If Malkin’s suspect play in the first two games of the second round was an isolated incident, it would be easy to chalk it up to a couple off nights. However, combined with his lacklustre performance in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, and you have to wonder if the Penguins have a case of “Jumbo Gino” on their hands.

Here’s hoping that Malkin breaks out in a big way and is able to show Ovechkin and Crosby that another superstar came to play in this series, too.

The game was scattered with missed opportunities for both teams.  The Pens played well and looked sharp, but for the longest time could not find the net to save their lives.  The Netminders were very impressive, Yann Danis stopped 27 shots for the Islanders and Marc-Andre Fleury had 21 saves in his shutout performance.  It was Petr Sykora who snapped the scoreless tie with 2:28 remaining in the third period, lifting the Penguins to the 1-0 triumph over the Islanders.

The goal may have been Pittsburgh’s biggest score of the season because it keeps them right in the hunt. A loss or overtime loss to the Islanders would have been a crushing defeat.  To a team struggeling to find its identity this late in the season. 

The Penguins did climb a little higher in the standings with the win but there is no time to stop and rest. Now the Penguins will embark on an 11-day road trip through Chicago, Dallas, Tampay Bay, Florida and Washington. This will be a critical week in the Penguins season and the playoffs are on the line.

A Roadtrip like this is what will make or break the Pens this season.  Even though only 5 points seperate them from the 5th place Monreal Canadiens, they seem far removed from the Easten Conference Champions of last year.

Over the past 13 seasons, the New Jersey Devils have won three Stanley Cups, only the Detriot Red Wings have won more in that time. The Devils have made the playoffs 11 consecutive seasons and had 11 consecutive 40-plus win seasons, never finishing with less than 95 points and breaking the 100 point barrier in nine of those eleven seasons. So why would everyone doubt one of the most successful franchises in sports over the past 15 years? You gt me!

The Devils will return from the All-Star break sitting atop the Atlantic Division with 61 points (29-15-3), one point ahead of the New York Rangers and two points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Devils have been able to achieved this, despite being without Martin Brodeur for 37 games and free agent signings Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik for 18 games a piece. So here is a look back at the first half and how the Devils have gotten to where they are?

MVP: Zach Parise / Patrick Elias
Zach Parise has become one of the best young NHL stars and Patrick Elias has once again become one of the NHL elite players. For the first time, maybe ever, their could be two Devils who finish the year in the top 10 in scoring in the league.

Parise, whose 28 goals ranks him 3rd behind Ovechkin and Carter, is currently 7th in the league with 55 points, while Elias ranks 9th with 54 points. The best part is they play on different lines, giving the other teams fits and the Devils two scoring lines.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Travis Zajac
Zajac’s 15 goals and 21 assists already surpass his numbers from last season and with 35 games remaining he should easily break his career high of 42 points. Of late, Zajac has been the hot stick for the Devils as he has 5 goals and 3 assists in the past 7 games. Best of all has been his improvement on defense playing at a plus-19 compared to last seasons minus-11 rating.

BIGGEST SUPRISE: Scott Clemmensen
When the season started Scott Clemmensen was barely on the Devils radar. He would be headed to Lowell and spend time there all season and be an insurance policy. Well the Devils cashed in that insurance policy and more than they expected.

Not only has Clemmensen come in and held down the fort, he has asserted his presence. The Devils goal, who may have been snubbed for a trip to the All-Star game, has put up Brodeurian numbers in the absence of the star goaltender. Clemmensen is 7th in the league in wins (19), 6th in Goal-Against-Average (2.29) and 8th in save percentage (.922).

Now the big questions are, can he keep it up and what will the Devils do once Marty comes back at the end of February? Who will go and who will stay? One thing is for certain, Clemmensen will see a nice pay day from some team next season.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Jay Pandolfo
The long time Devil signed a three year 7.5M dollar contract over the summer and now with the signing of Brendan Shanahan, Pandolfo is watching the games from the press box.

He and long time linemate, John Madden, have been separated for most of the season and when he has played of late he has only seen time of late on the fourth line. There has been speculation of trading Pandolfo, but he will be difficult to move in the salary cap era.

TRADE DEADLINE: To Trade or not to trade, that is the question?
The Devils added Brendan Shanahan and may be happy with the depth they now have at the forward position. The defense has been underrated all year, but their solid play has the Devils ranked 5th in the league on defense. But GM Lou Lamiriello has been known to always add a veteran to the mix at the trade deadline. Looking back Lamiriello has brought in defenseman like Bryce Salvador, Jason Weimer, Phil Housley, Shawn Chambers and Vladmir Malakhov at the dealine and I would expect him to do the same. Except for Malakhov, there is one thing that ties all these players together. Lou got them for cheap and without breaking up the current roster.

