit for the second seed and home ice in their eventual second-round meeting. Phoenix is a solid four and Anaheim should be secure at number five. I'm going to get a little crazy and say that San Jose catches St. Louis for the sixth seed, dropping the Blue Note to the seventh slot. And I'm going with Calgary to prevail in the Battle of Alberta for the eighth and final playoff berth. Never bet against a Sutter. But this is definitely the race to watch, with El Scorcho and the Bubbling Crude playing each other three times in the final six games. Should make for a lot of hey hey. Here's a quick breakdown of games left and whatnot. Keep in mind that in case of a tie, the team with the most wins takes it. If they remain tied it goes to the higher number of points earned against one another. The third tie-breaker is goal differential for the entire regular season. If they're still tied the matter will then be settled by that yodeling mountain climber game on "The Price Is Right." I'm not exactly sure how they do it, but they do it. It's in the rulebook. Look it up. EASTERN CONFERENCE SEED CLUB G PTS W GAMES LEFT 1. Ottawa 6 98 43 at Tor, TOR, BUF, FLA, NYR, at Car 2. New Jersey 6 95 42 WSH, at Mtl, NYI, at Buf, PHI, at Nsh 3. Carolina 5 80 32 at Mtl, at NYI, WSH, at T.B, OTT 4. Toronto 5 91 42 OTT, at Ott, FLA, NYI, at Mtl 5. Pittsburgh 5 86 36 at Phi, at Det, at Bos, NYI, at NYR 6. Philadelphia 5 86 34 PIT, at Wsh, BUF, at N.J, BOS 7. Buffalo 6 85 35 FLA, at Ott, at Phi, N.J, at Bos, WSH 8. Boston 6 83 35 at Fla, at T.B, T.B, PIT, BUF, at Phi WESTERN CONFERENCE SEED CLUB G PTS W GAMES LEFT 1. Dallas 6 106 47 ANA, NYR, L.A, PHX, at Phx, at Col 2. Colorado 5 92 41 NSH, at StL, at Cgy, at Edm, DAL 3. Detroit 5 88 41 VAN, at StL, PIT, NSH, at Chi 4. Phoenix 5 88 38 NSH, at Ana, at Dal, STL, DAL 5. Anaheim 6 80 34 at Dal, S.J, PHX, STL, at L.A, at S.J 6. St. Louis 6 78 33 at Wsh, DET, COL, at Ana, at Phx, at L.A 7. San Jose 5 77 30 at L.A, at Ana, EDM, L.A, ANA 8. Calgary 6 68 28 at Edm, EDM, VAN, at Van, COL, at Edm 9. Edmonton 6 67 28 CGY, at Cgy, at Van, at S.J, COL, CGY ----------------------------------------------------------------- More Stuff... ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell THREE-PEAT MY ASS So everybody thinks the Detroit Red Wings are pretty special. Sure, they've gone 7-0-0 since acquiring Chris Chelios, Wendel Clark, Ulf Samuelsson, and Bill Ranford. And okay, they are a good team. But I'd hold off on raising that third Stanley Cup banner just yet. You want to know why? Two words: chemistry. Everything's all cheap wine and roses at the moment, but wait until Darren McCarty and Samuelsson get healthy and return to the lineup. There just won't be enough ice time to go around. Guys that are used to playing are either going to be relegated to the end of the bench or will watch from the comfort of the press box. Nothing causes more dissension among the ranks than the question of playing time. And the minute the Red Wings face some adversity, all the ill feelings will boil over. Look at the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. Every player on those two rosters knows his role. The same can't be said in Detroit. Who's the top left winger now, Brendan Shanahan or Clark? When the game's on the line, who's Scotty Bowman gonna use on defense, Nicklas Lidstrom and Larry Murphy or Chelios and Samuelsson? And who gets the call in net for a big game, Chris Osgood or Ranford? Coaches always say that having too many capable players is a problem they'd love to have. But the key thing there is that it is a problem. And the Wings have it. BRING BACK BERNIE Vincent Damphousse and Joe Murphy are starting to rekindle some of the old magic they used to have together in Edmonton. In the six games since joining the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline, Damphousse has seven goals and 11 points, while Murphy has clicked for five goals and 10 points. The Sharks have only gone 3-2-1 during that time, but that's more than enough to keep them secured in the seventh playoff spot out West. Now if the Sharks would only allow LCS Hero Bernie Nicholls to come out of his forced retirement, the Sharks could be in store for a serious playoff run. It was back in 1991-92 that a trio of Nicholls, Damphousse, and Murphy carried the Oilers all the way to the Western Conference Finals. That was the year that Bernie came over from New York for Mark Messier and got a late start on the season because of some family issues. But once he arrived, the Oilers took off. Nicholls played 49 games that season and finished with 20 goals and 49 points. Meanwhile, Damphousse led the team in scoring with 38 goals and 89 points and Murphy had his career-best year of 35 goals and 82 points. The threesome continued to roll in the club's 16 playoff games, with Murphy scoring eight goals and 24 points, Nicholls notching eight goals and 19 pints, and Damphousse bagging six goals and 14 points. Bring back Bernie! Chomp, chomp, chomp. Bring back Bernie! DARCY TUCKER PUPPET SOLD Mr. Irving Furbish of nearby Latrobe, Pennsylvania, claimed the original Darcy Tucker puppet with a winning bid of $216.42. "I'm really happy," said Mr. Furbish upon hearing the news. "This is the third greatest moment in my life, behind only marrying my wife and the birth of my son. Although, that kid is kind of an idiot. And I never really loved her all that much. I settled really. Come to think of it, getting the puppet is the single greatest moment of my life. Thank you, LCS Hockey!" Mr. Furbish's money will be spent to help local Greensburg charities. If, you know, you replaced the word "charities" with "bars." AUTOGRAPH SIGNING UPDATE Just a reminder, I'll be signing autographs again this Wednesday night, and every Wednesday for that matter, at the Buffalo Wild Wings behind Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, PA. The autograph sessions start at 10PM and roll until closing time. As per usual, I'll be the thin sickly looking fellow at the table by the windows. And don't be discouraged by the long lines, it's worth the wait. I like to spend some personal time with everyone. If they're kind enough to ask for my autograph, I figure it's the least I can do. I like to go that extra mile for you, our valued readers. So feel free to stop by and say "hey." KARIYA LIKES TO SHOOT Paul Kariya never met a shot he didn't like. Come to think of it, the same thing could be said about me. Except, you know, I drink all mine. Anyway, Kariya has 401 shots on goal this season and is on pace to record 432. That would be the second highest total since the league started recording the stat back in 1955. While Kariya's average of 5.28 shots a game is astounding, it's well below my average shot total on any given night. Here are the NHL's all-time single-season shot leaders: Player Team Shots Year Phil Esposito Boston 550 1970-71 Phil Esposito Boston 426 1971-72 Bobby Hull Chicago 414 1968-69 DAFOE STILL DASHOW Byron Dafoe continues to have a marvelous season for the Spoked- B. Dafoe leads the league with 10 shutouts and has blanked the opposition in each of his last two starts. He's also the first Boston Bruins goaltender to record 10 shutouts in a season since Frank Brimsek turned the trick in 1938-39. Here are all the goaltenders to record 10 or more shutouts in a season since the expansion era began in 1967-68: Player Team SO Year Tony Esposito Chicago 15 1969-70 Dominik Hasek Buffalo 13 1997-98 Bernie Parent Philadelphia 12 1973-74 Bernie Parent Philadelphia 12 1974-75 Tony Esposito Chicago 10 1973-74 Ken Dryden Montreal 10 1976-77 Martin Brodeur New Jersey 10 1996-97 Martin Brodeur New Jersey 10 1997-98 Byron Dafoe Boston 10 1998-99 JAGR DOIN' HIS JOB... SORT OF Jaromir Jagr is up to his old tricks. Just when you think Jagr is ready to become a true captain and leader he goes and does something stupid. And I don't just mean like running with scissors or playing with matches. Those aren't stupid, those are fun. No, instead I mean like ripping his head coach in the papers. Jagr had some very pointed things to say about Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine in an interview with a Prague, Czech Republic newspaper called the MF Dnes. I never really heard of the paper, but I think I know what the MF stands for. Anyway, here are some of the quotes the paper attributed to Jagr: "I don't like the way he (Constantine) prepares the team, and I'm not the only one among the players." "His communication with us is just awful. Either he yells at us or he just hides somewhere. Right now, it's just impossible to talk to him." "One has to give that he can turn below-average players into at least average ones. But he also does everything he can to turn top players into average ones, too." When Jagr was asked by good ol' North American media to confirm his quotes, he said, "Don't worry about it." Oddly enough, I have that same approach to my tax return. Jaromir and the Penguins are currently mired in a seven-game winless streak (0-5-2) and tensions are a bit high. But there's really no excuse for this sort of thing. Even worse is his attitude on the ice. Sure, he's still racking up the points, but Jagr is constantly seen shaking his head and pouting on the bench or verbally berating teammates when they fail to give him the puck, even if the proper defensive decision was made instead. Jagr just isn't putting the team first. That's never acceptable, especially from a captain. Things are pretty ugly at the moment in the Burgh. Constantine is doing his best to try and keep things under control, but it might be too much to overcome this close to the postseason. See what happens when our man Darius Kasparaitis isn't around to keep things cool? Even though he's starting to show signs of his former whiny, immature self, Jagr is still doing the job on the scoresheet. The Czech Wonder Kid has points on 52.6% of Pittsburgh's goals this season, the highest such total in the league. Here are the other leaders: Player Team % of Points Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh 52.6% (122 of 232) Teemu Selanne Anaheim 49.3% (100 of 203) Paul Kariya Anaheim 47.3% (96 of 203) Eric Lindros Philadelphia 42.5% (93 of 219) Peter Forsberg Colorado 41.9% (95 of 227) STATS AND WHATNOT Here are the statistical leaders in a variety of categories and stuff through April 5. Thank you. I'm a rock star. Goals Teemu Selanne Anaheim 45 Alexei Yashin Ottawa 43 Tony Amonte Chicago 40 Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh 40 Eric Lindros Philadelphia 40 John LeClair Philadelphia 39 Joe Sakic Colorado 39 Assists Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh 82 Peter Forsberg Colorado 67 Paul Kariya Anaheim 61 Teemu Selanne Anaheim 55 Eric Lindros Philadelphia 53 Joe Sakic Colorado 53 Points Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh 122 Teemu Selanne Anaheim 100 Paul Kariya Anaheim 96 Peter Forsberg Colorado 95 Eric Lindros Philadelphia 93 Joe Sakic Colorado 92 Plus/Minus A. Karpovtsev Toronto +38 John LeClair Philadelphia +35 Eric Lindros Philadelphia +35 Magnus Arvedson Ottawa +33 Jere Lehtinen Dallas +30 Mike Modano Dallas +30 Shots Paul Kariya Anaheim 401 Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh 327 Alexei Yashin Ottawa 313 Al MacInnis St. Louis 297 Peter Bondra Washington 284 Ice Time (in minutes) Chris Pronger St. Louis 30.38 Brian Leetch NY Rangers 29.98 Ray Bourque Boston 29.65 Al MacInnis St. Louis 28.99 Chris Chelios Detroit 27.11 Faceoff Wins Mats Sundin Toronto 1081 Keith Primeau Carolina 945 Steve Rucchin Anaheim 944 Rod Brind'Amour Philadelphia 924 Eric Lindros Philadelphia 918 Faceoff Winning Percentage Joe Nieuwendyk Dallas 63.44 Eric Lindros Philadelphia 60.03 Adam Oates Washington 59.22 Sebastien Bordeleau Nashville 57.67 Mats Sundin Toronto 57.25 Steve Yzerman Detroit 57.25 Hits Gary Roberts Carolina 238 Ken Klee Washington 235 Mattias Norstrom Los Angeles 231 Keith Primeau Carolina 223 Bob Boughner Buffalo 222 Giveaways Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh 202 Oleg Tverdovsky Phoenix 157 Brian Leetch NY Rangers 155 Eric Weinrich Montreal 155 Pavol Demitra St. Louis 139 Peter Forsberg Colorado 139 Takeaways Peter Forsberg Colorado 139 Keith Carney Phoenix 116 Vladimir Malakhov Montreal 111 Brian Leetch NY Rangers 109 Scott Stevens New Jersey 106 ----------------------------------------------------------------- He Makes How Much? ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Wallace Hannum Sergei Fedorov is the highest paid player in hockey. Sergei Fedorov made $14 million. Sergei Fedorov has an underwhelming 23 goals and 57 points. Markus Naslund has 36 goals and 64 points. Markus Naslund gets less than $800,000. Granted, if I was playing a game in the mall's skating rink, I'd pick Fedorov for my team first. But not if I have to buy him 35 beers after the game and Markus just wants two. That's the ratio for all you math people. Now, I know what you think about Britney Spears and I know that you think sure, Fedorov is the better player. I also know all the words to "Strangers in the Night" but you don't care about that. For shame. About Sergei being better, he only played 21 games last year. He put up 17 points. If you stretch that out over a full 82 game season, he was on track to get about 25 goals and 66 points. Hardly the big can of whup ass. In 96-97, (that's two years ago for those of you in West Virginia) Sergei got a stunning 30 goals and 63 points. My guess is that next season Mr. Fedorov will score about 25 goals and total around...oh, I don't know...60 points for the 4th season in a row. Naslund averages around 47 points over the past four. Just so you know. Because Fedorov hasn't exactly been burning out the lamp, the Red Wings seem to feel they needed the help of about 19 free agents at the trade deadline to actually have a chance at another Cup. But my feelings about acquiring rent-a-players to save your slacking team's chances since they can't EARN another Cup and how I think the trade deadline ought to be at the All-Star break isn't the issue here. I just hope Detroit doesn't win another Cup. It's just not right. My point is that Jaromir Jagr will win another Art Ross with another 100+ point season and makes less than $5 million. I know Sergei's number is inflated with a bonus, but damn. Jagr, Lemieux, and Gretzky are the only guys to win an Art Ross in the past 20 years. That's Jagr's company. Number 99 and Number 66. Now, Sergei scores about as much as say... Tony Amonte. Amonte makes $2.8 mil and has outscored Sergei the last three years in a row. Speaking of overpaid, Mark Messier makes more than Jagr, Teemu Selanne, and Mike Modano. Don't get me wrong, I love Vancouver (they really are my favorite team) but what is Moose bringing to the ice that's worth that much bank? Experience? Gretzky has a little of that and he makes the same amount. Hell, Esa Tikkanen has five rings and makes 1/10th as much. Grit? Even Valeri Kamensky had more PIM than Mark did. Think about that. A guy named Valeri had more PIM than he did. Teammate Donald Brashear had more than six times as many penalty minutes (372 to be exact). So Mark's not a scorer or an enforcer and I don't think they can use his playoff leadership up in Vancouver. Basically, I think the Canucks want other teams to respect them. So, they wheel out an aging Moose and say "We got Messier. So....you know...we can't suck THAT much." I saw two games this year in Vancouver. They lost them both, of course, but it was nice to watch them underachieve live. Let me tell you this, Messier is old. He fanned on two shots that would have been game-winners in the first game and was literally the slowest forward out there on both nights, hands down. I love him and I know he can help the Canucks, but not for $5 million. I'd rather have Teemu. Oh, and by the way, Mogilny raked in $4.2 million this year as well. That means they paid $9.2 million for a total of 25 goals. Maybe that's why they can only afford $770,000 for a starting goalie and get stuck with Garth Snow. Here's an idea, stop overpaying Alexander the Great and Moose and get a real netminder. Byron Dafoe signed for only $80,000 more than Snow did. The problem, I think, is that no good goalie wants an 8-26-2 season with the Canucks. Speaking of last place teams paying more than they can afford for their players, let's head over to Chicago. Oh, but they traded Chelios you're thinking. Guess what? Doug "Happy" Gilmour gets $6 million (that's right at twice what Chelios was making.) I like Doug a lot. He really is a terrific player but I'm thinking Amonte gets less than half that much and he's the best Chicago forward. I bet Doug thought he was heading to a playoff team, too. Poor bastard. But when it comes to paying too much for a team that will be playing golf come May, look no further than the NY Rangers. They bankroll a sub-500 team with a giant, Donnie Brasco gangsta wad. Did you know Mike Richter gets $5.1 million? Are you familiar with the names Martin Brodeur and Ed Belfour? Brodeur had a 1.89 GAA and 10 shutouts last year. Eddie had a 1.88 GAA and nine shutouts. Mikey had 2.66 and 0 shutouts. Yep, 72 games and no shutouts. There is so much talent between the pipes out there for much, much less money. There's the aforementioned Dafoe who is whippin' that ass to the tune of 2.05 GAA with 10 shutouts for $850,000. Nikolai Khabibulin, Olaf Kolzig, and many backups like Roman Turek and Craig Billington would probably dig a regular start and a $2.5 million salary. That's less and half of what's going out to Richter. Obviously, with teams paying too much for their star players there are gonna be guys not getting props. Philly pays the Mark Recchi's $4.5 million, Beezer gets over $4 million, Steve Duchesne makes $3.75 million, Rod Brind'Amour picks up $3.5 million, and there's Eric Lindros' $8.5 million. This leaves little doubt as to why John LeClair "only" gets $3.6 million. This guy has scored 50 or more goals the last three years. Lindros has never had one 50-goal season. I'm not saying Eric isn't an amazing player, but is he more than twice the player LeClair is? No chance. Is Mark Recchi really worth that much more? John LeClair is huge, has great hands, and a powerful, accurate shot. He is clearly one of the elite players in hockey. He should be paid as such (i.e. Bure makes $6.4M, Sundin makes $6.3M, Forsberg gets $6M). Another guy not making the bank he should is Darryl Sydor. As much as I dislike Dallas, this guy is the one that actually runs the power play for them. He is smart, one of the best playmaking blueliners, and fast. Not Selanne fast, but certainly one of the best skating defensemen. Darryl pulls in $1.8 million, which is quite a bit for a defensemen, but Dallas has more money than Oprah and they're paying Hatcher $2.6M. More importantly they're dishing out $3.2M to Pat Verbeek (not a typo), Hull gets $4.5M, and Mikey Mo rolls an even $5 million. That's a whole buncha big ass checks getting handed out. And because he's on such a massively talented team, people rarely see how much Sydor helps that squad. But if he had stayed healthy he'd have around 52 points this year. He had 46 and 48 points the previous two seasons. That's more that the $4.7 million MacInnis and much more than the $2.75 million Mathieu Schneider. I seriously consider Sydor in the same category as the $3-$4 million defensemen of the league but I think his playing for the Stars costs him a big chunk of his check. Murray Baron makes $2.6 million for God's sake. Of course, that's out in Vancouver where apparently they've found a wonderful system of paying giant amounts of money to older, less productive players. In a few years, Darryl should head up there and cash in. I'd love to talk about this all day... but I'm not. It just seems like the most overpaid guys seem to come from the teams that need the money the most. Or from teams that won a Cup awhile ago and keep hanging on to their heroes of the past (which is cool with me). The teams that seem to underpay are teams that are spending huge dollars on the top two or three guys and simply don't have enough to spread around. Finally, I just want to say that as interesting as this is for me to discuss, I think it really sucks that I can find out how much every single NHLer makes. It's one of the reason why salaries continue to climb higher and higher. You KNOW Kariya sees Lindros is making $8.5 million and says "That's what I want." These guys are competitive people. That's why they love competitive sports. Of course they're going to compete when it comes to compensation. If they got less money then maybe tickets wouldn't cost way too much and more people would attend games. Then Canada wouldn't be stripped of all its teams. Besides, how many people want their salary put up in a chart on a web site. It would drive me crazy if my co-workers knew how I only made 18% of what they made. Imagine the humiliation. They already tease me about the patches on my pants and my one shoe. Jerks. Overpaid Underpaid Sergei Fedorov - DET $14M Jaromir Jagr - PIT $4.9M Mats Sundin - TOR $6.3M John LeClair - PHI $3.6M Mark Messier - VAN $6M Tony Amonte - CHI $2.8M Mike Richter - NYR $5.1M Boris Mironov - CHI $1.2M Mark Recchi - PHI $4.5M Tommy Salo - EDM $1.15M Alexander Mogilny - VAN $4.2M D. Kasparaitis - PIT $1.1M Rod Brind'Amour - PHI $3.5M Valeri Bure - CAL $925, Geoff Courtnall - STL $3.5M Zdeno Chara - NYI $875, Jyrki Lumme - PHO $2.8M Byron Dafoe - BOS $850, Murray Baron - VAN $2.6M Miroslav Satan - BUF $850, Bob Rouse - SAN $1.9M Oleg Kvasha - FLO $550, Most Overpaid: Geoff Courtnall, Murray Baron Most Underpaid: Byron Dafoe, Miroslav Satan (how cool is that guy?) Let me remind you that all the guys I list under Overpaid are all good players (except Baron). I'm just saying that they are getting WAY too much money that should be heading over to the guys on the underpaid list. I know that guys like Dafoe, Alexei Yashin, and Naslund are all going to get nice fat raises on their next contract. And I know guys like Oleg Kvasha and Zdeno Chara are still young and will make the money in the next few seasons. And I still know that Fedorov and other's salaries are inflated due to bonuses. But compensation is compensation. And dammit, I still know what you did last summer. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Capital Injury Syndrome ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Howard Fienberg Colorado and Buffalo are stricken with fear. Philadelphia knows it is infected, and Pittsburgh suspects it. I'm talking about the most dreaded of contagious illnesses - Capital Injury Syndrome (CIS). You know the one - strokes of luck so nasty they nearly kill half your players. In the case of the original agent, the Washington Capitals were decimated early and often by injuries this season, destroying all hope of a return to the Cup Finals - a return to respectability would feel just fine now. Generous at heart, GM George McPhee shared his team's CIS with the rest of the league at the trading deadline. So far, Colorado and Buffalo have not suffered outbreaks, but Philadelphia has been devastated, losing its top guns to various injuries of different cause. And Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine recently declared a state of war, insisting that the Washington Capitals were engaged in "biochemical terrorism" against his squad, turning the Penguin blue line into... well, the metaphor escapes me. Suffice it to say, there aren't enough warm bodies to melt an ice cube. The scourge of CIS has ravaged the whole NHL this season. Pavel Bure is rumored to have picked it up on the plane to Miami, spreading it to the rest of the lowly Panthers. Before Coach Terry Murray could say "Olegalamb or abitofKvasha" his talent left the ice. For the rest of the season. But wait a minute. What's that you say? How could these injuries be related? Well, they're not, at least not directly. There is no syndrome, no illness. Just a few basic risk factors that the NHL and the players' association refuse to address. Mainly, when reckless play goes unpenalized and when the ice is like mush. It doesn't take much to figure out that, while these are not necessarily the direct causes, they certainly bear much of the blame. The referees choke on their whistles so often they can hardly breathe. That lack of oxygen to the brain may explain why they don't think to call penalties on so many dangerous plays. And consider how many times you watched a game recently and felt that the boys were skating on molasses. While it is sometimes due to a player being naturally slow, even he is rarely helped by thin, crotchety ice recently lain atop some creaky basketball flooring. Outside of Edmonton, the ice is putrid, and all it takes is one mis-step for a player to snap a hamstring, pull a groin, or trip and smash his face into the crossbar. It is not infectious, though it is epidemic. There is no Capital Injury Syndrome. Nothing to fear from any infectious disease. But the NHL sure got worry. Its got slush for ice surface and mush for brains. Let's just hope THAT is not infectious. ----------------------------------------------------------------- AHL NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Tricia McMillan Player of the Week (Mar. 21): The Beast of New Haven had a busy week, winning all four of their games. Byron Ritchie was responsible for two of the winning goals including an overtime winner, so he takes the prize. Ritchie had six points overall during the week, at least one in each game, and four goals, although none were as big as the OT goal in Hartford. Ritchie is tied for second in the league in game-winning goals. Player of the Week (Mar. 28): It never hurts to be en fuego - eventually, you're going to win the award. And since Albany's John Madden has been ripping through the AHL this month, he finally got the acknowledgement. Madden had nine points in four games during the week, including two three point nights and a game-winning, short-handed goal. He now stands fourth in the AHL in both goals and assists. Plus/Minus Player of the Month (Mar.): Considering his short-handed prowess, we probably shouldn't be too surprised that the Phantoms' Richard Park has won the award. Park was a +17 in 15 Phantoms games during March, helped in great part by over a half dozen short-handed goals scored while he was on the ice, if not by Park himself. Park's season number is +34, trailing Providence's Antti Laaksonen. Not So Mighty: Well, he did it. Cincinnati Mighty Ducks defenseman Byron Briske set a new AHL record for futility on Mar. 28 as he appeared in his 175th AHL game - and, as in the previous 174, failed to score a goal. Briske can now reluctantly set his sights on the NHL record, held by Allan Pederson. Pederson played 238 NHL games without a goal. Trade Bait: The NHL trading deadline played havoc with some AHL teams as players switched around. Some moves - like Kevin Brown and Vladimir Vorobiev - were simple. Others, well...Greg Pankiewicz's NHL rights were traded from Calgary to San Jose, and the Sharks wanted him in Kentucky. But Pankiewicz's minor league rights had to be traded for as well, so Saint John received the AHL rights to former T-Blade Fredrik Oduya, then traded with the IHL's Orlando Solar Bears to actually get Oduya to the Flames. The T-Blades and the Amerks also worked out an AHL-only mutual loan, swapping Alexander Boikov and Steffon Walby. Saint John also traded with the Grand Rapids Griffins and made previous deals with Orlando to overhaul their roster. All in all, 21 of the 30 players traded at the NHL deadline were or had been in the AHL. 99: Not THE Great One, just two very good ones. Just last season the AHL's oldest franchise, Hershey, celebrated a double retirement of the number nine for Arnie Kullman and Tim Tookey. On March 19, the second oldest franchise, Rochester, did likewise for Dick Gamble and Jody Gage. Gamble played ten seasons for the Amerks in the sixties, and holds the AHL record for 30-plus goalscoring seasons with 11. He is also fifth on the AHL all-time scoring list, and fourth on the goalscoring list. Gage, now the Amerks' general manager, played in the AHL for 17 seasons, 11 with Rochester, and topped the 500 goal and 1000 point marks. Gage scored more playoff goals than any other player in AHL history and was named to the AHL's All-Time Team in 1992. Other Things: Vladimir Vorobiev took a seven game scoring streak with him to Hamilton... Providence's Antti Laaksonen continues to top the AHL leader board with a +36 and is battling teammate Terry Virtue (+34) for the season title... The Fredericton Canadiens have scored the first goal in their games 41 times, by far the best mark in the league... Portland finally received a decision in overtime Mar. 17, after their previous six trips to extra time ended in ties... Cincinnati blueliners Scott Ferguson and Joel Kwiatkowski haven't missed a game yet this season, and their 68 straight appearances is the best for the franchise... For the record, 13 players have appeared in every game for their team this season. And no, I don't know all thirteen... The Phantoms' short-handed goal count is up to 25.The AHL record for a single season is 26... Clearly the Amerks will top the AHL in fewest goals allowed but Kentucky and Hamilton are tied for second and could both finish the season with fewer than 200 goals allowed... Fredericton went bananas on Saint John Mar. 23 with a 10-2 trampling of the Flames. Martin Gendron and Scott King had two goals, and Marc Beaucage, Alexei Lojkin and Aaron Asham all had three points... Peter Allen scored the game-winner for Kentucky as they knocked down the Bulldogs 2-1 on Mar. 23... Adirondack tied the game but newcomer Steffon Walby scored the game-winner 14 seconds later as Kentucky defeated the baby Wings 3-2 on Mar. 24... The Red Wings' move to Rossford, Ohio was made official on March 24. The team will remain in Glens Falls for the 1999-2000 season, then move to Ohio... Albany keeps getting the points from John Madden, who had three assists in the Rats' 4-3 win over Rochester Mar. 24. Rob Pattison had two goals... The Hartford WolfPack righted the ship against Springfield as JF Labbe picked up a 33 save shutout Mar. 24... Philadelphia's Brian Boucher had a 25 save shutout the same night, but this one was a lot uglier. The Phantoms trounced Syracuse 8-0 as the hapless Crunch went 0 for 10 on the power play and gave up three short-handed goals to Jim Montgomery, Peter White and Mikhail Chernov... Cincinnati's wheels came off in Hershey, as the Ducks blew a 3-2 lead and granted the Bears five unanswered goals for a 7-3 Hershey victory Mar. 24. Serge Aubin scored two, while Christian Matte had a four point night to extend his scoring streak to 13 games... Saint John picked up a win against Worcester Mar. 25 - barely. The Flames had a 5-1 lead, but the game finished at 5-4. Travis Brigley scored two goals... The Syracuse Crunch have been shut out nine times this season. That ties them for the all-time AHL mark with three other teams - except there's still a couple weeks to go for the record... Fredericton's Jose Theodore stopped 39 shots in the first two periods, but the Canadiens didn't win until Francis Bouillon's overtime goal made it 3-2 against Worcester Mar. 26... Meanwhile, Tom Askey stopped 48 shots and lost. Philadelphia beat Cincinnati 5-1 on two Peter White goals Mar. 26... Providence blew a 4-2 third period lead over New Haven, as Dwayne Hay scored in the final minute of regulation to give the Beast a 5-4 win Mar. 26. Shane Willis and Randy Robitaille had three points each... Steve Passmore made 29 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, goose-egging the Bears 1-0 Mar. 26. Only Vladimir Vorobiev scored... Albany defeated Kentucky 4-1 as John Madden had three points and Eric Bertrand two goals... It was only the second time in Albany franchise history the team went a full game without being called for a penalty. For that matter, Kentucky was only called for one... Albany now has four thirty goal scorers in their lineup - Bertrand, Madden, Jeff Williams and Steve Brule. No other team has more than one... Springfield knocked off Lowell 4-2 as Josh Green and Maxim Spiridonov went double up on power-play goals... Lonny Bohonos scored short-handed once and unassisted once as St. John's beat Syracuse 5-2 Mar. 26... Rochester nearly blew a 3-1 lead in the third period, allowing Adirondack three goals in less than three minutes. But Domenic Pittis tied the game and Craig Fisher scored the game-winner for a 5-4 Amerks win... Saint John finished a weekend sweep of Worcester with a 2-0 blanking Mar. 27. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 49 saves... Cincinnati's Tom Askey was also busy that night stopping 45 shots as the Ducks beat Albany 3-2. Mike Leclerc scored the winning goal... Portland finally won a game against Lowell, just their second in 11 tries, on Mar. 29. The Pirates picked up a 4-1 win as Trent Whitfield scored the game-winner... The Falcons sent a mere 14 shots JF Labbe's way Mar. 29, but three of them went in and Springfield went on to a 3-1 win... St. John's made it interesting against Hamilton Mar. 28, getting the tying goal with 15 seconds left in regulation and then getting an OT game-winner from Yuri Khmylev 27 seconds into the OT for a 3-2 win... Robert Esche stopped 43 for Springfield but another five got past him as Providence beat the Falcons 5-1 Mar. 28... That game featured the first goal of the season for Bob Beers, presently pulling double duty as a player for Providence and a TV color guy for Boston... Saint John picked up Allan Egeland from the IHL at the trade deadline and he had two goals and an assist as the Flames beat Portland 4-2 Mar. 28... The Phantoms didn't get a lead until there were only 34 seconds left in regulation, but Richard Park's late goal was good enough for a 5-4 win over New Haven Mar. 28. Peter White, Scott Levins and Marcus Nilsson all had two goals... John Madden had two goals including a short-handed game-winner as Albany took out Adirondack 3-2 on Mar. 28... Herbert Vasiljevs had two goals and two assists and Shawn Burr set up three, but Larry Courville and Matt Cooke had three points each too and Syracuse and Kentucky finished their Mar. 28 tilt in a 5-5 tie... Domenic Pittis had a day Mar. 28, as he played a regular shift for the Buffalo Sabres in an afternoon game in Buffalo and a regular shift for the Rochester Americans in an evening game in Rochester. He had two assists for the Amerks... Just call them Springfield South - the Hartford Wolfpack presently have eight former Falcons on the roster... Providence's Randy Robitaille seems assured of setting a new franchise record for points in a season. The record is 96... The sputtering Lock Monsters may not win their division after all, but they will lower their ticket prices back to reality next season. Plans are for tickets to run $9-$15, rather than the $35 they were this season... Cincinnati's Bob Wren has 18 games with multiple points so far this season... The best plus/minus figure for a T-Blade prior to this season was Ville Peltonen's +16. Nine current T-Blades are at that number or better... Goaltender Joaquin Gage is now with his third AHL team in a month. After playing for Portland and Providence, he's now with Syracuse... Nothing like finishing the month on a tear. Four players racked up a hat trick on March 31st... Adirondack hadn't won a game in their last ten, but Ryan Tobler scored both goals - in the first three minutes of the game - as the Wings set down Hamilton 2-1 Mar. 31... All those goals Jeff Williams has, and he didn't get a hat trick until Mar. 31. John Madden also had three points, as the Rats defeated Hershey 5-3... Jochen Hecht not only had a hat trick, he had a five point night. Didn't help Worcester much, as they dropped an 8-7 decision to Philadelphia in overtime. Shayne Toporowski and Richard Park each had four points on the night, and Chris Joseph scored the game-winner... A four point night for Saint John's Chris Clark too, as he picked up a hat trick in the Flames' 5-3 win over Syracuse Mar. 31... The double-duty man had a hat trick too. Domenic Pittis' trick included the game-winning goal as the Amerks took out Hartford 5-2 Mar. 31. Pittis had four points overall on the night, putting him in a tie for the AHL scoring lead... It was a Good Friday indeed, as the hat tricks keep on comin'. Peter Ferraro picked up one, along with an assist, as Providence gave Fredericton a royal 9-4 spanking Apr. 2... Cincinnati's Rastislav Pavlikovsky also had a hat trick that night as the Ducks beat Springfield 5-1. Tom Askey stopped 45 of 46 shots... The Phantoms took a 4-1 win over Kentucky on two goals by Mark Greig Apr. 2, extending their lead over the T-Blades in the division race... Syracuse, well, what can you say. The Crunch took a 3-0 lead on Hamilton into the third period and blew it big time, as Hamilton tied the game on a shortie by Jeff Daw and the game stayed 3-3... Adirondack lost to Hartford Apr. 2 under a Chris attack. Winnes, O'Sullivan and Kenady all scored for the 'pack... Albany squeaked out a 5-3 win over New Haven April 2 with two late goals. Eric Bertrand scored a pair... Martin Biron stopped 25 of 26 shots and lowered his GAA with a 3-1 win over Saint John Apr. 2. Dean Sylvester scored just seconds into the game... The St. John's Maple Leafs are unbeaten in five games despite allowing Lowell to come back and tie them 2-2 on Apr. 2... Mike Omicioli, all 5'5" of him, has a term paper due at Providence College this week. Instead of working on the paper, Omicioli scored the lone goal of Portland and Worcester's Apr. 2 tilt and Martin Brochu stopped 34 shots for the shutout... Omicioli scored again the next night but Fredericton took the game 4-2 on a pair of goals from Marc Beaucage... Paul Brousseau tied it up and Serge Aubin scored seconds into overtime as the Bears mounted a comeback against Cincinnati Apr. 3. The final was 3-2... Hamilton's Steve Passmore shut down the Amerks Apr. 3 and Fredrik Lindquist did the scoring as the Bulldogs won 3-1... Jean-Sebastien Giguere picked up a 23 save shutout and Martin St. Louis scored a pair and had an assist as the Flames took out the Red Wings 4-0 Apr. 3... Albany won against Syracuse Apr. 3 by a 3-1 score. Jeff Williams scored two, giving him the Rats' club record for goals in a season. John Madden scored short-handed and had an assist, giving him club records for short-handed goals, assists, and points in a season... Brent Johnson stopped 42 and the IceCats won 4-2 over Springfield Apr. 3. Derek Bekar the first and the last goals, the first short-handed... The Bruins kept up the firepower with a 6-4 win over New Haven, getting two goals each from Randy Robitaille, Annti Laaksonen and Peter Ferraro... That gave the Bruins an even 300 goals scored on the season. No other team has even reached the 260 mark, so Providence will be the only team accomplishing it this year... Marc Robitalle stopped all 30 Lowell shots Apr. 3 as St. John's won 1-0. It was Robitaille's first professional blanking. The only goal was scored by Dallas Eakins... The Kentucky Thoroughblades have won at least one game in every AHL building - except Albany's Pepsi Arena. Nothing changed on Easter as the Rats won 2-1... ================================================================ 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, Sergei Nemchinov. 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: Lyle Odelein, d (bruised knee, day-to-day); Jay Pandolfo, lw (bruised shoulder, day-to-day). Transactions: Assigned Ken Sutton, d, to Albany (AHL). Game Results: 3/25 Pittsburgh W 5-3 3/27 Chicago T 4-4 3/28 at Florida T 2-2 3/31 Anaheim W 7-1 4/03 at Pittsburgh W 4-2 4/04 NY Rangers W 4-1 4/06 at Carolina L 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell Does anyone even care about New Jersey? Apparently not. I'm not even going to write a Haiku. Screw it. Why waste the genius? ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK ISLANDERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Bill Stewart Roster: C - Trevor Linden, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Craig Janney, Brad Isbister, Mats Lindgren, Mike Kennedy. LW - Mike Watt, Mike Hough, Gino Odjick. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Joe Sacco, Mariusz Czerkawski, Kevin Miller, Mark Lawrence, Steve Webb, Warren Luhning. D - Kenny Jonsson, Richard Pilon, Eric Brewer, David Harlock, Barry Richter, Zdeno Chara, Ted Crowley, Vladimir Chebaturkin. G - Felix Potvin, Wade Flaherty, Stephen Valiquette. Injuries: Felix Potvin, g (groin, can return, but the team may sit him until next season); Brad Isbister, c (groin, day-to-day); Craig Janney, c (leg, out the rest of the season); Rich Pilon, d (back, day-to-day); Gino Odjick, lw (abdominal surgery, out for season). Transactions: 4-4-99 Assigned Marcel Cousineau, g, to Lowell (AHL). Recalled Stephen Valiquette, g, from Hampton Roads (ECHL). 3-29-99 Recalled Vladimir Chebaturkin, d, and Mike Kennedy, c, from Lowell (AHL). 3-24-99 Recalled Warren Luhning, rw, from Lowell (AHL). Game Results 3/24 at Carolina L 1-2 3/27 Ottawa L 3-7 3/29 at Rangers L 1-3 3/31 at Florida W 5-3 4/03 Anaheim T 2-2 TEAM NEWS by David Strauss So, another playoff-less season, a new coach, a team playing out the schedule. The Isles couldn't possibly have anything controversial happen to them, could they? To paraphrase Bugs Bunny, "You don't know them very well, do you?" Islanders coach Bill Stewart spent the last week apologzing to everyone within earshot for remarks he made after the team's 3-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden last week. Stewart had said the team does not have "the resources to go out and acquire some National Hockey League talent." The remarks were perceived by general manager Mike Milbury and the club's owners as being obnoxious and brash, though they might have been severely true. Stewart spoke of the recent additions of a number of young players and said the team was in "a training-camp mode" using young players. He indicated he apologized to Milbury and that Milbury accepted his apology. "I would like to end the banter back and forth," Stewart said. "Mike wants to stop it. I want to stop it. It's up to you [reporters] whether you stop it . . . My relationship with Mike has not changed one bit." Milbury is said to have been peeved that when he gave Stewart a vote of confidence on March 3rd, the new coach didn't express enthusiasm at his future with the Isles. Instead, he said, "We'll see where we go." Stewart has a window in his contract from May 8 to June 30 in case he wants to coach elsewhere. Though Stewart was 6-7-4 as coach at the time, the Isles have gone 2-9-3 since then, and suddenly he isn't so brash. "I don't think I explained myself properly," said Stewart. "We all make mistakes. It's a bigger man that steps up and admits it." Stewart said his intent was to stress that the Isles were in a rebuilding mode. "The way it was addressed on my part was inappropriate," he said. Milbury released a statement backing Stewart for the final games of this season, but stopping short of endorsing him for next year. There is strong speculation Milbury is considering replacing him with former Islander Butch Goring next season. Goring would serve two purposes: he is both a link to the team's glorious history, and he has also been a successful coach. He has a 373-272-76 coaching record in nine seasons in the AHL and IHL and has won two Turner Cups in the IHL with the Denver/Utah Grizzlies. This past summer, he rejected Milbury's offer to be an associate coach since he wanted to be in charge wherever he stayed. Goring also rejected a two-year, $700,000 contract offer from the Mighty Ducks for various reasons. There has also been talk that such former Isles as Dave Lewis and Bryan Trottier, who are both coaching elsewhere, would be considered for positions with the team as it attempts to connect with its past, but spokesmen for Trottier denied the Isles had contacted him, and although it was not reported, probably asked for money for answering the question. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK RANGERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: John Muckler Rosters: C - Wayne Gretzky, Manny Malhotra, Petr Nedved, Marc Savard, Christian Dube. LW - Brent Fedyk, Adam Graves, Darren Langdon, Kevin Stevens, Eric Lacroix. RW - Todd Harvey, Mike Knuble, John MacLean, Niklas Sundstrom, Mike Maneluk. D - Jeff Beukeboom, Brian Leetch, Stan Neckar, Peter Popovic,Ulf Samuelsson, Mathieu Schneider, Ruman Ndur, Chris Tamer, Rich Brennan. G - Mike Richter, Dan Cloutier. Injuries: Jeff Beukeboom, d (out for remainder of the season); Petr Nedved, c (torn ribcage muscle, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game Results 3/22 Tampa Bay L 6-3 3/24 Florida W 2-1 3/27 Philadelphia L 3-1 3/29 NY Islanders W 3-1 4/02 Anaheim L 4-1 4/04 New Jersey L 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Gregg Jensen, New York Rangers Correspondent YEE-HAW, I'M WAYNE GRETZKY! Wayne Gretzky scored the game-winner against the Islanders at the Garden on 3/29, giving him 1,072 goals in his professional career. He is now pro hockey's all-time leading goal-scorer. Gretzky is the Rangers point leader again this season, despite missing a month with a neck injury. Just a shame that #99 has to endure a season like this so late in his career when he should be contending for a Cup. BLUESHIRTS' "PLAN" JUST ISN'T WORKING One year ago today, in their 77th game of 1997-98, the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs. Now, if they lose tonight in Philadelphia in the 77th game of 1998-99 while the Bruins and Sabres both win at home, the Rangers will be eliminated from the NHL's 16-team post-season tournament for a second consecutive year. WHAT NOW? The Rangers have a busy summer ahead. First order of business would seem to be to re-sign Brian Leetch. If contract talks drag on into June, say so long to #2 come July 1st. If they find themselves in a situation similar to the Mark Messier fiasco, they will be going into the 1999-2000 season with their third Captain in four years. YOU HEARD IT HEAR FIRST...COME JULY 1st-LEETCH WALKS! Second on the agenda is OPEN THE CHECK BOOK! The Rangers MUST sign a bona fide goal scorer. They also need to beef up defensively. Beukeboom may not return next season---if ever, and they lost Ulf Samuelsson to the Wings. I would love to see Theo Fleury in a blue shirt, but why would he come to N.Y. when he is on a team that could contend for the Cup every year for the next five years? The Rangers are more than just one player away from contending, they are about four players away. Going into this season I was very optimistic about the team, and remained so up until the 6-3 loss to the lowly Lightning on March 22. I know now that this frustrating season is all but over. Hopefully, with the crop of young talent they have, next year will be an exciting year, a playoff year. I do think Gretzky will be back. He is so close to 3,000 points (900 goals/2,100 assists). He has one year remaining on his contract with the Rangers for five million. The Rangers should exercise that option after the end of the season. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Roger Neilson Roster: C - Rod Brind'Amour, Marc Bureau, Daymond Langkow, Eric Lindros. LW - Mikael Andersson, Craig Berube, Colin Forbes, John LeClair, Roman Vopat, Valeri Zelepukin. RW - Jody Hull, Keith Jones, Sandy McCarthy, Mark Recchi, Mikael Renberg, Dainius Zubrus. D - Eric Desjardins, Steve Duchesne, Karl Dykhuis, Dan McGillis, Luke Richardson, Chris Therien, Dmitri Tertyshny. G - Ron Hextall, Jean-Marc Pelletier, John Vanbiesbrouck. Injuries: Eric Desjardins, d (torn ACL, out indefinitely), Steve Duchesne, d (sprained knee and wrist, day-to-day), John LeClair, lw (sore back, day-to-day), Eric Lindros, c (collapsed lung, out indefinitely), Mark Recchi, rw (post concussion syndrome, out indefinitely). Transactions: none. Game results: 03/27 Rangers W 3-1 03/28 at Detroit L 3-2 OT 03/30 Carolina T 3-3 04/01 at Nashville W 2-1 04/03 at Boston L 3-0 04/05 Rangers L 5-1 TEAM NEWS by Chuck Michio, Philadelphia Correspondent WOO HOO! As a concession to the many friends who continuously hound me to say something positive in this column, here's a happy thought right off the bat. The Flyers have clinched a playoff spot. There. Did that do the job? I sure hope so because that's about the last ounce of positivity I can muster for this increasingly hapless team. And unfortunately, the credit for that one piece of good news belongs to the Florida Panthers, not the boys in orange and black. The Panthers guaranteed the Flyers invitation to the big dance when they Kevorkianed themselves out of the realm of playoff possibility by losing 3-0 to the Caps. Appropriately, the Flyers had no chance to celebrate. They were busy shrugging off one of their ugliest defeats of the season, a 5-1 beating at the hands of a pitiful Rangers squad. At least the game wasn't without highlights. For starters, goalie Ron Hextall allowed the absolute worst goal of his career (high praise, eh?) on a fluttering backhand dump-in from center ice. Then there was the embarrassing behind-the-net collision between Hextall and Chris Therien that resulted in an early Christmas present for Kevin Stevens. And then there was the play that effectively ended the contest, Valeri Zelepukin's mind-boggling empty-net miss. Not only did the blunder cost the Flyers a chance to cut the Rangers lead to 2-1, it resulted in a 4-on-2 Rangers rush and an easy rebound goal for Mathieu Schneider. After covering this team for the past few months, I ask myself, what's next for me? A crippling car accident? Genital cancer? Sexual assault at the hands of an escaped mountain gorilla? Rectal surgery? Calgon, take me away! Go Phillies! EXCUSES, EXCUSES... Sure, it's possible to dismiss the Rangers debacle as the result of an incredible run of injuries to the orange and black. While other teams whine about the loss of one All-Star, the Flyers currently have four of the league's best players out of their lineup. And with the injuries to Lindros, Recchi, and Desjardins looking particularly serious, that situation is unlikely to change anytime soon. All that considered, injuries will be a hollow excuse for the inevitable early playoff exit the Flyers will make in the next few weeks. I'm sure that many observers will call for Bob Clarke to stand pat and bring back this nucleus for one more shot, but I've seen more than enough. Even without the injuries, the Flyers were going nowhere. Their defense is embarrassingly shaggy, their goaltending has been consistently atrocious, and they've played horribly down the stretch - not exactly characteristics of the old Islanders dynasty. Perhaps worst of all, the Flyers still lack a true leader - the type of player to help a club through the inevitable rough stretches that crop up over an eight-month season. That shortcoming was particularly evident during the club's recent record winless streak. This is clearly a team with a fragile ego. After embarking on one of the most impressive unbeaten streaks in franchise history, the Flyers went almost a month without a win. Not even the pathetic squads that missed the playoffs for four consecutive years EVER went that long without a "W." It's a damning statistic. For two years now, Bob Clarke has tinkered and tinkered, attempting to find just the right group of secondary players to support his core group of stars. Clearly, that approach isn't working. In my opinion, it's time for Lindros to go. Sure, he's shown flashes of brilliance during his Flyers tenure, and sure he's capable of winning a championship for the Flyers almost all by himself. Well, Randall Cunningham was once capable of winning the Eagles a championship almost all by himself, and we know how that worked out. Hockey is a game where many games are played, but few matter. And in the games that have mattered most, Lindros has fallen woefully short. He did it in the Olympics for Canada and he's done it continually in the playoffs for the Flyers. I define his Flyers career by his failed guarantee of victory in Florida a few years back and his give-away-plagued series against Detroit in the finals two years ago - not the Hart Trophy that he won for dominating regular-season play. I'm tired of waiting for this guy to turn into another Messier. I'm tired of waiting for the Flyers to acquire a more fiery personality under his leadership. You don't significantly remove bad karma from a locker room by swapping Trent Klatt for Jody Hull. If the Flyers want to change their personality, they need to make more significant changes. I'd like to see what they could accomplish without Lindros in the equation. All that said, I don't believe that Clarke will trade #88, especially now that he's likely through for the season. Lindros' collapsed lung almost guarantees that he'll get another shot. And that's not necessarily such a bad thing. Maybe Clarke could reinvent this team by simply finding a true leader to guide the ship. And maybe Lindros could finally achieve his potential if he could be just one of the guys. Has anyone else noticed how much the current Flyers resemble the Phillies of the mid-to-late 70s? Both teams featured a ton of marquee talent and hovered near the top of the standings for several years. Both featured superstars (Mike Schmidt and Eric Lindros) with highly questionable leadership abilities. And both teams were predicted to win championships, but fell short. The Phillies eventually did win, but only after they acquired Pete Rose, a proven leader and one of the great clutch players of all-time. Not only did Rose help transform a team with a reputation for choking into one of the grittiest outfits in baseball history, he also removed the crippling mantle of leadership from Schmidt. Predictably, the great slugger had some of his greatest seasons during Rose's stay in Philly. I sincerely believe the Flyers need to follow the same blueprint. Some are meant to lead and some are meant to follow. Eric Lindros is a follower. As long as he serves as the leader of the Flyers, they'll continue to come up short when the chips are down. Are you listening, Clarkie? If you're not going to ship out Lindros, go out there and find a new go-to guy. NOTHING COULD BE FINER THAN TO BE IN CAROLINA Any hope that the Flyers might survive the first round of the playoffs seems contingent on one thing - a possible matchup with the very beatable Carolina Hurricanes. Fortunately, it seems like a pretty good possibility. Thanks to the new playoff format, Carolina will surely finish third in the Eastern Conference. That would match them up with the sixth seed, the spot the Flyers currently hold down. Ironically, this is one situation where losing might not be a bad idea. The Flyers currently rank just behind Pittsburgh, with the same number of points but less wins. And with the Penguins currently floundering, even a couple Flyers wins in their last five games might propel them past Pittsburgh into the fifth spot in the conference. That would mean a date with the scary Maple Leafs. Of course, losing could spring another catch. Buffalo is currently just three points behind the Flyers, and the Sabres have two games in hand. And if both the Sabres and the Pens finish ahead of Philly, the Flyers would be doomed to a seventh-place finish, and a first-round appointment with New Jersey. Gulp. For lack of a better option, maybe it's time to call on the power of prayer. Please, God, please. Let them finish sixth. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Kevin Constantine Roster: C - Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina, Tyler Wright. LW - German Titov, Kip Miller, Matthew Barnaby, Dan Kesa. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Aleksey Morozov, Robby Brown, Martin Sonnenberg. D - Darius Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher, Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Ian Moran, Sven Butenschon, Bobby Dollas, Neil Wilkinson, Jeff Serowik, Victor Ignatjev, Maxim Galanov, Pavel Skrbek. G - Tom Barrasso, Peter Skudra, Jean-Sebastien Aubin. Injuries: Tom Barrasso, g (hand, couple weeks); Victor Ignatjev, d (shoulder, couple weeks); Jeff Serowik, d (concussion, indefinite); Kevin Hatcher, d (broken foot, couple weeks); Darius Kasparaitis, d (knee surgery, done for the season); Maxim Galanov, d (shoulder, indefinite). Transactions: Recalled a bunch of scrubs. Game Results 3/25 at New Jersey L 5-3 3/27 Buffalo T 1-1 3/28 at Buffalo L 4-3 3/30 Ottawa L 6-4 4/01 at Ottawa T 3-3 4/03 New Jersey L 4-2 4/05 at Buffalo L 3-1 TEAM NEWS by Jerry Fairish Lose a player, lose a game. Lose another player, lose another game. Lose a player...do you see a trend building? If you want, you may substitute lose a game with tie a game, but when it comes down to it the Penguins haven't been able to record a win since March 25 when they beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2. This is not the time to fall into a downward spiral. With only a handful of games left, the Penguins are carrying zero momentum into the playoffs. The plague of injuries they've suffered they've had to manage with guys that a lot of people have probably never heard of. The latest of these injuries was to backup goaltender J.S. Aubin, who was replacing Tom Barrasso who is still out with a broken wrist. Late in the second period against New Jersey on Saturday, Aubin reached out to make a glove save and pulled a hamstring. Aubin was finally starting to come into his own. He is leading all rookie goaltenders in goals-against average, and playing with tremendous confidence. Aubin is a strong goaltender with good angles and doesn't over commit on a shooter. He waits for the shot, and then robs a goal with a quick glove or a leg pad. I'm calling it now and you'll believe me in a few years; Aubin is the real thing and will be a quality starter for a club in the future, I just hope it's here in Pittsburgh. Now that I think of it, I just hope the Penguins will be here in the future. As the old hockey adage goes, "Defense wins games." Well, in the case of the Pens this would explain the recent streak of non-winning. The Pens have six defensemen on the shelf along with two goaltenders. How do you expect to win games having to overcome this deficit? I mean they could always hold a "Be a professional hockey player for a day" contest to try and find some help. They do it in Tampa Bay, why not here. Oh, they don't do it in Tampa Bay? Well, what the hell is going on down there? You mean all of their players were drafted? I'm telling you there is no room for expansion. Do you really want an entire league of Tampa Bays? Hell no, nobody does. So write your local congressman and let him know how you feel. Finally, I have received zero fan mail. None. Zip. Zilch. Do you smell what I'm cookin'? Does nobody like me? Do you all hate me? Then I hate you too. Unless you like me, then I like you too. It's a give and take relationship. So write to me. I promise I'll answer, I mean how long does it take to answer zero e-mails? Hold on, I'll answer all this season's fan mail...I'm done. Thank you. ================================================================= ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE NORTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- BOSTON BRUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Burns Roster: C - Jason Allison, Anson Carter, Joe Thornton, Tim Taylor, Shawn Bates. LW - Sergei Samsonov, Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Peter Ferraro, Ken Belanger, Landon Wilson. RW - Dimitri Khristich, Steve Heinze, Per Johan Axelsson, Cameron Mann, Randy Robitaille. D - Ray Bourque, Don Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe, Grant Ledyard, Mattias Timander, Brandon Smith. G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas. Injuries: None. Transactions: Recalled Shawn Bates, c, from Providence (AHL). Game Results 3/25 Chicago T 3-3 3/27 at Toronto T 2-2 3/30 Los Angeles L 2-1 4/01 at Montreal W 3-2 4/03 Philadelphia W 3-0 4/05 Montreal W 3-0 TEAM NEWS by Matt Brown The Bruins have all but clinched a berth in the playoffs, aided by the inability of the teams trailing them to win when it counts. But even if New York, Florida, Montreal, and Washington had won most of their recent games, they would not have gained appreciably on Boston. The Bruins, led by the ironman goaltending of Byron Dafoe, have taken 10 points out of their last seven games, including wins over Ottawa and Philadelphia, and a tie with Toronto. The Bruins continue to lead the NHL in penalty killing, and their power play has started to work. Dafoe's goals-against average has been a lowly 1.77 over the past 10 games, meaning that the opposition hasn't been tallying much at full strength either. Over the last two weeks, the Bruins have scored twice as many goals as their opponents (18-9), while Dafoe has rung up three shutouts. Dafoe now has 10 shutouts for the season, leading the NHL. The last Bruins goalie to match those numbers, Frankie Brimsek, played 60 years ago in the 1930s (and by the way is in the Hockey Hall of Fame). Byron still has several games to play, so he could even improve on those stats. Not bad for a guy who got left off the All-Star ballot. Dafoe has been key - Byron has held the Bruins in many games, and few are the bad goals he has given up. But much of the credit also has to go to the overall defensive system that Pat Burns has installed. It keeps the chances down. If you look back, all of Pat's teams have had great goaltending, or so it seemed. After all, Patrick Roy never coughed up nine goals in a game while Burns was coach, and Felix Potvin had his best seasons with Toronto under Burns' tenure. When Byron does get beat, it is usually because the execution of the system has broken down first - you will hear the play-by-play guy say "The Bruins are running around in their own zone." Fortunately, that seems to be happening less and less as the Bruins enter crunch time. Another way in which fortune has favored the Bruins, so far, is that injuries have been few and far between. A bump or a stitch here and there, a muscle pull that cost Rob DiMaio a game, a groin that kept Darren Van Impe on the sideline for four games, but that's about it. No Pavel Bure ripped up knees, or Doug Gilmour bad backs, or Eric Lindros collapsed lungs. By contrast, a rival like Montreal traded away two top players, and faced the Bruins with another three of their top scorers in the MASH unit. It is no wonder that the Bruins beat them twice within a week's time, and sent the Canadiens golfing. Even still, Burns has been mixing up the lines. Most coaches, you'd think, would stick with tried and true combinations this time of the year, with a playoff berth on the line. Not so with Burns. He has shifted players enough during the season that most have played together before, and moving a player or two around now serves more to wake the guys up and deflate any complacency they might have. It also gives the team an edge in flexibility in a playoff series, where matchups can be all-important. If an opposing team can match up to shut down a line, and their opponents cannot adjust to break down that matchup, goodbye in five. On the other hand, if the Bruins can substitute a beefy Anson Carter for speedy Sergei Samsonov, to mess up the first line and second line matchups, the Bruins will be that much better off. Samsonov will outskate the bruiser who was supposed to check Carter, and Carter will rock the guy who was supposed to be pestering Sammy. In the Montreal game, Burns essentially swapped Jason Allison with Joe Thornton, and both Samsonov and Carter responded with goals. That has got to build locker room confidence for all involved. Anson Carter, by the way, has been hot, acting as a one-man wrecking crew against Montreal. With the Canadiens leading 2-0 on a couple of typically cheap Forum (er, Molson Centre) first period goals, Carter dished two assists before scoring the game- winner himself. He also scored a goal on a blistering one-timer against the Habs in Boston's 3-0 win that sent the Canadiens home. His linemate Steve Heinze has been feasting off Carter, scoring a couple off Carter rebounds to break the 20-goal plateau. Both Carter and Heinze can look out of it for much of the game, just missing passes and dribbling the puck around pointlessly in the corners, and then be Johnny-on-the-spot in front of the net just when least expected to drive home a winner. The fact is that their physical style of play -- Carter by bumping and skating, and Heinze by having an incredible knack for getting in the way of opponents, and tying them in knots in the process of forcing them to draw yet another tripping penalty -- bedevils opponents, disrupts their attacking, and forces them to defend more than planned. Essentially, the Bruins forwards are at their best when they are forcing their opponents to play the Bruins game. The so-called checking line of Rob DiMaio, PJ Axelsson, and Tim Taylor may not be scoring leaders, but every shift they are a threat to score. They are constantly deflecting passes, tying up the highest scorers in the opponent's end of the ice, and generally disrupting the other team's offensive flow. The second line, usually matched with the other team's second line, also has players who have learned to take the game to the opposition. One of the things that Anson Carter has improved on considerably is his ability to intercept that first pass out of the opponent's zone and bear down on a defender. He has started a serious number of two-on-one rushes in the last four or so games, and the results are good scoring chances, if not game-winners. The other biggest news around Boston is that the Bruins are talking Krog. Jason Krog, University of New Hampshire senior captain and Hobey Baker award winner (best US college hockey player in 1999) is an undrafted free agent and he is talking contract with the Bruins. Word is that the Rangers and Panthers are also in the hunt, but only one of these teams will make the playoffs, and you would think Jason would be smart enough to go with the leader. Then again, the Bruins have a way of negotiating their way out of promising players, so we'll have to wait a few days to see the result -- Krog will sign with somebody before the end of the week. With the Bruins, he'd have the chance to either join an NHL playoff bound team, or go to Providence to play for the Bruins affiliate, only the best team in the AHL, and potential Calder Cup champs. Not a bad deal. Krog is no savior, and he wouldn't be asked to be one. It is not even sure he would end up on the Bruins playoff roster, because Burns isn't likely to let some college kid come in and mess up the system. But Krog could certainly get some spot duty with the Bruins just before the end of the season, maybe resting a veteran or two, and getting his feet wet in the NHL. Then he could go down to Providence and lend a hand, replacing players like Shawn Bates or Cameron Mann who might end up sticking with the Boston club for the playoffs. One of the biggest media flaps this week, aside from the chaos surrounding Rick Pitino and his Pitino-ful Celtics, was swirling around Assistant GM Mike O'Connell's "innocent" remarks about Sergei Samsonov. Asked by a Boston Herald writer about a min-slump Sergei was experiencing, O'Connell, somewhat condescendingly related it to reduced ice time -- if you aren't on the ice as much, you don't score as much. This was of course translated by the media into a slap at Pat Burns' coaching decisions, one of which involved giving Sergei the hook late in some close games, and sending him out for fewer shifts when he had noticeably off nights. Now, this is the same treatment Burns metes out to all his charges, and you have to admit that compared to the rough riding that Joe Thornton has gotten from Burns at times when he made a flub or two, Samsonov has had it real easy. Now that Thornton has gotten the Pat Burns' religion, maybe it's Samsonov's turn do some penance for his occasional on-ice indiscretions. When confronted with O'Connell's comments, positioned as meddling, Pat took the bait and respectfully let the Assistant GM know who is coaching the Bruins: "I don't question his drafts. He has pressure once a year, and that's the 27th of June or whenever the draft is." Don't hold back, Pat, tell us how you feel. Actually, Burns said a lot more, but all of it was intended to protect the team and the coaching staff from getting wedged against management by media weasels (present company included). The funny thing is, Samsonov has had three goals in the last four games, and guess who Pat Burns was double-shifting against Montreal? If you are a long-time fan of NHL hockey you have just got to love it. Makes you wonder how Burns would have reacted if he had been coach when O'Connell went into the locker room and took Adam Oates over the coals a few years ago for his comments that the team wasn't strong enough to win in the playoffs. ----------------------------------------------------------------- BUFFALO SABRES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Lindy Ruff Roster: C - Michael Peca, Brian Holzinger, Curtis Brown, Wayne Primeau. LW - Joe Juneau, Dixon Ward, Stu Barnes, Michal Grosek, Paul Kruse, Randy Cunneyworth. RW - Vaclav Varada, Geoff Sanderson, Miroslav Satan, Rob Ray. D - Darryl Shannon, Jason Woolley, Alexei Zhitnik, Jay McKee, Richard Smehlik, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, James Patrick, Rhett Warrener. G - Dominik Hasek, Dwayne Roloson. Injuries: None. Transactions: Re-assigned Martin Biron, g, to Rochester (AHL). Recalled Domenic Pittis, c, from Rochester (3/27) and re-assigned Pittis to Rochester (3/28). Game Results 03/24 at Detroit L 2-1 03/27 at Pittsburgh T 1-1 03/28 Pittsburgh W 4-3 OT 03/31 at Chicago L 2-1 04/03 at Montreal L 2-1 04/05 Pittsburgh W 3-1 TEAM NEWS by Matt Barr Gaining Ground Referring of course not so much to the muddling-along, still-seventh-place Sabres, but the surging Boston Bruins, who by virtue of a 13-4-4 string find themselves tied with the Sabres for seventh place in the East as of this writing. Both teams are perched at 83 points, three back of the Penguins and Flyers. The stakes are fairly high: the seventh and eighth seeds when the season mercifully ends will open up the playoffs at New Jersey and Ottawa, clearly the class of a wild, wacky Conference, while the fifth and sixth will face Carolina and Toronto. The Penguins, beset by injuries to key players and rancor between their best player and their coach, and the Flyers, whose recent travails we hesitate to call "injury problems" in light of the Eric Lindros near-tragedy but who, let's face it, have been missing John LeClair, Mark Recchi and Eric Desjardins, too, would seem to be ripe for the picking. Unfortunately, Boston seems to be the team taking advantage in the standings. The Sabres did beat up Matthew Barnaby and the Penguins for five out of a possible six points in the last two weeks, contributing in a big way to Pittsburgh's 0-5-2 slide, but continue to struggle against the lesser lights. The fortnight started with a doomed-from-the-start game at Joe Louis Arena. The game was the Red Wing debut of Chris Chelios, Wendel Clark and we think possibly Harold Snepsts, played on the road the night after an emotional, critical tie against Conference power New Jersey, and the ice sucked big time. Sure, two teams have to skate on the same ice, but still. Sabres were slipping around all night. A hard-fought noontime home-and-home with the Penguins followed. Barnaby made a spectacle of himself, particularly after scoring his team's lone goal on the 27th. Rob Ray wasted a double minor and smacked him in the head on Sunday, though. Affairs against Chicago and Montreal, 1999 draft lottery participants, made one wonder why this organization would mortgage its future by dealing Mike Wilson away. Monday night the Sabres took points four and five in ten days from Pittsburgh, prompting Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Constantine to have it out in a closed-door session afterwards. The bad news is that of the team's seven remaining games (as of this writing), three are against the Islanders, Panthers and Capitals. The worse news is that they get Ottawa and Jersey on the wrong ends of back-to-back games. After the April 6 game against the Islanders, the Sabres will have one game in hand on both the Penguins and the Flyers. The Bruins will have six remaining, same as Buffalo. Juneau and Warrener Join the Fun The team acquired Joey Juneau and Rhett Warrener at the deadline, but just as significant, it cleared out some extra bodies in Mike Wilson and Derek Plante, the latter of whom wasn't playing much and the former who shouldn't have been. Now guys like Randy Cunneyworth and Domenic Pittis can sit in the press box during the playoffs instead of a couple of youngsters with grudges. Juneau hasn't helped a woeful power play, ranked around 25th in the league still since his acquisition, but Warrener has impressed with his un-Wilsonlike taking of the body. What is this thing called "bodycheck" you speak of? Hasek Has Small Hernia Dominik Hasek left the team for a couple days after the trade deadline to see a soft tissue specialist in Munich. He was diagnosed as having a "small hernia," something you wouldn't think it would take a trip to Germany to discover, but what do we know. As someone who once had a small hernia, until it got a lot bigger trying to carry a dresser down the stairs, you can't help but wince every time Hasek does the splits. He claims to have quite a load off his shoulders now that he knows why he's still got that twinge down there, so I guess we're all for that. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MONTREAL CANADIENS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Alain Vigneault Roster: C - Saku Koivu, Scott Thornton, Trent McLeary, Serguei Zholtok. LW - Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Terry Ryan, Brian Savage, Dave Morissette, Patrick Poulin. RW - Dainius Zubrus, Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund, Jason Dawe. D - Vladimir Malakhov, Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Brett Clark, Miloslav Guren, Craig Rivet, Igor Ulanov, Eric Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine, Scott Lachance. G - Frederic Chabot, Jeff Hackett. Injuries: Benoit Brunet, lw (back injury, undetermined); Patrice Brisebois, d (sternal-clavicular separation, undetermined); Jeff Hackett, g (hip flexor, day-to-day); Vladimir Malakhov, d (sprained knee, undetermined); Craig Rivet, d (pulled groin, day-to-day). Transactions: 03/23 Vincent Damphousse traded to San Jose Sharks in exchange for two draft picks. 03/23 Center JF Jomphe acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes for future considerations. 03/23 Andrei Bashkirov recalled from Fredericton. 03/26 Miloslav Guren recalled fron Fredericton. 03/31 Dave Morisette recalled from Fredericton. 03/31 JF Jomphe recalled from Fredericton. 04/02 Jose Theodore recalled from Fredericton. Game Results: 03/24 at Edmonton W 2-0 03/25 at Calgary L 2-1 03/27 at Vancouver L 5-1 04/01 Boston L 3-2 04/03 Buffalo W 2-1 04/05 at Boston L 3-0 TEAM NEWS by Jacques Robert It's Already Over Since 1909 the Habs have never been eliminated so soon. With six games remaining in the regular season, players, coaches and managers can start polishing their golf clubs. A 3-0 loss against Boston and a Buffalo win against Pittsburgh made it official: for the tenth time in ninety years, including the second time in five years, hockey fans in Montreal will have to cheer for another team. Habs fans will have to work on their patience while management tries to rebuild a winning team. "It's been hard all season," Canadiens coach Alain Vigneault said. "We've still got six games to play the best we can and then will evaluate after that." Young players can use those games to leave a lasting impression on the coaches since so many regulars are on the injury list. Plus, Shayne Corson can't return to the ice before April 13 because of a six-game suspension for an on-ice incident and a related off-ice confrontation with Ed Jovanovski of the Vancouver Canucks. A week ago, hopes were still alive, but with a long injury list, which includes goalie Jeff Hackett, the miracle didn't happen. The only good news was backup goaltender Fred Chabot's first win of the season against Buffalo on April 3. No hockey in May. That is a situation Montrealers are not used to, and Habs management knows it. There was even a rumor that every body except for Jacques Lemaire would be fired and one that said that the team had some financial difficulties and could be sold. So far attendance has not been a problem with 15 sell outs out of 38 games. However, GM Rejean Houle will have a busy summer if he wants to keep fans interested next season. ----------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA SENATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Martin Roster: C - Alexei Yashin, Vaclav Prospal, Radek Bonk, Shaun Van Allen, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Martins. LW - Shawn McEachern, Magnus Arvedson, Bill Berg, Ted Donato, Andreas Johansson. RW - Marian Hossa, Daniel Alfredsson, Andreas Dackell, Nelson Emerson. D - Lance Pitlick, Patrick Traverse, Chris Phillips, Sami Salo, Wade Redden, Janne Laukkanen, Igor Kravchuk. G - Damian Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt. Injuries: Feb 20 - Chris Phillips, sprained right ankle, 6 weeks; Feb 20 - Patrick Travese, separated shoulder, 4-6 weeks, ready as of Mar. 24; Feb 28 - Nelson Emerson, separated shoulder (with Chicago), 2-3 weeks; Mar 04 - Wade Redden, right shoulder, returned Mar. 24; Mar 06 - Bruce Gardiner, bruised foot (right), returned Mar. 24; Mar 17 - Daniel Alfredsson, abdominal strain, returned Mar. 30; Mar 19 - Sami Salo, groin injury, Day-to-day; Apr 03 - Igor Kravchuk, back strain, Day-to-day. Transactions: Mar 23 - Nelson Emerson acquired from Chicago for Chris Murray; Mar 24 - John Gruden emergency recall cancelled, returned to Detroit (IHL). Game Results 03/24 Boston L 3-0 03/26 San Jose T 1-1 03/27 at NY Islanders W 7-3 03/30 at Pittsburgh W 6-4 04/01 Pittsburgh T 3-3 04/03 at Florida W 6-4 04/05 at Tampa Bay T 4-4 TEAM NEWS by The Nosebleeders In the NHL it is said that there are two seasons. The regular season and the playoffs. The Nosebleeders like to think of the post-trading deadline the end of the regular season as a season unto itself - thus kinda like a third season. During this period we see a number of teams try to shore up for the playoffs with rental players, while others shed the old guard as they make moves for next season. In general, only the playoff and near- playoff teams count during this period. Last season the surging Senators fought into the playoffs and obtained a first-round upset over the New Jersey Devils. This season the Senators are in a very different position, as they have led the Conference and the Division for most of the season. With first-round playoff upsets the norm in the NHL, the Senators are working to ensure that they are using this period wisely. The Senators enter the post-trading deadline period having won some impressive games and looking like a team that is ready to make a mark in the playoffs. They are not a team that will likely go lightly, having shown a resilience to bounce back. What they lack in talent, they more than make up in desire. Maybe it's this ability to bounce back that coach Martin wants to drill into the team as they use this period to prepare for the playoffs. Maybe it's just that he doesn't want the team to go into the playoff with the pressure of finishing first in the Eastern Conference. Whatever it is, the Nosebleeders are left wondering what to expect for the playoffs. With less than two weeks to go the Senators seemed to have gone into a shell. While still continuing to outshoot opponents almost each game (each of their last seven games) over the last two weeks, they did not look consistent. They took a total of nine points out of 14 possible posting a 3-1-3 record. At times, the Sens looked like a powerhouse, eating opponents raw, while at other times they seemed barely able to get into the game. While a 3-1-3 record over the their last seven games is nine regular season points, the three ties could very well become three overtime losses in the playoffs and thus a playoff series losing 3-4 record. Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings have started an impressive winning streak as has Boston and New Jersey. In six of their last seven games this period, the opposing team has scored first. The Senators seemed to make a game of spotting the opposition a goal or two; they spotted the Penguins three goals before coming back to win 6-4. The very next game, they opened up a three-goal lead against the same Penguins before letting them back into the game to tie 3-3. Bruins prepare for a possible playoff matchup Led by Jason Allison converting a penalty shot, the Boston Bruins sent a message to the Eastern Conference leaders - they did not get an answer back, yet. A likely first-round playoff matchup would see the Senators play the Bruins - and to see them enter Sens home turf and soundly win was not a good sign. The Bruins entered the game with a red hot penalty killing unit. None of the Senators' five chances in the game netted results and the Bruins left Kanata with 30 penalty kills in a row. The controversial penalty shot was called when Jason York downed Allison on a breakaway. Replays indicated that a minor penalty would have sufficed but the penalty shot was whistled. Quoted after the game, Allison indicated his approach to taking a penalty shot against Ron Tugnutt: "I played with Ron before so I know he knows my moves...I just wanted to get in close and get him moving sideways. I did that and I was able to lift it over him." * The Sens franchise-record seven-game home winning streak was ended. * The shutout allowed Byron Dafoe to tie Dominik Hasek for the league lead at eight. * The game marked the return of the Sens from a six-game road trip. * Boston improved to 14-2-2 all-time in Ottawa, and stretched its unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1). * The Senators have lost the season series to Boston (2-3-0) - having finished 20 season series, this is their only season series loss to date. Quiz time Who holds the record for most shutouts in the regular season? Shark bait or bait for Sharks, or both A back-and-forth game with the San Jose sharks ended in a 1-1 tie. Wade Redden scored with 46 seconds left in the third period to break a six-period plus Sens scoreless streak and lift the team to the tie. Redden was skating unchecked and wide open as he passed the blue line and took a pass from Yashin and then beat Vernon for his eighth goal of the year. "It was like the Red Sea opened up for me," Redden said - hey Wade, are you color blind or something, San Jose is some kind bluish/greenish color. * Despite firing nine shots at Vernon in the game, it was Alexei Yashin's face-off and playmaking skills that allowed him to obtain his 80th point. Yashin won a key faceoff in the Ottawa zone and then made the pass to Redden who netted the game-tying goal. Yashin's 80 points ties the club record that he set in the 1993-94 season. Stanley visits Ottawa The Stanley Cup visited the Jim Durrell Arena this period - fans were in good spirit as they got a chance to have their pictures taken with the Cup. Kudos to the NHL for the 99 Stanley tour. New York Islanders The Senators defeated the New York Islanders 7-3, extending their record since January 6th, 1996 against the Isles to 11-0-3. The Islanders managed to stay with the Senators for nearly two full periods before the Senators got their scoring machine going. "I think we got exploited by a very efficient hockey club," Islanders coach Bill Stewart said. Ex-Islander Ted Donato factored into the scoring with a goal. * Sens have won all four games this season against the Islanders, outscoring them 24-8. Home-and-home against the Penguins The league's leading scorer showed what he can do as the Penguins and Senators met for a home-and-home series. In the first game, Jagr (two assists and a goal) paced the Penguins to a 3-0 lead before the Senators managed to comeback and win 6-4. Back in Ottawa, Jagr (two goals and an assist) helped erase the Sens' 3-0 lead as they tied Ottawa 3-3. * The win in Pittsburgh was the first ever for the Senators. Ottawa had been 0-13-3 all-time at the Civic Arena. * An excited Sami Salo netted three goals in Pittsburgh. "I never scored three goals before," Salo said. "I've had two goals and some points, but never three goals. I feel unbelievable." Unselfish Andreas Dackell gave Salo his third goal, passing the puck to Salo on a break against the Penguins' empty net. * In Ottawa, Radek Bonk scored twice to stake Ottawa to a 3-0 lead. Panthers' loss puts them nine points back of playoff spot The Senators visited the Florida Panthers and soundly defeated the Panthers 6-4, behind Alexei Yashin's four-point performance. * The win marked a record-tying fifth straight road win for the Senators. This-a-thata * The Senators are the least penalized team in the NHL. The team is averaging 10.9 PIM's per game. * Radek Bonk has matched his season high 16 goals. * The Sens have already established or tied 24 team and individual records. * Both Nelson Emerson and Chris Phillips are expected to return from injury in the next week. * The team has 13 home sellouts to date this season. Daigle scores! The Ottawa Senators played Alexandre Daigle's Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-4 draw. Ted Donato, Shaun Van Allen and Magnus Arvedson scored in a 5:33 span of the second period for Ottawa, erasing a 3-1 deficit before Daigle's equalizer. Ottawa traded the underachieving Daigle to Philadelphia last season, and he now calls Tampa home. * The Senators have now gone six straight games without a loss. The blank answer goes here You have to go a ways back for this answer, but if you look close you will see one Ottawa goaltender on the list who has twice had 15 shutout seasons. The season record is 22 set by George Hainsworth (Montreal Canadians) 1928-29 - 44 games played. Tied at second are Alex Connell (Ottawa Senators) 1925-26 - 36 games played and 1927-28 - 44 games played, Hal Winkler (Boston Bruins) 1927-28 - 44 games played, and Tony Esposito (Chicago Blackhawks) 1969-70 - 63 games played. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Quinn Roster: C - Mats Sundin, Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley. LW - Fredrik Modin, Steve Thomas, Todd Warriner, Derek King, Kris King, Igor Korolev, Garry Valk, Ladislav Kohn, Lonny Bohonos. RW - Sergei Berezin, Tie Domi, Mike Johnson, David Nemirovsky. D - Bryan Berard, Sylvain Cote, Dimitri Yushkevich, Alexander Karpovtsev, Jason Smith, Daniil Markov, Glen Featherstone, Tomas Kaberle, Yanick Tremblay, Chris McAllister. G - Curtis Joseph, Glenn Healy. Injuries: Igor Korolev, lw (broken finger, indefinite); Alyn McCauley, c (concussion, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game Results 3/26 at Carolina W 7-2 3/27 Boston T 2-2 3/31 at Vancouver W 6-5 4/01 at Edmonton W 5-1 4/03 at Calgary W 5-1 4/05 St. Louis T 2-2 TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell Pick up a damn newspaper, ya lazy bastard. ================================================================ ================================================================ 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, Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron, Andrei Kovalenko, Craig Macdonald. LW - Gary Roberts, Martin Gelinas, Paul Ranheim, Bates Battaglia. D - Paul Coffey, Steve Chiasson, Glen Wesley, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean Hill, Dave Karpa, Nolan Pratt, Marek Malik, Steve Halko, Mike Rucinski. G - Trevor Kidd, Arturs Irbe. Injuries: Glen Wesley D (day-to-day, ankle), Steve Chiasson D (day-to-day, shoulder), Curtis Leschyshyn D (day-to-day, groin). Transactions: Called up D Mike Rucinski from New Haven of AHL. Game Results: 3/24 NY Islanders W 2-1 3/26 Toronto L 7-2 3/28 Tampa Bay T 3-3 OT 3/30 at Philadelphia T 3-3 OT 4/3 at Chicago L 2-1 4/7 New Jersey W 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Chris Schilling Well, it hasn't been the best of weeks for the Canes. They seemed like a hockey team content to limp into the playoffs until Tuesday night against the Devils (I'll get to that later, in the game recaps...don't hurt yourself in anticipation). Thanks to some completely horrible play by the Florida Panthers, a season-ending injury to Pavel Bure, and some gritty effort (FINALLY!), the Canes now have an eight-point lead over Florida. This practically reserves the Panthers' tee times in April and gives the Hurricanes some serious momentum to build upon come playoff time. Now they need to avoid the classic Whaler dance of doom, which will land them beached up on the Carolina Country Club's 1st green. LEAFED IN THE STORM: How's that for clever, using two teams' names in one pun! You know you want to be able to that. Now why would I resort to such a crappy, pathetic pun like this? Well, it's mainly because the Hurricanes played a crappy, pathetic game against both the explosive Maple Leafs and the exploded Lightning. The Canes blew a 3-1 lead going into the 3rd to tie the Lightning just after being schooled by the Leafs in a 7-2 rout (which was 7-1 before Paul Ranheim's hard work paid off in a very late 3rd period goal). This was completely pathetic, and the team knew it. The Canes were becoming the Whalers in some sort of sick hockey metamorphosis and teams were actually hoping to get the 6th spot just to play them. That hurts. IRBE INKS DEAL: The Canes signed everyone's favorite goalie, Arturs "Like Wall" Irbe, to a three-year contract worth $5.8 million. The contract helps the journeyman settle down and includes several bonuses that will net the minder of the nets some spare change. The big thing about the contract is that it includes a no-trade clause which means that the two million a year backup, Trevor Kidd, is guaranteed to be either exposed in the expansion draft or traded to a team that takes him. Irbe is accredited with leading the lackluster losing team to the division title this year thanks to his powerful play in the first half. Wow, what a wonderful week. Canes keep being kept. LADOUCER TO SUIT UP: After having called up Marek Malik, Steve Halko, and Mike Rucinski to suit up for the Canes, Paul Maurice must be sympathetic for the Beast of New Haven's defensive corps. Not only is Florida pulling up New Haven d-men (The Beast are affiliates of both Florida and the Hurricanes) but we are as well. Randy Ladoucer, who has gained a few pounds since retiring a few years ago, is being scouted heavily by the AHL squad. He declined the invitation, explaining that the Penguins had already signed him to a two-year contract. Terms were not disclosed. STEVIE RETURNS: Steve Chiasson underwent what some said could be career ending surgery on his shoulder January 5th. Chiasson, perhaps the Canes' most offensive defenseman, has just been cleared to play after three months of waiting for Saturday's game against Gilligan's Islanders. Chiasson not only is happy to return but is suspected to be the iron lung to the Canes' power play, which has almost run out of scapegoats. I said almost, naturally, because the checking line hasn't seen any power-play time. But when they do, we'll be there to whine about their lack of effort and goal scoring. That's a promise, slugger! GAME RECAPS: NY Islanders, 3/24, 2-1 W: Thanks to the stellar play of Arturs Irbe, stopping several mid-game breakaways, the slumping Hurricanes pulled out a win due to Kovalenko's goal and Bobby Kron's game-winner. Irbe had to make 23 stops, but just one in the third period. Toronto, 3/26, 7-2 L: Irbe let in three goals in his first three shots and Kidd helped the other four get in as Toronto punked the Canes in what can only be described as a good ol' whipping. Despite the general lackluster play of the team, Carolina managed to score late in the game due to Paul Ranheim's hustle, and Keith Primeau scored early in the first before the game burst open. Tampa Bay, 3/29, 3-3 T: Defensive miscues and some hustle from the last place Lightning resulted in this tie, which looks awful on paper and was worse in person. The Canes let in two goals in the 3rd to blow their lead against the wretched Bolts. Ron Francis, Sami Kapanen, and Ray Sheppard all scored for the Canes. at Philadelphia, 3/30, 3-3 T: The Canes managed a comeback on this nationally televised game against the injury-decimated, Lindros-less Flyers. Trevor Kidd let in a soft goal early in the game, and the Flyers took a 3-1 lead into the 3rd before Marek Malik (yes, I know this sounds wrong) scored...on the power play. Don't worry, it was Hextall's fault. And Gelinas scored to tie the game, because Gelinas is clutch, and clutch is what it's all about. at Chicago, 4/3, 2-1 L: Tough guy Bob Probert, a short time after being placed on waivers, scored to finish off the Canes, who looked pathetic all night despite leading the game for a while on Jeff O'Neill's goal. The Hurricanes played with a severely decimated defense which was without four normal starters. But still, it was a loss to the Blackhawks. Ouch. New Jersey, 4/7, 4-2 W: Four different Hurricanes scored and Irbe posted a shutout (until I left, I must have jinxed him...) for most of the game in this domination of the powerful Devils. A definite wake up call for the Canes, they played hard and reaped the benefits, which included - I kid you not - another power-play goal, this one scored by Jeff O'Neill. What would have been Paul Coffey's 3rd goal of they year was disallowed on a crease infraction by Keith Primeau, this goal almost being the Canes' 2nd power-play goal in the game. Hold all gasps of amazement until after this - Gary Roberts scored again. Roberts, having been snakebit for three months, scored on a fluke bounce. Sheppard and Primeau were the other goal scorers for the Canes, which broke a four-game winless streak and several sticks. There's no place like home, even, sometimes, for people who live in Jersey. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FLORIDA PANTHERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Missed text issue deadline. Check the web site. You're welcome. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Demers Roster: C - Darcy Tucker, Chris Gratton, Mike Sillinger, Vincent Lecavalier. RW - Alexandre Daigle, Michael Nylander, Jason Bonsignore. LW - Stephane Richer, Rob Zamuner, Robert Petrovicky, Colin Forbes. D - Sergei Gusev, Cory Cross, Petr Svoboda, David Wilkie, Jassen Cullimore, Pavel Kubina, Kjell Samuelsson, Drew Bannister. G - Daren Puppa, Kevin Hodson, Corey Schwab. Injuries: Daren Puppa, g (groin injury, out for season). Transactions: None. Game Results 03/24 Nashville L 3-0 03/26 Detroit L 6-1 03/28 Carolina T 3-3 03/31 Dallas L 6-4 04/01 St. Louis L 3-0 03/03 Washington W 4-3 04/05 Ottawa T 4-4 TEAM NEWS by Seth Lerman Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over till it's over," but for the Tampa Bay Lightning the end can't come quickly enough. Forecasting the second season in a row, the Lightning will finish with the worst record in the National Hockey League. Players are now playing for next season's contract. In fact, they have been since early December. It would be a safe bet to assume that several players from this year's lineup will not return. These include Stephane Richer, Daren Puppa, and Kjell Samuelsson. The Lightning have already overhauled their lineup on several occasions during the season in a bid to get younger and lower the payroll. There is only one problem with that. Quite simply, the rebuilding process should have started last year. But credit must be given to general manager/coach Jacques Demers for the trades he has made during the season. With the acquisition of Kevin Hodson from the Detroit Red Wings, he has improved the club's goaltending situation. Colin Forbes (acquired from Philadelphia) is a young power forward with great potential. On defense, the acquisition of Sergey Gusev supplies the Lightning with a defenseman who is capable of carrying the puck up ice and setting up some scoring chances. He also acquired several draft picks which is important since Demers indicated he plans on building a winner through the draft. But most of all, he lowered payroll, something which he was instructed to do by new owner William Davidson. For once the Lightning are headed in the right direction. There are several young players who might make the jump to the NHL next season, including Paul Mara, Mario Larocque, and Andrei Skopintsev (saw limited duty this season). There also remains the first pick overall in this year's draft, that is of course if the ball bounces for the Lightning. The player most often talked about in Lightning circle's is Patrik Stefan, the 17-year-old, Czechoslovakian native of the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL. According to scouts, he is the one player who is ready to step into the NHL and make a significant impact. If the Lightning choose not to select Stefan, it may be because the youngster is injury prone. This season he has suffered a knee injury, a groin injury, and a spinal injury, not to mention three concussions. If the Lightning decide the risk of drafting Stefan is too high, look for them to entertain offers for trading the pick. Reports from the Tampa Tribune have indicated that the Lightning still would like to make a deal for Dallas Stars goaltender Roman Turek. If the Stars decide to keep Turek, it is possible they might be willing to move Ed Belfour. Due to his large contract, don't count on the Lightning to be involved in those discussions. Once the season has officially ended, Demers and his staff, including Cliff Fletcher, Don Murdoch, and Peter Mahovlivh will sit down and evaluate the season. Only one thing is for certain - it should prove to be an interesting summer. ----------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON CAPITALS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Wilson Roster: C - Adam Oates, Andrei Nikolishin, Michal Pivonka, Mike Eagles. LW - Brian Bellows, Richard Zednik, Matt Herr, Trevor Halverson. RW - James Black, Kelly Miller, Benoit Gratton, Jeff Toms. D - Sergei Gonchar, Joe Reekie, Ken Klee, Brendan Witt, Enrico Ciccone, Steve Poapst, Patrick Boileau. G - Olaf Kolzig, Rick Tabaracci. Injuries: Chris Simon, lw (shoulder surgery, out for season); Dmitri Mironov, d (back spasms, out for season); Mark Tinordi, d (broken ankle, out for season); Steve Konowalchuk, lw (concussion, indefinite); Calle Johansson, d (strained knee, out for season); Peter Bondra, rw (broken hand, day-to-day); Yogi Svejkovsky, lw (concussion, day-to-day). Transactions: Traded Joe Juneau, lw, and a 1999 third round draft pick to Buffalo for Alexei Tezikov, d, and future considerations. Traded Dale Hunter, c, and a 2000 third round draft pick to Colorado for Vancouver's 1999 second round draft pick, which was acquired by Colorado. Traded Craig Berube, lw, to Philadelphia for future considerations. Recalled Matt Herr, Benoit Gratton, Trevor Halverson and Steve Poapst from Portland (AHL). Assigned Alexei Tezikov to Cincinnati (IHL). Signed Dean Stork, d, and assigned him to Portland. Recalled Patrick Boileau, d, from Portland. Signed Jeff Halpern. Game Results 3/25 at Phoenix L 4-2 3/26 at Colorado L 3-1 3/30 Nashville L 3-2 4/01 Florida W 5-3 4/03 at Tampa Bay L 4-3 4/05 at Florida W 3-0 TEAM NEWS by Jason Sheehan, Washington Correspondent Hunter Traded to Colorado The golden era for the Washington Capitals has come to an end. General manager George McPhee granted Dale Hunter's wishes by sending the Capitals' captain and a third round pick in 2000 to Colorado, a Stanley Cup contender, at the trading deadline. In return, the Capitals received the second round draft pick previously held by the Vancouver Canucks in this year's Entry Draft. Hunter had been a staple in the Capitals' organization since he was acquired June 13, 1987 from the Quebec Nordiques. In the last 12 years, his feisty attitude has carried the Capitals to the playoffs in all but one season, the 1996-97 campaign. Hunter said his greatest moment as a Capital occurred last season when he and his teammates played for the Stanley Cup. Washington was swept by Detroit in the finals. His second greatest moment? Beating Ron Hextall on an overtime breakaway in Game 7 of the 1988 Patrick Division semifinals to eliminate Philadelphia, four-games-to-three, after being down 3-0 in the game and 3-1 in the series. This season, however, had been brutal for the 38-year-old center. The Capitals are set to become the fourth team in NHL history to surround a finals appearance with two non-appearances in the playoffs. And despite the mass of injuries in Washington, Hunter had been a healthy scratch for most of the games played from December to February. "When you play street hockey as a kid, you don't dream of just scoring a goal in a regular season game somewhere, you dream of holding the Stanley Cup," Hunter told The Washington Post just before he departed to Denver. "After 19 years in the league, that's really the only thing that's missing for me. "But it's also really hard to leave Washington. It's so unfortunate, too, that this happened the year after we go to finals. Back then, you never thought in a million years you'd be where we are now, nine points out of a playoff spot, talking about trades. It's one of those things where you always say it's part of the game, but it's still a really tough part of it." Hunter left Washington with no goals on his ledger this season. However, that all changed two nights later when he scored his first goal of the season into an empty net. Ironically, Washington was the recipient of another loss. "This was a very emotional trade for the organization," McPhee stated. "Dale has been a courageous leader for our club and a tremendous asset to the organization throughout his storied career. His grit, determination and experience make him invaluable around playoff time. "We asked Dale in advance if he wanted another chance to win a Stanley Cup and he said 'yes.' We then decided to make this move in order to provide Dale with an opportunity to win a Stanley Cup, to get him onto what we believe is one of the strongest teams in the playoffs. We wish him all the very best and he knows that every fan in Washington is pulling for him." Hunter is the only player in NHL history with 1,000 points and 3,000 penalty minutes. He is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and may retire. McPhee has expressed interest in signing Hunter to a temporary contract, allowing him to end his career as a Capital. Juneau and Berube Sent Packing Besides dealing Hunter, the Capitals also traded Joe Juneau - the man who "landed the Capitals on the moon" with his overtime goal in Game 6 of last year's Eastern Conference Finals against Buffalo - and a third round draft pick to those same Sabres for young defenseman Alexei Tezikov and future considerations. "Alexei Tezikov is a very talented young defenseman," McPhee said. "He is a player that has good vision of the ice and can really move the puck well. We feel his addition will really bolster our blue line depth for several years to come. He was an all-star in juniors and we project a very bright future for him." Juneau, 31, who, like Hunter, will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end, finishes his Capitals career with 62 goals and 172 assists in 312 games played. He was acquired March 21, 1994 from Boston for defenseman Al Iafrate. McPhee concluded deadline day by trading enforcer Craig Berube to the Philadelphia Flyers for future considerations. Berube, who also will become an unrestricted free agent this June, has led Washington in penalty minutes five times in his six seasons as a Capital. Berube, who turned 33 last December, leads the team this season with 166 penalty minutes. "Craig is a warrior," McPhee said. "He never fails to give you all that he has on every shift. Given his free-agent status at the end of this year, we wanted to move him to a team that could contend for the Stanley Cup. After considering other potential deals, we agreed that Philly would be the best fit for him. We wish him well." Berube was acquired from Calgary on June 26, 1993. He has played more games (397) with the Capitals than any other team during his 13-year NHL career. Overall, McPhee feels he made his club stronger by strengthening the Capitals' minor league system and by injecting youth into a lineup once dominated of veterans. "After all was said and done today, we feel the club has improved its long-term outlook," McPhee said. "The organization now has a total of four draft picks within the first 37 slots of this year's Entry Draft. "Included among those are three picks within the first seven selections of the second round. We have acquired a very skilled, young defenseman in Tezikov. He is close to contributing here at the NHL level and our scouting staff projects extremely good things out of him in the future. Furthermore, we provided Stanley Cup opportunities to some veteran players that we have high regard for." Misery Loves Company Washington knows it will be dusting off the golf clubs in a couple weeks. But in the meantime, the Capitals seem comfortable in their new role as spoiler. The Florida Panthers were all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by dropping two games to Washington in a span of four days. The Capitals handed Florida a 5-3 defeat at MCI Center on April Fools' Day and won again, 3-0, on April 5 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Olie Kolzig started both games in goal for Washington. "That pretty well puts the nail right in the coffin, I think, with the game tonight, losing it the way we did," Panthers coach Terry Murray said. With only six games remaining, Florida trails Carolina for the last available playoff spot it can grab - the third seed - by six points. The Capitals trail Carolina by 10 points and will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with the combinations of two Carolina wins, two Washington losses or a Carolina win and a Washington loss. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE NORTHWEST DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CALGARY FLAMES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Brian Sutter Roster: C- Andrew Cassels, Clarke Wilm, Cory Stillman, Jeff Shantz, Steve Dubinsky, Eric Landry; LW- Rene Corbet, Bob Bassen, Ed Ward, Jason Wiemer, Dave Roche; RW- Valeri Bure, Jarome Iginla, Martin St. Louis, Rocky Thompson; D- Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse, Derek Morris, Todd Simpson, Steve Smith, Phil Housley, Denis Gauthier, Chris O'Sullivan, Eric Charron; G- Ken Wregget, Fred Brathwaite. Injuries: Bob Bassen, lw (back spasms, day-to-day); Eric Charron, d (concussion, indefinite); Steve Dubinsky, c (knee cartilage, day-to-day); Denis Gauthier, d (hip flexor, day-to-day); Phil Housley, d (pulled hip muscle, day-to-day); Jeff Shantz, c (shoulder injury, day-to-day); Todd Simpson, d (concussion, indefinite); Steve Smith, d (hairline ankle fracture, day-to-day); Rocky Thompson, rw (concussion, indefinite). Transactions: Traded future considerations to Washington for Tom Chorske, lw; traded Greg Pankewiez, rw, to San Jose for future considerations; traded Chris O'Sullivan, d, to NY Rangers for Lee Sorochan, d; recalled Lee Sorochan, d, from Saint John (AHL); recalled Wade Belak, d, from Saint John (AHL); selected Robyn Regehr, d, from Colorado to complete Fleury trade. Game Results: 3/22 at Edmonton T 3-3 3/25 Montreal W 2-1 3/27 at Phoenix L 2-1 3/28 at Anaheim L 5-1 3/30 at Colorado T 3-3 4/01 Phoenix L 4-1 4/03 Toronto L 5-1 TEAM NEWS by John Alsedek, Calgary Correspondent Flames Getting Altogether Too Many Breaks...And Concussions...And Other Assorted Boo-Boos Well, all you cynics out there who were expecting the wheels to fall off the Flames following the Theo Fleury trade got your collective wish over the past two weeks - but not for the reasons you might expect. Nope, it wasn't that the Kid Flames were choking. In fact, that was probably the only injury Calgary didn't have to deal with, as the Flames suffered a mondo run of bad luck on injuries to their blue line corps. The nadir came on March 28th versus Anaheim, when they entered the game with a defensive group of regulars Housley, Hulse, and Albelin, abetted by Derek Morris - in his first game back after being sidelined with a separated shoulder - and call-ups Wade Belak and Lee Sorochan. Four shifts in, they lost Housley... and then things got really ugly, as the Flames got trounced 5-1 by the Ducks. Two nights later, they redeemed themselves somewhat in a 3-3 tie with Colorado - or rather, with Theo Fleury, as most of the Avs looked like they were already planning their Cup parade through downtown Denver. The game was also notable in that the Flames got back one of their young stud d-men, Denis Gauthier, who proved his studliness by getting an assist, and, the next night, beating the snot out of Phoenix 'C' Keith "Isn't It Time For Another Contract Renegotiation?" Tkachuk. Fortunately, while the Flames were struggling with injuries, the Oilers were just plain struggling, a struggle exacerbated by the trade of their top blueliner (okay, top player) for such Blackhawk underachievers as Chad Kilger and Daniel Cleary (BTW, is there any truth to the rumor that Cleary's name, translated into French, would be 'Alexandre Daigle'?). As a result, Calgary still holds a one-point lead over the Oil Can Boys for the last playoff berth...and play Edmonton in three of their last six games. Talk about having your fate in your own hands... A few other notes: GM Al Coates played it safe by choosing stay-at-home defenseman Robyn Regehr from Colorado's prospect list to complete the Fleury trade. He'll never be mistaken for Al MacInnis, but he's one tough hombre on the ice, and a genuinely good guy off it. Nice pick-up. Also, Calgary has been awarded the 2000 NHL Expansion and Entry Drafts, set to be held June 23-25, 2000. Now, you sharp characters who can actually count may notice that the drafts cover three days, rather than the usual two. Yep, that's right - the NHL finally wised up and split the Entry Draft into two days. Speaking as someone who spent eight hours at the '98 edition and only got to see the first five rounds, it's a good move.* Mark those dates down on your calendar, folks - you want to make sure to get a good seat to check out those, um, interesting new expansion team sweaters. (Minnesota Wild? Wild what? And don't even get me started on the Columbus Blue Jackets - all I'll say is that GM Doug MacLean earns every penny he gets, just for not saying what he really thinks of that logo). Well, that's it, Flames fans. The next time you read this, the Flames will either be playing hockey or playing golf. I'm betting on the former. *Some folks would say that watching a draft is like watching paint dry. Not me, though. At least with paint, you have subtle changes in texture to watch out for. Still, I can always find something to comment about, like "You know, I thought Jeff Heerema looked like a really good prospect, but Carolina took him, so he must be a dog", or "This must be the hardest day of the year for Neil Smith - there aren't any 35-year-olds for him to draft." Yep, that's me - Mr. Positive. ----------------------------------------------------------------- COLORADO AVALANCHE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Bob Hartley Roster: C - Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Chris Drury, Dale Hunter. LW - Valeri Kamensky, Milan Hejduk, Shean Donovan, Warren Rychel. RW - Theoren Fleury, Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Shjon Podein, Jeff Odgers. D - Sandis Ozolinsh, Sylvain Lefebvre, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, Jon Klemm, Aaron Miller, Greg deVries, Cam Russell, Eric Messier. G - Patrick Roy, Craig Billington. Injuries: Valeri Kamensky, lw (broken hand, mid-May); Cam Russell, d (shoulder, day-to-day); Jon Klemm, d (appendicitis, day-to-day). Transactions: Assigned Christian Matte, c, to Hershey (AHL); assigned Chris Dingman, lw, to Hershey; traded second-round draft pick in 1999 to Washington for Dale Hunter, c, and third-round draft pick in 2000; traded a conditional draft pick to Tampa Bay for Sami Helenius, d; assigned Helenius to Hershey; signed Ben Storey, d, to multi-year contract; assigned Storey to Hershey. Game results: 3/24 Vancouver W 5-2 3/26 Washington W 3-1 3/28 Los Angeles W 7-2 3/30 Calgary T 3-3 3/31 at San Jose W 3-2 4/03 Edmonton W 5-2 TEAM NEWS by Greg D'Avis Chelios, shmelios. While everyone on Earth raves about the Red Wings' revamped lineup, the Avalanche have quietly put together a six-game unbeaten streak. While much-maligned for remaining relatively quiet at the trading deadline, the Avs' decisions are looking smart now, as they've gone undefeated since acquiring Dale Hunter at the deadline. True, the Red Wings made a bigger splash -- but as Pierre Lacroix asked, if the Chelios deal and Colorado's trade for Theo Fleury came on the same day, which would more people talk about? And Hunter -- who was variably described as too old and too slow to make any difference -- has been a spark plug and a solid fourth-line center. In his first game, he was his usual agitating self, in a chippy, physical game against the Canucks that was happily all Avs. The big guns -- Joe Sakic/Peter Forsberg/Theo Fleury -- gave pause to anyone from other teams watching as the three combined for eight points, and Claude Lemieux and hot rookie Milan Hejduk contributed. Then, in came Washington for an emotional game - Hunter's first game against his old teammates after 12 years in Washington. He didn't hold anything back, either, getting into tussles, sticking Brian Bellows in the face and then, for a nice touch, getting the game's final goal. The whole team went wild against the poor, pathetic L.A. Kings, who went through two goalies and appeared to be playing sans defensemen as the Avs lit them up, 7-2. Fleury continued his torrid pace, with a hat trick and an assist, and Hejduk picked up four assists in a game that was easy and pleasant to watch. The Kings win also propelled Patrick Roy into the all-time regular season and playoffs win leader for goalies with 506, one past Jacques Plante. For old-home week part two, Calgary came to town for Fleury's first game against the Flames since getting traded. The Avs scrambled for a tie after a lackluster game, prompting Fleury to rip into his teammates afterwards -- a ripping which only partially paid off, as the Avs played another lackluster game the next night but managed to eke out a win against the Sharks. The sloppiness kept through the first period of a third game, fer gosh sakes, as the Avalanche went down 2-0 early to the pesky Oilers. But, again, the trio of Sakic/Forsberg/Fleury led them back to an eventual easy win. Injuries With Jon Klemm and Cam Russell about to return, the Avs are (knock wood) relatively injury-free. The only exception is Valeri Kamensky, who had surgery and is likely gone for good. Other trades The Avs also acquired Sami Helenius from Tampa Bay for a conditional draft pick on deadline day, and immediately assigned him to Hershey. Helenius is a big, physical defenseman, about whom little else is known. A man of mystery, that Sami Helenius. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDMONTON OILERS ---------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Low Roster: C - Doug Weight Todd Marchant, Rem Murray, Josef Beranek, Boyd Devereux LW - Ethan Moreau Alex Selivanov, Chad Kilger, Ryan Smyth. RW - Bill Guerin, Mike Grier, Pat Falloon, Georges Laraque. D - Sean Brown, Roman Hamrlik, Christian LaFlamme, Frank Musil, Janne Niinimaa, Tom Poti, Marty McSorley, Jason Smith. G - Tommy Salo, Bob Essensa. Injuries: Georges Laraque, rw (concussion, day-to-day); Alex Selivanov, lw (wrist, day-to-day). Transactions: March 23 - traded Kevin Brown, rw, to the New York Rangers for Vladimir Vorobiev, lw. Also traded a 1999 fourth-round draft pick and a 2000 second-round draft pick for Jason Smith, d. March 24 - recalled Boyd Devereaux, c, from Hamilton (AHL). Game Results: 3/22 Calgary T 2-2 3/24 Montreal L 2-0 3/26 St Louis W 2-1 3/28 San Jose W 5-2 3/30 Phoenix L 7-4 4/01 Toronto L 5-1 4/03 at Colorado L 5-2 Team News by Aubrey Chau It's crunch-time and the Oilers have folded like a cheap lawn chair. The Oilers have managed to win only two games in the last two weeks. It was a modest two-game winning streak at home -- the first back-to-back wins at home for about five months, which is a good indication of the Oilers struggles this season. The Oilers are in a real turtles' race for eighth place in the Western Conference with their hated rivals the Calgary Flames. Right now, the Flames are one point ahead of the Oil, both with six games remaining. The Flames occupy the eighth and final playoff spot, while the Oilers sit one point behind in ninth spot. The Oilers are on a three-game losing skid, and would be out of reach of a playoff spot were it not for the similar incompetence of the Flames. That would be the only consolation in this race of the weak. The Oilers have shown an inability to win in important situations. The last three games have been a shining example of that. Starting with the March 30th game against the Phoenix Coyotes. The Oilers had a perfect chance to continue their winning streak to two games. Unfortunately, the Coyotes left the Oilers howling after the first period, as the Oil were down 5-0. Quite possibly the worst period in the history of the Edmonton Oilers organization. And all during a tight playoff race, no less. Tommy Salo, GM Glen Sather's goalie-savior, was less than heroic as he let in three goals on his first three shots before he got yanked by coach Ron Low. Bob Essensa wasn't much better as he let in two more goals during the first period. It was really ugly stuff and the goaltending really let the Oilers down. Had Salo made a couple saves during the first few minutes of the game, maybe the Oilers could have kept their bearings and won the game. The same situation occurred two nights later when the Oilers faced a serious drubbing courtesy of Cujo and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sergei Berezin had a hat trick, which would have been a four-goal game had Chris McAlister's skate not been just over the crease. Same story here, Salo was about as solid as O.J.'s alibi as he left the Oilers down 3-0 by the end of the first period. The Oilers didn't stand a chance with such shoddy goaltending. Essensa also finished the game that night. The Oilers won't be making the playoffs with this sort of performance. Poor defence AND poor offense. It doesn't look like they can do anything right. Still, three out of the Oilers six games left will be against the Flames. Nothing will be more crucial this season than these three games. All the cliches apply here. And if the Oilers don't win those three games, only more cliches will apply, as the Oilers will be hitting the golf courses early. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VANCOUVER CANUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Marc Crawford ROSTER: C - Mark Messier, Dave Gagner, Harry York, Dave Scatchard, Darby Hendrickson, Josh Holden. LW - Todd Bertuzzi, Brad May, Donald Brashear, Peter Schaefer, Bert Robertsson, Robb Gordon. RW - Markus Naslund, Alexander Mogilny, Bill Muckalt, Trent Klatt, Steve Staios. D - Adrian Aucoin, Murray Baron, Ed Jovanovski, Bryan McCabe, Mattias Ohlund, Jason Strudwick, Brent Sopel. G - Garth Snow, Kevin Weekes, Corey Hirsch. INJURIES: Mark Messier, c (groin injury, day-to-day); Bert Robertsson, lw (groin injury, day-to-day); Bill Muckalt, rw (ankle, day-to-day); Mattias Ohlund, d (concussion, day-to-day); Brad May, lw, broken finger, out for season); Peter Schaefer, lw (shoulder, out for season); Todd Bertuzzi, lw (leg, out for season). TRANSACTIONS: Assigned Steve Washburn, c, to Syracuse, recalled Corey Hirsch, g, from Syracuse, recalled Brent Sopel, d, from Syracuse, recalled Robb Gordon, lw, from Syracuse. GAME RESULTS: 3/24 at Colorado L 5-2 3/25 St. Louis L 4-1 3/27 Montreal W 5-1 3/29 Phoenix W 1-0 3/31 Toronto L 6-5 4/02 San Jose L 7-0 4/03 at San Jose L 5-2 4/05 at Chicago L 2-1 Team News by Jeff Dubois I've got some good news and some bad news! You can just look at the good news and pretend to be a spokesman for the Canucks organization, or just the bad news and pose as a member of Vancouver's " the sky is falling" media. Or you could read both and be intelligent, well-informed, and good-looking (it worked for me). THE GOOD NEWS (THE FUTURE) - The good news is that with a loss in Detroit on Wednesday night (HUGE UPSET!) the Canucks will secure themselves a spot in the league's bottom three, and therefore, once Atlanta is entered into the mix, a top 4 draft pick. This would give them the opportunity to select one of the much-heralded Sedin twins, Calgary Hitmen star Pavel Brendl or Patrik Stefan, who's had success in the IHL. All four of these Europeans have star potential. Now the bad news. To get one of these gems, the Canucks have completely and utterly bombed this season. Loss after loss after loss etc... Next season players like Josh Holden and Peter Schaefer will benefit from their experience this season and should step up. Shaefer found a comfy spot with Naslund and Messier on the first line and could stay there if Mark Crawford decides to spread out his already thin offence a bit. This could land Holden with Alex Mogilny (they showed flashes of promise in limited stints together) and possibly Todd Bertuzzi. The defence will be another year older and more experienced, and the addition of Bryan Allen, Canadian Junior team member and dominant force on the back-end for the Oshawa Generals. Goalie Kevin Weekes, acquired in the Bure deal, has been shaky at times, spectacular at others and is slated to play quite a few games next year. Promise, promise, promise. Brian Burke has also expressed interest in a couple of BC boys who starred in U.S. college hockey this year. Fernie's Jason Krog, the Hobey Baker Award winner and a quick, dangerous sniper, and Steve Kariya (the younger brother of Paul), who captained his Maine Black Bears to the NCAA Championship, will both receive offers to come home. But Burke warns that those offers will quickly cease if the potential signing bonuses reach the ridiculous levels that a desperate market often produces. Assistant GM Dave Nonis has stated that the club will pursue a "second tier free-agent". So with a high draft pick, the potential of incoming college or pro players with offensive prowess, a maturing defence and an up 'n coming goalie, the Canucks future looks brighter than many teams (I'm looking at you, Islanders). THE BAD NEWS (THE PRESENT) - First and foremost, the Peter Zezel debacle. Peter's young niece is currently in a Toronto hospital, and she's dying. Zezel, unmarried, thinks of her as his own daughter and has been justifiably distracted for most of the year. He has left the team on a few occasions to visit her, but his commitment to the team has kept him in Vancouver. He has been planning to spend whatever time he may have left with her as soon as the season ended, so his request at the trade deadline was to not be moved. The Canucks, obviously a non-playoff team, will be done mid-April, and Zezel could go back east without having to worry about the post-season. So what did the Canucks do? They traded him to Anaheim (a definite playoff team) for a low, low draft-pick. Peter Zezel was made to be the bad guy. He refused the trade and it was voided. He has since left the club for Toronto, and won't be back since he is an unrestricted free agent this summer. It boggles the mind why Brian Burke, thought to have both a brain and a heart, would trade a man whose niece was dying for a 900 and somethingeth pick. Keep Zezel and let him go at the end of the season or, even better, encourage him to leave now while still paying him. That seems reasonable under the circumstances. But to trade the man and extend his commitment seems insane and heartless. This is just another situation that has exploded in Burke's face (see Bure trade, Mike Keenan firing, etc.). In the team's defence, they have made a donation to her cause, and while many would label it a political gesture, it is a gesture nonetheless. That's almost 300 words of bad and we haven't even touched the on-ice performance of the team. I attended the 7-0 drubbing at the hands of the Sharks. It was ugly. There is no other word to describe the team's play. No offence, no defence, UGLY. They are now playing out the string and can hopefully lose enough to be passed by the Islanders, who are three points behind but have two games in hand. RANDOM THOUGHT - I sure feel sorry for Kevin Weekes, who still hasn't won an NHL game. He lost 11 as a Panther last year and has another half-dozen Canuck defeats. His confidence is low and has contributed to some weak goals, but I'd admit that it's pretty damn hard to feel confident when wearing goalie pads and a Canuck jersey. INJURIES - Played vs. Chicago on April 5 without Mark Messier, Todd Bertuzzi, Bill Muckalt, Brad May, Bert Robertsson, Peter Schafer and Mattias Ohlund. That's four valuable veterans and three younger guys, all important to the team. Schafer has played great hockey since being recalled and will be around for years to come (it was only a month ago that his NHL career was being described as dead by local media). I'd like to see any NHL team compete without three of their top five forwards and a top defenceman. Wait...that's what Philadelphia is doing right now without Lindros, LeClair, Recchi and Desjardins. But they have Bobby Clarke watching over them, so they can't lose! BY REQUEST - I have been asked to discuss the deals that Detroit made at the deadline, and while I don't want to step on any feet, I have a duty to my many fans. I couldn't believe the Chelios deal, but it became all the more shocking when I heard immediately there after that they picked up Ulf Samuelsson, too. That's two physical, intimidating and annoying defencemen. Most teams would be happy with just one. The Wendel Clark deal surprised me only in that he didn't go to Dallas, The Stars did end up picking up Benoit Hogue from the Lightning for Sergei Gusev and picks, but he's a serious downgrade from Clark, and hasn't put them over the top the last two years. Why now? I think that Clark will re-sign with the Wings, if for no other reason then a winning lineup that includes Wendel Clark, Jamie Macoun and Larry Murphy should haunt Leaf fans. He's played well with Fedorov, and is always a crowd favourite. Other reactions: - Bob Clarke's an idiot to pick up Dushesne ( Desjardins will be back! ) at 4 mil a year, and I'll co-nominate him along with John Vanbiesbrouck for overpaid veteran whose mistakes haunt Philly in the playoffs. Two great pickups Bobby !!! - Buffalo was smart to pick up Juneau, he'll help, as will Rhett Warrener, but it won't be enough to get them passed the second round. - San Jose gets to share the glory with Detroit for best trade. Getting Vinny Damphousse was a great move, as he gives them leadership and speed. Look for him to pick up Joe Murphy's play - and look for Jeff Friesen to emerge as a recognized star when the Sharks give the Avs a run in the first round. - Ottawa didn't get a star with Donato or Emerson, but they got more speed and skill... and from North Americans this time. If they succeed in the playoffs, look for team's to follow their speed/finesse example. If not, opponents will just bring back the goons. WAYNE AXFORD - THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE AWARD - It's really hard to choose a best Canuck, so I'll go with the democratically elected choice. Adrian Aucoin, whose four goals since the last award lead the team, wins again. He now has the advantage on Markus Naslund, three selections to two, with one more to go before a winner is crowned. I heard that Adrian not only leads NHL defencemen in goals (23) but is fourth among D-boys with 200+ hits. Congrats Adrian! And I'd also like to congratulate Wayne Axford for his sense of humour in giving our Comparative Civilizations class a surprise test last week! That was a blast! ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Lorne Molleken roster: C - Sylvain Cloutier, Doug Gilmour, Mark Janssens, Josef Marha, Alexei Zhamnov. LW - Eric Daze, Jean-Yves Leroux, Dean McAmmond, Bob Probert, Reid Simpson. RW - Tony Amonte, Jean-Pierre Dumont, Chris Murray, Ed Olczyk, Ryan Vandenbussche. D - Jamie Allison, Radim Bicanek, Brad Brown, Anders Eriksson, Dave Manson, Boris Mironov, Bryan Muir, Doug Zmolek. G - Mark Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Thibault. injuries: Jamie Allison, d (groin, day-to-day); Doug Gilmour, c (back, out for season); Mark Janssens, c (rib injury, indefinite). transactions: Traded Chris Chelios, d, to Detroit in exchange for Anders Eriksson, d, and first-round draft picks in 1999 and 2001, and traded Nelson Emerson, rw, to Ottawa in exchange for Chris Murray, rw March 23; recalled Ryan Vandenbussche, rw, from Portland of the AHL March 25; recalled Radim Bicanek, d, from Grand Rapids of the IHL April 3. game results: 3/23 at Pittsburgh L 5-2 3/25 at Boston T 3-3 3/27 at New Jersey T 4-4 3/28 St. Louis W 3-1 3/31 Buffalo W 2-1 4/02 at Detroit L 5-3 4/03 Carolina W 2-1 team news by Tom Crawford Were You Really That Surprised? It was the rumor that just wouldn't go away. It started as soon as it was clear this particular Hawks team wasn't going to contend for anything but the No. 1 pick in the draft. There was the "handshake agreement", the increasingly desperate calls from Flyer GM Bob Clarke, and the refusal of Hawks GM Bob Murray to deem anyone untouchable other than Tony Amonte and Jocelyn Thibault. All the while the guys who knew weren't admitting a thing. Owner Bill Wirtz and hot property Chris Chelios denied even considering a deal. Of course, as the questions kept coming and the denials became more plaintive, one said to oneself: "Methinks the big-nosed Greek doth protest too much." So it couldn't have shocked any Hawks fan too greatly to hear that Cheli had been dealt just prior to the trade deadline March 23rd. Ah, but to Detroit? Now THAT was a surprise. Oh, sure, we know Cheli wanted to win another Cup. And the Wings would have traded for Idi Amin if they thought he'd help them three-peat. (Crap, do I owe Pat Riley money for that last sentence?) But remembering how Darren McCarty tossed him around in the '95 Conference Finals and thinking about every cheap shot he's delivered to the various waterbugs scooting around the Detroit lineup, you just wouldn't think Chelios as a Red Wing could ever work out. Then again, hockey players like winning, and the Wings have done plenty of that since the trade. Though Cheli's influence might not be as obvious as that of other newcomers Wendel Clark and Bill Ranford, you just can't argue with 6-0-0. Draft Picks, Get Your Draft Picks Here For the second year in a row Tampa Bay is lapping the competition in the race for the first overall pick in the draft, but the Hawks can still make a decent showing. With a chance at third and not likely to drop below sixth, the Hawks will certainly have a chance to select a quality youngster. And with eight teams having records equal to or better than Detroit's, the first rounder acquired in the Chelios deal could turn out OK as well. However, the Hawks are talent-poor and have just traded away a fan favorite for the third time in four years. Drafting a promising young Swede or a Czech who dazzled at the world juniors won't bring those fans back anytime soon. If they can get a reasonably young but established player for those two picks and whatever else Murray can scrape up, look for the Hawks to deal. One writer has already suggested atoning for past sins by re-acquiring Jeremy Roenick, who's averaging nearly a point a game for Phoenix but is reportedly feuding with Olympic teammate and fellow pain in the ass Keith Tkachuk. This would certainly be a fan-friendly move but not very wise in the long term. J.R. is almost 30, and anyone who saw him play his first few years in the league knows that his small frame has endured far too many jolts to be expected to last much longer. News and Notes Expect the Hawks to offer interim coach Lorne Molleken the permanent position within the week. Hawks brass think they might have in Molleken what they thought they were getting in Dirk Graham: a guy who players respond to and who they can pay next to nothing . . . . Molleken seems much more willing to turn to his backup goalie than his predecessor. When he didn't like what he saw out of Jocelyn Thibault in successive home games he had Mark Fitzpatrick in net for the next two. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASHVILLE PREDATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Barry Trotz roster: C - Darren Turcotte, Greg Johnson, Jeff Nelson, Patric Kjellberg, Sebastien Bordeleau, Cliff Ronning. LW - Andrew Brunette, Scott Walker, Denny Lambert, Ville Peltonen, Jeff Daniels, Vitali Yachmenev. RW - Sergei Krivokrasov, Brad Smyth, Tom Fitzgerald, Patrick Cote, Rob Valicevic. D - Joel Bouchard, Bob Boughner, John Slaney, Jamie Heward, Jayson More, J.J. Daigneault, Drake Berehowsky, Jan Vopat, Kimmo Timonen. G - Mike Dunham, Eric Fichaud, Tomas Vokoun, Chris Mason. injuries: Mike Dunham, g (groin strain, day-to-day); John Slaney, d (strained ribs, mid-April); Patrik Kjellberg, lw (bruised hip, day-to-day); Darren Turcotte, c (torn ACL, out for season); Eric Fichaud, g (shoulder surgery, out for season); Jay More, d (concussion, out for season); Ville Peltonen, lw (shoulder surgery, out for season). transactions: Recalled Rob Valicevic, rw, from Houston (IHL); traded Blair Atcheynum, rw, to St. Louis for a sixth-round draft pick in 2000. game results: 3/24 at Tampa Bay W 3-0 3/26 at Florida L 4-1 3/28 Dallas L 3-0 3/30 at Washington W 3-2 4/01 Philadelphia L 2-1 4/03 Los Angeles W 3-2 team news by Jim Iovino With the Predators out of the playoff run, their ain't much to talk about in the Music City. The trend of late is the Predators will win a game, then lose one or two, then win another...ho-hum, not a big deal. As for the Predators of the future, there is some news. Nashville has rejected the latest contract offer from the team's first-ever draft pick, David Legwand. Legwand, who was picked second behind Vincent Lecavalier in the 1998 draft, is playing in the Ontario Hockey League with the Plymouth Whalers. Although not as cool as the old Hartford Whalers, the lil' Whale are currently in the second round of the playoffs. During the regular season Legwand scored 31 goals and 49 assists. That's down from the 54 goals and 51 assists he had last season when he won league MVP. Legwand blames the drop in production on The Man. "The Man is keeping me down," Legwand might have said had I chose to interview him. Actually, Legwand blames the lower numbers on defense -- as in his own. Legwand said he's concentrated on playing in his own end more, just like the Preds asked him to. Sure, it's the evil defense that is holding him back. Everyone always blames it on the defense... Legwand has also suffered from mono during the season. In other news... There just isn't much to talk about in Pred-town, so I figured I'd try to find out a little bit more about the city of Nashville. LCS Hockey's Stat Girl visited the fine city once. Here's what she had to say: "I went to Conway Twitty City," she said. "It was dripping with cheese." Speaking of cheese, Stat Girl's college roommate, we'll call her "Mary", is lactose intolerant. And ironically, she has also visited the Music City. Her fondest memories? "The Grand Ole Opry Hotel is pretty nice," she said. "It has waterfalls inside. And if you're an old person, you can walk outside on the street and in front of all the bars they have signs that say what country singer played there." Aww...that's was swell, that was fun. What? Oh, there's more... "I also ate at a bar-b-que place that Willie Nelson goes to eat when he's in town." Thanks Mary. Ok, let's move on to... "And on the airplane there I met a boy whose mom treated Garth Brooks in the hospital for a sore throat." Alrighty then...well, I think we should end this fine team report on that note. Thanks for listenin' folks. Y'all come back now, ya' hear! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Wendel Clark, Kirk Maltby, Brent Gilchrist. RW - Darren McCarty, Martin Lapointe, Mathieu Dandenault, Stacey Roest, Joe Kocur. D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Larry Murphy, Jamie Macoun, Aaron Ward, Uwe Krupp, Chris Chelios, Ulf Samuelsson, Todd Gill, Yan Golubovsky . G - Chris Osgood, Norm Maracle, Bill Ranford. TRANSACTIONS: Peter Klima lw, sent to Adirondock (AHL); Yan Golubovsky d, sent to Adirondack; acquired Chris Chelios from Chicago Blackhawks for Anders Eriksson and two first-round picks in 1999 and 2001; acquired Wendel Clark and Bill Ranford from Tampa Bay for draft picks and Kevin Hodson. INJURIES: Uwe Krupp, d (back problems, indefinite); Igor Larionov, c (groin, day-to-day); Darren McCarty, rw (back, day-to-day); Ulf Samuelson, d (broken ankle, day-to-day). Game Results 3/24 Buffalo W 2-1 3/26 Tampa Bay W 6-1 3/28 Philadelphia W 3-2 OT 3/31 Los Angeles W 2-1 4/02 Chicago W 5-3 4/04 at Dallas W 3-0 Team News by Dino Cacciola Coup Detroit The day after the trading deadline the Red Wings showcased two of their newly acquired stars. They were Wendel Clark and Chris Chelios. Two former Red Wing thorns for years were now wearing the winged wheel. Who would have ever guessed after all these years they would now be Red Wings. Nonetheless it is great having them on the Red Wings to add punch to a team that seemed destined for nowhere and an early exit from the playoffs. There is no guarantee of another Cup of course but these two veterans are the real deal. All hail Ken Holland for the coup of the season. The aces in the hole are definitely Ulf Samuelsson and Bill Ranford -- two veterans who know what it takes to win the Cup. Hockeytown was abuzz with these acquisitions. And all the Red Wings lost in the transactions were a third-string goalie and Anders Eriksson. And throw in some draft picks they, high ones of course, and the soup is finally made. All the ingredients seem in place. The Red Wings needed a veteran goalie and they got one. They needed a veteran to mold and stabilize the defenseman and they got two. They needed a proven goal scorer and they got one. It sure doesn't hurt to have pockets filled with loads of disposable money, either. Wendel Clark scored in his Red Wing debut and Sergei Fedorov added the game-winning goal as the Red Wings beat the Hasek-less Buffalo Sabres 2-1. "It's great to be back in hockey country," said Clark "It's like being in Toronto. It's a place where everyone cares and gets enthusiastic this time of year." The fans at Joe Louis Arena who always booed and jeered Chelios as an opponent welcomed him as a Red Wing for the first time. "I haven't had butterflies like that for years," said Chelios. "It was a pretty strange feeling." Chelios played more than 25 minutes over 28 shifts, a far stretch from the games in Chicago where has played upwards of 40 minutes a game. Chelly played most of the time with Nicklas Lidstrom. Clark played with Fedorov and Holstrom. "We're Detroit Red Wings now and part of this team. It's a great feeling," Chelios said. "It's a challenge; it's a great challenge. Playing for the Stanley Cup is the most important thing in this game." In the next game against the Tampa Bay Lightning it was Chris Chelios' turn to score a goal. "It's a whole different game for me," Chelios said, "I'm getting more confident every day, and these guys make that happen." Chelly scored in a three-goal first period that made it a seemingly easy night for the Red Wings. "It was no match," Lightning coach Jacques Demers said. "This is a great team that just got greater. Now they've got hope they can come back and repeat. Their fourth line could be our second line most nights, and their defense with Chelios now is awesome." Nicklas Lidstrom, Stacy Roest, Brendan Shanahan and Slava Kozlov also scored for the Red Wings, who have now won four of the last six games. Tampa Bay's Corey Schwab gave up four goals on 20 shots before he was replaced in the second period by former Red Wing Kevin Hodson. Hodson gave up two goals on 20 shots in the loss to his former team. Lidstrom's goal was the 100th of his career. In the next game the Red Wings continue getting immediate returns from some new major investments. Wendel Clark scored his second goal for the Red Wings 2:26 into overtime, giving the Wings a win 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The win was the Red Wings' third in a row with Clark and Chelios in the lineup. "We had a good team before and we have to be a better team now," said Sergei Fedorov, who assisted on Clark's game winner. "The puck was laying there. It was not that hard to put in," Clark said. "It was something where the guys put the puck to the net and I was just able to be in the right spot at the right time." The hot Slava Kozlov scored the Wings' other two goals. Chris Osgood was instrumental in the win stopping 24 shots on the big bad Flyers. A deal made earlier in the season panned out in the next game against the Los Angeles Kings. That being Todd Gill who scored in his first game in two months. Gill was playing his first game since Feb. 1, when he suffered a broken forearm against New Jersey. Sergei Fedorov also had a goal as the Wings moved nine points ahead of the idle St. Louis Blues. The Red Wings won their fourth game in a row at home. "I think the schedule helps," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "It's a bonus to have a schedule like we have." Ozzie made 27 saves in his 164th Red Wings win of his career. That broke a tie with Harry Lumley for second place on the team's career victory list. He has allowed just five goals during the current winning streak. "Things have been going real well since the trades," Osgood said. "Everybody's inspired and hits like a new season." The Hawks came to town to face their old captain Chris Chelios. It also marked the first game for Bill Ranford between the pipes. But the Hawks could only muster three goals losing to the Red hot Wings 5-3. It was the Wings fifth victory in a row. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," said Chelios, on being nervous about the game. "Maybe it was because we got up four goals and I was able to relax." Maybe because Chris realizes that he is an organization willing and very able to do what it takes to win. Billy Ranford made 27 saves in his first start. "It was good," Ranford said. "I got a little tired late in the third period, but that's to be expected when you haven't played in a while. But I played good in the first and second, and that's when it mattered." Scoring were Clark, Kozlov, Larry Murphy, Marty Lapointe and Shanahan. The centerman, Fedorov, Larionov and Yzerman each had two assists. The Dallas Stars have already clinched the top playoff seed in the Western Conference and own the league's best record. But since when has that ever mattered in any regard? I'm thinking never is the answer! So in the game of the season it was going to be a nice primer for a possible playoff showdown. The Wings went to the Lone Star State to kick some you know what. The game was much closer than the score would indicate, but a win is a win. And the Red Wings shut out the rival Stars 3-0, sending a message to the rest of the league that this variable all star team has arrived. Clark remained hot with a third-period five-hole goal and Ozzie was spectacular for his third shutout of the season. The Red Wings have now won six in a row since the trade deadline, but more importantly they are gelling as a team. It is time to get down to business. They played a very tight defensive game. "That's the way you have to play in the playoffs," coach Scotty Bowman said. "There's not going to be a lot of goals. We're playing pretty tight . Dallas doesn't need very many goals." The Wings did however seem to give the odd man rush up a few too many times. Maltby and Homer notched the other tallies against psycho Eddie in the win. It was their first win against the Stars all season, having lost the first three. "We had four or five open nets in the second period but we couldn't put it over the goal line," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I thought we had a lot of good players, but we couldn't finish." Sounds like the psychological disadvantage has set in for the Stars already. Can they really beat the Red Wings? Ulf Samuelsson should be playing real soon in his first game. Bring it on! ----------------------------------------------------------------- ST. LOUIS BLUES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Joel Quenneville Roster: C - Craig Conroy, Mike Eastwood, Pascal Rheaume, Pierre Turgeon, Michal Handzus. LW - Tyrone Nash, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra. RW - Kelly Chase, Scott Pellerin, Scott Young, Jamal Mayers. D - Marc Bergevin, Jeff Finley, Rory Fitzpatrick, Al MacInnis, Chris McAlpine, Chris Pronger, Jamie Rivers, Ricard Persson. G - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan. Injuries: Geoff Courtnall, lw (post-concussion syndrome 12/9, indefinite); Rudy Poeschek, d (sprained ankle 1/28, day-to-day); Craig Conroy, c (ankle 3/13, day-to-day); Jim Campbell, rw (groin 3/20, out rest of season); Michal Handzus, c (shoulder 3/26, day-to-day); Scott Young, rw (personal reasons 3/28, day-to-day); Kelly Chase, rw (shoulder 4/1, indefinite). Transactions: 3/23 - acquired Blair Atcheynum, rw, from the Nashville Predators for a 2000 sixth-round draft pick; 3/25 - Signed free agent Cody Rudkowsky, g; 4/2 - recalled Tyrone Nash, f, from Worcester (AHL); 4/3 - Extended contracts of senior vice president and general manager Larry Pleau and assistant general manager John Ferguson, Jr. through the 2001-2002 season. Game Results: 3/25 at Vancouver W 4-1 3/26 at Edmonton L 2-1 3/28 at Chicago L 3-1 4/01 Tampa Bay W 3-0 4/03 Dallas W 5-2 4/05 at Toronto T 2-2 TEAM NEWS by Tom Cooper Campbell Out for Season The injury bug continues to bite the Blues. Right winger Jim Campbell, a finalist for the Calder Trophy in 1997, will miss the rest of regular season after he elected to have surgery to repair his athletic pubalgia. Campbell's injury is comparable to the common hernia. The 6-3, 204-pounder will undergo the procedure April 9 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. Campbell only has four goals and 21 assists in 55 games this year, a significant drop-off from the 23 and 22 goals he tallied in his previous two seasons, respectively. Campbell's availability for the playoffs is uncertain and depends upon his recovery. Uh...huh...huh...huh...Extend I guess letting go of Brett Hull wasn't that big of a deal after all. St. Louis Blues CEO and President Mark Sauer announced on April 3 that general manager/senior vice president Larry Pleau and assistant general manager John Ferguson, Jr. would get another year extended to their contracts, extending them through the 2001-2002. Of course, the length of their contracts depends on whether or not they are fired before the deal ends, but, if you listen to Sauer, that may not happen. "Under Pleau the Blues hockey operations have taken the necessary steps to achieve our long-term goal, which is to stock our organization with a strong talent base, while we also seek near-term success. These contract extensions will ensure Larry Pleau and his staff will continue to lead our hockey club in those directions", said Sauer. Both Pleau and Ferguson joined the Blues in the summer of 1997. Pellerin Up for Trophy Scott Pellerin, the Blues' lastest scoring machine, has been nominated for the Bill Masterton Trophy by the St. Louis Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Pellerin has given his time and energy to many charities, including "Pelly's Pets," an organization that features local animal shelters. Information on "Pelly's Pets" can be found on the Blues web site. The Games The Great Northwest??? The St. Louis Blues had beaten the Vancouver Canucks the previous eight times the two sides met. Make it nine. Even though Canuck Bryan McCabe opened the scoring 6:17 into the game, the Blues scored four straight goals to down the Canucks 4-1, winning the season series 4-0 thanks, in large part, to a scoring margin of 20-4. Scott Pellerin tied the game at 1-1 3:23 after McCabe's opening goal. The Blues took the lead for good 6:36 later on a controversial goal. Scott Young had the puck at the top of the zone when Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund pushed Pierre Turgeon into Canuck netminder Kevin Weekes. Young fired the disk between Weekes' legs while he was off-balance for a 2-1 lead. Michel Picard and Pierre Turgeon added the other two tallies for the Blues during a 1:27- span early in the second stanza. Blues' goalie Grant Fuhr stopped 19 of the 20 pieces of rubber that flew in his direction for his 11th win of the season. A Fight with Edmonton The Blues are in the playoffs. They have been pretty much assured of a spot in the Stanley Cup tournament since around the All-Star Break; they've just been waiting for mathematics to assure them of it. While all the Blues have to fight for is positioning in the postseason, the Edmonton Oilers have to fight for a spot, the eighth spot in the West, with their inter-provincial rival Calgary. So, you'd understand why the Oilers may fight a little bit harder than the Blues. So, you'd understand why luck may be on their side. Rem Murray used Lady Luck 11:34 into the second. On the power play, a shot from defensman Tom Poti actually hit Murray in the neck and deflected into the St. Louis goal for a 1-0 Oiler lead. Murray used luck again 2:44 later. After Doug Weight passed the puck over the St. Louis net, Bill Guerin flipped a pass to Murray who batted the disk out of the air and behind Grant Fuhr to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead. That's all they needed. Scott Young did score with 51 seconds left in regulation, but that only served to spoil Tommy Salo's shut out as the Oilers beat the Blues 2-1. Salo, a trade-deadline acquisition for the New York Islanders, stopped 21 of 22 for the win. Fuhr stopped 23 of 25 in a losing effort. Damn Hawks If you're the St. Louis Blues, a game with Norris Division rival Chicago doesn't look to be a difficult one. That's true unless Tony Amonte's on his game. Amonte scored three times, all three goals the Blackhawks scored as they beat they the Blues 3-1. Pierre Turgeon scored the lone Blues goal on a power play 7:24 into the second. Although the Blues scored only once the entire game, it looked like they would make a game out of it the entire night. "It kept looking like we were going to get (a goal) and turn it around," said Blues coach Joel Quenneville. "We need better penetration to the slot. Usually it's where you get tips, screens and rebounds." The Blues outshot Chicago 37-16 on the game. Grant Fuhr only stopped 13 shots in the loss. They're always Good for a Win When Brett Hull left St. Louis to sign as a free agent with Dallas this past off-season, there were questions about where the goals would come from. Pavol Demitra and Al MacInnis were the two obvious choices to step up, and they did. But Scott Pellerin??? Pellerin scored twice, including his career-high 19th, and Grant Fuhr earned his 25th career shut out as the Blues ended a two-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over Tampa Bay. Pellerin opened the scoring 5:31 into the first when, while killing a Mike Eastwood obstruction-holding penalty, Blair Atcheynum broke on a 2-on-1 with Pellerin. Atcheynum passed to Pellerin who beat Kevin Hodson for a 1-0 lead. The goal tied Pellerin with Colorado's Joe Sakic for the league lead in short-handed goals. Both men have five. Pellerin finished his scoring 8:54 into the second when he deflected in a Jamal Mayers shot for a 2-0 lead. "It's funny," Pellerin said. "You're just trying to play well and play consistent. I've been fortunate enough to play on some good lines with some good people who have gotten me the puck." Mayers finished the St. Louis scoring with 3:36 left in regulation. Grant Fuhr was a wall in between the pipes. He stopped every one of the 27 shots the Lightning fired at him. "It was nice to see Grant play well and get the shutout and get us the win," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said. "This was one of those games where you look over the season you hope your goaltender can steal you a game. Tonight, he got it for us." He Baaaaaack... Finally November 21 was a date that many St. Louis Blues fans circled on the calendar. That was the day the Dallas Stars were coming to town. That was the day Brett Hull was to return to the ice at the Kiel Center. But Hull elected to stay in Dallas, not fearing the wrath of the fans, but nursing a bruised kidney. So, Blues fans erased or crossed out that circle and placed another one around April 3 - the next time the Stars came to town. This time Brett Hull showed up, but he was showed up by Pavol Demitra. Demitra, who has picked up much of the scoring for the offense, picked up four points on the night, from two assists and two goals on his only two shots, as the Blues downed the Western Conference champion Stars 5-2. Hull did score. His goal came 1:49 into the second to tie the game at one. Chris Pronger opened the scoring 13:21 into the game when he deflected Demitra's shot past Stars' goalie Roman Turek for a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead. After Hull tied the game at 1-1, Turek stopped Jamal Mayers' hard shot, but couldn't control the rebound. Scott Pellerin controlled it, and beat Turek for his career-high 20th goal and a 2-1 lead. Tony Hrkac tied the game at 2 at 3:29 of the second period, but the Blues came back to score three unanswered goals, including Demitra's 35th and 36th on the season. Grant Fuhr stopped 19 of 21 shots for the win, his 13th this season. This Ain't The Gardens The Blues had a lead. They held it for a while. Then, they lost it. Sounds familiar, eh? The Blues went up 2-0 on Toronto at 5:39 of the first thanks to a Lubos Bartecko goal just 50 seconds in and Pierre Turgeon's 30th of the season. They held that lead for the rest of the first and the duration of the second. 