The Great Escape

For nearly fifty-seven minutes last night, the Devils' response to the Ilya Kovalchuk trade was one big dud. In all the hoopla over the Devils' biggest acquisition in a long time, it was easy to forget this team was 3-6-1 in its last ten games coming in, having been shut out in four of its last twelve games and just 2 for its last 37 on the power play during the last fourteen. Even adding Kovalchuk and having him assist on Danius Zubrus's first-period goal wasn't enough to push the Devils through their malaise, as they gave up three goals in the second period and generally looked bad in all phases despite outshooting the Leafs for the majority of the night. Many in the crowd (including me) booed at the end of the second, and things weren't looking much better in the third when the Leafs trapped us to oblivion.

Then, IT happened.

It being one of the most insane finishes you could possibly script. Heck, this script was too ridiculous even for Hollywood. First, Dean McAmmond of all people roofed a backhander with 3:04 left to put a jolt of adrenaline into the team. Then with a two-man advantage thanks to a power play and an empty net, Travis Zajac rifled home a slapshot with just 44 seconds left, tying the game and sending the diehards who stayed into a frenzy. And for the topper of all toppers, with the game headed surely to overtime - the one and only Jay Pandolfo (?!) scored on a rebound of a Mike Mottau shot at 19:41 to complete an unfathomable, impossible trifecta as the Devils scored a stunning 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs to close out their three game 'series' with a bang.

Nothing I'd seen in the first fifty-seven minutes suggested you could even dream about such a finish. Then again, before the game I thought the Devils would curb-stomp the Leafs much the way they did to us Tuesday on an adrenaline high after their recent big acquisitions - Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastian Giguere. The latter - as usual - chickened out of playing in New Jersey (where he was psyched out during the '03 Finals), or at least it appeared that way. There's no other rational explanation for Ron Wilson to bench Giggy off a shutout against us just three days ago. Also not playing was Patrik Elias, who isn't quite ready to come off IR just yet conditioning-wise though he should be ready soon enough.

Of course, GM Lou Lamoriello made sure Kovalchuk played, personally meeting the star winger and fellow acquisition Anssi Salmela in Washington to escort them back to Jersey. Although last night's crowd fell short of a sellout, the lower bowl was packed during warmups of everyone wanting to get their first look at the NHL's leading goalscorer since 2001 in a Devils jersey. I tried to take pictures myself, and managed to at least get a decent one of Kovy and Zach Parise (above), with Andrew Peters and the eventual first star - Pando - in the background.

Despite the typically late arriving crowd, it was an electric atmosphere. While he wasn't introduced with the starting lineup, Kovalchuk was wildly cheered during his first shift on the ice and steadily throughout after that. Early on, the Devils justified the crowd's optimism when Kovalchuk got his first point as a Devil at 13:20, centering a pass in front that deflected off a skate and towards Zubrus, whose Bobby Orr-esque (re: flying through the air) goal was so pretty I inially thought Parise had scored it. 8 and 9 can look pretty similar sometimes after all - just ask Steve Cangelosi haha. However, Zubrus has been showing lately that if you put him with elite talent it brings out the best in him, just as it did when he was having 60-point seasons in Washington riding shotgun with Alex Ovechkin. Jamie Langenbrunner also assisted on Zubrus's fourth goal of the season.

As is his wont though, Jacques Lemaire didn't leave the Zubrus-Kovy-Langenbrunner line together too long. In fact, after about midway through the first I'm not sure any line got more than two shifts consecutively, other than the Pandolfo-Rob Niedermayer tandem which remained constant. Our offense ground to a halt from that point for the most part, but the Devils still held that 1-0 lead during the first intermission. I figured if Kovalchuk scored at any point the roof would blow off the Rock.

Instead of the roof blowing off, it caved in during the second period...helped in no small part by inconsistent reffereeing. After letting everything (sans an obvious tripping on Francois Beauchemin) go during the first period, they called four minor penalties in under six minutes during the second period, three on the Devils. Toronto turned two of those power plays into goals, first when Tomas Kaberle fired an off-balance floater from the point that got past Martin Brodeur at 3:39, then Lee Stempniak squeezed one through Brodeur's pads at 10:23. Even though both were PP goals I still felt they could have been stopped, the second in particular which was just an unscreened soft wrister from near the faceoff circle. Finally, at 16:09 Rickard Wallin scored after a sloppy turnover from Langenbrunner led to a wide-open wrister from point-blank range.

Combined with general sloppiness, the teams' recent play and the dissapointment over the response to the Kovalchuk trade they received scattered boos during the second intermission. I'm not one to boo for the sake of it or at the first little sign of trouble, but I thought they deserved it by then. In retrospect, maybe I was too harsh - not because of the comeback, but because I forgot about the team's flu bug. Langenbrunner, in particular really annoyed me last night. In addition to his turnover on the goal, he had a few others in the game as well as failing to get his stick on the ice when Kovalchuk found him wide open for what could have been an automatic goal. It wasn't till I got home that I remembered the captain had sat out the third period of Tuesday's game due to flu symptoms though. And in the end he wound up with over twenty minutes played, two assists and a +2. Not bad for an off night.

Between the flu (which also affected Andy Greene), replacing Oduya in the lineup with the 'other' new acquisition Anssi Salmela and Paul Martin still being on IR, the defense was a mish-mash last night. Mike Mottau led the team in icetime with 22:02, which would make you cringe on first glance until you realize Greene's minutes were down because of illness, and you really can't overplay Bryce Salvador or Colin White cause they would break down. Lemaire handled things the only way he could - especially with another game tonight as well - even giving Salmela twenty minutes and Mark Fraser fifteen plus. I actually didn't think the defense was a big issue last night, as they only gave up twenty shots overall though the PK coverage was lacking, as the Leafs went 2-4 on the power play.

Offensively, however the team was flat as a pancake. Sure, they tried too hard to feed Kovalchuk at times and he tried too hard to fit in opting to pass instead of shoot. Somewhat amusingly, Kovalchuk wound up with fewer shots on net than Salmela - Salmela had two and Kovy one, though Kovy had one rifle on the point during a power play expertly blocked by Fredrik Sjostrom. Lemaire using a bingo ball cage to help determine his lines didn't help either, but I'm not going to get on the coach for obsessive line-juggling till like mid-March. After all, it worked early in the year and you need to use the regular season to get everyone used to playing with each other in my mind. Still, it would be nice to find consistent combinations once everyone gets healthy (which hasn't happened yet).

With everything going against us, people started to file out with several minutes left. Thankfully one of them was this obese guy who sat in front of me taking up three seats while snoring - yes snoring! - for the majority of the night. Are you kidding me?! Who in their right mind goes to a hockey game just to sleep through most of it? I realize it wasn't all that exciting for 56+ minutes but come on now. Even one of the fans who has a horn and came down to sit by me couldn't keep this guy awake. After that guy left, a season-ticket holder who sits at the end of my row also had enough and was starting to put his jacket on and leave but right as he stood up, McAmmond scored. Talk about good timing...he sat down after that and enjoyed the rest of the game, in his jacket and all!

Even when McAmmond scored his third of the season after assists from Mottau and Vladimir Zharkov (who was one of the few to have a good game last night, though he also missed a wide-open net for what would have been his first-ever NHL goal), I couldn't get all that excited. I stood but gave more of a sarcastic clap than anything else and figured the late, futile rally was coming. It wasn't until Zubrus drew a penalty on Alexander Ponikarovsky at 17:38 that I believed a comeback could be possible. While the power play again looked ineffective at first, the season ticket holder who sits next to me was wondering when Lemaire would pull Brodeur for an extra attacker. That wouldn't happen until fifty seconds remained, and I agree with that strategy on the power play, you want to delay giving the Leafs a free shot at an empty net as long as possible with no icing on the penalty kill.

Finally, with Brodeur pulled the unlikeliest offensive force of the comeback - McAmmond - found a wide-open Zajac in position for him to rifle a suddenly formidable slapshot past Jonas Gustavsson, and that finally got me excited and sent the rest of the crowd into a frenzy. With the offensive players having played the majority of the prior two and a half minutes in the game, Pandolfo and Nieds came on the ice, seemingly to assure overtime. However they weren't just playing not to lose now - they were playing to win. Pando chipped the puck in the zone and Mottau eventually fired a slapshot that rebounded to Pando in front, and he put it home with just nineteen seconds remaining. While everyone else was going berserk, I was just standing there, jaw dropped. I absolutely couldn't believe this. As I texted two friends after the game, I felt like I died and was in bizarro world.

To be honest though, it was about freaking time we did that to another team. Usually over the last year plus we've been on the floor after having the rug pulled out from under us - starting with Game 7 and continuing with losing two-goal leads late in both our prior home games. And while I was still in stunned mode after the final horn, it felt like the good ol' days at the CAA with people chanting 'Let's Go Devils!' on the way out of the stadium and even into the walkway going towards Newark Penn, with many fellow Devil fans randomly telling me 'nice game, eh?'

Well, it was a spectacular three minutes that made the first fifty-seven more than worth it anyway!

