# ***OFFICIAL*** NHL 2009-10 Discussion Thread



## Negative1 (Feb 4, 2007)

Season has kicked off earlier this evening. Washington is off to a killer start - taking the bruins down 4-1. 

Penguins play tommorow against the Rangers and I cannot wait for that game!

Let's make it 2 in a row Penguins!!


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## Negative1 (Feb 4, 2007)

Ain't nobody on this board like hockey?!?


Where is All_In when ya need him? :confused02:


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## KillingRoad89 (Jul 28, 2009)

Washington is tearing it up. I can see them in the Finals this year. Leafs are doing garbage which is depressing ( I'm a Leafs fan). But so far most games I watched have been really fun to watch which is good. I'm just hoping leafs can turn it around and get a win streak going.


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## swift7 (Oct 29, 2009)

pens will win it again this year


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

^ That may happen but Chicago has improved since last year. Washington is only hyped up because of Alex Ovechiken. I think Sidney Crosby is way better.

Crosby comparing to Ovechiken

•Younger
•Kinder
•Not cocky
•better skills
•can actually speak proper English(not trying to offend him but..)
•doesn't like publicity
•supports many charities

so yeah..


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

Today marks the end of the NHL Christmas break with many games to show tonight/today.


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

Oilers at Canucks, tonight, 7 p.m., GM Place, CBC Hockey Night in Canada

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks will complete their eight-game homestand tonight against the Edmonton Oilers well-rested but with a certain amount of trepidation.

Vancouver is 5-2-0 in the first seven games with the two losses coming at the hands of Anaheim and St. Louis, both of whom were in last place in the Western Conference when they arrived at GM Place. The Oilers have since replaced the Ducks and Blues as the West's worst team.

Edmonton has lost five straight and continues to play without injured No. 1 goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. The Canucks are coming off an impressive 4-1 Tuesday over the Nashville Predators.

"I think our main goal is to worry about our game," said Canuck captain Roberto Luongo, citing a familiar mantra. "We want to make sure we keep building off what we did last game against Nashville. That's the type of game we want to be playing every night."

The Canucks will be without fourth-line centre Ryan Johnson, who has a sore foot that did not get any better over the three-day Christmas break. His lineup spot will be taken by Darcy Hordichuk, with Rick Rypien sliding into the middle. According to Canuck head coach Alain Vigneault, X-rays on Johnson's foot have not discovered a fracture.

"Nothing is coming up on the X-rays but the foot is still very swollen and he's having a tough time walking," Vigneault said. "We're going to keep him off the ice here a little bit and see if a couple of days of non-activity might help him out."

Eary last season, Johnson played about 10 games with a fractured foot before the actual break was discovered.

Defenceman Mathieu Schneider was also absent from today's morning skate, marking the fourth straight practice he has missed for an undisclosed "personal matter." Schneider's last appearance on the ice was Dec. 18.

"Personal matter, he's taking care of it, that's all I can say," Vigneault said.

Meanwhile, the Oilers' best line of late has been their fourth featuring tough guy Zack Stortini at centre between wingers Ryan Stone and Robert Nilsson, the latter with nine points in his last 11 games.

Edmonton's other lines, barring any last-minute changes, are expected to be Shawn Horcoff between J.F. Jacques and Patrick O'Sullivan, Sam Gagner between Ethan Moreau and Andrew Cogliano, and Ryan Potulny with Dustin Penner and Gilbert Brule. Potulny and Gagner could flip-flop if coach Pat Quinn's opts for a change.

Jeff Deslauriers (8-8-2) is scheduled to start in goal for Edmonton.

ICE CHIPS: The Canucks have slipped to 11th in faceoffs at 50.8 per cent. Edmonton is 29th at 46.4... Oilers Patrick O'Sullivan and Shawn Horcoff are among the worst plus/minus players in the league. O'Sullivan is minus-19 and Horcoff minus-18. Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour is the bottom feeder at minus-20...Canuck defenceman Christian Ehrhoff is at the opposite end and his plus-16 is tied for third best behind New Jersey's Zach Parise (plus-20) and Washington's Alex Ovechkin (plus-18).

INJURIES: The Canucks will be without centre Ryan Johnson (foot) and veteran forward Pavol Demitra (shoulder). Demitra did skate with his teammates this morning... The Oilers will be missing elite winger Ales Hemsky (shoulder surgery), goalie Nikolai Khabibulin (back), centre Mike Comrie (mononucleosis), winger Fernando Pisani (colitis) and winger Marc Pouliot (sports hernia).