THE FUTURE: Five things to look out for in the second half
Here are a few things to look out for after the all-star break:
1) Can John Madden keep it going? The Devils center has struggled all year and has been rumored in trades for a few weeks. Since Shanahan has joined the team, Madden has 1 goal,6 assists and a plus-6 rating in the past five games. Now can he keep playing the way he has of late, or will the Devils look to move him at the trade deadline?
2) Will Parise be the first Devil to score 50 goals in a season and will he or Elias break the 100 point plateau? Parise is on pace for 95 points and 48 goals, just short of the two marks.
3) How much of a difference will Shanahan make? He scored in his first game, but his presence may be felt far more than just on the score sheet.
4) Will Lou stand still or make a move? As we already stated, will Lou add a veteran blueliner or will he look for a 3rd line centerman to play with his wingers Rolston, Shanahan and Clarkson.
5) How will Brodeur play when he returns? He has never been out of the line-up for this long in his career. Will the rest help him and have him fresh for the playoffs or will he come back not in top form and send the Devils into a funk.

WHAT IS UP NEXT: The homestretch begins.
The Devils will come back from the all-star break with two road games at Ottawa and Boston and then play seven of eight on home ice. Scott Clemmensen and the Devils will need to try and put some distance between them and the Rangers and Flyers, while they await the return of Brodeur between February 26th and March 7th.

With 35 games remaining the Devils have nine divisional games left, including three against the Islanders and two against the Flyers, Rangers and Penguins. The Devils will not be doing much traveling the remainder of the season, as their furthest trip is a game at Chicago on March 27th. Besides that game every game will be played in the eastern time zone.

Ryan Hamilton, a 23 year old Torontonian was with Minnesota’s AHL affiliate, Houston Aeros when he heard the big news, that he was returning home. With the Aeros this year, Hamilton had pot eight goals, while racking up four assists and 24 penalty minutes.

Before making his NHL debut  Ryan Hamilton played with the OHL’s Barrie Colts where he led the with 45 goals in 63 games played.

With the addition of Hamilton, the Leafs are receiving a physical player who rarely gets his name on the score sheet. The only downside to this acquisition is that Hamilton will probably be with the Toronto Marlies (the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate) for a few seasons, until General Manager Burke thinks that he will have a big impact on the Leafs.

Anyway, what I watched was a fiercely disputed game that showcased Toronto’s Vesa Toskala and New York’s Steve Valiquette.

There were plenty of chances at either end of the rink, including several posts by each team. The score could have been much more inflated had the two netminders not been razor-sharp.

Anyway, here’s some things I noticed, from both teams:

• Scott Gomez is ridiculously fast! Unless the Leafs are particularly slow, which they didn’t appear to be save for a few individuals, Gomez is simply lightning quick. I’m surprised he doesn’t score more goals, since he seems to be able to win individual footraces against the likes of Tomas Kaberle… Gomez should definitely be taught to shoot rather than pass…
• Vesa Toskala might blow the Leafs’ chances at landing Tavares or Hedman. Really! He’ll end up winning some of those tight games, and with a bit of improvement on his shootout play, the Leafs will wind up in about 6th from the bottom. Maybe they will go after Brayden Schenn???
• Toronto has no star power up front. This team was full of a bunch of over-hyped youngsters like Nikolai Kulemin and Michail Grabovski, and then you had the third and fourth line type players who filled out the roster. It’s very bad when your marquee forwards are Nik Antropov and uhm…
• Steve Valiquette is capable of starting more games than the Rangers give him. His sheer size is intimidating to shooters, and he covers a lot of the net. I think this is key, to keep Henrik Lundqvist fresh and healthy. It’s nice to see that Valiquette can win a tight game. The Leafs were very intent on winning last night, but Valiquette kept his composure, and was rarely forced to make any “lucky” saves.
• Toronto has a surprisingly good pickup in Johan Frogren. He didn’t figure much on the stats sheet, but he played a very solid defensive game, especially against some of the Rangers’ quicker guys, like Nikolai Zherdev. Frogren seemed to find good lines of attack in his coverage. I’m not sure he can be considered as good of a pickup as that Fabian Brunnstrom guy in Dallas, but it’s a nice move for a rebuilding team…

Anyway, as you can no doubt tell, I’m trying to view things as objectively as possible. The Rangers are having a great season, but last night was a far closer game than I expected. Clearly we still have plenty of room for improvement, mainly in terms of finishing scoring chances. Tonight’s game against Detroit should show if Lundqvist’s presence in goal gives the team more confidence in initiating rushes. I’m predicting the Rangers win 4-2.

