12/30/11 - Studs & Duds

[bondon]

Part two of b0ndon's double dose. Sick of me yet? Feel free to piss on any of the suggestions, had family over tonight so didn't see a single hockey game. On that same note, I'm exhausted so I kept it short haha.

Studs

3) Two Russians and a Swede walk into a hockey arena... and completely run the show - Boy is it nice to see Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Semin on the score sheet again. The talented trio was responsible for all of the Capital's offense tonight as they each chipped in with two points. Ovechkin scored twice, Backstrom got a goal and an assist, and Semin tossed in two helpers.

2) Corey Crawford - Kudos to the young goalie to battle hard and take the number-one job back from Ray Emery. He stopped 26/28 tonight for the W against the Red Wings, his fourth solid start in a row. No doubt the goaltending situation in Chicago is going to be a rollercoaster ride all season but the ball is in Crawford's court, and I expect him to hang onto it for most of the season.

1) Richards and Hagelin bounce back - After each going pointless and minus-three in their last game, Brad Richards and Carl Hagelin redeemed themselves by each picking up a goal, an assist and a plus-three rating. Both played an instrumental role in the Rangers' win. The King was the King, spectacular as always stopping 27/28 for the W.

Duds

3) Ryan Miller - Wake up please Mr. Miller. 18/21 isn't going to cut it.

2) Calgary Embers - After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead the Flames just shut down, allowing the Senators to mount an awesome comeback to eventually win in overtime. The Flames' checking line of Jackman/Morrison/Kostopoulos were terrible as they all went minus-two.

1) Mike Weaver - What a nice way to reward your club that gave you a two-year extension by being on the ice for all of the other teams goals that night. Team-worst minus-four tonight, rough going for Weaver.

Quick Hits

Milestones - Congrats to Daniel Alfredsson who scored his 400th career goal tonight, which was the game-winner in OT. Congrats also to Nicklas Backstrom who scored his 100th goal, also the game-winner.

Leland Irving -Incredible again for the Calgary Flames despite the loss. In three starts for them this year he has faced 41, 30, and 49 shots respectively, and has turned out a save percentage of .942. Someone get this guy a Powerade.

Erik Karlsson - An impressive eight shots on goal for the young stud. He added a goal and an assist to bring his point total to 35 in 38 games. While he still makes blunders in his own end, his offensive skill has evened the scales as he now sits at a manageable minus-one on the season.

DE-FENCE - Tonight's schedule had two defensive coaches pitted against each other, as Trotz and the Predators faced Hitchcock and the Blues. The game lived up to expectations as a total of two goals were scored, both in the first period. Rinne (35/36) and Halak (33/34) were phenomenal in this game as they took it to the fifth round of the shootout where Martin Erat scored to end it.

[TK12555]

Thanks buddy. I'll cover a Thursday for you. Long day for me and not enough time to review all the games and such

[bondon]

No problem buddy, you stupid coconut.

[TK12555]

No problem buddy, you stupid coconut.

Just wondering, why am I a coconut hahaha

[metaldude26]

3) Two Russians and a Swede walk into a hockey arena... and completely run the show

Does that make Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin the "punch line".

[bondon]

Does that make Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin the "punch line".

Shouldn't have tried to force it

[TK12555]

I feel bad for Irving. He played so well, but his team played so bad. He was sooo pissed after OT.

[metaldude26]

Wake up please Mr. Miller. 18/21 isn't going to cut it.

Cut him some slack. He got socked by the "punch line".