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Much-malignd defenceman Kevin Bieksa managed to avoid the big mistake in Tuesday's 4-1 win over Nashville. Can he play another smart, error-free game tonight? Oiler winger Dustin Penner has been a force this season after two lousy years. He's been Edmonton's most consistent player and leads the team in goals, assists and points at 19-19-38.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/...rise+bottom+feeding+Oilers/2382731/story.html

————

I'll be updating this thread with post game talks etc. Since the original thread starter is banned.


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

The St. Louis Blues used their highest scoring output of the season last time out to end a lengthy losing streak against one opponent. They will try to use that momentum tonight to pick up a rare victory over the Calgary Flames tonight at Pengrowth Saddledome.

St. Louis exploded for a 7-2 victory in Edmonton on Monday, as 14 of its 18 skaters picked up a point in helping the club halt an eight-game slide to the Oilers. It was the Blues' second win in a row overall and improved their record to 6-4-0 in December this year.

Andy McDonald was the only multi-goal scorer in the win and Alex Steen chipped in with a goal and three assists. Patrik Berglund and Brad Boyes each had a goal and an assist, while Chris Mason made 23 saves in the win.

"To come in here and beat the Oilers was important for us," Blues head coach Andy Murray said. "We had a big win in Vancouver [Sunday night]. We haven't been as good as we've wanted to be in back-to-back games, so it was gratifying to win tonight."

St. Louis' 23rd ranked power play went 4-for-5 on the night, as the Blues have won the first two games of a four-game road trip and seven of their last nine overall as the guest. They are 10-3-3 away from St. Louis this year and try for their first three-game win streak of the season tonight.

However, success in Calgary has been hard to come by for the Blues as of late. They picked up a victory in the Stampede City on March 20 of last season to halt a seven-game skid in Calgary, where they have just five wins and a tie in their last 16 trips.

These two clubs have split a pair of meetings in St. Louis this season, with the Blues winning the most recent matchup last Tuesday. However, they have still lost seven of nine and 14 of their last 17 versus the Flames.

Calgary has lost four of its last five overall, getting beat 5-3 by Nashville on Saturday to fall to 1-1 on a four-game homestand. The Flames are 9-6-1 at home overall this year.

Jarome Iginla had two goals, giving him 19 on the season while ending an eight-game goal-scoring drought. He also had an assist and Dion Phaneuf tallied the other goal.

"We did a good job of coming back tonight," said Calgary coach Brent Sutter. "But we gave them the lead back and I wasn't pleased with the last two goals. We were playing well and just missed our coverage."

Miikka Kiprusoff gave up four goals on 19 shots in the loss.

Calgary has fallen four points behind Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division.


Source:http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/hockey/hockey-wires/story/1395997.html

Both Calgary and Vancouver will play back to back games tonight against different teams and tommorow against each other. Bet here http://www.mmaforum.com/sports-vbookie/69256-vancouver-canucks-v-calgary-flames.html


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

(Sports Network) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to match their longest winning streak of the season tonight when they visit the rival Toronto Maple Leafs for a clash between Original Six foes at Air Canada Centre.

The Canadiens have won three straight contests and are one victory away from equaling the club's four-game win streak from October 20-26. Montreal's recent surge has helped it open a five-point lead over the last-place Maple Leafs in the Northeast Division.

This is the fourth out of six meetings this season between these bitter rivals. Montreal won the first two matchups, but the Leafs rebounded with a 3-0 road victory when they last met on December 1. The Canadiens have still taken three of four and six out of 10 in the series overall and Montreal has also won five out of seven in Toronto.

The Habs' current winning streak had coincided with the start of a seven-game road trip that will take Montreal to the end of the 2009 calendar year. After tonight, the Canadiens, who are 9-9-1 as the guest this year, will visit Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Florida to close out the swing.

Montreal was in North Carolina on Wednesday and handed the Hurricanes a decisive 5-1 loss at RBC Center. Glen*Metropolit had two of Montreal's three power-play scores, and Jaroslav*Halak was strong in net again for the Habs.

The Canadiens were 3-for-5 with the man advantage in taking their third consecutive victory following a five-game slide. Tomas*Plekanec and Scott*Gomez each had three assists for Montreal.

