Most kids idolize a particular athlete and basically worship the ground he or she walks on. When we were younger it was Magic Johnson, until that one fateful day when he took the microphone and said the words that shook us right to our cores: “Welcome to the Magic Hour!” We still get shivers thinking about it. For this kid, it’s Flames goalie Mikka Kiprusoff.
With the game out of hand on Saturday night, Calgary backup goalie Jamie McLennan went a little nuts and whacked Johan Franzen in the midsection with his stick. As you can see from the video, it’s not a huge slash but the NHL came down hard on McLennan and the Flames for the violation.
McLennan got a five game suspension, his coach got a $25k fine, and the Flames’ organization got a $100,000 fine. The league had warned all teams about any shady business late it the game after a game was out of control.
Franzen, the recipient of the lumber, got the last laugh as he scored the game-winning goal in OT of game 6 on Sunday to send the Flames packing from the playoffs.
Links:
[Canada.com]: NHL suspends Flames goalie 5 games
1. Bondra To Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks received a much-needed offensive boost on Sunday, signing veteran sniper Peter Bondra to a one-year contract. Bondra currently sits with 489 career goals, which, for the mathematically challenged, is only two short of 500. According to AP reports, the five-time All-Star selection could be in the lineup for the Blackhawks on Tuesday, pending a physical. Chicago could benefit from the goal-scoring abilities of Bondra–the Hawks are an unimpressive 27th in the league with only 67 goals scored on the season. While he could help Chi-Town in that area of things, it’s doubtful anything will be able to pull this team into playoff contention… the Blackhawks are currently 12th in the Western Conference.
2. Comfortable At Home…
When they’re playing at the Pangrowth Saddledome, the Calgary Flames are doing an awesome job of living up to their name. Calgary has been red-hot at home of late, winning nine straight on the warm comforts of home ice. Their most recent victory came on Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks, with the Flames prevailing in a 5-3 effort. Aside from being their ninth straight win at the Saddledome, it was the fifth win in the last six games for Calgary. Jerome Iginla netted a goal with two helpers, and Mikka Kiprusoff had a solid game with 26 saves, securing his 14th win of the season. The Flames, who started the year at the bottom of the Northwest Division, have surged up to third place–only three points behind Minnesota and Edmonton for the lead.
3. …And On The Road
The Anaheim Ducks cushioned their dominance of the NHL this season, with a 4-3 win over a struggling Tampa Bay club on Saturday night. It was the fifth consecutive road triumph for the Ducks, and added to their NHL-leading 52 points. Dustin Penner recorded two goals for the Ducks in the victory. Anaheim picked the right year to thrash the league: in the Duck-dominated Pacific Division, second-place Dallas would be leading four other divisions with an impressive 42 points. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was their fifth loss in the last six games.
Check It Out
Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal explains why he thinks online voting for the All-Star Game is a joke. The evidence he provides is quite relevant, focusing around Rory Fitzpatrick of the Vancouver Canucks. Rory has been in only 16 games this year, with no points recorded on the season. Hey, all of his campaign efforts have been fun to check out, so here’s hoping he makes it anyway.
Game of the Night: Pittsburgh at Washington
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin meet Alex Ovechkin in a showcase of NHL youth
The Last Shot
In an incredibly unfortunate turn of events on Friday night, 25-year-old Laura Gainey was thrown off of a vessel by a huge wave that hit the ship. Extensive ocean searches have yielded nothing thus far in regards to finding her at sea. Gainey is the daughter of Montreal Canadeins GM Bob Gainey, who is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (Gainey won five Stanley Cups in his playing career). Our condolences go out to the Gainey family.
1. Jagr Scores #600
Jaromir Jagr etched his name into the hockey record books on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. With his first period goal, Jagr became only the sixteenth player in NHL history to hit the twine 600 times (he also added two assists in the game to contribute to a 4-1 win over the Lightning).
Jagr epitomizes everything that makes the NHL great–an incredible intensity, relentless passion, and an unmatched motivational drive to be great. A first-round draft pick of Pittsburgh in 1990 (what’s the deal with all of these great Penguin 1st rounders?), he played 11 seasons for the Pens before moving on to a brief stint with the Washington Capitals. During the 2003-’04 season, he packed his bags to move along to New York, where he’s become the captain of the Rangers. Currently, he is only 46 points shy of 1500 for his career.
2. Dunham Dominates
Getting a rare start in net was just what Islander Mike Dunham needed on Saturday night. Rick DiPietro’s backup stopped 43 shots in a victorious 4-1 effort against the Florida Panthers at the Bank Atlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale. The Islanders have played well on this five-game road trip, posting a record of 3-0-1. They will complete the road stand tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, then head back to the Nassau Coliseum for a contest with the Hurricanes on Wednesday. New York needs help from their primary goaltender to stay on the right track; so far this year, DiPietro is a sub-par 6-5-1. The Isles are sitting hot on the heels of their New York counterpart for 2nd in the Atlantic Division.
