Blues hang in for SO win over depleted B's

Monday matinees have been a lot of fun this season and yesterday was no exception.

It didn't look particularly good for Boston during the first forty minutes and Bruins fans I'm sure would rather forget minutes fifty-eight and fifty-nine, but the finish was spectacular.

Missing six key components; Milan Lucic (shoulder), Aaron Ward (bruised left leg), Patrice Bergeron (concussion), Andrew Ference (fractured right tibia), Phil Kessel (mononucleosis) and Marco Sturm (reconstructive left acl/meniscus surgery) the Bruins are certainly playing short-handed but they uncharacteristically skated the first two periods like they were feeling sorry for themselves.

St. Louis picked up on that and carried the action through forty minutes. So much so that Bruins' analyst, former coach and player Mike Milbury chastised the team during both first and second intermissions on the NESN broadcast.

Blues' forward Brad Winchester found his scoring touch Monday, just in time as far as the Chicago Blackhawks are concerned. Winchester missed a glorious scoring opportunity in Saturday's game versus Chicago when he couldn't settle a puck an inch off the ice to pot a goal with Cristobal Huet fallen at one side of the crease.

Missed chances were the story on Saturday for the Blues but Monday would tell a different tale.

Keith Tkachuk returned to the Blues' line up for the first time since getting his bell rung in Calgary last Tuesday night. He assisted on David Backes' controversial game-tying goal as regulation time expired.

Backes swatted an airborn puck into the net past Bruins' netminder Tim Thomas to the dismay of a Martin Luther King Day matinee crowd at TD Banknorth Garden anticipating a victory celebration. Two different replay angles would've led you to believe Backes's stick was above the crossbar when making contact with the puck, but the NHL's 'war room' in Toronto decided the goal would stand, sending the game into overtime.



That move by Boyes in the shootout was sick. Blake Wheeler beat Chris Mason but also hit the post. P.J. Axelsson missed on the backhand.

Manny Legace started, but left the game after ten minutes with what the team is calling a 'lower body injury.' The Blues are saying it's minor but they will likely have to recall Ben Bishop for Wednesday's game in Chicago. After the game Blues' coach Andy Murray told the media Legace simply said he couldn't continue. Murray added, "It's happened a lot."

Boston coach Claude Julien seperated what had been his team's best line for over a month. David Krejci, Michael Ryder and rookie-ace Blake Wheeler had seen opposing team's top checkers each night in absence of Kessel from Marc Savard's line. Julien felt Savard's line needed a spark so he moved Wheeler up to his line with Chuck Kobasew on the left while Krejci kept Ryder and P.J. Axelsson moved up to replace Wheeler.

It was Krejci's line on the ice for all three Bruins' third period tallies, though Savard replaced Axelsson for the power-play goal at 15:16 of the period.

I can't help but feel bad for Chris Mason. Once the main guy in Nashville, two rough seasons have Mason facing NHL obscurity this summer. He's still looking for Zdeno's sixty-footer. And how about that Tim Thomas save? In the highlights the sequence begins at 1:44. Thomas on his belly and back to the play turns his head and gets a piece of a Brad Winchester scoring attempt with his left glove.

Lucic, Ference and Ward should return just after the All-Star game and Bergeron won't be out too much longer as his latest concussion wasn't as bad as originally feared. Kessel is out for a month and Sturm is done for the year. Dennis Wideman did play yesterday, with limited effects after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Alex Ovechkin Saturday in Washington.

Wideman and team captain Zdeno Chara have been the driving force behind the Bruins' Eastern Conference dominance so far this year as much as scorers like Kessel, Ryder and Savard. Aaron Ward and rookie Matt Hunwick don't get much credit outside of Beantown, but they've also had a lot to due with this team's success.

The B's own the league's worst record when trailing after two periods; now 0-6-2.

St. Louis's B's have taken five out of a possible six points in the past five days against Colorado, Chicago and Boston.

Boston's lone game before the All-Star break takes place at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Wednesday night.