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Dean McAmmond (goal, assist, +1)
2. Ilya Kovalchuk (two assists, 21:43 TOI)
3. Jay Pandolfo (game-winning goal, +1, 5 SOG)

Mike Knuble tic-tac-toe goal 2/4/10

I'm only posting this because I am amped and want to show how pathetic the Ranger D is. Plus I also felt like revealing what actual passing looked like. Plus Mike Knuble scored his 20th. But we traded him for Rob freaking Dimaio.

Warning: If you aren't going to tonight's Hell sentencing, find something better to do. This is friendly advice for the human heart.

RIP Brendan Burke

I don't know what else to say other than our deepest sympathies go out to Brian Burke and the rest of his family who lost son Brendan Burke to a fatal car accident tonight. Per Globe & Mail's James Mirtle, the Toronto Maple Leafs released a statement approximately 22 minutes ago following the club's defeat to New Jersey. More details just came out on the two vehicle accident in poor snowy conditions that claimed the lives of Brendan Burke and Mark A. Reedy while injuring others.


Only 21, Burke was an inspirational story whose strong message when he came out of the closet should always be remembered. ESPN's John Buccigross had a wonderfully touching piece two months ago on Brendan and his very strong relationship with Dad and the rest of a loving family who always supported him. It is an extremely sad night for the hockey world. Best wishes to the Burke and Reedy families as they mourn the tragic losses.

"Brendan is an incredible kid. He and I are incredibly close, even for brothers. In most families, the older brother overshadows the younger brother, but not ours. We went to the same high school and people there still refer to me as "Brendan's brother."

He's exceptionally smart, funny, motivated, successful and happy. He has an incredible way with people.

There's a genuine kindness about him that really resonates with people. It's a gift I'm very jealous of." -- Patrick Burke, Brendan's brother, now a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers

RIP Brendan Burke 

A Weird Wish

Is it okay to pray for a blizzard tomorrow?

Alexander The Great

Not only did Alexander Ovechkin score this momentum shifting goal to cut it to 5-4 with just 8.5 seconds remaining in the second period of the Caps' come from behind 6-5 Garden win over the Rangers. But he did it in fine style reaching a milestone by recording his 500th career point. The man is amazing.

Kovalchuk madness overshadows wild Ranger loss to Ovechkin Caps

It would be impossible not to start what was a bizarre night at The Garden featuring 11 goals including the latest Alex Ovechkin magic trick without mentioning the Ilya Kovalchuk madness that took place during the first period. While the high flying Caps and new look Rangers were keeping fans out of their seats in one of the most unpredictable games ever, there was the much discussed Kovalchuk about to be traded out of Hotlanta to the sweepstakes/madness winner Devils. Something I was keeping track of over on Twitter while trying to pay attention to a game Washington came back to take 6-5 for their 12th straight win.

While the big Devil acquisition played out as had been widely speculated, the game on the ice was as much an enigma. Olli Jokinen's Ranger home debut had a bit of everything ranging from his first point 8:58 in on Ryan Callahan's power play redirect to his first goal as a Blueshirt in a roller coaster second period that saw each club score three times while also earning a hat trick of minor penalties with the potent Caps burning the Jokester twice. While the loss of discipline put a damper on things, the 31 year-old big pivot acquired from Calgary still had a good home debut that saw him pace everyone with seven shots plus the goal and helper.

“It’s disappointing,” the new Ranger said while donning his trademark No.12. “We’ve got to find a way to stay out of the penalty box. That was the difference. Our power play was good. We scored five goals at home. We should be able to win.

“Everybody knows where we’re at in the standings. We’ve got to treat every game like a playoff game.”

In his first game- a 2-1 loss to the original team that drafted him LA- Jokinen centered the top line with Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal. Last night, he played on the second line with Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky, who had success together. Perhaps the keystone coach will even use common sense and keep them in synch. Don't count on it.

The Rangers came out strong getting 10 of the first 11 shots, testing a shaky Jose Theodore who still made a couple of nice saves from in tight keeping it scoreless. For some reason, his team looked discombulated getting outplayed severely and outshot 18-6. Normally, a power play means nothing for our team. But on this night, they made it count connecting on four-of-six. As I tweeted, it wasn't a misprint. It didn't take long for Callahan to get position in front and steer home a Jokinen drive for his 14th, giving the Blueshirts a rare lead. Dubinsky netted the secondary. Despite getting just six shots, the Caps put one by Henrik Lundqvist when Boyd Gordon finished off a mad scramble to tie it. But before the goal was announced, 10 seconds later Gaborik set up Prospal for the first of two, restoring the lead. Marc Staal added a helper padding his career best total to 22 points in Year Three.

Meanwhile, Twitter was nuts with everyone confirming that Kovalchuk was going to New Jersey. By 7:30, I'd pretty much told our whole section with of course some expected cynicism of whether it was really true. Who would the players be going back? All we knew was Johnny Oduya and Nicklas Bergfors were definites with the other half centering around a prospect and a first round pick. The original rumor started by of all people Denis Potvin produced quite a thread on NJDevs. For a while, the prospect seemed to be Nick Palmieri but when a deal of this magnitude gets completed, you had to figure that aspect could change. Hasan's completely right about all the different scenarios tossed out about who it was, ranging from Swedish tandem Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby to even David Clarkson's name being mentioned as part of the trade. By the second period, it turned out to be troubled center Patrice Cormier, who if he overcomes his discipline issues could evolve into a good two-way player.

As a Ranger fan, I couldn't help thinking how Lou had done it again. Holding onto his best two prospects with last year's first rounder Josefson making Cormier expendable. It's a great deal for the Devils but a little odd in that for as lethal a finisher as Kovalchuk is, he's also known to take shifts off and forger the defensive side. Vital components under Jacques Lemaire. Will it work? Only time will tell. It sure bolsters the Devs' offense and power play. Imagine a series against the Caps. Yowser.

While a wild second ensued with the teams combining for six goals, so much of the discussion centered around Kovalchuk winding up on our hated rival. What did the Devils give up to could Kovalchuk fit in and is it enough to vault them over the Caps, Pens and Sabres. Hell. Ottawa won again. So, they won't be any picnic either. Don't discount the Flyers but it's extremely odd that they weren't in on Kovy. It was almost like the stars were aligned for the Devils to swoop in and get the Atlanta superstar because the Bruins, Kings and Rangers all dropped out. As those thoughts were floating around, a flying Ovechkin got the scoring fest started by skating around the net to groans at Michal Rozsival for not hitting him (seri---ous---ly) with the electrifying Russian helping set up Mike Knuble's 20th with Nicklas Backstrom also assisting for one of his five points. For as much as we talk about Ovie, man is Backstrom impressive. He absolutely owned in this game, eventually netting the power play winner.

The first of three Jokinen minors (a slash) resulted in Ovechkin releasing a halitzer over Lundqvist's frozen left glove for his 37th tying Sidney Crosby for second. Backstrom got the lone helper for the Caps' first lead. A loss of discipline though nearly derailed them handing the Rangers three straight power plays including a near full two-man advantage. First, Jokinen connected for his first in our colors rifling one by Theodore to tie it. Prospal and Mike Del Zotto assisted. A delay of game and trip three seconds apart led to Prospal slamming home his second of the game from Callahan and Gaborik 40 seconds after they'd tied it. Things got worse for the Caps when Alex Semin went to the box for a trip. Astonishingly, the Blueshirts made them pay again when Dubinsky backhanded a Matt Gilroy rebound past Theodore for a 5-3 lead with 72 seconds left in the period. Even the MSG personnel downstairs couldn't believe they scored three in a row to surge in front by two.

Perhaps it also left John Tortorella in shock because he foolishly stuck out Rozsival and Wade Redden for the period's final shift against Ovechkin. How clueless can you be? Of all the baffling decisions including the ridiculous five forwards on a power play in a scoreles game that allowed LA to tally shorthanded two nights prior, this was the most illogical move he's ever made. And then he has the gall afterwards to talk discipline and how what resulted turned the game around. Get the hell out already! Can't we just have a normal coach? What transpired was one of the most amazing plays by such a physically gifted player. Taking a pass just outside the blueline from Backstrom, here came Ovechkin spinning around Rozsival who was just abused and then seemingly off balance while falling to the ice, he onehanded a shot off Lundqvist's pads and over his shoulder for a stunning goal that made it 5-4 with 8.5 ticks left. They'll be showing it on highlight reels for quite a while. In a nutshell, it demonstrated how pathetic our D is and also again sadly showed Henrik allowing a backbreaking goal. I like our goalie and he is good but read the difference between what he said and Bruce Boudreau concluded:

“It’s easy to start questioning your game when you let in six goals, but I don’t think I played that bad. It was just a really tough game. They find ways to create big scoring chances. They don’t shoot that much, but they find openings.”

“Even though they took a lead, we knew we would score. Lundqvist didn’t look as sharp as he has against us in the past.”

If that isn't a ringing indictment, my name is Peter Pan. Was Lundqvist serious? He was awful. I get that he has no help in front of him but that is just weaaaaak. You have royally sucked lately and are killing my fantasy team. How about manning up. For the salary he gets which is sadly too much thanks to Savior, how about coming up with a momentum turning save to stem the tide for a change?

