[Savage Henry]

Speaking of soft players, Martin Havlat's out for another six weeks after another injury. I have no idea why the Sharks traded away Dany Heatley for him.

[RWB]

Haven't posted this season but worth mentioning a Devils 6-0 lead away to Flyers just now with a period still to go. Devils are playing pretty well but have also made Flyers pay for stupid penalties and scored 3 PP goals, 2 of them 5 on 3 I think. This was one of the worst PP teams on the league but have picked up recently.

With a 1-0 lead and Flyers on a PP we should've been facing a 3 v 5 as well but the ref ignored a trip in centre ice and Kovalchuk raced away to score short-handed. Not unusual this season. Flyers basically lost the plot after that. At 0-2 and with a bit of composure Flyers could have worked there way back into this one but decided that brute force and late hits would fix things. No sympathy now.

Penguins tomorrow as well so will be interesting if we reduce some ice-time for the top line in the 3rd.

Edit: Comeback on. 6-3. Sadly Flyers have reverted to their disgusting cheap shots again. Horrible.
Edit 2: 6-4. The big flare up cost us a few defenders in penalty minutes along with all their guys too so we've been suckered in to their game.
Edit 3: 6-4 win. Not often we win at their place so a good two points. Totally soured for me by Flyers antics off the puck. Glad Kovalchuk flattened their guy in his fight. Not the easy 3rd period I might have hoped for though.

Edit 4: Rinaldo slewfoots Parise / Kovy - Schenn fight
Edit 5: Rinaldo got fined $2500 for that and another $2500 for a late hit earlier in the game.

I can see players thinking it won't matter what they do on the ice as it's a standard $2500 fine. Do repeat offenders get a bigger fine/suspension?

This post has been edited by RWB: 05 February 2012 - 15:32

[RWB]

Devils put the Penguins away 5-2 in a more low key game the other night (19 goals in 4 games!) and followed it up last night by beating Rangers 1-0. Great for 2 periods again before Rangers turned up in the last. They 'equalised' with 5 seconds to go but this was disallowed for goalie interference. Naturally the forums have seen some lively debate about this incident!



Bottom line is it's 4 wins in a week against Atlantic division rivals with 2 versus the leaders Rangers and others against Flyers and Penguins. Montreal were the other team on the receiving end of the improving Devils.

I expect us to fall flat v Blues at home on Thursday now.

[Desert Nomad]

2013 Winter Classic announced as Leafs@Wings to be held at Michigan University`s home stadium at Ann Arbor. I think I`m right in saying it is the biggest stadium in the States.

[Mr. Brightside]

The Flames currently have an awful habit or losing games in OT or an SO, it must have happened at least 10 times quite recently.

[Virtual Insanity]

RWB, on 04 February 2012 - 20:02, said:

I can see players thinking it won't matter what they do on the ice as it's a standard $2500 fine. Do repeat offenders get a bigger fine/suspension?

In a word yes. There has been a bigger crackdown than ever on big hits under the new VP of Hockey Operations or whatever he is called, disciplinary head and former NHL superstar Brendan Shanahan. Previous gets taken into account and Rinaldo had actually been behaving much better this season up until this game.

Desert Nomad, on 10 February 2012 - 11:44, said:

2013 Winter Classic announced as Leafs@Wings to be held at Michigan University`s home stadium at Ann Arbor. I think I`m right in saying it is the biggest stadium in the States.

Yup, third biggest stadium in the world according to Wkipedia. I've been to see it but unfortunately there were no games on when I was there. SHould be a stunning spectacle.

[Latino Lover]

I'm hoping to take in a game in the New York/ Boston area in early April, any advice?

[Virtual Insanity]

Depends when you're there and what you want I guess. Boston are playing at the Rangers on 1st April which should be good, two of the best teams in the NHL at the moment, but tickets will be hard to come by, although that is true of most games as it's right at the end of the regular season. Don't bother with the Islanders as they will definitely be out of playoff contention, so going to either of their games in early April is unlikely to be very exciting. Check out the price of that Rangers game and if it's in your range and available, go for it. Both teams will have made the playoffs already but there is a decent chance they will still be vying for position which will make it quite a big game and you get to see two of the best teams in the NHL.

My other idea would be to consider going to New Jersey for a game, not too far and they will probably be going down to the wire for a playoff spot. Best bet in that respect would be Ottawa at New Jersey, which is the last game of the regular season and has two teams who will be there or thereabouts at the playoff cutoff come then, but again could make tickets difficult to get. New York Rangers also host the Washington Capitals last game, who again will be close to the cutoff and gives you the chance to see Alex Ovechkin, still (probably) the second biggest name in the game, albeit underperforming.

