Most NHL teams are still showing two sides -- at least
Posted: Tuesday October 29, 2002 9:56 PM
By Jamie MacDonald, CNNSI.com
Forgive us this moment of obsequious observation, but we're fans, too.
On a Monday night in which Mario Lemieux's bleeding revealed that he is indeed human, some of us also were wondering if anyone in the NHL was better suited to tee up a one-timer from the circles. In a win over Washington, Lemieux took a full swing from the left side to redirect the game-winner. In the time it took that shot -- clean, hard and precise -- to beat Craig Billington, we thought of only one name to take Lemieux on in this fantasy competition: Mike Modano. We hadn't seen it lately, but in a rare gift of symmetry from the hockey gods, Modano took a full swing from the right side to redirect a goal of his own in overtime to beat Edmonton.
Mirror images. One puck comes from the right, one puck comes from the left. One giant righty winds up, one giant left winds up. Not even the best in the world convert this shot regularly, or even occasionally, but Lemieux and Modano are almost automatic from there. Whom would you rather have? Grab a barstool and hash it out yourselves, we have some debates of our own to settle.
NHL Power Rankings
Rank
LW
Team
1
1
Colorado Avalanche We're guessing that a 3-1-3-1 record after scoring only 20 goals would look a whole lot better if they converted at better than 10 percent power play "efficiency" (five goals in 50 chances), which ranks No. 29 in the league.
2
3
Dallas Stars And you thought we were done blathering on about Modano. Since Oct. 20, also known as the past four games, he has eight points (four goals, four assists), including the winner in Edmonton on Oct. 28 to complete an undefeated quickie, three-game road trip through Alberta and B.C. The schedule softens slightly before a Western Conference showdown with the Wings on Nov. 3.
3
4
Philadelphia Flyers They still can’t seem to beat the Sabres, but bring on the rest of the NHL. Thanks to a pair of 6-2 wins over Montreal and the Islanders after the loss in Buffalo, the Flyers have outscored opponents 32-18 this season and share a lead in the Atlantic.
4
6
New Jersey Devils How in the world does having the worst power play in the league get you a two-spot promotion? Well, after playing the fewest games in what has turned out to be a very good division, they’re tied for the top spot. They also happen to have the best winning percentage in the league.
5
2
Detroit Red Wings Call it the curse of No. 350. Faced with the opportunity to pick up his 350th career win on Oct. 26, Curtis Joseph allowed three first-period goals and was outdueled by Nashville’s Mike Dunham (93 career wins) in a 3-1 Detroit loss. We’d be willing to hand out a mulligan if the Wings hadn’t let a 3-2 lead slip away against L.A. on Oct. 23.
6
12
St. Louis Blues Fives are wild in St. Louis, where the Blues, were down to their fifth-string goaltender and had played five goaltenders over the past week or so. St. Louis also happened to pick up its fifth straight win on Oct. 26. Oh, and by signing with the Blues, Tom Barrasso joined his fifth team since 1999-2000.
7
9
Boston Bruins Thanks to Steve Shields, our speaker today from the Office of Honesty You Won’t Hear Very Often … "I made a lot of mistakes with the puck behind the net," Shields told the Boston Globe after a 2-2 tie with Ottawa. "I was a little lost out there with the guys sometimes. I'm not really sure what the guys are going to do at this point. I don't know them that well and they don't know what I'm going to do either. We have a lot of work to do with our communication." Considering that his first job description is much more simple -- stop the puck -- he seems to be doing just fine.
8
5
Los Angeles Kings Winning one game since Oct. 17 won't earn you any favors around here, and, after getting run out of Columbus to the tune of 5-1, the Kings are only plus-3 on the goals scored/allowed ledger. We can safely say that, barring the odd Adam Deadmarsh hat trick (an oddity if there was one, considering the three-goal game he had in Manhattan on Oct. 25 was his first in a Kings uni), L.A. could use a guy like Zigmund Palffy.
