2/19 - Live Sabres v Flyers

Tonight's game promises to be an interesting one as the Flyers aim to complete the true NY sweep after beating the Rangers and the Isles this weekend. This is an important stretch for Philly - 9 of their next 12 at home.

Biron gets the start against his old team, not a surprise. Let's see if he can build some confidence off those victories.

PERIOD 1

Early action is end to end, ending with an Upshall break down the wing and a slapper that is gloved by a sprawling Ryan Miller.

18:40 - First penalty of the evening, Paille goes to the box on a hook.

Not a very threatening man advantage, couple of near chances but the puck spent too much time in the wrong end. 1 shot.

12:06 - We reach our first media timeout. Terrific chances for both teams, but the Sabres have picked up their aggression since the penalty. Their D-men are pinching often and giving the Flyers breaks - one team is going to capitalize eventually.

11:26 - Gagne is robbed on the back post after a terrific feed from Richards - great save by Miller.

8:37 - Wow. Giroux just laid a beautiful drop pass for Timonen on the 2 on 1 but Miller forces Kimmo out wide and Giroux can't slam the puck in as its laying near the crease. This was all after the Sabres had tremendous pressure, but their pinching gave up yet another odd man rush.

7:18 - GOAL! 1-0 PHI - Flyers take the lead! Richards grabs it off the boards, fires it to the net and Metro is there to tip it by Miller, who was in solid position.

2:18 - Biron stands tall in net and breaks up a chance for the Sabres after a poor giveaway by Asham. Stuck his glove right in front of Gaustad's stick. Good play, Marty.

:42 - Things are heating up as Hartnell and Hecht almost get into it in the corner. Two strong opportunities for Buffalo and now they'll go on the powerplay as Hartnell goes to the box for roughing.

END 1ST PERIOD

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Interesting period we had here in Philadelphia. Reminded me of some of the recent Sabres/Flyers playoff series .. back and forth action, odd-man breaks, speed up and down the lineup. Difference is that this time the Flyers have the speed to match. Upshall/Giroux/Powe are flying around, they really look like they enjoy playing together.

This game can go either way - Sabres will return with 1:18 of powerplay time on fresh ice, and we'll take it from there.

PERIOD 2

18:40 - PP over, couple of chances for the Sabres but nothing too troublesome.

16:44 - GOAL - 1-1 - Spacek scores from the slot on a shot that trickle through Biron's pads. A chance that the Flyers shouldn't have allowed - but a goal that Biron should have had.

11:03 - GOAL!! 2-1 PHI - WOW. What incredible forechecking! If you want a sense, the Sabres announcer just said - "the longest spell in your own end of the rink this season for Buffalo". The Richards line just kept plugging away and just when it looked like the Sabres would clear, Gagne stopped it - found Richards, who found Coburn, who put a beauty by Miller.

9:47 - Powe takes a hooking penalty. No complaints, he earned it.

GOAL 2-2 - Spacek scores on a ripped shot on a delayed penalty - so the Sabres tie it and they get another powerplay to boot. Alberts to the box. Ouch.

5:57 - GOAL! 3-2 PHI - You better believe Richards has done it again. Flyers take a 3 on 1 up the ice, turns into a 3 on 2 and Richards takes an excellent pass from Timonen and slips it by Miller for the lead!

Savvy play by Timonen to put that puck on the net. I figured he'd drop it back to the uncovered man but he threaded it to Richards and Miller was caught off guard. The score is starting to reflect the back and forth nature of this game - though the Flyers need to stop taking bad penalties.

1:18 - Richards line generates another great chance but Mike takes the penalty for goaltender interference at the end of their shift. Rivet gave him a nice shove in the head, fans don't like it. Sabres get another late powerplay.

:31 - GOAL 3-3 - Roy finds a loose puck in the crease and shoves it under Biron. Another soft goal, and a huge one in the late stages of this period. Flyers are going to be upset going to the locker room after being able to take back the energy from those penalties.

END 2ND PERIOD

Nothing has changed so far in the first five minutes of the third. Chances for both teams - Flyers forechecking very well, Sabres using speed to break wide and get opportunities. Two dubious no-calls on Sabres have the Wachovia Center in arms.

