Thursday Game Notes

[Terryray]

Carolina at Boston......................................


Carolina 12-14-4 away (24-27-11 overall)
Boston 19-10-1 at home (32-23-5 overall)

Teams have met once this season, Carolina lost at home 6-3 jan 2. Carolina was coming off the best December in franchise history, and a very successful road trip and coach was worried they'd be sloppy. They were. But have been as poor since then as Bruins have been hot.

Carolina is tough in rematches with opponents they lost to by 3 goals or more. They won two of such rematches, one tie, lost 3 by 1 goal, and only Vancouver managed a second consecutive defeat by 2 or more goals (let alone the original three).

Carolina 2-4-4 last 10. Just 2 wins in last 13. 2-4 last 6 on road--Beat Anaheim and TB.
Boston 6-2-2 last 10. 4-1-1 last 6 home games.

Boston's last game was road tie to NYI in final 1.4 seconds.

Last 3 meetings went over
over 5.5 line has hit 5-3 Boston at home
over 5.5 line has hit 9-3 Carolina on road

Bruins 10-1-0-2 vs SE Div teams. (24-10-2-5 v E Conf)
'Canes 3-6-3-1 vs NE Div teams. (15-14-8-5 v E Conf foes)

 

[Terryray]

Ottawa at NY Rangers

Ottawa at NY Rangers

Ott 14-13-4 away (30-22-7 overall)
NYR 16-12-2 at home (27-29-4 overall)

Teams have met twice this season. A 2-2 tie at Senators Oct 13, and NYR won at home 3-2 Dec 23.

Senators 5-11-2 all time at NYR. But 8-3-2-0 last 13 overall.

Last five meetings have gone Under (dating back to Nov 2000)

But--Under is 11-18 Ottawa away
Under 12-18 Rangers at home
But--under 5.5 line has hit 8-5 Ott on road
But--under 5.5 line has hit 9-15 NYR at home.

---I don't usually put in any trends if they all conflict, but it was confusing in a fun way!

Ott 5-2-3 last 10
NYR 5-5 last 10

Ott PK (away) has slipped from 82.7 to 76.5 (overall) last five.
Ranger PK improved from 75.7 (home) to 90.9 (overall) last five.

Rangers are fighting for final playoff spot and losing it last few days. But they are distracted by Theo Fluery tantrums and Messier day to day thoughts on possible surgery.

Ott is 6-8-2 on 1 day rest after a win
NYR is 6-11-2 on 1 day rest after a loss

Ottawa is still offensive leader in NHL at 3.17 goals/game overall. And are 3.39 on road, and have improved to 4.00 overall last five due to tuesday's 5-2 pasting of Montreal. Tho that wacky 11-5 job over WA last Nov sure helped these averages.

 

[TIME TO MAKE $$$]

Thanks for the great info

 

[Terryray]

Pittsburg at Columbus

Pittsburg at Columbus

Straka out for sure, and most probably Lemieux...http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/sports/penguinslive/s_19849.html

Pitt is 9-17-4 on road
Columbus is 10-17-5 at home

Both teams coming off self-described "sorry efforts"

Pitt 4-5-3 on 0 days rest. 2-2-1 on 0 day following a loss.

Pitt is 1-1-1 on 0 days rest in 2nd game IF first was home, 2nd on road.

Bluejackets 8-17-6 on 1 day's rest. 6-13-3 on 1 day rest following a loss.

Pitt is 0-4-0-1 last five. Haven't won in 8 games (0-5-1-2). And the last win was OT at Atl jan 26.
Pitt is 0-3-1-1 last 5 on road, scoring a total of 9 in those.

Columbus is 1-6-1-1 last nine.

Teams have meet twice in history. Pitt won at home 5-2 (oct 2000) and on road 3-2 (feb 2001).

Aubin start tonight "good possibility" coach is quoted

Tugnutt is expected, since Denis got last start and Columbus poor defense working goalies hard.

Columbus is 2-30-5-2 when held to fewer than 3 goals!

I assume Columbus leading scorer Whitney will start, but no confirmation. Paper sez maybe.

 

[Terryray]

San Jose at Washington

San Jose at Washington

SJ is 15-11-5 away
WA 16-10-5 at home

this from covers:
The Sharks are 8-2 ATS in the past 10 meetings.
SJ have won their last six ATS and SU overall.
SJ's D has given up one goal/game avg. over their last five overall.
The over is 9-3 for the Caps when the line is 5 or less.
Washington is 9-2 ATS when home after a win.
WASH is second in PP at 20.51%.