3. Flames Are Hot
The Calgary Flames put an end to the Detroit Red Wings’ nine game winning streak on Friday night, coming away with a 4-1 win. Perhaps more importantly, it was the sixth straight win for Calgary–throwing them right into the mix of things in the Western Conference after a less than stellar start. Mikka Kiprusoff is looking like his usual self on this hot streak, giving up only six goals and posting two shutouts. The Flames will go for their 7th win in a row when they face the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Check It Out
Columnist Paula Wolf tries her best to explain the woes of the Philadelphia Flyers this season. You have to praise Paula for even trying, because this Philly club is a bit of a mystery. At 5-13-2, they’re simply playing with no life–and the on-again-off-again injuries of captain Peter Forsberg are never a welcome sidestory for Flyers fans.
Game of the Night: Florida at Boston
Bruins going for 5th straight win
The Last Shot
Jaromir Jagr is not the only Ranger to reach the 600 goal plateau… Brendan Shanahan scored #600 in New York’s first game of the season.
1. Awesome in OT
The Buffalo Sabres continue to take care of business, and look to be a Stanley Cup contender come playoff time. They racked up another win on Saturday night, drowning the already dead Philadelphia Flyers. The 5-4 overtime victory was the third straight win for Buffalo in the extra period. Daniel Briere had an outstanding game, scoring two goals–one to tie it, and another to win it. While the Sabres continue to roll along, the Flyers continue to fall to the pit of the NHL. The giant wing on their jerseys has been clipped this year; at 3-11-2, Philly is dead last in the Eastern Conference. Even Flyers fans are having a hard time remembering the times when team was actually good. That’s an unfortunate thing, since it really wasn’t that long ago. It doesn’t help that they’ve been without captain Peter Forsberg, who has been battling a nagging ankle injury and is listed as day-to-day.
2. Jinxed
Friday’s post on Crashing the Zamboni featured the Anaheim Ducks and their emergence to begin the season. With their 12-0-4 mark, they set a record for most games without a regulation loss to start a season. On the same night of the post, the Ducks suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Calgary Flames–and it didn’t come in overtime or a shootout. Our apologies go out to the Ducks and their fans, who we’re sure were hoping to see their team go without a regulation loss this year. But don’t just blame us: Mikka Kiprusoff had a stellar performance, stopping all 37 shots that came his direction on the way to a shutout victory.
Anaheim would avenge the loss with another victory on Sunday night over the Wild, 3-2. Currently, their record stands at 13-1-2, by far the best in the Western Conference.
3. Preds Victorious
The Nashville Predator skated to a 1-0 victory on Saturday night, attempting to keep up with the Red Wings in the Central. Chris Mason was a brick wall between the pipes, saving his way to a shutout win with a career-high 42 saves. As a backup to Tomas Vokoun, it was his first shutout in the four games he’s started on the year. Scott Upshall scored the only goal of the game in the first period, but it was enough to fend off the Avalanche, who have slipped into last in the Northwest Division. This was the third 1-0 game in the NHL in the past week, which is exactly what the league is trying to stay away from with the rule changes put in effect last year (the other two games were a Dallas victory over Phoenix on Thursday and a Chicago win over Columbus last night).
Check It Out
SI.com’s Allan Muir looks into the struggles of the Columbus Blue Jackets, perhaps the most irrelevant team in the league. He suggests sniper Rick Nash is the problem, and if the Columbus Blue Jackets want to get rolling, then that is the guy that needs to put up numbers. Playing in the same division as Detroit and Nashville, it may be quite a while before the Blue Jackets actually have an impact on this league.
Game of the Night: Buffalo at Carolina
Rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference finals (Hurricanes won in seven games)
The Last Shot
The Chicago Blackhawks actually won a game on Sunday night. Oh, wait… they faced Columbus. Does that really count?
The last of the top rated western conference seeds went down yesterday as the Ducks dropped the Flames 3-0 in Calgary. Watching the game on OLN, the Pengrowth Saddledome (what an awkward name) was dead silent when Salei scored to make it 2-0. Flames fans knew that a comeback was highly unlikely they way Ducks goaltender Bryzgalov was playing.
At the end of the game, they showed a Flames fan offering congratulations to a Ducks fan in the stands. Dare we say that if this was Philly, that would never have happened, unless the handshake was a ploy to drag the opposing fan closer for a punch in the face. We were rooting hard for the Flames too. Not because we have an interest in the club, but we imagine that a run through the Stanley Cup playoffs would have brought us more pictures like these. Ahhh… missed opportunities.
Meanwhile, in Detroit, the Pistons felt they had had enough of the Bucks and blew them out to clinch their series. With the other series going 6 or 7 games, the Pistons will get some rest as they await their next opponent.