9:00 - The Upshall line gets a huge chance! They are really continuing to be noticeable in every game that they play together. No goal comes of it but they may be able to turn the play in the Flyers direction, as Buffalo has been controlling of late.

7:18 - Flyers get a powerplay chance after Miller makes a couple of key saves. Lydman to the box. Hooking.

6:09 - GOAL!! 4-3 PHI - Gagne picks up a loose puck behind the net, finds Knuble in the crease, and he slams it home for the lead! Such a steady influence on the PP this year, Knuble.

Flyers keep up the pressure - that powerplay really woke them up.. thank you Lydman.

4:11 - And now the Flyers have used their timeout. They'd just iced the puck - so Stevens must have wanted to rest the guys stuck out there.

Paille had a terrific shot from the slot that Biron was able to shrug aside - Philly maintains the slim lead with another icing.

Furious action! Sabres had a pileup in front of the net but the whistle never blew as the puck trickled across the crease - then the Flyers come the other way with a 2 on 1 but the pass is just out of reach, and play settles down as we approach the 2 minute mark.

1:09 - Miller has gone to the bench, puck finds its way to Biron's glove. Ryan will stay on the bench and we've got 6 on 5 action to finish this up. It's fitting that the game comes down to this - both teams have played well and it's been a pleasure to watch.

And Buffalo takes their timeout so Lindy Ruff can draw up a play.

:42 - GOAL! 5-3 PHI - Richards takes the puck away at the point, slips to center ice and fires the puck into the empty kitchen. That's points on all five goals for Richards, 2+3. Hell of a game.

:9 - GOAL! 6-3 PHI - Miller stays on the bench, Powe steals a puck at the point, streaks up the left boards with his Princeton speed and deposits the puck.

FINAL SCORE - PHILADELPHIA 6 - BUFFALO 3

Well, the final score doesn't tell you how close this game was, but that's merely the result of two empty netters. Can't blame Buffalo for giving it a shot. They ended up outshooting the Flyers 42-38, but can't overcome a late penalty by Lydman and the ensuing PP goal by the Flyers.

Biron let in a couple of soft goals, but he did make 39 saves to his credit. He looked worried at times, but wins will build his confidence, and he certainly wasn't awful.

Powe robbed Richards the chance of being involved on all of Philly's goals - but a five point night is still very impressive.

The NY sweep is complete! Next up: Pittsburgh comes to town on Saturday, fresh off a win over the struggling Canadiens.

NHL Headlines 4/1/08

Happy April Fools Day everyone. Glad you took time out of your pranking to check out what's going on in the NHL today. This is going to be relatively short today as I need to do some things around the house. Good thing too, since there's not much to report on today.

Penguins Will Have To Wait To Clinch Atlantic Crown

OK, so today was supposed to be a day of celebration for me but the Rangers ruined that. Gopher was all excited about the win and kept bringing it up throughout the night last night.

Anyway, the Pens are now just one point shy of winning the Atlantic Division. They should have already clinched, but for some reason they didn't show up for the first 30+ minutes last night and had to fight back just to send the game to overtime where Chris Drury scored a powerplay goal to end it.

Here's the highlights:



Not much to say here other than the Rangers are now tied for the 4-seed in the Eastern Conference with the Devils at 93 points. The Devils have more wins and a game in hand on the Rangers so they get the edge right now.

This would be a fun first round match-up wouldn't it? Rangers/Devils, Gomez playing his old team with his ludicrous contract. Sign me up.

NHL Cleared Of Anti-Competition Tactics

This one makes me rather happy. A couple years ago it looked as if the Penguins would be leaving Pittsburgh and moving somewhere. Leading candidates were Kansas City, Hamilton Ontario and even Toronto. Yes, there was talk about having two teams in Toronto all because of Jim Balsillie.

The Penguins were floundering and in need of cash and Balsillie comes into town promising the world: a new arena, putting money into the team to get star players to come to Pittsburgh, etc.

Come to find out he had no intention of keeping them in Pittsburgh and his offer to buy the team was eventually killed.

Everyone thought they'd seen the last of him, until he tried doing the exact same thing with the Nashville Predators. Look, the guy does not care at all about keeping a team in the city it's in right now. He doesn't. Any team that allows him to buy it, is going to have the entire city the franchise is in, marching outside the arena with flaming torches.

