Faceoff Factor

A Week Back East - Dec 16-22

Ashley Gallant | National Hockey League

Dec 22, 11:47 PM | Hype this story!

Quote of the Week
“Santa has been good to the Maple Leafs tonight.” – CBC broadcasters after the Leafs won in OT against the Panthers.

The Dominators
Colby Armstrong, Right Wing, Pittsburgh Penguins (0 G, 3 A, 3 games)
Most people wouldn’t put Army on their list of players of the week, and it’s not like he has played extremely well in every game this week, but he did have 3 assists in Boston and I think he deserves some credit after being in Therrien’s dog house earlier this season. Heck, maybe I’m the only one who thinks so, but I like this guy.

Jason Spezza, Centre, Ottawa Senators (3 G, 2 A, 3 games)
It’s amazing, because whenever Spezza’s out of the lineup, the Sens typically do well and fans start to say, “Oh, we probably don’t even need Spezz around here. We do just fine without him!” They said it last year when he had his knee injury, and they said it earlier this season when he had a groin injury. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a great player who makes great plays and can find the back of the net.

Ryan Miller, Goaltender, Buffalo Sabres (0.921 SV%, 3 games)
He won all of his games this week – as well as his last 6 starts. He had a couple of W’s against a Flyers team that wanted to play rough and tough, but this week’s shining game came against the Islanders, when he made 42 saves on 43 shots.

The games that made you cheer. Or freak out. Or cry. Or all of the above.
Carolina Hurricanes (3) Toronto Maple Leafs (2) OT – Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
It looked like the Maple Leafs were going to take this game and Toskala would finally win a game against the ‘Canes. After all, how many teams lose a game when they are leading 2-0 and there’s only 1:30 left in the third period? Well…

Cory Stillman scored a goal with about 1:25 left in the game. Ponikarovsky could have ended it seconds later when he entered the Carolina zone and had a shot at the open net, but the Hurricanes picked his pocket and Ray Whitney scored. Scott Walker scored the heartbreaker with 32.6 seconds left in OT.

Considering that one point kept the Leafs out of the playoffs last season, and they were two points short in 2005-06, this game’s going to hurt for awhile. If this is a sign of what “Life without McCabe” will be like, things won’t be pretty.

Chicago Blackhawks (4) Ottawa Senators (3) OT – Saturday, December 22nd, 2007
I didn’t have room in my western report, so I stuck this in here. The Sens were handed their second consecutive loss, and the OT winner was a great goal by Toews, set up with a beautiful pass by Patrick Sharp.

Buffalo Sabres (3) Philadelphia Flyers (2) – Friday, December 21st, 2007
Ryan Miller and the rest of the Sabres ruined Brière and Biron’s homecoming, and the crowd was loving it. The Flyers had the lead at the end of the second, but the Kotalik tied it up with a power play goal early in the third, and Hecht had the game winner with less than 3 minutes left.

These Sabres have definitely proven that they still a threatening team without Brière and Drury. Winning 12 of the last 16 games has vaulted them back into playoff contention after being near the Eastern Conference basement 2 weeks ago. The Pens better be ready for Buffalo…

Injury Report
Justin Williams, Right Wing, Carolina Hurricanes – Torn ACL
He’s out 4-6 months – basically the rest of the season. It’s not like losing Staal, but it’s not good.

Ville Peltonen, Left Wing, Florida Panthers – broken foot
He’s on IR and should be out 4-6 weeks.

Glen Murray, Right Wing, Boston Bruins – middle body injury
‘Middle body injury’ – um, what does that mean? I haven’t a clue. But he’s DTD right now.

Odds and Ends
Adams suspended
Craig Adams of the Hurricanes was suspended for two games on Wednesday after hitting Alex Steen (TOR) over the head with his stick in Tuesday night’s game. This is the second suspension for the ‘Canes in a week – Scott Walker was suspended one game for head-butting Mike Fisher during a fight.

Flyers and ‘Hawks make a trade
I had something written here about the Eager/Vandermeer trade, but Michael Farkas wrote something better, so you can click here to read it.

Bergeron improving
Patrice Bergeron (BOS) worked out for the first time on Wednesday. He rode a stationary bicycle for about 5 minutes at a leisurely pace and felt no symptoms. This is a good sign for Bergeron, who suffered a concussion almost 2 months ago from a hit by Randy Jones (PHI), but it is not known whether he will return this season.

Gagné cleared for contact
Simon Gagné of the Flyers has been cleared for contact after missing nearly two months due to a concussion. This doesn’t mean that the Flyers will insert him into the lineup right away though – they will take their time and ease him back into the game. He should see game action sometime in the new year.

The Week Ahead
With no games being played on Monday and Tuesday (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), I decided to only list 2 games here.

Montréal Canadiens and Dallas Stars – Sunday, December 23rd, 8 PM ET.
Coach Guy Carbonneau will be back in Dallas to face Brendan Morrow (his son-in-law) and the rest of his former team.

Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals – Thursday, December 27th, 7:30 PM ET.
Guess what will be the big story for this game? If you guessed the big “Crosby vs. Ovechkin” debate, you would probably be right. The argument is getting old, but I still had to throw it in there. Maybe the game would be more interesting if the players were on Segways…