 |
STATS |
 |
| 25 | GP | 25 |
| 15 | W | 14 |
| 8 | L | 10 |
| 2 | OT | 1 |
| 32 | P | 29 |
| 0.640 | P% | 0.580 |
| 2.96 | G/G | 2.88 |
| 2.44 | GA/G | 2.64 |
| 16.4 | PP% | 16.3 |
| 90.2 | PK% | 82.6 |
| 32.0 | S/G | 27.6 |
| 28.2 | SA/G | 30.6 |
| 49.8 | FO% | 44.4 |
| DATE | VIS/HOME | FINAL |
| Nov 15, 2010 | NYR@PIT | NYR, 3 – 2 |
PENGUINS (15-8-2) at RANGERS (14-10-1)
TV: FS-P (HD), MSG (HD)
Last 10: Pittsburgh 8-1-1; New York 7-3-0
Season series: This is the second of six meetings between the clubs this season. The first one was a thriller won by the Rangers in overtime, 3-2, on Nov. 15.
Big Story — Both Atlantic Division teams are playing well yet neither can catch the red-hot Flyers. This is the first time they’ve seen each other since that fantastic finish in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Chris Kunitz scored the tying goal with 2:31 left in regulation and Matt Cooke gave the Penguins the lead 38 seconds later. Pittsburgh went on a power play right after Cooke’s goal when Henrik Lundqvistwhacked his stick over the crossbar and received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. However, Rangers defenseman Marc Staal managed to slither in a shorthanded goal with 1:26 to play and then Ryan Callahan won it for the Blueshirts in overtime on a fantastic 2-on-1 with Brandon Dubinsky.
Team Scope:
Penguins — Six years into his career and Sidney Crosby has arguably never been better. Crosby is on pace for his best season ever and he enters Monday leading the NHL with 40 points on 18 goals and 22 assists. He recorded his first hat trick of the season and sixth of his career in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Calgary. He nearly had four goals, but he missed on a penalty shot in the first period. Crosby’s second goal Saturday was the 200th of his career. He’s simply on fire, and not coincidentally so is his team. Crosby has 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points during his current 12 game point streak.
“An elite-level player like him has great creativity in his game and a tremendous skill set,” Calgary coach Brent Sutter said of Crosby following Saturday’s game. “It’s because of his work ethic, and how hard he plays every shift.”
Rangers — The Rangers return home winners of four of their last five games. The big thing about the wins in Florida and Nashville over the weekend was that Henrik Lundqvist got his act together. Lundqvist was struggling with a personal three game losing streak heading into the game against the Panthers, but he made 40 saves for the shutout in Sunrise, Fla. and another 29 saves in a 2-1 shootout victory in the Music City. Lundqvist was perfect against three Nashville shooters in the skills competition.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself (in shootouts) because I want to help the team get that extra point,” Lundqvist said. “Last season showed that extra point can be huge. To come up with all three stops in the shootout felt really good for me.”
Who’s Hot — Penguins defenseman Kris Letang picked up three assists in Saturday’s win and now has 18 on the season and 22 points. Rangers forward Ryan Callahan scored his second goal in as many games Saturday after going five games without a goal. Callahan’s last goal prior to scoring in Florida was the OT winner in Pittsburgh two weeks ago.
Injury Report — The Penguins are still waiting for Jordan Staal (broken hand) to get on the ice this season. He’s at least on the mend for the second time. The Rangers are still without Chris Drury (finger) and Vinny Prospal (knee). Michal Rozsival returned Saturday after sitting out nine games, but Marian Gaborik missed the game in Nashville with the flu. They’re hoping he’s fine for Monday’s game at MSG.
Stat Pack — Lundqvist on Saturday improved to 31-21 for his career in games decided by a shootout. … The Rangers’ power play is 41 for 45 (91.1 percent) in the last 13 games. Their record over that time is 8-5-0. … The Penguins have allowed only four goals in their last four games and entered Sunday ranked fifth in the NHL in goals against (2.36).
