from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun at Canoe,

- Scotty Bowman was telling one of his favourite Harry Neale stories the other night, right after the national anthems were over in Tampa. “Harry had a player who said to him ‘Every time I hear this song I have a bad game.’ The song was the Canadian anthem.

- Don’t know why Ottawa hockey fans seem blind to how great Drew Doughty is: According to waronice.com, Doughty’s team gets scored on 1.53 times for every 60 minutes he plays; Their boy, Erik Karlsson, is scored on 2.66 times for every 60 minutes he plays. The Norris Trophy is supposed to go to the best defenceman, doesn’t it? Key word being defence.

- How difficult has goal-scoring become in the NHL? Well put it this way: Alexander Ovechkin will need a red-hot finish, five goals in five games, to prevent the NHL from not having a 50-goal scorer for just the third time in the past 45 years.

They had one last year, Ovechkin, and the one the year before that, Ovechkin. Just as difficult, it seems, is scoring 40 goals. When Patrick Kane hit the mark with the Blackhawks he become the first Chicago player to score 40 since Tony Amonte in 2000. When Jamie Benn hit 40 a few days earlier, he became the first Stars player to reach that amount since Mike Modano in 1994.

This is in giant contrast to seasons like 1993, in which the NHL had two 70-goal scorers. Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne; three 60-goal scorers Mario Lemieux, Luc Robitaille and Pavel Bure; nine 50-goal scorers Steve Yzerman, Pierre Turgeon, Kevin Stevens, Brett Hull, Dave Andreychuk, Pat Lafontaine, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Roenick and Brendan Shanahan and 11 different 40-goal scorers: Rick Tocchet, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Geoff Sanderson, Adam Oates, Mike Gartner, Brian Bradley, Dino Ciccarelli, Eric Lindros, Robert Reichel and Brian Bellows....

more on the last topic plus other hockey notes...