Islanders Defeat Habs In Shootout

Montreal Canadiens' defenseman Ryan O'Byrne found the back of the net for the first time this season but it wasn't a cause for celebration. O'Byrne put the puck into his own net in the last 5 minutes of the third period, allowing the New York Islanders to pull even at 3-3.

How did this happen? Well, in the 3rd period, the Islanders Sean Bergenheim was in the process of being called for tripping Montreal's Alex Kovalev. Goaltender Carey Price headed for the bench to allow an extra attacker on the delayed penalty. Bergenheim was pressuring O'Byrne in the Habs zone when the young defenceman backhanded the puck and found the net. Bergenheim was given credit for the goal and the penalty at the same time. Not something you see every day.

"The puck was kind of chipped off the boards and I went back to get it and play it back to Price and I didn't realize he wasn't in the net. Unfortunate circumstance, (but one needs to) put it all behind you," said O'Byrne, who did not log any ice time after his gaffe.

The Islanders opened the scoring with Richard Park getting his 3rd of the season when he beat Carey Price at 6:54. But the Habs Steve Begin tied it up 17 seconds later when he tipped in Roman Hamrlik's shot. Josh Gorges scored his 1st of the season to put the Canadiens up 2-1 at about 10 minutes into the first. Gorges' goal was on the power play, a part of the Canadiens game that has all but dried up after their early success with the man advantage.

In the second, Maxim Lapierre beat Isles' goalie Joey MacDonald with a backhand to give the Habs a 3-1 lead. Trent Hunter scored his 8th while Gorges was in the box for holding the stick to lift the Islanders to within one goal.

Then O'Bryne committed the gaffe that tied the game at 3-3. Bill Guerin was credited with the goal as he was the last Islander to have touched the puck. After a scoreless overtime, the teams went to the shoot out. Once again the Habs failed to capitalize and they were held without a goal. Carey Price allowed 2 to get past him, one by Park and then Guerin potted the winner.

The Habs snared another point, but remain 6 back of Northeast Division leading Boston. In their last 10 games, Montreal has won only 3 times going 3-4-3 in that span. In the Eastern Conference, the Habs sit 4th overall with 26 points, but with the Devils, Flyers and Hurricanes all breathing down their necks at 24 points apiece.

The Canadiens next play the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe on Wednesday.

Hockey World Headquarters Just Got An Award!

My hockey group, the Hockey World Headquarters just received an award for excellence over at Squidoo. This is unexpected. The group holds a bunch of my hockey lenses profiling various players like Gordie Howe, Rocket Richard, Georges Vezina as well as great younger players like Henrik Zetterberg, Saku Koivu and Alexander Ovechkin. I get to put the badge displayed here on my group's home page. Nice to see my work being acknowledged like this. Now I have to make the group that much better!

Habs Beat Sens, Yet Again

Both the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators are mired in slumps, so with the Boston Bruins running away with the division title, both teams were desperate for a win in order to get back in the hunt.

Ottawa's sniper Dany Heatley opened the scoring at 4:21 of the first period with a wrist shot that beat Carey Price. The Habs' captain Saku Koivu scored his 7th of the season to tie it at 13:33 of the first period. Both teams were scoreless in the second, and they exchanged third period goals with Ottawa's Nick Foligno beating Carey Price at 4:58 and then Andrei Markov lifting the Habs into a tie. OT solved nothing and they had to go to the shootout.

Alex Tanguay scored his team leading 8th goal to win it for the Canadiens. Both Tanguay and Koivu are tied with 17 points in Montreal's first 18 games. Neither player cracks the top 30 league wide in scoring although Tanguay is 29th over all in goalscoring. Surprisingly both lead the all star balloting with subpar seasons so far, but there are allegations that Montreal's rabid fans may be trying to stuff the ballot box.

Penguins Win 3-2 With Sidney Crosby getting 3 Points

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to roll with their 3-2 win against the Atlanta Thrashers last night. Sid the Kid scored a goal and had 2 assists and Evgeni Malkin had an assist in the game. Malkin now sits on top of the NHL with 31 points in his first 19 games while Crosby is fourth overall. Sidney Crosby now had 4 goals and 5 assists in his last 5 games.

The win was the seventh in their last eight games for the Penguins. Atlanta opened the scoring when Vyacheslav Kozlov tipped in Ilya Kovalchuk's shot for his 11th goal of the season. The Penguins tied it at 10:57 of the first period when Miroslav Satan popped in his 9th, with assists from Pascal Dupuis and Sidney Crosby. Halfway through the second, Crosby scored his 7th on a slap shot from Tyler Kennedy. Jim Slater tied it up for the Thrashers on a wrap around past Pens goalie Dany Sabourin about a minute later.

Atlanta's right winger Chris Thorburn was in the box for interference when Petr Sykora tipped in Crosby's shot for the game winner past Thrashers' goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

With the win, the Penguins have 27 points and are now only 3 points back of the idle New York Rangers, but the Pens have 3 games in hand on the Eastern Conference leading Rangers. The Penguins also are one point back of the streaking Boston Bruins.

Bruins Bury Sabres In Beantown

The Boston Bruins came back to win 7-4 over the visiting Buffalo Sabres after spotting them to a 4-2 lead. Marc Savard had 4 points (one goal, 3 assists) and Zdeno Chara and Chuck Kobasew both had 2 goals each for the Bruins who have won six straight home games. This makes 8 wins in their last 9 games as the Bruins stretch their lead in the Northeast Division over the 2nd place Montreal Canadiens to six points and they are now seven up on Buffalo.

Savard's 4 point-night gives him 600 points (177 goals, 423 assists for 600 points) in his career. Center Patrice Bergeron now has 201 career points (75 goals, 126 assists) as he had 2 assists in the game.

The first period was a bit of a goalie's nightmare as both teams scored a total of 5 goals in the first 5:38. The Sabres opened the scoring 1:41 into the game when Jason Pominville beat Manny Ferandez with a backhand. The Bruins' Chuck Kobasew tied it up a minute later by tipping in David Krejci's shot for his first of the night. Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek scored within a 29 second span to put the Sabres up 3-1 in the first 5 minutes of the game.

