Shut Outs Shoot Outs and Scuffles - Saturday Night Hockey (with Hi lights)

Lots of action tonight so lets get right to it.




Leafs 0 Rangers 2
Just by looking at the score, you would say this game was won by Henrik Lundqvist. But we can credit the Rangers with blocking 35 shots tonight. Only 19 got to King Henrik. Penalty Shot number one of the night went to Ryan Callahan.



Canadiens 1 Panthers 3
In our second of 4 penalty shots, David Booth went dang dang GOAL on Carey Price.



 Senators 0 Bruins 2
Second shut out of the night, Tim Thomas once again...(what's that..sorry, Jordan is yelling .984 SV%) stole the show for the B's.




Islanders 1 Flyers 6
The fact that the Isles basically rolled over and died in this one is secondary to the rough stuff that went on in the game. Dan Carcilo ALONE got 22 minutes in penalties. (Matt from DGS just squealed with joy) The cross check delivered by the stick of Daniel Briere to the head of Frans Nielsen (who netted Penalty Shot # 3 of the night) and will most definitely get looked at by Colli Campbell and his Wheel of Justice™. Best part was when Rick Dipietro tried to fight Pronger, Carcillo and Mike Richards.




Hurricanes 0 Penguins 3
No Evgeni Malkin? no problem. Pascal Dupuis netted two and Mad Max Talbot scored his first of the year as the Pens cruised by the Canes. Shut out number 3 of the night by Brent Johnson.



Predators 2 Red Wings 5
The Wings knocked their high flying division foes down a notch thanks to two goals from Pavel Datsyuk.



Thrashers 3 Blues 4
Had Jaroslav Halak's shut out streak gone another 25 mintues, he would have set a franchise record. (still held by Greg Millen) The Blues are still hot though, as T.J Oshie kept them winning by potting one in the shoot out.



Wild 1 Blackhawks 3
After getting torched 7-4 by the Oilers the night before, The Hawks came out and took care of business against the Wild.




Sabres 0 Stars 4
SO # 4 tonight. Andrew Raycroft in typical World-Beating form as Dallas' special teams were clicking tonight. 2 ppgs and one SHG.




Blue Jackets 1 Avalanche 5
Adrian Dater of the Denver Post called it a 'rare easy win' and based on the last two one goal games the Avs have had to slug through, they'll take this one. Just one thing I'd like to point out..

See that name below Steven Stamkos..CHRIS STEWART BABY! Peter Budaj also played a strong game tonight, was hoping for a shutout from him, but someone on twitter jinxed it..

Friend of the Blog, Marc Parsons...literally 2 minutes after he tweeted this..Dorsett scored for the Jackets.



Coyotes 0 Lightning 3
8,171. The number of people who bothered to come out to Glendale to watch one of the most exciting teams this young NHL season WITH the leagues points leader (as seen above) in Stevie Stamkos. Dan Ellis recorded shutout #4 of the evening.



Flames 2 Capitals 7 (yes, SEVEN) 
The Flames were up 2-0 in this game, they could have put their foots on the throats of the Caps, but this is Calgary..and these are the Capitals. Did we mention Alex Ovechkin popped in 2 goals in 12 seconds to put the Caps ahead 3-2. Then this Happened (stick tap to the boys at Puck Daddy)


I feel for Sarich, being a former Saskatoon Blade, he was the one WHLer that I 'saw good' during my youth in Saskatoon. Guy has a cup ring..shame he's sucked in Calgary. Had the Flames went on to lose by that score and the Caps not pump another 2 goals (one being a penalty shot by David Steckel) past them, this might be a bigger story. That being said, getting burned for 12 goals in two games isn't good for anyone.

I'll mail in the next two games, I didn't watch them and I don't know what happened enough to talk about it..



Devils 1 Kings 3
Oh look! NJ lost the game and Parise. Kovalchuk was also booed all night by Kings fans.



Ducks 2 Sharks 5
Thorton-Marleau-Heatley. Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan now can we all move on. Hit up Battle of California, I'm sure they'll be all over this one.

Good god it's finally over..Still editing the podcast by the way..

- Jaye

First PKLC Podcast Tonight

Light day in the hockey world, I've stared at this blinking cursor for half an hour thinking about what to write about and nothing has come to fruition. There is a little thing that I'd like to draw your attention to though..

PKLC PODCAST TONIGHT!! 

It'll be our first one, so please bear with us as we work through some kinks. Hopefully we'll get it edited and ready for public consumption sometime next week. We'll have Jason from the Stars blog 'Discard What You Don't Need' on tonight and if our conversation last night was any indication, tonight might be the longest podcast in the history of podcasts. If you have skype, let us know and we'll bring you on.

- Jaye

Koval-Choke

Courtesy OilersNation.com

Trading for Ilya Kovalchuk was bad enough for the New Jersey Devils.

Going through the long, LONG process of re-signing him--twice--was even worse.  

Now the New Jersey Devils go into their 11th game of the season only winning twice.  One of the most stark statistics you'll ever see come out of New Jersey may not be the fact that they only have two wins...it's that they have a goal differential of -18.

Yeah, this is the team with gifted goal scorers Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, and did we mention they have the one, the only Martin Brodeur in net?  Oh, did we forget a guy named Ilya Kovalchuk, perennial 40-50 goal scorer?