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Rick Nash impacts in return, Sundin's catching up

I'm not usually big on high-scoring affairs unless I'm the one doing the scoring, but the Blue Jackets visit to General Motors Place Sunday night was decidedly the best of the four Sunday NHL features.

Rick Nash's return was kept somewhat quiet (at least to me which resulted in me failing to start Nash on my fantasy team) but the results were anything but.

The Blue Jackets captain looked understandably fresh and dominant throughout last night's game. He finished the game with a goal and two assists in nearly twenty-four minutes of ice time.

Nash clinched the game in the shootout beating Roberto Luongo easily on the stick side. Recently acquired from Atlanta (for blue liner Clay Wilson), Jason Williams did the same in Columbus's first shootout attempt.

Scott Howson made a great move acquiring Williams who can only help the league's worst power play. He's already fitting in nicely and since he only got a one-year deal from Atlanta, Williams is playing for both the postseason and his next contract.



As for the Canucks, they quickly rebounded from giving up two early third period goals to tie the game with two unanswered tallies of their own, off the sticks of Henrik Sedin and defenseman Kevin Bieksa.

For one night anyway both Roberto Luongo and super-rookie Steve Mason each looked human.

Bieksa appears fatigued both physically and mentally. He had an awful night in spite of the two-point performance.

Mats Sundin, who looks bottom-heavy in his new uni, was the best he's been since debuting as a Canuck two weeks ago.

Vancouver next plays in San Jose on Tuesday. Columbus visits Edmonton tomorrow night and travel to Calgary for a game with the Flames before the break as well. The Jackets will have to take another swing through western Canada at the end of next month.

We are now 33 days from Mats Sundin's return to Toronto. On CBC's Hockey Day in Canada no less.

ChrisBlock@TheThirdManIn.com

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Saturday's Best

Detroit at San Jose

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Friday night's best

'Original' Six matchup: New York Rangers 3 - Chicago Blackhawks 2, OT

Admittedly biased because its the only game I saw, being there in person, but a great game nonetheless.

The Blueshirts did their best to give the game away affording the Hawks FOUR five-on-three opportunities. Chicago capitalized finally on chance number four, tying the contest with 4:29 to play in regulation.

Chris Drury scored twice (numbers 14,15) including the deciding deflection of Wade Redden's overtime shot from the point that eluded Nikolai Khabibulin.




The Blackhawks announced a crowd of 22,624. It was their 20th sellout of the year at the United Center. Chicago has now played 21 home games, though one was at Wrigley Field. They're averaging 21,648 in 'announced' attendance at the UC this season. I use the term announced because the Blackhawks have taken to the practice of exaggerating their attendance numbers slightly all season for the purpose of ensuring they'll remain atop the attendance standings. It's a marketing thing.

They've twice this season (10/25 vs. Detroit and 12/26 vs. Philadelphia) claimed to have broken the single-game attendance record at the United Center when in fact the largest crowd ever at a Blackhawks game inside the UC came on February 15, 1997, a Saturday game against the New York Rangers which drew 22,819 fans, or 107 more people than the recent Boxing Day matchup with the Flyers.

Friday night's game with the Rangers currently ranks 9th all-time attendance-wise in Hawks' games played at the United Center. That figures in both regular season and playoffs, a number that now totals 554, just 18 of which have been postseason features. The United Center began hosting Blackhawks games in January of 1995. The all-time United Center average attendance is currently 16,632. Yes, there were a lot of lean years. And yes, I do keep those kind of statistics.

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Thursday's Game of the Night - Calgary at San Jose

Calgary talked about wanting to be the first team to defeat San Jose inside 60 minutes in San Jose this season. Well, they walked the talk winning 3-2 at the Shark Tank Thursday.

Dion Phaneuf got the game-winner to complete the comeback victory.