2:05 into the third, Leaf captain Mats Sundin brought his club within one at 2-1. 2:11 later, the Blues lost their lead thanks to Bryan Berard, who tied the game at 2-2. That's how it ended. Grant Fuhr stopped 29 of 31 shots, and former-Blues netminder Curtis Joseph halted 26 of 28 in the tie. The match was the third straight game the Blues failed to outshoot their opponents. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE PACIFIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Craig Hartsburg ROSTER: C - Matt Cullen, Travis Green, Steve Rucchin, Marty McInnis, Johan Davidsson. LW - Ted Drury, Stu Grimson, Paul Kariya, Jim McKenzie. RW - Antti Aalto, Jeff Nielsen, Tomas Sandstrom, Teemu Selanne. D - Kevin Haller, Jason Marshall, Frederik Olausson, Jamie Pushor, Ruslan Salei, Pascal Trepanier, Pavel Trnka, Dan Trebil. G - Guy Hebert, Dominic Roussel. INJURIES: Steve Rucchin, c (strained groin, day-to-day). TRANSACTIONS: 3/24 trade for Peter Zezel, c, voided; 3/23 acquired Peter Zezel, c, from Vancouver for future considerations. GAME RESULTS: 3/26 Dallas W 5-1 3/28 Calgary W 5-1 3/31 at New Jersey L 7-1 4/02 at NY Rangers W 4-1 4/03 at NY Islanders T 2-2 4/05 at Detroit L 3-2 TEAM NEWS by Alex Carswell FIVE IS ALIVE While they've offered up a couple of disappointing performances during the latest segment of the LCS Hockey-NHL season -- notably a virtual no-show at the Meadowlands and a sluggish 40 minutes on the Island -- the Ducks seem well on the way to locking up the number five seed in the West. The 5-1 triumph over Dallas -- albeit against a banged-up Stars team -- was a season benchmark for the Ducks, it being their first victory in five tries against the soon-to-be repeat Presidents Cup winners. Perhaps more notable than their victory over Dallas, who was in the middle of a 3-3-2 "slump" at the time, was a spirited later effort against Detroit. Naturally, the Ducks lost, as they usually do against the Wings. But in closing to the final 3-2 score from a 3- 0 hole, Anaheim showed great determination against a team that had gone undefeated (6-0-0) since acquiring a bevy of All-Star veterans at the trade deadline. If that game, as well as the tilt against Dallas, showed Anaheim's upside, the dark underbelly was clearly on display in New Jersey, where Anaheim suffered its worst loss of the season both in terms of goals allowed (7) and margin of defeat (6). Not what you want to see as the playoffs draw near. On the other hand, the Devils are the best team in the East (with apologies to Ottawa), and the team rebounded well against the Rangers two nights later. SELANNE SIZZLES As the team pursued a lock on the fifth seed, Anaheim sniper Teemu Selanne rocketed to the front of the pack seeking the first-ever Maurice "Rocket" Richard trophy as the NHL's leading goal scorer. At press time, Teemu held a two-goal lead (45) over Ottawa superstar Alexei Yashin. With six games remaining, and former contenders John Leclair and Eric Lindros both out with injuries, the race to the Rocket now looks like a two-man affair. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Selanne will not only win the award, but end up as the league's only 50-goal scorer. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The league could not do better than to have Teemu on the podium come awards night. The guy is a vastly underutilized marketing tool for the game, a mistake that might finally be rectified through the establishment of the trophy honoring hockey's first 50-goal man. Why does the NHL tie its marketing dreams to a reticent, ill-tempered thug like Eric Lindros when they could hang their hat on an effervescent, skillful player like Selanne? Geography may be the answer, what with Teemu toiling in the Pacific time zone. But it's also a misguided belief (held by fighting apologists, among others) that toughness sells hockey better than skill. Will they still be sticking to that position when Lindros eventually becomes one of those "great" players never to win a Stanley Cup? Probably. ZEZEL FIZZLES The Ducks attempted a savvy move at the deadline, picking up dependable center Peter Zezel from the Canucks for unspecified future considerations (which, if you follow the team, you know wouldn't have been much). The deal was voided, however, when Zezel, dealing with the tragic terminal illness of his niece, elected not to report. Nothing against Anaheim, Zezel said, it's just that real-life concerns were more important than hockey at this juncture in his life. Ducks officials, while disappointed not to have the veteran's two-way skill for the playoff run, were understanding of Zezel's decision. STRETCH RUN With St. Louis playing uneven hockey, Anaheim's playoff-position destiny is pretty much in their own hands - - especially with St. Louis coming to town for The Pond's final regular season game. Anaheim also has a pair against playoff-bound San Jose, one against the hapless Kings and a likely postseason preview against the hated desert dogs of Phoenix. First up, however, is a chance to prove that their recent victory over Dallas was more than just a fortuitous off-night for the Stars. BEAT NOTES While the Ducks were on the road recently, The Pond was taken over by the Frozen Four, US college hockey's championship tournament -- ultimately won by the Black Bears of Maine. After watching some of the best young players in the country do their stuff, it's clear that eliminating the red line would be the NHL's quickest ticket to a more exciting game. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DALLAS STARS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head coach: Ken Hitchcock Roster: C-Mike Modano, Guy Carbonneau, Joe Nieuwendyk, Tony Hrkac, Brian Skrudland, Derek Plante. LW- Benoit Hogue, Jamie Langenbrunner, Jason Botterill, Dave Reid, Brent Severyn, Jere Lehtinen. RW- Blake Sloan, Brett Hull, Mike Keane, Grant Marshall, Pat Verbeek. D-Derian Hatcher, Craig Ludwig, Darryl Sydor, Shawn Chambers, Richard Matvichuk, Sergei Zubov, Doug Lidster. G-Ed Belfour, Roman Turek. "I-Word": Richard Matvichuk, d (sprained knee, 14-21 days). Brian Skrudland, c (chest contusion, indefinite). Shawn Chambers, d (hip flexor, day-to-day). Mike Modano, c (strained groin, 7-14 days). Transactions: Recalled Brad Lukowich, d, from the Michigan K-Wings (IHL), Recalled Jon Sim, c, from the Michigan K-Wings (IHL). Game Results: 3/23 at Phoenix W 3-2 3/25 at Los Angeles W 2-1 3/26 at Anaheim L 5-1 3/28 at Nashville W 3-0 3/31 Tampa Bay W 6-4 4/03 at St. Louis L 5-2 4/04 Detroit L 3-0 Team News by Jim Panenka, Dallas Correspondent Let's Just Get into the Postseason, Already! The Stars have unraveled somewhat due to a mixture of new faces and PPP to several key players. (Player Physical Problems, you know, just can't say that I Word!). Dallas has faced several tough opponents recently, and these opponents tore apart the transitional Stars with relative ease. Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya were able to put on a big show during the April 26 meeting in Anaheim. Dallas' defense broke down repeatedly and appeared to be helpless to stop or even slow down the Flying Finn and his talented cohort. Anaheim eventually embarrassed Dallas to the tune of 5-1 after it became apparent the Stars were not going to mount any attack of their own, most of the night was devoted to chasing around the Ducks' top line. Things didn't go much better for the Stars a week later in St. Louis. It was to be Brett Hull's chance to return to the home of the Blues and show his former team exactly what they missed when they allowed Hully to head south to Dallas. Well, Brett did score. But that goal ended up being meaningless as Pavol Demitra and his mates ran roughshod over Dallas, this time to a 5-2 conclusion. Demitra racked up an impressive two-goal, two-assist night as Dallas was caught without leading centermen Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Guy Carbonneau. The Stars ended up chasing around the Blues for the puck most of this game, since they were unable to win any faceoffs due to the lack of centermen. Demitra answered all the questions of those who wondered if he could fill Hull's skates, so to speak. The Stars did have a slightly better game defensively, but Big Daddy Hatch is obviously wishing his partner Matvichuk and the mobile veteran Shawn Chambers would re-join their positions on the blue line. Hatcher was showing signs of wear and tear after taking a puck to the eye (a nasty bruise), and was not playing to his usual great form. Dallas' calling card of airtight D and a relentless forecheck have gone very far to the wayside as coach Hitchcock and his team scramble just to remain competitive for the team's last few games headed into the big show. No game was a better demonstration of just how far the Stars have truly slipped from their regular-season championship form than when the Big, Bad Detroit Red Wings cruised into town and toasted Dallas. Hatcher recovered well from a bad night in St. Louis, and shored up the D-men for a pretty decent game. The Stars were holding pretty closely to the Wings, but for whatever reasons, Dallas failed to capitalize on at least three prime scoring chances, and Detroit was perfectly capable of finishing every single chance they had. Dallas' offense appeared to be a bit discombobulated. But who could blame them, since the lines Hitch patched together for the night had mostly never played together before. Derek Plante centering for Jon Sim and Blake Sloan? Not exactly your usual Stars lineup. Dallas hasn't had four consistent lines to roll over since sometime in January-February. Getting back to the game, Brett Hull missed an open net early, and then went on to place a beautiful snapshot directly into the glove of a waiting Osgood as it appeared Dallas was about to net their first goal of the evening. That first goal never came, because once the Red Wings smelled blood from the falling Stars, they sealed up the rest of the game in an airtight container and sent the two points home to Hockeytown. The final period was a comical exercise in futility for Dallas' forwards. While the team hasn't totally lost all composure, it is very clear Hitchcock certainly has his work cut out for him to reassemble this rag-tag group into a cohesive, competitive team again. The power play has slipped from first in the league into what could be called a joke. Even when all the players do return to the lineup, there will still be some trouble to form the final units for the playoffs since newcomers Derek Plante, Jon Sim and Blake Sloan have impressed Hitchcock with their speed and youthful tenacity. Things might be tough for Brian Skrewy Skrudland when he finally does make it back from that nasty chest contusion - he might have a few youngsters battling hard to keep him out of work. On a more positive note, the Stars played down to last-place Tampa Bay in a wild game of first-meets-worst on March 31, and ended up winning 6-4 as the two teams traded goals in what could best be described as a game of shinny or pond hockey. There was very little rhyme or reason to this game, and both teams just rolled over lines and shot the dice, hoping for a goal here and there. When it came down to it, Dallas still had enough firepower to win, but man was it ugly. Both newcomers Jon Sim and D-man Brad Lukowich netted their first NHL career goals this game, which surely is some sort of rare record being broken. Both guys were overjoyed and ran around the ice looking for some love afterwards. That kind of puts the whole thing into perspective, considering Dallas' usual reserved tone since they are comprised of mostly jaded veterans. But on this night at least, the kids got a chance to shine in the spotlight for a few minutes. A little excitement here and there from the Stars is a good thing, especially lately. The balance of power is definitely shifting in the west. Here's hoping that the Stars haven't blown themselves out in getting to this great regular-season record. It would be a crime of tragic proportions if Dallas made another early bye-round similar to what happened at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers a few years back. But, history is clearly against Dallas this time, since no President's Trophy winner has ever gone on to take the big enchilada. And, there is no denying the Red Wings' 6-0 streak since the trades that rocked the hockey world. The Avs will surely have something to say about this as well. As Patrick Roy was recently quoted as saying, don't box up that Cup to be shipped to Big D just yet. If the Stars do pull it off, then they will obviously be in pretty rarefied air. Other Notes: *So who do you keep - Belfour or Turek? Is Turek the goalie of the future? Is Belfour a high-priced netminder on the decline? Can either one of them hold together long enough to win it all? For the answers to this and many other interesting questions - stay tuned. Same bat-time, same bat-channel! ----------------------------------------------------------------- LOS ANGELES KINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Larry Robinson Roster: C - Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Ray Ferraro, Sean Pronger, Nathan Lafayette. LW - Eric Lacroix, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson. RW - Russ Courtnall, Glen Murray, Sandy Moger, Daniel Audette. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Bodger, Mattias Norstrom, Dave Babych, Philippe Boucher. G - Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr. Injuries: Mark Visheau, d (urinary tract obstruction, who cares?); Sean Pronger, c (knee, 2-4 weeks). Jamie Storr, g (ankle, at this point who blames him if he never comes back?). Transactions: Traded Steve Duchesne to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a 5th round 2000 draft pick and Dave Babych. Rid themselves of the plague called Yanic Perreault in exchange for Jason Podollan and a 3rd round 1999 draft pick. Brought Pavel Rosa back up from Long Beach (IHL). Game Results 3/25 Dallas L 2-1 3/28 at Colorado L 7-2 3/30 at Boston W 2-1 3/31 at Detroit L 2-1 4/03 at Nashville L 3-2 4/05 at Colorado L 4-1 Team News by Matthew Moore Oh. Yeehaw. Another two weeks of Kings games. And people wonder why I get so depressed every April. Well maybe it is because the Kings started to plan their tee off times for April 19th? Amazingly that coincided with the day after their last game of the season. With all of six games to play the Kings are supposedly still mathematically eligible but we all know that they have as much chance of making the playoffs as I do of Jim Iovino finally paying off that bet we had. So where to start? Let's just skip the standard loss to Dallas. The Kings playing Dallas means only one thing: them losing to Dallas. It's like white and rice, just meant to go together. But even worse than the loss to Dallas were the two walkovers by Colorado. The first game between the two was about as bad of a game as I have seen the Kings play. It is bad enough that the Kings don't have any offense and are streaky on their effort, but they totally didn't show up that day. Theo Fleury showed why he is going to be the key free agent this off-season by systematically embarrassing the Kings and producing more offense than the Kings can muster in a week. The second game against Colorado was just sad. It looked like nobody wanted to be out on the ice and the Kings were lucky to hold the Avs to single digits and it was miraculous that they only lost 4-1. Sickening. Disgusting. Heartbreaking. Those are the words that pop into the mind of this life-long Kings fan who saw his team just not care that they look like mindless and heartless idiots. After this game I really can't say anything good about the Kings other than the season is rapidly coming to an end and the pain will be over soon. At least until next season, because we all know that Kings management will talk big but will not punish the quitting players for bringing such dishonor to this franchise. And I always thought that having a Disney team in the league was as shameful as Southern California hockey could get. The effort expended by the Kings proved me wrong. But on lighter news, the Kings finally got rid of Yanic Perreault. Yeehaw. And they seem to have gotten a pretty good young player in exchange. Jason Podollan is a goal scorer, which is what the Kings desperately need in their future. Perreault could've been a goal scorer except for the fact he seemed to disappear for months at a time. Also gone is Steve Duchesne. He was traded in a desperate move by Dave Taylor to make up for the fact that Dave Taylor signed him. So off to Philly goes Duchesne. And in return the Kings get Dave Babych? Other than the fact that Babych is older than my grandfather, this trade is a great one. I mean, you get rid of a player by paying him a whole bunch of money and then get an old guy who was always kinda slow and who will be a free agent at the end of the season. Good job, Dave. Now just save time and fire yourself and Larry Robinson. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHOENIX COYOTES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Blah blah deadline. Blah blah blah. Check blah blah. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SAN JOSE SHARKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Darryl Sutter Roster: C - Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Mike Ricci, Steve Guolla, Ron Sutter, Vincent Damphousse. LW - Murray Craven, Stephane Matteau, Dave Lowry, Jeff Friesen. RW - Ron Stern, Owen Nolan, Joe Murphy, Brantt Myhres, Alexander Korolyuk. D - Bryan Marchment, Bill Houlder, Marcus Ragnarsson, Mike Rathje, Andrei Zyuzin, Bob Rouse, Jeff Norton, Andy Sutton. G - Mike Vernon, Steve Shields. INJURIES: Gary Suter, d (tricep, rest of season); Tony Granato, rw (knee injury, indefinite). TRANSACTIONS: Sent Shawn Burr, lw, to Kentucky (AHL); suspended Andrei Zyuzin, d, indefinitely; recalled John Nabokov, g, from Kentucky, (emergency recall due to Steve Shields' flu); sent John Nabokov, g, to Kentucky (Stevie felt better!). GAME RESULTS 3/22 at Montreal T 2-2 3/24 at Toronto W 8-5 3/26 at Ottawa T 1-1 3/28 at Edmonton L 4-2 3/31 Colorado L 3-2 4/02 at Vancouver W 7-0 4/03 Vancouver W 5-2 TEAM NEWS by A.J. DaSilva Since last issue, the cool stuff includes: * The gang threw a surprise birthday party for Margaret - that's a WOW type of cool. * Leslie and Emily B. got over a bad case of that ugly flu thingy that's being going around - that's a relief type of cool. * Got to see my sister for Easter - that's a family type of cool. * The Moovers beat up on the opposition - that's a "Way to GO" type of cool. * The Sharks are still on course to play Colorado in the playoffs - that's a good news/bad news type of cool. Another Rent-A-Player Sharks GM Dean Lombardi again made the rent-a-player-for-the- playoffs deal when he got the Montreal Canadiens to cough up their captain, Vincent Damphousse, for a future a 1999 fifth-round draft pick and a year 2000 second-round draft pick. Very much like last year's acquisition of John MacLean, there's little chance of Vinny staying with the Sharks since he too is one of those UFAs (unrestricted free agents) at the end of the season, and the Sharks will throw their money at Theo Fleury. In another deal at the deadline, the Sharks acquired right wing Greg Pankewiecz from the Calgary Flames for the always interesting "future considerations". The guy has less than 30 games of NHL experience, and leaves this correspondent wondering "HUH??!!!" One can only assume that Greg somehow qualifies for the Expansion Draft so that Sharks can expose him. Road trips - they're not so bad!! After the tie in Boston, the Sharks headed off to Montreal to play the almost-out-of-the-playoffs Canadiens. The Habs fired shot after shot, but Steve Shields was awesome. On the other hand, the Sharks were held to a measly 17 shots, yet the final was a 2-2 "we were lucky to tie" tie. The trading deadline came and went, and as they headed to Toronto... They found a gift - Vincent Damphousse. And in his debut, Damphousse paid immediate dividends by scoring two goals, as the Sharks scored eight goals (Yes, that's right folks, EIGHT GOALS) and beat Toronto 8-5. Granted these are the Sharks, so instead of making it easy on themselves with a 7-2 lead in the third period, they allowed Toronto to score three goals in four minutes to make things interesting. But they also did have three power-play goals, and considering their power play ranks next to last, that ain't too shabby. Mike Vernon started his first game in over a month against the Sens, and he was sharp. Murray Craven scored short-handed after excellent work by Marco Sturm, and the Sharks looked like they were going to hold on despite being outshot and outplayed again by Ottawa. Alas, with less than a minute remaining, Wade Redden found himself all alone in front of Vernie and scored. In OT, both sides had their chances, but it ended in a 1-1 "damn we almost had it won" tie. Talk about your ex-Oilers on the Sharks!! Joe Murphy, Vinny Damphousse, Bryan Marchment, Jeff Norton and coach Bernie Nicholls (it still sounds weird to call LCS Hockey favorite Bernie a coach!) were all in the building against the Oilers (who featured ex-Shark Pat Faloon). A slow boring game suddenly got interesting in the third period as the Oilers and Sharks traded goals. However, Murray Craven's turnover led to the Oilers' fourth goal, and Edmonton came out with the 5-2 win. The unbeaten streak for the Sharks ended at eight games. Is there a worse referee than Richard Trottier? Single-handedly, he turned what could have been an exciting game between the Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche into an exercise in frustration. By not calling penalties when he should have, and letting the physical play get to the point where there could have been some serious injuries, Trottier made himself the lightning rod for both sides. The game ended in a 3-2 Colorado victory, but again, the referee made himself the focus of the game. Please, let hockey be the focus!!! The first of a home-and-home against the Vancouver Canucks was over early. At GM Place, the Sharks scored four times in the first, three in the second, and Steve Shields recorded a shutout in a 7-0 victory. Vancouver hit the post five times in the loss, which set the stage for the game back at the Shark tank the following night... And the Sharks came out victorious again, this time by a 5-2 score. Vinny Damphousse was the man again as he notched a hat trick, including an empty netter. The home fans littered the ice with hats and computer floppy disks (this is after all Silicon Valley!) after Vinny's goal. The other highlight of the night was Canuck Matt Cooke running over ref Terry Schick after Owen Nolan sidestepped Cooke with a nifty move. When all was said and done, the Sharks were 7 of 25 on the power play since Vinny Damphousse's acquisition, scored 25 goals in six games, and were now seven points ahead of Calgary for the seventh playoff spot, AND still within two points of St. Louis for the elusive sixth spot. Trivialize This, Buddy!! The Sharks appeared in a movie that came out earlier this year. They of course lost that game. The Sharks, or more specifically, their arena and Zamboni appear in another movie that came out on March 26th. Can you name those two movies? Offensive Prowess Patrick Marleau has been playing well the last four weeks. He now has 20 goals and 20 assists, and the kid is still only 19. Playing with Alex Korolyuk and Owen Nolan has given Marleau the ability to use his speed with the skill (K-yuk) and the grit (Buster). With Vinny Damphousse's addition, Patrick won't have to take up the burden of first line responsibility and can settle down and do his thing. And since we mentioned Owen Nolan... My fellow LCS Hockey correspondent in Boston seems to have a beef with the Sharks captain. Despite the fact that he's not scoring as much as he used to, he's elevated his overall game to the point where the man is leading by example. Buster also seems to have recovered his scoring touch in the last couple of weeks. AND, when he's on the top of his game, he's one of the awesome power forwards in the game. And speaking of forwards... Shawn Burr cleared waivers yet again and got sent to Kentucky. The T-blades, already missing Steve Guolla and Andy Sutton (who were with the parent club), were locked in a do-or-die struggle with the Flyers' farm team for first place in their division in the AHL. With the arrival of Damphousse, and the need to free up a roster spot, and with so many grinders fighting for time on the fourth line, Shawn was the odd man out. And speaking of grinders... With Murray Craven and Stephane Matteau returning from injuries, Coach decided to sit Ron Sutter and Dave Lowry, despite their excellent play over the last month. With Steve Guolla and Brantt Myhres itching to play, and Tony Granato due back soon, it's getting mighty competitive for roster spots. Who gets to play should be based on performance, not reputation or favoritism, and talking about performance... Last week your humble correspondent wondered about the performance of Joe Murphy. Joe seems to have elevated his game (finally!), and a lot has to do with the arrival of Vinny Damphousse. With Jeff Friesen, the newly formed first line of the Sharks has proved to be lethal. Defensive Gestures Andrei Zyuzin's absence for personal reasons turned out to be Andrei going AWOL. The Sharks couldn't contact him because his new agent was not certified by the NHLPA. Complicating the whole situation were allegations that Andrei's new representative was connected to the Russian