Key Players: Lundqvist, Naslund, Rozsival

Not to fear, fellow believers, not to fear. It’s one game, decided by a shootout-there’s no shootouts in playoffs. Besides, we all know Carey Price’s track record in shootout-he’ll be fine.

A few observations I made while watching tonight’s game:

Thank you, Mats Sundin: Without your offseason soap opera, and taking it to the point where Mr. Gainey couldn’t wait anymore, we would have never acquired Robert Lang from the Hawks-and what a start he had! A goal in his first shift in his first game as a member of the Tricolore…now that’s making a statement. He and Sergei Kostitsyn showed flashes of brilliance together, and Kostopoulos did a fine job on that line, but when Higgins returns from injury we will be seeing Guillaume Latendresse alongside those two, which will hopefully add another dimension to what looks to be shaping up as quite the trio-and that’s only the third line!

The Price is Right: So the Carey Price show only lasted 65 minutes, but it was the performance by the 21-year old netminder. Besides the Vanek goal, he was solid, making many key saves and showing the quickness and agility…a big year for Carey, should all go well.

Kovy and Co.: They didn’t hit the scoresheet, but every time the Kovalev-Plekanec-Kostitsyn line got on the ice, you could feel Lindy Ruff tighten up. That line had Buffalo srambling all night-give it a couple of games, and they’ll be firing on all cylinders once again…

Tanguay and Saku: These guys are gonna need a couple of games to adjust. There also going to need Chris Higgins, because someone needs to shoot the puck, and right now it isn’t going to be either one of these two. They HAVE to shoot more.

Ryan O’Byrne: Solid game tonight, I can see another Komisarek in the making here, still a work in progress, but coming along nicely.

All in all, not the start we all envisioned, but we can take some positives out of it. Some sloppy moments, especially penalties, but the PK looked good-the PP didn’t. Some time needed there as well for some chemistry to develop.

I leave you all with this final, burning question…

Why is Patrice Brisebois still around? (I have nothing against the guy, but c’mon, he’s the Breezer for a reason, those terrible passes that the opponents receive on a silver platter need to stop if he wants to be even the 7th defenseman-’cause Yannick Weber ain’t far folks…not far at all…

Mark Streit, he has some potential, but failed to show up for many games in the post season. Yes he had a couple of good games, but for the salary that he will demand next season, is it really worth it? Streit is a good puck mover, and has a good shot from the point, but he didn’t use it much, and had a hard time against the bigger teams he faced in the play-offs.

The power-play, what in the world happened? Well teams figured out that Andrei Markov always passes the puck to Alex Kovalev, and shut that lane off, then it was to Streit, and teams shut that lane off too, so the power-play was almost non existent.

Carey Price, well, unfortunately he showed that he is still a rookie, he did win his first play-off series, and made some spectacular saves, but also was rattled and let in some cheap goals. Price is only twenty years old, and will rebound from this, he gained valuable experience in the post season, and will have to work on his glove side high holes, although there are unconfirmed reports that he was a little injured as well. Look, you see in this kid that he has the potential to be great, this was a stepping stone, or a learning curve, so do be too hard on him.

Basically the team in the series against the Philadelphia Flyers, out played played the other team, they couldn’t finish. What the Habs needed and need for next season is for Guillaume Latendresse to play like the player he is supposed to be, or to get a player like Milan Lucic, and perhaps if, and only time will tell, if the Habs don’t have gritty decent size forwards in Hamilton, which they do, then they will have to acquire a few. Along with possibly inquiring about Jeff Carter, he would be a good centre for the Habs. The forwards that don’t hit, meaning the scorers, did their job, they got points, perhaps too little, too late in the game, but they did it anyways, you can’t fault them. The fourth line however, was atrocious, and will have to be much better next season.

All the Habs need is a good power forward, and a couple of good gritty players to help Tom Kostopolous, and Steve Begin in the hitting department, as more defense-men are coming up, and they know how to hit. This post season was not a let down as the Canadiens were fore-casted to not make the play-offs, so the team should sort of be happy, however next year is the centennial, and all the media in hockey will be in Montreal, if the Habs don’t want to look like chumps, then they will have to take what they hopefully learned and apply it next season.

They out-played the Flyers, but didn’t get any lucky bounces, but at least they were not dominated, something to look forward to. Let’s hope that Price has a great rebound year next year, and leads the Habs further in the post season.

In the Western Conference you will see the Dallas Stars against the San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red-Wings against the Colorado Avalanche.