In his tenure as a Devil, he had 10 goals and 17 assists in 27 games to get to the playoffs to lose to the Flyers in the first round.  In that playoff series, Kovalchuk added 2 goals, 4 assists, and one of those goals was an empty netter.  This year, he has 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in 9 games.  He was scratched against Buffalo because he was reportedly late to a team meeting, and John MacLean saw it fit to punish him like so.

Drama, drama, drama.

What do we take out of this, then?  I'll say it bluntly: Lou Lamoriello's decision to trade for Kovalchuk was the only mistake he made.  If he didn't trade for him, the team would have been so much better off.

If you look at the Devils' history, you know for a fact that they have always been more of a defensive minded club with the stellar goaltending of a living legend.  That's what got them their Stanley Cup championships, after all.  And the Devils were on a good roll throughout the year.  But once the Devils traded prospect Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier and a first round pick, it was all downhill from there.  After the contract debacle, turns out it was more than one draft pick.  Regardless, that's a steep price to pay for Mr. Kovalchuk.

It would have been all for naught if they couldn't re-sign the pending UFA, so they did: to 17 years.  But the NHL finally caught wind of too many long-term contracts and shut it down with authority.  After almost a MONTH of deliberations and distractions, Kovalchuk was locked up for 15 years.  I'm going to be 35 years old when he's done his contract.  That's hard to believe in itself.  

Regardless, the Devils don't need Kovalchuk.  That's a point I think every hockey fan can agree on.  Not only does he tie up tons of cap space, but he ties up a ton of attention for all the wrong reasons.  On the powerplay, you know he's going to get a lot of passes for one-time shots.  What did the Flyers do in their playoff series?  Case in point.  They already have goal scoring sources, and they could have done more than get Henrik Tallinder and Anton Volchenkov.  They could have re-signed Paul Martin with the money they didn't spend on Kovalchuk.  They could have made their unknown defense a bit more...known.

Kovalchuk and the Devils also don't mix, philosophically.  He's not a defensive player.  He's already -4.  He's going to put points on the board, but only if he lets his speed and shot do the work for him.  Ovechkin and the Caps work philosophically because they are a quick team.  Crosby and the Penguins work.  Richards and the Flyers.  Getzlaf and the Ducks.  You get where I'm going.  Kovalchuk was a FORCED addition, and one the Devils, as much as their players laud him, didn't need.

They could be at least .500 at this point without him.  He's a distraction, and he's going to be forced to be in Newark for the next 15 years.

I'm so sorry, Mr. Kovalchuk. 

Some Avs News and BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Please come back

 Hey there PKLC reader(s) it's been a while since we've all had a good conversation here in blog world.

First though, to the news of the day, thanks to Shane G from Colorado Avalanche Talk we now know that Craig Anderson's once thought SEASON ENDING PLAYOFF SCREWING WE'RE ALL GUNNA DIE injury he suffered in last nights warm up isn't serious (at least it doesn't require surgery.) From Terry Frei of the Denver Post;


“It’s going to require some treatment and rehab, and we hope to have him back as soon as possible,” [Joe] Sacco said after Colorado’s practice in the Saddledome. 

 Hear that..that's the collective breath of Avs Nation being exhaled all at once..

While this still sucks for the Avs (I don't really believe in Budaj..yet) it's nice to hear that Anderson will be back sooner rather than later. Speaking of Budaj, this is HIS TIME to shine, prove the doubters like me wrong and show that you deserve more than 11 starts a season. For those of you wondering the team called up John Grahame from Lake Erie to back up Budaj.

Some quick thoughts on Tuesday night's Avs/Canucks game, my first at GM Place Rogers Arena.

- Nice rink, great layout, there really is no bad seat (and I was high up)
- I thought the concourses were tight at Rexall Place in Edmonton, throw another 2000 and even the spacious and newer (1995 construction) Rogers Arena becomes a tight squeeze
- I counted about 6 fellow Avs fans
- The outcome sucked, but the boys battled hard for that OT point, my man crush for Duchene grew a little more

I'm looking at heading to the Nov 24th game (once again vs. Colorado) so let me know if you're around, always nice to meet the readers for some 'adult beverages'

Ok, I know you're all waiting for the big announcement' that I eluded to in the title, well wait no longer..are you sitting down? it's all right I'll wait..oh you're at a computer..right..never mind..

Patrick Kane's Loose Change Proudly Presents...

THE PKLC PODCAST (echo: cast..cast..cast)

This friday, myself Jordan and Stephen will be skyping it up, talking puck and shootin' the breeze If you (yes, you) want to get in on this, let anyone of us know (twitter or e mail work the best) and we'll try and bring you on. Hopefully it'll be up for all to view sometime next week.

- Jaye

PKLC Man Crush 10% In

So taken large interest in Jaye's PKLC Man Crush of the Night I though I'd take a look at who the top players in the NHL where through the first 10% of the season (19 teams have played 8 or more games).

Eastern Conference Man Crush: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

8 Goals (Leads League)
7 Assist
15 points (Leads League)+/- +6
6 PPP
2 GWG

Born February 7th, 1990 Steven Stamkos could have graduated High School with me and Jordan yet he is leading the NHL in points while leading the Lightning to a 5-2-1 start. After putting up only 46 points in his rookie year he posted 95 last year and is on an outstanding pace this season. Avalanche fans like myself only hope sophomore Matt Duchene can match his performance, and talking about the Avalanche brings me to our Western Conference crush.

