Gearing up for the turn of a century the NHL has two games featuring the top tier teams in both conferences.
In the East the New Jersey Devils sit atop the conference with 57 points. The Devils have a three point cushion over the Washington Capitals and a four point edge on the Pittsburgh Penguins. A lot of New Jersey’s success can be attributed to the play of future hall-of-fame goaltender Martin Brodeur. Brodeur continues to play at an elite level. He leads the league in wins (25) and last week he eclipsed Terry Sawchuk’s shut out record (104). With the strong play between the pipes the forwards on the team can focus their attention on putting pucks behind opposing goaltenders. No one has done it better then winger Zach Parise. He leads the team in goals (17), assists (25) and plus/minus (+21). The Devils are in the Windy City tonight to battle the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are the two seed in the West with 55 points. Although the Blackhawks don’t have the same caliber goaltending as New Jersey, they can score with the best of them. With a core of Patrick Kane (17 G), Jonathan Toews (11 G), Patrick Sharp (12 G) and Marian Hossa (13 points in 17 games), Chicago is set for years to come.
In the West the San Jose Sharks are the top predator. They have 57 points and have won 6 straight games. When you talk about scoring the Sharks have one of the best lines in all of the NHL. Joe Thorton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatly are tearing up the league. The trio has combined for 59 goals and 82 assists. San Jose also continues to get gret play from their goaltender Evgeni Nabakov. He’s backstopped his way to 22 wins, a 2.29 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Tonight the Sharks are in the desert to take on the surprising Phoenix Coyotes. Sure the Coyotes may not be getting the fans, but they are picking up the wins. They trail the Sharks by a mere four points and in four meetings this season with San Jose they have a 2-0-1 record. Phoenix has been getting phenominal play out of their goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. The former Anaheim Duck is second in the league with a 2.11 GAA, is tied with Nabakov for second in wins and is in the top five for save percentage (.927). Similar to the other top teams in the league, Phoenix has benefited from great goaltending and is proving that they’re early season success is no fluke.
Great article on espn.com by Jerry Crasnick banging the drum for former Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Roberto Alomar to be a first ballot hall of fame “inducty”.
I don’t know my baseball history all that well, but I can tell you that I am fairly certain no better player at their position has ever suited up for the Jays (excluding any player who was only a Blue Jay for a cup of coffee). No one earned their stripes in Toronto as Robbie did.
The stories on the guy off the field were the stuff of legends, but who cares, the guy could play.
I hope politics don’t get in the way, and I hope Robbie gets in.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the ‘City of Champions’ as they battle the Edmonton Oilers tonight at the Rexall Place. Unfortunately for Oilers’ fans there haven’t been that many titles to cheer about lately. Edmonton is in a rebuilding phase focused on developing young skilled players who are to make the team more competitive in the future. As Leaf fans can attest, its a roller coaster ride when your team is rebuilding. Ride now Edmonton is in a dip. They’ve lost seven straight games and have only scored one goal in each of their last three loses. Edmonton is also dealing with some major injuries. They lost Ales Hemsky (22 points in 22 games) for the season, while starting goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin (18 games started) and forwards Mike Comrie (16 games played) and Fernando Pisani (6 games played) are all on injured reserve. On the bright side the Oilers are finally starting to see what forward Dustin Penner can do. He leads the team in goals (19) and assists (19). Penner has already surpassed his point total for all of last season. The Leafs are coming off a big 4-3 win over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday. They game looked to be headed for OT before Ian White blasted a puck past Marc Andre Fleury in the dying minutes to give Toronto the win. White has three goals in the last four games. Joining him on a scoring streak is forward Jason Blake. Blake has scored in back-to-back games and has nine goals and 15 assists on the season. One guy who’s struggling to find the back of the net is Phil Kessel. The last time Kessel scored was back on December 16 against the Phoenix Coyotes. In fact that’s the last time he’s registered a point.