Stars, Sharks: Evegeni Nabokov against Marty Turco. Nabokov is the better goalie this year by far, but Turco has played really well, and didn’t play as many games during the regular season as Nabokov, one would have to think that Nabokov will get tired eventually. Nabokov has the edge as long as he doesn’t get tired. The Stars still don’t have Sergei Zubov, which could hurt them in this series. If the Stars hope to defeat the Sharks they will have to do the same thing as they did against the Anaheim Ducks, as the Sharks are also a physical team, however they might be a little bruised after their last series against the Calgary Flames. Technically the Sharks should win, but then again, everyone had the Ducks winning too, as the Stars had a bad end of the season, and look what happened.

Avalanche, Red-Wings: As much as it pains me to say it, with the recent play of the almost extinct Dominik Hasek, Jose Theodore is the better goalie so far, Chris Osgood is a good goalie, unfortunately Theodore has been standing on his head in the play-offs, the edge to starting goalie goes to the Avalanche. Ian Laperriere, he has got a target on his back after smashing Niklas Lidstrom into cloud nine at the end of the season. The scorers for both teams are about even, the defence however goes to the Red-Wings. This series should go to the Red-Wings, but they didn’t impress too many people in their last series, are they too old? The Avalanche have some speed, but will it be enough to win? Colorado could upset.

In the Eastern Conference you will see the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Rangers, and the Montreal Canadiens against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Penguins, Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist, enough said. Lundqvist is superior to Ty Conklin, and Marc Andre Fleury, by far. Pittsburgh’s offence is better than the Rangers, but, Jaromir Jagr has come out of his shell, that could hurt the Pens. The Pens are all offence, and didn’t have much trouble sweeping the Ottawa Senators in their last series, but the Rangers are not the Sens. The Rangers have Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, to shut down either the Sidney Crosby line, or the Evgeni Malkin line. But will the Pens be able to defend against the re-appearance of Jagr the great, Brendan Shanahan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Martin Straka? Fleury, or Conklin will have their hands full in this series. The only factor that will not be one is Sean Avery, yes he can score some nice goals, which he just might, but his intimidation antics will not work in Pittsburgh with big George Laraque on the ice, Avery better hope that those two don’t meet, or else Avery can book his hospital room right now. Besides goal-tending which the Blue Shirts hold the advantage, the Pens have more explosive talent up front, question is, will they be able to explode on the Rangers, the Rangers aren’t the Sens. Keep the Pens in their own zone. I believe that the Rangers could win this one, if they are able to slow down the Pens, if not, the Pens take it.

Canadiens, Flyers: Where to start, well to keep it short, Carey Price is better than Martin Biron. The Flyers defence is slow, and Derian Hatcher has seen better days. These two teams were no.1, and no.2 in the regular season on the power-play, with the Habs being no.1. The Habs had a hard time against the Bruins on the p.p., but if they can manage to bring it back now that Saku Koivu is back then they will do well as the Flyers are an undisciplined team. Daniel Briere will be deaf when he leaves the Bell Centre, and may have to work on his confidence as well as the Montreal fans will let him have it big time. Montreal has the edge in coaching staff, and defence, as well as in between the pipes. With Mike Knuble, and Simon Gagne out, for sure the Habs have the edge in offence as well, question is, will Philly be able to contain it for seven games if necessary? Montreal should win this one, as the Flyers only impressed themselves by winning, but you never know, still the Habs should prevail if their power-play clicks, and they play their game, and don’t play the Flyers way, yes the Flyers have Steve Downie, but the Habs have Steve Begin, Tom Kostopoulos, Francis Bouillon, and Maxim Lapierre to a lesser extent. The Habs two best players in Alex Kovalev, and Carey Price, are better than the two best players of the Flyers in Mike Richards, and Daniel Briere. Should be a good one to watch.

The scorers for the Habs were, Mike Komisarek, from Alex Kovalev, and Saku Koivu, then Mark Streit, from Maxim Lapierre, and Kovalev, then Andrei Kostitsyn, from Sergei Kostitsyn, and Roman Hamrlik, the fourth goal was scored by Andrei Kostitsyn, from Patrice Brisebois, and lastly Sergei Kostitsyn, from Andrei Kostitsyn, and Tomas Plekanec. Carey Price made 25 saves for the shut-out.

This was the real Habs, the Habs of the regular season, the Habs that took a 2-0 lead in the first two minutes of game no.1. Where had they been hiding all this time? The Boston Bruins didn’t stop all game long, but Carey Price was spectacular on many occasions, Price made some exciting saves at opportune times, even though the Habs scored 5 goals, it was the Price show tonight, most likely a little disgusted at the fact that he let in 5 goals in each of the last two games.