Western Conference Man Crush: John Michael Liles, Colorado Avalanche


10 Assist (Leads League)
+/- +5
4 PPA
Assist in each of first 8 games (Ties NHL record)

John Michael Liles has been the subject to a lot of conversation among the Avalanche community over the last 7 seasons: "star in the making", "when will he get over the hump", "will he ever get back to his early form", "Is this the year JML is traded?", and then last season the ever so popular "JML in the doghouse, again". Now 30 years old and in his 7th NHL season Liles is playing like he was at 23 and making Avalanche coach Joe Sacco unable to say anything bad. Plus as Jaye Horbay has said "The guy is just so damn pretty!" lets not forget Jaye denounces Ice Girls (Just Sayin').

@SCrociata

PKLC Man Crush of the Night

Tonight was the night of the goalie. So the Cork Board will be a cluttered.

 Mikka Kipprusoff - 27 save performance against the Sharks for his 36th career shut out.

Henrik Lundqvist - The Rangers got their third straight win tonight, their first at MSG. King Henrik stopped 27 of 28 pucks. Yet there is still no love for Michal Rozsival.

Anders Lindback - seriously, where does Nashville find these guys?! They unearthed Pekka Rinne from God Knows Where, Finland,(2004 8th round 258th overall) and now Lindback (2008 7th round 207th overall!) who just so happens to be currently holding a .925 SV% and is 3-0-1 in 4 games played. Will the Preds be dark horses in the West this season?

- Jaye

PKLC Man Crush of the Night

In yet another new feature, one we hope to actually keep up, (unlike the Best Part of Saturday) we present to you the PKLC Man Crush of the Night..statistically speaking that is..

First one on the wall...

Brad Richardson - LA Kings. 

A 3 goal night against the Avs earns him honours and the first to go up on our virtual cork board.

Honourable Mentions
(they don't get a picture, but we'll write their names down on some scrap paper and tape it next to the winner)

John Tavares - first NHL hat trick
Alex Semin - HT #3 tonight in the NHL, 3 goals for Jizz
Carey Price & Jaro Halak - both pitched shut outs tonight
Henrik Zetterberg - if he wasn't a Red Wing, he'd have got it. 4 points. 7 SOG
Mike Richards - breaks out of his slump, first goal and 2 helpers lift Philly past the Leafs

agree? disagree? let us know who you'd put on the Cork Board in the comments or on twitter (@PKLoosechage) or any of our personal accounts (to your right)

- Jaye

PKLC Returning to Up The Pucks

After Jaye's successful stint on Up the Pucks a week ago I will be taking my talents to their podcast in about two months. I will be joining Brandon (@UTPBrandon) and Peter (@Real_PeterEvans) the week of December 20th for an episode centered on the NY Rangers, my hometown team. I look forward to doing the show and sharing it with all the fans of PKLC!

PS: Get ready Glen Sather because I'm coming after you!

@SCrociata

Oilers looking for Cheerleaders? Really?

 Today's Whisky Tango Foxtrot moment came in the form of a tweet from the Vancouver Sun's Lionel Wild

Click that link and your nightmares become real. What I thought was WAY BEYOND Canadian franchises, especially ones with such a storied history as the Oilers have. This is what the Oilers 'Media Spin Crew' have cooked up:

The Edmonton Oilers cheer team will “amplify the already electric in-game entertainment lineup for fans at Rexall Place” and “augment participation at events and community functions throughout Oil Country.” (via Edmonton Journal)

You've GOT to be kidding me..now granted, some nights the on ice product at Rexall Place isn't the best thing to look at, so a distraction from the teamis more then welcome. But cheerleaders? in a hockey rink? in places that actually SEE snow? Unless they're tossing me free t-shirts or Boston Pizza cupons, sorry, but not in my backyard.

Oilers CEO Patrick Laforge goes on to say that this is “another example of the Oilers responding to the wishes of our valued customers.” Patrick, the citizens of Edmonton want a new arena, not some Puck Bunnies in lulu lemon pants shaking their asses in the old one. This might be a New Era of Oilers Hockey but you're putting it in the wrong direction.

Wait you say there will be a calendar...

- Jaye

Is Anybody Out There?!

If you haven't seen this yet, get ready for some rather striking statistics.

9,802 spectators watched the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Anaheim Ducks last night at Nationwide Arena. The place holds 18,500, officially, making it only filled to 52% capacity. Coincidentally on the same night, only 8,820 spectators watched the Atlanta Thrashers get thrashed by the Buffalo Sabres. Philips arena officially holds 18,545 people, making the arena only 47% full.

EDIT: On October 21, only 6,706 spectators watched the Phoenix Coyotes play the Los Angeles Kings in a capacity of 17,125. 39% capacity! 39%!!

Staggering.

It brings me back to my days as an intern with the Reading Royals of the ECHL. The team got somewhere between 3,500 and 4,200 fans on a regular basis. Even when the team reached the conference finals, there were only about 5,000, maybe a little more, on board. The Sovereign Center holds about 10,000 fans. I joked with now-LeafsTV correspondent Steve Dangle (www.twitter.com/steve_dangle) on his radio show that when the Royals had "white-outs" during the playoffs, it was more like a "blue-out" because of the majority of empty seats.

Where is everyone?

For a pro team on the top of the food chain of leagues to only fill LESS THAN HALF of their arena is SAD. Let's not mince words. It may be a slight against the marketing department, or the product on ice, but it's still depressingly unacceptable. If this trend continues, which it has been seen in other locales, mostly in the south (Dallas, Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta), then it may be time for something drastic.

