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.

The Avalanche have lost David Jones who torn his ACL  and will be out till late March. Colorado has been struggling of late and losing Jones will not help matters.

The Boston Bruins can’t catch a break in the injury department. Just 4 games after getting power forward Milan Lucic back in the line up, Lucic once again goes down for another 4 weeks as he has a high ankle sprain. Anyone in Boston that saw that injury live was thinking the worst as it appeared to be a knee injury at first. The B’s also got back Vezinar trophy winner, Tim Thomas on Saturday after missing 5 games. In that shootout win for the B’s, Patrice Bergeron rolled his right ankle and then took a slap shot off the leg. Bergeron missed Monday’s practice and there is no new if he will play their next game Wednesday against the Lightning.

The Chicago Blackhawks finally got what they were waiting for with Marian Hossa who made his debut on Wednesday. The red hot Hawks added had to have been on cloud 9 with Hossa’s two goals to what already appears to be a stacked line up.

New York Newsday is reporting that Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro will play in part of Bridgeport’s game in the AHL to start his road back to the NHL. GM Garth Snow is hoping to see Dipietro back with the Islanders by mid-December.

Black Friday killed some streaks

Like mentioned above, the Blackhawks are on fire as they rang up a 8 game winning streak before getting shut out Friday night by the Ducks and losing in a shoot out the next night to the Kings. Still at 8-1-1 and Hossa’s arrival, the Western Conference has reason to be worry.

Friday also killed Nashville’s 7 game winning streak as they lost to the Blues. The Predators are 8-2 in their last 10 and host one of the best road teams in the League as the Devils who have 10 wins on the road and are 7-2-1 in their last 10. Speaking of the Devils, they stopped the Bruins 4 game winning streak in a great battle of the goalies. Martin Brodeur also set another record as he passed Patrick Roy in all time minutes played.

Another southern team is also making some noise as the Atlanta Thrashers is riding a 3 game winning streak and 7-1-2 in the last 10 will host the Florida Panthers who are 5-2-3 but have lost the last 2.Even with all the injury issues the Bruins have had ,they have suddenly surged from 12th to 3rd  in the Eastern Conference by going 6-1-3 in the last 10.

The Carolina Hurricanes continue to struggle as they have lost their last 3 and are 3-5-2 in the last 10. The Canes are still without a win on the road will host the Avalanche who are 2-5-3 in their last ten games. Despite the recent slump of the Avalanche, they are still holding 4th in the West thanks to the great start they had at the beginning of the season.

Key Match-ups this week ahead

Tonight’s Pittsburg/Rangers game should be interesting as they play the back half of a home and home. Good thing for the Pens, the NHL suspended Cooke or this one could of gotten real ugly. The Penguins have a tough week as they face the Avalanche on Thursday and the Blackhawks on Saturday. Also tonight you have a battle of two hot teams as the Devils visit the Predators.

The Buffalo Sabres will try to leap frog over the Sen’s and Bruins to capture first place in the Northeast as they visit Toronto tonight as well.

The Bruins will have to beware of the set up game Wednesday night against the Bolts as they will visit Montreal for a Friday night battle against the Habs but more importantly the game that every Bruins fan has been waiting for as Phil Kessel makes his first appearance in the city he wanted to leave. I wouldn’t expect too many cheers for Kessel at the Garden Saturday night.

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.

Thrasher fans are loving the current 4 game win streak their team is on an they got a bonus with their star Ilya Kavalchuk that returned on Thursday.

Carolina fans may just boo their team right back to Hartford as they have a road record of their own…win-less so far. The Canes had dropped  7 in a row and were win-less in their last 14 at 0-10-4 before the Wild came to town on Sunday. It wasn’t pretty and the Canes tried to lose as they gave up leads of 3-0 and 4-1 eventually won in a shoot out. The Canes are just one point out of the cellar dweller title.

The leafs had a temporary boost with the return of Phil Kessel winning 2 out of the first 3 but since then, the Leafs are once again on another losing streak this time at 3 games. Kessel scored both goals Friday night as the Leafs lost to the Blackhawks 3-2 .

The Chicago Blackhawks are riding a 4 game winning streak and a 7 game win streak at home thanks to a comeback Sunday night against the San Jose Sharks. The Hawks were down 3-1 early in the second period before scoring two goals in the 2nd and the game winner a minute into OT. Although the Sharks lost, they haven’t lost in regulation in 13 games going 9-0-3 in their last 12.

Injury Bug

Cam Ward has been placed on IR which is just another blow to the Canes.

Doug Weight will miss 4 weeks for an upper body injury.

Capital’s Mike Knuble broke his finger when he crashed into Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding in the first period of he Cap’s 3-1 win on Friday night. Knuble will be out 3-4 weeks.

Back in action

Atlanta Thrashers captain, Ilya Kovalchuk returned on Thursday and impacted his team immediately by scoring a goal and having 2 helpers to lift the Thrashers over the Rangers 5-3. On Friday night, Ilya Kovalchuk’s had a two-goal, two-assist performance against the Los Angeles Kings  in a 7-0 win. Kovalchuk will still wear a walking cast for precautions after breaking a bone in his foot.

