Kukla's Korner

Habs top Pens in shootout

Blog: The Upper Canadien By The Upper Canadien

02/07/12 at 10:45 PM ET | Comments (0)

Are they still alive? Apparently. Technically, the Habs are only 10 points out of the playoffs - but it’s going to take the stars aligning, and then some, for them to make it.

Highlights from this evening? David Desharnais was a beast of a man, throwing his 5’5’’ frame all over the ice. PK Subban played his second strong game in a row. Carey Price stood on his head at times, and made some great shootout saves. Oh, and Mr. Louis Leblanc, who is quickly proving that he definitely belongs in the NHL.

From the Pens? Evgeni Malkin, with quite possibly the shootout goal of the year. The ol’ spinorama, off the toe of Carey Price. Malkin is one of a kind, and he was a physical presence most of the game. It always amazes me how much he shines with Crosby out of the lineup.

So the Habs head to Long Island Thursday, with the Isles coming off their own shootout win, a huge 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Playoff hopes hinge on the next two weeks, and those hopes are very, very slim. Can the Habs string 3 together? We’ll know soon enough.

Filed in: | The Upper Canadien | Permalink
  Tags: Carey+Price, David+Desharnais, Evgeni+Malkin, Louis+Leblanc,

Video- Rangers Thought They Tied The Game

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/07/12 at 10:09 PM ET | Comments (3)

But goalie interference was called on Marian Gaborik of the Rangers with four seconds left.

Devils win 1-0.

Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Video- Luongo In The Running For Save Of The Night

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/07/12 at 09:58 PM ET | Comments (1)

He robs Colin Wilson of the Predators with this save.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Roberto+Luongo,

Game 53: NYI @ PHI (Better late than never edition)

Blog: Orange & Black Breakdown By Vindisi

02/07/12 at 08:15 PM ET | Comments (0)

Once again the Atlantic Division is dominating the playoff leaderboard as they occupy 4 of the top 6 slots.  The only team left out in the mix is the New York Islanders.  Surprisingly, this team has carried the play in all 3 games this year versus the Flyers.  We keep passing them off as cellar dwellers, but at some point their young talent will click, right?  My thinking after the jump…

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Filed in: | Orange & Black Breakdown | Permalink
 

Frans Nielsen Contract Extended By The Islanders

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/07/12 at 07:48 PM ET | Comments (0)

via TSN,

The New York Islanders signed C Frans Nielsen to a four-year contract extension worth a total of $11 million.

Nielsen will be paid $2.0 million in the first year of the contract, followed by $2.5 million, $3.0 million, and $3.5 million. The average annual cap hit is $2.75 million.

Nielsen has nine goals and 25 points in 51 games with the Islanders this season. Last season he scored career-high 13 goals and 44 points. In 288 career games, the 27-year-old has 46 goals and 145 points.

Filed in: NHL Teams, New York Islanders | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Frans+Nielsen,

Owen Nolan Announces His Retirement

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/07/12 at 06:26 PM ET | Comments (0)

SAN JOSE –  Former San Jose Sharks team Captain Owen Nolan today formally announced his retirement from the game of hockey, following 18 stellar seasons in the National Hockey League.

Nolan, who will be remembered as one of the game’s purest power forwards, played in exactly 1,200 NHL games with Quebec/Colorado, San Jose, Toronto, Phoenix, Calgary and Minnesota, posting 885 points (422 goals, 463 assists) and 1,793 penalty minutes.

He finishes ranked 71st on the NHL’s all-time goals list and among all NHL players with more career NHL goals, only seven have posted more penalty minutes than Nolan (Mark Messier, Brendan Shanahan, Keith Tkachuk, Pat Verbeek, Theo Fleury, Rick Tocchet and Gary Roberts).

