Kukla's Korner

GDT - Game #56:  Red Wings host Ducks (7:30)

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By Jeff OKWingnut

02/10/12 at 07:43 AM ET | Comments (2)

DET (36-17-2) will try to extend their home win streak to 19 games tonight when they host ANA (21-24-8).  The Wings are 21-2-1 at JLA, and have not lost at home since November 3.  Jimmy Howard is on the shelf, so look for Joey MacDonald in net tonight (the Conk is for dire straights only, his .878 save percentage is the league’s worst among goalies with at least 10 appearances).  Danny Cleary is also out, no word yet if it’ll be the Rifleman or Mursak taking the roster spot. 

Things look pretty bleak for the Ducks, 12 in conference, they are 10 points out of the 8 spot, and would have to climb over 4 teams to get in.  They are on a bit of a roll lately, 11-3-2 in last 16. 

LGRW

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Filed in: | Abel to Yzerman | Permalink
 

Garth Snow Has No Intention Of Moving Nabokov

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 06:11 AM ET | Comments (2)

from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

“Yeah, we have a lot of belief in that locker room,” Isles GM Garth Snow told ESPN.com Wednesday. “Within the last few weeks, we’ve really turned it up a notch as a team. Our specialty teams have improved. We’re just looking forward to the next game.”

Veteran netminder Evgeni Nabokov has been lights-out of late. He’s slated for unrestricted free agency July 1, which is why his name is often floated in trade rumors, but that’s not what Snow has in mind at this point.

“We have no intention of moving Evgeni,” Snow said. “He’s been great for us. His performance speaks for itself.”

There haven’t been any contract talks between the Islanders and Nabokov’s camp, but it’s not out of the question down the road.

“Yeah, we’d consider all options, we’re just not at that point yet,” said Snow. “We just finished [signing] Frans [Nielsen] and we obviously have a few other players who are unrestricted free agents in July, so we’ll just chip away at them.”

more of the latest trade talk around the league…

Filed in: NHL Teams, New York Islanders | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Evgeni+Nabokov,

Bringing Up The Old-School Stories

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 05:59 AM ET | Comments (1)

from Mike Brudenelli of the Detroit Free Press,

“When Bill (Ezinicki) turned pro, it started all over again,” Lindsay said. “He was traded to Boston, and one night we were playing in Detroit and he hit me over the brow with his stick, and there was blood all over the place. We didn’t have helmets or face masks then.

“Anyway, I thought I can’t let the guy get away with it, so I took my stick and whacked him where he whacked me. He drops his gloves and stick, and I thought, ‘Lindsay, you’ve created a mess for yourself now.’

“Well, we got going, and I don’t know where Bill’s mind was that night ... but I knocked two of his teeth out and put 22 stitches in him. The officials separated us. Bill was bleeding, and I was happy.”

Ezinicki broke away from a linesman and the battled started again.

“I jumped on him and straddled him ... and started punching,” Lindsay said. “Gordie (Howe) says, ‘Ted, he’s out.’ I said, ‘I’m going to kill the SOB.’

“After taking a shower, I headed into the first-aid room. I poked my head in and said, ‘You all right, Izzy?’

“He replied: ‘I’ll get you, you SOB.’ “

read on for Mickey Redmond’s reaction to the Winter Classic…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL Talk, Old School | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Ted+Lindsay,

Video- Did The Blues Get A Break?

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 03:06 AM ET | Comments (1)

Sometimes there is no conclusive video evidence to reverse the on-ice call.

from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice,

Hedberg said he stood up on the Polak shot because it appeared to be going high.

“It’s deflected and it goes in and my initial reaction was that I thought it was a high stick, but I guess it wasn’t,” Hedberg said.

The officials on the ice called it a good goal, which meant that when it went to the video review in the NHL Situation Room in Toronto, there had to be conclusive video evidence that Berglund deflected the puck above the cross bar for the goal to be disallowed.

The official ruling from the NHL Situation Room was that there was no such clear video evidence of a high stick.