David Krejci scored about 40 seconds later to bring the Bruins within one goal, and then Thomas Vanek scored again, this time on the power play with his NHL leading 15th goal of the season. At this point it was 4-2 Buffalo in the first. The Bruins shut them down the rest of the way.

Marc Savard scored his 7th of the year with about 7 minutes left in the first period. This goal sparked the comeback.

In the 2nd period, it was all Boston as Chara scored 2 power play goals sandwiched around Kobasew's 2nd of the game. Both of Chara's goals were slap shots from the blue line with Patrice Bergeron & Marc Savard assisting on both. That made it 6-4 Boston at the end of the second period.

Phil Kessel continued the onslaught with his 9th of the season at 1:16 of the 3rd period with Milan Lucic and Savard assisting. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was yanked after allowing 7 goals on 20 shots. He had been playing great for the Sabres before meeting the Bruins with 2 shutouts this year. He was replaced by Patrick Lalime who faced only 3 shots.

Who were the best players? Besides Boston's Savard, Chara and Kobasew, the Sabres' Thomas Vanek scored his league leading 14th and 15th goals of the season. Young Bruins center David Krejci had 3 points (a goal and 2 assists) to give him 4 goals and 8 assists for 12 points in 19 games so far this season. Phil Kessel had 2 points (a goal and an assist) which gives him 9 goals, 5 assists and 14 points. Bergeron and Hunwick both had 2 assists each in the win.

Cast Your All Star Ballot!

Here's who I've chosen with my picks for the 2009 NHL All Star Game scheduled for January 25, 2009 in Montreal. If you haven't already voted, you can do so at All Star Ballot.

Bruins Down Leafs 3-2

The Boston Bruins returned to their winning ways with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs following their disheartening shootout loss to the Rangers the other night. The Bruins had led against the Rangers 2-0 before they allowed 3 goals (one in the shootout). With their win, the surprising Bruins move 4 points up on the idle Montreal Canadiens and hold onto the lead in the Northeast Division.

The Bruins took a 2-0 first period lead with goals by Phil Kessel (his 8th of the season) and Matt Hunwick scoring his 1st. Marc Savard and Milan Lucic had assists on both goals. The Leafs Jason Blake brought Toronto to within one beating Tim Thomas on a wrist shot with a little over two minutes to play in the first period.

The Leafs were pressing for the tie in the second, but Michael Ryder deked a Leaf defenseman and snapped a wrist shot past Vesa Toskala for the game winner. Leafs superpest Mikhail Grabovski got his 9th of the year at 8:53 of the third, but then the Bruins slammed the door. Thomas faced a total of 30 shots (nine in the 3rd as the Leafs struggled to tie the game), while Toskala was peppered with only 22 from the Bruins.

With the win, the Bruins (8-1-1 in their last 10 games) move 4 points up on the Montreal Canadiens, while the Toronto remains in fourth spot in the Northeast Division only 3 up on the Ottawa Senators who have a game in hand on the Leafs.

Minnesota Wild Are Best In NHL For Goals Against

The Minnesota Wild are starting to get the attention of hockey fans for their great play so far this young season. The Wild currently sit on top of the Northwest Division with a record of 10-4-1 for 21 points. But what's interesting is that the Wild have allowed only 30 goals against during that span. They lead the league with a stingy 2.0 G.A.A. The surprising Vancouver Canucks playing in front of shutout leader Roberto Luongo also have 21 points, but have allowed 42 goals. that's in spite of Luongo's 5 shutouts this year, which indicates that when they allow goals it's usually a fair number. The next best is the Bruins, who have allowed only 39 total goals. Here's the best teams as far as goals against average so far:

BEST MIN 2.00 BOS 2.06 NYR 2.15 VAN 2.41 SJS 2.53 PHX 2.56 LAK 2.59 OTT 2.59 MTL 2.62 BUF 2.65

WORST DAL 3.59 ATL 3.59 CGY 3.44 TOR 3.39 STL 3.31 NSH 3.29 DET 3.25 PHI 3.24 NYI 3.18 CBJ 3.11

Who have been the individual stars at the goalie position this year? Obviously Roberto Luongo with his 5 shutouts, but the BEST GOALIE is Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins. Thomas always seems to find a way to win recently. His save percentage is an excellent .945 which leads the league. His personal GAA also leads the league at 1.76/game in his 11 games so far. The next best is Erik Ersberg of the LA Kings, whose GAA is 1.96/game after 9 games.

As for most wins, the Rangers star Henrik Lundqvist leads the league with 11 wins, but he's also been in 17 Rangers games. Overall, Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild is the only goalie in the top 5 in all four categories: 3rd in save percentage (.934), 5th in GAA (2.00), in a 4-way tie for 2nd in shutouts with two shutouts, and 3rd for wins with 10. Overall a solid start for Backstrom. This guy needs your support for the All-Star game.

It's too early to be handing out any Vezina or Jennings Trophies, but it looks like with Martin Brodeur out for most of the season, they're pretty much up for grabs this season. Brodeur has had a lock on the Vezina in recent years having won it 4 out of the last 5 years. Who will take them this year? It's too early, so your guess is as good as mine.

Habs Woes Continue

Sure they did win 3-2 against the St. Louis Blues, but the Montreal Canadiens are mired in a bit of a slump. After starting off the NHL season with a flourish and once again prompting Canadiens fans to suggest a suspension of the season and the Stanley Cup being given to Montreal now rather than go through the motions. After all, it's just expected the Habs will take Lord Stanley's hardware in the spring right? Well, the Habs bandwagon hit a bump in the road recently.

Here's their most recent games:

Nov. 1, NY Islanders 5-4 win
Nov. 7, Columbus 4-3 loss in OT
Nov. 8, Toronto 6-3 loss
Nov. 11, Ottawa 4-0 win
Nov. 13, Boston 6-1 loss
Nov. 15, Philadelphia 2-1 loss
Nov. 16, St. Louis 3-2 win in shootout

In their last seven games, the Montreal Canadiens have a record of 3-3-1. Three wins, three losses and one overtime loss. They've scored a total of 16 goals in that 7 game stretch an average of only 2.28 goals per game. They've allowed 24 goals for a mediocre 3.43 avg per game (that's including their shutout win against Ottawa).