In March, the Dallas Stars ran a promotion called "The Real Deal". Fans could get an upper level seat, Arby's meal coupons and a James Neal t-shirt for $25. The Stars are wrapping up "Ott-toberfest", where fans can get two premium lower level seats, two beverages and two Steve Ott t-shirts for $100. Attendance in Dallas is slowly getting better with the promise of a new season and proactive deals such as these. I like this trend.

Fans get more than a hockey game out of a hockey game.

Columbus, Atlanta, Florida, may have to start running really bold promos that give fans something else. I still like the Dallas Stars, and I regularly wear my James Neal tee that I got with the promo. It's all about identification with a team, or a player. Growing the game is every team's priority, and these promotions are a good start.

Fascinatingly enough, the BankAtlantic Center that houses the Florida Panthers have seats as low as $25 on a regular basis. And two years ago, the Panthers ran an absurd promo...something along the lines of 4 lower level seats, four drinks and hot dogs for $50. I could be wrong. However, this should be enough to gather SOME fans. Hard to believe it didn't achieve its desired effect.

A rebuilding team takes time, and the front office can only do so much to help the on-ice product. It's up to the marketing departments to create identification with the team or a certain player RIGHT NOW. If that can't happen, then these teams are in serious trouble.

Let's hope the ultimate of all ultimatums doesn't happen as a result of said trouble.

Colorado Avalanche Recall David Van der Gulik

That's right you may remember him from Dawson's Creek, obviously just kidding but yes that is a James Van Der Beek reference on a hockey blog. Ok so getting serious today the Avalanche recalled David Van der Gulik from Lake Erie in a pretty interesting move. The Avalanche had to call up someone after David Jones suffered an arm injury, but it seems their were better suitors than Van der Dulik. Mark Olver who was just sent down could've be called up or how about Greg Mauldin or Matthew Ford who have both had nice starts in LE. Van der Gulik only has 2 points in 6 games with the Monsters one of those points a SHG, it bothers me that he has had little 5 on 5 success. I don't see him getting to much playing time and in hopes Jones is OK and that the Avs don't seriously have a line where Van der Gulik is essential lets hope I'm correct. The Avalanche host the Sharks in a remake from the 2009 NHL Playoffs tomorrow at 9:00 pm EDT.

@SCrociata

NHL "Common Law"

I took a look at Rick Rypien's tussle-shove move with a Minnesota Wild fan this morning. Not to say I was horrified, but I was confused at what must have been going through Rypien's mind at that point to endanger a fan like that.

That whole scenario was just strange, and it may involve strange judgment.

Regardless, now the ball's in Colin Campbell's court. As we all know, his wheel of justice isn't exactly a really sturdy one. It seems to land on all of the most random places. Speculation says that Rypien either gets 8-10 games, as per James Mirtle, Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger, and as little as 5 games from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

I think he deserves more.

And, it's time this case sets the precedent. One thing that has been missing from the NHL is the concept of "common law"--using past precedents to lay out judgment for the future. If any other player gets in a tussle with a fan, it's no discussion, it's "x" games. If it's a blindside hit, Campbell should just look at what Shane Doan did over the weekend, and say bam, 3 games. Nice and easy. If they're repeat offenders, add two, and say that's the precedent.

It's time for precedents. Case-to-case bases add for way too much scrutiny, which we already know through Campbell's interviews on NHL Live, he absolutely hates when people question his judgments. But why shouldn't we? He probably rolls a dice to figure these out.

If Campbell gives a 5 game suspension, or less, then he needs to stick to that. Then, and only then, it'll be fair. But I think this punishment deserves 8-10 games, maybe even more. It's unacceptable to threaten the safety of the fans, which can exercise their speech rights. If only the players heard what's said in the upper levels of the arena. They'd be brawling then.

That's beside the point. We'll see what Campbell, and the rest of the NHL hands out for Rypien. But before you overreact, wait for the next instance. Then we'll just see if it's fair.

-Jordan

Le Sigh .... Expected.

Hello! Ev here ... coming out of hiatus First I would like to advise I did not watch the Canucks/Wild game .... reason, I was at school. Did I think they were gonna lose? .... not at all ... and if they did .. I did not think they would get their asses handed to them. Started off on a good note ... but what happened? WHAT HAPPENED? Luongo happened .... Personally, I think he is SOOOO overrated!!!! .. His lack of skill lately has dropped team morale. I still can't believe he was signed for so long .. what a waste ... his time is over. He needs to stop being such a baby .... and get on it!. It annoys me when I see 8 out of 10 jerseys around Vancouver with Luongo's name on them ... (wouldn't surprise me if the people wearing them didn't know any of the others' players names) .. I won't only blame the city's beloved "Luo"... the rest of the team needs to get on it. Watching the highlights, I saw an unmotivated team that gets lazy as the game goes on. I love the Canucks ... don't get me wrong but I just think .. that .. well from watching how the season is going so far ... I can tell it is going to be one of those years. Minnesota clearly were the better team tonight. We shall see what happens tomorrow vs Chicago. Marty Turco is not the man he used to be ..... Vancouver may have a chance .... say, hmm I dunno .. we start Schneider! :p



-Ev

Canucks Get Shelled, Fan Gets Shoved

It always seems the games I care the least about, something exciting happens. I planned to write about the Caps/Thrashers game a couple weeks back, and that's when Pavelec had his fainting spell. Tonight, the story quickly switched from 'Canucks get their asses handed to them in a tea cup' and 'Luongo played like crap' to..this...

