The NHL has finished the first quarter of the season. The theme so far this season seems to be injuries, swine flu and hits from behind to name a few. Credit to the NHL as they have clamped down on the vicious hits to a degree. The latest injury goes to the Red Wing’s Niklas Kronwall as he was the recipient  of a leg check from Montreal’s Georges Laraque on Saturday night. Although the trip was called by the officials, the Red Wings are calling it a dirty hit. The NHL agreed with Detroit and suspended Laraque early Monday evening for 5 games. 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 »

The Carolina Hurricanes have announced they signed veteran goaltender Manny Legace to a one year deal. President and GM, Jim Rutherford said Legace will be paid $500,000 to play in the NHL in addition to the $105,000 he is currently making  for the Chicago Wolves in the AHL. The way the Canes have been playing, they should of negotiated with Lagace’s teammate Chris Chelios as well…couldn’t hurt. Continue reading »

The first month of the 2009-2010 season is in the books,  another week has gone by in the NHL and of course I will get you caught up of the important things in case you missed anything.

Boo-Hoo, the ref’s hate me

One of my favorite stories of the week has to be from the City of Anaheim where according to Duck fans, the officials gave Toronto their first win with phantom calls. I wrote a whole piece on that earlier this week and you can read the article here. The irony is the day after I posted that article, I had one less follower on Twitter…coincidence? Nah….poor sport. Just for the record, I think the site is cute, the Rally was stupid. Continue reading »

The injury bug continues in the NHL with two more stars going to the sidelines. Pittsburgh Penguins star, Evgeni Malkin will miss the next 2 to 3 weeks with a shoulder strain. Malkin has played in 254 consecutive games after missing his first 4 professional games. That streak will obviously come to an end.

Vancouver Canucks goalie, Roberto Luongo will miss at least the next two games as the team travels to sunny California to face the Kings tonight and the Ducks tomorrow night. Luongo has a hairline fracture of a rib on his right side.

Dominic Hasek at 44 years of age was going to make a run to play in the 2010 Olympics and that now seems to be unlikely. Hasek suffered a thigh injury playing in the Czech league this past weekend and will be out for 3 weeks.

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.