All Hockey talk all the time

Shabbs, you raise a good point.

Montreal is on the brink.

Carolina gave the Flames a caning last night. Watched that game, and looked like Erik Cole has already made a major difference there.

Caught bits of the Buffalo game...they are a different team with Vanek back, and when Moore gets his visa problems sorted (Vermette had the same hangup by the way, thanks to US immigration bureaucrats), Sabres will be tougher.

The Pens are marching again, and Torts has jumpstarted the Rangers (the addition of Morris, Antro and Avery also helps them).

A win by Buffalo and Florida tonight punts the Habs down to 7th and even closer to the brink. And as you said, if the Pens and Rangers start to win... they'll be on the outside looking in very soon.

shabbs wrote:A win by Buffalo and Florida tonight punts the Habs down to 7th and even closer to the brink. And as you said, if the Pens and Rangers start to win... they'll be on the outside looking in very soon.

Shabbs, agreed...the Penguins are already better with Bylsma (7-1-1 since he took over). Bringing in Kunitz and Guerin and giving Miro Satan a bus ticket are net positives. Gonchar makes a huge difference as well.

IMHO Carbo has never gotten a handle on the Habs. He does not seem to know how to motivate or manage them. They missed the playoffs in his first season, and while they had a terrific regular season last year, they were shaky in the post vs Boston before Philly finished them. A number of Montreal fans were crowing this year, but the inconsistency was evident from Day One--underlined by many expert hockey observers in the Montreal media like Red Fisher, Pat Hickey, Yvon Pedneault and Dany Dube. When Lang and Tanguay went down the rest of the team couldn't pick it up, and the defense lost its hard center when Komisarek blew his shoulder out in that dumb fight with Lucic.

For the last twenty years, Habs head coaches have lasted not much more than three seasons, by the way.

Here are the facts. They had 0 injuries last year, and this year they couldnt handle them.

marakh wrote:Here are the facts. They had 0 injuries last year, and this year they couldnt handle them.

True to a certain extent, however...Koivu was out last year at a key point, but overall last year they had no major injuries.

The loss of Mark Streit and failure to replace him on the PP has been another factor this year.

The falloff in performance by Kovalev, the Kostitsyn brothers, Plekanec and Markov--as well as Carey Price--has had its impact.

But the issue of why they were inconsistent in the first half of the season is not answered, except to raise numerous questions about the quality of Carbonneau's coaching.

I dont know if this has been posted, but Mrs. Hockey has passed away.

About 8 posts back.

ah, I see it now.

wprager wrote:Colleen Howe, wife of Gordie, dies at 76.

This lady was SO much more than just Gordie Howe's wife. She was almost a female ambassador of this sport. She will be dearly missed.

Islanders just smacked Marty Brodeur around...7-3 over the Devils.

Dean McAmmond got another assist, plus 2, played 25 shifts, 18 minutes...2 goals and 3 assists in his seven games on the Island. Good for Deano.

Ovechkin ready to face Crosby on Sunday.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Washington/2009/03/07/8666901-ap.html

Recchi pulls a Jokinen and scores 2 goals as Boston drops the 'Hawks to stop their losing streak.

NBC will show the first two games of the SCF; Versus will show the next two, and NBC wil show any remaining games.

What if it's a sweep? That would kinda suck. Don't the Yanks understand that it's not a single game winner take all? Surely, with no time limits in baseball, the American public is used to pre-emptions, TBAs and "if necessary" in their guides.

wprager wrote:Recchi pulls a Jokinen and scores 2 goals as Boston drops the 'Hawks to stop their losing streak.

I watched this one...Recchi was awesome.

Something for Tank Nation to enjoy the games while sort-of, kinda rooting for them to lose. SilverSevenSens present the "Sens Drinking Game":
http://www.silversevensens.com/2009/3/7/785132/keeping-the-season-enterta

Wins by Florida, Carolina and Buffalo tonight can push Montreal to the verge of being out of a playoff spot.

Some very high-scoring games tonight.

Twelve goals scored in the Carolina - Tampa game, ten in the Detroit - Columbus game, ten in the Islanders - Devils game (seven going to the Isles!), nine in our game, eight in the Blues - Panthers game, eight in the Bruins - Blackhawks game and seven in the Wild - Kings game.

Eric Staal with four goals. Nice work.