Following the second period six-goal bonanza that featured a combined 32 shots (Wsh-18, NYR-14) with four PPG, the better team finally won out scoring the only two goals in the third. Tom Poti, who absolutely sucked here, made like Bobby Orr, scoring the tying power play goal 59 seconds in even though I swear Tomas Fleischmann tipped it in. The period saw our team shorthanded five times, including a dopey penalty by Dubinsky that killed any hopes of a comeback. In between, a struggling Lundqvist flopped to the ice like a fish and never recovered allowing Backstrom to blast home the winner. Fleischmann and Knuble, who wasn't good enough to play here registered assists.

On a night where All-Star defenseman Mike Green served the final game of a three-game suspension, Poti shined even faking out out entire D with an Orr-esque end-to-end rush that he nearly completed. If not for a lunging Lundqvist with a helpless teammate forced to take a penalty, this would've been jaw dropping. The jokes I made about how he never could've pulled that off here or taken that open point shot were easy punchlines. Now, he's a world beater. Just wait till Rozsival leaves.

The Caps outshot the Rangers 8-6 with Theodore still making a nice lunging save in the last few minutes to preserve it. Our entire D stunk. Rozsival was dreadful but at least got a takeaway from Ovie before the predictable fall from grace. Redden was a turnover machine all night and almost got victimized by Matt Bradley again. But this time Lundqvist denied his backhand deke. Dan Girardi hardly competed. Can we please get rid of this guy? I know he is loved but god, he is so overrated. They should just trade him. Staal at least tried because he always does. Del Zotto was probably our best notching a helper and logging big minutes. But it's trial by fire for the teenager. And Matt Gilroy just sucks. Another Hobey jinx. Oh. He's a good skater with solid puckhandling skills who can jump in but he is really soft. What did they teach at BU? I know he used to be a forward but come on.

Aside from the abysmal night that badly exposed our blueline, I already trashed Lundqvist and the coach, who hardly used Sean Avery with Brandon Prust, Enver Lisin, Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle glued to the bench. Tort's coaching is so puzzling. He insists on starting Drury on the fourth line but then switches it up anyway while hardly giving the secondary guys enough ice. That can kill chemistry because those are your character guys who probably can't comprehend what their roles are. I'm past the point already.

Yes, Sather sucks. Dolan blows. But Tortorella is not the answer either. I like that he at least doesn't pull any punches. But if things don't change, he must go. Case closed. And what is there to look forward to? Kovalchuk and Parise scoring at will against us Saturday with Devil fans cheering in our building. From zero goals to probably 10.Can they just end the season already? You know the stuck up security guard who barked at us like children to sit in our seats prefers that. How screwed up can you get? Ever hear of fun?
Well, at least Saturday assuming it doesn't snow will be regardless.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Vinny Prospal, NYR (2 goals, 2 assists for season high 4 Pts)
2nd Star-Tom Poti, Wsh (PPG, 3 SOG in 26:36)
1st Star-Nicklas Backstrom, Wsh (PPG, 4 assists for matching season best 5 Pts)

Anatomy of a blockbuster

Now that I can exhale, it has been a wild two days with the rumors of Ilya Kovalchuk coming to the Devils starting after a seemingly innocuous and wild comment from of all people ex-Islanders great Denis Potvin on NHL Live, when he stated matter-of-factly that Kovalchuk would be traded to the Devils. That started the internet rumor mill churning, and maybe a few hours after that a reliable poster on HF Boards who owns a bar and deals with Devil and Ranger players on a frequent basis reported that a Kovalchuk trade was imminent and was pretty much spot-on with the details as it turned out.

It was about that point that I started to believe that this might be possible. Especially when I heard said poster correctly predicted the Olli Jokinen trade and other local signings before they happened. Still, you can never tell. It was just a couple years ago after all that Lou Lamoriello supposedly had a deal for the Thrashers' Marian Hossa nearly done, but the Penguins swooped in at the last minute and trumped our offer. With the amount of teams that could have trumped our bid like the Blackhawks, Kings, Flyers and teams crazy enough to sell the farm like the Rangers and Canadiens, it was impossible to fully believe this would happen.

So it was a long day and a half between those rumors and the connsumation of the trade. In between there was all sorts of wild speculation, from the Rangers being heavily involved to the Kings, Blackhawks and Bruins being front-runners as well with other teams like the Flyers mentioned. During all that though, the whispers about the Devils being the ones to make this trade were by far the loudest. Especially when it was reported that either the Thrashers' GM Don Waddell or assistant Rick Dudley was in attendance for the Devils' last two home games as well as the second Lowell-Hartford game at the Rock last night (won by Hartford 3-2 in OT). Not to mention the news that Kovalchuk had rejected a $100 million plus offer from the Thrashers, which was obviously Waddell's way of greasing the skids for a trade out of town.

Finally, just a couple hours ago at around 7 PM all indications were that a deal would be announced within the hour but still no word...finally at 7:30 word filtered down that it was indeed the Devils who would be acquiring the NHL's overall leading goalscorer since 2001-02. In typical Devils fashion however, speculation ran rampant over who would be going the other way. I heard what must have been fifteen different versions of the trade reported in the next hour. The only one that made me cringe was David Clarkson being involved, I didn't think the Devils could afford to lose that type of player but fortunately those rumors proved false. Not to mention the prospect we gave back seemed to change by the minute. First it was Matthais Tedenby, then Nick Palmeri and finally Patrice Cormier.

In the end however, the initial rumor actually proved to be fairly accurate with the two principals - defenseman Johnny Oduya and wing Nicklas Bergfors going to Atlanta along with a prospect and a 1st rounder, plus a swap of second-rounders. One of the few things that changed from the first report was the prospect involved. Initially it was Palmeri, but it turned out to be Cormier. Plus the second rounder swap - favorable to us - was also a late addition, something I found out almost before I published this. And seemingly at the last minute (I thought it was a joke the first time I heard), Atlanta added in a player they acquired from us just last year...the immortal Anssi Salmela. But hey, we do need defensive depth now after losing Oduya. Whether Salmela fills that depth himself or plugs in the hole at Lowell while one of their defensemen comes up remains unclear at this hour.

So what does acquiring Kovalchuk mean for the Devils? Yes, it's the 'sexy' move we typically shy away from and he won't be around past this year in all likelihood but man, it does make this Devils team suddenly a lot more formidable. Just picture a top three lines of Kovalchuk-Elias-Rolston, Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner, Nieds-Zubrus-Clarkson. That actually becomes an offense to be reckoned with. Maybe not on the level of the top four or five offensive teams but more than enough to compete. No longer can teams shadow the Parise line exclusively, heck the PZL boys might actually become the second line!

Of course you have to give up something to get something, and we gave from our defense certainly. Though I wasn't Oduya's biggest fan, our defense was leaky even with him and now without him that just means either Lou will still need to make another trade or at least one of the kids is going to have to step up. Presuming Paul Martin doesn't have a third setback on his arm, the defense at least includes him, Andy Greene, Bryce Salvador and Colin White. That's a pretty serviceable top four and Mike Mottau can hopefully regain his form of the past two seasons playing fewer minutes on the back pairing. At least one youngster will have to step up though as presently constituted. Whether it's Mark Fraser (whose icetime has been going way down recently), Matthew Corrente or Tyler Eckford, hopefully over the last third of the season at least one of them - or Salmela - makes a jump into the everyday lineup the way White did during the 2000 season.

And yes losing Bergfors might hurt down the road, but he wasn't going to help this year - witness his own declining icetime and production - plus the jury's still out on him after all. He might become a good player (think Ales Hemsky or better) or he might become an Ales Kotalik-like tease. Cormier being included in the deal was somewhat of a surprise, given his suspension from junior hockey for the rest of this season after a dirty elbow that left some poor kid having convulsions on the ice. Still, Cormier is only 19 or 20 and had some trade value left despite the incident from his skill level and being the captain on Canada's junior team. Hopefully for the embattled Thrasher fans those two young players turn into something, but they could rue getting Oduya, who hasn't looked like an NHL defenseman without Martin around. Of course he could be fine if he gets paired with Zach Bogosian, or not.

One thing's for sure, nobody's talking about the Devils' 2-8 record in their last ten games now. It's going to be electric at the Rock tomorrow, especially if Kovy does make it in town for his Devil debut. I'm so excited I couldn't wait to see Kovalchuk in a Devils uni, I had to lift this photoshopped picture from NJDevs and HF (above)! Well actually I was looking for another one but I couldn't find it so this one'll have to do for now.

UPDATE: Kovy and Salmela will both be in the Devils' lineup tomorrow against the Maple Leafs. So take that Brian Burke, you made your big acquisitions before our second game, now it's our turn to energize our fanbase!

And Kovalchuk goes to...the Devils?!

Apparently so, it's now being reported on all the major sites like TSN, USA Today and Bob McKenzie's twitter, among others...and the internet whispers that had been growing over the last couple days of the Devils being heavily involved in this for once actually came true! More as it develops (and after I pick my jaw up off the floor), starting with who actually went to Atlanta - the rumors involved Nicklas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, one other prospect and a high pick but that's unconfirmed as of yet.

Buffalo Senator'd again

A day later, Sabre fans might be pondering why their team can't beat Ottawa. In what amounted to an important divisional showdown at HSBC Arena last night, they were Senator'd again. With two big points up for grabs facing a red hot team chasing them for the Northeast, Buffalo fell to their bitter rival 4-2, allowing the Sens to pull within three. It was the Sabres' second consecutive tough loss. They also fell to the Pens 5-4 the other night, victimized by a Sidney Crosby hat trick.