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Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

My Own Personal Hockey Nightmare

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 02:50 AM ET | Comments (2)

My team, playing at home, scores two goals early in the 3rd period to go up 2-0.  Then the home team gets a 4 minute power play and does nothing with it (sorry, they did score a goal), knowing if the do score, the game is basically over.

Then it happens, home team takes a 2 minute penalty and just over a minute later, a player on the home team plays the puck with a broken stick and is caught.

Now down 3 to 5, but still with a 2 goal lead, you think, ok, kill the 5 on 3 and your team is still good.

But the visiting team scores on the 2 man advantage and 12 seconds later, ties the score on a weird goal.

Of course, the nightmare ends when the visiting team wins in the shootout.

It happened tonight, Winnipeg visiting Washington.  Nightmare video below…

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Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Barons Blank Heat

Blog: Oil Patch By Lisa McRitchie

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

Oklahoma City Barons shutout Abbotsford Heat 4-0
The months of anticipation led to a fairly lacklustre game Thursday night between the Abbotsford Heat and the Oklahoma City Barons. Of course if you were an Oilers or Barons fan, you left the Saddledome with an ear to ear grin. After all, the Oilers have so seldom won in this building, that even an AHL level victory is momentous.

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Filed in: Edmonton Oilers, Colten Teubert, Linus Omark, Oklahoma City Barons, Alex Plante, Taylor Chorney | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

The Future Of Vancouver’s Goaltending

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 02:30 AM ET | Comments (0)

from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

The decision over the future of the Vancouver Canucks’ goaltending position might be the most important of general manager Mike Gillis’s administration but, in analyzing things as they stand, there is one number that stands out for Roberto Luongo.

It is not the 10 years he has left on his contract. It’s not the $5.333 million US annual cap hit he represents. It’s not even the number of Stanley Cups he’s won.

No, those are all relevant in the great Vancouver goaltending debate but the most important number connected to Luongo is this: 21,743….

That number, in fact, represents the number of shots Luongo has faced in his 12-season NHL career. It is the third-highest total among current NHL goalies which isn’t overly alarming. But dig a little deeper and you begin to understand the Canucks may be confronting the law of diminishing returns with Luongo and, given what Cory Schneider represents, that creates a dilemma for Gillis….

The point is this: Unless Luongo is Brodeur, and there’s only been one of those since the lockout, the Canucks have to be concerned about the mileage he’s accumulated. He’s still an elite NHL goalie. His numbers have been stunningly consistent since he was traded here.

But what’s he going to look like two years down the road when he’s turning 35, especially if he doesn’t have Schneider around to lighten his load?

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Late Evening Line

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 02:11 AM ET | Comments (0)

Or I guess you could call it the Early Morning Line too.

“We flat-out stink the last two months. We stink.  I’m concerned about the fact that we come into games and we don’t have enough guys when we should have absolute desperation in our game.”

“We’re 28th in the league in offense and you look at the goals that they scored: They have a point shot and a deflection, they have a point shot and rebound, 5-on-3 is a point shot and a rebound. And we still want to either skate the puck into the net or pass the puck six times to get the puck into the net.

“You’d think that we would look at a team that skilled and has scored as many goals and say, ‘Wow, they score goals like that, that might be a good idea for us to try it.’ Or we might say, ‘We we don’t have that much skill, it might be a good idea for us to do that,’ yet it’s tough to get that across right now.”

-Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo after losing to Vancouver.  More from Michael Russo of Russo’s Rants.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Minnesota Wild | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Mike+Yeo,

Video- Dominic Moore With Two Minutes For Roughing?

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 01:53 AM ET | Comments (2)

Ruslan Fedotenko was the recipient of the hit. 

You can be the judge, multiple angles of the hit in the video.

Filed in: NHL Teams, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Dominic+Moore, Ruslan+Fedotenko,

One Of Those Nights

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

02/10/12 at 01:42 AM ET | Comments (1)

Did you ever lay down on your couch in the early evening, thinking you could take a cat nap, only to wake up at 1:30am, in a panic, not knowing where you are?

It happened to me tonight, a long time to be cat napping, but not as long as the goal drought Scott Gomez broke Thursday night…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: Scott+Gomez,

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