Puck Drop — Rangers coach John Tortorella reportedly talked with the team prior to Saturday’s game in Nashville about fighting through fatigue. The message got through as the team did just enough to pick up two points despite playing their third road game in four nights.
“We talked about it in our (pregame) meeting that if we want to get to where we want to be at the end of the year, this is the kind of game — last of a road trip, coming off a big win, played a lot of games in this stretch here — we have to find a way to win,” Tortorella said. “These are the points at the end of the year that kill you if you don’t get them. It was a good gut-check for us in getting points that we needed to get.”
 |
STATS |
 |
| 22 | GP | 23 |
| 13 | W | 10 |
| 8 | L | 10 |
| 1 | OT | 3 |
| 27 | P | 23 |
| 0.614 | P% | 0.500 |
| 2.82 | G/G | 3.00 |
| 2.73 | GA/G | 3.09 |
| 15.6 | PP% | 17.3 |
| 76.8 | PK% | 76.8 |
| 28.0 | S/G | 31.3 |
| 31.3 | SA/G | 33.8 |
| 48.7 | FO% | 40.3 |
| DATE | VIS/HOME | FINAL |
| Dec 16, 2009 | DAL@CAR | CAR, 5 – 3 |
| Nov 23, 2009 | CAR@DAL | DAL, 2 – 0 |
Last 10: Dallas 5-4-1; Carolina 4-3-3.
Season Series: This is the first of two meetings between the teams. They’ll meet again at American Airlines Center on Dec. 10.
Big Story: While many thought the Pacific Division would boil down to Los Angeles and San Jose, here are the Dallas Stars, who enter Monday’s action locked in a first-place tie with the Phoenix Coyotes. Behind some stellar goaltending by Kari Lehtonen(11-7-1, 2.70 goals-against average), the Stars have reeled off three straight victories and can gain sole possession of first place with a victory on Monday night.
“Last year we got a taste of his potential, and this year he’s just been tremendous,” Stars defensemanMatt Niskanen said of Lehtonen, who was acquired last season from Atlanta. “He competes on every puck and is fundamentally sound. You don’t have to worry when you have a goalie that is playing really solid behind you. The whole team has confidence in him, and he’s given the whole team confidence to do what we need to do with the puck. We don’t have to be nervous.”
Team Scope:
Stars: Dallas made it three in a row on Saturday night when it completed a home-and-home sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 2-1 victory at the Scottrade Center. Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson scored for the Stars, while Lehtonen made 35 saves. Dallas rallied in both of its wins against the Blues.
“I knew we have that in this group,” Lehtonen said. “If we go down one or two goals, I just need to keep playing the same way and not get rattled and just believe in this group. Against a team that you battle for the playoffs, getting four points against them is great. We can build on this and move forward.”
Hurricanes: Sure they would have liked a victory, but the fact that Eric Staal‘s goal with 7.3 seconds remaining prevented the Hurricanes from leaving Verizon Center empty-handed has to have them in a somewhat decent mood. Staal’s goal erased a 2-1 deficit in what turned out to be a 3-2 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals.
“We battled back against a good team and fought hard,” Staal said. “It’s a tough way to lose. We’ve got to find a way to win the shootout. We managed to get a point, but it would have been nice to get a win at the end.”
Who’s Hot: Brad Richards leads the Stars with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 22 games, while Eriksson is 10-14-24 and is tops with a plus-12 rating. … Staal’s goal on Sunday was his 11th of the season. He also had an assist and played more than 26 minutes.
Injury Report: Stars defenseman Mark Fistric (groin) is on the injured reserve list. … Carolina is boasting a healthy lineup.
Stat Pack: Dallas is 5-1-1 in its last seven games and is now 5-5 on the road. … Sunday marked the 1,000th NHL game coached by Carolina’s Paul Maurice. Maurice is the 19th coach to reach the milestone, and the youngest at 43 years and 302 days old.