For Lindy Ruff's club, the good news is they still are in first with two games at hand. The bad is that with their franchise record 10th straight win, Ottawa has now beaten the Sabres eight times in a row. In four meetings this season, Buffalo has gotten only a brownie point and been outscored 13-7 discounting Alex Kovalev's Dec.26 shootout decider. There are two games left with both coming in the final three weeks of the season, including an April 10 road match on the second to last day. Hopefully by then, they'll have found a remedy for the Sens' dominance.

What made yesterday's latest defeat exasperating was that Buffalo once again fought back from a two-goal deficit to tie it thanks to goals 27 seconds apart from Andrej Sekera and Tim Connolly, pumping up the crowd. One thing about this team, no matter how they're playing, they never give up. Case in point, the Pens' got four straight Monday but Ryan Miller slammed the door, allowing Jason Pominville to make it too close for comfort. With their franchise netminder on the bench, they came real close to tying it. The same can be echoed following Sabre killer Daniel Alfredsson's stunning go-ahead marker with just a minute to spare off a great pass by rookie D Erik Karlsson. Even in full scramble mode, Ruff's club nearly forced overtime with Paul Gaustad or as Sabre faithful refer to him as Moose was denied by Brian Elliott.

That kind of fighting spirit is a winning trait which could bode well. If only they hadn't fallen into the trap a second straight game of getting into a wide open run n' gun. Against the super skilled Pens, the fall from grace was predictable. To both teams' credit last night, they went for it playing the kind of firewagon hockey that keeps you on the edge of your seat. That style doesn't suit this Sabre team, who must get back to tightening it up around Miller's net. Something they realize.

“One minute left—we can’t let that guy stand all alone on the backdoor,” a frustrated Henrik Tallinder expressed. “It stings.”

“We battled hard in the third to get back in it,” Ruff said. “The best description is we just found another way to lose a game.”

After outshooting their feisty opponent 13-5 in the opening stanza, the Sabres gave up a combined 32 shots the final 40 minutes. Sure. They fired 23 themselves but that's way too many for a team that prides itself on D, making Miller's life easier. When they're playing a gritty, physical in your face style, that's when these Sabres excel. Precisely the recipe they'll need against those Sens and the rest of the way.

It's there for the taking.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Daniel Alfredsson, Ott (GW w/60 seconds left plus ENG)
2nd Star-Brian Elliott, Ott (34 saves for 8th consecutive win-allowed 2 or fewer in every start)
1st Star-Jason Spezza, Ott (2 goals extends scoring streak to 7 straight-8-1-9)

Kovalchuk on way out, Canes/Sharks close in on deal

Well, it looks like we shouldn't have to wait too much longer on Ilya Kovalchuk. The electrifying 26 year-old Russian superstar appears to be on his way out of Hotlanta. According to TSN, Thrasher GM Don Waddell told Kovy to expect a trade very soon. Whether it's hours or days, the former 2001 No.1 overall pick who's spent his entire eight-year NHL career in Atlanta looks to be concluding that phase. If you like funny images, be sure to check out this one of the sniper looking over the prospects.

In 594 career games, Kovalchuk has scored 328 goals becoming one of the game's most explosive finishers. The list of accomplishments includes Olympic bronze ('02), Young Stars MVP ('01-02), All-Rookie Team ('01-02), Second All-Star Team along with the Rocket Richard in '03-04 (41 goals) and three All-Star appearances ('03-04, '07-08, '08-09). Along with the 328 markers, he's closing in on 300 assists with his 287 just 13 shy. Earlier this season, he reached a career milestone hitting 600 points. In 49 contests, Kovy ranks fifth in goals (31), 12th in points (58) and tied for sixth in power play goals (10). His 19 power play points and 179 shots on goal pace the Thrashers, putting him at atop five different offensive categories with his 27 helpers tied with Rich Peverley.


There are at least half a dozen clubs interested in the soon to be 27 year-old UFA this summer. Not surprisingly, LA, Chicago and the Flames lead a list that includes the Devils, Rangers, Bruins and Flyers. Does this mean the Caps have dropped out and the Pens aren't in? If they had the resources, Kovalchuk would be perfect for the Islanders, giving them a marquee attraction to help build around. Their system is loaded but given the uncertainty surrounding the arena, figure them to be on the outside. It would be a shock if the Rangers had enough to land him. We'd much rather see Slats chase a crease clearer to bolster a weak D.

If nothing happens tonight and it looks like it may hold off for the time being, at the very least, the Canes and Sharks are closing in on a deal that would send defenseman Niclas Wallin to San Jose. The 34 year-old vet has valuable Cup experience having helped Carolina win it all in 2005-06. He'd have to waive his no-trade which is likely considering he isn't in the Canes' lineup tonight versus Calgary.



Hitchcock Fired: In other news which was expected, the Blue Jackets fired coach Ken Hitchcock, who just a year ago guided the franchise to their first ever postseason. This year, it's all fallen apart under Captain Kangaroo. With little scoring and no goaltending with Steve Mason falling into the dreaded sophomore jinx, it was all too predictable. I wouldn't mind seeing John Tortorella axed given his baffling in-game decisions.

Bailey out till Break

The Islanders will be minus Josh Bailey until the Olympic Break. The second-year pivot is banged up with one of those "lower body" injuries. In 55 games this season, the 20 year-old former 2008 ninth overall pick has posted 13 goals and 14 assists totaling 27 points (career best). Following a slow start, he's been one of the Isles' best players recording a personal high seven-game scoring streak (12/29-1/12) in which he tallied 12 points (4-8-12).

Bailey's improvement along with the development of young guns John Tavares and Kyle Okposo are big reasons why the franchise has a bright future. Losing their second line center is tough, especially on a low scoring club not finishing. During a five-game skid that's seen them lose ground in the playoff race, the Isles have scored only six goals. It's just another obstacle for Scott Gordon's team to overcome.

Following a three-day layoff, they return to action tomorrow visiting Tampa Bay before coming back home to host Carolina this weekend.

Witt on waivers

The Islanders have placed veteran defenseman Brendan Witt on waivers. The soon to be 35 year-old physical blueliner has been sidelined with a lower body injury since Jan.9. In 42 contests this seeason, he's 2-3-5 including a game-winner along with 45 penalty minutes and a minus-18 rating.

Since signing four years ago, Witt's been a solid citizen providing leadership in the Isles' room. With the development of Andrew MacDonald and Jack Hillen's improvement, perhaps he became the odd man out. He does have one more year left on his contract, due $3 million in '10-11. Unless another team takes him, it looks like he'll be reassigned to Bridgeport.

Angie of NYIslesScene has more on this move.

No early returns

Forget waiting until the end of the game. It's like watching the Flameout last night. Olli Jokinen and Marian Gaborik have no chemistry and the Rangers sure can't compete with the much bigger, faster Kings. A lot can be said about John Tortorella's boneheaded move putting five forwards out on a 5-on-4 power play, which predictably resulted in the Kings' best player Anze Kopitar scoring on a shorthanded breakaway. That Gaborik and Jokinen miscommunicated at the point leading to it spoke volumes. Just how many different pointmen can Tort try? You never stick five F's out unless it's 5-on-3.

There also was the bizarre line combo that had Chris Drury with Brian Boyle and Aaron Voros. Did the coach forget his med? Holy smokes. Look. Dru has been brutal this season but sticking him with two slugs is a total waste. Let our new bruiser Brandon Prust play with them on an energy line. He sure made his presence felt taking an undisciplined boarding minor and instigating a fight with Brandon Segal, earning a misconduct. Only 19 penalty minutes and fight No.19 for the kid with the fresh mohawk buzz cut donning Marek Malik's former No.(8). At least the guy wearing it will finish checks and keep fans awake.

Thanks to Marian Gaborik's fifth in three games- a nice tip-in of an Erik Christensen backhand pass- they're only down a goal with under a minute left trying to tie it. They probably won't tie it and don't deserve to. Ryan Callahan came close on a tip with 11.4 ticks left. What's with all the "Rangers Suck" chants? These Hollywood fakes are louder than Satan's worshippers. That faceoff was a joke as four seconds ran off before somehow the puck came to Drury, who was robbed by Jon Quick at the buzzer for LA's seventh consecutive win. Had they forced overtime, it would've felt wrong because that's how outplayed they were. Save me the whole MSG bs that they didn't give up. You could easily say the same for that Phoenix stinker where in typical Ranger fashion, they teased us. No wonder our own fans hate them.

Look. Nobody's saying Joke-inen is going to save this team because at the end of the day, there's not enough net presence and we're still stuck with Tinman and Woh-zsival. Until Glen Savior can find a sucker like Darryl Sutter for our two albatrosses, this team shall remain severely flawed. Yesterday, we had the half glass view praising the GM for ridding of Ally, saving three million. I too liked Higgs but he just couldn't finish. He can always be brought back over the summer. Highly unlikely. Jokinen's salary comes off setting us up to take a run at someone on July 1. Preferably a crease clearer. I'd like to see Slats try packaging Dan Girardi and a young forward to fill that void. But who's available? Of course, I'd kill for a high character guy like Robyn Regehr but he ain't going anywhere following the Phaneuf deal. He got off to a good start tonight against the suddenly reeling Devils, who just aren't the same minus Patrik Elias.

