Hockey . . .

[Forever Sunshine]

Flyers crush Senators to remain unbeaten

Matt Read's fast start was too much for the struggling Ottawa Senators.

The Philadelphia rookie had a goal and two assists in the opening 20 minutes as the Flyers built a four-goal lead and went on to beat the Senators 7-2 on Tuesday night. Read added a third assist in the third period.

''This is the NHL and nothing comes easy, but I felt good and got a couple bounces and enjoyed my time out on the ice,'' Read said.

The four-goal outburst was enough for Senators coach Paul MacLean to make a goaltending switch to start the second period as Craig Anderson came on in relief of Alex Auld, who faced just 10 shots. Anderson made 17 saves but surrendered three goals late in the third period.

''I think we stopped playing when they got that first goal and allowed them to get three more,'' Senators coach Paul MacLean said. ''We started playing in the second period when the pressure was off. We're not very pleased at all and we need to have an evaluation of our team and how we play because we're not doing it very well.

msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/Philadelphia-Flyers-roll-past-Ottawa-Senators-101811

[Coldwarrior]

The Detroit Redwings are unbeaten too. The Flyers come to The Joe on Feb 12 and the Wings go there on Mar. 6.
The Wings are in somewhat of a rebuilding mode now. No more Maltby or Draper. Since Drapers retirement, the winning faceoff percentage went from over 50% to 23%. Hope he stays in shape. They might need him in the playoffs. The Playoffs? Yes, it's been over 20 years since the Wings didn't make the playoffs. How about Philly?
The new guys on the Wings are hardly rookies. As it is very difficult to move up from the Red Wing's minor league affiliates to the NHL, all of them have been in the system for 6 years of more. Grand Rapids which is the top farm team plays an identical system as the Wings so the transition on the move up is as painless as possible.
We were kind of hoping that with Atlanta closing shop and moving to Winnipeg, Detroit would move to the Eastern Division. But Bettman heard the cries and moaning of the remaining eastern teams and kept Winnipeg in the east, ridiculous as it is. With the exception of Tampa managed by former Redwing Steve Yzerman, the Wings would sweep the board there. And the Wings wouldn't have to play the Sharks, Ducks or Canucks to reach the finals.
One other reason for not allowing the Wings to move to the East is that Western teams both American and Canadian would lose a lot of money. There are Wings fans everywhere and when they play in places teetering on the edge of bankrupcy, they sell out the seats. The more games the Wings play in their towns, the more money they make. It makes the difference between black and red ink on the bottom line.
So with eastern teams worrying about never seeing a Stanley Cup final on their own ice and western teams moaning about lost revenue. Winnipeg players will have the opportunity to accumulate enough frequent flyer miles playing teams in the Southeast to get free family airline tickets to Mars.

[honey]

GO RED WINGS!!!

[Coldwarrior]

The Redwings got spanked by Washington. But for some reason Babcock started the second string goalie, Conklin tonight.
I didn't watch much of the game as the MSU-Wisconsin football game was on. Another thrilling game. MSU seems to have a lot of thrilling games. This one will be a highlite for years.

[Flying Horse]

NHL


1. Tortorela on Konopka: "I don't give a crap what Zenon said, or whatever his name is.

Ottawa tough guy Zenon Konopka spoke his mind today in anticipation of tonight's Senators-Rangers tilt, the first meeting between the teams since Ottawa's wild 5-4 SO win two weeks ago. That game, of course, was the one where New York's Wojtek Wolski took out Daniel Alfredsson with a questionable hit.
"We lost our captain. Our captain's still not in the lineup. I look right across every morning and see (the name) Alfredsson. I usually see his gear hanging there, and that bugs me," Konopka told the New York Daily News. "Right or wrong, if he was hurt legally, illegally, whatever way you want to explain it, our captain's out of our lineup, and that's a big blow to our team, and I look at that every day and that drives me up a wall, and it pisses me off."
Keep in mind most people tend not to mess with Konopka. He's one of the NHL's most active fighters (58 scraps over the last two seasons) and led the league in penalty minutes last year. The few that do cross him are usually fellow fight enthusiasts.
But Rangers head coach John Tortorella? Oh yeah, Torts will mess with Konopka. "I don't give a crap what Zenon said, or whatever his name is said," Tortorella said following the Rangers pregame skate. " We're going to go about our business and try to play the right way.' Tortorella's comment about playing the right way should further rankle the Ottawa center. Konopka has expressed anger at comments the Rangers made on a hit he threw in the previous game, a check on Artem Anisimov that netted Konopka a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct.
"They made a comment that after one of my hits, I guess, that this is what we need out of hockey," One of the Ranger players said, Konopka said. "Well in my mind, the Wolski hit is the hit we need out of hockey. I feel like mine is a hockey play with the hockey puck there. That didn't seem like a hockey play."
Puck was dropped at Scotiabank Place tonight, and in case you're wondering, yes, Konopka and Sean Avery do have a history - they fought in junior when Avery played for the Kingston Frontenacs and Konopka was with the Ottawa. BTW the Rangers won 3-2 in regulation.

2. Here's your Sidney Crosby update.

The Pittsburgh Penguins returned to practice this afternoon at the Consol Energy Center, a practice attended by numerous national media outlets - to watch that Crosby guy.
Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune reports that media members were huddled around Sidney Crosby's locker following practice in the hope of gleaning information about his potential return. "Crosby appeared irritated at a group of reporters, gathered at his locker stall waiting for him to address his status," Rossi writes. "Later, though, he jovially chatted up a couple of the national reporters."
Seems like everybody wants to know when No. 87 will return to action. but No. 87 isn't offering much in the way of information. Neither are the Penguins, though GM Ray Shero shot down rumors that the Mark Letestu-to-Columbus trade paved the way for Crosby to play Friday. Shero told Rossi on Tuesday night the move "has nothing to do with Sid."
Rossi states that "the only thing I've heard from people close to this situation is that the least ideal situation is for Crosby to return in a back-to-back games situation." Which makes sense - the organization would probably like a day off following Crosby's debut to monitor his health. The alternative is dicey. For example: If the Pens were to play Crosby on Friday against Dallas then sit him Saturday against Carolina solely for precautionary reasons (which is a fairly logical approach), they'd likely be bombarded with questions and speculation. I imagine the line of questioning would look something like this:

"Why is Crosby not playing tonight? Was it his decision to sit out, or the club's? Did he show any ill-effects from last night? If he did, what were they? If he didn't, why isn't he playing tonight? Could he have played if he checked out okay?"

Yeah, sounds like a real headache. Best to avoid it. The first game might be Tuesday, Nov. 15th at home against Colorado.
For you non-hockey fans, the great player, Sidney Crosby, suffered a severe concussion in late 2009 and missed the entire 2009-10 season and the first part of this season.