It was getting ugly at this point in the game, for the Canucks that is, down 6-1 and tempers were flaring at the benches. Rick Rypien ends up getting the game misconduct in all of this and gets escorted to the dressing room, and here's where Twitter exploded...

As we clearly saw, Rypien went after the guy, wrong time to applaud I guess? totally not cool. How will Colin Campbell spin this one on his wheel of justice? No doubt worthy of a suspension.

Time for the NHL PR machine to go into overdrive. Does the League come down heavy on Rypien, most likely. If it's 8-10 games I think that would be fair. Despite the fact Rypien CLEARLY broke the rules, this is all the Official ones say (Via Bryan Reynolds)

40.1 Physical abuse of officials... auto gamer, and auto suspension = not less than 20 games.

The Rypien shove reminded me of the fan who got into a scuffle with Tie Domi in the penalty box a few years back.


More on this story as the info becomes available, stay tuned.

UPDATE:

Rule 23.7 states that "Any player, goalkeeper or non-playing Club personnel who physically interferes with the spectators, becomes involved in an altercation with a spectator, or throws any object at a spectator, shall automatically incur a game misconduct penalty and the Referee shall report all such infractions to the Commissioner who shall have full power to impose such further penalty as he shall deem appropriate."  Thanks Vancouver Sun and to Bryan Reynolds from Hockey Wilderness

- Jaye

The Rumors of Our Demise Have Been Greatly Exagerated

So it's been a busy couple of days hasn't it? I 'forgot' the recaps Saturday night, but really, It would have been a single link to nhl.com. There was 26 teams in action, so forgive us. However, we'll be back tonight or tomorrow with a different recap of the Canucks v. Wild game tonight.

PKLC Fun Fact - Jaye HATES the Canucks.

This hate has only grown the more I've lived in Metro-Vancouver. For a team that has won nothing, and who's marketing campaign slogan should really be 'We'll Get Em This Year' it makes me sick the loyalty this city has to its franchise.

I look at Vancouver like..Toronto West. (Cup futility aside) Toronto fans will say "our team is going to make a run at the cup" their tongue is FIRMLY in cheek when saying this statement, cause they know that most years (aside from possibly this one) the team will more then likely be on the outside looking in. This suits the Leaf Fan just fine, spring in Ontario is quite lovely, why would they want to waste it watching hockey.

Canucks fans, on the other hand, will say the above statement and SWEAR by it for year after year. Fully believing that Luongo will finally win that Vezina, Henrik will REPEAT as Art Ross and Hart winner (psst..fluke year) and the team as a whole will make that 'next-step' despite decades of doing just the opposite. I would say they're blinded by success, but you need to win something other than the division to be called successful. (just ask the Capitals)

I may have strayed from my original point here, what the purpose of tonight's recap will be about. It'll be no doubt biased, but not towards either team, cause I can't stand them. I'll call spades spades and if the Canucks string together a solid 60 minutes, I'll politely credit them. If they roll over and die, well, this recap will be much funner to write. Keep watching Twitter, Facebook or refreshing your page to see what I've come up with.

- Jaye

Audio Blog - Hawks/Sabres

In what I hope will become a regular segment on the blog, thanks to faithful PKLC reader Tim Vander Tukk, we got some sweet post game audio from the Blackhawks/Sabres game. Which the Hawks won 4-3. All we've got is the Hawks side of the story, if anyone knows any Buffalo reporters willing to send me their raw audio files, please let us know

First up, We've got Patrick Sharp talking about the flow of the game


Sharp also got a goal tonight, but this was a more physical game than the Hawks were use to


Coach Q echos praise for Chicago's 'other' Patrick, saying he worked especially well on the Hawks PP tonight


Finally, Hawks goalie Marty Turco comments on the gritty win by the team in front of him


Big thanks to Tim for the audio!

- Jaye

Friday Night Recap

I finally had a day off after god knows how many straight days at work. So I did what anyone else would do in my position, I spent my evening on my ass, watching hockey. Here are your recaps.

Colorado Craig Andersons 3 New Jersey Devils 2
- This one didn't begin pretty, the Avs were outshot 17 to 3 in the first 20 mins. (and something like 11-0 in the first 7) The penalty kill came through for them tonight, holding the Devils to only 1 goal in 3 attempts. After going 1-10 in their last games on the PP, Colorado's most unlikely power play artist, Cody Mcleod got the first Avs goal on their first shot. (then got sent off for boarding) Goals also came from Chris Stewart (a total rocket from the circles) and TEE. JAY. GALIARDI (that was my best Mike Haynes Impression) The Devils got tallies from Ilya Kovalchuk (a goal that had just enough zip to beat Anderson, and after the amount of shots he had tonight, he was due for one) and rookie Matt Taormina (first NHL game and he gets two points, not bad) For a team who didn't want to rely on Anderson all game, they sure did tonight. In typical Andy fashion, he bailed them out. Johnny Liles continued his assault on the single season assists record, adding another to his now 6 Apples in 4 games.

 Toronto Maple Leafs 4 New York Rangers 3 (OT)
- Please, do not feel the need to adjust your monitors. The Leafs are ACTUALLY 4-0. They didn't make it easy on themselves tonight though, and they blew a 1:10 5 on 3 with around 6 minutes left in the third as the Rangers came back to tie the game. Phil Kessel had 2 goals including the OT winner. The big worry for the Rangers would have to be the loss of Chris Drury, 6 weeks broken finger..the same one he broke 4 weeks ago, and Marian Gaborik (Ok, who had October 15th? he's out 2-3 weeks with a separated shoulder.) Yet they got deuces from an unlikely source in Brian Boyle, who had 4 goals in 71 games last season. I smell MVP. The Leafs haven't got off to a start like this since 1993. I'm telling yah, it's these new jerseys.

