February 24, 2004
NHL Roundup
With a chance to take the lead in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Maple Leafs whiffed, dropping a 2-1 decision at home to the Carolina Hurricanes. The gentlemanly Ron Francis scored the game winner for Carolina, the 545th goal of his career, as he passed Maurice Richard for 20th place on the league's all-time goal scoring list. Congratulations, Ron.
But the Leafs weren't the only team to bonk against an inferior opponent last night. With a chance to tie Toronto, the Bruins were shutout by Roberto Luongo and Las Panteras, 2-0. Luongo had 38 saves for Florida in the win.
Elsewhere in the East, the Lightning exploded for four third period goals in a 6-3 win over Washington. And up in New York, the Rangers continued to play out the string, dropping a 4-1 decision to Montreal.
With Curtis Joseph hurting, and Manny Legace needing a rest, the Red Wings gave minor league call-up Marc Lamothe his first NHL start in five years, as the Wings and the Oilers tied, 1-1. Lamothe, who has played in the minors for ten seasons, had 29 saves for the Wings.
Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice, including converting on a penalty shot, in San Jose's 4-2 win over Columbus. In LA, Ian Laperriere scored twice in the Kings' 3-0 win over Nashville. with the two points, the Kings moved into sixth place in the West and back into the playoff picture.
And out in the desert paradise that is Glendale, Arizona, the Ducks and the Coyotes played to a 1-1 tie. After the game, the Coyotes waived hockey's Mr. October, Brian Savage, in a cost-cutting move. Savage, who had 12 goals and 12 assists this year, was due to be paid $3.7 million next season, not exactly what you would call a cost effective contract. And with the Coyotes out of the playoff race, this would seem to indicate that no teams were interested in adding Savage to their roster ahead of the playoffs.
If I were a player over 30 on a team out of the playoff race, I'd take this as a pretty ominous sign.
Elsewhere in the league, Ottawa GM John Muckler said he won't be looking for a goalie at the trade deadline. Steve Sullivan of the Predators and Olie Kolzig of the Caps were named NHL Offensive and Defensive players of the week, respectively.
Finally, you can find the latest from ESPN's John Buccigross, here.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ericmcerlain.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2980
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.)
07:30 AM