Kukla's Korner Hockey

Only Ottawa Cheering For Ottawa

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 02:36 PM ET
Comments (8)

from Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star,

Senators Nation? Uh-oh Canada.

The Ottawa Senators may be the only franchise of seven from north of the 49th Parallel still alive and kicking — feebly, to be sure — in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yet they remain very much a parochial, narrowly embraced entity, a team utterly yoked to one city and one city alone. Further, it’s a city that only civil servants and governance geeks could love.

Our national capital is less loathed than smug Toronto and less parodied than slacker Vancouver but also lesser envied than either. Nor does it possess the small-market virtues of Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg. And it made no friends in at least one of our two Canadian solitudes by handily dispatching Montreal in the first round.

This is not a town that will spiritually stitch together the country’s diverse parts through the unifying force of hockey.

continued

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Two Eastern Conference Playoff Games On The NHL Schedule Today

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 10:59 AM ET
Comments (11)

John Tortorella plans to make some adjustments to the Rangers...

When asked if any significant adjustments were necessary following the Rangers' 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1, he conceded that some changes were needed. But he made an important distinction that piqued curiosity about what those might be.

"To me, it’s not so much on the ice," Tortorella said. "There’s some other adjustments we have to go through. I’m not gonna tell ya, but there are some other adjustments we have to go through and a lot of it really isn’t on the ice." 

When pressed further about the nature of these "adjustments," Tortorella declined to elaborate. 

"Don’t start pushing me on that," he said. "I really don’t want to talk too much about it."

more from Katie Strang of ESPN...

Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators will have Jason Spezza in the lineup today, his first game back from injury since January 27th.

Will he provide the spark the Senators need to get back in the series or will the Penguins go up 3-0 tonight?

 

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Once Again, The Bigger Ice Debate

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 10:40 AM ET
Comments (20)

from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,

After watching the World Hockey Championships this past couple of weeks, you have to wonder at what point the NHL will begin to face reality.

We speak here of the failure to recognize how the entertainment value of their product is on a downhill slide.

We speak of their continuing insistence, for instance, on keeping their ice surfaces at exactly the same size as its always been, despite the fact the game is almost choking itself to death given the increase in the size of the players and the speed at which they move.

It’s a simple case of physics the NHL types simply won’t face.

You have bigger, faster players in better shape than they’ve ever been, racing around in the same confined area. That means more collisions and at a greater impact level, and as a result you’re getting the kind of horrific injuries you do, including concussion and skyrocketing injury rates that demand more and more depth in organizations. And more collisions mean more defence.

continued

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Morning Line

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 09:56 AM ET
Comments (6)

On whether he had a good vantage point of the goaltender interference call on Trevor Lewis:
“You know, I didn’t because I was watching Richards shoot it. I find it very tough to believe with a player as intelligent as Trevor Lewis that he’d run the goalie. I asked him. He said he got pushed from behind. I believe him, and I’m disappointed that the refs had enough confidence to make a gutsy call like that in the last whatever, 30 seconds in the period. It’s pretty impressive when you have enough gall to guess, because I’m going to look at the tape and I’m going to see if he got pushed, because I know what it’s like to drive the net. Sometimes it happens.”

-Dustin Penner of the LA Kings via Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider

Watch the interference call below, I have advanced the video to the time when the play started...

Continue Reading »

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  Tags: dustin+penner

Hockey Talks On A Sunday Morning

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 09:36 AM ET
Comments (1)

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- If you’d never watched hockey before and happened to catch the Penguins-Islanders series, you would think John Tavares, not Sidney Crosby, is the best player in hockey. After Game 2 against Ottawa, you might have changed your mind.

-The waiting game for Alain Vigneault has begun. And the same may be true with Dave Tippett.

Both men are still employed as NHL coaches. Both men are considered among the best. But Vigneault’s future with the Vancouver Canucks is in doubt and Tippett’s contract with the Phoenix Coyotes expires next month.