True, the Canadiens are only 2 points behind the Northeast Division leading Boston Bruins, but they are only 1 up on the Sabres. The Habs had better pull up their socks if they want to compete in the spring, or they'll be playing golf when the Cup is handed out. This is not what they expected for their 100th season.

Leafs Lose 4-2 To Luongo's Canucks

The final score was 4-2, but it wasn't really very close. The Vancouver Canucks jumped to a 4-0 lead on only 9 shots against Vesa Toskala who was chased out of the Toronto Maple Leafs' net midway through the 2nd period. Curtis Joseph came in and the Leafs kept the Canucks from putting any shots on him until the 3rd period. The Leafs came out fairly strong and early on had a two man power play chance but couldn't convert. After that, the Canucks just shut them down. The shots were Toronto 30, Vancouver 15, but with Toskala providing such leaky goaltending, the Canucks didn't need many shots. The Leafs could have directed twice as many at Luongo and it is still unlikely they would have won.

Leafs castoff Kyle Wellwood exacted some revenge by opening the scoring for the Canucks, and this was Wellwood's 7th goal in 12 games for the Canucks this year. He had only 8 goals during 59 games last year when he was with the Leafs, but scored 6 more in the Canucks final 11 games. Ryan Kesler, Willie Mitchell and Daniel Sedin provided the rest of Vancouver's scoring, and Pavel Demitra had 3 assists after missing 10 games with broken rib cartilage.

Leafs' defenseman Ian White broke the goose egg with 5 minutes left in the 3rd, ending Roberto Luongo's chance for his 4th shutout in his last 5 games. Matt Stajan scored a power play goal at 17:30. The Leafs actually pulled Curtis Joseph during the power play opportunity, so they out-numbered the Canucks six to four when Stajan directed the puck in with his foot. After a quick review, the goal stood.

Looks Like Ovechkin Is Back: 2 Goals in Loss

A lot of people have been wondering what was up with Alexander Ovechkin after he had scored only 2 goals so early in the young season, but he is starting to look like the Ovechkin of last year after last night's 6-5 loss against the New Jersey Devils. NHL points leader Alexander Semin was missing from the Capitals line-up for an undisclosed injury.

A great game, the Caps took a 2-1 lead when Ovechkin tipped in Tyler Sloan's shot late in the first period. The Devils came back in the second with goals by Jamie Langenbrunner and a power play goal by Patrik Elias to take a 3-2 lead, but Viktor Kozlov tied it up late in the second. In the third, the teams traded goals, with Elias getting his 2nd of the game (6th of the season). Capitals' center Nicklas Backstrom then scored at 8:11. Backstrom had a phenomenal game with 1 goal and 4 assists. He was in on every goal the Caps scored. Brian Gionta put the Devils ahread again with his 3rd goal of the season. Then Ovechkin tied it up at 5-5 with one second remaining on the clock to send it to overtime. He was standing just off to the side of the net when the puck squirted to him and he snapped in his 7th goal of the season.

OT solved nothing, so it went to the shootout. Zach Parise scored the only goal in the shootout (to go along with his 2 assists). The win by the Devils snapped Washington's 5 game win streak.

Habs Fans Accused Of All-Star Ballot Stuffing

A lot of hockey fans don't bother watching the NHL's All-Star Game because it's developed into a non-hitting game of shinny where the players stand idly by watching their "opposition" score almost at will. Of course it is kinda neat to see great young players alongside grizzled veterans, but with no real body contact, the interest in the annual game has waned for years. What's the NHL to do to spark some fan interest? Well, it seems using that newfangled internet thingy and allowing fans to vote on their favorite players would be a good option. But some die-hard fans seem to think of it as an opportunity to ensure their team's players get chosen as the best in the league.

The stuffing of ballots is getting ridiculous. Sure, vote for your favorite player, but don't try to cheat. 2nd rate players for the Montreal Canadiens are being touted as prime All Star material. What I want to see is players that are the best players by consensus. Right now, instead of deserving players like Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, R.J. Umberger, Zach Parise, we could get "stellar" players like Alexei Kovalev, Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek. Markov and Komisarek are actually leading the balloting. Yuck. And apparently, Habs goalie Carey Price has 4 times as many votes as number 2 vote getter Henrik Lundqvist.

In goaltending stats, Price sits in 16th spot in save percentage, 17th in Goals-Against-Average, 10th for shutouts the season, and 9th for wins. Those numbers do not support any contention that Carey Price should be the number one vote getter on the All Star ballot. Sure the game is going to be played in Montreal as part of the Habs 100th year celebrations, but a look at who is leading the voting leaves a bad taste in any fan's mouth.

Pens Win 5-4 Over Flyers in Shootout

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby and company are starting to hit their stride. The Pens beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in a shootout win last night. Crosby had 2 goals, Malkin had a goal and an assist to run his point scoring streak to an impressive 12 games and Penguins rookie defenseman Alex Goligoski scored the shootout game winner.

The Penguins were ahead 3-0 but Philadelphia stormed back to take a 4-3 lead at the end of the 2nd period but The Kid tied it up at 17:27 of the 3rd, when Crosby scored his second goal of the game, setting things up for overtime and finally the shootout. Ten shooters from both teams were turned aside by Martin Biron and Dany Sabourin (who took over from Marc-Andre Fleury who was pulled after allowing 4 goals). But the the rookie from the Pens, Alex Goligoski scored the eventual game winner.

With his 2 point night, Evgeni Malkin is now one point behind points leader, Capitals' Alexander Semin who has 27 points after his 5 point game the other night. With his 2 goals, Sidney Crosby has 21 points which is good for 3rd overall.

