Caputo’s had enough.

On to the keys, the fact-driven, stat-backed, heavy-handed analysis A2Y has become famous for.

Continue reading "Devastating Dallas: The Keys To Game 3"

The league just confirmed.

There are some fines involved, but both Ribeiro and Osgood are good to go for Game 3.

That’s important for the Stars, particularly if Lehtinen is hurt and can’t play.

Ribeiro was quite feisty today, so it will be interesting if he transfers that energy to the ice.

added 7:07pm, Sorry for the back to back posts on this topic.  At least we used different sources!

That’s according to Andrew’s Dallas Stars Page.

Sounds good to me.  Want more on Ribeiro’s antics? Read George Malik’s observations from Game 2.

The talk is Florida Panthers GM Jacques Martin is going to turn to an old friend for the coaching post in the Sunshine State.

Sources told me today that Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Andre Savard has emerged as one of the top candidates for the vacant coaching post with the Panthers.

a little more…

Separated at Birth?

You know those side by side photos of celebrities and regular folk who look remarkably alike? Well here’s one of two hockey players who must be identical twins.

Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks.

Those ESPN links were included by the Captain to further illustrate the spooky similarities that lead to this breakthrough realization of his.

I only wish I could have been there for the final epiphanies. Probably went something like: “Hold on—they even have the same birthdays. I’m starting to see a pattern developing!”

Awesome.

Q Hear anything on Ribeiro?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: Haven’t heard anything from the league yet, no.

Q How do you prepare if you don’t hear anything until tomorrow?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: We’ll hear something today. I don’t suspect anything. I suspect he’ll be a player. Looking at the situation, I can’t see how it would be a suspension, myself, but that’s for them to figure out. And from our side, I’m going to prepare like Ribeiro’s a player and move forward.

Continue reading "Stars Off-Day Press Conference"

Chris Osgood’s your Conn Smythe leader.

Continue reading "Dallas Moms Are Sad Today, But The Downriver Puck Bunnies Aren’t"

Chris Osgood doesn’t have the flash of Detroit teammate Dominik Hasek. He’s not a spectacular puck-handler like Dallas’ Marty Turco, his rival in the Western Conference Finals. He’s a solid goaltender who doesn’t do anything extraordinarily well.

Except win.

Few goaltenders in any era can match Osgood when it comes to winning games. He was 27-9-4 during the regular season while splitting time with Hasek, and improved to 8-0 during the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Stars Saturday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

continued

Continue reading "Stevens & Therrien Talk"

There is no secret to holding a lead; if there were, there would be no reason to watch a sporting event after the first team scores. But if there was a theme dominating the Flyers’ clubhouse conversation Saturday, it was that they would be better off continuing to attack while ahead rather than earning a lead and then start looking at the clock and listening for the horn.

It’s three series into a four-series tournament, but apparently the Flyers have decided that the next time they are ahead in the game, they’ll try to pretend that they are behind.

“We’ve done a great job at getting leads —- and that’s important,” Scottie Upshall said. “But keeping it is another thing. For us, we have to concentrate on having good starts. In the playoffs, you see two-goal leads just turn into tie games right away. So we have to keep playing that aggressive style of play.”

more

“Redneck to me, the word came about when the Scottish and Irish come over here and worked, and they were bent over in the fields all the time and their necks got red and the Indians called them rednecks,” Cherry said Saturday (and later on “Hockey Night in Canada"). “To be a redneck is to be proud.

“This is a redneck city, a blue-collar city, and Probert and Kocur and McCarty were the gods when they were here,” Cherry said. “I’m not knocking the team ... people would rather see a good, tough team.”

more from Don…

- Instead of putting her kids in time-out, she says she’s sending them to the penalty box.

- The bruise on her hand comes from banging on the glass along the boards.

more at Fish in my Hair…

Happy Mother’s Day!

Simply, the Sabres aren’t going anywhere regardless of whether Golisano decides to cash in on his investment. And that remains a possibility.

Who could blame the guy?

Even conservative estimates show potential profits surpassing $50 million if the team is sold. Golisano expressed concerns about the NHL’s future if the salary cap continues rising. He would get the biggest bang from a sale after pulling the team from bankruptcy and assuming the risk. Quinn would stand to make a good buck. Presumably, Chief Operating Officer Dan DiPofi would get a slice, too.

If it were me, sorry, but I’d be selling.

more

Now that Therrien and the Penguins are within sight of the Stanley Cup final, he is more experienced and wiser than in his early days as a coach—and those stretch to when he was 23, after knee surgery ended his playing career—but he carries the same approach.

“Everybody to some degree changes a little bit, but he keeps the same drive, the same enthusiasm,” said Penguins assistant Andre Savard, who, as the Montreal Canadiens’ general manager, had the displeasure of firing Therrien from his first NHL head-coaching job during the 2002-03 season.

“He wants to win. He wants to be prepared. He works hard to be prepared for the opposition. His drive to win, that hasn’t changed.”

more