The whole team played well, even Sergei Kostitsyn who once again got a couple of un-timely penalties, played well. Sergei got hit hard on the boards and had to go get some stitches, but came back and played well. The rest of the team played well too, but for the few times that the team was lacking some defensive zone coverage, Price was there to prevent the Bruins from getting any momentum.

If the Canadiens played like that all series, it would have been over in 5 games maximum. Boston’s light for the future is Milan Lucic, what a thorn in the sides of the Habs, but a good player. Yes the young factor had something to do with the fact that the Habs didn’t play well for a few games, but they prevailed, this time. Let the kids go out and celebrate tonight, and let the team breathe for a few days, no hard practices, let the bumps and bruises heal, and let Saku Koivu, and Francis Bouillon completely heal.

The Canadiens did almost everything right, they blocked shots, scored a power-play goal, and didn’t stop when they got the lead, of course Price helped, especially during the penalty-kill. Once again the referees made some bum calls, and let many penalties slip by, but it didn’t hamper the Habs tonight.

The Habs won this series, but await the winner of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Washington Capitals series which after the Caps won tonight, is tied 3-3, if the Flyers win, then the Habs would play them in the next round, if the Caps win, the Habs would play the New York Rangers. Although I think that the Habs have a better chance to get to the Conference Championship if they play the Flyers, I don’t think that they want to chose their opponents. It doesn’t matter who the Habs play, as long as the whole team shows up every game, and they play their style, they can beat anyone in the east.

Koivu, and Bouillon returned in game no.6, even though they are not healed completely, Koivu who won over 70% of his face-offs in both games, and was key in certain plays, helped the Habs give the Bruins something they didn’t plan for. Bouillon played decent, but more to the point, he gave the Habs another veteran on the blue-line, for which Andrei Markov could take a breather. Guy Carbonneau wore his ugly lucky tie, I’m starting to like that tie.

So the Habs wait for another day to see who they will face, Flyers, or Rangers. As long as the whole team plays, it doesn’t matter. Congratulations, it took longer than everyone thought, hopefully adversity will help the young kids get back to earth, and bond the team even more.

The Scoring for the Habs went like this, Chris Higgins, from Saku Koivu, then Tomas Plekanec from Steve Begin, following that was Francis Bouillon, from Josh Gorges, and Sergei Kostitsyn, lastly Chris Higgins from Saku Koivu, and Sergei Kostitsyn. Carey Price made 31 saves in the loss.

The Bruins scoring was Phil Kessel, from Marc Savard, and Shane Hnidy, then Vladimir Sobotka, from Peter Shaefer, and Denis Wideman, next was Milan Lucic, from Arron Ward, and Marc Savard, then Phil Kessel, from Marco Sturm, and David Krejci, and lastly Marco Sturm, from David Krejci, and Zdeno Chara. Tim Thomas made 31 saves for the win.

When Saku Koivu won all his face-offs in the first period, and assisted on Chris Higgin’s goal, it seemed as though the Real Habs were back. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Andrei Markov continues to struggle, one could see that Bouillon doesn’t have his timing back yet, and the effortless performance of the Habs was appalling. Yes they scored 4 goals, but the checking line had one, or two good shifts all game, and the other lines, well…. When the third period started, the Habs were pinned down in their own zone for a few minutes, result, a goal. The Canadiens are having so much trouble clearing their zone, and keeping it in the Bruins zone.

The Bruins showed once again that they want it more than the Habs do, are the Canadiens even thinking about this series, or perhaps in what hot sunny place they will be playing golf next week! Koivu played well, winning most of his face-offs, and having a couple of assists, not bad for someone who started skating three days ago. Bouillon was fine half way through the second period, but what can you expect from two players coming back from injuries? I think that they at least played well considering.

It was a nail biter all the way, every time the Canadiens scored, the Bruins replied not too long after, there was some good hits from both teams, and the goalies were excellent even with the score. I think that perhaps the Habs should look at themselves in the mirror on Sunday, and decide what they want to do after Monday, play golf, or play hockey. The momentum is squarely with the Bruins, and there is the possibility that Patrice Bergeron comes back for game 7 on Monday, like the Bruins needed more motivation.

Well it’s do or die for the Habs on Monday at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens have home ice advantage through-out the Eastern Conference play-offs, meaning all game seven’s well be at the Bell Centre, but if they don’t screw their heads on right, Tuesday will be clean out your lockers day, and Wednesday the team will be dissected by every media source there is, and let’s not forget the fans. There is no reason for a game 7 against the Bruins, yes, yes, the play-offs is another story, but the Habs should have been done with this series on Thursday, now they face elimination as well. Where is the no.1 team in the East? Well they had better show up on Monday, or they will replace the Ottawa Senators on the front page of all hockey magazines this month.

