Top 10 Plays of the Week (Week 16)

I liked seeing the Edmonton Oilers in for number 9. The Oilers have slipped into the cellar of the entire league and such a good organization needs a little bit of love. Henrik Sedin's breakaway was sick. Did you see my last post about Top 10 Plays By Vancouver's Sedin Twins? It belongs in there.

Sens goalie stopping a sure goal by Hossa - sweet. And WOW! Daniel Sedin's incredible pass to Lukowich  between his legs. It was like a seeing eye pass. Very worthy of being the top of the heap this week.

Video ~ Top 10 Plays By Vancouver's Sedin Twins

Check out the Top Ten Plays by Vancouver Canucks Henrik and Daniel Sendin. This compilation is from SportsCentre and shows some of the amzing goals from NHL scoring leader Henrik Sedin and his twin brother Daniel who make up a dynamic duo for the Canucks. Have you ever seen such a pair of skaters who work so well together and are dynamite on the own? Watch that one where Henrik spins around like a top in the slot in front of the L.A. net and scores a beuty.

NHL Scores Updated In One Minute. Okay, A Little Over One Minute

Pittsburgh 4 Rangers 2
GOAL SCORERS:
PIT: Conner, C. (02:47 in 1st), Malkin, E. (PPG, 09:46 in 3rd), Conner, C. (10:46 in 3rd), Dupuis, P. (EN, 19:20 in 3rd)
NYR: Anisimov, A. (13:04 in 2nd), Anisimov, A. (09:15 in 3rd)
GOALIES:
PIT: M. Fleury (W)
NYR: H. Lundqvist (L)

Sidney Crosby had a couple of assists in this one and Malkin had a goal and one helper, but the big story for the Penguinos was that right winger popped in his first 2 goals of the season including the game winner. I was watching this one and the Rangers looked sorta listless. Marc-Andre Fleury was back in the Pittsburgh net after missing time due to a broken finger and looked pretty sharp, so look for him at the Olympics - probably stuck on the bench, but maybe he'll wave to the camera.

The Rangers dropped their 3rd in a row (2-0 to the Flyers, then getting spanked by the Habs 6-0). Only 2 goals in 3 games?!

St Louis 2 Calgary 0
GOAL SCORERS:

STL: Berglund, P. (18:42 in 2nd), Perron, D. (11:21 in 3rd)
CGY: NONE!!
GOALIES:
STL: T. Conklin (W)
CGY: M. Kiprusoff (L)

Kipper can't do it all by himself boys ~ where's the offence Calgary? Jarome? Conklin got his 3rd shutout of the season for the Blues who needed to turn things around on this road trip and seem to have done so after letting the Ducks come back and win it in a shootout the previous night. Apparently the Flames are just the tonic teams need right now as they have lost nine of their last ten and 7 in a row. They haven't been this bad since 2002. They're taking a Maple Leaf January swoon and better pick it up fast.

Buffalo 2 Vancouver 3
GOAL SCORERS:

BUF: Mair, A. (03:13 in 2nd), Vanek, T. (PPG, 01:49 in 3rd)
VAN: Samuelsson, M. (08:13 in 2nd), Sedin, H. (11:33 in 2nd), Lukowich, B. (05:21 in 3rd)
GOALIES:
BUF: R. Miller (L)
VAN: R. Luongo (W)

The Canuckleheads move into a firstplace tie with Colorado after dumping Buffalo 3-2. Vancouver Canucks has now won 5 in a row, while the boys from Buffalo are heading south. The Sabres are winless in 4 straight after being so red-hot earlier. But they do have a tasty lead on the rest of the Northeast Division ~ 7 up on Ottawa and the Bruins have taken a nose-dive this month allowing the Habs to catch them. Actually the Senators have the best record in the entire division in their last ten games, 6-4-0 and are the only Northeast team playing .500 hockey right now.

