Faceoff Factor

A Week in the NHL: Mar 9-15

Ashley Gallant | National Hockey League

Mar 16, 09:24 AM | Hype this story!

Quote of the Week
‘‘It’s impressive to watch him. What I like is the way he moves to get rebounds and get the puck. His future is very bright. He’ll get tested in the next few years with the pressure here.” –Devil’s goaltender Martin Brodeur on rookie netminder Carey Price, following Montreal’s win over New Jersey on Tuesday.

The Dominators
Jarome Iginla, Right Wing, Calgary Flames (4G, 3A, 3 games)
Wherever Iginla goes, the Flames will follow. He has been the team’s most valuable player this season – by far. He should be considered for the Hart this season, and I don’t think too many people will argue.

Unfortunately, the Flames are at a critical point in their season and are battling to keep their playoff spot. Iginla will have to keep playing like an MVP if the team hopes to make it to the post-season.

Andrew Cogliano, Centre, Edmonton Oilers (3G, 2A, 4 games, 2 GWG)
The upside to all of the injuries in Edmonton is that the kids are getting the chance to play, and they are making the most of this opportunity. This 20-year-old centre had 5 points this week and set a League record (more on that later). Not too bad.

Evgeni Nabokov, Goalie, San Jose Sharks (.944 SV%, 3 games)
He may not be tops in the NHL in save percentage, but he is leading the pack in terms of wins. This week, Nabokov won all three starts and extended the winning streak to 11 games.

The games that made you cheer. Or freak out. Or cry. Or all of the above.
Toronto Maple Leafs (4) Philadelphia Flyers (3) OT – Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
It was a very unlikely win for the Buds. The Leafs needed the two points if they had any hope of making the playoffs. Down 3-0 in the third period, the Leafs stormed back after Mats Sundin’s power play goal. With the game tied, Paul Maurice made the rare decision of pulling Vesa Toskala late in the third period to try to win the game in regulation. It didn’t work, but Kubina scored in OT to keep the Leafs alive.

“He was coming out regardless,” Maurice said of Toskala. “(There are) two factors, one you are aware of the potential (to score), so you ask the people around you. They are 50-50 on that.”

“The down side is the puck is in your net, you lose the game and I’m standing up here not feeling so fresh.”

Atlanta Thrashers (6) Calgary Flames (4) – Thursday, March 13th, 2008
The Flames held a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd period, but it all fell apart. Ilya Kovalchuk scored his first of three goals. Holik and a couple of former Penguins, Colby Armstrong and Chris Thorburn, also scored for the Thrashers.

I guess this is what you would call a ‘mess’ for the Flames, who are in danger of falling out of the playoff race.

Detroit Red Wings (5) Dallas Stars (3) – Thursday, March 13th, 2008
Speaking of comeback victories, the Red Wings did just that on Thursday. With the Stars up 3-1, Detroit scored 4 unanswered goals to not only win the game, but also clinch a playoff spot (for the 17th consecutive season) and win the division. In addition to all that, the Red Wings reached the 100-point plateau for the 7th consecutive season, which ties the NHL record (also held by the Montreal Canadiens from 1975-82).

Injury Report
Ray Whitney, Left Wing, Carolina Hurricanes – ankle surgery
Whitney had surgery on Saturday to remove a bursa sac and could be out for the rest of the regular season. He has already missed 6 games due to a sore ankle, which was caused by an infection he had earlier in the season.

Mats Sundin, Centre, Toronto Maple Leafs – groin
Mats Sundin pulled a groin in the first period of Toronto’s win over Philly on Wednesday and didn’t play in Saturday’s loss to the Sabres. In the Hockey Night in Canada pre-game show, Paul Maurice said that he hopes to have Sundin back for their next game.

Kris Draper, Centre, Detroit Red Wings – groin tear
Draper suffered a small tear in his groin in Tuesday’s game against Chicago, but the team is saying that he should be out of commission for only a few days.

Odds and Ends
Just call him Captain Nash
The Columbus Blue Jackets lost their captain, Adam Foote, at the trade deadline, but they quickly found a replacement. On Wednesday, 23-year-old Rick Nash was named the new captain of the Blue Jackets.

Sharks eating their competition
‘Soupy’ makes a difference.

With Friday’s 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues, the San Jose Sharks have improved their record to 11-0-0, a franchise record. Their streak dates back to when they beat the Flyers 3-1 in Philly on February 21st. It looks like acquiring Brian Campbell was the missing piece for the Sharks.

Now how sweet would it be to see the Sharks eat the Ducks in the playoffs?

New record set in Edmonton
Andrew Cogliano of the Edmonton Oilers is so special that he didn’t just break an NHL record this week – he created one.

On Tuesday night, Cogliano scored the OT winner against the St. Louis Blues, his third consecutive OT goal.

‘‘Things like this don’t happen often,” he said. “I think I’ve just been really lucky to have those opportunities go in for me. But yeah, three in a row, that feels pretty good.’‘

New goalie equipment?
Elliotte Friedman’s “Inside Hockey” segment last night on Hockey Night in Canada discussed the NHL’s plan to put together a committee this summer to look at goalie equipment and decide how to shake things up. This committee will be made up of current goaltenders, shooters, GMs (who have and haven’t played the position), and other hockey people.

There is the belief that goalies wear too much unnecessary padding that helps to pad their stats and keep the score down. Furthermore, some goalies wear their equipment in such a way that the shoulder pads raise up as they go down into the butterfly position, which is not allowed.

Cutting down on padding and making sure that all goalies wear their equipment properly is one step the NHL can take to increase scoring in the game without resorting to bigger nets. Luongo has stated that he would quit the game if the NHL brought in larger nets, and Turco pretty much echoed that sentiment last night. Now, it remains to be seen whether they would truly walk away, but there seems to be an agreement among many goalies that the equipment is a problem, so it’s best that the League sticks with that idea before doing something drastic.

The Week Ahead
Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals – Tuesday, March 18th, 8PM ET.
Both teams are close to making the playoffs, so it should be a desperate, playoff-style game.

Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild – Friday, March 21st, 10PM ET.
The Canucks are another desperate team – desperately trying to hang on for the remainder of the season. Vancouver will want to take these two points to keep Minnesota from getting too far ahead of them.

Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils – Saturday, March 22nd, 7:30PM ET.
All Penguins games are must-see games for Pens fans, but this one is important if the Penguins want to beat the Devils for first place in the Atlantic Division.