Last week many teams saw fewer games than normal as the week was shortened due to the 56th annual NHL All Star Game from Atlanta, Georgia. Kicking it off Saturday night was the skills competition and the debut of a few new events. One of them was the obstacle course, which did not disappoint. I think the most exciting part of that was watching the goalies trying to score. If you were unable to watch or just plain didn’t, Jess uploaded part 1 and part 2. Here is an overview of the results.
Obstacle Course
Heat 1: East def. West 6-5
Heat 2: East def. West 8-7
East Leads 2-0
Fastest Skater
Campbell(East) def. Keith(West)
St. Louis(East) def. Kopitar(West)
Horcoff(West) def. Kovalchuk(East)
Horcoff(West) def. Campbell(East)
East leads 3-2
Elimination Shootout
Goaltender Legace(West) and shoot Phaneuf(West) left standing
West leads 4-3
Young Stars Game
East takes 1st half
West takes 2nd half
West leads 5-4
Shooting Accuracy
East hits 14 of 25 while West hits 14 of 29
Kaberle becomes 5th man ever to go 4 for 4
East leads 6-5
Hardest Shot
Zdeno Chara hits 103.1
East leads 8-5
Breakaway Challenge
West (49.3) def. East (43.2)
Ovechkin(East, 60) def Getzlaf(West, 52)
East wins 9-6
As for the All Star game itself, it was very exciting too. The West jumped out to a 1-0 lead only 12 seconds in, but at the end of the first period, the East led 5-1. However, behind a 2nd period shutout by Evgeni Nabakov and 3 breakaway goals from Rick Nash, the West charged back to take the lead 7-6 midway through the third period. But only 1:38 min later, Kovalchuk and Savard connected with MVP Eric Staal to tie the game. The atmosphere in the arena was suddenly taken to a whole new, exciting level. Fans were clearly jumping out of their seats for every chance the East got, and when Marc Savard scored with 20.9 seconds left, Phillips Arena erupted. The final score was 8-7 East; the Winning goaltender was Tim Thomas while Manny Legace was pinned with the loss.
In other news…
The NHL has supposedly scheduled the New York Rangers to play the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague and the Ottawa Senators to play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm to open up the 2008-09 season. Only one problem, the NHLPA isn’t quite ready to sign off on it, as they say they have not been informed of the idea before it was announced.
Versus has signed a three-year extension with the NHL
The New York Rangers retired Brian Leetch’s number 2.
Sidney Crosby is out 6 to 8 weeks.
Toronto fired GM John Ferguson and hired Cliff Fletcher.
Iyla Bryzgalov signed a 3-year extension with the Phoenix Coyotes.
30. Buffalo Sabres 21-21-6: Last week: 1-1; They were shelled by Phoenix, but surprisingly were able to beat the Stars in Dallas.
29. Tampa Bay Lightning 20-25-5: Last week: 1-1; getting killed by a struggling Ottawa team, well, that’s how the season is going.
28. Toronto Maple Leafs 20-23-8: Last week: 1-2; Well the highlight of last week was Kaberle going 4 for 4 in shooting accuracy at the skills competition.
27. Los Angeles Kings 20-29-2: Last week: 1-1; The Kings are 5-2 of late, it’s been better of late especially after defeating the Ducks.
26. Edmonton Oilers 23-24-5: Last week: 2-1; A decent week for the Oilers, a comeback of the year for them in Florida with 2 goals in the final 1:30.
25. Florida Panthers 23-24-5: Last week: 1-0-1; They should have had two wins, but allowed 2 goals in the final 1:30 against the Oilers and lost in OT.
24. Atlanta Thrashers 23-25-4: Last week: 0-2-1; I can’t believe this team is 2 points away from a division lead…
23. Washington Capitals 23-22-5: Last week: 2-1; After a great and exciting 6-5 shootout win over Pittsburgh, they let one get away in Toronto.
22. Chicago Blackhawks 23-23-4: Last week: 0-2; With a lot of offense talent, the Hawks were blanked 1-0 by Columbus. Needless to say Coach Savard was outraged.
21. Columbus Blue Jackets 25-20-6: Last week: 2-1; The recent play of the Blue Jackets has propelled them to second in the Central and tied for the last playoff spot.
20. Nashville Predators 25-20-5: Last week: 2-0-1; The Predators have been charging up the standings lately with an 8-2-3 record in the past 13 games.
19. New York Islanders 24-20-6: Last week: 1-1-1; The entire organization had to have held their breath when DiPietro missed an event in the skills competition due to pulling a muscle.
18. Phoenix Coyotes 26-21-2: Last week: 2-0; Two big wins, albeit against lesser opponents. Next week starts a road trip.
17. New York Rangers 24-21-6: Last week: 2-1; The odd sweep of Atlanta with both games at home may be just what they needed to start on a roll.
16. Carolina Hurricanes 24-24-4: Last week: 1-1; I think this team has a desire to lose the division lead, and fall out of the playoffs, because that’s what they’re about to do.
15. St. Louis Blues 22-19-7: Last week: 0-2-1; This team is in complete freefall, and have lost 7 in a row.
14. Boston Bruins 25-19-5: Last week: 2-1; I think the 8-2 loss to Montreal was just part of the eight game losing streak to them, but com ‘on.
13. Colorado Avalanche 26-20-4: Last week: 1-2; The Aves are hurting, and are 1-3 on the current 5-game home stand.
12. Philadelphia Flyers 27-16-5: Last week: 2-1; Although they manhandled Ottawa 6-1, low scoring New Jersey did that same to them the next night.
11. Montreal Canadiens 26-15-8: Last week: 2-0; They had the hometowns fans chanting “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, gooooodbyeeee” against Boston in an 8-2 rout.
10. Anaheim Ducks 27-20-6: Last week: 0-3; How do you follow up a 6-game win streak? In Anaheim, you lose three straight, including one to LA.
9. Minnesota Wild 28-19-3: Last week: 2-1; Now leading the division, they beat a team chasing them(Van) and lost to another(Cal).
8. Vancouver Canucks 26-19-5: Last week: 1-1; It took a shootout win over STL to snap a four game losing streak, and their 2.47 gpg is 27th in the NHL.
7. Calgary Flames 25-17-8: Last week: 1-0; Dion Phaneuf broke two panes of glass in one game!
6. Pittsburgh Penguins 27-18-4: Last week: 0-1-1; In the words of Kramer(Brian) “this is why you don't put Sabourin in goal 2 games in a row! He gave up 4 goals on only 13 shots...13 SHOTS!” That explain the week?
5. Dallas Stars 28-20-5: Last week: 1-2; If Modano and Boucher can step up, the Stars should be able to pull off a division win the “second half.”
4. New Jersey Devils 28-18-3: Last week: 2-1; After blowing a 3-1 lead to the Canadiens at home, 4-3, Coach Brent Sutter made his team practice AFTER the game…ouch.
3. San Jose Sharks 27-14-7: Last week: 2-0; Snapping a four game losing streak, the Sharks came out with two wins over Chicago and St. Louis.
2. Ottawa Senators 31-15-4: Last week: 1-2; Playing virtually no defense last week giving up 15 goals, it took a 7 point effort from Alfredsson for a win.
1. Detroit Red Wings 37-10-4: Last week: 2-0; Maintaining the number one shot yet again, Nick Lidstrom believes they have a shot at the record of 62 wins, we’ll see.
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