 New York Islanders 2 Pittsburgh Penguins 3 OT
- The Isles were without Robbie Schremp, Kyke Okposo, John Tavares and Mark Streit, suffice it to say, they're a hurting club limping into Consol Energy Center. The Pens, on the other hand, had yet to win a game in their new home, and had a power play that was lower than dirt. That all changed tonight..well..almost. They obviously won, but their PP was still shit. It went 1 for 8 (I swear Tony Granato is running their PP INTO. THE. GROUND) The only goal they did manage to score on the man advantage was Alex Goligoski's OT winner.

 Chicago Blackhawks 5 Columbus Blue Jackets 2
- In a surprise to exactly no one, the Hawks (or Cocks, as Drunk Jackets fans refer to them as) thumped the BJ's 5-2. I watched a bit of this game, and saw Patty Sharp pump in 2 goals and rip 13 shots from his twig. This will cause podcasters Brandon and Pete from Up The Pucks to bitch at each other (Pete's a Hawks fan, Brandon, a Jackets) and it will make me laugh hysterically.

 Montreal Canadiens 2 Buffalo Sabres 1
- I'm going to admit something, I don't very much care for Buffalo. Ryan Miller has a weird looking face, Vanek is over paid thanks to Kevin Lowe, and Lindy Ruff might as well live at HSBC Centre for the amount of years he's been with the team. The ONLY reason I watch Buffalo games is for the one and only, Rick Jeanneret.

I even put up with MSG being dicks and not showing their games in HD, just to listen to Jeanneret. I've yet to hear him call a goal live. Oh yah, Montreal won.

 Atlanta Thrashers 4 Anaheim Ducks 5 (SO)
-I watched enough of this game to know two things. One, the Honda Center was EMPTY tonight. Two. Anthony Stewart, brother of Avs forward Chris Stewart, not only scored 17 seconds into the game, but had his FIRST hat trick. Congrats to Anthony tonight.

  Vancouver Canucks 1 Los Angeles Kings 4
- It's October here in Vancouver, so that means a few things, it gets rainy and the Canucks start off incredibly slow. This wasn't more evident than it was tonight, as LA basically dictated the play from the get go. Luongo looked his usual 'October self' and the only plus you could really say for Vancouver was the pretty passing play that led to their only goal. (Henrik to Daniel..or was it Daniel to Henrik?) Oh look, fans gathering on the Lions Gate Bridge..wait..why are the all dressed in Canucks gear? 

- Jaye

PKLC on Up The Pucks

After 5 hours of utter silliness, it's finally here. If you head on over to Up The Pucks you can hear THE VOICE of PKLC (I was sick, so I sound terrible)

Big Ups to Pete and Brandon again for the opportunity.

Could We Scrap The Cap?

We'd see more back problems as players walked home with more of these

 What if we went back to a world without the salary cap? This is just a little bit of what they're discussing over at Puck Daddy. The Cap has brought the mathalete out in all of us.


They go on to say that without the cap, we'd have Kovalchuk and Ovechkin flanking Crosby in Pittsburgh, IF they could compete with the 'powerhouse' teams with all that cash, like the Rangers, Avalanche, Red Wings. Hell maybe even the Leafs could put together a team..(wait..they're...undefeated??) and the league wide competition that we have now become accustomed to would vanish like Joe Thorton in April.

Has the cap hurt the league? Well no. as it hurt individual teams? Obviously. We saw that first had as Chicago had its still beating heart ripped out last summer. The Cup Champs weren't even champs for 24 hours before the media started talking about who would stay and who would go. Dynasty hasn't been a word we've uttered in quite a long time, and as of recently, Detroit would be the only team you could even come close to attaching said label to. (and even that's stretching the definition)

From personal experience as an Avalanche fan, and as many other Avs fans can attest to, the cap initially hurt us the most. We were raised as the spoiled kids on the block. Daddy never said 'no' to us. We kept winning and Uncle Stan kept writing the cheques to make sure we stayed there. (Some would say we 'bought' our way the 2001 Stanley Cup, but that's just bull. I will argue anyone any day on this topic, and they will be sent home in tears.) As we came out of the lockout, the Avs lost a couple of big names in Rob Blake and Peter Forsberg, and some would say, that was the beginning of the end. As we learned to become accustomed to less 'big names' wearing the Burgundy and Blue, we also embraced the youth. The road ahead looks bright, do we thank the cap for that? Can we honestly say that we would have seen runs from teams like Ottawa or Edmonton if there was no 'league wide parady?'

Now lets say we never had a salary cap. Would we see the rise of young stars such as Steven Stamkos, Matt Duchene or Chris Stewart? or would we still see Brendan Shanahan, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Lindstrom lifting cup after cup one season to the next? Would young stars not named Sid or Alex even get a shot at big minutes?

Now, for John Q Casual fan, he/she is going to want POWERHOUSE teams where if you have the dough, you'll burn though it, which doesn't always work. (see Rangers, New York - 2000-2004) but you would see a 'Kurri' to Crosby's 'Gretzky' (which I totally thought would be Marian Hossa) and all would be right in the Land of Old NHL. Would we even see a team with the likes Sid, Alex and Evgeni Malkin? Would we go back to the 'Have' and 'Have Not' teams of yesteryear?