I'm glad the NHL was cleared of any wrongdoing here. Balsillie is only concerned with his own interest and doesn't appear to care about a team's established fan base at all.

Sabres Coach Ruff Talks About Season

Of course Lindy Ruff is disappointed with not making the playoffs. Any coach would be, but he should be proud of his guys for even getting close after all the injuries and front office ineptitude that let both Drury and Daniel Briere get away before anyone could even blink on day one of free agency.

This club was hanging on to the 8-seed until three of their top six defensemen went down for the season a month ago.

What needs to happen now in Buffalo is simple. Sign Ryan Miller to a long term deal. The kid obviously has the goods and played well in the playoffs last season. He's a young guy who will be able to backstop this team for years. I'm not saying give him a Rick Dipietro-long contract, but I'd say at least 5-7 years.

If they can land a couple guys who can put the puck in the net in the offseason, they could be a force again next season. Of course, that's provided they don't all get hurt and then I'm back here saying the exact same thing next year.

Top 5 Eastern Conference Goaltenders

This idea just sort of hit me while I was ranting on my Penguins blog about their loss to the Islanders last night. Mainly I'm upset with how Ty Conklin has been playing as of late and wonder why we keep putting him in the net when Dany Sabourin hasn't seen action since mid February. Check it out if you have a couple minutes, but it got me thinking about about the playoffs and who some of the best goalies in the league are.

Before we get into the top 5, I want to direct your attention to a new link in my frequently visited sites. Gopher introduced me to a free sports betting site. Seriously, it's free and you can win real money. Here's how it works. The site gives you a dime in ad money that they receive for you to place bets on real games with. Once you reach 10 dollars, you can cash out. If you lose the 10 cents, just reload and try again. I'm dead serious. It's free to sign up, so if you want to check it out here's the link to CentSports.com

Rather than pick the obvious best five from the entire league, I'm going to do this by conference and include highlight videos of each guy for your own enjoyment. So here we go.

#5 Cristobal Huet - Washington Capitals

I still can't get over how the Caps plucked Huet away for next to nothing. On the year he's 24-16-6 with a 2.46 GAA and a very impressive .917 save percentage.

He's been absolutely fantastic for the Capitals as well. He's splitting time with Olaf Kolzig, but has been a big reason the Caps may make the playoffs. As of this moment, the Capitals trail the Bruins by two points for the final playoff spot in the East.

Huet has started seven games for the Caps, going 5-2 with a 1.93 GAA and an amazing .927 save percentage.

I'd be willing to bet that Huet fantasy owners were none to impressed at the deadline with seeing their number one goalie traded to a non-playoff team. I'd also bet if you talked to them now they would be happy with his performance so far and only slightly annoyed that he splits time.

If you are in a keeper league, you have to love the prospect of having this guy around for a couple years at least.



Couldn't find much of his highlights as a Capital, but I'm sure this video explains the point a little better.

#4 Marc-Andre Fleury - Pittsburgh Penguins

Is this kind of a homer pick? Slightly. I'd rank him higher on this list, but I'm sure you would all jump down my throat on it so I think this is a fair placement given the rest of the Eastern Conference goalies.

What you don't get a full appreciation of while watching Fleury on television, is just how quick he is. I remember the first time I watched him play on tv and I was blown away by how quick his legs are. I honestly don't think there is a guy with quicker legs in the league right now.

The kicker is that he looks even quicker in person and it's not just his legs. Let's flashback to NHL re-launch night. The Penguins were in town to play the Devils and it was Sidney Crosby's NHL debut. Three of us got tickets the day of the game. Shocking right? Not for Devils games it isn't.

Anyway, at one point there was a 2-on-1 for NJ. I don't remember the players specifically, but a pass was made over the sprawling defenseman to Fleury's left. In one motion Fleury moved over and plucked the rocket of a one-timer out of the air. Upon further review he actually caught the puck behind him and held on for the whistle.

Had it not been for the high-ankle sprain he suffered this season, he would be up among the league leaders in wins. Currently he is 15-9-1 with a 2.61 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Since returning from the injury he is 6-1.