Puck Drop: “We’ve been good, but we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be better because the Western Conference is better and everybody is playing and performing well.” — Dallas Stars coach Marc Crawford
 |
STATS |
 |
| 22 | GP | 24 |
| 6 | W | 11 |
| 12 | L | 12 |
| 4 | OT | 1 |
| 16 | P | 23 |
| 0.364 | P% | 0.479 |
| 2.50 | G/G | 2.38 |
| 3.86 | GA/G | 2.96 |
| 14.5 | PP% | 18.4 |
| 67.4 | PK% | 80.6 |
| 25.5 | S/G | 28.0 |
| 35.1 | SA/G | 32.0 |
| 45.1 | FO% | 51.6 |
| DATE | VIS/HOME | FINAL |
| Mar 9, 2010 | OTT@EDM | OTT, 4 – 1 |
| Nov 10, 2009 | EDM@OTT | OTT, 4 – 3 |
TV: RDS, SNET-W, SNET-E.
Last 10: Edmonton 2-6-2; Ottawa 4-6-0.
Season Series: This is the first of two meetings between the teams. They’ll meet again at Rexall Place on Feb. 12, 2011.
Big Story: Monday marks the second of a four-game homestand for the Senators, who bounced back from a 2-1 loss at Pittsburgh with a 3-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at Scotiabank Place. The Sens finally got contributions from the line of Mike Fisher-Alex Kovalev-Milan Michalek, as the trio accounted for all of the offense.
“It’s nice to see those guys score goals,” Sens forward Jason Spezza said. “They’ve had a lot of chances lately and it’s nice to see them get rewarded.”
Team Scope:
Oilers: Edmonton nearly rallied from a 4-1 deficit on Saturday night, but fell short in a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks at Rexall Place. Sam Gagner, Shawn Horcoff and Jim Vandermeer scored for the Oilers, while Devan Dubnyk made 21 saves.
“The effort was there, I think,” Horcoff said. “But we need wins right now. I think against an experienced team like they are — 10 minutes they took it to us and we weren’t able to hold them off.”
Senators: Just a few hours before his team earned a hard-fought win against the Leafs, team owner Eugene Melnyk gave his group of a vote of confidence. Ottawa had only one victory in its previous five games before blanking Toronto. Brian Elliott made 29 saves in the win.
“Everybody would be a lot happier if we had a different record and kind of reversed things,” Melnyk told the Sens’ web site. “But (Friday) was a really, really important game to see what we can do as a team. Anytime you go out there and take 40-plus shots on a goaltender and you’re playing an elite team and just coming up that short … it’s kind of disheartening. But on the other hand, you look at it and say it could have gone either way. There’s so many chances.
“It just continues to prove what I’ve been talking about, and that is it’s a game of inches and it’s brutal at times.”
Who’s Hot: Oilers rookie Taylor Hall has two goals and two assists in his last five games. … Elliott’s shutout on Saturday was his second of the season. It lowered his goals-against average to 2.94 and raised his save percentage to .911.
Injury Report: Oilers winger Ales Hemsky and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin are both nursing groin injuries and are day-to-day. … Ottawa is boasting a healthy lineup.
Stat Pack: Edmonton rookie Magnus Paajarvi has gone 11 straight games without a point. … Sens goalie Pascal Leclaire has stopped 90 of the last 96 shots he’s faced.