The Pluses from tonight and there weren't many:

A.Henrik Lundqvist was very sharp following the six day layoff. Don't be fooled by the 19 saves as many were high quality.

B.Gaborik continued to finish. You know what they say about goalscorers. Get one and they usually break out. That's five for the Great Gabby on the road trip giving him 34 on the season. Whatever happened to all those punch lines about his durability? Whether he can mesh with Jokinen remains to be seen.

C.The PK went for 3-for-3 against a potent LA power play that burned the Devils. No small task.

D.Brandon Prust. He needs to be a little smarter but boy can he be a breath of fresh air for the Garden Faithful.

The Negatives:

A.The coach stunk. Weird lines. Way too many combos. Idiotic coaching on the PP cost them the game's first goal. For a guy who won a Cup, some of his decisions are quite baffling. Granted. He had a lot more to work with in Tampa. But come on!

B.Jokinen was caught out for both goals against finishing with zero points, 4 SOG and a minus-two in 20:34. Also found no chemistry with Gaborik whose goal came with waiver steal Christy out there.

C.Does this team practice the power play? Isn't Tort supposed to be an offensive mind? They've gone completely backwards. Just do us a favor and decline it!

D.Shoot The Puck! Seri---ous---ly, they were stuck on 12 shots after 40 minutes. Last night, Calgary had 10 en route to 18 in a listless performance. At least this wasn't on home ice because they would've gotten booed out of the building. How many times can our guys overpass. It's like they still have Jagr Syndrome. I expect it from Woh-zsival. But the rest of ya should know better.

E.Lack of crease presence. It's something that's plagued this vanilla cream custard soft serve club for years. I get that the LA blueline is very good, making Quick's life easy with All-Star Drew Doughty, Rob Scuderi and Jack Johnson leading the charge. But is it too much trouble to ask one of our players to get the uniform a little dirty? Saw Slats' interview and he better not be done!

F.No Pushback. Let's face it. Our D is soft as molasses and should be sponsored by Hostess. I wonder why they haven't gotten them yet on one of those cheesy glass advertisements. Marc Staal's the only one who really competes but even he's not that strong in front of his own net. He's really turned around his year and also did some nice things keeping plays alive in the offensive end, leading to an early Jokinen opportunity with the game scoreless. But outside of him, there's nothing. Both Tinman and Woh-zsy are incapable. Though Michal at least can break up plays. Girardi is inconsistent. At times, he makes solid reads and even uses the body and then there are instances where he passes the puck up the middle like tonight which lead to glorious chances. Matt Gilroy's not that kind of player and DZ's still a pup who at least throws the body consistently. But it takes time to develop. Honestly, they should give Heineken, Sangs and Sauer another look. I know it's not happening. But that's what I'd do.

Don't forget Thursday, our heroes return to host Ovechkin and the sizzling Caps, who are only winners of 11 straight following tonight's 4-1 win over the inept B's. As my Dad said:

"That should be cute."

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (19 saves incl.10/11 in 2nd in return)
2nd Star-Jack Johnson, LA (3 missed shots, 2 blocked shots, +2 in 19:22)
1st Star-Anze Kopitar, LA (1st SHG of season, 3 SOG, 7 attempted, 2 hits in 24:49)

Devils' winter woes continue

I'm not even waiting till the end of this game to recap another embarassing, shameful performance by the Devils. I'll be too annoyed after the game to want to be on the computer, so might as well vent now during the second intermission on how the Devils have turned in an absolute no-show at the Air Canada Centre against a Maple Leafs team that was supposed to have an AHL offense. Instead, Brian Burke's goon squad bullied us early (despite dressing two goons ourselves) and Jacques Lemaire continued his hair-pulling fascination with getting Jay Pandolfo and Rob Niedermayer as much icetime as is humanly possible but I'll get to the mind-boggling ice totals of our forwards in a minute.

Lemaire's first eye-opening decision came when he played Yann Danis, granted I was calling for this too but personally I would rather have waited till Friday, especially given the back-to-back this weekend. Throwing Danis - who hadn't started in two and a half monts out there in front of a fired-up Leafs crowd anxious to see their new toy (Dion Phaneuf) - was just asking for trouble. Of course, there's an unofficial policy that Martin Brodeur absolutely must play at home, during the three years at the Rock in fact Brodeur's only sat out one home game where he was healthy enough to play, and he wound up playing that one anyway after Kevin Weekes got hurt.

In any event, I wasn't surprised Danis looked rusty, that's what happens when you have no real game action for two and a half months, other than a relief win against the Thrashers. He didn't even really give up bad goals as much as stoppable ones, Nikolai Kulemin scored off a shaky rebound at 4:40 of the first period, Phil Kessel scored on a rebound Danis had no chance on at 2:23 of the second and Francois Beauchemin scored off a rocket on the power play (what a concept!) at 14:08 but the shot was unscreened or deflected.

Still, Danis wasn't the main problem. Lemaire's icetime distribution has been much more of an issue tonight. Through two periods, the icetimes of the aformentioned Pandolfo (12:14) and Niedermayer (11:51) eclipsed those of our only two top forwards at the moment - Zach Parise (12:00) and Travis Zajac (an unconscionable 9:39 for our only NHL center). Okay, maybe part of that is because we've been shorthanded four times plus Zajac sat for a shift or two after a mistake on the second goal but come on, if we sat Mike Mottau for every mistake he's made he'd be getting the icetime of one of our resident goons! It's also comical that Lemaire admitted he's running Niedermayer into the ground and still is playing him at an 18-minute pace. That's disconcerting, when you know what you're doing and still can't stop yourself from doing it!

Of course, Lemaire also saw fit to not only dress one, but two goons. Not that I particularly miss Vladimir Zharkov (he of the zero goals on the season) or Rod Pelley, but honestly what use does Andrew Peters serve when he stinks as a hockey player, has had four fights total in 23 games this season and wasn't even involved in either of the two tonight? For crying out loud, even Colin White with a bad eye dropped the gloves with Dion Phaneuf after Phaneuf crunched Zajac and tried to take out Parise! Phaneuf of course, made his presence known early and often with his physical play and the Leafs followed suit.

And what of the Leafs' other major acquisition? I would say we're making Jean-Sebastian Giguere look like he's back in 2003 at the Pond again except that Giguere looks like he's on Maui even more. Other than a Zajac shot that hit the post late in the second period, we haven't tested Puffy Pads one time in our eighteen shots on net. Unreal. This team better show up Friday because I'm really getting tired of ripping everyone a new one. You would think the team would show just a bit more passion out there, given Sunday's humilation and Friday's unneccesary nail-biter.

Oh well, it could be worse. Baseball season's just around the corner.

Jokinen trade completed

As expected, the much discussed trade between the Flames and Rangers finally became official late last night. Following Calgary's dreadful 3-0 shutout home loss to the Flyers, the two clubs reached agreement on a four player trade that sends Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to Broadway for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik.

Rather than sound like a broken record repeating our breakdown posted previously in this space, we'll just commend Glen Sather on getting this done. Thanks in part to John Tortorella sending a message that Kotalik sucked, Slats admitted error and moved the ex-Sabre and his ugly $3 million salary/no-trade to Siberia Alberta. In doing so, he got rid of one headache. While parting with the energetic but snake bit Higgins was necessary, it allowed the struggling Smithtown native to start fresh and try to boost his value this summer. It just didn't work out here.

Adding Jokinen, whose hefty $5.25 M salary will come off the books at season's conclusion- is a good move because it fills a void at center. Whether the 31 year-old veteran can return to the All-Star form he displayed in the Sunshine state remains to be seen. But the big pivot returns to the East where he's quite familiar and should have plenty of incentive.

"It comes with the salary, you make $5 million, 11 goals isnot going to cut it," the disappointed Finn told the Canadian media.  "It's definitely a slap in the face to get traded."

"I get a chance to play with one of the better players in the league in [Marian] Gaborik."

If he can effectively team with Gaborik and Vinny Prospal, suddenly the Rangers could become a better team allowing others to take on more comfortable roles. It should relieve pressure off Chris Drury, who is better served anchoring a checking line with Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. What could the lines look like for tonight's final game out West in Hollywood? Who knows. Perhaps this might be worth a try:

Prospal-Jokinen-Gaborik
Dubinsky-Drury-Callahan
Anisimov-Christensen-Lisin
Prust-Boyle-Voros

Getting the 25 year-old Prust was a necessity, finally addressing the lack of toughness. The Rangers have repeatedly been pushed around with the Daniel Carcillo thuggery of Gaborik with nobody coming to the star winger's aid standing out. Ironically, they dropped five in a row before Gabby recorded his first hat trick as a Ranger in a 3-1 win over the Avalanche Sunday. Perhaps the presence of Prust, whose 18 fights lead the league rank right behind Zenon Konopka will deter opponents from messing with Gaborik or crashing Henrik Lundqvist's crease.

"I'm looking forward to going to the big city and playing in Madison Square Garden so I'm looking forward to it, but I'm sad to leave again," an emotional Prust expressed.

For what's been the most vanilla team you've ever seen, the Rangers just got a lot more interesting. The question is how will this new roster perform. In a mediocre East with the club that's won only once in the last six remarkably moving up into seventh due to a Florida loss last night, they have until the Olympic Break to give Sather a stronger indication of what will happen at the March 3 deadline. That's not a lot of time.