The Jackets whipped the Wings...their third victory over Detroit in five games this season.

Watched this one...and it was shocking to see the extent of Columbus' domination of Detroit...in the Wings' own building.

Didn't see it. How did the Wings goaltending look?

I love their forward corps, and while Kronwall and Stuart and the rest of the supporting cast behind #s 5 and 28 on the back-end may have taken a step back, their defence is still top of the line.

If anything is holding them back, it's Osgood and Conklin.

asq2 wrote:Didn't see it. How did the Wings goaltending look?

I love their forward corps, and while Kronwall and Stuart and the rest of the supporting cast behind #s 5 and 28 on the back-end may have taken a step back, their defence is still top of the line.

If anything is holding them back, it's Osgood and Conklin.

Eight goals against twice in the space of about a week. Yikes. I have a feeling they'll regret not making a move for a goaltender at the deadline.

Imagine my delight checking the boxscores tonight. Nash 3 goals, Staal 4 goals 2 assists. Yay! I have these two fine gentlemen in my hockey pools YYEAHH Wing Dang Doodle!!!!!

asq2 wrote:Didn't see it. How did the Wings goaltending look?

I love their forward corps, and while Kronwall and Stuart and the rest of the supporting cast behind #s 5 and 28 on the back-end may have taken a step back, their defence is still top of the line.

If anything is holding them back, it's Osgood and Conklin.

It wasn't just the goaltending...the Red Wings have issues defensively. Mickey Redmond was very emphatic about that in his colour commentary.

Nash and Staal were definitely dominant last night, they are definitely making team canada next year look really promising, along with Getzlaf and Heater, vinny, wow, anything less than gold and the team will be dunked in the pacific ocean.

Trent Hunter (Isles leading scorer until Bergenheim's hat trick last night) is out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle.

wprager wrote:Trent Hunter (Isles leading scorer until Bergenheim's hat trick last night) is out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle.

that further solidifies the last place finish, that's too bad though for Hunter, he is a great player.

Habs could find themselves in 8th spot today. A win by the Rangers and the Pens and a loss by the Habs will have them in 8th.

shabbs wrote:Habs could find themselves in 8th spot today. A win by the Rangers and the Pens and a loss by the Habs will have them in 8th.

oh that would be awesome shabbs, go dallas, go pitts, go nyr lol.

Rangers up 3-1 over the Bruins heading into the 3rd.

shabbs wrote:Rangers up 3-1 over the Bruins heading into the 3rd.

am loving it, Boston has really had it rough lately, but I guess better now than in the playoffs, unless they never turn it around.

Hope the Blueshirts win it for Johnny Torts. They're calling him 'The Fonz' already in NY. Ayyy...fuggidabouddit.

davetherave wrote:Hope the Blueshirts win it for Johnny Torts. They're calling him 'The Fonz' already in NY. Ayyy...fuggidabouddit.

lol never heard the fonz swear though lol, uh oh blueshirts, it's 3-2.

Tied up now! WOW!

shabbs wrote:Tied up now! WOW!

dang wish I was watching this game, other than the little nhl tracker thing, sounds like an exciting game.

SensFan71 wrote:

shabbs wrote:Tied up now! WOW!

dang wish I was watching this game, other than the little nhl tracker thing, sounds like an exciting game.

and now it's 4-3 blue shirts

4-3 Rangers final. Pretty crazy game.

Habs now in 7th spot.

shabbs wrote:Habs now in 7th spot.

Johnny Torts and his boys in blue did da job. Now Sid and da Pingus gotta do theirs. Aaay. Fuggidabouddit.

BTW pretty exciting game to watch. Doc Emrick and Edzo always give great colour commentary.

shabbs wrote:Habs now in 7th spot.

hate cheering for the Sid the Whiner, but go pens, maybe Malkin will light up Ovie.

SensFan71 wrote:

shabbs wrote:Habs now in 7th spot.

hate cheering for the Sid the Whiner, but go pens, maybe Malkin will light up Ovie.

Comrade Geno has to send a message to Comrade Ovie.

Crosby has the Pens up 1-0.

shabbs wrote:Crosby has the Pens up 1-0.

well things are almost perfect in hockey world, but the stars habs game has while until it starts.

Indeed. But, Dallas is on the brink too so both teams will be playing desperate. Should be a good game too.

Semin ties it up at 1-1.