Unfortunately, that exact scenario occurred last night. The New York Rangers pounded the Islanders into submission by the score of 3-0 to clinch their own playoff spot and hammered yet another nail into the coffin at the same time. The Rangers got two power play goals from Jaromir Jagr and an even-strength goal from Martin Straka.

Islander-Ranger games usually are hotly contested tilts that are full of chippy play and teeth-rattling body contact. Those elements were noticeably missing last night. The Rangers simply took over the game early and Isles failed to respond. What was disappointing from an Islanders fan’s perspective was not necessarily the score…being dominated in games this season was an all too frequent event. What really drove the fans crazy was the lack of physicality Ted Nolan’s squad exhibited. Sean Avery of the Rangers hounded young phenom Kyle Okposo all night, dumping him hard into the boards on a couple of occasions, yet no one stood up to the pesky winger. Had we been in a different era and Avery had done the same to Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies would have shoved his stick so far down Avery’s throat that Sean would have been pooping “Koho” splinters for a week.

Another distressing reality of Islander-Ranger games at the Coliseum is the overwhelming presence of Rangers fans. This is far from a new trend, but it seems clear that Ranger fans have no trouble gaining access in droves to the former “Fort Neverlose”. In order to garner the amount of territory they take up, it’s obvious that many Islander season ticket holders choose to sell their tickets for these contests. I certainly won’t fault someone for taking advantage of a financial opportunity, but this seems somehow traitorous. Can you imagine a Leafs fan willingly exchanging their seats for money from a Sens or Habs fan? Perhaps it does occur, but the idea seems unfathomable.

Islander fans need to recognize that, without their unwavering support, this team is possibly going to move sometime in the future. I’m not suggesting that every fan blindly follows and believes in every move the team makes, but honestly asks themselves why they are a fan and what is expected of them.

If they cannot support the team through rough patches, then how much integrity do they really have?

The scoring for the Canadiens went like this, Christopher Higgins, assisted by, Mark Streit, and Roman Hamrlik, then Brian Smolinski, from Steve Begin, and Ryan O’Byrne, and lastly from Smolinski, un-assisted. Carey Price made 27 saves for the win, but his best saves were late in the third period. The lone scorer for the Sabres was Ales Kotalik, from Derek Roy, and Jaroslav Spacek.

The Sabres are now officially out. This was a good game for the Habs, they played well, until Buffalo took advantage of a 5 on 3 and scored their only goal, after that, it was the Cary Price show, again showing the fans that Bob Gainey made the right move by placing him as no.1. The Habs played great for 40 minutes, and average for 20, but it was enough to beat the Sabres, and eliminate them from the play-off race. Things got a little bit chippy in the third, because the Sabres were annoyed at being eliminated, but the Canadiens fared well in that regard as well.

Matt D’Agostini played decent replacing Michael Ryder, Ryder having an inured leg. D’Agostini was a little tense in the first period, but played well for the rest of the game. There is a possibility D’Agostini will play again on Saturday, and Gregory Stewart will most probably make his first start on Saturday when the Habs play their last game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

The Habs are now tied in points with the Penguins in points, but the Pens have one more win than the Habs, for the Canadiens to win the conference, they would have to win on Saturday, and hope that the Pens lose on Sunday. Still, if the Habs win on Saturday, it would force the Penguins to play hard, and with their full line-up to win on Sunday, which would make an even more exciting end of the season.

One more game for the Habs, the possibility of one more win, and the pressure would fall to the Penguins, even if the Habs don’t win on Saturday, it’s still an impressive season, with 102 points, rookie Carey Price playing in 40 games with a record of 23-12-3, and more. Let’s hope they win on Saturday and force the Pens to win on Sunday.

The Leafs are done. After tonight’s loss they have the potential to tie the Bruins, and the Philadelphia Flyers in points, but they have the tie-breaker against the Leafs as they both won the season series against the Leafs. Too bad, some of the Maple Leafs players were trying awfully hard to make the play-offs, even-though they were told that they couldn’t before the trade deadline, unfortunately, it was all for not.

After the players for which Cliff Fletcher could have gotten something of note for said that they would not waive their no-trade clauses, it was down hill from there, even with the string of wins they managed to get, in the end, it was destiny that called them. Imagine the Leafs could have gotten Jeff Carter, Chris Higgins, and even Chris Pronger last year, what a team they would have been, if not this season, then next for sure, not to mention the fact that they would have gotten all those good draft picks too.

The Maple Leafs face the Montreal Canadiens 2 more times this season, question remains, will they play the Habs with as much hate as they usually do, or will they decide to play them but not with much gumption as there is no point. Perhaps the youngsters will play for a spot next year, and if Mats Sundin is playing, he will probably still bring his ” A ” game, but for the rest, it will be interesting to see for sure.