I would add that SJ PP is 21st in league
And the past 10 meetings go back to 1995.

In SJ six game win streak they have outscored opposition 24-8

WA's Bondra and Zuburs are "probable".

WA is unbeaten in last five, against tought teams like TB (twice), Nash, MN and FL.

WA is 3 points out of final playoff spot. Six of next 7 games against teams with winning records.

WA hoping for a late season run, as usual. They are "41-16-6-4 from February to season's end the past three seasons" sez the Post..........http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13861-2002Feb27.html

SJ hoping to win tonight to tie franchise record for consecutive wins.

SJ go to TB tomorrow. WA to Ott saturday

 

[Terryray]

St Louis at Calgary

St Louis at Calgary

Blues leading scorer Tkachuck is "guaranteed to miss the next two games" sez paper here.......http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sp...=Blues Notebook: Tkachuk begins rehab regimen

STL is 11-13-6 away
Calgary is 14-13-4 at home

more good stuff from covers:
The under is 3-0-1 in the past four meetings.
STL is 18-9-1 ATS on one day of rest.
STL is 3-6-1 ATS in their last 10 overall.
The under is 20-9 for the Flames at home this season.
CAL is 4-2-1 ATS in the past seven meetings.
The Flames are 4-11-1 ATS in their last 16 overall.


I will add that those last three meetings were this season. Calgary won on road 3-2, then 2-0 at home, then got blanked 0-4 at STL dec 15.

Turek between the pipes for all those, against his former team. Flames only managed 9 shots on goal in that 0-4 loss, and Turek took 31! And tonight's missing Tkachuck scored two in that game.

Johnson was author of that 0-4 shutout. But Calgary Herald sez today that Braithwaite will start. Can't confirm. He's 0-3-0 vs Cagary, 3.47 gga and .857 pct. He's 0-5-2 his last 7 on road.

Calgary under 5 has hit 13-8-2 at home this season.
STL under 5 has hit 12-7-5 away.

Calgary next game is Nash at home sat, Blues next is to Edmonton sat.

 

[Terryray]

definite Messier surgery, Theo in tonight

definite Messier surgery, Theo in tonight

AP reports that Messier will get surgery and be out for weeks. Malhotra might fill his shoes...........http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news/ap/20020228/ap-rangers-messier.html

AP sez Fleury in tonight, coach not gonna bench him as threatened. Theo promised yet again to behave. But Theo is still thinking of retirement.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news/ap/20020228/ap-rangers-fleury.html

 

[Nick Douglas]

Brathwaite told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he *will* be in net tonight. Looking to avoid losing two straight, he said.

 

[wigs]

stars

stars

well the lowly stars take the ice again tonight, so what changes are in store tonight? by the way, i lean to vancouver rightn ow but need to research them a little more--

Rick Wilson had Joe Nieuwendyk, Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow playing together Wednesday at practice and is likely to start tonight's game that way. His second line was Pierre Turgeon, Jere Lehtinen and Martin Rucinsky.

Stars goalie Ed Belfour was pulled after two periods Tuesday, but Wilson said he is likely to go back to Belfour tonight against Vancouver.

again expect a mix and match of lines as the game goes on, with wilson trying to find something to generate scoring ops and keep up with vancouver, who gives the stars oafish defensemen fits with their speed--much made in the press about dallas meeting behind closed doors and wilson have individual player meetings on wednesday, so they should be focused and would expect a good effort fro mthem, whether effort translates into a "w", well that is another topic--

 

[Terryray]

some of these goalies have predictable play patterns, but Belfour isn't one of them.

I'm ready to do a write-up on Nash/Edmonton game, and it looks as tough to handicap like all the others today and yesterday (except Chi, which lost). and Nick now sez Braithwaite will try to concentrate.

 

[PerpetualCzech]

Lemieux is out for sure tonight for Pitt.

Lalime is confirmed as the starting goalie for Ottawa.

(Source: Team 1200 radio Ottawa)

 

[Terryray]

Nashville at Edmonton

Nashville at Edmonton

Nash is 8-17-3 on road. but 3-0 last 3 on road. But 1-7 vs Western teams.

Edmonton is 16-12-2 at home. But 3-9-4 last 16 overall.

Predators are 8 points behind Edmonton and Vancouver for last playoff spot.

Teams have met 3 times this season, first two the road team won, the last was 2-2 tie at Nash. Nothing new, last five decisions these teams had were all won by the visiting team.

This is first game for Oilers after Olympic break. But they had 7 got to Salt Lake, and have had tough practices.