I chose that video for two reasons. First, I love Godsmack who performs the song heard there. Secondly I was in Boston for the save you see and I about dumped my drink on the person sitting in front of me when he made that save.

#3 Ryan Miller - Buffalo Sabres

Here's a kid I feel bad for right about now. He's seen almost his entire defense corps go down to injury and yet he's still going out every night and battling the best he can.

I don't care who you are, without a team playing defense in front of you and clearing away rebound chances and such, you won't be putting up good numbers. Even Patrick Roy was getting shelled in Montreal before he demanded a trade.

I am happy that come 2010 when the NHL pauses mid-season to send guys to the Olympics that Miller should be on the roster, if not the starter for Team USA. He really should have gone to the 2006 games as well, but I digress.

On the year Miller is 33-25-9 with a 2.60 GAA and a .909 save percentage. I'm still shocked he's putting up those kind of numbers with half the team they had from last year. The Sabres are only three points out of the playoffs right now. Now, I don't exactly see them getting in and even if they do it would be a quick trip due to lack of depth, but it would only be because of Miller that they even make it.



Though I question the musical choice for that video, Miller is another young guy who will be in the league for many years to come. I'm sure he'll get his name on the Stanley Cup at least once before he hangs the skates up. He's already shown that he's got the goods to be one of the best for many years. He just needs some bodies in front of him to help him out a little.

#2 Martin Brodeur - New Jersey Devils

I know what you're saying. "Oh please, you just hate the Devils and hate Brodeur so of course you can't admit he's the best goalie in the league and probably the best goalie of all-time."

While you're right about my dislike of the Devils, you cannot convince me that he is the best goalie of all-time. Will he have most of the records by the time he retires? Probably, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the Devils play a system in which an average goalie could be a star and a stud like Brodeur rises to levels unseen before.

Never once have I said that I don't think he is a great goalie. He is. However, I question how he would have been on a team such as the Penguins when they were one of the worst teams in the league and acquiring the guys you now see playing for them in the draft.

I credit most of Brodeurs wins to the system and the Devils management who has been able to find guys to play into the defense first system year after year. As frustrating as it is for me to see them be successful every year, they have some brilliant minds running the organization.

Now back to the greatest goalie of all-time point. I would rank guys like Roy, Jacques Plante and Bernie Parent over Brodeur. Yeah, going old school on this. If you haven't seen or heard of these guys, Wikipedia is a wonderful way to get caught up.



Had to take that video due to Metallica being the musical choice. Again, Brodeur is a great goalie and is one of the best of all-time, but to me he's not the best regardless of what the stats show. Numbers don't always show the full picture.

Which brings me to my number one goalie in the Eastern Conference.

#1 Henrik Lundqvist - New York Rangers

This should make Gopher proud. For as much as I rip on him during the season, I really respect King Henrik. If I wasn't such a die-hard Penguins fan, I'd probably end up rooting for either the Leafs or the Rangers just because half the Rangers team are former Penguins anyway.

The day the Rangers let Henrik go, is the day they drop to the bottom of the standings. He's that good. Again, he's a young guy with quick pads like Fleury but I think what distinguishes him is his ability to read plays.

Fleury has gotten a lot better at reading plays and controlling his rebounds, but I think I've only seen Lundqvist leave a few bad rebounds in his career. It's uncanny how well he sees and eats the puck.

He's also proven that he can put a team on his back and carry them deep in the playoffs. Look at last season, the Rangers struggled mightily to score in the playoffs, but Henrik kept the puck out of his own net and gave the Rangers a chance to win every night.



That's just a sample of what this kid is capable of and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he starts putting up Brodeur-like numbers in the near future. The only difference there is that Lundqvist will face more than 20-25 shots a game due to a weak defensive unit in front of him. If it weren't for their forwards backchecking and having the sense to get back all the time, this season could have gotten ugly for New York.

Well there you have it, the top five goalies in the Eastern Conference. Check back tomorrow as I look at the Western Conference.

Free Agency - Eastern Conference

What a ride!

In just two days we've seen contenders become pretenders and vice verse. All I can say is that I'm sure glad I'm not an Islanders, Devils, or Sabres fan. Here's my list of winners and losers from the first couple days.