Roberto Luongo returned from his broken rib injury putting Andrew Raycroft back on the bench in Vancouver. Raycroft went 4-2 with a 2.00 GAA in the 6 games he filled in for Luongo.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere has returned from his groin strain and has fallen into a goalie controversy as Jonas Hiller has taken the #1 spot.

Milan Lucic started practicing with the Bruins on Thursday and is aiming a return against the Thrashers on Thursday night.

The Boston Globe is reporting that Marc Savard who will be a free agent at the end of the season will be signing an extension. Savard has been sidelined with a broken foot is looking to get back on skates next week, he is still about 2 weeks away from returning to the B’s line up.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere lost his first game back from a strained groin injury on Friday losing to Columbus 3-2 in a shoot out. Jonas Hiller also lost this weekend for the Ducks on Saturday night to the Red Wings 7-4. That should help that little goaltender controversy at the Pond.

Alex Ovechkin’s return over the weekend was postponed, look for him early this week, most likely against conference rival New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

On the Move

Michael Nylander decided to head to Moscow and play with the Red Army team after being placed on waivers at the begging of the week.

Peter Forsberg is still weighing out his option to stay in the Sweeden or entertain a pro contract from one of about 6 teams that are interested including the Bruins.

Milestone

Bruins Mark Recchi got his 900th career assist Tuesday night against the Penguins

Key Match-ups for the upcoming week

Obviously the game of the week is tonight as the New Jersey Devils go into Philly to face the Flyers. The Devils have a chance to tie the best road start of 10-0 that Buffalo currently owns if they can beat the Flyers and if they do, Thursday night in Nashville can be the record breaker when they face the Predators.

As if facing the Devils on Monday isn’t a tough enough task, The Flyers hit the road for three more games this week facing the Kings, Sharks and Coyotes.

The Capitals recent success has put them in a tie with New Jersey for the conference lead and they will be at MSG to face the Rangers who started out the season on fire before going -5-1 in their last 10.

Although this is not a marquee game it is worth mentioning. The Leafs visit Carolina in a battle of the cellar dwellers, attendance should be somewhere around a dozen people to watch this sleeper.

The Bruins have had offensive struggles of their own only  8 goals in 6 games while  giving up just 7 will have to pick up the pace on both ends of the ice if they expect to go into Pittsburgh and beat them twice in one week. Tim Thomas who has surrendered just 4 goals in his last five games is the probable starter tonight in net.

The bottom line for the Bruins is that they need to have a similar game plan that was successful on Tuesday night and I say similar because they now have to worry about Malkin as well as Crosby who is due for a big night with only one point in his last five games.

The Penguins Ruslan Fedotenko started the scoring nearly half way through the first period to give the Penguins an early lead. Sydney ended his longest scoring drought his career by getting an assist on the goal. Unfortunately for the Penguins that was only time they would light the lamp as Martin Brodeur shut the door on the home team giving the Pens their 5th straight loss. Good news for the Penguins came after the game as Evgeni Malkin announced his return on Saturday night against the Bruins. Malkin’s last game was October 28th against the Canadiens.

The Devils scored four un-answered goals to extend their road record to 9-0. The Devils are home on Saturday night and will have to wait until Monday night to try to tie Buffalo’s 10-0 record as they go into The City of Brotherly Love to face the Flyers.

The Penquins returning home tonight after a terrible road trip going 1-3 and being shut out the last two ( Sharks 5-0, Bruins 3-0) will have something to prove to their home town fans. Unfortunately for the Pens, they draw one of the hottest teams in the NHL at the moment and the best road time as well. The Devils will have to take advantage of the injured Pens and their jet lag so to speak if they want to extend their record.

Sidney Crosby’s pointless streak is now five games and the Devils need to be careful that doesn’t change. Look for the Pens to try to control the pace of the game to favor the fatigue the are experiencing. This should be a good one as the Pens try to end their 3 game losing streak.

The whole nation will see the B’s vs Pens game at the Garden tonight as Versus, TSN and the NHL network will all be broadcasting the game. Both teams are banged up with key injuries and this is the last stop of a long road trip for the Pens.

The Bruins will get David Krejic back in the lineup tonight after he missed 2 games with the H1N1 virus. Michael Ryder who missed practice on Monday with flu like symptoms will be in the lineup tonight as well. Although Tuukka Rask has been solid, look for Tim Thomas tonight as he will try to end his 0-3-1 run in his last 4 games. No fault to Thomas as he has only allowed 6 goals in that span.

The Bruins are catching the Stanley Cup Champs a vulnerable time as they come off a three game road trip to California and losing the last 2 including a 5-0 loss at San Jose Saturday night. To make matters worse, they Penquins lost Kris Letang in that game which adds to a long list of key injuries including  Evgeni Malkin, Maxime Talbot,Sergei Gonchar and Tyler Kennedy who are all out of the line up for the Pens. Sydney Crosby has been held with out a point in his last 4 games.

For success tonight, the B’s need to take the intensity of Shawn Thorton’s performance Saturday night and take advantage of the tired, injured Penguins. Even though the Bruins have lost 3 out of the last 4 they have played well and finally found a way to get shots on net. If the Bruins can jump on the Pens early by playing physical and shooting at the net every chance they get, look for the Pens to fall tonight.