Curious Toronto Maple Leaf fans, as I read another article handicapping the candidates for captaincy of the Toronto Maples in the Toronto Star, are you as hung up on this as our friends in the press? Don’t get me wrong, I do think they need one, but I am not sure the right guy is on the roster right now and I am not the least bit bothered that they don’t have one right now and really haven’t given much thought to it since Burke said one wasn’t immanent. It’s one of those things where I would rather they get it right then just give it away…
It will be a rematch of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Atlanta tonight as the Hawks (21-8) host LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers (24-8) at Phillips Arena. For Atlanta this is a chance to gain some ground in the East. They trail the top seeded Cavs and Boston Celtics by three games. The Hawks are coming off a four game road trip where they went 2-2. Atlanta did end the trip on a winning note. Saturday night they dumped the Indiana Pacers 110-98. Forward Al Horford led all scorers with 25 points. Horford also pulled down a game high 19 boards. Cleveland was on the road for four games against the West before returning home on Sunday. Things started off poorly, but the Cavs turned it around winning three straight including a big 102-87 win over the defending champ LA Lakers. On Sunday James and the boys stretched their winning streak to four with a 108-93 win over the Houston Rockets. King James held court scoring 29 points.
LeBron may be the king of the court, but when it comes to the ice, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are on top. The defending Stanley Cup Champs are the second seed in the Atlantic division trailing the New Jersey Devils by two points. The Pens are in Buffalo tonight to take on the Northeast leading Sabres. It’s the second of four meetings between these two and the last time they clashed Pittsburgh earned the W with a 2-1 shoot out victory. This time things will be different. The Penguins got the win over back up goaltender Patrick Lalime. Tonight they face the top goalie in the NHL Ryan Miller. Miller leads the league in save percentage and is second in goals against and shut outs. If Miller settles into a game few teams have been able to beat him. Buffalo is coming off a 5-3 win on Sunday over the St Louis Blues. Pittsburgh on the other hand lost a heart-breaker to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Sunday. The game looked to be heading into overtime before the Leafs stole the win.
This entire season the Favre experiment in Viking-land looked to be a resounding success until last weeks game against the Carolina Panthers. Minnesota was leading 7-6 and Favre was being hurried and hit all game long. Head coach Brad Childress decided it was time to take Favre out of the game. Favre disagreed and an heated discussion was caught on camera. The QB stayed in the game although Minnesota went on to lose the game 26-7. Following the game Brett discussed the events in his post game wrap up and admitted to the disagreement with his coach. Oh yeah the Vikings clinched a playoff spot before the first snap of last weeks game. During this week every football show has dissected the Favre-Childress incident so coming into tonight’s game, so you can be sure both parties will have a little more attention then usual. Minnesota (11-3) is in the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (5-9). As of right now the Vikings have the two seed in the NFC and would remain that way with a win over the Bears. If they lose they drop into a tie with the Philadelphia Eagles (11-4). Obviously this game is important to the Vikes. Chicago’s defence should expect a healthy dose of running back Adrian Peterson. Over the last four games against the Bears, Peterson is averaging over 12o yards per game. He is also tied for the league lead in touchdowns with 15. The Bears came into this season full of expectations. Over the off season they traded their future for what they thought would be the top-notch quarterback they’ve been lacking. Unfortunately the start of the Jay Cutler era in Chi-town has been a bust. Cutler leads the league in interceptions (25) and has a woe-full passer rating of 71.1. The defence has also been a problem as well. The line-backing core has been ravaged by injuries. Coincidentally the team is giving up close to a 128 yards per game on the ground.
Greetings from sunny south Florida. Pardon the couple of days of silence, but I have to admit it’s nearly impossible to get much Toronto sports news or even hockey news in these parts.
Consider if you will that my hotel is comprised of at least 50% canadians, of which the majority are Torontonians (based on the number of toronto maple leaf hats and tshirts around the lobby and pool). Yet Im thinking that the vast majority are using this stay as a vacation from more than winter back home, seking shelter from our sports teams. While they are wearing the logo’s of our teams, no one is following what is going on the ice or the court. A tour through the lobby as an experiment asking those wearing Toronto garb if they knew how the leafs or raptors did over the last couple of days resulted in blank stares, one guy said please don’t remind me. I asked a few people if they heard any wjh scores and they said Gasp- no interest while I am here.
