1/16/12 Studs & Duds

[pharling]

A rare six game night in the NHL due to MLK day, so lets get at your Studs & Duds!

Studs

Best in the West
Don't look now but the St. Louis Blues are the best in the West, and tied with the Rangers for tops in the League. Since Hitchcock arrived, the Blues season has pulled a 180 and he has to be a nominee for the jack Adams. In the month of January the Blues are 6-0-1. Halak earned the win and his second shutout in three games. Yes, it looks like Dobbers golden boy Jaro Halak is paying off for all the Halak fantasy owners who stood by Dobbs advice and held on to Halak.

Detroit Red Wins
Jimmy Howard had a shutout as well, making 27 saves giving Detroit their franchise record 15th straight home victory! It is fair to say that the Detroit franchise is the class of the league. They consistently win, draft well, manage the cap well, treat their players with respect...I tip my hat!

Streaking Jets and Sens swap roles
Winnipeg went into Ottawa with a 1-0-5 record in the last six games to play the Sens who are 6-1-0 in their last seven games. Both streaks were snapped as the Jets walked away with the 2-0 win

Honorable mentions
Looks like the Leafs and Red Wings will play in next years winter classic

Ryan Ellis is a rising star in Nashville. in his first nine games he has five points (three on the power play)

Tyler Seguin set up Patrice Bergeron for two goals last night in the win over Florida. Bergeron also scored in the shoot out.

Detroit's top line of Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Franzen lit up miller for three points each.

Duds

Buff-a-low Sabres
What is going on in Buffalo? Last night Miller was pulled (again) after 24:32 minutes in which he allowed five goals on 14 shots for a pitiful .642 save %.
Jordan Leopold and Mike Weber shared in the shame with a plus/minus of -4 each. The Sabres were shut out! Something has to give in Buffalo.

The Av not's
Some teams have it, some don't. last night, Colorado was a Av not team getting shelled 6-1 by Phoenix. Cody Mcleod and Kyle Quincy each posted a plus/minus -3 while Varlamov played 60 minutes allowing six goals on 33 shots for a .818 save %

That hurts
Added to the IR list for at least a month each are three key players. Mike Green, Mike Ribiero, and Mikko Koivu. Green has only played 3 games all season and is likely shut down for the rest of the season. He should be healthy for the playoffs.....but Andrei Markov was supposed to be ready for the beginning of the season!

Dishonorable Mention
Sport Net reported yesterday that former Leaf GM John Ferguson jr. is rumored to be the next GM in Columbus.........Really!!!!!!
No wonder Columbus is the worst franchise in the NHL!

Thanks for reading

[metaldude26]

Not sure it actually hurts that Green is on the IR. Last time he was injured it took until he was back in the line up for him to go on IR. That lasted one day. Frankly he can sit his rooster haircutted ass on the IR for the rest of the year.

[Boogeypop]

Koivu and Ribeiro both in 1 week, ouch for me.