Even-though I dislike the Maple Leafs, I can say that the team would have been better in the long run if certain players with no-trade clauses would have waived them, unfortunately for the Leafs, the rebuilding process will take a little longer than expected.

The scoring for the Habs went like this, Andrei Kostitsyn, from Tomas Plekanec, and Roman Hamrlik, secondly from Chris Higgins, assisted by Maxime Lapierre, the third goal was from Andrei Kostitsyn, from Mark Streit, the fourth from Francis Bouillon, from Brian Smolinski, the fifth from Andrei Markov, assisted by Michael Ryder, and Alex Kovalev, the sixth from Mikhail Grabovski, from Sergei Kostitsyn, and lastly from Tom Kostopoulos, assisted by Andrei Markov. Carey Price stopped 31 of 36 shots.

The Sens scoring is Antoine Vermette, from Randy Robitaille, and Martin Lapointe, secondly from Dany Heatley, from Daniel Alfredsson, and Luke Richardson, next was Martin Lapointe, from Shean Donovan, and Randy Robitaille, then Dany Heatley from Mike Commodore, and Daniel Alfredsson, and lastly from Cory Stillman, assisted from Daniel Alfredsson.

The Habs came out busting, not letting the Sens do anything at all for two periods, closing the neutral zone, hitting the Sens, and making an aggressive fore-check. They made the Sens wonder what team they were playing, they blazed by them on all accounts. The third period however was a different story, with a mix of bad calls from the refs yet again, and a total lack of organization from the Habs, not to mention a couple of goals that Price should not have let in, it was a total collapse in the third, once again started by the questionable calls from the refs.

The Canadiens have now cliched a play-off birth, and they are 7 points ahead of the Sens for the division lead, and three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the conference lead. The Habs next play the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, the Sabres can do the Habs a favour by beating the Sens twice this week, and giving us the division championship. The Habs can now breath a little easier with the assurance of making the play-offs, they now have 96 points, and need to win two more games to get 100 points.

Carey Price had a difficult third period, but in the end he has to be a professional, and let it slide off his shoulders as they won anyway. It’s unclear at this point if the Habs will give Jaroslav Halak another start before the play-offs, and if that start will be on Friday against the Sabres to then come back with Price on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The fans let out a sigh of relief after tonight’s game, their team is now officially in the play-offs, where they will sit is still to be determined.

Nice going boys, keep it up, but play all 60 minutes instead of only 40.

Last night’s game was a mirror image of the March 1st tilt in more ways than just the score. Once again, the Flyers not only scored a fluke goal against Rick Dipietro, they outmuscled the Islanders and took advantage of their undisciplined play. Four power play goals by Philadelphia (two by Scott Hartnell, one each for Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere) moved the Isles one step closer to a non-playoff future.

The blueprint for beating New York is no secret around the league: Play them hard early, let them take foolish penalties, get a lead and then simply dump and chase for the rest of the game. Oh, and don’t worry about taking any silly penalties yourself….The Islander Power Play is about as electrifying as a two volt battery these days.

“What is wrong with the PP?”, many fans wonder. I broke down the video of the game, paying particular attention to the man advantage situations for both teams. While Philadelphia’s excellent squad constantly moved the puck smoothly in the offensive zone, the Islander passes were slow and often off the mark. The biggest issue on the New York side was the astonishingly high number of shots from the point that never reached the net. While they have improved the positioning of the forwards to crowd in front of the goaltender, it’s really become a moot point if he’s never forced to make a save on the initial shot.

Regarding the Isles’ normally good penalty killing, coach Ted Nolan made a very odd personnel choice in regards to a first period penalty to Dipietro. He selected Andy Hilbert, one of the team’s only skilled defensive players, to serve the goaltender’s time. No, that’s not a misprint. Why would Nolan attempt to defend against a 5-3 advantage by choosing to sit one of his fastest and noted PK players? It honestly left me scratching my head.

The Flyers are clearly a team on the rise. They played with an intensity of a playoff bound team and it couldn’t have been more evident. Ted Nolan even alluded to the fact that “only 90% of our guys were working” while praising the energy and passion that Sean Bergenheim brought to the game.

If this sort of diminished effort is what fans can expect the rest of the way, it makes you wonder why GM Garth Snow kept this group together at the trade deadline in the first place. It also makes you concerned about what steps he’ll take in the off-season to rectify the situation.

Kings GM Dean Lombardi has apparently told his fellow GMs that he’s willing to move any player on his roster over 25 years of age.