Joe Thornton scored to make it three goals in his last two games. How about this for a stat. Thornton was credited with four shots on goal against Calgary, the same number as in the game prior against Tampa Bay. The combined total of eight matches the total number of shots Thornton compiled in his previous NINE games. Big Joe scored just once in that nine-game stretch. In fact, the two-goal Lightning performance came on the heels of a sequence that saw Thornton find the twine only once in fifteen outings. Can you imagine how good San Jose would be in California Joe actually shot the puck once in awhile?

On to the highlights.



Miikka Kiprusoff was very good but he gets a little bit of help, as well as some luck, in a sequence that begins at 2:05 in the highlights.

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Malkin vs. Ovechkin - Part 2 - The '08-09 volumes

Wednesday's game of the night.

I don't know what Evgeni Malkin did to make his countryman and former Olympic roommate Alexander Ovechkin hate him so much, but it sure makes for terrific hockey when the two get together.

Last night's game didn't exactly live up to the hype, but it sure didn't disappoint either.

Screw regional division alignment. There's no excuse for Pittsburgh and Washington to not meet at least six times a year. It's a rivalry with a rich history and now some of the league's premier talents.



Malkin in particular played like a man possessed. He scored early and never again but did manage 12 shots on goal and had another 8 attempts either blocked or shanked.

Ovechkin always turns it up 'to eleven' against Malkin and Crosby. Two goals, an assist, 10 shots and 3 hits in the game for the reigning Pearson, Hart, Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophy winner.

The two-goal night also moved Ovechkin into a tie with Flyers' center Jeff Carter for the league-lead in goals. Both have 29.

Ovechkin's Caps now lead the season series with Pittsburgh 2-0. Both wins have come at the Igloo, the other being a 3-2 victory back on October 16th. Malkin had a goal and two assists that night while Ovechkin was absent from the scoresheet. So while Malkin has a slight lead in the personal battle, Alexander is basking in sweet victory.

NBC is set to air the two remaining Caps-Pens regular season battles; Sunday February 22nd and Sunday March 8th, both at Verizon Center in our Nation's capital.

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Drew Stafford hit on Duncan Keith last night (Jan 14)

With his head down and drifting towards the middle of the ice, Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith (2008 All-Star) got clobbered by Sabres winger Drew Stafford last night at the United Center. The hit knocked Keith silly and he had to be helped to the bench by an official as play continued.

The Blackhawks, most notably Ben Eager, were understandably upset and Eager went after Stafford later on in the same play resulting in his team being down a man for the next six minutes.

Chicago killed the six-minute Buffalo power play and any hopes of a Sabres' comeback. In fact, the Hawks limited Buffalo to one shot on goal in those six minutes and had the better scoring chances themselves.

Ben Eager was still fuming after the game and expressed his position on the Stafford hit to the Daily Herald:

"It's a dirty hit regardless if it's a shoulder - it's shoulder right to
head and it's defenseless," Eager said. "That guy probably has two hits all year. That team has been through it before and they should know better.

"I just thought it was a dirty play. I'm sure nothing will come of it because it was a skilled guy that hit him, but we'll see what they do."

Stafford had a different interpretation of the collision:

"I hope he's OK, but you've got to keep your head up if you're going to make a play like that," Stafford said.

For the record, the hit on Keith was Stafford's 32nd of the season, 10th most on the Sabres as he averages less than a hit a game. He did however get credited with a hit on Hawks' defenseman James Wisniewski earlier in the same shift.

I've viewed the play many times now on tape. Seeing it live in person it looked to be a clean shoulder-to-shoulder check. Stafford's left tricep actually collides with Keith's right shoulder pad and glances off the side of his head in continuation of the hit. Nothing about this hit is dirty.

Stafford lines Keith up at the last second when Keith drifts to the slot with the puck to attempt a shot. Stafford merely does his job taking the body. If Stafford pulls up and allows Keith to take that shot uncontested, he catches hell from Lindy Ruff when he gets back to the bench. That's hockey.

The point of contact is tricep to shoulder. Stafford's reflex reaction after the collision could lead you to believe he also gave, or attempted to give, Keith an elbow to the head. But Stafford's motion is deceiving. Keith's head snaps back as a result of the contact.

See for yourself.

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