Halak had stopped 87-of-90 shots in his last two games, which includes a shutout of the Islanders on December 19. He faced a ton of shots again Wednesday, but turned aside 46-of-47 for the win.

"When you have a big lead like that, it's something that we need to address," Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin said of the number of shots on goal. "But at this point "I was very happy how we played and how we executed in the first half of the hockey game, when the game was on the line, and the way our goaltending and the special teams were going; that was encouraging."

Halak could get the start tonight over Carey*Price for the fourth straight game if Martin decides to stay with the hot hand.

The Canadiens played their fourth game in a row without defenseman Roman*Hamrlik, who is sidelined with a knee injury. Fellow blueliner Paul*Mara also sat out with a left hand injury. Both players are questionable for tonight.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs come into tonight having dropped two straight and four of their last five games. The slide comes after Toronto began December with victories in six of eight games.

Toronto visited the Islanders on the road Wednesday and was handed a 3-1 setback at the Coliseum. Dwayne*Roloson made 26 saves and Blake*Comeau had a goal and an assist to lead New York to the win.

Niklas*Hagman had the lone goal while Jonas*Gustavsson stopped 20-of-22 shots in the loss for the Maple Leafs.

"These bumps or whatever you want to call them are going to happen throughout the year," said Toronto head coach Ron Wilson. "It doesn't matter how good or bad you are, but we should know what our identity is and we didn't play to it tonight."

Toronto is just 7-8-4 as the host this year and has lost two of its last three on home ice.


Source:http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=303609


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

Please note: Dont expect this for every game. Only major matchups will be shown here. 

Any games tommorow will not be placed here.


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## Yanal (Dec 25, 2009)

Rumor;source: http://www.prosportsdaily.com/comments/pittsburgharea-products-project-as-firstrounders-310408.html



Pittsburgh-Area Products Project As First-Rounders
0Comment December 25 Pittsburgh Tribune Review *
Share Article
"Imagine Consol Energy Center rocking on a future Friday night in late June because of a great win that has nothing to do with the Penguins.

A blasphemous suggestion -- unless, of course, that Friday night marks Round 1 of an NHL Entry Draft and that great win is for Pittsburgh-area hockey because an NHL team has selected a local boy.

The dream-big scenario is not so far-fetched. The league has not announced a destination for the 2011 draft, the Penguins have applied to host a future draft weekend, and a local prospect "certainly will be" a first-round pick that year.

"Unless something goes majorly wrong," said Kyle Woodlief, head of scouting for independent service Red Line Report, "Brandon (Saad) isn't going to last long in 2011."

What excites local youth-hockey supporters -- including Penguins president David Morehouse -- is the probability that Saad, a forward from Gibsonia, will follow in the footsteps of Wampum-born defenseman Stephen Johns, who Woodlief projects as a mid-first-round pick for the 2010 draft in Los Angeles.

Woodlief said Pittsburgh "is perhaps on the verge" of joining Los Angeles and Dallas as dominant non-traditional producers of hockey talent.

"There is huge potential for Pittsburgh producing more top American prospects," Woodlief said.

To date, the only regionally born prospect chosen in the first round of an NHL Draft was Columbus Blue Jackets winger R.J. Umberger, who was selected 16th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2001. Tampa Bay Lightning winger Ryan Malone, the most prominent Pittsburgher in the NHL, was a fourth-round pick by the Penguins in 1999.

"It's hard trying to find stories about Pittsburgh guys," Johns said. "I'd only heard stories from my (midget Pittsburgh Hornets coach) about R.J., but ..."

Saad, a teammate of Johns' on the exclusive Under-18 club for USA Hockey's national team development program, found a way of finishing that thought.

"There are some kids coming out of Pittsburgh now -- good kids -- but not as many as I think there could be," he said. "Guys like Ryan and R.J. made it, and if one day people look at us that way and think, 'Yeah, I can make it, too' -- that would be an honor for Pittsburgh players to look up to us.

"(That's) if we make it. I don't want to put the jinx on us.""

Click the link for the whole article.


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## HitOrGetHit (Jun 29, 2009)

BUMP! The Washington Capitals are taking the Cup this year! Just letting you guys know! :thumb02:


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## KillingRoad89 (Jul 28, 2009)

it'll be either the caps or chicago who will be bringing the cup home. both good young teams determined to win.


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## HitOrGetHit (Jun 29, 2009)

I really hope the Caps win it this year. They are getting better and better each year but they always fall short in the playoffs. They are absolutely on fire this year.


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