Back to the present. (and they mentioned this in the PD write up as well) does the cap hinder teams from being totally awesome? As the article said, we COULD see Crosby play with TRUE superstars such as we did at the Olympics, with Jarome 'Joe Sakic Saved My Career' Iginla and Eric 'They finally found someone else to play with Crosby' Staal. Instead, he's been 'burdened' with Chris Kunitz (who has an 'A' which was news to me) and Pascal Dupuis (the only part left of the Hossa trade.) GM Ray Shero, as we've seen in the past, isn't afraid to pull the trigger on trades. (remember that Avs fans? I miss Pierre Lacroix so) I'd put money on the fact that IF Sid's struggles continue, they'll find him an 'equivalent' winger that isn't Malkin but someone else who will play at the same level as him, who isn't just along for the ride and without taking Geno off the second line.*

*please come back Jordan Staal.

Now to the point of all this. Do I like the salary cap? At the end of the day, I'll take it over watching fucking Detroit load up and run the table year after year. I don't really understand how people can pour over sites such as Cap Geek. I could honestly give two shits about how much the Islanders are STILL paying Alexi Yashin NOT to play for them. (ok, it's still funny) (and it's 4.7 mil) I also hate Corsi, but that will have to wait for another post.

- Jaye

Nightly Recaps: 10/14/10

Lightning 3 @ Flyers 2: There was a huge reunion tonight which we will get to later,but what about the under the radar return of Simon Gagne to Philadelphia. The current Tampa Bay LW, and future Avalanche LW, played 10 seasons in Philadelphia totaling 524 points in Flyers orange. Gagne's current team came out on top with Gagne not figuring much in the game except being on the ice for a Flyers goal, but in a very classy move he was chosen 1st star of the game.



Hurricanes 2 @ Senators 3: Well here is a prediction even the "experts" who picked the Avalanche to finish in dead last last season probably had, Pascal Leclaire goes down again. Leclaire left Thursday night's game with a lower body injury suffered in the 1st period just adding to the log of injuries Leclaire has had since his NHL debut in 2006. Mr. Carrie Underwood, Mike Fisher, added 2 goals for the Senators including the GWG late in the 3rd.



Blues 3 @ Cal O'Reilly 4: Ok so tonight the Blues lost a game in Nashville to the Predators 4-3 but I've decided I want to have a little fun. Cal O'Reilly the big brother of the Avalanche center, Ryan O'Reilly, added 3 assist in the game and since I'm not sure how often Cal will have a game like this I want to enjoy it. I would totally get the kids jersey if I wasn't positive he will never find a permanent home.



Oilers 2 @ Wild 4: Ok here is the 1st game I really don't have much interesting to say about except I'm surprised it took the 3rd game for the Oilers to get their first loss. People were comparing the Oilers to last years Avs team and even this loss is similar, a 2-1 lead and then 3 unanswered goals. Don't lose faith yet Oilers fans, although you can probably do that by the end of next week. Also no surprise Mikko Koivu led the Wild with 2 goals and an assist.



Red Wings 1 @ Stars 4: So lotta hype for the Mike Modano's return to Dallas game but not much of a result. Modano was literally non-existent in the game (15+ minutes no shots) but thanks to future HOF'er Chris Osgood the fact that Dallas played a horrible game didn't matter. The Stars scored 4 goals on only 15 shots (4 over first 11). With his goal and 2 assist Brad Richards now has 7 points (2 goals and 5 assist) through his first 3 games. Richards was named the 1st star of the game and unlike the classy move made by the Flyers earlier in the night the Stars who declined to bring Modano back in the first place also decided not to honor him. Good night to this recap...Stay classy Dallas.



Panthers 3 @ Flames 0: Sometimes you just sigh when you see a game on the schedule and this game did that for me because you have two teams going nowhere and there isn't even a conference rivalry involved. Only thing that makes this recap worth writing is the Flames go it handed to them tonight thanks in large part to Czech Radek Dvorak (2 goals) and another goalie fail by Mikka Kiprusoff. Cute little finishing story on this one I am trying to get my girlfriend into hockey so last Saturday we are watching the Flames home opening ceremony on Center Ice and her first words to me were "They are called the FLAMES?!" then conveniently the Flames show a video and the first guy, a player I can't recall, goes "I'm proud to wear the FLAMING C" and me and my girlfriend laughed at the stupidity and hilarity of the comment. Being an Avs fan myself I'm glad my girlfriends first run in with the Flames went terribly.

@SCrociata

PKLC's CoverItLive Event: Modano's Return to Dallas

*Note: CoverItLive is closed for the night we decided just to make it a test run but we will run a full event sometime in the near future!*

Michael Thomas Modano, Jr. Makes His Return to Dallas

I can almost guarantee you will never see a Detroit Red Wings based article here at PKLC unless we are brutally bashing something that occurred in the organization but this is a different story. Tonight Mike Modano, the all time leading American scorer in the NHL, makes his debut against the team he played with from 1989-2010. The team he currently plays for, his hometown Detroit Red Wings (2-0-1), go into Dallas tonight to play the Stars (2-0-0) who have been a bit of a surprise in their first two games, wins @ NJ and NYI.