Puck Drop: “I think our guys put 150 per cent (effort) in, every one of them. Now we have a healthy team and I think you’re going to see a lot of good things coming out of the team on the ice … Don’t underestimate this team or the heart of this team or the experience or I think, most importantly, their will to win. These are tough guys and they’re not going to put up with giving up games like this anymore. Trust me on that.” — Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk
 |
STATS |
 |
| 22 | GP | 23 |
| 11 | W | 9 |
| 9 | L | 12 |
| 2 | OT | 2 |
| 24 | P | 20 |
| 0.545 | P% | 0.435 |
| 2.54 | G/G | 2.70 |
| 2.73 | GA/G | 2.96 |
| 25.0 | PP% | 14.1 |
| 83.5 | PK% | 82.3 |
| 24.8 | S/G | 31.2 |
| 32.5 | SA/G | 29.8 |
| 51.7 | FO% | 48.2 |
| DATE | VIS/HOME | FINAL |
| Nov 5, 2010 | CGY@MIN | MIN, 2 – 1 |
WILD (11-9-2) at FLAMES (9-12-2)
TV: FS-N (HD), SNET-CGY (HD)
Last 10: Minnesota 5-5-0; Calgary 3-5-2
Season series: Second of six meetings this season between these Northwest Division rivals. Martin Havlat scored the decisive goal 4:20 into the third period as Minnesota won 2-1 on home ice back on Nov. 5. Rene Bourque opened the scoring for Calgary before Cal Clutterbuck evened things up later in the first period. Winning goalie Niklas Backstrom stopped 33 shots.
Big story: The Flames are back home following a difficult 1-2-2 road trip. While it featured the 10,000th goal in franchise history, scored shorthanded by Curtis Glencross in Philadelphia on Friday, they totaled just nine goals in five games (not counting the decisive goal credited for their shootout win over the Flyers). The Wild, meanwhile, have been struggling to keep the puck out of their own net, yielding 20 goals while losing three of their last four games.
Team Scope:
Wild: Backstrom has seen his goals-against average and save percentage take a major hit over his last three starts, as he’s given up 18 goals on 96 shots. Veteran backup Jose Theodore started in a 5-2 win over Nashville on Friday before Minnesota turned back to Backstrom the following night in Colorado. The Wild suffered a 7-4 defeat, with Backstrom getting pulled for Theodore in the third period.
“He wasn’t sharp but the players in front didn’t help him,” coach Todd Richards said. “I really liked our first period. Then the game gets away from us and we make a couple of bad decisions with the puck.”
Flames: Bourque notched the shootout winner as Calgary got a big two points in Philadelphia on Friday, but the Flames came up short in trying to complete a two-day sweep of Pennsylvania, dropping a 4-1 decision in Pittsburgh on Saturday. They became the latest NHL team to have no answers for Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, who recorded the hat trick and extended his points streak to 12 games.
“Up until tonight, I thought we had a good trip,” defenseman Mark Giordano said. “We were playing well. We got points in three of four games and we did deserve maybe a better fate than that. Tonight, we didn’t play well. We know we didn’t play well. We know we have to get on a roll at some point and start piling up some wins.”
Who’s hot: Martin Havlat has 4 goals and 9 assists over his last eight games for the Wild. … In addition to his shootout goal against the Flyers, Bourque had the Flames’ only goal in losses to the Devils and Penguins.
Injury report: Minnesota defenseman Clayton Stoner is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. Already on injured reserve are goalie Josh Harding (ACL/MCL) and forwards Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion), James Sheppard (knee), Chuck Kobasew (groin) and Guillaume Latendresse (sports hernia/hip).
Calgary has defenseman Adam Pardy (shoulder) and forwards Daymond Langkow (neck),Ryan Stone (knee), Ales Kotalik (knee) and Raitis Ivanans (concussion) on injured reserve.
Stat pack: Kyle Brodziak made the most of his nearly 14 minutes of ice time in the Wild’s loss on Saturday, scoring a pair of goals, recording a plus-2 rating and getting into a fight. … Kiprusoff made 24 of his 39 saves Saturday in the first period.
Puck drop: Calgary managed to escape the first period against Pittsburgh in a scoreless tie thanks to the brilliance of its goaltender, but Kiprusoff was unable to win the game by himself.