Bruins Fans Rejoice! Boston Over Habs 6-1

Boston Bruins totally dominated the Montreal Canadiens last night winning 6-1 and moving into sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division. Boston now trails only the New York Rangers by 3 points for the Eastern Conference lead, and Boston has 3 games in hand on the Rangers. Boston will be facing the Rangers Saturday in New York in their next game.

In last night's game, the Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st period on goals by Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle and Marco Sturm with a power play goal. Sturm popped in another power play goal in the second before Saku Koivu got the Canadiens on the board. The Bruins put them away with two more goals in the third, Milan Lucic and Yelle with his second goal of the game. The next shift after Lucic scored he absolutely POMMELED Mike Komisarek (I'm looking for video because Lucic dropped Komisarek and then turned to the Habs bench and it looked like he challenged their bench). This kid has got game.

The win finally snapped a 12-game losing streak the Bruins had against Montreal. The Bruins fourth line of Chuck Kobasew, Stephane Yelle and Shawn Thornton combined for a season-high seven points. Boston's goaltenders, Manny Fernandez and Tim Thomas have been just about the hottest in the NHL recently (well excluding the Canucks' Roberto Luongo) allowing only a stingy nine goals total in their last eight games.

2008-09 Hockey Cards Make Great Christmas Gifts!

Amazon.com has a TON of the most recently released 2008-09 Hockey cards. If you're looking for a great Christmas gift, I know I like getting them for Christmas. You can get just about everything from Upper Deck that's currently available.


Upper Deck 2008-09 Victory Hockey Trading Cards - Blaster Box

Costs About $9.00 plus shipping. But you might be able to get free shipping on some products.

Product Highlights: 10 packs with 6 cards per pack plus 1 Bonus Pack plus 1 oversized card per box. Look for 1 Victory Rookie Card or a Game Breakers or Stars of the Game insert card in every pack, on average! Each blaster box contains one 3.5" x 5" oversized Victory Regular Card, featuring some of Hockey's biggest stars! Find Hockey's next superstar phenom with Victory Rookies! Collect limited Gold and Black Parallels of the entire 250-card set! Featuring all the NHL's hottest stars and rising talent!

2008/09 Upper Deck NHL O Pee Chee Hockey HOBBY Box - 36P/6C

Costs About $65.00 plus shipping. But you might be able to get free shipping.

Awesome 600-card set that is ideal for collecting! Featuring a terrific '79/08 Retro variation of the entire regular set! All 600 players in new photos and a design commemorating the popular set (1 per pack) 36P/6C 12bx case.

Upper Deck 2008-09 Legends Masterpieces Hockey Trading Cards

Costs About $65.00 plus shipping. But you might be able to get free shipping.

Product Highlights: 24 packs with 4 cards per pack. Featuring an entire base set of exclusive artists' paintings! Grab Masterpiece Brushstroke autograph cards! Look for awesome 1-of-1 sketch cards - all unique from great artists! Find Matted insert cards throughout the set! Five distinct colors differentiate the distinct levels within the jersey and parallel cards! Also pull Canvas Clippings memorabilia cards!

2008/09 NHL Upper Deck Black Hockey HOBBY Box - 2p2c

Costs About $227.00 plus shipping. But you might be able to get free shipping.

Two Awesome Hits in Every Pack, on average: An autograph or multi-swatch memorabilia card! A Rookie Letterman Patch Card!Highlighted by Autographed Manufactured Flag Patch "Pride of a Nation" cards! 2 packs / 2 Cards / 10 Box Case

2008/09 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey Hobby Box

Costs About $99.60 plus shipping. But you might be able to get free shipping.

Product Highlights: Three jersey, patch or jersey/patch cards numbered to 199 or less! (on average) One will be a 2- or 3-player memorabilia card! Two Artifacts rookie cards! One rookie redemption card, 4 Cards per Pack, 10 Packs per Box.

Okay, these are just a few of the hundreds of hockey-related products available from Amazon and elsewhere. You can get jerseys, clothing, sticks, pucks, you name it and you will find it. Lots of great hockey swag for every hockey fan.

Nintendo 2K9 for the Wii: Best Xmas Game

Okay. Christmas is coming and I want to get it known that I want a copy of NHL 2K9 for the Wii. This is a sweet game for those of you who love playing video games. A lot of the young players actually play this game when they're stuck in hotel rooms while on the road. Plus it keeps them out of the bars (we don't need to hear about yet another famous NHLer being arrested for punching out a bouncer). I love playing these games and I'm not proud to admit that I suck at them, but I'm getting better all the time. My brother-in-law kicks my butt every time we play and I need to get some practise in. The game itself costs approximately $49 (less if you search a bit) and is available from Amazon:

NHL 2K9

Product Features

Wii Remote Shooting - Execute wrist shots with the flick of the Wii Remote or put some power into shots by holding the B button while flicking the Wii Remote to blast a slapper
Wii Remote Fighting - Adding a never-before-seen layer of fun to hockey video games, NHL 2K9 features on-ice showdowns. Balance with the Nunchuk and punch with the Wii Remote to get your opponent off their feet
Precision Passing / Chain Passing - Exclusive to Wii, take the guesswork out of which player is going to receive a pass by selecting players with the Wii Remote cursor. One-timers, give-and-go and tic-tac-toe passing are executed by selecting multiple players prior to pressing the pass or A button
Wii Remote Goaltending - Gesture-based goaltending lets you get between the pipes and flash the leather. Even take control when it counts the most -- in shootouts
Full Featured Simulation - complete with franchise mode, practice mode with a tutorial, pond hockey, and much more.

A cool game. And it's available for free shipping.

Sharks Lose In OT to Predators

The NHL league leading San Jose Sharks peppered Nashville's goalie Dan Ellis with 57 shots but the Preds stole a win against the number one team 4-3 in overtime. "We stole this game," said Nashville's coach Barry Trotz. "Danny Ellis stole it, bottom line. He's the reason we won. They were letting us hang around. They kept us on life-support, then we got off the table and scored a goal. I am absolutely thrilled we won a game we shouldn't have."

