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Nifty night of action NHL gave us playoff-quality performances on ThursdayPosted: Friday February 28, 2003 2:13 PMUpdated: Friday February 28, 2003 6:23 PM
The best nights of the year for hockey fans usually come in October, April and June. On opening night every team still has a shot, so it's hard not to be excited for your team's hopes when the puck drops for the first time in four months. Then we are treated to those special April nights with four or five postseason games, as happens once or twice during the first round of the playoffs. Lastly, come June, it's tough to avoid getting goose bumps when the victorious captain hoists the Cup above his head, even if it isn't your team that triumphed. But every so often a random night of regular-season hockey leaves us in awe of the talent and passion exhibited by NHL players. February is normally the dog days of the season, but Thursday's 12-game slate was about as good as it gets. Thursday's spectacular lineup was headlined by Ottawa's overtime triumph over the Stars in a battle for the NHL points lead. Ottawa and Dallas came into the night tied at 86 points, but the Sens got a goal from checking winger Magnus Arvedson in overtime to take the top spot outright and gain the inside track on the Presidents' Trophy. If reunions are your thing, you had Curtis Joseph meeting his old mates with the Leafs after jumping ship to Motown as a free agent in July. CuJo didn't have much to worry about on this night, though, as the Wings' offense looked Cup-worthy in torching Joseph's replacement, Ed Belfour, for a septet of markers in an easy victory at the Joe. There also was Bob Hartley's return to Denver 10 weeks after the Avs canned him. Hartley avoided the usual B.S. about this game not mattering to him and said all week that his first game back at the Pepsi Center would be special. And his team stood up for him with a 4-3 overtime victory, fast dimming memories on their embarrassing 8-0 loss in Vancouver on Tuesday. The Canucks finally ran out of gas against the resurgent and desperate Sharks. Vancouver's 14-game unbeaten run was squashed by Evgeni Nabokov's best performance of the season. It didn't help the Canucks that Todd Bertuzzi left with an eye injury, but San Jose went into The Garage and outplayed Vancouver for the first 40 minutes and then held on for a crucial road win. The Rangers played with postseason intensity in their 4-1 victory over the Bruins. The Blueshirts have played four more games than the Beantown boys, so even though they moved within four points of Boston for the eighth spot in the East, it may be too little, too late for New York. For crazy action on the ice, the Panthers and Lightning may have offered up the most scintillating 60 minutes of pucks on this wild night. The teams combined for 75 shots, but Roberto Luongo stood on his head and denied Tampa Bay numerous great scoring chances, before finally yielding Vincent Lecavalier's game-winning goal with 4:22 left in the second. The remaining six games were highlighted by the Predators' 6-0 rout of the Penguins, a frantic overtime between the Devils and Islanders, yet another loss by the sinking Blackhawks, an impressive game by Curtis Sanford in the Blues' 4-1 win over the Oilers, a three-point game from Cliff Ronning as the Wild downed the Habs, and Ray Whitney's first career hat trick in the Jackets' 3-1 win over the Kings. All told, it was an amazing night of hockey which hopefully foreshadowed an impressive final six weeks of the regular season and a fun eight-week postseason. But after that 12-game adrenaline rush, down is the only way to go, so curses to the NHL schedule maker for giving us only two games on Friday. After all the mad channel flipping, it's going to be tough to have just the Stars-Sabres and Ducks-Coyotes to choose from on Friday. Maybe a new episode of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! might solve the withdrawl blues. Reply to rules changes e-mailsI received nearly 100 e-mails regarding my column from Wednesday with my 10 suggestions to improve the NHL. I truly appreciate the feedback and value the opinions and suggestions that you all made. Probably 75 percent of the e-mails were positive and supportive of most of my ideas, another 20 percent liked about half of my suggestions, while the final five percent thought I had never seen a hockey game in my life. The heaviest reaction was in response to instituting a shootout. Opinion was split almost 50-50, which is probably about what it is among NHL players, coaches and general managers, too, judging from the comments following the All-Star Game. I agree that it's a bit gimmicky, but those of you who believe in tradition for tradition's sake need to get over yourself and think outside the box a bit on how to add new twists to the game. Four-on-four overtimes have added a great new wrinkle to the extra session in the regular season, and a five-man breakaway contest following regulation could take that one step further. As for those of you who equate a shootout to an NFL game being decided by a quarterback throwing a football through a tire, the last time I checked the breakaway was an actual part of the NHL game, while tires are seldom seen on the gridiron during the course of a football game. Several people commented that both getting rid of the red line for the purposes of a two-line pass and eliminating touch-up icing would result in an increased number of icing calls due to missed home-run passes from teams trying to hit a streaking forward on a breakaway. It's true that this would result in a few additional stoppages per game, but even the excitement of a near-miss on a long outlet pass up the middle would be a boon to the pace and excitement of NHL action. Here are 20 other suggestions listed by readers:
