February 26, 2004
NHL Roundup
Pittsburgh's long national nightmare is over. Rick Bowness' has probably just begun.
Ric Jackman scored with 3:12 remaining in overtime, as Pittsburgh snapped its 18-game winless streak with a 4-3 win over the Coyotes in Phoenix. It was an inauspicious debut for interim Coyotes head coach Rick Bowness, who was given the job on Tuesday night when the team fired Bobby Francis. It was the first win for Pittsburgh since January 12th in Philadelphia.
With a chance to climb to the top of the Eastern Conference standings, Toronto bonked once more, getting shutout 4-0 by Robert Luongo and las Panteras de Florida. Luongo had 33 saves, and Juraj Kolnik scored twice for Florida.
Patrick Elias had two goals and three assists in New Jersey's 8-2 demolition of Buffalo. While Jamie Langenbrunner was powering the New Jersey offense early in the season, Elias and his linemates, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta have been unstoppable as of late. With the win, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur became the first goalie in NHL history to win 30 games in nine straight seasons.
In a Southeast Division showdown, Tampa Bay beat Atlanta, 4-2. Vincent Lecavalier got the tie-breaking goal in the third period to salt it away for the Lightning. It was Tampa Bay's first win at the Philips Arena in eight tries. On the other end of the division, Carolina edged Washington 2-1. Jeff O'Neill got the game winner on a two-man advantage midway through the second period, as the Caps only managed 5 shots in the game's first 28 minutes. Arturs Irbe, who had spent most of the season in the minors, got the win for Carolina.
In Dallas, the Kings and Stars tied 1-1, but the real news concerned Stars center Mike Modano, who left the game in the first period with a groin injury. He's listed as day-to-day. Elsewhere out West, Chicago beat Columbus 4-3 and Anaheim tripped up Edmonton, 4-2.
In off-ice news, the Avalanche acquired center Darby Hendrickson from the Minnesota Wild. Hendrickson, who has played most of the season in the minors, gives Colorado some depth behind Andrei Nikolishin.
And in Vancouver, while Marcus Naslund has returned to practice to skate with the Canucks, GM Brian Burke is trying to start to put some pressure on his bosses to get a new deal done:
Brian Burke says he was just stating facts when he called himself a "lame duck general manager" with the Vancouver Canucks.
Burke also said not having a contract in place for next year isn't preventing him from doing his job with the NHL team.
"All I did was address something factually," Burke said Wednesday. "If people don't like that, too bad.
Tom Benjamin thinks Burke is just a "lucky duck".
And tonight in New York, Tom Renney makes his debut as interim head coach of the New York Rangers. He faces the Islanders his first time out, a team the Rangers have beat five times this season.
UPDATE: In the Washington Post, Jason LaCanfora is reporting that activity in and around the Capitals is starting to boil over. Besides the usual suspects, it looks like winger Mike Grier might be available for the right price. Even better, it seems as if the Toronto Maple Leafs are upping their offer for Sergei Gonchar, something that might have some of my readers pretty worried.
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07:41 AM