Mafia, leading to rampant speculation that Andrei's family might be in trouble. He finally broke his silence in a TV interview with his agent, saying he wouldn't return to the Sharks because he couldn't work with coach Sutter. In his absence, Bill Houlder returned, although not 100% recovered. And speaking of recovery... Bryan Marchment also hasn't recovered 100% from his injury suffered in February, but he and Billy are playing through their pain. Andy Sutton has been the healthy scratch on defense, but Coach might want to rest Rouse, Marchment or Houlder as soon as the Sharks clinch a playoff spot. Give the older dudes a chance to catch their breath and recover. Also that would give Andy more time to play, and since we mentioned Andy... Earlier this year, Coach Sutter had the defensive pairing of Mike Rathje and Andy Sutton, this year's version of the twin towers. Coach indicated that one of them had experience but needed more emotion, while the other had emotion but needed more experience. I wonder which is which??? More things that make you go hmmmm... So you want another one of those useless unscientific facts that have no merit but are fun to mention? Every year the Sharks have made the playoffs, there has been at least one French-Canadian on the team. The first two playoff teams had the "Duke" - Gaetan Ducshene. The Sharks then missed the playoffs for two years, until we got New York's favorite ex-Ranger, Stephane Matteau, and the Sharks made the playoffs again. This year the Sharks have both Matteau and the recently acquired Vinny Damphousse.. Coincidence?? Hmmm... Die Hard.. Our Ex-Shark news update concerns John MacLean. MacLean was with the Sharks for most of last season after being traded from the Devils for Dougie Bodger. Since he was becoming an UFA, and indicated that his family preferred the East Coast, there was little likelihood of him re-signing with San Jose. However, the man played his heart out with the Sharks, and was the key element in the stretch run to guarantee the team's third ever playoff appearance. Johnny Mac signed with the Rangers, and at last check, had 26 goals and 26 assists. We miss ya Johnny Mac, and good luck to you and the Rangers in your playoff drive. Eight degrees of the San Jose Sharks You heard about the game that allows you to link one actor via another through Kevin Bacon since he's been in so many movies. Since I can't remember what the game is called, I just call it the "7 degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. Here's a variation for the San Jose Sharks... Japan is an Island. My brother Mike works in Japan. He calls my sister all the time. Her nickname is Mia. Which also happens to my cousin's nickname too. And cousin Mia's son's name is Marco. Who shares the same first name of Sharks player Marco Sturm. And your humble correspondent writes about Marco Sturm's team. And his friend Harry's last name translates to "Sharks Island". Neat, huh??? The Morgan Stuart Award Named after my very cool, most excellent Goddaughter, the award goes to the best Sharks player since the last issue. Candidates include Patrick Marleau, Marcus Ragnarsson and Owen Nolan. But the winner hands-down is the newest Shark, Vinny Damphousse. Vinny's winning tradition, plus his ability to make the right decision at the right time, gives the Sharks a true playmaker and team leader. His arrival elevated the play of the entire team, and the man has seven goals and four assists in only six games. Congrats Vinny!!! Lights, camera, and... Answers.. "At First Sight" with Mira Sorvino and Val Kilmer features a scene where the Sharks are playing the Rangers. Filmed in early 1998, the Sharks lost to the Rangers that day. The San Jose Arena and one of its Zambonis shows up in the movie "EdTV" with Matthew McConaughey that came out March 26th. P.S. Happy Birthday Jen!! ================================================================ NEXT ISSUE: Wednesday, April 21 ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------- PLAYER STATS thru April 4 ----------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM P NO PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH GW GT S PCTG ANA R 8 Selanne, Teemu 68 45 54 99 19 28 25 0 7 1 254 17.7 ANA L 9 Kariya, Paul 75 35 61 96 18 38 9 2 3 0 397 8.8 ANA C 20 Rucchin, Steve 67 23 38 61 11 22 5 1 5 1 143 16.1 ANA D 2 Olausson, Fredrik 67 15 37 52 16 28 10 0 2 0 111 13.5 ANA C 16 McInnis, Marty 75 19 32 51 -15 38 11 1 5 0 139 13.7 ANA C 39 Green, Travis 72 13 16 29 -5 77 3 1 2 0 147 8.8 ANA R 17 Sandstrom, Tomas 51 11 17 28 -3 36 5 0 2 0 96 11.5 ANA C 11 Cullen, Matt 68 10 13 23 -8 47 4 1 1 1 97 10.3 ANA D 24 Salei, Ruslan 67 2 11 13 0 61 1 0 0 0 114 1.8 ANA C 18 Drury, Ted 68 5 6 11 4 50 0 0 0 0 66 7.6 ANA R 19 Nielsen, Jeff 73 4 4 8 -8 26 0 0 2 0 83 4.8 ANA C 22 *Davidsson, Johan 59 3 5 8 -9 14 1 0 1 0 48 6.3 ANA C 14 *Aalto, Antti 66 3 5 8 -10 22 2 0 0 0 53 5.7 ANA D 23 Marshall, Jason 68 1 7 8 -2 134 0 0 0 0 60 1.7 ANA L 33 McKenzie, Jim 66 4 3 7 -16 93 1 0 1 0 56 7.1 ANA D 27 *Trepanier, Pascal 45 2 4 6 0 48 0 0 1 0 49 4.1 ANA D 25 *Crowley, Mike M 20 2 3 5 -10 16 1 0 1 0 41 4.9 ANA D 5 Haller, Kevin 75 1 4 5 3 112 0 0 0 0 60 1.7 ANA D 7 Trnka, Pavel 58 0 4 4 -1 58 0 0 0 0 46 0.0 ANA L 32 Grimson, Stu 66 3 0 3 2 154 0 0 1 0 9 33.3 ANA D 4 Pushor, Jamie 63 1 1 2 -15 95 0 0 0 0 66 1.5 ANA D 34 Trebil, Dan 3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 ANA L 12 *LeClerc, Mike M 6 0 0 0 -2 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BOS L 12 Khristich, Dmitri 72 28 42 70 13 46 12 1 5 1 135 20.7 BOS C 41 Allison, Jason 75 22 47 69 1 66 5 1 3 0 151 14.6 BOS D 77 Bourque, Ray 74 10 42 52 -6 32 8 0 3 0 244 4.1 BOS L 14 Samsonov, Sergei 72 23 24 47 -7 18 5 0 7 1 143 16.1 BOS C 6 Thornton, Joe 75 14 23 37 3 69 5 0 1 0 113 12.4 BOS R 23 Heinze, Steve 66 21 14 35 3 30 8 0 3 0 137 15.3 BOS C 33 Carter, Anson 48 17 15 32 2 16 5 0 4 0 106 16.0 BOS D 18 McLaren, Kyle 46 6 17 23 0 46 3 0 0 0 91 6.6 BOS C 19 DiMaio, Rob 66 5 14 19 -14 93 1 0 0 0 111 4.5 BOS D 20 Van Impe, Darren 53 5 13 18 -8 57 4 0 0 0 88 5.7 BOS L 11 Axelsson, P.J. 71 7 10 17 -11 14 0 0 2 0 132 5.3 BOS C 42 Ferraro, Peter M 45 6 8 14 10 44 1 0 1 0 60 10.0 BOS D 36 Ledyard, Grant 43 4 8 12 -7 29 1 0 2 0 44 9.1 BOS C 26 Taylor, Tim 43 4 7 11 -7 35 0 0 1 0 69 5.8 BOS D 32 Sweeney, Don 75 2 9 11 11 60 0 0 0 0 73 2.7 BOS C 17 *Bates, Shawn 28 5 4 9 3 2 0 0 0 0 26 19.2 BOS D 25 Gill, Hal 75 2 7 9 -9 61 0 0 1 0 95 2.1 BOS C 38 Taylor, Chris M 37 3 5 8 -3 12 0 1 0 0 60 5.0 BOS R 10 *Mann, Cameron 28 5 2 7 -2 10 1 0 1 1 39 12.8 BOS L 16 Belanger, Ken 52 2 4 6 0 171 0 0 0 0 19 10.5 BOS D 44 Ellett, Dave 50 0 6 6 11 25 0 0 0 0 41 0.0 BOS R 27 Wilson, Landon 16 2 3 5 0 15 0 0 0 0 22 9.1 BOS D 37 Timander, Mattias 18 0 5 5 2 8 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 BOS L 57 *Laaksonen, Antti M 11 1 2 3 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 BOS L 22 Baumgartner, Ken 63 1 2 3 -6 104 0 0 0 1 13 7.7 BOS C 21 *Robitaille, Randy M 4 0 2 2 -1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 BOS C 28 *Savage, Andre M 6 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 BOS C 56 *Nordstrom, Peter M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS C 72 *Nickulas, Eric M 2 0 0 0 0 0 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 D 29 Vaske, Dennis M 3 0 0 0 -3 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 D 71 Virtue, Terry M 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BOS D 53 *Smith, Brandon M 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BOS C 61 *Mathieu, Marquis M 9 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF L 81 Satan, Miroslav 73 35 25 60 23 40 11 3 4 1 190 18.4 BUF L 18 Grosek, Michal 73 20 29 49 21 100 4 0 3 1 140 14.3 BUF C 27 Peca, Michael 74 26 22 48 0 58 10 0 7 1 181 14.4 BUF C 37 Brown, Curtis 70 16 29 45 25 50 5 1 3 3 120 13.3 BUF C 90 Juneau, Joe 67 15 27 42 -4 20 2 1 3 0 148 10.1 BUF R 15 Ward, Dixon 72 18 23 41 7 42 2 1 4 0 95 18.9 BUF D 5 Woolley, Jason 73 6 30 36 15 56 2 0 1 1 146 4.1 BUF C 41 Barnes, Stu 73 20 15 35 -10 24 13 0 3 0 170 11.8 BUF C 19 Holzinger, Brian 73 17 16 33 4 41 5 0 2 0 132 12.9 BUF D 44 Zhitnik, Alexei 73 7 24 31 -8 92 3 1 2 0 167 4.2 BUF L 80 Sanderson, Geoff 68 12 16 28 5 18 1 0 1 0 137 8.8 BUF R 25 Varada, Vaclav 64 7 19 26 6 53 1 0 1 0 111 6.3 BUF D 8 Shannon, Darryl 67 3 12 15 26 52 1 0 0 1 80 3.8 BUF D 42 Smehlik, Richard 64 1 10 11 -12 42 0 0 0 0 50 2.0 BUF C 22 Primeau, Wayne 59 4 6 10 -8 36 0 0 0 1 50 8.0 BUF C 9 *Rasmussen, Erik M 38 2 6 8 5 37 0 0 0 0 37 5.4 BUF D 3 Patrick, James 43 1 6 7 12 16 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 BUF D 4 Warrener, Rhett 53 0 7 7 -1 73 0 0 0 0 35 0.0 BUF D 74 McKee, Jay 64 0 6 6 16 65 0 0 0 0 50 0.0 BUF L 17 Cunneyworth, Randy 14 2 2 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 12 16.7 BUF R 32 Ray, Rob 68 0 3 3 -3 235 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 BUF L 24 Kruse, Paul 38 2 0 2 -1 112 0 0 0 0 28 7.1 BUF D 34 *Grand-Pierre, Jean-Luc 12 0 1 1 0 15 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 BUF D 21 Hurlbut, Mike M 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF D 29 *Holland, Jason M 3 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF C 83 *Pittis, Domenic M 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BUF D 6 *Sarich, Cory M 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 CGY C 16 Stillman, Cory 70 24 26 50 6 34 9 3 4 1 162 14.8 CGY R 8 Bure, Valeri 74 24 26 50 4 22 7 0 4 0 234 10.3 CGY D 6 Housley, Phil 73 10 40 50 15 50 4 0 1 0 173 5.8 CGY R 12 Iginla, Jarome 76 24 23 47 5 58 6 0 3 1 190 12.6 CGY C 21 Cassels, Andrew 64 11 23 34 -9 14 4 1 3 0 90 12.2 CGY D 53 Morris, Derek 65 7 26 33 3 71 3 0 2 2 140 5.0 CGY L 20 Corbet, Rene 67 13 18 31 4 66 3 0 1 0 112 11.6 CGY C 11 Shantz, Jeff 70 13 16 29 14 38 1 1 3 0 78 16.7 CGY C 24 Wiemer, Jason 74 8 13 21 -14 173 1 0 1 0 124 6.5 CGY L 62 Nazarov, Andrei 56 7 9 16 -5 69 0 0 2 1 65 10.8 CGY D 55 Smith, Steve 69 1 14 15 3 80 0 0 0 0 42 2.4 CGY C 23 *Wilm, Clarke 72 7 7 14 6 53 1 2 0 0 86 8.1 CGY C 18 Dubinsky, Steve 57 4 8 12 -9 14 0 2 0 0 61 6.6 CGY D 32 Hulse, Cale 72 3 9 12 -8 117 0 0 0 0 83 3.6 CGY D 27 Simpson, Todd R 68 2 7 9 18 145 0 0 0 0 46 4.3 CGY R 42 Ward, Ed 64 3 5 8 -3 65 0 0 0 0 50 6.0 CGY C 25 Roche, Dave 34 3 3 6 -1 40 1 0 2 0 29 10.3 CGY D 3 *Gauthier, Denis 49 3 3 6 4 62 0 0 0 0 34 8.8 CGY D 5 Albelin, Tommy 55 1 5 6 -15 8 0 0 0 0 48 2.1 CGY C 17 Domenichelli, Hnat 20 4 0 4 -7 11 3 0 0 0 40 10.0 CGY C 28 Bassen, Bob R 36 1 2 3 -12 35 0 0 0 0 40 2.5 CGY R 33 Pankewicz, Greg M 18 0 3 3 0 20 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 CGY L 26 Chorske, Tom 25 0 3 3 -8 8 0 0 0 0 41 0.0 CGY C 15 *St. Louis, Martin M 13 1 1 2 -2 10 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 CGY C 26 *Landry, Eric M 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY C 44 *Fata, Rico R 20 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 CGY D 29 *Belak, Wade 27 0 1 1 -2 83 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CGY D 33 *Sorochan, Lee 2 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 CGY R 22 *Thompson, Rocky R 3 0 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CGY D 38 Charron, Eric 9 0 0 0 -6 12 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CAR C 55 Primeau, Keith 75 29 32 61 7 69 9 1 5 1 172 16.9 CAR R 26 Sheppard, Ray 70 24 31 55 2 16 5 0 4 1 178 13.5 CAR L 24 Kapanen, Sami 75 23 29 52 -2 8 5 0 6 0 237 9.7 CAR C 21 Francis, Ron 76 18 27 45 -9 30 7 0 1 1 124 14.5 CAR L 10 Roberts, Gary 72 11 27 38 -3 170 0 0 4 0 129 8.5 CAR R 51 Kovalenko, Andrei 68 17 19 36 -8 32 2 0 4 1 99 17.2 CAR C 92 O'Neill, Jeff 69 14 14 28 2 66 3 0 1 0 109 12.8 CAR L 23 Gelinas, Martin 74 13 15 28 3 67 0 0 2 2 108 12.0 CAR L 18 Kron, Robert 69 9 14 23 -12 10 3 1 2 0 122 7.4 CAR D 2 Wesley, Glen R 72 6 17 23 13 42 0 0 2 0 110 5.5 CAR L 28 Ranheim, Paul 72 9 9 18 4 39 0 2 1 0 60 15.0 CAR R 11 Dineen, Kevin 61 8 9 17 5 86 0 0 1 0 80 10.0 CAR L 44 Manderville, Kent 75 5 11 16 9 36 0 0 0 0 67 7.5 CAR L 13 Battaglia, Bates 54 5 10 15 5 20 0 0 0 1 43 11.6 CAR D 4 Pratt, Nolan 55 1 13 14 12 78 0 0 1 0 43 2.3 CAR D 77 Coffey, Paul 48 2 11 13 -10 28 1 0 0 0 77 2.6 CAR D 5 Malik, Marek 47 2 9 11 -4 28 1 0 0 0 34 5.9 CAR D 7 Leschyshyn, Curtis 62 2 7 9 -1 50 0 0 0 0 34 5.9 CAR D 3 Chiasson, Steve R 24 1 8 9 6 12 1 0 0 0 65 1.5 CAR D 22 Hill, Sean 50 0 7 7 3 42 0 0 0 0 41 0.0 CAR D 14 *Halko, Steve 17 0 3 3 4 19 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CAR D 33 Karpa, David 27 0 2 2 0 39 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 CAR D 46 *Rucinski, Mike 15 0 1 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 CAR C 15 *Ritchie, Byron M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CAR R 45 *Willis, Shane M 7 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CAR C 31 *MacDonald, Craig M 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 CHI R 10 Amonte, Tony 77 40 29 69 -3 60 13 3 6 0 238 16.8 CHI C 93 Gilmour, Doug R 72 16 40 56 -16 56 7 1 4 0 110 14.5 CHI C 36 Zhamnov, Alex 71 17 36 53 -13 50 7 1 1 1 190 8.9 CHI D 3 Mironov, Boris 70 11 34 45 7 129 5 0 4 1 159 6.9 CHI L 55 Daze, Eric 67 19 17 36 -16 22 8 0 1 3 168 11.3 CHI C 34 McAmmond, Dean 72 10 18 28 8 38 1 0 1 0 134 7.5 CHI D 22 Manson, Dave 70 5 16 21 -2 134 2 0 0 0 138 3.6 CHI C 16 Olczyk, Ed 56 8 12 20 -5 29 1 1 2 0 83 9.6 CHI L 24 Probert, Bob 73 6 12 18 -12 192 0 0 3 0 80 7.5 CHI D 8 Eriksson, Anders 67 2 14 16 5 34 0 0 1 0 73 2.7 CHI D 4 Zmolek, Doug 59 0 14 14 0 102 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 CHI C 26 *White, Todd M 35 5 8 13 -1 20 2 0 0 0 43 11.6 CHI L 33 Simpson, Reid 48 5 4 9 1 136 1 0 0 0 18 27.8 CHI R 17 *Dumont, J.P. 22 5 3 8 2 10 0 0 1 0 31 16.1 CHI L 23 Leroux, Jean-Yves 35 2 5 7 -9 16 0 0 0 0 39 5.1 CHI R 15 Murray, Chris 41 1 6 7 -2 75 0 0 0 0 36 2.8 CHI D 2 *Brown, Brad 61 1 6 7 -5 198 0 0 0 1 25 4.0 CHI C 44 Marha, Josef 27 2 3 5 -4 4 1 0 1 0 36 5.6 CHI D 37 *Muir, Bryan 52 1 4 5 1 46 0 0 0 0 78 1.3 CHI D 38 Allison, Jamie 35 2 2 4 0 62 0 0 0 0 22 9.1 CHI C 20 Janssens, Mark 56 1 0 1 -10 65 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 CHI R 32 VandenBussche, RyanM 2 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI R 39 *Mills, Craig M 7 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CHI C 14 *Cloutier, Sylvain M 7 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI R 27 *Jones, Ty M 8 0 0 0 -1 12 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI D 32 Bicanek, Radim 10 0 0 0 -3 4 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CHI D 6 *Royer, Remi M 18 0 0 0 -10 67 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 CHI D 5 Yawney, Trent R 20 0 0 0 -6 32 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 COL C 21 Forsberg, Peter 72 26 67 93 27 92 8 1 5 0 198 13.1 COL C 19 Sakic, Joe 67 39 51 90 20 29 12 5 6 1 241 16.2 COL R 14 Fleury, Theo 69 38 50 88 24 74 8 3 4 2 279 13.6 COL R 22 Lemieux, Claude 76 27 23 50 1 102 11 0 8 1 277 9.7 COL R 18 Deadmarsh, Adam 66 22 27 49 -2 102 10 0 3 1 152 14.5 COL L 13 Kamensky, Valeri R 65 14 30 44 1 28 2 0 2 0 123 11.4 COL C 37 *Drury, Chris 73 20 21 41 10 60 6 0 3 1 131 15.3 COL R 23 *Hejduk, Milan 76 13 28 41 5 24 4 0 5 0 167 7.8 COL D 8 Ozolinsh, Sandis 33 6 23 29 8 16 3 0 2 0 67 9.0 COL R 12 Donovan, Shean 64 7 12 19 5 35 1 0 1 0 80 8.8 COL D 52 Foote, Adam 58 4 15 19 17 86 2 0 0 0 76 5.3 COL D 2 Lefebvre, Sylvain 70 2 17 19 19 46 0 0 0 0 62 3.2 COL D 3 Miller, Aaron 71 5 11 16 3 42 1 0 2 0 81 6.2 COL C 26 Yelle, Stephane 66 8 7 15 -5 38 1 0 0 0 92 8.7 COL D 5 Gusarov, Alexei 49 1 10 11 11 20 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 COL L 25 Podein, Shjon 49 3 6 9 -2 22 0 0 0 0 66 4.5 COL C 32 Hunter, Dale 56 1 6 7 -6 113 0 0 0 0 21 4.8 COL D 29 Messier, Eric 29 2 2 4 0 14 1 0 1 0 26 7.7 COL R 36 Odgers, Jeff 69 2 2 4 -2 237 1 0 0 0 37 5.4 COL D 7 de Vries, Greg 67 1 3 4 -4 64 0 0 0 0 54 1.9 COL D 24 Klemm, Jon 35 1 2 3 5 29 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 COL D 4 Russell, Cam 42 1 2 3 -4 94 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 COL R 17 *Matte, Christian M 7 1 1 2 -2 0 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 COL L 16 Rychel, Warren 24 0 2 2 2 53 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 COL D 15 *Gaul, Mike M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL C 44 *Aubin, Serge M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 59 *White, Brian M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL L 6 Dingman, Chris 3 0 0 0 -2 24 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 32 Buchanan, Jeff M 6 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 43 *Smith, Dan M 12 0 0 0 5 9 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 COL R 27 *Parker, Scott M 27 0 0 0 -3 71 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 DAL C 9 Modano, Mike 74 33 46 79 30 42 6 4 7 1 217 15.2 DAL R 22 Hull, Brett 55 29 24 53 19 30 13 0 10 0 180 16.1 DAL C 25 Nieuwendyk, Joe 63 24 26 50 8 30 7 0 8 1 148 16.2 DAL R 26 Lehtinen, Jere 69 20 29 49 30 18 7 1 2 0 161 12.4 DAL D 56 Zubov, Sergei 76 9 35 44 8 20 4 0 2 0 146 6.2 DAL D 5 Sydor, Darryl 68 13 30 43 -1 33 8 0 2 1 148 8.8 DAL C 15 Langenbrunner, Jamie 70 12 30 42 8 60 4 0 1 0 131 9.2 DAL R 16 Verbeek, Pat 75 16 16 32 9 133 7 0 2 1 129 12.4 DAL R 29 Marshall, Grant 76 12 16 28 1 70 2 0 3 0 104 11.5 DAL D 2 Hatcher, Derian 76 9 19 28 20 87 3 0 2 0 119 7.6 DAL C 33 Hogue, Benoit 69 12 15 27 -11 52 2 0 3 0 110 10.9 DAL C 41 Hrkac, Tony 66 12 14 26 2 26 2 0 2 2 64 18.8 DAL R 12 Keane, Mike 75 3 22 25 -2 58 1 1 1 0 92 3.3 DAL C 18 Plante, Derek 45 5 11 16 4 14 0 0 0 0 74 6.8 DAL L 14 Reid, Dave 69 5 11 16 -1 14 0 0 0 0 74 6.8 DAL C 21 Carbonneau, Guy 70 3 12 15 -4 27 0 0 2 0 57 5.3 DAL D 24 Matvichuk, Richard R 64 3 9 12 23 51 1 0 0 0 54 5.6 DAL D 27 Chambers, Shawn R 58 2 8 10 5 18 1 0 1 0 76 2.6 DAL D 3 Ludwig, Craig 74 2 5 7 5 79 0 0 0 0 36 5.6 DAL C 10 Skrudland, Brian R 37 4 1 5 2 33 0 0 1 0 30 13.3 DAL L 17 Severyn, Brent 27 1 2 3 -1 43 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 DAL D 37 *Lukowich, Brad 8 1 1 2 1 5 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 DAL C 49 *Sim, Jon 4 1 0 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 6 16.7 DAL C 39 *Fairchild, Kelly M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 DAL C 23 Gavey, Aaron M 7 0 0 0 -1 10 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 DAL R 11 *Sloan, Blake 10 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 DAL L 46 *Wright, Jamie M 11 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 DAL D 6 Lidster, Doug 13 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 DAL L 28 *Botterill, Jason M 17 0 0 0 -2 23 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 DET C 19 Yzerman, Steve 75 26 43 69 5 42 12 2 3 0 220 11.8 DET C 8 Larionov, Igor 71 14 46 60 11 46 4 2 2 1 80 17.5 DET C 91 Fedorov, Sergei 71 23 34 57 8 58 5 2 3 0 208 11.1 DET C 13 Kozlov, Vyacheslav 73 27 28 55 10 41 5 0 3 2 201 13.4 DET L 14 Shanahan, Brendan 75 29 25 54 -2 119 5 0 5 0 276 10.5 DET D 5 Lidstrom, Nicklas 76 13 39 52 13 10 6 2 3 0 193 6.7 DET D 55 Murphy, Larry 75 10 40 50 22 42 5 1 2 0 159 6.3 DET L 71 Clark, Wendel 71 32 14 46 -23 37 11 0 3 1 197 16.2 DET R 25 McCarty, Darren R 66 14 26 40 8 104 6 0 1 1 136 10.3 DET D 24 Chelios, Chris 71 9 26 35 -1 89 3 1 1 1 183 4.9 DET L 96 Holmstrom, Tomas 76 12 19 31 -12 67 5 0 4 0 96 12.5 DET R 20 Lapointe, Martin 72 16 13 29 9 139 7 1 4 0 147 10.9 DET R 17 Brown, Doug 75 8 18 26 4 40 3 1 1 0 170 4.7 DET C 33 Draper, Kris 74 4 13 17 2 75 0 1 1 0 72 5.6 DET R 18 Maltby, Kirk 47 7 6 13 -6 28 0 1 2 0 66 10.6 DET C 23 *Roest, Stacy 55 4 8 12 -6 14 0 0 1 0 48 8.3 DET D 4 Samuelsson, Ulf 67 4 8 12 6 93 0 0 0 0 37 10.8 DET D 11 Dandenault, Mathieu 69 3 8 11 14 57 0 0 0 0 91 3.3 DET D 27 Ward, Aaron 54 3 7 10 -7 50 0 0 0 0 42 7.1 DET D 15 Gill, Todd 46 4 5 9 -10 27 1 0 1 1 59 6.8 DET D 34 Macoun, Jamie 67 1 8 9 -3 36 0 0 0 0 60 1.7 DET R 26 Kocur, Joe 39 2 5 7 0 87 0 0 0 0 20 10.0 DET D 44 Krupp, Uwe R 22 3 2 5 0 6 0 0 0 0 32 9.4 DET L 85 Klima, Petr M 13 1 0 1 -3 4 0 0 1 0 12 8.3 DET D 3 Houda, Doug 3 0 1 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 DET D 28 *Golubovsky, Yan M 17 0 1 1 4 16 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 DET L 41 Gilchrist, Brent 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 DET C 21 *Laplante, Darryl M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 DET L 22 *Audet, Philippe M 4 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 EDM R 9 Guerin, Bill 76 30 31 61 6 131 13 0 2 1 247 12.1 EDM L 20 Beranek, Josef 66 19 30 49 6 23 7 0 2 0 160 11.9 EDM R 10 Falloon, Pat 76 17 21 38 -1 18 8 0 2 0 144 11.8 EDM R 25 Grier, Mike 76 16 19 35 -3 50 1 1 0 0 132 12.1 EDM L 17 Murray, Rem 72 17 15 32 0 18 4 0 4 1 106 16.0 EDM C 39 Weight, Doug 38 4 28 32 -9 10 0 0 0 0 63 6.3 EDM C 26 Marchant, Todd 76 11 20 31 -3 65 3 1 1 0 173 6.4 EDM D 22 Hamrlik, Roman 70 8 22 30 3 60 3 0 0 0 162 4.9 EDM R 28 Selivanov, Alexander AL66 12 16 28 -9 32 1 0 1 0 166 7.2 EDM L 94 Smyth, Ryan 65 11 16 27 0 56 4 0 2 2 148 7.4 EDM C 15 Kilger, Chad 72 15 11 26 -3 32 2 1 1 1 74 20.3 EDM D 44 Niinimaa, Janne 75 4 21 25 5 84 2 0 1 0 128 3.1 EDM L 18 Moreau, Ethan 74 9 11 20 -4 90 0 0 1 0 89 10.1 EDM D 5 *Poti, Tom 67 3 14 17 6 42 2 0 1 0 80 3.8 EDM D 21 Smith, Jason 66 3 11 14 -10 49 0 0 0 0 63 4.8 EDM C 19 Devereaux, Boyd 58 6 7 13 1 21 0 1 4 1 37 16.2 EDM D 24 Laflamme, Christian ALL68 2 11 13 -3 70 0 0 0 0 61 3.3 EDM L *Cleary, Dan 35 4 5 9 -1 24 0 0 0 0 49 8.2 EDM R 16 Buchberger, Kelly 46 4 4 8 -5 66 0 2 1 0 27 14.8 EDM R 27 *Laraque, Georges 35 3 2 5 -1 53 0 0 0 0 16 18.8 EDM D 46 Reirden, Todd M 17 2 3 5 -1 20 0 0 0 0 26 7.7 EDM D 33 McSorley, Marty 44 2 3 5 -6 87 0 0 0 0 29 6.9 EDM D 23 *Brown, Sean 47 0 5 5 0 168 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 EDM D 8 Musil, Frank 37 0 3 3 1 34 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 EDM D 32 *Millar, Craig M 24 0 2 2 -6 19 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 EDM R 38 Ferraro, Chris M 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 100.0 EDM C 34 Dowd, Jim 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 EDM L 15 *LaCouture, Dan M 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 EDM L 28 Huard, Bill R 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 EDM L 21 Lacroix, Daniel 4 0 0 0 0 13 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 EDM C 7 *Lindquist, Fredrik M 8 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 FLA C 14 Whitney, Ray 74 24 36 60 0 16 7 0 6 1 176 13.6 FLA C 25 Kozlov, Viktor 65 16 35 51 13 24 5 1 1 0 209 7.7 FLA C 44 Niedermayer, Rob 75 18 31 49 -10 50 6 1 3 2 131 13.7 FLA R 19 Dvorak, Radek 75 18 21 39 7 27 0 4 0 0 163 11.0 FLA R 27 Mellanby, Scott 61 16 23 39 1 85 4 0 3 3 119 13.4 FLA L 21 *Parrish, Mark 66 22 13 35 -1 23 5 0 4 1 122 18.0 FLA D 24 Svehla, Robert 73 7 27 34 -9 72 3 0 0 1 147 4.8 FLA L 11 Lindsay, Bill 74 12 15 27 -1 92 0 1 2 0 134 9.0 FLA L 16 *Kvasha, Oleg 68 12 13 25 5 45 4 0 2 1 138 8.7 FLA D 4 Hedican, Bret 66 4 17 21 3 44 0 2 1 1 89 4.5 FLA R 10 Bure, Pavel R 11 13 3 16 3 4 5 1 0 1 44 29.5 FLA L 29 Garpenlov, Johan 57 7 8 15 -7 40 0 0 0 1 64 10.9 FLA D 8 *Spacek, Jaroslav 59 3 11 14 11 28 2 1 0 0 86 3.5 FLA L 9 Muller, Kirk 75 2 10 12 -11 47 0 0 0 0 97 2.1 FLA D 2 Carkner, Terry 55 2 8 10 3 43 0 0 0 0 21 9.5 FLA D 3 Laus, Paul 73 1 9 10 0 216 0 0 0 0 52 1.9 FLA R 22 Ciccarelli, Dino R 14 6 1 7 -1 27 5 0 1 0 23 26.1 FLA D 26 *Boyle, Dan 15 3 4 7 -3 2 1 0 1 0 21 14.3 FLA L 28 *Worrell, Peter 55 3 4 7 -2 216 0 0 2 0 43 7.0 FLA D 5 Murphy, Gord R 51 0 7 7 4 16 0 0 0 0 56 0.0 FLA L 18 Hicks, Alex 48 0 6 6 -4 55 0 0 0 0 44 0.0 FLA D 7 Wilson, Mike 34 1 2 3 12 47 0 0 1 0 48 2.1 FLA D 6 *Ratchuk, Peter 20 1 1 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 FLA R 26 Nemirovsky, David R 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 FLA C 23 Wells, Chris 13 0 1 1 -3 19 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 FLA D 15 *Jakopin, John M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA R 10 *Nilson, Marcus M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA D 15 *Ware, Jeff 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA L 12 *Hay, Dwayne M 9 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 LAK L 20 Robitaille, Luc 75 35 33 68 -4 46 9 0 7 0 263 13.3 LAK R 10 Audette, Donald 44 17 16 33 2 51 6 0 2 0 137 12.4 LAK C 15 Stumpel, Jozef 62 12 21 33 -18 10 1 0 1 0 130 9.2 LAK D 4 Blake, Rob 57 11 21 32 -6 124 4 1 2 0 204 5.4 LAK R 27 Murray, Glen 54 16 15 31 -8 30 3 3 3 0 153 10.5 LAK C 26 Ferraro, Ray 58 10 15 25 0 57 2 0 2 0 69 14.5 LAK L 9 Tsyplakov, Vladimir 62 8 11 19 -5 32 0 2 1 0 97 8.2 LAK C 12 *Jokinen, Olli 59 9 8 17 -9 42 3 1 1 0 79 11.4 LAK L 23 Johnson, Craig 63 6 11 17 -10 30 2 0 2 0 90 6.7 LAK R 19 Courtnall, Russ 51 6 10 16 -8 17 0 1 1 0 67 9.0 LAK D 3 Galley, Garry 59 4 11 15 -9 30 3 0 0 0 75 5.3 LAK R 55 *Rosa, Pavel 22 4 10 14 1 4 0 0 0 0 45 8.9 LAK D 8 Bodger, Doug 58 2 10 12 0 22 0 0 0 0 56 3.6 LAK D 6 O'Donnell, Sean 75 1 11 12 4 162 0 0 0 0 60 1.7 LAK C 22 Laperriere, Ian 65 3 8 11 -5 134 0 0 1 0 57 5.3 LAK C 11 Convery, Brandon 15 2 7 9 4 12 0 0 1 0 14 14.3 LAK D 43 Boucher, Philippe 40 2 6 8 -13 30 1 0 0 0 77 2.6 LAK D 14 Norstrom, Mattias 75 2 5 7 -9 36 0 1 0 0 59 3.4 LAK D 44 Babych, Dave 36 2 4 6 -3 22 2 0 0 0 47 4.3 LAK C 45 Moger, Sandy 41 3 2 5 -9 26 0 0 2 0 26 11.5 LAK R 24 LaFayette, Nathan M 33 2 2 4 0 35 0 1 1 0 42 4.8 LAK L 21 *Green, Josh M 27 1 3 4 -5 8 1 0 0 0 35 2.9 LAK D 48 *Visheau, Mark R 28 1 3 4 -7 107 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 LAK C 29 Pronger, Sean 29 0 4 4 -1 8 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 LAK L 17 Johnson, Matt 42 2 0 2 -5 110 0 0 0 0 8 25.0 LAK D 54 *Nemecek, Jan M 4 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 LAK R 37 Podollan, Jason 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 LAK R 42 Bylsma, Dan M 8 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 LAK L 7 McKenna, Steve 15 0 0 0 -1 29 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 MTL C 11 Koivu, Saku 58 14 27 41 -6 34 4 2 0 0 136 10.3 MTL D 38 Malakhov, Vladimir 61 13 21 34 -6 77 8 0 3 0 142 9.2 MTL L 17 Brunet, Benoit 60 14 17 31 -1 31 4 2 0 0 115 12.2 MTL L 27 Corson, Shayne 60 12 19 31 -7 124 7 0 4 0 138 8.7 MTL L 26 Rucinsky, Martin 66 15 15 30 -19 44 5 0 1 0 163 9.2 MTL L 37 Poulin, Patrick 74 8 16 24 8 21 0 1 1 0 81 9.9 MTL D 5 Quintal, Stephane 75 8 16 24 -18 62 1 1 4 0 148 5.4 MTL R 23 Stevenson, Turner 62 7 16 23 8 82 0 0 2 1 92 7.6 MTL L 49 Savage, Brian 47 12 9 21 -14 18 4 0 3 1 104 11.5 MTL D 22 Weinrich, Eric 73 7 14 21 -25 85 4 0 1 1 109 6.4 MTL C 34 Zholtok, Sergei 66 7 13 20 -11 6 2 0 3 0 99 7.1 MTL R 44 Hoglund, Jonas 67 8 8 16 -6 16 1 0 0 1 107 7.5 MTL R 28 Zubrus, Dainius 73 6 7 13 -7 25 0 1 1 0 68 8.8 MTL R 21 Dawe, Jason 57 5 8 13 2 22 0 0 1 0 76 6.6 MTL D 43 Brisebois, Patrice R 50 3 9 12 -7 28 1 0 1 0 86 3.5 MTL D 20 Lachance, Scott 69 2 9 11 -17 41 1 0 0 0 51 3.9 MTL D 52 Rivet, Craig 60 2 8 10 0 64 0 0 0 0 32 6.3 MTL C 24 Thornton, Scott 41 5 4 9 2 87 0 0 0 1 52 9.6 MTL D 55 Ulanov, Igor 69 3 6 9 0 92 0 0 0 0 48 6.3 MTL D 29 Clark, Brett 58 2 2 4 -2 16 0 0 0 0 32 6.3 MTL C 15 Houde, Eric M 8 1 1 2 -2 2 0 0 1 0 4 25.0 MTL C 46 *Higgins, Matt M 25 1 0 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 MTL D 48 *Guren, Miroslav 7 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 MTL R 42 *Delisle, Jonathan M 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 C 30 Jomphe, J.F. 