That list includes defenseman Rob Blake, Brad Stuart, Tom Preissing and D Jaroslav Modry, as well as forwards Ladislav Nagy, Derek Armstrong, and Scott Thornton.

Garrioch claims that the Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red Wings are interested in Blake.

However, The Score reports that Blake, who is currently on the IR, doesn’t want to leave the Kings. Blake has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he gets to control where he plays.

But if he were to return before the February 26 trade deadline and willing to accept a trade, his preference would be to remain out West, thus taking the Red Wings out of the running.

Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe reports that the Anaheim Ducks are high on Blake’s wish list.

Meanwhile, Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post suggests the Kings will look to acquire a quality prospect in return for Blake.

Biggane also reports that the 38-year-old Blake will retire in the off-season and take a front-office job with the Kings.

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost starter Marc-Andre Fleury to a knee injury and will be gone for six weeks and would benefit from adding experienced goaltender. In Tampa Bay, the Lightning are getting a lot of inconsistent performances from Johan Holmqvist and backup Marc Denis. And in Los Angeles, the Kings could use a veteran to carry the load shouldered by youngsters Jason LaBarbera and Jonathan Quick.

With that in mind, The Score and Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun are reporting that the Penguins, Lightning and the Kings, among other teams, have called the Toronto Maple Leafs to inquire about the availability of back-up Andrew Raycroft.

Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun believes that while discussion have taken place, a deal for Raycroft is not imminent. It’s believed that Raycroft’s $2 million salary “could be a sticking point in the end.”

Zeisberger also reports that the Penguins, Lightning, Kings, and the St. Louis Blues have expressed some interest in unrestricted free agent Curtis Joseph.

Joseph, who will play for Team Canada at this year’s Spangler Cup, turned down an offer to play for a team in the Russian Elite League that would have paid him more than $1 million.

However, both players own no-trade clauses in their contracts and would both have to approve the trade for it to happen.

The benching of struggling forward Raffi Torres prompted speculation from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun that the Edmonton Oilers may trade him if he doesn’t improve his game soon.

While forward Jarret Stoll was also sent to the press box for the a game, it’s believed that the Oilers will hang on to him.

Chicago Blackhawks head coach Denis Savard tells Tim Sassone of the Chicago Daily Herald that struggling forward Sergei Samsonov is having a hard time staying in the line-up because he can’t play on the team’s top-two lines.

“For Sammy to be effective he has to play in the top six forwards,” Denis Savard said. “If you look at who I use in the top six for now, it’s pretty tough for him to crack that position. He’s been a real pro and understands.”

Speculation is that the Blackhawks may try to trade or waive Samsonov and his $3.5 million contract if he doesn’t get his act together.

However, it’s unlikely that the Penguins are actively shopping Malone due to his consistent play this season and his role as a power-forward.

Still with the Penguins, Molinari reports that a Canadian radio station has hinted at the fact that forward Mark Recchi was given the green light to explore trade possibilities on his own by management.

However, neither side would confirm the report.

Sticking with the Penguins, defenseman Darryl Sydor tells Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News that he’d like to remain with the club despite being benched for five consecutive games and word that management may be shopping him.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” he said. “You can go either way and react the wrong way or the right way, and I tried to react the right way. I’ve tried to work hard and take my frustrations out on the treadmill and wait and be ready.”

“They know I’m not happy,” he said. “They got me here for a reason, and I’d like to help them. But that’s not working out right now, and I don’t think they can have my contract and a healthy scratch.”

Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated suggests that Vancouver Canucks GM Dave Nonis should move “a piece of the future” like defenseman Luc Bourdon to add some offer firepower up front.

The Score is reporting on their Website that Anaheim Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer “could return to the club before Christmas.”

“We are still looking at things right now,” Hitchcock said.

Reed also reports that defenseman Joel Bouchard, who was on a tryout contract with the Blue Jackets, declined a two-way contract offer from the club. The 33-year-old Bouchard is exploring opportunities to catch on with another team on a more permanent basis.

“There are at least 20 teams right now in the NHL that don’t like two of their defensemen,” said Bouchard.

Ansar Khan of mLive.com reports that the Detroit Red Wings have released defensemen Jassen Cullimore form his tryout contract.

The Score is reporting that defenseman Jeff Woywitka was placed on waivers by the St. Louis Blues after becoming a victim of the numbers game with the St. Louis Blues. Should he go unclaimed, Woywitka will be demoted to the AHL.

The Score also reports that after failing to earn a spot in their line-up, the Edmonton Oilers have placed defenseman Allan Rourke on waivers.

Meanwhile, New York Rangers defenseman Darius Kasparaitis cleared waivers after he went unclaimed, reports The Score. Kasparaitis was assigned to the Rangers’ AHL affiliate.