11/7/11 Studs & Duds

[pharling]

Last night was a slow night in the NHL with only two games on the schedule.
Studs

1. The Boston Bruins are back in championship form having scored 13 goals in their last two games. Last night the big guns rewarded fantasy owners with multi-point nights from Horton, Krejci, Lucic, and Chara
Horton: 2 Goals, 1 Assist, +1, 2 SOG, 1 PPG
Krejci: 1 Goal, 2 Assists, +1, 4 SOG, 55.5% FOW
Lucic: 1 Goal, 1 Assist, +1, 4 PIM, 2 SOG
Chara: 2 Assists, 2 PIM, 4 SOG
The line of Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin while not as prominent on the score sheet was dominant for most of the game with a combined one goal and nine SOG

2. Patrick Marleau had a big second period scoring a goal and two assists for a three point night in the win over LA last night. Marleau was slightly disappointing for fantasy owners this season to date but in 13 games now
4 goals, 8 assists for 12 points and +6 Marleau is delivering.

3. Al Montoya came in relief of Nabokov last night after 14:07 in the first period after the Islanders fell behind 3-1. Montoya played exceptional and held the Bruins in check allowing only 2 two goals in 24 shots with a .916 save%. If it were not for Montoya's strong performance the score would not have been as respectable as Boston dominated all night long.

Honorable Mention
Tyler Seguin played such a great game I had to mention him specifically. Seguin had several chances to score last night and was inches away from scoring back to back hat tricks. His +1 last night gives him a league leading +/- of +11 on the season now.

Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner each had a goal and an assist in last nights loss.
In the West Dan Boyle, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Anze Kopitar, and Drew Doughty all had two point nights as well

Duds
1. Evgeni Nabokov was pulled after 14:07 of the first period allowing three goals in 12 shots. Nabokov attempted to return to the NHL last season with the Detroit but was claimed off waivers by the Islanders. He refused to play but reported this season, presumably hoping to play well and be traded to a contender. With a record of 1-3 a GAA of 2.81 and a save % of .911 he will have to do much better.

2. Jack Johnson. You may be surprised to see Johnson as a dud since he blasted a goal in from the from the point to give the Kings the lead. However Johnson was a -3 on the night.

3. Dustin Penner was held off the score sheet again last night and he continues to struggle mightily since being acquired last season. In 12 games Penner has zero goals, one assist, is -3. With a cap hit of $4.25M fantasy owners can't give him away!

Dishonorable Mention

Tim Connolly is injured again. Shocking!
Q) What does Tim Connolly and a tampon have in common?
A) Both are in for one week, and out for three

Dan Paille used his face to block a point shot from Steve Staios last night. Thankfully Paille wears a visor otherwise he may be dead! This incident gives strength to the mandatory visors in the NHL debate.

Georges Laraque is the NHL version of Jose Canseco claiming his peers were using steroids and that "Wayne Gretzky was the worst coach he ever had"
Shame on you Georges.

[thatbirdguy]

Laraque.

And to be fair - Gretzky was a TERRIBLE coach.

[pharling]

Laraque, oops right. Thanks!
I admit Wayne was not the greatest coach, but to call him "the worst he ever had" I think is unfair. I am sure Laraque had worse in his entire life!
So what was he attempting to accomplish by trash talking Gretzky? I guess to make noise to sell his book. Seems to me all it did was tarnish his reputation.
I think it was classless and uncalled for.
And good on Jermey Roenick for defending Gretzky yesterday on Toronto radio. JR said he was a bad coach and relied on his assistants heavily, but had a bad team (and JR was on that team) and therefore he gives Gretzky a pass.
A much better way to say it.

[thatbirdguy]

Puck Daddy did a good piece on this controversy the other day (and I'm not defending Laraque, the guy drives me nuts). If we take the quote in context as NHL career (which we probably should, I'm sure the guy isn't comparing 99 to his midget coach).

Now, in fairness, Laraque only played for Ron Low, Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, Michael Therrien, Guy Carbonneau, Bob Gainey and Jacques Martin during his NHL career; and by comparison, Gretzky wasn't a better coach than any of them, with the caveat that Lowe only coached a single season (but still made the playoffs).

And, in fairness, Wayne Gretzky was a terrible coach.

He stepped down with a 143-161-24 record and four seasons without a playoff appearance. His tenure was marred by scandal and cronyism, and ultimately reinforced that immortal players make for very mortal coaches.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puc...rn=nhl-wp16833

[bondon]

Either way Laraque is an idiot. This was my favourite quote from the article

So, in summary: Laraque isn't wrong about Gretzky, Pang isn't wrong about Laraque, but Laraque is wrong about Pang using Twitter to defend his guy, because the dude asking for an on-the-downlow conversation to settle beefs probably shouldn't have, you know, called out Wayne Gretzky by name in a book.

[newper114]

Finally nice to see Horton and marleau up on the honorable side of things

[dyzfunctioned]

Penner's a bum, but to be fair last night was his best game of the season IMO.

[bondon]

Penner's a bum, but to be fair last night was his best game of the season IMO.

Agree for the most part. I heard in the third period though he was kind of scrubby again. He was very involved in the first period though, had a few really good scoring chances including a breakaway. Justin Williams gave praise to Penner in the 1st period intermission.

[keytolife]

Penner's a bum, but to be fair last night was his best game of the season IMO.

Omg that line killed me right now.

In my native language German Penner actually means "bum".

[dyzfunctioned]

Omg that line killed me right now.

In my native language German Penner actually means "bum".

Haha, that's awesome.