So the coaching openings in Colorado and Dallas, and maybe in Edmonton, are on hold awaiting moves in the marketplace. Should either Tippett or Vigneault be made available, they, along with Lindy Ruff, become the most likely hirings for teams looking for established coaches. With only two certain openings, and possibly as many as five, should Vigneault and Tippett become available, there is room for a game of coaches musical chairs here.

more including why the Leafs lost game 7 in OT...

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Quick Could Face League Discipline

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 09:27 AM ET
Comments (2)

via TSN,

The Kings were beaten on a goal by Logan Couture after the Sharks played the entire 89 seconds of overtime on the power play. The Kings were received penalties for both hooking and goaltender interference in the final minute of regulation play.

After conceding the game winner, Quick immediately skated out of his crease and was visibly upset.

Quick was assessed a 10-minute and game misconduct after the whistle. According to multiple reports the penalties were for abuse of an official.

According to Rule 39.5 of the NHL Rule Book a game misconduct for abuse of an official may be subject to supplemental discipline.

Watch the only reply I could find of the incident and you can stop watching once you see people chasing a soccer ref.

 

Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: jonathan+quick

How About Some New Rules And Torres Talk Too

by Paul on 05/19/13 at 09:09 AM ET
Comments (1)

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

* New rule: When a penalty is assessed at the 20:00 mark of a period, the next period shall begin with the faceoff in the offensive zone of the club on the power play and not at the center dot.

New rule: When a player intentionally is thrown out of the faceoff circle following an icing in order to give his team a few extra seconds of rest — as was the case twice with the Bruins’ Milan Lucic in Game 1 against the Rangers — a delay of game minor shall be called.

* Boy, oh boy, is there an abundance of misplaced pity on behalf of Raffi Torres, the serial predator now employed by the Sharks serving a suspension of up to six games for his — what else? — headshot that took out the Kings Jarret Stoll in Game 1 of the Western semis.

And in arguing on behalf of his player, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson comes off as just another in a long line of NHL enablers whose failure to condemn recidivists such as Torres and Patrick Kaleta contribute to the danger these players pose to those around them every time they take the ice.

more

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Sharks’ OT win avoids 3-0 deficit, aggravates Kings, Jonathan Quick

by George Malik on 05/19/13 at 02:02 AM ET
Comments (0)

The San Jose Sharks climbed back into their second round series via a 2-1 OT win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night...

But the Associated Press's recap reports that the Kings were particularly upset with the ways in which the San Jose Sharks were awarded a 5-on-3 in overtime...

Continue Reading »

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Nice hit, Stuey

by George Malik on 05/18/13 at 11:24 PM ET
Comments (3)

Via We All Bleed Red on YouTube, as a Wings fan, I sure miss Brad Stuart, and the Sharks defenseman made the highlight reels for the right reasons on Saturday--he delivered a hard but clean hit to Kings forward Justin Williams, who eventually got up and is playing for the Kings right now:

Hitting can be clean and devastating without deliveirng nasty injuries or controversy. Who knew?

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Time For The Blackhawks To Get Serious

by Paul on 05/18/13 at 05:57 PM ET
Comments (9)

from Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago,

No one move will make the difference, it’s a cumulative effect, but now that the Wings have proved they can play with the Hawks it’s time for the favorite to get serious. Speed and chaos – as seen in Game 1 -- is called for and the Hawks have been able to accomplish that at Joe Louis Arena lately as much as any team in the league. But Detroit has been decent enough in Chicago over the years too. They were again on Saturday. 

“They had the puck a lot tonight,” Kane said. “Took a page out of our game. I felt like we were chasing the puck all the time.” 

That was Detroit’s game before it was the Hawks’. The Wings never stopped playing that way, they simply haven’t been as good at it over the last few years. Saturday showed they can still bring it, if their seven-game series win over the Ducks didn’t.

more with some suggested changes...

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