While the Blueshirts upgraded short-term, Calgary maybe setting up for a much bigger fish. Having stockpiled 13 wings, Darryl Sutter looks to be in position to make more deals. Could Ilya Kovalchuk be his primary target? Expect stiff competition from Washington, Philadelphia and LA with another mystery Eastern team sliding in. It should be fun.

For the Rangers, the fun starts later tonight.

Crosby hat trick too much for Sabres

The Sabres probably will be seeing Sidney Crosby in their sleep. The game's brightest star shown brightly, going for a hat trick in a come from behind 5-4 Pens' win over Buffalo at Mellon Arena.

The hat trick was Sid The Kid's fifth career and third this season. That he scored the three within an 8:02 span speaks to the kind of special season the Penguin captain is having. With four goals in 24 hours, including a nifty shootout clincher in an exciting 2-1 home win over the Red Wings, the 22 year-old former Hart winner is now tied with San Jose's Patrick Marleau for the league lead in goalscoring. Each have 37. Amazingly, Crosby's just two away from tying his career high of 39 established in his rookie season ('05-06). The way he's finished, it looks like he'll shatter it and could compete with Marleau and archrival Alexander Ovechkin for the Rocket Richard. Ovie trails by two with Marian Gaborik (33 G) fourth and much rumored Ilya Kovalchuk (31) fifth.

Before Sid's eruption, Lindy Ruff's club had battled back from an early Mark Letestu goal scoring three straight to take a 3-1 lead almost half the contest to go. Derek Roy's power play goal and resurgent Thomas Vanek's 17th came 48 seconds apart in the first period, where they outshot Pittsburgh 12-8. The action was fast and furious as both teams traded chances, forcing both Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Miller to be good. It looked like the potential Olympic battle between Canada and USA would go to Miller, who's been having a great season.

Ironically, a Crosby turnover at the blueline resulted in Tim Kennedy putting Buffalo ahead by two. Clarke McArthur quickly transitioned the puck to Mike Grier, who with a three-on-two developing, made a sweet dish to Kennedy for a tip in. Kennedy came close to getting another on the next shift but the near miss loomed large. The game swung dramatically thanks to a Chris Butler hooking minor. Handed a power play, the Pens made it count with Evgeni Malkin and Alex Goligoski combining to set up a wide open Crosby at the bottom of the right circle for No.35.

With the game evolving into a track meet which didn't favor the Sabres, the Pens drew even when Jordan Staal took a Malkin pass and beat Miller with a quick one-timer, snapping a 12-game drought. Crosby took over scoring twice more in a 75 second span late in the stanza. First, he cashed in on a Miller turnover outside the net, beating a scrambling Buffalo goalie with a one-timer that trickled off him and in. He misconnected on a pass to Tyler Myers, allowing Sidney to score unassisted for a 4-3 lead with 2:30 remaining. He wasn't done, completing the trick in fine fashion by beating Miller on a breakaway. Taking a perfect Kris Letang outlet during four-on-four, Crosby came in on a two-on-one faking pass before firing home his 37th cueing raining hats everywhere.

“We made some good plays. We had an odd-man rush, we had a good bounce off the skate and he [Miller] isn’t able to get back in the net [on one goal],” Sid The Kid assessed. “If you look at the goals, you can’t really fault him on a lot. There were some really nice plays made there. I don’t think we tried anything different [against him], we always try to get second chances and that’s tough for anybody.”

“I don’t know if he’s getting better, but he’s taking advantage of the opportunities we gave him,” a disappointed Kennedy noted. “When you give a guy an open net and give a guy a 2-on-1 and then a power play, guys like that aren’t going to miss those opportunities. That’s on us. He is one of the best players in the game, but I think that we gave him a lot.”

Crosby easily could've had more but a feisty Miller who tripped up Sidney early in the third, didn't allow anymore. He was sharp in the third repelling all 13 shots sent his way giving teammates a chance. While it didn't look like that would happen, a late Pens' penalty gave Buffalo a ray of light when Jason Pominville connected on the power play off a nice feed from Tim Connolly, cutting it to 5-4 with exactly three minutes remaining. It got even more interesting when Brooks Orpik went to the box allowing Ruff to pull Miller for a six-on-four. There were a couple of close calls but Fleury kept the puck out to give his team the win.

“When you have a two-goal lead, you play a tighter game than that,” Ruff acknowledged. “You don’t hand them those opportunities.”

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Jordan Staal, Pit (13th of season ends 12-game drought, 4 SOG, +1 in 22:00)
2nd Star-Thomas Vanek, Buf (PPG, assist, 4 SOG in 18:55)
1st Star-Sidney Crosby, Pit (3rd hat trick of season-35, 36, 37,5th career, 5 SOG in 20:02)

Trade Could Happen

Based on what's been said tonight by TSN's Darren Dreger and other reliable sources including Bob McKenzie on Twitter, looks like that trade between the powerless Flames and Rangers could be a go.

If you based this listless performance in which they can't even reach 20 shots about to be blanked 3-zip by the Flyers, Calgary definitely needs another shakeup. With the horn sounding and boos coming down at Pengrowth Saddledome, it's official. The first game for new Flames Ian White, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers was epic fail. Shutout on your own home ice with just 10 shots the first two periods and only mustered eight more, making it a light night for world beater Ray Emery.

Olli Jokinen may have played his final game in Alberta, finishing with three shots and a minus-one in 15:08. Rumored 'mate Brandon Prust got 7:28. Will they finally be on the move here for Ally and Higgs? Bigger question is if it does happen, what exactly is Calgary's plan to acquire Ilya Kovalchuk? Like in Jeopardy, we should have a final answer soon.

Marian Gaborik 1st Ranger hat trick

Last night, Marian Gaborik ended the Rangers' five-game skid, carrying them to a 3-1 victory netting all three goals for his first hat trick as a Ranger. It was the Great Gabby's 10th career and first since his virtuoso 5-goal, 6-point eruption against us two seasons ago.

The former Wild star has been tremendous on a flawed roster, doing his part by pacing the Blueshirts in goals (33), assists (32), points (65), PPG (12), PP Pts (21), plus/minus (10) and SOG (204).

Devils injury news, more on last night's fiasco

While it isn't quite Black Monday today, the news that both Paul Martin and David Clarkson are now officially out until after the Olympic break isn't exactly making yesterday's game go down any better. For Martin, it's a bigger blow than that for he won't be participating on Team USA in the Olympics either. Though some fans are probably glad at that fact, I looked on those games as ones he could have regained conditioning after missing so much time. Now even with him coming back in early March, it'll take at least several games for him to really get in gear. Same with Clarkson, but I guess in one sense the returning players will make the final month more interesting than merely seeing what seed the Devils get in the playoffs.

At least the news on Patrik Elias is a little better as he's begun skating and should return to practice soon, so there still seems a chance that he will come back before the Olympic break and be able to play for his country as well. Given our pitiful offense this month, he'll be welcomed back almost as much as he was in 2006, when his return energized the Devils, along with Lou Lamoriello taking over as coach.

I don't think Lou will be doing that this time around, especially given the regard he holds Jacques Lemaire in. However, the aftermath of yesterday's meltdown against the Kings troubles me as much as the actual game. For starters, while Lemaire had no problem admitting Martin Brodeur let up a soft goal to tie the game, he also tried to put a happy face on it saying that we only gave six or seven chances to the Kings and had bad breaks go against us. First of all while the Kings had almost nothing in terms of offense for the first fifteen minutes of the game, they got more pressure than that. It's just that they missed the net a lot too. Plus it's funny how those so-called bad breaks always seem to happen with the same players on the ice.

Worse, Lemaire completely absolved Mike Mottau of a rookie mistake, which would be fine if it was a rare occurence but it hasn't been this season. Mottau himself admitted that one of the Kings players schnookered him by calling for the puck and that's why he threw the blind backhand pass into nowhere. You just wonder what would have happened if Mark Fraser had done the same thing, god knows he gets almost no icetime as it is. And I'm not trying to say Fraser would be better than Mottau (though right now Mottau's no better than the fifth best defenseman on the team and will be sixth if Martin ever gets back), but it would be nice to see him get more time and our other defensemen who haven't been able to handle increased minutes get a little less.

Not to mention for the second game in a row, Lemaire broke up the straight Z's line in the third period when they were getting chances all night and could have been one shift away from ending the game. Again playing not to lose instead of playing to win. This time I get the explanation better, he wanted Zubrus as a center because (my words, not his) anyone not named Travis Zajac on our current roster really isn't an NHL center. Maybe Rob Niedermayer can still be a fourth-liner, but he's playing second-line now. Lemaire admitted he was giving Nieds the second too many minutes. We're just now figuring out a five-hundred year old center can't handle eighteen minutes a night? Shocking.

If you want to put Zubrus at center and restore Jamie Langenbrunner to the Zajac line, fine by me - just do it before the game, not during it when we're trying to hold a lead and that line's dominating. Worrying about Robbie Nieds' icetime when he's already gotten fifteen minutes seemed too little too late last night. Especially considering in his last two shifts which lasted under a minute combined, he was on the ice for both goals. So much for the checking line.