9
11
Tampa Bay Lightning Lord knows NHL fans are is begging to see Tampa Bay get some love here in the Power Rankings. And as much as we hate to see unrequited love, last week the Lightning took their gaudy record to the swamps of New Jersey, where they faced the best team they have seen to date, and were outshot 30-21 in a 5-1 loss with Kevin Hodson in the nets.
10
7
Ottawa Senators Jason Spezza, welcome to the NHL. The former Brampton Battalion, Mississauga Ice Dog, Windsor Spitfire and Belleville Bull (that’s just in the OHL) picked up his first NHL point during the Senators’ only win of the week (Oct. 23). The 4-1 home pasting of Carolina was followed by a tie in Boston and a loss in Montreal.
11
19
Minnesota Wild Outshot 45-16 in Colorado on Oct. 27, the Wild came back from 3-1 to tie the Avalanche with goals No. 32 and 33 on the season. Only the Red Wings and Lightning had scored more through nine games, but the Wild's mark of 19 against bests both. In related news, Jacques Lemaire has sold his stock in T-R-A-P Industries.
12
14
Pittsburgh Penguins It was more than a week ago, but let’s not forget that Mario Lemieux figured in all three goals against Montreal in a 3-3 tie. In the three games since, he’s only scored two points per game. Slacker.
13
8
Washington Capitals A seven-game World Series came and went during the Capitals’ eight-game road trip, to say nothing of the roller coaster left behind in the Washington, D.C. area. While they were away, the Caps went 3-4-1, but ended on a sour note, dropping four of the last six on the trip, including a 3-2 decision in Pittsburgh. Craig Billington started that game in place of Olaf Kolzig (4-2-0 with a 1.93 GAA and .939 SP), who injured his hand.
14
10
Vancouver Canucks Great stat courtesy the Vancouver Sun: 16 of Vancouver’s 25 goals as of Oct. 29 have been scored by either Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Morrison or Trent Klatt. In a related story -- OK, the same story -- the paper reported that head coach Marc Crawford has “sliced and diced” the lines we’ve come to know by heart.
15
21
New York Rangers In two unrelated but certainly eerie role reversals only miles apart from one another in Manhattan, Christina Aguilera and the Rangers entertained their respective audiences. On her Monday night Late Night with David Letterman appearance, Aguilera uncharacteristically covered herself up and sang something for the whole family. On their Monday night MSG appearance, the Rangers uncharacteristically came back from a deficit and won in overtime. No word from either Tuesday whether this is an effort to jumpstart a makeover.
16
13
San Jose Sharks Though it was tape delayed, the moment was no less important. At 1:06 a.m. ET Sunday night, Teemu Selanne put it succinctly after a 3-2 loss in Chicago. “Bad start. Too many penalties.” Story of the Sharks thus far, a story that could very well be rewritten, even during the second half of a six-game road trip, with the signing of Evgeni Nabakov.
17
16
Montreal Canadiens To those of you who picked Jose Theodore first overall in your fantasy hockey drafts, we have this to say: Don’t play fantasy hockey. Perhaps living in a shooting gallery can make a guy nervous. Seeing shot totals such as 48 against, as Jeff Hackett did vs. Ottawa, could give one pause. In that game, six Senators took at least four shots, while only one Canadien took as many, none of whom were Mariusz Czerkawski, who was a healthy scratch. But we digress.
18
24
Chicago Blackhawks Though we haven’t combed through every roster, we’re pretty sure that no two teammates who happen to be tied for third on a team in points are as far apart in age as rookie Tyler Aranson (born in Oklahoma City, Okla., on March 16, 1979) and veteran Phil Housley (born in St. Paul, Minn., approximately 75 years earlier).
19
17
New York Islanders Is it just us, or does it look as though Chris Osgood is getting beat clean an awful lot? This season, he has allowed 22 goals on 103 shots for a save percentage of .786.
20
22
Calgary Flames We're going easy on the kids (and Martin Gelinas) this week. Though they picked up three points, the Flames gave up two OT goals in the three extra-frame games they played last week.