So I went to the concierge to see if he could get me Florida panthers tickets for this afternoons game, I was met with “who”
We watched the local news the last couple or days to get our fill of terrorism updates and not a menion of the panthers or team USA at the toruney. To be fair I haven’t picked up a local paper. The only sign that I have seen that the panhers actually exist is a billboard on I 95 near my hotel. We took our kids to sawgrass mall yesterday afternoon and despite the fact the arena is “around the corner” we saw no evidnce of a team. I went into 2-3 sports stores and found no panthter items for sale.
So but for Twitter (a daily glance) and a quick review of my rss reader I’ve reached the conclusion hockey is further down the list then when I lived here back in 1997 to 2000. The test will come today and tonght when they play. Unfortunately for the cats, so too do the heat and dolphins.
So I’ve seen some pretty hilarious blogs over the couple of days as they relate to the upcoming outdoor NHL hockey game.
My favorite was the one suggesting that the game be played every year at Boston’s Fenway Park! I haven’t stopped laughing at that one. The comparisson to the Detroit lions hosting of thangsgiving football was brilliant.
Then there are the numerous blogs across the NHL clamoring to host a winter classic. Pittsburgh seems to be the city drumming loudest for this one. These blogs are quite funny too.
I know I am scroodge on this one, but to the winter classic I say bah humbug! First time was cool, now it’s boring. Just my opinion, but I can tell you if Toronto gets one, count me out. I spend enough hours watching little TSM in freezing arenas, I don’t need to pay to see the Toronto Maple Leafs play in our elements.
I will say it again, play one at the old Maple Leaf Gardens, I am in. As for the winter classsic………
It’s the day before Christmas, so other then a college bowl game, most sports have given their athletes the day off. The NHL is shut down until Boxing day. The NBA always has hard court action on Christmas Day. The NFL is having a rare Friday night game as the San Diego Chargers look to stomp the yule tide cheer out of the Tennessee Titans on Christmas night. Even the World Juniors wait until Boxing day to kick things off. So I would like to take this time to thank everyone for reading my daily Game of the Night and wish each and every one of you Happy Holidays. Enjoy the time with family and friends. If you do need to fill you’re sports fix there’s the Hawaii Bowl tonight between the Southern Methodist Mustangs and the Nevada Wolf Pack. Merry Christmas!
The Toronto Raptors (13-17) are in the Motor City tonight to battle the Detroit Pistons (11-17). Toronto has won two straight games at home and hope to continue the trend on the road. Unfortunately that is where they’re having the most problems, including three straight losses. To make matters worse Toronto hasn’t won in Rock City since April 2, 2003, a span of 11 games. On Sunday the Raps edged the New Orleans Hornets 98-92. Toronto is an NBA best 10-0 when holding their opponents to under 100 points. It’s no surprise Chris Bosh led all Toronto scorers with 25 points and also pulled down 11 boards. In fact out of the 30 games Toronto has played, Bosh has been the top scorer in 23 of them. He also leads the league in doubles-doubles with 22. The last time that Toronto played the Pistons was back on November 4 and the Raptors pulled out a 110-99 win (surprise, surprise – Bosh led the team with 25 that night). Detroit on the other hand comes into this game on a five game losing skid, including their worst offensive output of the season. Last night the Pistons were not all firing as they lost to the Charlotte Bobcats 88-76. The Pistons have been dealing with nagging injuries this season. Tayshaun Prince has missed 26 straight games with a bad back. Richard Hamilton has been battling ankle and hamstring problems. Off season acquisition Ben Gordon has missed 10 of the last 13 games with his own ankle issues. Prince will be out for tonight while Hamilton and Gordon are game time decisions. These injuries have taken their toll on the Pistons and is biggest reason why the team has been so inconsistent. For Toronto these injuries could equate to the end of an ugly losing skid in Motown and the second time they’ve won three straight this season.