[Latino Lover]

Cheers, I get to Nyc on the 3rd, Rangers game looks very pricey and Devils game just over in Newark may be better option although I'd love to say I've been to the MSG. Not in Boston til 10th and it will be the play offs by then.

[Honest_Man#1]

Been to a couple of playoff games in Boston, if they are playing Montreal then it's electric atmosphere. If you could get tickets, they will be expensive, I'd highly suggest a playoff game. Been to MSG loads of times and been to the Prudential in Newark a couple of times and it's a really nice new stadium.

[A-Mac]

FLAMES!!!! good win today.

[Savage Henry]

Latino Lover, on 11 February 2012 - 14:15, said:

Cheers, I get to Nyc on the 3rd, Rangers game looks very pricey and Devils game just over in Newark may be better option although I'd love to say I've been to the MSG. Not in Boston til 10th and it will be the play offs by then.

The $100 tickets at MSG are excellent value for what is a one off experience. A beer and a foot long hot dog make a terrific evening. Incidentally, wear a coat. It's quite cold at ice hockey. I had to ask before I went.

I'd also take in a baseball game while you are there. Americans do regular season sports events well.

[Latino Lover]

Savage Henry, on 12 February 2012 - 06:57, said:

The $100 tickets at MSG are excellent value for what is a one off experience. A beer and a foot long hot dog make a terrific evening. Incidentally, wear a coat. It's quite cold at ice hockey. I had to ask before I went.

I'd also take in a baseball game while you are there. Americans do regular season sports events well.

I've been to an Angels game before and it wasn't bad, going to go to Fenway but the only night the Red Sox are playing whilst I'm in Boston is for the season opener which looks mega pricey. Will hopefully get to a Mets game and just take the Fenway tour,

[sergie's no1 fan]

Does anyone have any links to watch the games? My pal is asking .

Read this thread and its made me want to get back into watching the hockey.Not watched it for years

I'm a San jose Sharks man myself, only reason was i liked their kit when i had NHL 95 for the mega drive .

How are they looking?

[A-Mac]

1 point off a playoff spot

[A-Mac]

8th spot in the West

[Savage Henry]

sergie, on 12 February 2012 - 22:07, said:

Does anyone have any links to watch the games? My pal is asking .

Read this thread and its made me want to get back into watching the hockey.Not watched it for years

I'm a San jose Sharks man myself, only reason was i liked their kit when i had NHL 95 for the mega drive .

How are they looking?

I like the Sharks myself, too. They're there or thereabouts as per usual, looking good for a playoff spot and the inevitable choke job.

[A-Mac]

I usually use http://livetv.ru/en/ for just about every sport stream.

[sergie's no1 fan]

Tried to watch the game last night, Sharks ended up 4-0 in the 1st period from what i remember, i dosed off.

I'm a jinx

[Savage Henry]

So... any big trades at the deadline?

[Mr. Brightside]

Iggy just took on Beauchemin and won IMO. It's all tied up at 1-1 the now.

[Virtual Insanity]

Canucks traded Hodgson for Kassian. Pretty big as he was our number 1 prospect and was putting up some pretty good NHL numbers this year. We'll see how that pans out. On an unrelated note, here is a wonderful statistic: If the playoffs were tomorrow and Winnipeg and Florida made it in, 30 teams would have made the playoffs since the lockout (2005-06). The Maple Leafs would not be one of them.

[Bluenose5]

Virtual Insanity, on 03 March 2012 - 10:03, said:

Canucks traded Hodgson for Kassian. Pretty big as he was our number 1 prospect and was putting up some pretty good NHL numbers this year. We'll see how that pans out. On an unrelated note, here is a wonderful statistic: If the playoffs were tomorrow and Winnipeg and Florida made it in, 30 teams would have made the playoffs since the lockout (2005-06). The Maple Leafs would not be one of them.

To be fair to the Leafs they are only 3pts out of a playoff spot so far so doing fairly well as for my Habs they beat us this morning to add to our miserable season so far. Everyone especially in Canada who doesn't support either the Habs or the Leafs wishes their own team had the support both Montreal and Toronto give to their team, especially Toronto for such a big team to have under-achieved for so long.

[Mr. Brightside]

Curtis Glencross is on fire at the moment, he's got 7 in 7. Flames win 4-3 and are now 8th in the West.

This post has been edited by Mr. Brightside: 12 March 2012 - 00:31

[A-Mac]

Sven with his first NHL goal, many more to come.