Nash last game was embarrasing 1-5 loss to SJ, and are 6-8-3 on 1 days rest after a loss.

Salo has been reading all the bad press about him to make him strong, sez Hedberg.

Salo 7-3-1 vs Preds, 2.26 gga, .918 pct.
Dunham is 8-4-1 vs Oiler, 2.53 gga, .912 pct

over hit 2-1 in three meetings this season
over 5 line cashed in 12-7-4 Nash on road
over 5 line won 8-5-5 Oilers at home this season

Edmonton at home take on Blues sat, Nash next is to Calgary sat.

 

[Terryray]

alright PerpetualCzech!

Lalime is 5-4-1 vs NYR with 2.75 gga, .912 save pct.

Richter is 14-7-2 vs Ott, 2.53 gga, .916 pct.

 

[Terryray]

Dallas at Vancouver

Dallas at Vancouver

Dallas 15-12-2 away
Van 16-10-5 at home

Stars are 9-3 ATS after a loss when away.

Away team has won last 4 meetings. Three of those this season.

Van is 3-2-2 last seven at home
Stars 2-3 last 5 away. They defeated Columbus and Anaheim.

Stars will try top scorers Modano and Nieuwendyk together in a line tonight sez official site--which also reports Wilson "believed" Belfour will start.

Vancouver is one point ahead of Dallas in Conference, Dallas being in 10th place and fighting for playoff spot. Terry Bell of Van paper reports:


The Stars have been in the playoffs the last five seasons and won the Stanley Cup in 1998-99.

"A lot of things have been said," continued Sydor. "Now it's a case of doing it."

The Stars won't hold a morning skate today. Instead there's a meeting at the team
hotel. The guys from Big D are big on taking meetings.

In fact, a disturbing pattern has emerged. They play poorly. They have a meeting.
They talk things out. Then they play better for a while before sliding backwards.

"Yeah, it's been that way for a while," said Mike Modano, whose team got thumped 5-1 in Phoenix Tuesday in its return from the NHL's Olympic break..........


one funny stat is that thurs is Belfour's best day (by a slim margin) in W/L record, 52-26.

 

[wigs]

T-Ray, great stuff, while I believe vancouver creates serious problems for the stars i will probably lay off, and your post really explains a lot of the reason why. the stars rally the troops, play well a couple of games then go in a tailspin, it's like groundhog day wilson went on to elaborate in that article you mentioned...but that being said, naslund's line will give hatcher fits if wilson tries to throw them out all the time-- dallas really only has 2 lines capable of scoring right now and i dont know if throwing modano and nieuwendyk together solves any problems.
oh well those stars are so enigmatic, dallas better keep the tempo down if they want to stay in this one--

 

[Terryray]

yup, at +126, not enough value to take Stars here.

 

[Terryray]

Phoenix at Colorado

Phoenix at Colorado

Phx 9-16-5 away. But 5-2-1 last 8 on road.
Colo 18-9-3 at home, but 2-4-1 last 7 there.

Teams have met twice this season, each winning on home ice. Phx 1-0 (10/27), Colo 3-2 (1/17).

Phx is 5-10 ATS when away after a win

Coyotes are tied for 7th place in Conf. standings.

Thurs is by far Patrick Roy's worst day to play, with 30-27 win record. But he let in a few soft goals last time out, and fell back in net and didn't get back fast enuf to beat a puck. He was embarrassed and didn't talk to press afterwards.

Coyotes are now without Mike Sullivan. They plan to use 7 defensemen and 11 forwards, "and will double-shift a number of players to make a fourth line" sez article here.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/0228yotes.html


Colorado at home take on Dallas sat. Phx next game is Columbus sunday, to begin a five in a row at home.

 

[Frogy]

will have more time later to cap late night games but for now.........
WIGS , TERRYRAY
tx for this colossal work

merci

 

[PerpetualCzech]

I am playing Vancouver -0.5 +106 for one of my strongest NHL plays in a while.

Anyone want to guess who has the best goal differential BY FAR in the NHL since Jan 1st? Yep, the Vancouver Canucks. They have outscored their opposition this year by an average of more that a goal and a half since then!

Dallas on the other hand has actually been outscored during that period. These are 2 teams going in the opposite direction fast. This line is just way way off ...

 

[wigs]

no blake?

no blake?

looks like blake is out for col

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake is out indefinitely with a bruised knee.

Team spokesman Damen Zier said Thursday that Blake was injured during Tuesday's 2-2 tie against Calgary.

Zier would not give any other details.