What a night for me to miss!

Ovechkin broke out of his slump in a big way. Joe Thornton had four points. And all three Northeast teams lost.

What a terribly officiated game the San Jose/Montreal was. Still, Montreal failed to capitalize when necessary, so they are fully to blame for their loss. I'm disappointed, but oh well. I'll move on...

Peace,
Mike

The Pens moved to the top of the east because Montreal lost? Now that's progression!

The Bruins picked a good night to lose by 8 goals.

Auld's got to be the starter from now on. There's no excuse for Thomas letting in ten goals in just about two periods worth of work to the Capitals and Maple Leafs. There's obviously no excuse to let in that many goals, but it's even worse against two shitty teams.

Really, the problem has been that both goalies aren't playing well. Which leads me to believe that it is perhaps the defence or team as a whole. But I don't know, because I didn't watch those particular games.

WASHINGTON GAME
Thomas: 7 goals on 24 shots = 0.708
Auld: 3 goals on 10 shots = 0.700

And Auld is the one who started the Washington game, and he let in 2 goals on 6 shots until he was pulled. Then Thomas was pulled, too. Allowing Auld back on again to let in another goal.

TORONTO GAME
Thomas: 5 goals on 23 shots = 0.783
Auld: 3 goals on 17 shots = 0.823

Peace,
Mike

Auld didn't start the Washington game, Thomas did.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap;_ylt= ... 23&prov=ap

Auld then followed up that performance by allowing one goal against Florida (as the starter), which came in overtime. Then against Toronto he had to follow Thomas again. It's not a big shocker that he didn't perform that well after Thomas gave him a four goal disadvantage.

Ah, yes, sorry. The Washington game went Thomas (pulled), Auld (pulled), Thomas (pulled), and then ended with Auld. And both goalies did poorly both times they were on the ice.

Ultimately, my point still stands. Following a poor performance from a goalie shouldn't make you play poorly too - in fact, if Auld really wanted to make an impression, he would help win it for the team. Which again, makes me think it had more to do with the whole team playing poorly as opposed to Thomas (who is ordinarily solid). The goalie (in general across all teams) is often pulled not solely because of his poor performance, but to send a message to the team.

Peace,
Mike

Oh, no I agree with that point. I just think the team would play much better if Auld were starting the next couple of games, then bring Thomas back into the mix.

That's true, I would have to agree with you.

It's interesting to note that despite those two blowout losses, the Bruins are still in a mighty fine position in general. They've been rather glossed over, in terms of coverage on the race in the East. I think it's because they initially sat lower in the rankings for the mere fact that they had played less games. Right now they sit only slightly out of the lead positions, are 7th with 77 points and have played one less game than all the other teams. I hope they hold off the overstated Flyers and pass the Rangers at least.

Peace,
Mike

How in the FUCK do the Senators lose 2-0 to the Kings, the worst team in the league?

I suspect heads will roll in the offseason for this franchise.

I can't believe this is the same team that started 16-2. They look like the Leafs!

Of course...... The day the Bruins finally win a game, every team ahead of them that played just had to win too.

The Washington/Pittsburgh game this morning - at least, the third period of it - was one of the most entertaining games I've seen in some time. The NHL needs teams like these to be popular in the States - young, exciting, and - dare I say - dumb. Teams like Dallas or Minnesota who play smart but BORING hockey are not the key to improving NHL popularity.

Well, Jmart, I have to apologize and say that you are completely right and I was completely wrong. At least thus far in the game, Auld is completely shutting the door for the Bruins, and he has faced a lot of shots too. Starting him was a great idea.

Peace,
Mike

Speaking of entertaining hockey, what a barn-burner that Oilers/Hawks game was! Back-and-forth like nothing I've ever seen, and it culminates in a overtime victory for Edmonton. Greatness.

I can't wait till San Jose gets the 2nd seed and Nashville gets 7th. It'd be so mean.

