Fast Tube by Casper

Thanksgiving has come and gone and here is another issue of my weekly round up. I will have to admit with the holiday weekend, I have slipped a bit but here we go with some things that you have may of missed as you turned to football for the weekend or just simply slept your turkey dinner away.

Who is in, who is out?

Out for the next two games would be the Penguins Matt Cooke. Once again we see a cheap shot  and the NHL has responded properly by issuing Cooke a 2 game suspension for a high hit to the head on the Rangers Artem Anisimov. Cooke threw an elbow to Anisimov’s head and dislodged his helmet which to me was a total cheap shot as it was no where near the puck at the time. Continue reading »

The Toronto Maple Leafs have to be scratching their heads this morning and wondering what they have to do to win a game in the NHL this year. All season long, the Leafs have had their share of problems like goal-tending, which they got last night….not having Phil Kessel, who played last night….and shots on net, which they definitely had last night…..61 to be exact, which tied the team record. So how could they have lost? Bring in Rollie the goalie. Continue reading »

Another week in the NHL and just like every week, I am here to give you the highlights and the things you may have missed over the last week. Look for this segment at Stick to Hockey every week as I recap the weeks stories all in one article.

Streaks

The New Jersey Devils extended their road win record to 9-0 on Thursday night by beating the slumping Penguins 4-1. The Penguins had a streak of their own, losing 5 straight before Christmas coming early on Saturday night as Tim Thomas and the Bruins hand them a gift in OT. Continue reading »

A busy schedule over the weekend leads to a few story lines to go with it. Here’s my weekly version of the NHL Roundup.

The Washington Capitals won their fourth straight against the lowly Islanders with in come from behind fashion. The Islanders were up 2-0 halfway through the third period before eventually blowing the game in overtime to the Caps 3-2.

The L.A Kings have also won 4 straight snapping  Phoenix’s four game winning streak. Anze Kopitar had 3 assists as he lead the Kings to a 5-3 Victory. Kopitar is currently leading the league in goals (10) and points (21). Jarret Stoll also tallied his first two goals of the season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins 7 game win streak came to an end on Saturday when the streaking New Jersey Devils went into the Igloo and beat the Pens 4-1. Martin Brodeur was just over ten minutes from tying Terry Sawchuks NHL record for career shutouts.

Speaking of shutouts, Roberto Luongo set a franchise record for the Vancouver Canucks Saturday with his 21st shutout in a Canucks jersey, leading them to their 3 straight victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs who are still win less for the season. Toronto may catch a break tonight when they head to the Pond to face the Ducks as Giguire is likely going to be out of the line up.

The Hurricanes suffered their 6th loss in row in Minnesota from a bizzare overtime goal by Cal Clutterbuck. Mikko Koivu’s shot from the slot hit the post and went off the falling Clutterbuck’s face. Clutterbuck then swiped at the puck from his knees and scored the game winner.

As mentioned above, Jean-Sebastien Giguiere left the game late in the third period Saturday night against the Blue Jackets. Giguire tweaked an ailing groin and is listed day to day.

Atlanta Thrashers’ Ilya Kovalchuk is expected to miss four weeks with a broken bone in his right foot. Kovalchuk was injured when he was struck by a puck during the first period of Saturday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. He is tied for second in the league with nine goals.

Penguins defenseman, Sergi Gonchar will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken left wrist from collision with a St.Louis Blues player Tuesday night.

David Booth was released from the hospital after suffering a concussion the resulted from what looked to be a cheap hit from the Flyer’s Mike Richards.

Darcy Tucker is out indefinitely with a concussion and 40 stitches from the result of Ruuto’s violent hit on Friday night.

The NHL only had 13 games scheduled this weekend with all of them played Saturday. Since I didn’t have any games to report on for Sunday I put a few things together for you to summarize the NHL so far this season.

Boston Bruins

The B’s hot and cold season continued Saturday night in Phoenix without the services of Milan Lucic as they lost to the Coyotes 4-1. Although they played an above average game, they ran into hot a goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov as he stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced. The B’s are now one game under .500 (3-4)

Who’s hot…. Who’s not

The Atlanta Thrashers are off to their best start in franchise history (4-1-0) and handed  Buffalo their first loss of the season beating them 4-2.

After losing their opener, the New York Rangers have peeled off 7 straight wins giving them a share of the top spot in the NHL with Pittsburgh who has a 5 game winning streak of their own. Both teams are 7-1-0 and unlike the Rangers who are undefeated at home(4-0), the Penguins are undefeated on the road (5-0)

The Colorado Avalanche are riding a 4 game winning streak and top in the west with a 6-1-1 record, two points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks who are off to their best start in 27 years at 5-2-1

With the Rangers and Sabres off to great starts, fans in New York must be happy ( big deal from us Boston fans), not all is good as the Islanders are one of two teams still without a win at 0-3-3. Moping up the cellar so far this season are the Toronto Maple Leafs who after losing to the Rangers Saturday 4-1, gave the Leafs a 0-6-1 record. To us Boston fans we are wondering how Kessel is loving his new team.

Transactions and Key injuries

The Boston Bruins traded Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday for Craig Weller,  the rights to Alexander Fallstrom and a second round draft pick in 2011. The 28 year old Weller is 6′4, 220 # with 4 goals , 10 assists and 127 pim in 95 NHL games. He was playing for the Houston Aeros of the AHL. The 19 year old Fallstrom is currently in his freshman year at Harvard University.

Milan Lucic was placed on long term injured reserve Sunday with a broken index finger, meaning that he has to miss a minimum of 10 games and 24 days making his earliest return on  Nov 10th. With Lucic out, the Bruins recalled Lefebrve, Marchand and Sobotka from the Providence Bruins of the AHL.

Toronto’s defenseman, Mike Van Ryn will be out for the season with a torn MCL, he is scheduled for surgery on Oct 22nd

Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek is listed day to day with an upper body injury

Chicago’s Mirian Hossa is on injured reserve with a right shoulder injury

Islander’s Rick Depietro is out with knee surgery

Washington’s Jose Theodore is listed day to day with lower back spasms