Sharks doing their annual early season dominance, Pens keep winning but for how long?

This is our third NHL season doing the blog and every year at this time we’ve opened the season and commented on how unbeatable the Sharks look and every season they have made us look bad by folding in the second half. In fact last year San Jose was busy setting records for home ice dominance and the daily poll was asking when/if they would lose. Where here we are again and although they have tasted defeat on the road they’re doing it again at home (5-0-1) with the best record in the NHL again at 12-4-2, but we’re not falling for it again. So this year we’re asking what will be the Sharks undoing? Lack of clutch goalkeeping, defense, inconsistency at the center position? After a 5-0 shutout of the Pens it seems like the pundits are ready to hoist the cup for them before the season is 20% done, but we know better. Or do we? I’ll tell ya the front line players Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau look awesome with 22 points each in only 18 games, by far the most formidable tandem in the league so far, and we’re waiting for someone to step up and keep us from jumping on the bandwagon again this year, the only question is will there be any takers?

On the other side of the Mason-Dixon are the Pittsburgh Penguins who seem to keep winning even though Crosby is in the midst of his worst scoring slump as a professional, and the injuries are piling up as fast as the wins. Going into this week the Pens list of injuries reads like an all-star team: Max Talbot, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, and now Kris Letang? If they can manage to stay above the cut line by the time they get healthy they’ll be shooting par for the course. Then again, we know everyone remembers how far they went when they snuck into the final 8 when they were on the outside looking in with just under two weeks to go in the season. Don’t count them out, and don’t count the Sharks in. Now that we’ve had a chance so see a few rotations, who do you think will be around in the end? Let us know here and in any of the quick links:
NHL Scoreboard
NHL Schedule
NHL Chat Rooms

Season opens on the road for the NHL

The new year’s promises have been made as the season gets under way and in the West it’s the cellar dwellers from last year that have gotten out of the blocks the quickest, attempting to put all of the resolutions to practice, while in the East it’s business as usual. Phoenix, is splitting time between bankruptcy court appearances and the ‘thin’ ice to take the lead in the Pacific, with fellow non-playoff participant LA right behind them. Columbus and St. Louis have both gotten out to a 2-0 start in the Central with the Blues splitting the net 9 times in two games. On the other side, the last teams standing were are the first ones rising as the Flyers are off to a 3-0 start and putting up 13 goals in three games and the Pens are right behind them at 2-0. Montreal is out to an early lead in the Midwest and the Caps seem to have an offensive juggernaut scoring 15 goals in 3 games but their defense hasn’t caught up yet, yielding 11 at the same time. It’s still the first round so we’ll see how things look when everyone comes back from the European showcase games and gets back to business. Who has gotten off to the start they needed to set the tone for the year? Who do you think will be the last unbeaten team in the NHL this year? Let us know here and in the NHL team rooms and chat rooms.

NHL draft has some spark of it's own

NHL 2009 Draft First Round
PK TEAM............SELECTION
1. N.Y. Islanders..John Tavares
2. Tampa Bay.......Victor Hedman
3. Colorado........Matt Duchene
4. Atlanta.........Evander Kane
5. Los Angeles.....Brayden Schenn
6. Phoenix.........Oliver Ekman Larsson
7. Toronto.........Nazem Kadri
8. Dallas..........Scott Glennie
9. Ottawa..........Jared Cowen
10. Edmonton........M. Paajarvi-Svensson
11. Nashville.......Ryan Ellis
12. N.Y. Islanders..Calvin de Haan(from Min)
13. Buffalo.........Zack Kassian
14. Florida.........Dmitry Kulikov
15. Anaheim.........Peter Holland
16. Minnesota.......Nick Leddy (from NYI)
17. St. Louis.......David Rundblad
18. Montreal........Louis Leblanc
19. N.Y. Rangers....Chris Kreider
20. New Jersey......Jacob Josefson(from CGY)
21. Columbus........John Moore(from ANA)
22. Vancouver.......Jordan Schroeder
23. Calgary.........Tim Erixon(from NJ)
24. Washington......Marcus Johansson
25. Boston..........Jordan Caron
26. Anaheim.........Kyle Palmieri(from CLS)
27. Carolina........Philippe Paradis
28. Chicago.........Dylan Olsen
29. Tampa Bay.......Carter Ashton(from DET)
30. Pittsburgh......Simon Despres

Pens defy odds win first road game 7 since 79’

Like their brothers in arms, the Pittsburgh Pirates that completed the feat back in 79’ going into Baltimore to beat the Orioles and win the World Series, the Penguins went into Joe Louis Arena, took control early, then held on for 2-1 win to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup. Despite losing Sid the Kid for the entire 3rd due to injury, they had just a big enough lead, and just enough gas in the tank to hold on. At one point in the third the Wings had seven shots on goal to none for the Pens, including one goal. Pitt didn’t get a shot for the entire period, clearly hanging on for dear life. Perhaps Detroit was paying too much attention to Crosby and Malkin, as it was Talbot who did the damage again, scoring twice in the second period to provide the margin of victory. The defending champs just didn’t get the efforts from the players they thought would bring it, and leave it, in a game 7. For example, many expected Hossa to make a difference, 18 minutes on the ice with not a lot of ink on the stat sheet to show for it. Lindstrom and Zetterburg had 3 and 5 shots respectively but Fleury was not the same guy the torched for 5 goals in game 5. Super Mario’s gang delivered as promised, protecting their house in game 6, then taking their show on the road and making history in game 7. What was the turning point for the Wings and why couldn’t they put the Pens away? Let us know here and in the Stanley Cup Finals chat room and team rooms.