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 MTL L 53 *Blouin, Sylvain M 5 0 0 0 0 19 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 MTL R 45 *Asham, Aaron M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL L 35 Bashkirov, Andrei 7 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL L 36 Morissette, Dave 9 0 0 0 1 52 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL D 56 *Nasreddine, Alain 15 0 0 0 -1 52 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 MTL R 6 McCleary, Trent 41 0 0 0 0 23 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 NSH C 7 Ronning, Cliff 74 20 37 57 1 40 10 0 4 0 238 8.4 NSH C 22 Johnson, Greg 67 16 34 50 -7 24 2 3 0 0 119 13.4 NSH R 25 Krivokrasov, Sergei 64 23 23 46 -1 40 9 0 6 1 181 12.7 NSH C 71 Bordeleau, Sebastien 69 15 23 38 -17 24 1 2 3 0 161 9.3 NSH C 24 Walker, Scott 65 13 23 36 0 97 0 1 2 0 89 14.6 NSH L 10 Kjellberg, Patric 71 11 20 31 -13 24 2 0 2 0 103 10.7 NSH R 21 Fitzgerald, Tom 74 12 17 29 -23 42 0 0 1 0 158 7.6 NSH L 19 Brunette, Andrew 71 10 19 29 -5 24 6 0 1 0 61 16.4 NSH D 20 Heward, Jamie 58 6 12 18 -22 44 4 0 1 0 118 5.1 NSH L 28 Lambert, Denny 70 5 11 16 -3 192 1 0 0 0 59 8.5 NSH R 43 Yachmenev, Vitali 49 7 8 15 -7 10 0 1 2 0 71 9.9 NSH D 15 Berehowsky, Drake 68 2 13 15 -13 130 0 0 0 0 72 2.8 NSH D 27 Slaney, John 46 2 12 14 -12 14 0 0 1 0 84 2.4 NSH D 42 Bouchard, Joel 58 3 10 13 -6 55 0 0 0 0 70 4.3 NSH D 6 Boughner, Bob 73 3 9 12 -3 123 0 0 1 0 58 5.2 NSH L 16 Peltonen, Ville R 14 5 5 10 1 2 1 0 0 0 31 16.1 NSH D 5 Vopat, Jan 49 5 4 9 3 24 0 0 0 0 42 11.9 NSH C 9 Turcotte, Darren R 40 4 5 9 -11 16 0 0 1 0 73 5.5 NSH D 44 *Timonen, Kimmo 44 1 7 8 -5 28 1 0 0 0 62 1.6 NSH L 32 Daniels, Jeff M 9 1 3 4 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 NSH R 18 *Mowers, Mark M 25 0 4 4 -3 4 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 NSH C 7 Nelson, Jeff M 9 2 1 3 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 25.0 NSH C 12 Valicevic, Rob 13 2 1 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 13 15.4 NSH L 17 *Cote, Patrick 64 1 2 3 -4 210 0 0 0 0 19 5.3 NSH D 4 More, Jay R 18 0 2 2 2 18 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 NSH L 8 Friedman, Doug M 2 0 1 1 0 14 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 NSH D 40 *Skrastins, Karlis M 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NSH D 2 Keczmer, Dan 32 0 1 1 -4 26 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 NSH D 2 Zettler, Rob M 2 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NSH R 12 Smyth, Brad M 3 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NJD C 17 Sykora, Petr 73 27 40 67 14 18 14 0 6 0 197 13.7 NJD L 16 Holik, Bobby 71 24 34 58 16 115 4 0 6 0 224 10.7 NJD C 25 Arnott, Jason 69 26 24 50 9 75 8 0 3 1 183 14.2 NJD C 14 Rolston, Brian 75 19 29 48 5 14 4 4 2 0 188 10.1 NJD L 26 Elias, Patrik 67 14 31 45 20 32 2 0 2 0 127 11.0 NJD C 9 *Morrison, Brendan 69 13 30 43 -2 18 5 0 2 0 99 13.1 NJD D 27 Niedermayer, Scott 65 9 33 42 16 22 1 1 2 0 144 6.3 NJD R 21 McKay, Randy 64 17 17 34 13 136 3 0 5 0 131 13.0 NJD R 8 *Sharifijanov, Vadim 49 11 16 27 12 22 1 0 2 0 69 15.9 NJD D 4 Stevens, Scott 68 5 22 27 29 56 0 0 1 0 100 5.0 NJD L 23 Andreychuk, Dave 45 14 12 26 0 16 3 0 3 1 96 14.6 NJD D 24 Odelein, Lyle 65 4 22 26 2 105 1 0 0 1 91 4.4 NJD L 20 Pandolfo, Jay R 65 14 11 25 3 10 1 1 4 0 98 14.3 NJD C 10 Pederson, Denis 71 11 11 22 -10 59 3 0 1 0 140 7.9 NJD C 12 Nemchinov, Sergei 74 11 8 19 -12 24 1 0 1 0 72 15.3 NJD C 18 Brylin, Sergei 41 5 10 15 6 24 3 0 1 0 43 11.6 NJD L 29 Oliwa, Krzysztof 59 5 7 12 4 221 0 0 1 0 53 9.4 NJD D 3 Daneyko, Ken 75 2 8 10 24 59 0 0 0 0 59 3.4 NJD D 28 Dean, Kevin 57 1 9 10 4 18 1 0 0 0 44 2.3 NJD C 19 Carpenter, Bob 53 1 7 8 -4 34 0 0 0 0 66 1.5 NJD D 6 Bombardir, Brad 52 1 6 7 -4 14 0 0 0 0 46 2.2 NJD D 2 Souray, Sheldon 63 1 6 7 4 104 0 0 0 0 85 1.2 NJD L 32 Lakovic, Sasha M 16 0 3 3 0 59 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 NJD D 7 Sutton, Ken M 5 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 NJD L 11 *Madden, John M 4 0 1 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NJD L 22 Daniels, Scott M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYI C 32 Linden, Trevor 76 15 27 42 -14 30 7 1 1 0 153 9.8 NYI R 16 Palffy, Zigmund 44 18 22 40 -6 32 4 0 0 0 148 12.2 NYI C 20 Smolinski, Bryan 76 15 21 36 -8 45 7 0 3 0 211 7.1 NYI C 13 Lapointe, Claude 76 13 23 36 -16 60 2 2 1 0 118 11.0 NYI R 25 Czerkawski, Mariusz 72 17 15 32 -11 12 4 0 1 2 186 9.1 NYI R 44 Lawrence, Mark 54 14 13 27 -7 36 4 0 2 1 79 17.7 NYI C 11 Janney, Craig 56 5 22 27 -15 14 2 0 0 1 45 11.1 NYI D 29 Jonsson, Kenny 58 8 18 26 -17 32 6 0 0 0 81 9.9 NYI L 12 *Watt, Mike 69 7 16 23 -3 12 0 0 3 0 65 10.8 NYI C 10 Lindgren, Mats 54 6 14 20 5 22 0 1 0 0 67 9.0 NYI D 38 Richter, Barry 66 6 13 19 -7 34 0 0 2 0 102 5.9 NYI D 4 *Brewer, Eric 61 4 6 10 -13 32 1 0 0 0 61 6.6 NYI R 15 Isbister, Brad 32 4 4 8 1 46 0 0 2 0 48 8.3 NYI D 6 Harlock, David 64 2 6 8 -15 68 0 0 0 0 34 5.9 NYI L 24 Odjick, Gino R 23 4 3 7 -2 133 1 0 2 0 28 14.3 NYI D 3 *Chara, Zdeno 53 2 5 7 -10 74 0 1 0 0 50 4.0 NYI C 11 Miller, Kevin M 33 1 5 6 -5 13 0 0 0 0 37 2.7 NYI D 2 Pilon, Rich R 52 0 4 4 -8 88 0 0 0 0 27 0.0 NYI R 14 Sacco, Joe 70 3 0 3 -23 43 0 1 2 0 82 3.7 NYI D 36 Crowley, Ted 13 1 2 3 -1 2 1 0 0 0 20 5.0 NYI D 33 Cairns, Eric 9 0 3 3 1 23 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 NYI D 39 Malkoc, Dean M 2 0 1 1 3 7 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NYI C 37 *Nabokov, Dmitri M 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NYI C 67 Kennedy, Mike M 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYI D 55 *Chebaturkin, Vladimir 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 NYI R 48 *Luhning, Warren 5 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 NYI R 49 *Orszagh, Vladimir 6 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYI L 18 Hough, Mike M 11 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYI R 8 Webb, Steve 39 0 0 0 -8 28 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 NYR C 99 Gretzky, Wayne 64 9 49 58 -20 14 3 0 3 1 122 7.4 NYR R 15 MacLean, John 76 26 26 52 8 42 9 1 1 0 215 12.1 NYR D 2 Leetch, Brian 76 10 41 51 -7 38 2 0 1 0 171 5.8 NYR L 9 Graves, Adam 76 36 13 49 -10 47 13 1 7 0 207 17.4 NYR C 93 Nedved, Petr 56 20 27 47 -6 50 9 1 3 0 153 13.1 NYR C 33 Savard, Marc 64 9 34 43 -4 36 4 0 1 0 102 8.8 NYR L 17 Stevens, Kevin 75 22 19 41 -10 58 8 0 3 0 125 17.6 NYR L 24 Sundstrom, Niklas 75 13 28 41 -4 18 1 2 3 0 84 15.5 NYR R 22 Knuble, Mike 76 14 19 33 -4 24 3 0 1 0 104 13.5 NYR D 25 Schneider, Mathieu 69 8 21 29 -15 52 5 0 2 0 151 5.3 NYR R 20 Harvey, Todd R 37 11 17 28 -1 72 6 0 2 1 58 19.0 NYR C 6 *Malhotra, Manny 67 8 7 15 -4 13 1 0 2 0 56 14.3 NYR R 26 *Maneluk, Mike 44 6 9 15 5 20 1 0 1 0 55 10.9 NYR L 37 Fedyk, Brent 61 4 6 10 -11 30 0 1 0 0 45 8.9 NYR D 23 Beukeboom, Jeff R 45 0 9 9 -2 60 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 NYR R Brown, Kevin 12 4 2 6 -2 0 2 0 0 0 13 30.8 NYR R 21 Fraser, Scott 27 2 4 6 -11 14 1 0 0 0 34 5.9 NYR D 12 *Brennan, Rich 18 1 3 4 -3 17 0 0 0 0 27 3.7 NYR D 34 Popovic, Peter 62 1 3 4 -14 36 0 0 0 0 56 1.8 NYR D 4 Tamer, Chris 57 0 4 4 -11 117 0 0 0 0 43 0.0 NYR D 36 *Ndur, Rumun 33 1 2 3 -1 62 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 NYR L 28 Lacroix, Eric 58 1 2 3 -12 18 0 0 1 0 36 2.8 NYR L 10 Tikkanen, Esa M 32 0 3 3 -5 38 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 NYR D 8 Mertzig, Jan M 23 0 2 2 -5 8 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 NYR D O'Sullivan, Chris 10 0 1 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 NYR L 14 Witehall, Johan M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR C 18 Armstrong, Derek M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NYR L 28 Stock, P.J. M 5 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR C 14 Dube, Christian M 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR L 19 Langdon, Darren 39 0 0 0 -4 66 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 OTW C 19 Yashin, Alexei 75 43 45 88 24 50 18 0 5 1 304 14.1 OTW L 15 McEachern, Shawn 75 31 24 55 11 46 7 0 4 1 218 14.2 OTW R 10 Dackell, Andreas 70 14 34 48 15 26 5 0 3 0 96 14.6 OTW L 20 Arvedson, Magnus 73 20 24 44 32 44 0 3 6 0 127 15.7 OTW C 21 Johansson, Andreas 65 20 16 36 4 34 6 0 6 0 135 14.8 OTW R 7 Emerson, Nelson 62 12 23 35 9 49 3 0 1 2 178 6.7 OTW D 33 York, Jason 72 4 31 35 24 46 2 0 0 1 163 2.5 OTW C 13 Prospal, Vaclav 72 9 25 34 8 50 2 0 3 0 105 8.6 OTW R 11 Alfredsson, Daniel 51 10 21 31 10 10 2 0 4 0 147 6.8 OTW C 14 Bonk, Radek 74 16 14 30 16 44 0 1 6 0 101 15.8 OTW D 6 Redden, Wade 65 8 21 29 15 52 3 0 1 1 116 6.9 OTW L 18 *Hossa, Marian 53 13 14 27 18 29 0 0 2 1 111 11.7 OTW L 28 Donato, Ted 75 10 16 26 -7 37 2 0 0 0 99 10.1 OTW D 29 Kravchuk, Igor 73 3 17 20 14 32 2 0 0 0 159 1.9 OTW D 5 *Salo, Sami 56 6 12 18 21 22 2 0 1 0 90 6.7 OTW C 22 Van Allen, Shaun 72 5 11 16 4 26 0 1 0 0 41 12.2 OTW D 27 Laukkanen, Janne 49 1 11 12 18 38 0 0 0 0 46 2.2 OTW C 25 Gardiner, Bruce 52 4 7 11 4 39 0 0 1 0 61 6.6 OTW D 3 *Traverse, Patrick 40 1 8 9 8 18 0 0 0 0 30 3.3 OTW D 2 Pitlick, Lance 43 3 5 8 6 27 0 0 0 0 23 13.0 OTW C 16 Martins, Steve 33 4 3 7 4 10 1 0 1 0 26 15.4 OTW R 12 Oliver, David M 17 2 5 7 1 4 0 0 0 0 18 11.1 OTW D 4 Phillips, Chris R 31 3 3 6 -2 30 2 0 0 0 44 6.8 OTW L 9 Berg, Bill 42 2 2 4 3 28 0 0 0 1 38 5.3 OTW C 7 Butsayev, Viacheslav AL 3 0 1 1 -1 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 OTW L 26 Crowe, Phil M 8 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 OTW L 37 Sarault, Yves M 11 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 OTW D 24 Gruden, John M 13 0 1 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 PHI C 88 Lindros, Eric R 71 40 53 93 35 120 10 1 2 3 242 16.5 PHI L 10 LeClair, John 71 39 46 85 35 30 13 0 6 2 231 16.9 PHI C 17 Brind'Amour, Rod 76 22 46 68 2 45 10 0 3 2 174 12.6 PHI R 11 Recchi, Mark 68 15 37 52 -6 30 3 0 2 0 168 8.9 PHI R 20 Jones, Keith 72 18 32 50 21 96 3 0 3 0 125 14.4 PHI D 37 Desjardins, Eric R 63 14 33 47 19 36 5 0 1 0 178 7.9 PHI D 3 McGillis, Dan 72 8 37 45 13 54 6 0 4 0 153 5.2 PHI R 19 Renberg, Mikael 60 13 23 36 6 16 5 0 2 0 140 9.3 PHI C 18 Langkow, Daymond 72 14 19 33 -4 33 4 1 2 0 137 10.2 PHI L 26 Zelepukin, Valeri 68 16 9 25 2 44 0 0 5 0 112 14.3 PHI D 25 Duchesne, Steve 65 5 20 25 -9 24 2 0 1 0 108 4.6 PHI D 6 Therien, Chris 68 3 15 18 18 48 1 0 0 0 104 2.9 PHI R 8 Hull, Jody 68 3 11 14 -1 12 0 0 1 1 68 4.4 PHI R 21 McCarthy, Sandy 74 5 7 12 -24 151 1 0 0 0 97 5.2 PHI C 28 Bureau, Marc 65 4 6 10 -3 8 0 0 0 0 49 8.2 PHI D 5 *Tertyshny, Dimitri 60 2 8 10 1 28 1 0 0 0 68 2.9 PHI L 12 Berube, Craig 71 5 4 9 -9 173 0 0 0 0 48 10.4 PHI D 24 Dykhuis, Karl 74 4 5 9 -22 48 1 0 0 0 84 4.8 PHI D 22 Richardson, Luke 76 0 6 6 -1 106 0 0 0 0 48 0.0 PHI R 14 Andersson, Mikael 41 2 3 5 -9 4 0 0 0 0 42 4.8 PHI C 29 Vopat, Roman 52 0 3 3 -7 86 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 PHI D 2 Burt, Adam 63 0 3 3 4 56 0 0 0 0 51 0.0 PHI R 23 Greig, Mark M 5 1 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PHI D 32 *Bast, Ryan M 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI D 43 *Delmore, Andy M 2 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PHI L 40 Zent, Jason M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI L 21 Kordic, Dan M 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHI D 25 Joseph, Chris M 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI C 14 White, Peter M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHI C 15 Park, Richard 6 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 PHI R *Bonvie, Dennis 11 0 0 0 -4 44 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHO C 97 Roenick, Jeremy 74 24 47 71 10 123 4 0 3 0 190 12.6 PHO C 16 Reichel, Robert 77 25 41 66 -8 54 7 1 3 1 212 11.8 PHO L 7 Tkachuk, Keith 62 33 30 63 25 114 10 2 7 1 228 14.5 PHO R 22 Tocchet, Rick 75 25 28 53 9 113 5 1 5 0 164 15.2 PHO D 27 Numminen, Teppo 76 10 29 39 6 30 1 0 0 2 145 6.9 PHO L 17 Adams, Greg 69 17 21 38 1 24 4 0 3 0 159 10.7 PHO R 11 Drake, Dallas 48 8 21 29 19 60 0 0 3 0 94 8.5 PHO D 20 Lumme, Jyrki R 57 7 20 27 7 34 1 0 4 0 114 6.1 PHO D 10 Tverdovsky, Oleg 76 7 18 25 14 22 2 0 2 0 110 6.4 PHO C 8 *Briere, Daniel M 64 8 14 22 -3 30 2 0 2 0 90 8.9 PHO C 36 Ylonen, Juha 57 6 16 22 17 20 2 0 1 0 65 9.2 PHO C 21 Corkum, Bob 71 9 10 19 -7 17 0 0 0 0 138 6.5 PHO C 14 Stapleton, Mike 70 9 9 18 -5 32 0 2 2 0 100 9.0 PHO R 19 Doan, Shane 73 4 14 18 -8 54 0 0 0 0 144 2.8 PHO D 3 Carney, Keith 76 2 13 15 17 54 0 2 0 0 58 3.4 PHO D 5 Quint, Deron 60 5 8 13 -10 20 2 0 0 0 94 5.3 PHO D 33 Daigneault, J.J. 64 2 7 9 -13 54 1 0 1 0 63 3.2 PHO R 15 Cummins, Jim 51 1 7 8 3 173 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 PHO C 26 Sullivan, Mike 57 2 4 6 -11 22 0 1 1 0 62 3.2 PHO C 50 *Letowski, Trevor M 14 2 2 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 8 25.0 PHO C 47 *Hansen, Tavis M 20 2 1 3 -4 12 0 0 0 0 14 14.3 PHO C 12 Murray, Rob M 13 1 2 3 2 4 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 PHO D 24 Neckar, Stan 26 0 3 3 0 10 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 PHO R 23 Leach, Steve 28 0 3 3 -7 37 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 PHO D 4 Diduck, Gerald R 44 0 2 2 9 72 0 0 0 0 39 0.0 PHO D 55 *Doig, Jason M 9 0 1 1 2 10 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHO D 6 Huscroft, Jamie 34 0 1 1 -5 78 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 PHO L 44 Vasilyev, Andrey M 1 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHO L 49 Dziedzic, Joe M 2 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHO D 48 *Gagnon, Sean M 2 0 0 0 -2 7 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHO R 18 Noonan, Brian 6 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHO D 39 Tiley, Brad 8 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHO L 29 DeBrusk, Louie 10 0 0 0 -2 22 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 PIT R 68 Jagr, Jaromir 76 40 82 122 20 58 9 1 6 2 322 12.4 PIT C 82 Straka, Martin 75 35 45 80 15 26 5 4 4 1 171 20.5 PIT C 9 Titov, German 70 11 45 56 18 32 3 1 3 1 109 10.1 PIT R 27 Kovalev, Alexei 71 20 29 49 1 49 5 1 4 0 177 11.3 PIT C 20 Lang, Robert 70 21 22 43 -11 24 7 0 3 3 135 15.6 PIT C 37 Miller, Kip 71 19 21 40 5 22 1 0 4 0 111 17.1 PIT C 38 *Hrdina, Jan 76 12 28 40 2 40 3 0 2 0 90 13.3 PIT D 4 Hatcher, Kevin R 60 11 27 38 16 22 4 2 3 0 121 9.1 PIT D 5 Werenka, Brad 75 6 18 24 18 91 1 0 4 0 76 7.9 PIT D 71 Slegr, Jiri 57 3 20 23 18 84 1 0 0 0 82 3.7 PIT R 36 Barnaby, Matthew 56 6 16 22 -10 169 1 0 3 0 73 8.2 PIT R 44 Brown, Rob 52 11 10 21 -11 14 8 0 1 0 65 16.9 PIT R 95 Morozov, Aleksey 61 9 7 16 4 14 0 0 0 0 67 13.4 PIT R 24 Moran, Ian 57 4 5 9 3 35 0 1 0 0 56 7.1 PIT D 8 Dollas, Bobby 64 2 7 9 -5 58 0 0 0 0 32 6.3 PIT D 47 *Galanov, Maxim 51 4 3 7 -8 14 2 0 0 1 44 9.1 PIT R 25 Kesa, Dan 64 1 6 7 -11 27 0 0 0 1 31 3.2 PIT D 16 Serowik, Jeff R 26 0 6 6 -4 16 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 PIT D 11 Kasparaitis, DariusR 48 1 4 5 12 70 0 0 0 0 32 3.1 PIT L 12 *Sonnenberg, Martin 40 1 1 2 -2 19 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 PIT L 18 Lebeau, Patrick M 8 1 0 1 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PIT D 23 Ignatjev, Victor R 11 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 PIT D 49 *Andrusak, Greg 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PIT D 3 *Kelleher, Chris M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PIT C 18 Savoia, Ryan M 3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PIT D 46 *Skrbek, Pavel 4 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PIT D 22 *Butenschon, Sven 12 0 0 0 -6 2 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 PIT D 6 Wilkinson, Neil 24 0 0 0 -2 22 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 PIT C 29 Wright, Tyler 55 0 0 0 -2 73 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 SJS L 39 Friesen, Jeff 72 21 32 53 2 36 10 1 2 1 200 10.5 SJS C 25 Damphousse, Vincent ALL71 19 28 47 -3 48 6 2 3 0 173 11.0 SJS R 17 Murphy, Joe 70 22 21 43 7 65 6 0 2 1 169 13.0 SJS C 14 Marleau, Patrick 75 20 21 41 5 24 4 0 4 1 122 16.4 SJS R 11 Nolan, Owen 72 17 24 41 14 123 6 2 3 0 189 9.0 SJS C 19 Sturm, Marco 74 16 22 38 6 50 3 2 3 2 137 11.7 SJS C 18 Ricci, Mike 76 12 26 38 4 56 2 1 2 1 93 12.9 SJS D 2 Houlder, Bill 70 8 21 29 9 36 6 0 4 0 107 7.5 SJS R 15 *Korolyuk, Alex 49 8 16 24 -1 20 1 0 0 1 85 9.4 SJS L 37 Matteau, Stephane 63 8 14 22 4 73 0 0 0 0 68 11.8 SJS D 5 Norton, Jeff 66 3 16 19 2 30 2 0 1 0 63 4.8 SJS R 22 Stern, Ronnie 73 7 9 16 1 154 1 0 2 0 85 8.2 SJS L 26 Lowry, Dave 58 6 9 15 -5 22 2 0 0 1 55 10.9 SJS L 32 Craven, Murray 43 4 10 14 -3 18 0 1 1 0 55 7.3 SJS R 21 Granato, Tony R 30 6 5 11 3 50 0 1 1 1 55 10.9 SJS D 40 Rathje, Mike 76 5 6 11 11 34 2 0 1 0 60 8.3 SJS D 3 Rouse, Bob 67 0 11 11 -1 42 0 0 0 0 74 0.0 SJS D 10 Ragnarsson, Marcus 68 0 11 11 5 54 0 0 0 0 74 0.0 SJS C 12 Sutter, Ron 54 3 6 9 -8 40 0 0 1 0 59 5.1 SJS D 27 Marchment, Bryan 56 2 5 7 -5 101 0 0 0 0 47 4.3 SJS D 4 Zyuzin, Andrei R 23 3 1 4 5 23 2 0 0 0 41 7.3 SJS C 36 Guolla, Stephen 13 2 2 4 3 6 0 0 1 0 21 9.5 SJS D 42 *Sutton, Andy 28 0 3 3 -3 65 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 SJS C 8 Skalde, Jarrod M 17 1 1 2 -6 4 0 0 0 1 17 5.9 SJS D 6 *Hannan, Scott M 5 0 2 2 0 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 SJS C 9 Nicholls, Bernie R 10 0 2 2 -4 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 SJS R 33 Myhres, Brantt 28 1 0 1 -2 116 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 SJS C 13 Baker, Jamie M 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS L 7 Burr, Shawn M 18 0 1 1 -3 29 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 SJS D 20 Suter, Gary R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS R 25 Craig, Mike M 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS D 23 *Heins, Shawn M 4 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 STL L 38 Demitra, Pavol 75 36 47 83 12 14 14 0 10 1 241 14.9 STL C 77 Turgeon, Pierre 61 29 32 61 7 32 9 0 5 1 175 16.6 STL D 2 MacInnis, Al 75 19 38 57 29 62 11 1 2 2 293 6.5 STL R 48 Young, Scott 69 18 26 44 11 27 6 0 4 0 183 9.8 STL D 44 Pronger, Chris 60 12 31 43 7 107 7 0 0 0 152 7.9 STL L 33 Pellerin, Scott 74 20 17 37 2 40 0 5 4 0 127 15.7 STL C 22 Conroy, Craig 65 14 22 36 10 38 0 1 1 0 131 10.7 STL C 32 Eastwood, Mike 75 9 20 29 6 36 0 0 0 0 70 12.9 STL R 10 Campbell, Jim 55 4 21 25 -8 41 1 0 0 0 99 4.0 STL C 25 Rheaume, Pascal 55 9 15 24 8 24 2 0 0 0 78 11.5 STL R 27 Yake, Terry 53 8 15 23 -13 34 3 0 3 0 52 15.4 STL L 34 Picard, Michel 38 8 10 18 5 14 0 0 1 0 52 15.4 STL R 23 Atcheynum, Blair 58 8 8 16 -8 16 2 0 1 0 77 10.4 STL C 26 *Handzus, Michal 66 4 12 16 -9 30 0 0 0 0 78 5.1 STL L 56 *Bartecko, Lubos 26 4 11 15 4 6 0 0 1 0 32 12.5 STL L 14 Courtnall, Geoff R 21 3 7 10 1 26 0 0 1 0 54 5.6 STL C 15 *Reasoner, Marty M 22 3 7 10 2 8 1 0 0 0 33 9.1 STL R 39 Chase, Kelly 45 3 7 10 2 143 0 0 1 0 25 12.0 STL D 7 Persson, Ricard 48 1 9 10 8 84 0 0 0 0 46 2.2 STL C 21 *Mayers, Jamal 27 3 4 7 -5 23 0 0 0 0 39 7.7 STL L 18 Twist, Tony 58 2 5 7 -1 147 0 0 0 0 21 9.5 STL D 6 Rivers, Jamie 70 2 5 7 -4 45 1 0 0 0 74 2.7 STL D 36 Helmer, Bryan 40 0 4 4 5 42 0 0 0 0 49 0.0 STL D 37 Finley, Jeff 25 1 2 3 5 16 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 STL D 19 McAlpine, Chris 48 1 1 2 -12 50 0 0 0 0 54 1.9 STL D 4 Bergevin, Marc 52 1 1 2 -14 99 0 0 0 0 40 2.5 STL L 9 *Nash, Tyson 1 0 0 0 -1 5 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 STL D 42 Fitzpatrick, Rory M 1 0 0 0 -3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 STL C 55 *Hecht, Jochen M 3 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 STL D 00 Smith, Geoff 4 0 0 0 -5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 STL D 28 Shaw, Brad 11 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 STL D 20 Poeschek, Rudy R 15 0 0 0 -1 33 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 TBL C 16 Tucker, Darcy 75 19 21 40 -34 147 7 2 3 0 163 11.7 TBL C 77 Gratton, Chris 71 6 23 29 -28 132 1 0 1 1 160 3.8 TBL R 44 Richer, Stephane 57 11 17 28 -15 22 2 2 1 0 119 9.2 TBL C 8 *Lecavalier, Vincent 75 11 13 24 -21 21 2 0 1 1 116 9.5 TBL D 23 Svoboda, Petr 53 5 15 20 -1 69 1 1 1 0 78 6.4 TBL L 27 Forbes, Colin 73 11 8 19 -5 51 0 1 4 0 107 10.3 TBL D 13 *Kubina, Pavel 61 7 10 17 -34 72 3 1 1 0 103 6.8 TBL D 4 Cross, Cory 61 2 15 17 -24 88 0 0 0 0 87 2.3 TBL D 5 Cullimore, Jassen 71 5 10 15 -23 75 1 1 1 0 69 7.2 TBL C 21 Daigle, Alexandre 56 8 6 14 -14 4 4 0 1 1 74 10.8 TBL L 7 Zamuner, Rob 51 5 9 14 -13 20 0 0 2 0 73 6.8 TBL C 9 Nylander, Michael 31 4 10 14 -7 8 1 0 0 0 32 12.5 TBL C 26 Sillinger, Mike 72 7 4 11 -29 28 0 1 0 0 82 8.5 TBL D 49 Wilkie, David 40 1 7 8 -17 31 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 TBL C 14 Petrovicky, Robert 22 3 4 7 -6 4 0 0 0 0 26 11.5 TBL D 3 *Gusev, Sergey 29 1 5 6 0 8 0 0 1 0 39 2.6 TBL D 2 McBain, Mike M 37 0 6 6 -11 14 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 TBL C 11 Kelly, Steve 27 1 3 4 -13 19 0 0 1 0 13 7.7 TBL D 28 Samuelsson, Kjell 43 1 3 4 -9 36 0 0 0 0 21 4.8 TBL L 27 Peterson, Brent R 20 2 1 3 -2 0 0 0 0 0 16 12.5 TBL D 23 Sykora, Michal M 10 1 2 3 -7 0 0 0 1 0 24 4.2 TBL D 55 Bannister, Drew 17 1 2 3 -1 20 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 TBL C 64 Bonsignore, Jason 17 0 3 3 -2 8 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 TBL D 46 Skopintsev, Andrei M 19 1 1 2 1 10 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 TBL D 6 *Betik, Karel M 3 0 2 2 -3 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 TBL D 3 *Helenius, Sami 8 1 0 1 -5 23 0 1 0 0 4 25.0 TBL R 20 *Spring, Corey 6 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 TBL C 15 Ysebaert, Paul M 10 0 1 1 -5 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 TBL C 43 *Delisle, Xavier M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 TBL C 12 Cullen, John R 4 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TBL D 71 *Larocque, Mario M 5 0 0 0 -4 16 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TOR C 13 Sundin, Mats 76 28 49 77 20 56 4 0 6 0 195 14.4 TOR L 32 Thomas, Steve 72 27 39 66 24 33 10 0 6 0 187 14.4 TOR R 94 Berezin, Sergei 70 34 19 53 11 12 9 0 4 0 242 14.0 TOR L 7 King, Derek 75 24 26 50 11 18 8 0 4 0 143 16.8 TOR R 22 Korolev, Igor R 66 13 34 47 11 46 1 0 2 0 99 13.1 TOR R 20 Johnson, Mike 75 20 22 42 11 28 5 3 2 0 144 13.9 TOR C 11 Sullivan, Steve 58 16 19 35 8 24 3 0 5 0 99 16.2 TOR C 44 Perreault, Yanic 70 13 22 35 3 34 3 2 2 0 127 10.2 TOR D 34 Berard, Bryan 63 7 23 30 -1 44 4 0 4 0 121 5.8 TOR L 19 Modin, Fredrik 61 16 13 29 12 31 1 0 3 1 99 16.2 TOR L 10 Valk, Garry 71 7 19 26 6 49 1 0 0 1 85 8.2 TOR D 52 Karpovtsev, Alexander 52 3 23 26 37 46 1 0 1 0 52 5.8 TOR D 36 Yushkevich, Dimitri 72 5 20 25 22 86 2 1 0 0 91 5.5 TOR D 3 Cote, Sylvain 73 3 22 25 17 26 0 0 1 0 107 2.8 TOR C 18 McCauley, Alyn R 39 9 15 24 7 2 1 0 1 1 76 11.8 TOR D 15 *Kaberle, Tomas 55 4 18 22 2 8 0 0 2 0 67 6.0 TOR R 28 Domi, Tie 66 8 13 21 3 192 0 0 1 0 58 13.8 TOR L 8 Warriner, Todd 47 9 10 19 -5 26 1 0 1 0 89 10.1 TOR D 55 *Markov, Daniil 51 4 6 10 3 45 0 0 0 1 27 14.8 TOR D 38 Tremblay, Yannick 35 2 7 9 0 16 0 0 0 0 37 5.4 TOR L 12 King, Kris 63 2 2 4 -15 105 0 1 1 0 31 6.5 TOR R 39 *Kohn, Ladislav 11 1 3 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 TOR R 16 Bohonos, Lonny M 7 3 0 3 3 4 0 0 0 0 13 23.1 TOR D 33 McAllister, Chris 44 1 2 3 -6 98 0 0 0 1 15 6.7 TOR D 2 Eakins, Dallas M 18 0 2 2 3 24 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 TOR C 42 *Adams, Kevyn M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 TOR D 4 Dahl, Kevin M 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 VAN R 19 Naslund, Markus 75 36 28 64 -7 74 15 2 3 1 188 19.1 VAN C 11 Messier, Mark 56 13 34 47 -10 29 4 2 2 0 95 13.7 VAN R 89 Mogilny, Alexander 54 12 29 41 -2 58 2 2 1 1 98 12.2 VAN R 17 *Muckalt, Bill 73 16 20 36 -9 98 4 2 1 0 119 13.4 VAN D 2 Ohlund, Mattias R 74 9 26 35 -19 83 2 1 1 0 129 7.0 VAN D 6 Aucoin, Adrian 77 23 11 34 -13 77 18 2 3 1 165 13.9 VAN C 15 Gagner, Dave 64 5 21 26 -17 61 2 0 0 1 94 5.3 VAN D 55 Jovanovski, Ed 67 5 21 26 -5 116 1 0 1 0 100 5.0 VAN C 20 Scatchard, Dave 77 11 12 23 -10 123 0 1 2 0 122 9.0 VAN D 4 McCabe, Bryan 64 7 13 20 -8 114 1 2 0 0 93 7.5 VAN L 8 Brashear, Donald 77 8 10 18 -22 185 2 0 1 0 104 7.7 VAN L 9 May, Brad R 66 6 11 17 -14 102 1 0 1 0 91 6.6 VAN C 44 Bertuzzi, Todd R 32 8 8 16 -6 44 1 0 3 0 72 11.1 VAN C 27 York, Harry 51 7 8 15 -2 22 1 0 0 1 55 12.7 VAN C 22 Zezel, Peter R 41 6 8 14 5 16 1 0 2 0 45 13.3 VAN R 26 Klatt, Trent 71 4 9 13 -4 10 0 0 0 0 59 6.8 VAN L 29 *Schaefer, Peter 25 4 4 8 -1 8 1 0 1 0 24 16.7 VAN C 14 Hendrickson, Darby 57 3 5 8 -15 50 1 0 0 0 59 5.1 VAN C 21 *Holden, Josh 25 2 4 6 -8 6 1 0 0 0 34 5.9 VAN D 23 Baron, Murray 76 0 6 6 -22 111 0 0 0 0 48 0.0 VAN D 18 Robertsson, Bert 36 2 2 4 -6 13 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 VAN D 34 Strudwick, Jason 60 0 3 3 -19 102 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 VAN D 5 Murzyn, Dana R 12 0 2 2 1 21 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 VAN L 24 *Cooke, Matt 28 0 2 2 -12 27 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 VAN R 25 Staios, Steve 52 0 1 1 -13 52 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 VAN C 7 *Gordon, Robb 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 VAN C 28 Washburn, Steve 12 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 WSH R 12 Bondra, Peter 66 31 24 55 -1 56 6 3 5 1 284 10.9 WSH C 77 Oates, Adam 52 12 37 49 1 20 3 0 0 0 74 16.2 WSH L 13 Nikolishin, Andrei 66 8 27 35 1 26 0 1 1 0 114 7.0 WSH L 23 Bellows, Brian 69 16 16 32 -10 22 7 0 2 0 146 11.0 WSH D 55 Gonchar, Sergei 51 20 9 29 0 57 13 1 3 0 173 11.6 WSH C 28 Black, James 68 15 14 29 7 10 1 1 3 0 123 12.2 WSH D 6 Johansson, Calle R 67 8 21 29 10 22 2 0 2 1 145 5.5 WSH C 22 Konowalchuk, Steve R 45 12 12 24 0 26 4 1 2 0 98 12.2 WSH C 8 Bulis, Jay M 38 7 16 23 3 6 3 0 3 0 57 12.3 WSH R 2 Klee, Ken 71 7 13 20 -6 72 0 0 1 0 118 5.9 WSH L 44 Zednik, Richard 42 9 7 16 -5 48 1 0 2 0 102 8.8 WSH D 15 Mironov, Dmitri R 46 2 14 16 -5 80 2 0 0 0 86 2.3 WSH R 34 Svejkovsky, Jarolsav 25 6 8 14 -2 12 4 0 2 0 50 12.0 WSH C 20 Pivonka, Michal 29 5 5 10 -5 10 2 0 0 0 29 17.2 WSH L 17 Simon, Chris R 23 3 7 10 -4 48 0 0 0 0 29 10.3 WSH D 29 Reekie, Joe 66 0 9 9 9 62 0 0 0 0 76 0.0 WSH D 19 Witt, Brendan 48 2 5 7 -3 83 0 0 0 0 43 4.7 WSH L 10 Miller, Kelly 55 2 5 7 -4 27 0 0 1 0 43 4.7 WSH L 21 Toms, Jeff 14 1 5 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 WSH D 24 Tinordi, Mark R 48 0 6 6 -6 108 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 WSH C 36 Eagles, Mike 45 3 2 5 -4 48 0 0 0 0 33 9.1 WSH D 39 Ciccone, Enrico 52 3 1 4 -3 106 0 0 0 1 40 7.5 WSH C 26 *Herr, Matt 23 2 2 4 -5 6 1 0 0 0 32 6.3 WSH L 18 Halverson, Trevor 10 0 3 3 -2 14 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 WSH L 48 *Gratton, Benoit 9 0 2 2 -1 10 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 WSH D 41 *Boileau, Patrick 3 0 1 1 -4 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 WSH R 14 Augusta, Patrik M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 WSH R 14 Lefebvre, Patrice M 3 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 2 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 10 0 0 0 -5 6 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 WSH D 33 Poapst, Steve 15 0 0 0 -3 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOALIE STATS thru April 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TM NO GOALTENDER GPI MINS AVG W L T EN SO GA SA SPCT G A PIM ANA 30 Roussel, Dominic 15 743 2.34 4 4 3 1 1 29 397 .927 0 0 0 ANA 31 Hebert, Guy 64 3798 2.39 30 25 9 3 5 151 1968 .923 0 1 0 BOS 34 Dafoe, Byron 64 3757 2.04 28 23 11 3 9 128 1719 .926 0 2 23 BOS 35 Tallas, Rob 14 807 2.68 6 5 2 1 1 36 358 .899 0 0 0 BUF 39 Hasek, Dominik 58 3442 1.95 27 17 12 2 8 112 1717 .935 0 0 12 BUF 43*Biron *MNR* 6 281 2.14 1 2 1 1 0 10 120 .917 0 0 0 BUF 30 Roloson, Dwayne 16 791 2.81 5 7 2 1 1 37 385 .904 0 0 4 CGY 40 Brathwaite, Fred 25 1486 2.42 10 7 7 2 1 60 722 .917 0 2 2 CGY 30*Moss, Tyler M 11 550 2.51 3 7 0 0 0 23 295 .922 0 1 0 CGY 31 Wregget, Ken 24 1410 2.51 9 10 4 1 1 59 633 .907 0 1 8 CGY 47*Giguere, Jean-Seba M 15 860 3.21 6 7 1 2 0 46 447 .897 0 1 4 CGY 35 Trefilov, Andrei 5 186 4.84 0 4 0 0 0 15 104 .856 0 0 0 CGY 1*Garner, Tyrone N 3 139 5.18 0 2 0 0 0 12 74 .838 0 0 0 CAR 1 Irbe, Arturs 58 3399 2.29 25 19 11 3 5 130 1640 .921 0 0 10 CAR 37 Kidd, Trevor 23 1233 2.82 6 10 5 3 2 58 583 .901 0 0 0 CHI 41 Thibault, Jocelyn 58 3304 2.76 20 30 7 6 5 152 1589 .904 0 1 0 CHI 30 Fitzpatrick, Mark 26 1343 2.77 5 8 6 2 0 62 656 .905 0 1 6 COL 33 Roy, Patrick 56 3348 2.31 28 18 8 4 5 129 1527 .916 0 2 28 COL 30*Denis, Marc M 4 217 2.49 1 1 1 0 0 9 110 .918 0 0 0 COL 1 Billington, Craig 20 1026 2.75 11 7 1 1 0 47 461 .898 0 0 2 DAL 20 Belfour, Ed 56 3243 2.04 32 14 9 0 5 110 1249 .912 0 0 12 DAL 1 Turek, Roman 25 1374 2.05 15 3 3 1 1 47 560 .916 0 0 0 DET 38*Maracle, Norm 16 821 2.27 6 5 2 1 0 31 379 .918 0 0 0 DET 30 Osgood, Chris 60 3512 2.43 33 23 4 4 3 142 1584 .910 0 3 8 DET 40 Ranford, Bill 33 1627 3.87 4 18 3 2 1 105 888 .882 0 0 2 EDM 35 Salo, Tommy 58 3349 2.65 20 28 8 5 5 148 1500 .901 0 0 12 EDM 30 Essensa, Bob 39 2091 2.75 12 14 6 2 0 96 974 .901 0 1 0 EDM 29*Passmore *MNR* 6 362 2.82 1 4 1 1 0 17 183 .907 0 1 2 FLA 31 Burke, Sean 57 3338 2.59 21 22 14 3 3 144 1591 .909 0 4 10 FLA 1 McLean, Kirk 23 1237 2.76 6 8 4 0 1 57 562 .899 0 0 0 LAK 1*Storr, Jamie 28 1525 2.40 12 12 2 3 4 61 724 .916 0 1 6 LAK 35 Fiset, Stephane 35 2040 2.53 14 19 1 2 2 86 1015 .915 0 0 2 LAK 32*Legace, Manny M 16 859 2.58 2 9 2 5 0 37 415 .911 0 1 0 LAK 31*Bach, Ryan 2 88 4.77 0 2 0 0 0 7 60 .883 0 0 0 MTL 39 Chabot, Frederic 8 269 1.78 1 1 0 0 0 8 114 .930 0 0 2 MTL 31 Hackett, Jeff 61 3491 2.51 25 26 9 5 5 146 1570 .907 0 1 15 MTL 60*Theodore, Jose 15 771 3.35 3 10 0 1 0 43 333 .871 0 0 0 NSH 29*Vokoun, Tomas 34 1775 2.91 11 16 4 3 1 86 959 .910 0 1 6 NSH 1 Dunham, Mike 41 2293 3.01 16 20 3 3 1 115 1292 .911 0 0 4 NSH 35 Fichaud, Eric 9 447 3.22 0 6 0 1 0 24 229 .895 0 0 0 NSH 30*Mason, Chris 3 69 5.22 0 0 0 0 0 6 44 .864 0 0 0 NJD 30 Brodeur, Martin 64 3881 2.32 35 19 10 4 3 150 1589 .906 0 2 4 NJD 31 Terreri, Chris 11 662 2.54 7 3 1 0 1 28 265 .894 0 1 0 NYI 1*Cousineau, Marcel M 6 293 2.87 0 4 0 0 0 14 119 .882 0 0 0 NYI 30 Flaherty, Wade 16 830 3.04 3 9 2 3 0 42 408 .897 0 0 4 NYI 28 Potvin, Felix 13 764 3.85 4 8 1 1 0 49 380 .871 0 0 0 NYR 35 Richter, Mike 64 3636 2.64 25 28 8 6 4 160 1779 .910 0 0 0 NYR 39*Cloutier, Dan 20 972 2.72 6 7 2 2 0 44 503 .913 0 0 2 OTW 31 Tugnutt, Ron 39 2259 1.78 21 9 6 2 3 67 914 .927 0 0 0 OTW 1 Rhodes, Damian 42 2290 2.46 22 12 5 1 3 94 994 .905 1 1 4 PHI 34 Vanbiesbrouck, John 57 3404 2.24 24 17 14 4 6 127 1290 .902 0 1 12 PHI 27 Hextall, Ron 22 1176 2.40 10 6 4 0 0 47 437 .892 0 2 0 PHI 49*Pelletier, Jean-Ma M 1 60 5.00 0 1 0 0 0 5 29 .828 0 0 0 PHO 35 Khabibulin, Nikolai 58 3361 2.11 31 19 7 4 7 118 1544 .924 0 0 6 PHO 30 Shtalenkov, Mikhail 37 2003 2.61 13 18 4 2 3 87 864 .899 0 0 2 PHO 28 Waite, Jimmy M 16 898 2.74 6 5 4 0 1 41 390 .895 0 0 2 PHO 42*Esche, Robert M 3 130 3.23 0 1 0 0 0 7 50 .860 0 0 0 PHO 31*Langkow, Scott M 1 35 5.14 0 0 0 0 0 3 17 .824 0 0 0 PIT 30*Aubin, Jean-Sebastien17 756 2.22 4 3 6 0 2 28 304 .908 0 0 0 PIT 35 Barrasso, Tom R 39 2086 2.59 17 14 3 3 3 90 893 .899 0 3 20 PIT 1*Skudra, Peter 34 1776 2.74 15 9 5 5 3 81 762 .894 0 0 2 SJS 30 Gauthier *MNR* 1 3 0.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.000 0 0 0 SJS 31 Shields, Steve 33 1914 2.23 13 10 7 1 3 71 885 .920 0 1 4 SJS 29 Vernon, Mike 47 2714 2.25 16 20 10 3 4 102 1141 .911 0 0 8 STL 1*Johnson, Brent M 6 286 2.10 3 2 0 0 0 10 127 .921 0 0 0 STL 29 McLennan, Jamie 32 1703 2.40 12 14 4 3 3 68 602 .887 0 0 0 STL 31 Fuhr, Grant 33 1824 2.50 13 10 6 0 2 76 668 .886 0 0 12 STL 30*Parent, Rich M 10 519 2.54 4 3 1 1 1 22 193 .886 0 0 2 STL 35 Carey, Jim 4 202 3.86 1 2 0 0 0 13 76 .829 0 0 0 TBL 1*Bierk, Zac M 1 59 2.03 0 1 0 0 0 2 21 .905 0 0 0 TBL 93 Puppa, Darren R 13 691 2.87 5 6 1 1 2 33 350 .906 0 1 0 TBL 31 Hodson, Kevin 8 393 3.05 1 3 1 0 0 20 190 .895 0 0 0 TBL 35*Wilkinson, Derek M 3 148 3.24 1 2 0 0 0 8 76 .895 0 0 0 TBL 32 Schwab, Corey 34 1838 3.66 8 23 1 2 0 112 997 .888 0 4 4 TOR 31 Joseph, Curtis 62 3697 2.58 33 22 6 4 3 159 1770 .910 0 5 6 TOR 30 Healy, Glenn 8 486 3.21 5 3 0 1 0 26 231 .887 0 0 0 TOR 35 Reese, Jeff M 2 106 4.53 1 1 0 0 0 8 51 .843 0 0 0 VAN 30 Snow, Garth 62 3316 2.99 19 30 7 5 5 165 1617 .898 0 1 24 VAN 31 Hirsch, Corey M 20 919 3.13 3 8 3 0 1 48 435 .890 0 0 0 VAN 35*Weekes, Kevin 9 414 3.77 0 6 1 0 0 26 198 .869 0 0 0 WSH 40 Rosati, Mike M 1 28 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 1.000 0 0 0 WSH 31 Tabaracci, Rick 21 1075 2.46 4 10 3 1 2 44 469 .906 0 0 2 WSH 37 Kolzig, Olaf 61 3408 2.66 25 29 3 5 3 151 1453 .896 0 2 19 Stats provided by Brad Murray. 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