Friday Game Notes

[Terryray]

Ottawa at Buffalo..........................

Ott 13-12-4 away
Buff 13-11-3 at home

Two meetings this season, each winning on home ice.

Ott unbeaten last 6. But last game, win at Clbs, was first road win in six tries.

Buffalo unbeaten last four. Biron fine of late.
He's 4-2-1 vs Ott. 2.13 gga, .921 pct

Buffalo 5-0 vs Ott on home ice last 5, going back to Jan 2000.

Buffalo hasn't scored PP in last 21 opportunities.

Ott's Hossa "expect to be....in Buffalo against the Sabres", sez the paper.

under is 7-2-1 last ten meetings. 2-0 this season.

Ott at home takes on Detroit sunday. Buff next game is sun at NJ.



Columbus at Detroit.........................

Detroit 7-1 vs Columbus. The win was at Clmbs April 2001. So there is a ray of hope!

3 of the 4 Detroit wins on home ice were by two goals or more. (All four games in Clbs decided by one goal. Remember that!).

Two meetings this season, last was at Detroit, they won 5-1 (12/27).

Columbus takes on Nash at home sat. Detroit goes to Ott sat.

overnight line: Det -1.5 -155, -.5 -360, -500 or Clbs +400 (olympic)



Colorado at Minnesota..........................

Colo 14-12-4 away
MN 10-12-7 at home

Colorado is 8-1 vs MN. MN won at home 11/2/01 4-2. Lost 3 meetings since then, one at home, two in Colo.

MN 1-8-1 last 10 games
Colo 6-3-1 last 10. But have lost last three--LA, Nash and Detroit. all at Colo.

Team and Colo coach pissed. Put team thru gruelling "bag skate" other day. MN gonna face an ornery bunch!

MN has scored more than 2 goals only twice in last 18 games. but not playing as bad as it sounds.

Colo back home to take on Chi sat.
MN at home takes on NYI sun.

Colo regular backup goalie Aebischer released for Olympics, for a few days, thursday. Phil Sauve called up from Hershey. But Roy gonna start two nights back to back? I guess. He's done it a few times this season. Big rest coming up.

Paper sez MN Brad Brown probably out. covers lists him as probable.

 

[Terryray]

Chicago at San Jose

Chicago at San Jose

Chicago 11-13-5 on road
SJ 14-9-2 at home

SJ 5-4-1 last 10. Won their last two.
Chi 5-4-1 last 10 too. Won big in last game, beating Phx on road 5-2. That was their first over in last nine games (1-6-2). Defense was good as always, but offense finally heated up.

Chi 4-8 on road after win.
SJ 9-3 at home after win, 8-4-1 on 1 day's rest after a win.
Chi 20-7-6 on 1 day's rest overall

Two meetings this season, Chi winning on home ice in both of 'em.

Chi goes to Colo sat for next game, SJ takes on Carolina in Shark Tank sunday.

 

[wigs]

i'll go ahead and stick all my notes here if ya dont mind


refs

dal/edm- fraser & joannette

ott/buf- warren & walkom

was/nas- faucette & gregson

clm/det- auger & kimmerly

la/phx- larue & leggo

nyr/atl- stewart & zelkin

chi/sj- o halloran & shick

van/cal- devorski & jackson

col/min- heyer & maguire

car/ana- meier & watson

 

[wigs]

thrash

thrash

Pasi Nurminen starts in nets tonight, bartecko will be available tonight but leaves to play in qualifying rounds and will miss atl's last 2 games before break, here you go.....
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/sports/thrashers/0208note.html

 

[wigs]

LA Times has interview with coach that says he is not definitely starting storr tonight, will make the decision later...

http://www.latimes.com/sports/hocke...eb08.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nhl-kings

 

[wigs]

Burke in nets tonight

from az repub...line shakeup in phx---

Frustrated by a lack of goal scoring in back-to-back losses to Vancouver and Chicago, Francis remixed and rematched every one of his lines. There's no telling how it will work or how long it may last.

"Believe me, it's not my purpose to continually change lines," Francis said.

But when two fourth-liners (Daniel Briere and Andrei Nazarov) combine for eight of your 14 goals in your past five games, it's time to do some tinkering - especially when others aren't doing the job defensively or getting their noses dirty on the forecheck, which has been hit and miss lately among most of the forwards.

So, here's what Francis decided to do:


? He dropped newly acquired left wing Brian Savage off a top line with center Daymond Langkow and right wing Shane Doan, and has matched him with the red-hot Briere and veteran right wing Claude Lemieux.

Savage has no goals and one assist in five games since being traded from Montreal for Sergei Berezin, and the thought is that Briere, a right-handed shot, might more easily set him up than the left-handed Langkow.

Savage has always excelled at scoring one-timers from the left circle, a place he hasn't spent much time at since joining the Coyotes.

"I've been in the corners a lot more. I need to get in better shooting position," he said. "You look at most of my goals, they're from 15 feet out. I'm not going to carry the puck up and down the ice, dangle, and beat guys one-on-one."