The Sharks' Devin Setoguchi had 2 goals and an assist in the loss and tied a team record with 10 shots on goal. This was the Sharks first loss at home so far this season as they couldn't get much past Predators' goalie Dan Ellis. Setoguchi's 2 goals and Rob Blake scored for the Sharks, but Ville Koistinen's OT goal sealed the win for Nashville who are now sporting a 7-7-1 record for 15 points, while the Sharks' record drops to 13-3-1 giving San Jose 27 points (still tops in the NHL), 3 points up on second place overall New York Rangers who have 24 points. The Sharks currently have an 8 point lead on division rival Anaheim Ducks who have 19 points so far this season.

San Jose plays host to the Calgary Flames November 13th, and the Predators next game is a visit to Anaheim on the 14th.

Canadiens Shut Out Punchless Sens

The Montreal Canadiens bounced back from a disappointing loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-0 at Montreal. Carey Price earned his first shutout of the season as Left Winger Chris Higgins got a hat trick for the first time in his career. The Habs were missing Tom Kostopoulos who began serving a 3-game suspension after his hit on Mike Van Ryn from behind on Saturday that caused multiple injuries to the Leafs' player.

This was Price's first shutout since his 3-0 win April 1 this year also against the Sens. With the win, Montreal moved back into 1st place in the Northeast Division, one point ahead of the surging Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres who are tied with 19 points each. The Ottawa Senators remain cellar-dwellers in the same division with 14 points and a 6-7-2 record.

Pens Beat Red Wings in OT Thriller

Zowie! Great game last night as the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from a 2 goal deficit with less than 10 minutes left in the 3rd period to beat the Detroit Red Wings 7-6 in overtime at the Joe Louis Arena. It was pretty much the Jordan Staal show as Staal scored 3 goals in the 3rd period to tie it up and then had the assist on Fedotenko's game-winner in OT.

Crosby Opens Scoring

Sidney Crosby popped in his 4th of the season on a backhand past Wings' goalie Chris Osgood at 4:34 into the game. Crosby's goal gave the Pens their only lead in the game during regulation. Darren McCarty scored his first goal of the year (and first since the 2005-06 season when he was playing with the Flames), and then Tomas Holmstrom tipped in Nicklas Lidstrom's shot for a powerplay goal and Holmstrom's 7th of the year. In the 2nd period, Johan Franzen put the Wings up 3-1 early in the period with a power play marker of his own.

Maxime Talbot's goal at 4:14 brought the Pens within one goal until Pavel Datsyuk put the Red Wings up 4-2 late in the period.

Then the flood gates opened in the 3rd period as the teams combined for 6 goals:
Zetterberg's power play goal for Detroit put them up 5-2; Malkin scored a power play goal, his 5th goal of the season and keeping his point scoring streak alive. He now has points in 11 straight games.

Then Jordan Staal went to work scoring his 3, 4, and 5th goals of the season (only his 2nd career hat trick). Jiri Hudler scored after Staal's goal made it 5-4. Then Staal scored at 15:51 and then he tied it up at 19:37 to sent the game to OT tied at 6-6. "It seemed like everything I touched went in," said Staal.

Ruslen Fedotenko: An Unlikely OT Hero

During the OT period, Staal stole the puck from Detroit as they were trying to clear their zone skating in and looking like he was going to shoot and try for his 4th of the game, but at the last second he cooly passed to Ruslen Fedotenko who was left unattended skating in from the right. Fedotenko easily scored past a surprised Osgood for the win.

Nicklas Lidstrom's 2 assists in the game gives him 949 career points, moving him past injured teammate Chris Chelios for ninth overall for most career points by a defenseman.

Luongo Does It Again: 3rd Straight Shutout!

Roberto Luongo is certainly in the zone. The Vancouver Canuck's star goaltender just recorded his 3rd consecutive shutout and 5th this season. The Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 2-0 with Sami Salo and Daniel Sedin scoring for Vancouver. Luongo is closing in on his own team record he set last year when he also had 3 shutouts in a row.

During his latest run, he has now played 201 minutes and eight seconds without allowing an opposition goal and last year's mark was 212 minutes, twelve seconds. He will have to wait until Wednesday's game against the Colorado Avalanche to try to beat his personal best.

The record for most consecutive shutouts belongs to the San Jose Sharks Brian Boucher, during the 2003-04 season when he was a member of the Phoenix Coyotes he recorded 5 consecutive shutouts. Boucher broke the previous record of 4 set way back in 1948-49 by Montreal Canadiens' Bill Durnan.

Hockey Hall Of Fame Set To Induct 4 More Members

The Hockey Hall of Fame will soon have 4 new members. On Monday, November 10, 2008 Glenn Anderson, Ed Chynoweth (posthumously), Igor Larionov and Ray Scapinello will be inducted into the Hall. There will be a featured game on November 9th pitting Montreal Canadiens Legends vs. All Star Legends. The newest inductees, Anderson and Larionov will suit up against the likes of former Habs captains Yvon Cournoyer, Vincent Damphousse and Kirk Muller. Players for the All Stars will include HOFers Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier, which should be a bit of fun for Anderson as all three were former teammates with him on the great Edmonton Oiler teams of the mid to late 1980s.

Igor Larionov joined the NHL from Russia for the 1989-90 season with the Vancouver Canucks as a 29-year old. He played 14 years in the NHL emassing 169 goals and 475 assists for 644 points in 921 games. During his time with the Detroit Red Wings he won 3 Stanley Cups.

Ed Chynoweth was the long time president of the Western Hockey League from 1972 until 1995. Chynoweth also helped to form the CHL in 1972, bringing Canada's three major-junior leagues under one banner, and served as its president from 1975 until 1995. In 2007, the WHL renamed its championship trophy the Ed Chynoweth Cup in his honour.[3] The Ed Chynoweth Trophy, awarded to the top scorer at the Memorial Cup tournament is named after him.

Ray Scapinello was a linesman for 33 years in the NHL and never missed a game due to injury or illness. Well known for his blazing speed, Scapinello officiated in 20 Stanley Cup Finals.