And lastly, as far as Brodeur getting testy when someone asked him about his workload in the postgame, please don't. If you want the questions to stop then prove you can play 75 games and have a deep playoff run post-lockout at 38 years old. It's one thing to do it when you're 30 and have a defense led by two HOF'ers allow twenty shots a night, quite another to do it behind a patchwork defense facing thirty shots a night at a more advanced age. He sure hasn't done it with a limitless workload since 2003, which was almost seven years ago. It's no accident that he was rock-solid for 6 and 58/60th of the playoff series against the Hurricanes last year when he didn't have the opportunity to run up a lot of mileage during the regular season and this being an Olympic year makes it worse.

Sigh, so I guess we'll see how everything shakes out tomorrow against a dramatically revamped Leafs team. Too bad they didn't wait till Tuesday to trade Vesa Toskala, they could literally have started three different goalies against us in eight days. Of course, it always adds a few fireworks when Jean-Sebastian Giguere mans the pipes against the Devils and I'm sure hoping to see him there Friday though I'm not counting on it. More likely he'll start tomorrow at home and they'll go back to Jonas Gustavsson on Friday, but who knows with the Leafs...maybe Brian Burke will trade for another goalie before the drop of the puck tomorrow.

It would be nice if the Sutters stopped doing our rival teams favors though, at least they're making sure they have a lot more time for Red Deer by strip-mining the Flames and greasing the skids for both to be fired at the end of the year.

No Deal Yet (UPDATED)

For now, there's nothing new to report. According to TSN's Bob McKenzie, the deal that would send Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to the Rangers in exchange for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik is on hold. As to why, more from McKenzie:

There are reports that Kotalik isn't prepared to waive his no-trade clause to go to Calgary but the indication is the Rangers were fully able and prepared to do this deal, but Calgary backed away at the last moment.

 It's worth noting that the Flames play the Flyers tonight in Alberta and Jokinen is in the lineup. Prust may or may not play depending on what Brent Sutter opts to do. As McKenzie alluded to, usually players about to be traded don't play which makes one wonder if this deal is kaput. Perhaps Calgary had a change of heart. But it's uncertain what's going on.

In today's NY Post, Larry Brooks reported that the original trade included Matt Gilroy with Kotalik but the Flames changed their minds and asked for Higgins.The former Hobey Baker winner has been a disappointment posting four goals and five assists with 21 penalty minutes in 51 games this season. While the 25 year-old defenseman has a respectable plus-four rating, he's struggled defensively rarely taking the body. The skating that we saw in an impressive preseason is there but the BU product hasn't been consistent, even getting sent down to Hartford earlier.

It probably doesn't help much that he plays with Wade Redden. However, it's still his first pro season making the jump from college. While younger teammate Michael Del Zotto has turned heads straight from junior, it's been more of an adjustment for Gilroy who signed a multi-year $3.5 million contract as a free agent to play with his favorite team. It would be a mistake to give up on him while dead weight (Redden and Rozsival) continue to embarrass the logo. Besides, he still has one more year to prove himself.

If the Jokinen trade is off, it would be typical. As I said earlier today, it's the Rangers. The Dolan/Slats Error has been disastrous. Anything that can go wrong will. Hopefully, we'll get some good news for once. Just don't count on it.

UPDATE: Per Darren Dreger, it sounds like the trade might still be on and could be completed after the Philly-Calgary game tonight. Whether it is or not, could something please happen so we can end the suspense? 

Leafs deal for Giguere and Phaneuf

Yesterday will go down as Maple Leaf Day. With his club languishing in last off a brutal 4-3 home loss to the Canucks in which they blew a 3-0 lead, Brian Burke finally did something The savvy exec, whose penchant for making big moves never wavers, revamped in net and on the blueline acquiring Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phaneuf in separate deals.

Hints at the first trade came a day prior when the Ducks extended top goalie Jonas Hiller, setting the stage for Giguere's Anaheim career to come to an end. With Burke desperately in search for a netminder to stop the bleeding, he turned to old pal Giggy Jiggy (thanks @Erin Rose)who backstopped the Ducks to Lord Stanley in 2006-07.

Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake were sent packing for the 32 year-old former Conn Smythe winner who'll reunite with Burke in an attempt to turn both his career and the Leafs around. Giguere earns $6 million this year and gets $7 M next year. Can he regain his old form or will the Cup winner be in an identical situation with Jonas Gustavsson? Only time shall tell. Meanwhile, the Ducks acquire Toskala ($4 M) who comes off the books this summer, saving them space. However, Blake earns the same salary and has two more years left. He's 36 and had just 10 goals this season. Better hope he finds the Fountain Of Youth in Tinsel Town.

Who Wins? MAPLE LEAFS

They get a proven goalie capable of shouldering the load, which likely won't be necessary due to their Swedish Monster project. Burke sacrificed little and upgraded at an important position. The Ducks get a serviceable backup who's once again blocking former Leaf prospect Justin Pogge albeit temporarily. They free up space but take on Blake.

Burke's second move was even bigger going for the much maligned Phaneuf, who Calgary was basically whoreing. The seven-player trade between the Flames and Leafs stunned the hockey world. Phaneuf, Freddy Sjostrom and defense prospect Keith Aulie went to the Hockey Capital in exchange for a package that included Ian White, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers. It's amazing to think in the Cap Era that such a blockbuster deal involving big salaries could actually be consumated, speaking to the gambling nature of Burke, who added Phaneuf's hefty $6.5 million paytag to a crowded blueline that includes Tomas Kaberle ($4.25 M) along with overpaid duds Francois Beauchemin ($3.8 M) and Mike Komisarek ($4.5 M). With Jeff Finger ($3.5 M), Garnet Exelby ($1.39 M) plus kids Luke Schenn ($2.975 M) and Carl Gunnarsson (626 K). Mike Van Ryn ($2.9 M) anyone?!?!?!?!?! Figure Kaberle to be on the move if he agrees to waive his no-trade.

By unloading Stajan and Hagman, the Leafs boast little up front outside of top scorer Alexei Ponikarovsky and Phil Kessel with Lee Stempniak the third best option. With only 148 goals, Toronto was already a lowscoring team. Unless they see improvement from Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, John Mitchell and kid trio Tyler Bozak, Viktor Stalberg and Christian Hanson, it could become uglier. What Burke's banking on is that Phaneuf rediscovers the talent that made him a Norris candidate while Giguere shores up the goaltending. The last thing the Leafs want is to finish last in the East with only Edmonton worse, meaning that No.1 pick they traded to Boston could actually turn into Taylor Hall. Considering that this is the same franchise that gave away Tuukka Rask to the B's for Andrew Raycroft, who got the ultimate revenge coming in relief of Roberto Luongo the other night, it would be EPIC FAIL.

There's no doubt Burke got the most talented player back in the enigmatic Phaneuf, who has regressed. Still just 24, he possesses a lot of physical tools including a booming shot along with utilizing his size for thunderous hits that can intimidate opponents. Basically, he's Komisarek with offense. A high risk player who often will go for the big hit, prone to getting caught out of position. There's also a reputation with a few dangerous blows coming under intense scrutiny. Think that's going to change in Toronto where everything's under the microscope? Opponents will be out for retribution making the former 2003 Calgary ninth overall pick a target.

If he wants to have a long career, it may be wise for Phaneuf to tone it down because that kind of rugged style tends to create wear and tear. With another four years to go, what kind of player will he be? Offense is also a concern with the Edmonton native's production way down. Sure. The 10 goals are fine but how can he only have 12 assists? You'd think playing under Junior coach Brent Sutter would've benefited him. Instead, the Sutters gave up on him with rumors that he was a locker room problem. No wonder local fans were split on acquiring the big guy. On one hand, you can argue that Burke didn't give up anyone with that kind of potential. Even if White's a year older and a solid player, he's not in Phaneuf's league.

Stajan and Hagman weren't part of the Leafs' future and are good fits for a Calgary club that lacks scoring depth. White is a decent return who is added to what should still be a good back end featuring Jay Bouwmeester, Robyn Regehr and emerging Mark Giordano. Vet Cory Sarich, Adam Pardy and Aaron Johnson are also still around.

Who Wins? NO DECISION

It would be easy to say the Maple Leafs because they got the best player and also added Aulie, who's supposed to be decent. However, the deal hinges on Phaneuf. Can he regain the form that made him an All-Star or is he a headcase? While we won't know the end result on one side for a while, for the Flames it's all about now. They expected to compete in a crowded West for the Cup. Instead, they broke up part of their core to plug holes. A 6-1 blowout of hapless Alberta rival Edmonton doesn't mean they're back. They were reeling and needed a change. Will it work? Stajan is a nice player who can play first or second line. Does he get to play with Jarome Iginla? Daymond Langkow really should be anchoring another line. If Olli Jokinen is traded today, then they get even more depth in Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik. But why in the world would you take Kotalik? Makes little sense unless they're setting up for another big move. Kovalchuk??? They'll have a lot more space this summer.

If Calgary doesn't make the playoffs, they lose with probably just White (RFA) being re-signed. At least Toronto has Phaneuf for a while. The big question lingers.