? Francis also split up Slovakians Michal Handzus and Ladislav Nagy, putting the left wing Nagy on a line with Langkow and Doan, and inserting the 6-foot-5 Handzus in the middle between 6-5 left wing Nazarov and grinding right wing Landon Wilson.

"I can play with anybody the coach tells me to play with," Handzus said. "It's nice playing with (Nagy), but this new line should be very good down low.

"We're big guys, and hopefully when we shoot the pucks will start going in."


? Another line will feature left wing Brad May along with center Denis Pederson and right wing Mike Johnson. May has always found good chemistry playing with Wilson, and their line was probably the Coyotes' most effective unit all of last season.

Kolanos still expected out due to concussion--

 

[Terryray]

Edmonton at Dallas

Edmonton at Dallas

I dont't mind wigs! See how it works.

Edmonton 9-3-7 away
Dallas is 9-14-4 at home

Oilers 1-8-4-1 last 14 on road.
Dallas has won only two games in last 7 since big win over Detroit Jan 16. Both those wins were over Columbus. And those wins were only time in last seven games Stars have scored more than two goals.

Stars have given up power play goals in last seven games straight. Oilers' PK last 5 is 93.3.

Edmonton 4-3-4 on 0 days. 3-2-2 after a loss
1-3 on road 0 days after a loss. The one win was again, our friend Columbus.

Stars' Lehtinen, no3 goal leader, "could return" tonight sez Stars' official site. "Good chance" coach is quoted in paper. But I'd think he'd take it easy on his knee, save it for the olmpics.

Oilers haven't won a regular season game in Dallas in six years. 0-12 since jan 1996. But they need wins as bad as Dallas now.

Belfour is a big reason for record. He's 26-4-5 lifetime vs Oilers, 2.12 gga, .917 pct, sez yahoo stats. Papers sez he's 13-1-2 vs Oilers on Dallas team.

 

[wigs]

dallas stars

lehtinen could return tonight, dallas web site says he is playing...expect belfour in nets, turco's wife had baby yesterday plus belfour is 28-5-6 against edm with a 2.15 gaa, 13-1-2 against edm w/ a 2.10 gaa since joining the stars(although we all know this is not the same stars' team, well, i know that, hope everyone else can see it as well as they currently sit in 9th in the west) dont know what to make of them but i find it difficult to back them when they are such big faves at home where they have played so poorly. turgeon centering a line with pellerin and dimaio just doesnt add up. an example of how atrocious the wings have been, lehtinen, a pretty good 2 way forward has 14 goals, no other wing has 10 goals...

from paper--"The Stars are doing their best to restore goals and confidence. In practice Thursday, Wilson ran drills to simulate odd-man rushes and counterattacks after turnovers. To add grit, Wilson moved Brenden Morrow to the top line with Modano and Jere Lehtinen. (probably needed against edm tonight who should bring some hitting with em tonight)

Most importantly, the Stars want shots, lots of them, and bodies going to the net ?V the sort of organized chaos where the puck can do strange things."

also story about dallas' PK on the decline, not a huge dropoff this year, about 5 or 6 % pts but PK has always been big for stars who play lower and closer scoring games. while scheme and personnel for the most part remains same, team identified one of the weak spots being no good right handed draw guys, gone are carbonneau and keane and right now modano and nieuwendyk and muller are all left-handed sticks. anyway just another note on the sad state of affairs in big D, should be a physical one, both teams playing with some sense of desparation, lean under here although i have seen so many dal/edm games over the years that nothing surprises me anymore, not playing it...waiting to see if the stars show any consistency whatsoever

 

[wigs]

yeah T-Ray, oilers and stars, 2 teams in similar situations, playing some lousy hockey, i think edm has dropped 10 straight on the road and are something like 1-8-4-1 last 14 on road while dallas cant win at home this year and have been playing like crap as well. dont know if i want my $ riding on either of these charlatans. anyway here is slam preview for ott/buf, looks like Lalime in nets tonight and hossa should be returning. mroe details and notes here--

http://www.canoe.ca/SlamResults020208/nhl_buf_ott-can.html

 

[wigs]

buff

buff

from web site.....
Lindy Ruff said this morning that Richard Smehlik will remain in the line-up. After sitting out three games, Smehlik returned for the Boston game on Tuesday night.

??Rich will stay in,?? said Lindy. ??I thought he played very well; in fact I thought he was our best defenseman.??

Eric Boulton will also play tonight.

Buffalo forward Miroslav Satan will be a very busy hockey player in the next five days. Miro was given permission by the team to represent his country, Slovakia, in the preliminary round of the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Miro will play tonight then immediately board a private jet provided by John Rigas, the owner of the Buffalo Sabres. The jet will travel 1,966 miles then land in Evanston Wyo. From there it is 90-minute drive to the Olympic village. Tomorrow he will play for Slovakia against Germany and then fly 1,970 miles to New Jersey for the 7PM meeting between the Sabres and the Devils on Sunday night.

Satan will play three straight games and four games in five nights.

??It will be a new experience for me,?? Satan told me this morning. ??I??m curious for myself to find out how I handle it and how I will feel. I am very grateful to Mr. Rigas for giving me this opportunity. It was very kind of him and I will always remember that.??

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

great write- up guys!!!

thanks for the info...!!