New York Islanders
What were they thinking putting Garth Snow in charge? Any doubts that this was a bad move were horribly shattered in the last couple weeks. Someone needs to buy him a copy of "How to be a GM in the NHL" and fast.

First, they buy out Yashin in a move that appeared to free up the money necessary to re-sign Jason Blake and last minute addition at the trade deadline, Ryan Smyth. How wrong they were. Blake headed north to Toronto to join Vesa Toskala and after a fierce bidding war, Smyth went to the Avs. Just to add insult to injury, Tom Poti left for the Caps.

Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres meanwhile stood back and watched their two co-captains from last season bolt within hours. Daniel Briere became the latest addition in the Flyers' hopes of a return to glory after being the worst team in the league in 06/07. Kimmo Timmonen and Jason Smith should help as well.

New York Rangers
The Rangers stunned most of the hockey world by signing both Chris Drury and Scott Gomez for over $7 million each. I'll admit, I laughed at the Gomez deal. Yes he's a good player, but 13 goals last season for a guy who has cracked the 20 goal mark only once in his career? That should be illegal.

These signings now put a potential squeeze on the budget with still having to sign Prucha, Lundqvist, Avery and veteran Brendan Shanahan.

What remains to be seen with the Blueshirts is how their defense will be. There's no doubt that they just fully upgraded their offense, but history has proven that defense wins championships. With guys like Marek Malik and Fedor Tyutin, fans still hold their breath. Now if the Rangers could play the whole game on the powerplay, I'll retract the previous statement.

New Jersey Devils
The Devils were big losers as well. I'll try to leave out the fact that I loathe their unbearably boring playing style and how Marty Brodeur gets way too much hype. Again, yes he's a good player but you could put a pylon in net and it'd win a majority of the games the Devils do.

Anyway, losing Brian Rafalski to the Red Wings and the aforementioned Gomez to the division rival Rangers has got to hurt. Rafalski was a rock on defense even after having an off year last season. The did however bring in replacements in Danius Zubrus (4G 4A in 19 games with Buffalo in 06/07) and Karel Rachunek. Zubrus could turn out to be a solid player, but the Devils will struggle to fill the void Rafalski.

Boston Bruins
Boston still will have issues next season as the still lack a core on defense. Chara is fine and dandy, but he seems to be wanting to put up Bob Probert penalty minutes. He got beaten badly all the time last season, but if he stays out of the box and the Bruins are on the powerplay all the time he can unload the heavy slapper.

One question they seemed to answer is in net. Getting Manny Fernandez from Minnesota is a vast upgrade over Tim Thomas. I'm going to apply the Patrick Roy rule here. Roy was arguably the best goalie of all time, but in his final days in Montreal where he had zero defense to speak of, he was garbage. A goalie truly is only as good as his defense, so I'm going to call this move a push until they get someone who can help out on D.

Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens meanwhile lost out on two guys, but quickly signed two others. Reports said that GM Ray Shero was going hard after Scott Hannan and Paul Kariya. To make up for it the Pens signed hard-nosed defenseman Daryl Sydor and sniper Petr Sykora. Both of these moves should help out drastically. The Pens lacked another top 4 d-man last season and it showed in the playoffs along with the lack of experience. Sydor and shot-block artist Mark Eaton will compliment each other nicely.

The Sykora signing brings a different aspect to the Pens. Sykora has shown that he can score goals in bunches. Twice in his career he's lit the lamp over 30 times, but while his production trailed off over the last couple years he has championship experience to bring to the kids. Also and most importantly, this move will allow for Rookie of the Year Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal to return to their natural center positions.

Montreal Canadiens

Two words: Roman Hamrlik. This move prety much assures me that fantasy hockey stud Sheldon Souray won't be back, but Hamrlik is a decent replacement. Also the addition of veteran forward Brian Smolinski should add some depth up front. One fact still remains, the Canadiens do not want to have a meltdown like last season where they watch the playoffs from home. With what has happened in the division already, they may have just pushed themselves into the playoff picture.

Once things calm down and the season draws near, I'll take a look at each division and give predictions for standings and playoffs. Stay tuned, up next free agency in the Western Conference. Look out Nashville, I'm coming for you.