Faceoff Factor

A Week in the NHL: Mar 2-8

Ashley Gallant | National Hockey League

Mar 9, 12:14 AM | Hype this story!

Quote of the Week
“You’ve got to be a man to play this game and you’ve got to be able to keep your head up.” – Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators on his controversial hit on Canucks’ defenceman Aaron Miller. And I suppose only a man runs around and tries to hurt other players, eh? Based on comments like this, it’s no wonder that Tootoo is one of the most hated players in the NHL.

The Dominators
Craig Anderson, Goaltender, Florida Panthers (.983 SV%, 3 games, 2 SO)
It was the week of the backup goaltender. Corey Crawford of the Blackhawks earned a shutout against Anaheim and Erik Ersberg shutout the Ottawa Senators in Los Angeles, but Craig Anderson was the best of them all. Anderson won all three of his starts this week and shutout the Islanders (53 saves) and the Bruins (40 saves).

Alex Ovechkin, Left Wing, Washington Capitals (5G, 3A, 3 games)
This is like a broken record, so he doesn’t deserve the top spot on my list. Ovechkin scored his 50th of the season this week and vaulted ahead of Evgeni Malkin in the scoring race. He will win the Rocket Richard Trophy this year for scoring the most goals, granted (a) he doesn’t start another scoring slump and (b) Kovalchuk doesn’t decide to score a hat trick or 4 this month.

Joe Thornton, Centre, San Jose Sharks (2G, 6A, 3 games)
He doesn’t score a lot of goals (he currently has 19, which is less than Crosby despite playing in 20 more games), but he can sure rack up the assists. Thornton has 62 assists on the season, good enough for first in the League, and his team is riding an 8-game winning streak.

When Joe is good, everyone is good.

The games that made you cheer. Or freak out. Or cry. Or all of the above.
Ottawa Senators (4) Phoenix Coyotes (2) – Saturday, March 8th, 2008
The Senators are definitely an interesting team to watch and follow right now. It’s like watching a complete meltdown and the drama coming out of the Senators’ dressing room would put Melrose Place to shame.

The buildup to this game was incredible. The Senators were on their last leg of their 4-game West Coast trip and they hadn’t won a single game in California. Alfredsson was out of the lineup again, with back spasms, and the Senators only won 1 of 9 games without their captain. Ottawa sat only 5 points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers for the 8th and final playoff spot. It was definitely a must-win game – and not just for Ottawa, because Phoenix is still trying to make the playoffs.

Mike Fisher started the scoring with a SHG in the first. Phoenix took the lead in the second with even strength markers by Weller and Mueller, but Ottawa answered by scoring three PPGs to secure the win.

What did this game do? Well, Fisher broke his 19-game scoreless drought to give his team some secondary scoring. Martin Gerber was basically anointed as the starting goalie for the rest of the way. Ottawa proved to themselves that it is possible to win without Alfredsson, and they managed to hang on and not slide down the standings.

Washington Capitals (10) Boston Bruins (2) – Monday, March 3rd, 2008
The Capitals embarrassed the Bruins on Monday. It all started when the Caps jumped out to a 6-0 lead after 20 minutes of play, and Boston just couldn’t overcome that deficit.

Alex Ovechkin was the star of the night (when is he not the star for Washington?) by scoring his 50th goal of the season – his second 50-goal season in 3 years – and adding two more goals and a couple of assists.

The rematch on Saturday did not have quite the same result. With two fights before the clock reached 15 seconds, you just knew that Boston wasn’t going to roll over and let Washington walk all over them. The Capitals led 1-0 going into the 3rd, but Boston paid them back by winning the game 2-1 and welcoming Alex to Boston with a nice, healthy hit or two.

Chicago Blackhawks (3) Anaheim Ducks (0) – Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
The Ducks have been playing great hockey as of late, but things just didn’t go well for them on Wednesday. I didn’t see the game, but I wish I had because it looks like it was a good one to watch. One hundred and nine penalty minutes were assessed, 67 of them belonging to Anaheim. Bertuzzi, Parros, and O’Donnell were all given 5 minutes for fighting, with Bertuzzi and Parros also picking up 10-minute misconducts and a game misconduct for O’Donnell – and that was just in the first period.

Perhaps the best part of this game was this clip of George Parros ‘squaring off’ against Ben Eager (the guy who called Michel Therrien ‘a joke’ when he was with the Philadelphia Flyers):

Injury Report
Corey Perry, Right Wing, Anaheim Ducks – right quad tendon laceration
Perry will be out at least 6 weeks after suffering a deep laceration in his right leg in Thursday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. Bobby Ryan has been called up to replace Perry in the meantime.

Jason Labarbera, Goalie, Los Angeles Kings – sports hernia
Labarbera’s season with the Kings is now over after having surgery on Wednesday to fix a sports hernia. Goaltending duties will be split between Dan Cloutier and rookie Erik Ersberg (the 6th goaltender to play for the Kings this season).

Ryan Smyth, Left Wing, Colorado Avalanche – concussion/shoulder separation
Smyth barely returned to the lineup after fracturing his ankle, and he’s out again after suffering a concussion and a separated shoulder from a scary hit last weekend.

Odds and Ends
Taking over the broadcast booth
NHL history was made on Friday night as RDS’ broadcast crew for the Devils/Lightning game featured an all-female cast. Claudine Douville provided play-by-play while Danielle Sauvageau was the colour analyst. Hélène Pelletier and France St-Louis provided additional commentary.

It’s great to see more women following Cassie Campbell’s example and moving into the broadcast booth. The only thing that needs to happen now is for the Penguins to recruit me as their new scoring winger.

Lundqvist gets another one
Henrik Lundqvist, goaltender for the New York Rangers, won his 30th game of the season on Thursday with a 4-1 win over the Islanders. He is only the second goalie in NHL history to reach that plateau in each of his first three seasons. The other goaltender? Ron Hextall from 1986-89.

Panthers Head Trainer receives award
As most probably know, Dave Zenobi, the head athletic trainer for the Florida Panthers, received the ADT Good Sport Award before Thursday’s game against the Penguins. Zenobi was recognized for his role in helping to save the life of Richard Zednik after that horrific on-ice accident on February 10th.

The Week Ahead
Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers – Monday, March 10th, 7PM ET.
The Sabres are desperately trying to make the playoffs and they are running out of time. They currently sit 9th in the Eastern Conference, 4 points back of Philadelphia for the 8th seed. They are going to have to play their best if they hope to sneak into the post-season, and they should try to keep the Rangers (7th seed) from getting too far ahead.

Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings – Thursday, March 13th, 8PM ET.
Speaking of trying to make the playoffs, Nashville is another team that is right on the cutoff line. This game is a must-win because they need every point they can get. However, the Kings will not make things easy for the Predators, seeing as they shutout the NHL’s top-scoring team last week.