1. Get a new collective bargaining agreement done soon. It's clear from all of the e-mails that fans believe the NHL has plenty of room for improvement, but I need to reiterate that I don't think the league is as bad as many others do. Warts and all, the NHL is still the best sport out there. Swedes surge in scoring raceMario Lemieux's once prodigious points lead has now vanished, with Markus Naslund moving past him for the top spot with an assist in Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Sharks. But Naslund isn't the only player to turn the Art Ross Trophy race into an actual contest, as his childhood friend from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, Peter Forsberg, is fourth with 78 points. Forsberg has 23 points (four goals and 19 assists) in the past 13 games to jump right into the thick of things. But Forsberg says the ultimate team goal of a championship supercedes an individual goal like winning the Art Ross even for players born across the pond. "Nowadays for all the kids in Europe and everywhere, I think winning the Stanley Cup is the thing," Forsberg said. "I don't think people [in Europe] really dream about winning the scoring title. I'd rather win the Stanley Cup than the scoring title." Forsberg and Naslund are also making a push for the Hart Trophy race. They could join Stan Mikita, Sergei Fedorov, Jaromir Jagr as the only European-born forwards to win the Hart Trophy, and join Mikita and Jagr as the only Euros to win the scoring title. Forsberg says he and Naslund have always had a friendly rivalry, but they remain happy for each other's accomplishments despite now being division rivals. "We grew up in different parts of town and we always played against each other until I was 15, and then we started to play together," Forsberg said. "We're friends off the ice, but once you're in a game, you play to win. I'm happy for him. He had a tough first couple of years but now he's playing real well." I picked Forsberg to win the Hart Trophy and Naslund to take the Rocket Richard Trophy as the top goal scorer in our preseason picks, so I'm hoping the sensational Swedes keep up their torrid pace and make me look good in the end. Rumor millIf the Bruins fire Robbie Ftorek, he could be replaced by either Larry Robinson (again) or Boston legend Ray Bourque. ... Possible destinations for 'Canes defenseman Glen Wesley include Detroit, Tampa Bay or Toronto. ... Martin Straka could be the next salary the Penguins try to clear off their tight books, with the Avs and Wings among the interested if general manager Craig Patrick decides to move Straka. Jan Hrdina and Ville Nieminen could also leave the Steel City before the deadline. ... The Minnesota Wild don't plan to make any deals at the deadline, as general manager Doug Risebrough isn't going to abandon the team's plan to build for the long-term. ... Trail, British Columbia, native Ray Ferraro could come out of retirement to play for the Canucks, who are desperate to add another forward but don't want to give up young talent in a rental deal. ... The Senators got tougher by dealing with the Sabres for agitator Vaclav Varada, but Ottawa still might go after another tough forward, with Coyotes winger Brad May a possibility. The Sens could also go after San Jose's Scott Thornton or Los Angeles' Ian Laperriere if Phoenix doesn't lower its asking price for May. ... The Wings remain very interested in Coyotes captain Numminen, but they would like to deal a package involving second-tier players Sean Avery, Mathieu Dandenault, Maxim Kuznetsov and Jesse Wallin, while Phoenix is holding out for young stars Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg. ... Justin Papineau's recall from to St. Louis from AHL Worcester could be to showcase him for a possible deal. With the Blues reportedly still interested in Sean Burke, Papineau could be part of a Phoenix-bound package, since St. Louis has wisely refused to deal Calder Trophy candidate Barret Jackman straight up for Burke. ... Now that the Sabres sale is getting closer, Chris Gratton, Jay McKee, Miroslav Satan and Alexei Zhitnik all could be moved to slash the payroll even more and start the rebuilding process from scratch. Worth notingPredators head coach Barry Trotz will be behind the bench for his 392nd game with Nashville on Saturday, breaking the expansion record for most games by a team's first coach. Trotz will pass Preds color commentator Terry Crisp, who coached 391 games for the Lightning from 1992-97. ... Ducks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh is just two points away from 500, and will become just the seventh European-born defenseman to reach 500 points, joining Borje Salming, Nicklas Lidstrom, Fredrik Olausson, Sergei Zubov, Calle Johansson and Teppo Numminen. ... Binghamton Senators forward Dennis Bonvie became the American Hockey League's all-time leader in penalty minutes when he took a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first period Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Bonvie now has 2,916 penalty minutes in his 539-game, 10-year AHL career. Bonvie also got a charging minor, a cross-checking minor and a 10-minute misconduct later in the game to finish with 16 penalty minutes in the game, putting him 15 PIM ahead of Springfield Falcons captain Rob Murray. ... Brett Hull became the 23rd player in NHL history to pass 1,300 points on Thursday, and Joe Sakic joined him in that club just hours later. ... Magnus Arvedson's game-winning goal in overtime Thursday was his 200th career point. ... The Devils are now 25-0-4-1 when leading after two periods. ... The Lightning improved to 9-2-1-2 against the Panthers since the start of the 2000-01 season with Thursday's 3-1 victory. ... Toronto had its seven-game road winning streak snapped Thursday at Detroit. ... The Ducks are going to allow fans at their March 2 game to send postcards featuring a patriotic scene and the words "Freedom: It's a team effort!" to U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East. Shameless plugShowtime is set to air the premiere of Bud Greenspan's latest Olympics documentary Salt Lake 2002: Bud Greenspan's Stories of Olympic Glory on Monday at 9 p.m. This is the seventh time the official documentary film of the Olympics has been written, produced and directed by the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmaker. The two-hour documentary features several vignettes from last February's Salt Lake Games, among them a 21-minute feature on the men's hockey gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada. Greenspan gives us behind-the-scenes footage, as well as interviews with Lemieux, Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky, Team Canada head coach Pat Quinn, Team USA head coach Herb Brooks and announcer John Davidson. Though game action is limited, the film does an amazing job capturing the emotion and pageantry of this dream matchup between the North American powerhouses. Even fans who have already seen the Gold Rush 2002 DVD about Team Canada's triumph should tune in, as Showtime and Greenspan have given hockey fans a winning segment in the midst of a gold medal worthy documentary. Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Jon? Click here. |
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