Habs Get Spanked By Leafs In Toronto 6-3

Okay, now that was not the game I expected to see. One team (the Montreal Canadiens) is being touted as a favorite for winning the Stanley Cup at the end of the season, and the other (the Toronto Maple Leafs) were picked for dead last when the season began. The Montreal Canadiens had beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs 5 times in their last 7 matches, winning 3 of the last four games played in Toronto. The Leafs prevailed in a rough affair, outscoring Montreal 6-3. The two teams were playing oldtime hockey, with a quite a bit of the dirty play on both sides.

After the Canadiens completely dominated the Leafs 6-1 in their first meeting this year as the Habs got off to a great start in their 100th year in the NHL. Last night's game should be a wake up call for the Canadiens, that this will not be a cake walk to Lord Stanley's Mug. The youngsters from Toronto outplayed and more importantly, outskated the Canadiens all through the game and the results showed on the scoreboard.

The game was a little chippy and I expect the next game will be quite a battle. Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos kicked things off by smashing Mike Van Ryn into the end boards from behind. Van Ryn received a cut to his forehead and was lying on the ice for a few minutes. He was taken from the Leafs' dressing room to hospital in a neck brace on a stretcher. He's expected to miss a month according to early reports. Carlo Colaiacovo jumped into Kostopoulos in defense of his fallen teammate and received a 2 minute penalty for roughing. Kostopoulos received a 5 minute penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. the Leafs couldn't score on the ensuing 5-minute power play and it was nullified when the Leafs took a penalty for too many men on the ice.

Andrei Kostitsyn Penaltized For Tripping Steen

Andrei Kostitsyn received a 2 minute penalty for tripping Toronto's star rookie defenseman Alex Steen at 17:25. It looked to me that Kostitsyn was trying to deliberately injure Steen as they raced after the puck as Kostitsyn used his stick to knock Steen's foot out from under him causing him to fall and slam hard into the end boards.

Grabovski Got Under Habs Skin

Mikhail Grabovski, traded from Montreal to Toronto in the off-season really caused some havoc. You could tell he wanted to prove to his former team that they gave up on him too soon and he hurt them by scoring a goal and getting an assist on teammate Niklas Hagman's goal that opened scoring in the first period. Grabovski scored his 7th goal of the season at 1:48 into the 2nd period to give the Leafs a 2-0 lead, before the Habs came back with power play goals from Robert Lang and Tomas Plekanec to tie the game.

Actually, the Leafs received 3 goaltender interference penalties early in the second period: Grabovski at 4:07, Dominic Moore at 6:54 and Jason Blake at 9:19, so you can imagine why the Habs were so hot.

Then Hagman scored a power play marker of his own, before Saku Koivu tied it at 3-3 a little over a minute later. Nik Andropov scored with about 3 minutes left in the second period to put the Leafs ahead to stay and the Leafs scored 2 more in the third to put the game out of reach.

Grabovski was a big target for the Habs all night and was causing problems for the Canadiens' goalie Carey Price. Grabovski received his goaltender interference penalty after pushing Price out of his crease while Price was down after making a save. Later, Price gave him a couple shots to Grabovski's back to try to move him out of his sightlines, and Grabovski stupidly gave Price a buttend to the "nether regions" which caused the rest of the Montreal players to try to hit Grabovski all night. Koivu slammed him into the boards and stood over him glaring down and providing Grabovski some choice words.

Sergei Kostitsyn Freaks Out

Montreal's Sergei Kostitsyn (who is from the same town in Russia, along with his teammate, brother Andrei) rushed at Grabovski knocking him to the ice while he didn't have the puck in the Leaf's end and received a charging penalty. Grabovski and Kostitsyn were jawing at each other in Russian (and I don't think they were talking about the sights in their hometown). Kostitsyn kept trying to get at Grabovski and the linesman was having a difficult time restraining him and guiding him to the dressing room, because Kostitsyn received a game misconduct. Habs coach Guy Carbonneau was yelling at Kostitsyn and pointing at the dressing room for him to leave the ice.

Andropov Gets 3 Points

Nik Andropov had a good game, scoring once (game winner) and setting up 2 more. Alex Tanguay led Montreal players with one goal and an assist.

Leafs Win Round 2...

That was a really good game. Lots of hits, lots of goals and it sets up the next meeting for the two teams which unfortunately won't be til January. But, with this loss, Montreal falls out of 1st place in the division to 3rd place just 2 points up on Toronto. The Habs were thought to be running away with the division after their great start, but now trail both the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres after last night's play. The Leafs were giant killers and this young team is starting to look like they might be better than everyone gave them credit for.

Check Out This New Habs Tribute Page

I've done up a webpage throwing the spotlight on the Montreal Canadiens, with photos, video, yada yada. Let me know what you think. Most Habs fans will love it, but others... well, maybe I'll do up a tribute to the others later. I'm considering doing one for each of the Original Six: Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and of course the Big Bad Bruins.

Captain Luongo Posts 2nd Straight Shutout Win

Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks earned his 2nd straight shutout last night by shutting the door on the Phoenix Coyotes 1-0. He also shutout the Nashville Predators on tuesday, so now has 3 shutout wins in his last 5 games, which indicates the Canucks are also playing stingy defense in front of Luongo.

The Canucks and Luongo haven't given up a goal in over 7 periods of hockey, but Luongo would need one more complete game shutout to match the record he set last season when he went 3 straight games without allowing the opposition to score.

Dany Heatley Off To A Red Hot Start

Dany Heatley has started the 2008-09 season by going gangbusters. The Ottawa Senators' left winger has 9 goals and 6 assists for 15 points in his first 13 games this season.

Heatley is trying to bounce back from a slightly less successful campaign last year when he scored only 41 times after back-to-back 50 goal seasons for the Sens, who will need him to step up if they want to make any noise in the post-season. Heatley is about to score his 500th career NHL point this season as he has career totals of 230 goals, 256 assists for 486 points in his 438 games. Heatley is also a stellar plus-56 over his career in the plus-minus category, meaning he's been on the ice for 56 more times that his team has scored than when they've been scored upon.