“We’ve got to give Miikka a rest,” forward Olli Jokinen told the Calgary Herald. “We didn’t have any business still being in the game after two periods but we were still in because of him. We’ve got to find a way.”
 |
STATS |
 |
| 22 | GP | 25 |
| 13 | W | 11 |
| 9 | L | 11 |
| 0 | OT | 3 |
| 26 | P | 25 |
| 0.591 | P% | 0.500 |
| 2.73 | G/G | 2.56 |
| 2.50 | GA/G | 3.04 |
| 15.7 | PP% | 21.2 |
| 86.7 | PK% | 82.9 |
| 29.1 | S/G | 28.7 |
| 28.4 | SA/G | 34.8 |
| 49.1 | FO% | 48.6 |
| DATE | VIS/HOME | FINAL |
| Apr 6, 2010 | LAK@ANA | LAK, 5 – 4 |
| Apr 3, 2010 | ANA@LAK | ANA, 2 – 1 |
| Feb 8, 2010 | LAK@ANA | ANA, 4 – 2 |
| Feb 4, 2010 | ANA@LAK | LAK, 6 – 4 |
| Jan 14, 2010 | ANA@LAK | LAK, 4 – 0 |
| Dec 1, 2009 | LAK@ANA | LAK, 4 – 3 |
KINGS (13-9-0) at DUCKS (11-11-3)
TV — FS-W (HD), KDOC (HD)
Last 10 — Los Angeles 4-6-0; Anaheim 4-4-2
Season series — This is the first of six regular-season meetings between these Pacific Division rivals. The Kings took the 2009-10 season series with a 4-1-1 record.
Big Story — The Kings will try to avoid a season-high fourth striaght loss as they face a struggling Ducks team that had lost six straight before a solid 6-4 win at the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday. Los Angeles has also lost five of its last seven on the road, so it will look to turn its fortunes around with a visit to Anaheim.
Team Scope:
Kings — Los Angeles began the month of November with four straight wins, which extended its then winning streak to six in a row, dating from Oct. 28 to Nov. 13. However, the Kings have dropped six of seven games since then and only totaled 16 goals over that span when compared to 21 during the winning streak.
The Kings have also been outscored 9-4 during their current three-game losing streak and are now in 9th place in the Western Conference. To get an idea of how tight the West is this season, L.A. sat atop the entire conference following its most recent win over the Boston Bruins on Nov. 20th.
“Scoring is something we’ve got to make it happen, we have to pay a price in order to score sometimes,” coach Terry Murray told the team’s web site Saturday.
Ducks — While Anaheim has lost six of its last seven, it is far from out of the race in the West. Their 25 points has the Ducks at only 11th place in the conference, but a win over the Kings Monday can catapult them right back into the playoff picture. The Coyotes and Avalanche are tied for the Pacific Division lead with only 27 points.
A sign that the offense is finally turning it around was found on Saturday as the Ducks’ top line of Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf exploded for 10 points in a big win at Glendale, AZ. The penalty killing unit also held its own, limiting the Coyotes to only one power-play tally out of six chances.
“I would say our penalty killing bailed us out,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said after the game, “and then our big guys that get paid all the money scored some goals for us.”
Who’s Hot — For the Kings, Justin Williams had a three-game points streak snapped on Saturday. Bobby Ryan notched a hat trick Saturday and now has five goals over his last four games for the Ducks.
Injury Report — The Kings have two skaters on injured reserve: Alex Ponikarovsky (broken finger) is out for at least another week, while while Willie Mitchell (broken left wrist) will be out until at least mid-December. … For the Ducks, Teemu Selanne remains day-to-day with a groin injury. Forwards Jason Jaffray (knee), Matt Beleskey (concussion) and Kyle Chipchura(concussion) are all on injured reserve for Anaheim, as is Joffrey Lupul (back) who could return for his season debut at some point in early December.
Stat Pack — Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller is 5-2-0 with a 1.85 goals-against average at home against Los Angeles.
Puck Drop — In their last five losses, the Kings managed a respectable 1.8 goal differential. However, a close loss won’t net you two points in the standings and the Kings know they need to continue grinding it out to get themselves back in the win column.
“We haven’t been blown out of games, we’ve been in games but we just can’t get over this little hump we’re on,” said defenseman Rob Scuderi following Saturday’s loss. “If we stick with it, don’t panic and stick together, I think we’ll be a better team because of it, but we just need to keep our heads about us.”
All Things Hockey 