January 30, 2004
NHL Roundup
Out in Phoenix, the Senators downed the Coyotes 4-1, and took over first place in the Eastern Conference. Martin Prusek had 20 saves for Ottawa. Western Conference leading Colorado stayed on top, settling for a 3-3 tie in Los Angeles after Derek Armstrong scored late in the third for the Kings.
Ever since Caps owner Ted Leonsis has been suspended by the league, the team has been unstoppable. Last night in Carolina, Peter Bondra scored twice to lead them to a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes. Olie Kolzig had 32 saves for Washington. Off the ice, the Washington Post reports that Leonsis apologized to his partner, Wizards owner Abe Pollin over Sunday's incident:
"I talked to Ted at length and he apologized to me," Pollin said. "I said, 'Hey, I'm your partner' and he said, 'I made a major mistake. I'm sorry and I'll never do it again.' I've been in this business for 40 years and I've been through a lot of frustrating years myself but you've got to learn to take it.
"If you can't take it, then you might as well get out of the business because you're going to have a lot of downers. If you can't handle it, you're in trouble, and he understands. He's a good guy and he's very passionate. He just lost it for a minute."
Further North in the standings in the Southeast Division, Tampa Bay made quick work of Pittsburgh, beating them 5-1. The loss was the eighth straight for Pittsburgh. Over his last eight games, Martin St. Louis has nine goals and seven assists. Tampa Bay now has a 59 points, and a seven point lead in the division over Atlanta. Off the ice, Pittsburgh sent Marc-Andre Fleury back to his junior team. Bob McKenzie has some thoughts.
In Boston, Glen Murray scored an overtime goal to give the Bruins a 2-1 win over the Islanders. In Detroit, the Red Wings polished off the Devils, 5-2, as Steve Yzerman passed Mario Lemieux with his 1,702nd career point.
Off in St. Louis, Magnus Arvedson continued his hot play of late, scoring another two goals in a 4-2 win over the slumping Blues. Only a few weeks ago, the Blues were challenging for the lead in the Western Conference. Now, they're fighting to stay in the playoff race, with only two points between them in fifth and ninth place Los Angeles. In Columbus, the Predators beat the Blue Jackets 6-4. Videotape of the game has been sent to the league's competition committee.
In Minnesota, the Canadiens rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Wild, 3-2. And finally, in Edmonton, the Oilers beat the Blackhawks 5-2. Few in Chicago or Edmonton will remember it fondly.
Eric Lindros is off to Montreal for tests with neurologist Karen Johnston after suffering the eighth concussion of his career.
UPDATE: All Things Canadian is cutting back on political commentary to concentrate on the NHL. Bravo! Unfortunately, this might mean fewer glamor (er, glamour) shots of Belinda Stronach.
As always, please give my best to all the folks in scenic Kanata.
OT UPDATE: Congratulations to the Washington Capitals, whose Web site scored highest in a survey sponsored by Sports Business Journal.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ericmcerlain.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2890
*ahem* That's 59 points for Tampa Bay. If Khabibulin gets hot again down the stretch, like last year, it could be a very good year for the Bolts. Also, the Habs score was 3-2 OT.
I generally agree with McKenzie regarding Fleury going back to juniors. Every time the Pens make any roster move, the knee-jerk assumption is that it's money-related. For Fleury, I think he's gotten about as much positive stuff as he could out of this year. Continuing to let him get peppered with 40 shots a game in front of a leaky defense isn't going to further his development, and in fact could hinder it. I'm not sure he'll get much from playing in Cape Breton, but at least he won't regress. The Pens obviously have a franchise goalie in him, the challenge now is to bring him along properly.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really enjoying this season so far. Playoff races are starting to come into focus and it's competitive from top to bottom.
Posted by:
at January 30, 2004 09:27 AM
There's no way the Thrashers will catch the Lightning, at this point. We're too far back and facing a brutal road schedule in February. Maybe all the pieces will still be in place (and healthy) in '04-'05.
Posted by:
at January 30, 2004 12:01 PM
You forgot to bold the Kings score, dude. East Coast bias! East Coast bias!
Posted by:
at January 30, 2004 02:32 PM
Nice article, I did something like this for business school almost 8 years ago.
More links to the website SBJ survey:
http://www.umass.edu/sptmgt/sbj/index.html
All NHL sites:
http://www.umass.edu/sptmgt/sbj/NHL_rank_03.pdf
All sports websites ranked:
http://www.umass.edu/sptmgt/sbj/overall_rank_03.pdf
Posted by:
at January 30, 2004 07:51 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in,
.
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
07:32 AM