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Filed in: NHL Teams | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Owen+Nolan,

How A Power Play Dies

Blog: The Puck Stops Here By PuckStopsHere

02/07/12 at 05:19 PM ET | Comments (4)

As recently as the 2008/09 season I was writing about how great the Montreal Canadiens power play was.  In the 2007/08 season Montreal had a league leading 24.1% success rate on the power play.  This season they have a league worst 12.1% power play success rate.  What happened?  How did the best power play team in the league become the worst in a few seasons?

The personnel have largely changed.  The first unit power play in 2007/08 consisted of Alex Tanguay, Alexei Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Andrei Markov and Mark Streit.  Only Markov remains a Hab and he hasn’t played a game this season due to injury.  However power plays are often not as dependent upon personnel as they are on the system employed.  Systems are usually a product of coaching.  Usually teams have one coach in charge of special teams.

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Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
  Tags: Doug+Jarvis, Montreal+Canadiens, Pierre+Gauthier, Randy+Cunneyworth,

Thursday is Winter Classic announcement day

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

02/07/12 at 04:55 PM ET | Comments (6)

Update #3 at 9:27 PM: ESPN’s Craig Custance

reports that there will be two pressers:

Sounding like 2 Winter Classic announcements on Thursday. Morning in Detroit and afternoon in Ann Arbor. Plus GLI and OHL games at Comerica.

Update #2: The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports that next Monday and Wednesday are alternate announcement dates in case U of M doesn’t sign off on the event on Wednesday:  Via RedWingsFeed, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL will announce that the Wings are hosting the 2013 Winter Classic in short order:

Just a reminder, 2013 NHL Winter Classic (TOR vs. DET at U of Michigan Big House) will be made official at Thursday news conference(s).

Update: The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa reports that there’s a reason Thursday is the day (did somebody say alcohol-selling license?):

Plans by the NHL to play the 2013 Winter Classic in Michigan Stadium, where it almost certainly would draw the largest crowd ever to watch an NHL game, are proceeding, with the University of Michigan Board of Regents scheduling a special meeting at 10 a.m., Wednesday to approve the use.

“The public meeting is regarding authorization to enter into a facility-use lease for the NHL Winter Classic,” the University News Service said in a release.

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Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
 

Red Wings travel day news: waiting on the fickle finger of fate

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

02/07/12 at 04:37 PM ET | Comments (1)

Updated 2x with home-ice talk, injury news and a charitable note at 5:35 PM: The Detroit Red Wings returned to Metro Detroit a little earlier this afternoon to get some rest and prepare to play the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow, and “tomorrow” is the operative word regarding goaltender Jimmy Howard’s status being reevaluated by the team’s doctors, per the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan...

Looks like Jimmy Howard won’t be seeing hand specialist until tomorrow.

Quick update: MLive’s Ansar Khan confirms via Twitter:

Wings’ GM Ken Holland said no updates on Jimmy Howard (finger) or Danny Cleary (knee), as neither saw the doctor today.

A pair of pundits weighed in on Detroit’s goaltending already, and the CBC’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned Howard’s broken finger as a major reason why the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues have reason to hope that they can catch Detroit in the Central Division (via his “30 Thoughts” column)...

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Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
 

Gillis On Schneider

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/07/12 at 03:29 PM ET | Comments (4)

from Sportsnet,

“We’ve gotten calls about him for two years,” Gillis said. “There were times where we thought about (trading him), but we knew how good he was and I think he’s now proven to other people around the hockey world how good he is.”

Schneider has split time with Roberto Luongo this season and Gillis admits a difficult decision on which goalie to keep could be in his future.

“There’s going to come a point where we’re going to have to make a decision as we move forward,” Gillis said.

The Canucks GM still has no intention of dealing Schneider before the trade deadline, unless of course something occurs where the team was blown away with an offer.

“You never say never about anything, but this guy’s a huge part of our team and to take a huge part of your team off you team with a month left in the season and then playoffs is a challenging thing to do,” Gillis added.

read on for Nashville GM David Poile addressing some questions regarding the Predators…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Vancouver Canucks | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Cory+Schneider, Mike+Gillis,

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