Hockey fans know how Modano's story unfolded this summer: decided not to retire and wanted to return to Dallas but the Stars had decided to move on. This probably helps Modano who will undoubtedly have teas in his eyes when the Dallas crowd erupts in an ovation for him tonight. I personally have a strong distaste for both of these teams but I have always liked Modano. He is a character guy plus he's Italian-American like myself so that helps. This season has been an early see-saw for Modano as he scored on his first shot in his first game with Detroit, was invisible in game 2, and then put up a -3 in the loss against the Avalanche. I can never root for Detroit so my only hope is Modano is not a disaster tonight and he holds his own. Good Luck Michael Thomas Modano, Jr., Not that he really needs it the guy is married to Willa Ford!

-Stephen @SCrociata

Ducks Win Home Opener vs Nucks in Special Teams Battle

*Writers Note: I'm covering for Jaye here who is doing his best to get the word out on our blog here by taking part in a podcast*

Scoring Summary
1st Period
Anaheim	2:41, Ryan Getzlaf 1 (power play) (Bobby Ryan, Cam Fowler)
Vancouver	3:57, Daniel Sedin 3 (power play) (Henrik Sedin, Alexander Edler)
Vancouver	4:14, Raffi Torres 1 (Dan Hamhuis, Manny Malhotra)
2nd Period
Anaheim	15:09, Teemu Selanne 1 (power play) (Ryan Getzlaf, Lubomir Visnovsky)
3rd Period
Vancouver	5:23, Christian Ehrhoff 2 (power play) (Alexander Edler, Daniel Sedin)
Anaheim	8:54, Corey Perry 1 (Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Mikkelson)
Anaheim	10:12, Bobby Ryan 1 (Ryan Getzlaf)

So far up to this point the Ducks have greatly struggled but they partially redeemed themselves in their home opener. Anaheim reduced mistakes and in the 3rd period took advantage of the Canucks mistakes to get their first win of the year, it is also the first time this season the Ducks have scored more than one goal and allowed less than four. There were a combined 4 PPG in the game two for each side but it was two 5 on 5 goals in the middle of the 3rd that put Anaheim ahead for good.

3 Stars:
1- Ryan Getzlaf
2- Daniel Sedin
3- Bobby Ryan

-Stephen @SCrociata

Nightly Recaps: 10/13/10

Cody McCormick!!! (on Right)

Devils 1 @ Sabres 0 (OT): Well it took the Devils longer then they would've liked but in their 4th game of the season they finally came away with 2 points. Only 53 seconds into overtime Ilya Kovalchuk scored his first goal of the year to give the Devils (1-2-1) the victory. Martin Brodeur was also a big part of the victory with his 111th career shutout, and his counterpart Ryan Miller wasn't too bad himself making 35/36 saves but his Sabres (1-2-1) just couldn't put it in the net.

Islanders 1 @ Capitals 2: The Islanders (1-1-1) continue to fight through every game but on this night the Capitals (3-1-0) gave just a little more. Nino Niederreiter netted the first goal of his career but it wasn't enough as Alex Ovechkin netted his 4th of the year to tie it then a late PP goal by Nicklas Backstrom gave the Caps the win.



Maple Leafs 4 @ Penguins 3: Uh oh don't look now but the Toronto Maple Leafs (3-0-0) can't be stopped! It is hard to base a season ending result on 3 games but no matter what ensues it is nice to see the Leafs get out the gate well and have their first good start since the CuJo days. Clarke MacArthur added two goals (3,4) for the Leafs who look to maintain their hot start with their next 3 games vs NY teams (1 vs NYI 2 vs NYR). The Penguins (1-3-0) on the other hand will look to get on the right track on Long Island vs the Islanders Friday.




Lightning 4 @ Canadiens 3 (OT): Many people are high on Tampa Bay's (2-0-0) PP and for good reason as they gave Tampa two of their four goals tonight. Brett Clark, yes Brett Clark, gave the Lightning their first PP goal on the night and down 3-2 with under 2 minutes to go Steven Stamkos tied the game on the PP. With less than a minute left in OT Ryan Malone scored for Tampa Bay to drop Montreal (1-1-1), who were celebrating their home opener.



Predators 3 @ Blackhawks 2: Who needs overtime?! Not the Predators (2-0-0) who scored with 27 seconds left in the game vs the Blackhawks (1-2-1) on the PP. Joel Ward scored the game winner for Nashville who is the latest team to put a speed bump in the defending champs road to a title defense. Next on tap for the struggling Hawks is the Bluejackets who are possibly the best team to attempt a turn around against.


Canucks @ Anaheim: Come back for a full recap from Jaye


Tomorrow: 3 games featuring two teams who have yet to have a result in which they did not pick up a point (Tampa Bay @ Philadelphia, St. Louis @ Nashville, and Detroit @ Dallas)

-Stephen @SCrociata

Hittin The Big Time

Big news PKLC Boys and Girls, we've got our first guest appearence on a podcast tonight!

I'll be the guest co-host on Up The Pucks where we'll talk Avs hockey, the Central division and Colorado Punk Rock (currently doing a crash course as we speak..or..type)

Be sure to check it out later tonight or tomorrow. Big thanks to Brandon and Peter for the opportunity


- Jaye

Avalanche Fight Back 3 Times Take Down Detroit in a Shoot Out

Can't do a full recap but I can't end the night without posting the fact that the Avs took down the Detroit Red Wings tonight. Jaye was close on his 4-3 prediction as the Avs took it 5-4 in a shoot out, after being down 3 times (1-0,3-1,4-3). Brandon Yip scored the game winning shoot out goal. Here is a picture of McLeod wrecking Doug Janik in the first, it was a very one sided bout.