Rumored deal with Flames could make Jokinen Blueshirt

As was reported by many outlets last night during the Rangers' win over the Avs, they were set to make a trade with the busy Flames, who earlier yesterday finally traded much rumored Dion Phaneuf to the Maple Leafs in a seven-player extravaganza that excluded picks. A rarity in the Cap Era. More on that blockbuster later along with Brian Burke reuniting with Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

With Calgary unloading Phaneuf along with former Ranger PK fixture Freddy Sjostrom plus D prospect Keith Aulie for a package that included Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and Ian White, it allowed Darryl Sutter enough maneuverability to consider dumping Olli Jokinen on our team, who desperately lacks a No.1 center. Something Joke-inen used to qualify for. With the Blueshirts having their own headache in failure Ales Kotalik, the two sides hammered out a deal that would bring Jokinen and enforcer Brandon Prust to Broadway filling two voids in exchange for Ally and Chris Higgins.

As of late last night, the deal was on hold pending Kotalik's willingness to waive his no-trade and accept a deal back to Alberta where he spent part of last year with Edmonton before agreeing to the preposterous three-year $9 million contract that Glen Savior handed out. As we noted in our game story, Larry Brooks reported that Ally left the team after hearing that he would be dealt. The story which appeared on the NY Post's site was published before the Rangers and Avs faced off with Kotalik's teammate Higgins participating in what might have been his final game of an exasperating stint after coming over in the Scott Gomez salary dump last summer.

If the trade goes through, the Rangers would rid themselves of Kotalik, who had become the odd man out in John Tortorella's lineup. Being able to find a taker for such an insane contract would be a miracle of epic proportions. As for Higgins who has never stopped working despite a severe lack of finish (6 goals), he would be on his third team in less than a year with his contract ($2.25 million) up, giving Calgary necessary space to go after Ilya Kovalchuk.Combine that with subtracting Phaneuf's hefty $6.5 million salary along with both Stajan ($1.75 M) and Mayers ($1.4 M) turning unrestricted while White (850 K) would be an RFA and the Flames just saved a ton.

For the Blueshirts, even a 31-year old Jokinen looking on the downside would be low risk due to his $5.25 million salary coming off the books this summer. The former Panther hasn't been the same since he was traded to Phoenix, who dumped him to Calgary less than a year in. It would also be his third team in a year. Though underwhelming, his 35 points (11-24-35) would rank third behind Marian Gaborik (33-32-65) and Vinny Prospal (9-30-39). Such a deal would take heat off centers Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Drury and Artem Anisimov, allowing Jokinen to play with Gaborik. Only question is what happens to waiver bargain Erik Christensen, who's meshed well with Gabby in limited duty. With Brian Boyle anchoring the fourth line, Tortorella would have more options available, balancing things out up front for a roster that's produced only 141 goals, ranking near the bottom.

All these questions are moot until it becomes official. It's too good to be true. Don't forget this is the Rangers we're talking about.

Great Gabby's first Ranger hat trick ends misery

For one night at least, the misery ended. The Rangers can thank the Great Gabby as he recorded his first hat trick as a Blueshirt, getting the first three in a stunning 3-1 win over the surprising Avs in Denver.

That they even won against a very good young club challenging for the Northwest while The Sutter Boys blow up Calgary to epic proportions (more on that later) is a revelation. Or perhaps the Earth wasn't rotating properly. Whatever the explanation, unlike the disgrace in The Desert sans the last ditch effort/classic tease, the Rangers actually showed and backed by some Gabby magic, got Chad Johnson his first NHL win. Kudos to Ocho Cinco on bouncing back after that three-goal first period barrage last night, finishing with 34 saves, including more than half the final stanza.

"It’s a boost of energy for this club and myself as well to finally get a win and feel good about ourselves,” the club's leading goals (33), assists (32) and points (65) leader said.

Before last night's third period, the Rangers hadn't scored on the road in over 202 minutes before Gaborik ended a five-game drought reaching 30 in his first season in the Big Apple. Sean Avery also tallied Saturday but their rally fell short with Ryan Callahan hitting a post while skating five-on-five minus Johnson thanks to Petr Prucha drawing his third penalty in a game that saw the Coyotes honor Teppo Numminen with a victory.

Maybe the rust finally came off because they were a different team 24 hours later, taking the middle game of a three-game trip. We'll give credit even if I didn't catch the whole thing due to fixing steak nachos. To my shock when I checked the score early on, they were leading for a change thanks to Marian Gaborik beating Craig Anderson with a wrist shot from the right circle, scoring for a second consecutive night. The first time he's connected in two straight since 12/21-23 in wins over Carolina and Florida. A welcome sight for our anemic offense. Avery and Artem Anisimov notched assists on the lone goal of the first.

During intermission, leading rookie scorer Matt Duchene chatted with John Giannone about how exciting Year One's been. Still can't believe he asked Duchene who his favorite player is. Everyone knows it's Joe Sakic, which must be a thrill getting to see his idol daily. This kid has all the tools. He just might be better than John Tavares. Nothing against JT91 who should be great but there's something about Duchene that we like. He's a little more polished. Granted. He has more to work with at the moment. Tracking both along with Victor Hedman should be fun for years.

Back to the game. As I was chowing down, there was Gaborik making a bee line for the net to slam home Vinny Prospal's perfect feed that caught Anderson leaning the other way for 2-0 at 4:57 into the second. Marc Staal- who was a beast logging over 27 minutes- added the first of two helpers, foreshadowing a lucky combo that went to work once more to salt it away in the third. Whatever the reason, the Avs just couldn't mount an attack getting outshot 12-5 in the second. Coming off two straight losses and an off day, they should've been the more rested club. However, rare attention to detail from the guys in red, white and blue was making Johnson's night easier than expected.

Not surprisingly, the hosts ramped it up in the third, firing 18 shots from all cylinders in an attempt to get back in. But Johnson held up while getting help from the Big Ticket, who put the cherry on top with his 10th career hat trick and first since that epic five-goal masterpiece versus our team on Dec.20, 2007. He got it in fine style. After Prospal served a bogus delay of game minor when he accidentally knocked over Johnson and lost control knocking the net off (seri---ously), the Ranger PK which did the job (6-for-6) led to No.33.With Prosp out of the box, Staal found him and then a quick seam pass sprung a flying Gaborik for a breakaway which he didn't miss, firing a low rocket by Anderson.

"You could tell right from the start that he had that jump, he had that swagger,” explained Ocho Cinco. “He was beating guys wide, having control of the puck. The other guys look up to a guy like him to lead the way and when he’s playing his best hockey, I think other guys pick it up and follow his lead.

“All it takes sometimes is one guy to kind of lead the team, pick’em up and put them on his shoulders, and Gabby was unbelivable tonight. He did that.”

His fourth in two games which also included a milestone back in the first, recording his 500th point gave the Rangers some breathing room. Good thing because Colorado came hard with almost nothing working, speaking to how good Johnson was. Eventually, they broke through when tough guy Cody McLeod, who earlier earned a decision over Aaron Voros, rebounded home a Kyle Quincey shot cutting it to 3-1 with 7:21 left. Rookie Justin Mercier added a secondary assist, registering his first NHL point. Of course on the play, Michal Rozsival stood around and let McLeod get position.

Even in a 3-1 win where Gabby records his first hat trick as a Ranger and Ocho Cinco wins his first game, you can always count on Woh-zy to give the other team life. At least the Avs didn't get any closer with another made up penalty this time on Paul Stastny for "tripping Rozsival" dashing any comeback hopes. For the Ranger fans who made their presence known even tossing a few hats on the ice for Gaborik's trick, they actually got to celebrate. I just don't see what there is to be happy about. Even if Ally Kota-leak could be bye bye with Higgs later today in an agreed to deal with the Flames for Olli Joke-inen and real enforcer Brandon Prust, it's not going to change much. 


On second thought, maybe they were thankful for what they witnessed.


Notes: Kotalik, who still must approve the trade due to a no-trade (only Savior) and per Post's Larry Brooks left the team probably to cry her eyes out- was scratched for the eighth game in nine. Other waste Donald Brashear was the other scratch for the seventh time in eight. ... By reaching 30 the other day in Phoenix, Gaborik's scored at least 30+ in six seasons. ... The Avalanche have dropped three in a row, getting outscored 7-3. Currently sixth in the West with 66 points, they trail Vancouver by four and are three up on seventh Nashville and four better than both Calgary and Detroit. ... Duchene was held without a point but still leads all rookies with 36 points (17-19-36). Three better than Tavares (17-16-33) with Philly's James Van Riemsdyk (12-19-31) and Buffalo's Tyler Myers (7-24-31) tied for third. 

... With seventh Florida posting a 2-0 shutout of the Islanders (5 straight losses), Rangers (25-24-7, 57 Pts) vault over idle Atlanta and Montreal back into eighth, a point up with Boston and Tampa two out while the Isles remain stuck on 54. John Tortorella's club concludes three in four on the road tomorrow night against Kings, who pulled a Canes on the Devils Sunday to win their sixth straight.

BONY 3 STARS:

3rd Star-Cody McLeod, Col (6th goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 5 PIM, +1 in 16 shifts-10:07)
2nd Star-Chad Johnson, NYR (34 saves incl.17/18 in 3rd for 1st career NHL victory)
1st Star-Marian Gaborik, NYR (1st Ranger hat trick-goals 31, 32, 33, 6 SOG, 3 hits, +3 in 21:06)