| UPCOMING GAMES |
| NO SCHEDULED GAMES |
|
LAST 10 GAMES
|
| 4/27 |
NSH 1 at CBJ 3 |
Won |
F |
| 4/25 |
CBJ 3 at DAL 1 |
Won |
F |
| 4/21 |
CBJ 4 at SJS 3 |
Won |
F |
| 4/18 |
CBJ 1 at LAK 2 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/17 |
CBJ 3 at ANA 2 |
Won |
OT |
| 4/15 |
CBJ 4 at COL 3 |
Won |
OT |
| 4/13 |
CBJ 3 at MIN 2 |
Won |
SO |
| 4/12 |
STL 1 at CBJ 4 |
Won |
F |
| 4/9 |
SJS 0 at CBJ 4 |
Won |
F |
| 4/7 |
MIN 3 at CBJ 0 |
Lost |
F |
| Won-8 Lost-2 OT-0 |
|
 Columbus Blue Jackets
News
Schedule
Roster
| NHL 14 cover vote: Datsyuk, Brodeur, Tavares and Bobrovsky are final four (Puck Daddy) |
| The last goalie to make the cover of EA Sports’ NHL series? John Vanbiesbrouck of the Florida Panthers for NHL 97, of course. Which brings us to the latest update for the NHL 14 fan vote, and the fact that two of the four players remaining in the vote are men with masks:
In one half of the bracket, it’s Marty Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings; on the other half, it’s New York Islanders star John Tavares against Columbus Blue Jackets Vezina favorite Sergei Bobrovsky.
Datsyuk barely beat Joffrey Lupul in the quarterfinals. Tavares ousted Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers. Brodeur beat out James van Riemsdyk, while Bobrovsky eliminated Taylor Hall.
Were we to wager on the final two: Datsyuk vs. Bobrovsky. Although an all-goalie final would be aces.
Fans can vote an unlimited number of times at NHL.com/CoverVote . The round closes on May 26 at 11:59pm ET. This year fans can double their voting power by using these player specific hashtags on “Twitter Vote Thursdays.” Each player specific hashtag used on Twitter on Thursdays will be counted as two official votes. Fans can join the conversation about the cover vote every day by using #NHL14CoverVote on Twitter and Instagram.
Finally, here's a ramble screed about how the NHL 14 vote is fixed.
Paging Mr. Mulder ... Mr. Fox Mulder. |
| