Around The Rink 03.18.08: Suspensions From Coast to Coast

Posted by Jeremy Yoder on 03.25.2008

Around The Rink this week, the NHL has waited 12 years to see what happened last Friday. Teams in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division are heating up, but will anyone other than the division winner make the playoffs? I’ll tell you in our weekly divisional review. The Pens took two of three big games over the past week. We’ll talk about who played key roles in those wins and, of course, injuries in our weekly Pens report.

Main Topics...

During the '95-'96 NHL season, two players scored each scored 60 goals. Those two players were Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. That was 12 years ago but, believe it or not, there has not been another 60-goal scorer in the league since then…until Friday, the 21st of March.

Alex Ovechkin is doing his best to get his Washington Capitals into the playoffs. And what Ovechkin does best is score goals. This past Friday, against their divisional rivals the Atlanta Thrashers, number eight scored number 60. Ovechkin scored two goals in the comeback victory bring his season total to 60. The next closest player to Ovechkin is Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk who is 10 behind with 50.

Ovechkin not only leads the league in goal scoring, but also in points scoring. His 106 points are four more than Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin's 102 points. The order they are sitting in right now is the same order these two dynamic Russians were drafted in during the 2004 Entry Draft.

Ovechkin is an amazing talent, especially when it comes to scoring goals. I used to think that Kovalchuk was the league's premiere goal-scorer, but I think the answer clearly is that Ovechkin is the premiere goal-scorer of the NHL. He already has 158 career NHL goals in his first three seasons and is poised to score many more. The Capitals are surrounding him with the kind of talent that will help him continue to score goals. Guys like Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom are young and will be around for a while to help Ovechkin achieve more great things in his career. It's going to be fun to watch.

An Uprising In The South?

The Carolina Hurricanes have climbed back into the driver's seat in the Southeast Division. They are currently 41-30-5 with 87 points. The ‘Canes are a pretty injured team right now. Captain Rod Brind'Amour is out for the rest of the season, Matt Cullen, Chad LaRose, Ray Whitney and Justin Williams are all on injured reserve right now. How are these guys continuing to win games? I think there are two names to mention when you ask that question, Eric Staal and Cam Ward. Staal leads the team in scoring by a very wide margin and has been playing very good hockey of late, leading the way for the team offensively. On the back end, Cam Ward has also been playing very well lately, returning to a semblance of the form that won the ‘Canes the cup a couple of years ago. As I have predicted all along, the ‘Canes will go on to win this division being the only team to represent the Southeast Division in the NHL playoffs.

Sitting in second are the surprising Washington Capitals. The Caps sport a record of 37-31-8 good for 82 points. What it's not good for though, is a playoff spot. The Caps are presently trailing the slumping Boston Bruins by two points for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Caps are winning games right now thanks largely to great goaltending from their trade deadline acquisitioned goalie, Cristobal Huet. Huet has been very good since arriving in Washington from Montreal. He is a big part of the reason the Caps are in the position they are currently in. The other big reason is obvious: Alex Ovechkin. He was named the NHL's first star of the week this past week notching three goals and four assists in three games. Nicklas Backstrom is another reason for this team's success. The young Swede is having an outstanding rookie year. Alongside Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, Backstrom is one of the favorites to win the NHL's rookie of the year trophy, the Calder Trophy. The question is, can this team make the playoffs? The Bruins are doing their best to make that a reality, but I just don't know. Part of me wants to say that they can, but in the name of at least partially sticking to my original predictions, I have to say this team will miss the playoffs. They will hold second place in this division, but will fall short of making the playoffs this year…next year will be a different story though. The Caps are going to be a very good team in future seasons in the NHL.

Sitting in third in this division are the rising Florida Panthers. The Panthers have earned at least a point in every one of their nine games so far this month. They have won eight of those games, losing one in overtime. The push sees the Panthers with a record of 36-31-9 good for 81 points. The Panthers right now are winning their games with defense. They have not allowed more than two goals in any game this month. Is their defense really that good? I'm not sure. They do have some good defensemen in Jay Bouwmeester, Bryan Allen and Steve Montador. However, I think the last line of defense, the goalie, is what is winning games for this team. Tomas Vokoun has been outstanding all year long for the Panthers. He deservingly made the All-Star team and has played very well all season on a team that has not played well at all times during the season. On the front end, Olli Jokinen continues to lead this team. Jokinen is really an underrated player if you ask me. He also has been good on a team that hasn't been so good. With Vokoun in net and Jokinen leading the charge up front, the Panthers are making a run at the playoffs. However, I'm afraid their run will end just short. They'll finish in third in this division and just miss the playoffs.

Fourth place in the Southeast Division sees the struggling Atlanta Thrashers. The Thrashers have been losing games left and right lately and are desperately trying to get to last in the division, and the league. Right now they are 31-38-8 with 70 points. The Thrashers really have been bad since the trade deadline when they lost one of their best offensive weapons in Marian Hossa. Since then, Ilya Kovalchuk has really cooled down, probably due to teams focusing on shutting him down. He really is the only offensive threat left on this team. Mark Recchi is second on the team in scoring with a whopping 45 points and no other Thrasher even has 20 goals on the season. Offense isn't the only problem in Thrasher-land. Defense is obviously a problem too. The Thrashers only have four players with a + rating, the highest of which is four. That's not good at all. Aside from that, their goaltending has not been very good either. Kari Lehtonen and Johan Hedberg have been splitting time and neither has stepped up to take control of the job. The Thrashers have a lot of work to do on this team. It's not going to happen overnight and it probably won't happen in just this off-season. Will the Thrashers finish last in this division? I think they will. They have really fallen and I don't see them getting back up. They will definitely give the LA Kings some competition for the worst team in the league as well.

Last place in the Southeast Division, tied for worst in the league with the Kings, are the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning are 29-38-8 with 66 points. Not having a better core of players around their big three, one of which is now gone, is finally starting to catch up with the Bolts. Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis are having good seasons with 89 and 80 points, respectively, but the next leading scorer on the Lightning's roster only has 37 points. That's a horrible drop off in points and one that will not serve your team well at all. On top of the offensive problems, the Lightning don't have a solid answer in goal right now. Mike Smith, acquired at the trade deadline from the Dallas Stars in the Brad Richards deal, has been shouldering most of the load. However, youngster Karri Ramo has also been getting starts. I guess that Ramo is the supposed future of this team in goal as he is only 21 years old. I don't know enough about or seen enough of Ramo to make a determination on him. He has had some pretty good games, but he's had some pretty bad ones too. That's how a young goaltender typically plays so I guess we'll see how he pans out. For now though, the Lightning are struggling and will continue to struggle. I do think they'll beat out the Thrashers though and finish fourth in this division.

Weekly Pens Update

The Pens took two of three games over the past week beating the Lightning and Devils at home, but losing on the road in New York to the Rangers. The final scores were Lightning 2 – Pens 4, Devils 1 – Pens 7 and Pens 2 – Rangers 5. The Pens played some of their best and some of their worst hockey over the stretch. They looked flat and uninspired against the Rangers, while looking relentlessly hungry against the New Jersey Devils. The week of action saw the Pens briefly hold first place in the Eastern Conference for about 24 hours, only to lose that spot to the Montreal Canadiens.

The Pens look somewhat poised to start a good run at the playoffs. Marc Andre Fleury is playing really good hockey between the pipes right now and the rest of the guys have been stepping up in the absence of Sidney Crosby and others. Not enough can be said about the work that guys like Chris Minard, Connor James, Ryan Stone and Jeff Taffe have done in the absence of star Penguins players such as Sidney Crosby and Marian Hossa.

Speaking of Crosby, he announced today that he will not play until at least Thursday against the Islanders. I can't wait to see him on the ice with Hossa and the wait is almost killing me at this point. I am going to make a personal guarantee that Crosby is back on Thursday because I will be forced to miss that game due to school activities. So it would only make sense for him to come back that night.

Speaking of injuries, I read on a message board today that Gary Roberts kind of re-aggravated his ankle injury last week. From what I understand, he won't be making his return on Thursday night. Roberts is obviously not as important to this lineup as someone like Sidney Crosby, but he's someone who can really provide some veteran leadership on this team as they head towards the playoffs. On top of that, he can bring a very physical and intimidating presence to the ice as well. Those are all things you like to have heading into the war that is the NHL playoffs.

The game against the Islanders just ended and the Pens blew a big chance losing the game 4-1. It was a big chance because they were one point behind the Montreal Canadiens for first place going into action. The Canadiens beat the Senators tonight which means that Eastern Conference lead is now stretched to three points. The Pens do have a game in hand over the Canadiens though. I think anyway…that's what I remember seeing earlier today, but that's not what the standings on nhl.com are showing while I write this. Either way, it was a big game the Pens needed to win. Really all of the games from here on out are big games for the Pens.

This week will see the Pens travel to New Jersey on Tuesday to rematch against the Devils, then settle in for two home games, one on Thursday against the Islanders and one on Sunday against the Rangers. The Devils will certainly be in a foul mood after being routed on Saturday night by the Pens. I expect the game to have a real playoff feel to it and it should be entertaining. It will be another great week in Penguins hockey!

Random Thoughts

Where is the line between being confident and being cocky or conceited? To me, the line lies between how you handle yourself around others. Someone who is cocky or conceited acts that way in the company of others. Someone who is confident will carry themselves in a manner that lets people know they have faith in their abilities, but does not cross the line into being annoying about it. That is my take. I consider myself to be a very confident person, but I tend to be humble in public. I'm not necessarily like that behind closed doors and because of that my wife says that I am cocky. I've playfully argued this point with her several times, but she insists that I'm horribly conceited. Who is right???

More Next Tuesday...

I'll be back next week with another column. Please send any comments, questions, suggestions or a topic that would interest you to [e-mail].