Heatley is currently tied for 9th overall in the 2008-09 points scoring race and 3rd for most goals this season. Thomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabres leads the league with 11 goals, followed by Alexander Semin with 10. Heatley is in a 6-way tie for 3rd with 9 goals.

Of his 13 games so far this season, Heatley has been held without a point only 2x all season and is currently on a 5 game point-scoring streak.

Penguins New Alternate Jersey Unveiled

Well, here's the 3rd Jersey for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I dunno. It kinda reminds me of one of those powder blue wedding tuxedos with the ruffled shirts. It makes me think of Jerry Seinfeld reaction to the Pirate Shirt, ("But I don't wanna be a pirate!"). It looks like it was brought to you by the same people who thought up the Bruins ugly yellow 3rd jerseys with the teddy bear on the front. I still think they should have swiped the Grizzlies' logo for it with the bared fangs and claws. A little more menacing than the pooh-bear.

As far as the Penguins' new look, I can also picture Sidney Crosby saying "Are you with the Bride's family or the Groom's?"

Crosby's Response to Alexander Semin

"So what's so special about Sidney Crosby?" asks Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals. Hmmm, let's see. Crosby was in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year (the finals, no less) while Alexander Semin was watching the playoffs on television.

Compared to Semin:

Crosby: Career goals: 102
Semin: Career goals: 82

Crosby: Career assists: 207
Semin : Career assists: 72

Crosby: Career points: 309
Semin: Career points: 154

Crosby: QMJHL All-Rookie Team (2004)
QMJHL First All-Star Team (2004, 2005)
QMJHL Player of the Year (2004, 2005)
Canadian Major Junior First All-Star Team (2004, 2005)
Canadian Major Junior Rookie of the Year (2004)
Canadian Major Junior Player of the Year (2004, 2005)
Memorial Cup All-Star Team (2005)
Ed Chynoweth Trophy (Memorial Cup Tournament - Leading Scorer) (2005)
NHL All-Rookie Team (2006)
NHL First All-Star Team (2007)
Art Ross Trophy (2007)
Lester B. Pearson Award (2007)
Hart Memorial Trophy (2007)
Played in NHL All-Star Game (2007)
Became the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points (18 years, 253 days)
Broke Mario Lemieux's team rookie scoring record with 102 points
Became the youngest player ever to lead the World Championships in scoring, in 2006
Won the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring champion, the Hart Trophy as league MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the game's most outstanding player and was named ·First-Team NHL All-Star as a 19-year-old in 2006-07
Became the youngest player ever to win the Art Ross Trophy.
Became the youngest player ever to receive the Lester B. Pearson Award.
Became the second-youngest player ever to win the Hart Trophy (Wayne Gretkzy)
Became the youngest player to start in the NHL All-Star Game since fan balloting began in 1986
Became the youngest team captain in NHL history (19 years, nine months)
Led his team to the playoffs for the first time in six years in 2006-07

Oh yeah, and Sid the Kid took his team to the NHL finals last year while Semin was learning how to hold his putter after the Caps were bumped.

Take a look at my Sidney Crosby tribute site. Semin needs to keep his mouth shut. He may be doing well early in the season, but he has a history of fading from sight towards the end of the season when the Capitals need him. Hopefully he'll prove me wrong this season.

2008-09 NHL All-Star Fan Ballot

Here's the players you can vote for to go to the NHL's 57th All Star game which will be held in Montreal in January. Fans will be able to vote for up to 6 Eastern Conference players and 6 Western Conference players: 3 forwards, 2 defensemen and 1 goaltender. For the first time, fans will be permitted to select as few as 1 player -- a balloted player or write-in -- per online ballot at Vote.NHL.com or via text message. The 3 forwards, 2 defensemen and 1 goaltender from each conference receiving the most votes will comprise the starting lineups. Each of the 30 NHL clubs has at least two representatives on the ballot.


EASTERN CONFERENCE

Goaltenders

Martin Biron, Philadelphia Flyers
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Rick DiPietro, New York Islanders
Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Vesa Toskala, Toronto Maple Leafs
Tomas Vokoun, Florida Panthers

Defensemen

Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins
Mike Green, Washington Capitals
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs
Mike Komisarek, Montreal Canadiens
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
Teppo Numminen, Buffalo Sabres
Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators
Wade Redden, New York Rangers
Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers
Ryan Whitney, Pittsburgh Penguins

Forwards

Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Daniel Briere, Philadelphia Flyers
Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Chris Drury, New York Rangers
Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils
Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers
Scott Gomez, New York Rangers
Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
Trent Hunter, New York Islanders
Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
Alex Kovalev, Montreal Canadiens
Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Markus Naslund, New York Rangers
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils
Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers
Brian Rolston, New Jersey Devils
Derek Roy, Buffalo Sabres
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Marc Savard, Boston Bruins
Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals
Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Alex Tanguay, Montreal Canadiens
Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres
Ray Whitney, Carolina Hurricanes

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Goaltenders

Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild
Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes
J.S. Giguere, Anaheim Ducks
Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames
Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets
Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks
Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings
Marty Turco, Dallas Stars

Defensemen

Rob Blake, San Jose Sharks
Dan Boyle, San Jose Sharks
Brent Burns, Minnesota Wild
Brian Campbell, Chicago Blackhawks
Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks
Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
Chris Pronger, Anaheim Ducks
Brian Rafalski, Detroit Red Wings
Robyn Regehr, Calgary Flames
Sheldon Souray, Edmonton Oilers
Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Forwards

Jason Arnott, Nashville Predators
Brad Boyes, St. Louis Blues
Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes
Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche
Ales Hemsky, Edmonton Oilers
Shawn Horcoff, Edmonton Oilers
Marian Hossa, Detroit Red Wings
Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
Olli Jokinen, Phoenix Coyotes
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Paul Kariya, St. Louis Blues
Mikko Koivu, Minnesota Wild
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Mike Modano, Dallas Stars
Brenden Morrow, Dallas Stars
Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
Mike Ribeiro, Dallas Stars
Brad Richards, Dallas Stars
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche
Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues
Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings

The 104-player ballot features 23 players under the age of 25, and 10 of those players are making their first career appearance on the ballot: Dustin Brown, Los Angeles (24); Brent Burns, Minnesota, (23); Mike Green (23) and Semin (24), Washington; Kane (19) and Jonathan Toews (20), Chicago; Parise, New Jersey, (24); Price, Montreal, (21); Mike Richards, Philadelphia, (23) and Weber, Nashville, (23).