Canucks' Alex Burrows SLAMS Ref Stephane Auger For Being Petty

"He said that he would get me back for making him look bad," said Alex Burrows, left winger with the Vancouver Canucks, claiming referee Stephane Auger told him that just before the game. Burrows scored both of Vancouver's goals in their 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. In the 3rd period, Auger penalized Burrows twice for minor penalties, giving the Preds an advantage when the game was on the line.

With seconds left in the game, Auger gave Burrows a 10 minute misconduct penalty. The video is from after the game and a visably frustrated Burrows vented about the unprofessionalism of Auger. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault also spoke about the calls saying that the league would look into the 2 games in question, and if the allegations are true of a personal vendetta causing one team to lose and whether this behaviour is consistent with the ref.

Sorry I missed the game, but from the video, you can see Auger having words with Burrows. We'll see what, if anything Bettman does.

Curtis Joseph Set To Retire From The NHL

Word is being spread that goaltender Curtis Joseph is going to retire from professional hockey on Tuesday after 19 seasons. Joseph has the most career shutouts after New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur for active goaltenders with 51, and is 4th alltime for career wins in the NHL with 445. He added 16 more shutouts in 133 playoff games.

Joseph, 42, hasn't appeared in any games this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. During his first stint with the Leafs in the late 90s up til 2002, Joseph was absolutely stellar, posting 4 seasons with 29 or more wins and garnering 3 nominations for the Vezina Trophy. All told, seven season with 30-plus wins.

Joseph, nicknamed Cujo broke into the NHL in 1989-90 with the St Louis Blues, playing there for 6 years before spending 3 with the Edmonton Oilers. He had perhaps the most success with the Leafs over the next 4 seasons before spending a couple of seasons Detroit, and Phoenix before coming back to Toronto as backup last season, appearing in 21 Leaf games.

Joseph was also backup to Brodeur on the 2002 gold medal winning Team Canada in Salt Lake City. Definitely one of the fan favorites and he will be missed.

Tuesday's NHL Highlights In A Minute And A Half

Florida 2 Toronto 3
Dallas 0 Devils 4 What, Brodeur got another shutout?
Montreal 2 Capitals 4
Boston 4 Ottawa 1
Atlanta 2 Penguins 5
Calgary 3 Nashville 1
Minnesota 1 Chicago 4
Phoenix 5 Edmonton 4 OT ~ The Oilers are woeful
Columbus 3 Vancouver 7 Henrik Sedin's 3 point night ties him with Thornton for the league lead with 58 points!
Detroit 1 Anaheim 4 What is wrong with the Red Wings this year?

Martin Brodeur now has 3 shutouts in his last 7 games and five on the season. That was also New Jersey's 30th win of the season.

With their loss in OT to the Coyotes, Edmonton slips to 1-8-1 in their last ten games and are dead last in the Western Conference, and trail the Wild by 6 points in the Northwest Division. Only the terrible Hurricanes (29 points) are keeping the Oilers from the cellar. Pat Quinn must be shaking his head in bewilderment.

And what about the Henrik Sedin?! Here we are just past the mid-point in the season and Sedin is perched at the top of NHL points board, tied with Joe Thornton with 58 points. The Sharks host the Blues and Sedin's Canucks face Phoenix on Thursday night so we'll see who leads come Friday morning.

Right now, the Blackhawks are the number one team overall with 63 points after winning their 4th straight. They are 2 points up on both the Sharks and the Devils, but New Jersey has 2 games in hand. Chicago heads to Beantown on Thursday.

Americans Beats Canada 6-5 For Gold In World Juniors

The American World Junior hockey team beat Team Canada 6-5 in overtime to win gold for 2nd time ever. Coach Dean Blais said that the way his squad won was by playing the game the Canadian way - in your face, with a total effort in both ends of the rink.

I love this quote from Dean Blais, Team USA head coach:

"We played Canadian hockey. We played gritty, we blocked shots, we backchecked hard, we had a tryout camp. You learn from the best. It's not an accident (Canada) won five straight gold medals. It's not an accident (Canada) put guys in the National Hockey League. I wanted gritty players, I wanted guys that would block shots and work at both ends of the rink. If we didn't have success I could live with myself. I didn't want a bunch of Fancy Dans that wouldn't play both ends, that were cocky and arrogant. I didn't have that team."