I win!

They just needed to give Thomas a couple of days off to get refocused. They can't keep him out too long though because he'll just lose all of his confidence, and we'll need two solid goaltenders going down the stretch.

The only problem now is the Bruins can't seem to put the puck in the net while Auld's in there. This is twice now in the span of a week and a half where he's had a shutout through regulation and then lost in overtime because the Bruins couldn't get one goal for him.

It'll be interesting to see who they start tonight in net against the Senators.

But right now for the Bruins it's a race for 6th. They can't look too far ahead and they obviously can't look behind them because it's a short fall to 9th. Looking at their upcoming schedule, they (pardon the horrible cliched phrase) control their own destiny. In order to make any kind of move upwards in the standings, they're going to have to win at least three of the five games.

Tue, Mar 11 at Ottawa 7:30 pm
Thu, Mar 13 Tampa Bay 7:00 pm
Sat, Mar 15 Philadelphia 1:00 pm
Sun, Mar 16 at Washington 3:00 pm
Thu, Mar 20 Montreal 7:00 pm

And you know, I was going to pick out the games that are must wins, but looking at the next five, all of them really are. There are two division games, so if they want any shot at the division or one of the top three spots in the conference (yes, a long shot, but still somehow within sight), they need to beat Ottawa and Montreal. And the three games in the middle they have to win because they're all winnable, especially against the Flyers because they're right behind the Bruins.

It'll be interesting to see what the Bruins do in these five games. With a little bit of help, and at least three wins, they should be in 6th. And that'd be great, because they want nothing to do with the Canadiens (at least with how the standings are right now).

Great night in hockey.

Hat tricks for both Lecavalier and Heatley. Ottawa should really just ride Gerber all throughout the playoffs. Emery may have been their man last year, but he's just a cancer on the team now.

Toronto somehow won ( ) but I was dumbfounded by their decision to pull their goalie at the end of the game, even though they were tied, just so that Philly wouldn't earn an extra point. What would've happened if Philly had won on an empty net goal?

And the Oilers, my Oilers, simultaneously teasing me with their slim playoff hopes and rejecting me with their downright awful play at times, blow an early 3-0 lead but still win it in overtime, on Cogliano's third straight OT winner. Insane.

I really don't see how people could watch baseball or auto racing over this. Madness.

Phoenix NEEDS to win tonight. It's essentially their last hope at the playoffs.

It does seem a bit early to be doing that (still 11-13ish games left for most teams), but teams have done that before in the past in order to secure a playoff spot.

Toronto desperately needs not only to win, but they need the strong teams above them to lose. Pulling the goalie was an attempt to win 2 points and cause Philly to get 0 points (who sit in that 8th and final playoff spot). When it gets down to the end of the season, it might matter for Toronto (in terms of playoff implications).

That being said, it was still a gamble, like you said. Usually this is done in the last game of the season, when the standings are so narrow, and they need the team they are playing in the final game to get 0 points in order to nab that last playoff position.

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The Habs smoked NJ tonight, winning 4-0. Price was awesome. The Habs reclaim the #1 spot in the East, and won the NJ series 3-1 this season! When is the last time the Habs have done that? Crazy. There are many parallels that this team has to the '93 team, so I am excited for the playoffs!

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Poor Boston lost again. They just can't seem to generate the offence. They need to hold on and keep themselves in that playoff position.

Peace,
Mike

Just found the stats:

The last time the Habs won a season series against NJ? '92-93

The last time the Habs were #1 in the conference at this time? '92-93

Not saying the Habs will win the Cup, but it's cool to consider nonetheless.

Peace,
Mike

Except for the goaltending.....

Actually, I'd say this year's team is a lot more similar to the '86 team - especially with the rookie goalie - so there should be good things ahead. You just need to hope that Anaheim gets knocked out when Pronger scores on his own net, or something.

The Wings only need 1 win to be the first team of the year to get over 100 points.