Theo Fleury... Hockey Columnist?

Former NHL allstar Theoren Fleury is writing a column in the Calgary Herald. Fleury was a sparkplug of the Calgary Flames back in the day and still a fan favorite for his incredible tenacity and goalscoring. One of the best little men ever to play in the NHL, Fleury finished his NHL career with 455 goals, and 1088 points in 1084 games. Take a look at what Theo has to say about today's NHL players in this article called For better hockey, dump the penalties, not the puck.

Dallas Stars: Hockey's Worst Team?

I really don't know what to say about how bad the Dallas Stars have been so far in this young NHL season, but they're not looking too good after their first 12 games. The Stars have allowed the most goals of any NHL team so far this season, a total of 50 goals in 12 games, or about 4.2 per game. Last saturday, the Stars were clobbered by the Boston Bruins, allowing 5 goals in a 5-1 loss.

And the play of Dallas' Steve Ott left a lot to be desired. Ott was playing low-bridge hockey, trying to take out the knees of Bruins' Stephane Yelle and Milan Lucic and then backing down when challenged ("totally gutless" is how one Bruins fan characterized Ott's on-ice action). When stared down by Shawn Thornton, Ott backed down and failed to answer the bell. Thorton said that Ott had "gone for his knees" on Yelle. And tried the same dirty tactic and Bruins' youngster Lucic.

There's a fine line between mixing it up and trying to draw reactions from the opposing teams (a face wash here, a slash when the ref isn't watching) and being a cheap shot artist. Ott was the latter in that game. Even Dallas Stars' Mike Modano didn't like what he saw. "Tonight it seemed to be idiotic," said Modano, the Stars alternate captain. "It's stupid. It's one of the more embarrassing things I have seen, on the ice and involved with the fans. In 20 years, I haven't seen anything like it. If that's what we're going for, maybe I need to find myself an office job."

"I'm not going to whine," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We can stand up for ourselves. We can play those types of games. It's not an issue. I don't care. You won't hear me complain. I think the fans enjoyed the show and we got ourselves a win. That's all that counts."

Brodeur Out For 3 Months? Say It Ain't So Marty!

Augh! Martin Brodeur is scheduled to have surgery on his elbow after injuring it during last saturday's 6-1 win against the Atlanta Thrashers. The New Jersey Devils' ironman goalie has already played 10 straight games for the Devils, recording 2 shutouts and appearing in 57 straight games stretching back to last season.

Brodeur was on pace to surpass Hall of Famer Patrick Roy for most career NHL wins by a goaltender likely before Christmas. He sits 7 back of Roy's record of 551 wins and he looked like he might actually pass the legendary Terry Sawchuk's mark of 103 career shutouts. That is the holy grail for goalies and previously thought to have been an impossible feat for any modern goalie to approach, let alone break.

The 4-time Vezina Trophy winner is getting x-rays and an MRI done today before undergoing surgery to repair the distal bicep in his elbow. Hopefully he'll be ready by mid-February, but he could be out of action until mid-March 2009. As far as the records go, he will still probably smash Roy's mark, but with Brodeur sitting at 98 career shutouts, he would need to have 5 more shutouts during the second half of the season. Possible, but unlikely. But Brodeur has never been one to shy away from a challenge and you just know he'll be itching to get back into action asap.

Blue Jacket's Brassard Tapped As Rookie of The Month

The Columbus Blue Jacket's young rookie Derick Brassard has been named as the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October after totalling nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in his first ten games. Brassard is currently leading the Blue Jackets in scoring and leads the entire rookie crop of NHL players.

As far as rookie scoring, Brassard leads, followed closely by Kris Versteeg of the Chicago Blackhawks who has 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists in nine games), Brassard's teammate Jakub Voracek of Columbus has 3 goals and 4 assists in ten games. Fabian Brunnstrom of the Dallas Stars is in 4th place in rookie scoring with 5 goals and 1 assist and already has a hat trick under his belt.

Ovechkin Returns To Capitals

Alexander Ovechkin is back from his visit to Russia to see his ailing grandfather. It's good to see that the NHL's top sniper put his family first as his grandfather helped raise the Capitals top player when he was a child.

Ovechkin has been a little slow off the mark this year, with only 2 goals and five points after scoring a record 65 last year. He was without a goal in the 6 games he played before making the pilgrimage back home and says his grandfather's health had been weighing on his mind.

He missed only 2 games, but did lose his consecutive games streak which was at 203 straight appearances. The Caps lost 5-0 to the Buffalo Sabres last Saturday after beating the Nashville Predators in a shootout during Ovechkin's absence.

New Year's Day Winter Classic: Detroit and Chicago at Wrigley Field

The 2009 Winter Classic will be held at Wrigley Field on New Year's Day when the Chicago Blackhawks host last year's Stanley Cup winner the Detroit Red Wings. Season ticketholders of the Blackhawks will be allowed the right to buy tickets for the outdoor event during the initial on-sale phase.

A general public random drawing will be held through the Chicago Blackhawks' official website (chicagoblackhawks.com) beginning Noon ET/11 a.m. CT, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, through on or about 11:59 a.m. ET/10:59 a.m. CT, Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. Registrations received after the deadline will not be accepted. There is no fee to register. Limit one entry per person. Each registrant selected will have an opportunity to purchase a limited number of tickets.

The vintage jerseys above will be worn by Chicago and Detroit for the game (and will be sold through their respective online stores too). You might want to pick up a couple. I know I'd like a Lidstrom or Zetterberg jersey from the Red Wings or maybe Toews or Kane's jersey from the Blackhawks. Hey, maybe all 4!