The Americans won on a goal by defenseman John Carlson beating Team Canada netminder Martin Jones 4:21 into the extra period. That was the Washington Capitals first-rounder's second goal of the game. Team USA was leading 5-3 in the waning minutes of the 3rd period, but Canada came back again, just like they did in the last meeting of the teams, but OT ended with a different result this time.

Kudos to Team USA for an excellent tournament and their first gold medal since 2004 (when they beat Team Canada). As always, there's next year to look forward to, but now all eyes turn to the upcoming Olympics.

Alex Kovalev's 5 Points Sinks Flyers As Sens Win 7-4

Ottawa Senators right winger Alex Kovalev had a career game against the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday. Kovalev had 4 goals and an assist, getting 5 points in one game for the third time. The 36-year-old had 4 assists in one game last season with the Montreal Canadiens, but never has had four goals. Kovalev actually has had 10 three-goal games in his career, (not including today's) since breaking into the league with the New York Rangers back in 1992-93, but wasn't been able to hit a hat trick while with the Habs.

"All I can say is that it's a good way to start 2010," said Kovalev, who had his last hat trick December 12th against the Carolina Hurricanes. Chris Kelly also had 2 goals and an assist for the Senators who move one point back of the Boston Bruins for 2nd place in the Northeast Division. Meanwhile, the Flyer continue to languish in the basement of the Atlantic, one behind the New York Islanders.

So far this season, Alex Kovalev has 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points in the 39 games he's played. Kovalev is closing in on Hall of Fame numbers as he needs only 32 more points to hit the 1,000 point plateau. It will take a lot of work for him to make the 500 goal club, as he needs 95 more to reach that number.

Sharks Roll Into 2010 With 8th Straight Win

GOAL SCORERS:
EDM: Nilsson, R. (04:06 in 2nd)
SJS: McGinn, J. (13:10 in 1st), Murray, D. (17:18 in 1st), Heatley, D. (00:43 in 2nd), Marleau, P. (13:32 in 2nd)
GOALIES:
EDM: J. Drouin-Deslauriers (L) SJS: E. Nabokov (W)

Right now the San Jose Sharks are the best team in the National Hockey League. The Sharks dropped the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 for the team's eigth straight victory, putting San Jose once again at the top of the heap with 61 points. The Sharks are now seven points up on 2nd place Phoenix in the Pacific division and two up on both the New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks in the overall standings.

The Sharks also hold the best home ice record, having lost at the Shark Tank only twice in 21 games this season. Offensively, only the Washington Capitals have been able to match San Jose's goalscoring as they have 142 goals in 42 games.

The San Jose Sharks easily handled the Oilers who sink into last place in the Western Conference after losing the 9th in their last ten games.

Miroslav Satan Snapped Up By Boston For Rest Of 2010 Season

The Boston Bruins have signed Miroslav Satan, 35, to a short contract for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, hoping Satan can help shore up the Bruins' offense, which has slipped a bit after being so strong last year.

Satan had 17 goals, 19 assists for 36 points in the 65 games he played last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins as he helped Sidney Crosby and company to the Stanley Cup. He was not offered a new contract from the Pens.

Bruins Win Winter Classic, Sabres Edge Thrashers In OT

The Boston Bruins won the 2010 Winter Classic, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in overtime on Marco Sturm's tip-in goal. Meanwhile, yes, there was another game yesterday as the Buffalo Sabres had their own heroics as they beat the Atlanta Thrashers as Derek Roy capped a 3-0 comeback for the Sabres. That's the 2nd straight game that Buffalo has come back from a 3-0 deficit as they were down 3-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday but came back to win. Right now the Sabres are looking SCARY - they will not die! But there's a lot of hockey to be played between now and when the diminutive Bettman gets booed as he hands out the Stanley Cup in the spring.