21
15
Buffalo Sabres They set sail on a six-game road trip at .500, but dropped the first in Pittsburgh on Oct. 26. Since opening the season with a pair of wins, Buffalo is averaging 1.83 goals per game, and life on the road won’t be easy without Maxim Afinogenov, who's out until at least early November with a concussion. On a deeper team, J.P. Dumont would be in the doghouse. Then again, a deeper team might not have these problems.
22
27
Columbus Blue Jackets On June 25, 1999, at 1:32 p.m. ET, as the Atlanta Thrashers were about to poke through an unprotected list from which to choose a few more pieces, someone at this Web site first proposed the idea of reuniting Geoff Sanderson (then with Buffalo) and Andrew Cassels (then with Calgary). And wouldn't you know it, with the band back together again in Columbus, "Sanderson, from Cassels" opened the scoring 1:46 into a 5-1 win over L.A. on Oct. 27. That kept them even over the past week at 1-1-1.
23
23
Toronto Maple Leafs We hate to pick on a guy or two when a team is down, but Darcy Tucker and Travis Green, in a 5-2 win over Anaheim, managed to go minus-2. Speaking of minus, the Leafs were again deficit spending last week, having lost twice -- to the Rangers and Panthers, no less -- before hosting the Ducks.
24
18
Phoenix Coyotes Against the Rangers on Oct. 28, there were times the Coyotes just made New York look silly. But Phoenix got sloppy and dropped its third straight game. The silver lining here is that in Manhattan, the Coyotes waited until overtime to lose and picked up a point. Life without Sean Burke has not been kind.
25
25
Edmonton Oilers A week ago, way back on Oct. 22, they took a point out of Colorado and beat Anaheim for only their second win of the season, the other coming at the expense of Nashville. Their 12 goal scorers are a combined minus-36.
26
26
Carolina Hurricanes If you poke around the (Raleigh) News & Observer's Web site enough you'll find a cartoon of Arturs Irbe in which the diminutive Latvian has sewn an impenetrable net and draped it across the posts, thereby doing his job as he tends to reupholstering his own ancient pads to the side of the net. A sign also hangs on the webbing that reads "IRBE SAYS NO." Here's what we can assume was not meant by the cartoon: That he'd sit for 11 days before dropping a 4-1 decision to Ottawa on Oct. 23. Three nights later Kevin Weekes earned his sixth decision of the season with a 37-save effort in a 3-3 tie vs. the Blackhawks.
27
28
Florida Panthers In five of 10 games this season, Florida has scored one goal. There's a scene in Running Scared where Billy Crystal pretends he's a police chief yelling at a cop for giving away too much from the evidence room to One guy! This may approximate the thoughts of Mike Keenan, who watched his team score first in the battle of Florida before allowing six unanswered goals -- four in the third -- to fall to 3-5-1-1.
28
20
Anaheim Mighty Ducks A road trip only the producers of Deliverance could love. Began with a tie, followed by a one-goal loss, and trumped by a three-goal loss.
29
29
Nashville Predators Talk about a breakthrough. After going 0-4-1-2 this season, losing every game by one goal and most to respectable teams, the Preds took 30 shots against Detroit and scored a 3-1 upset. Perhaps this thought will keep them warm on the road, where they play seven straight to take them into mid-November.
30
30
Atlanta Thrashers Special thanks to Sports Illustrated's Pierre McGuire, who blew the lid off Bladegate. While we sat idly by, wondering why a manufacturer would send Ilya Kovalchuk a pallet of crooked sticks (the days of doctoring the blade of a wooden stick are going the way of the wooden stick in the NHL), McGuire was doing research. As it turns out Kovalchuk was ordering the sticks through a third party. Either way, last week the Thrashers forward joined an exclusive group ... those who have drawn the ire of Mike Keenan. Kovalchuk taunted the Florida bench after scoring with a legal stick in a 3-2 loss.
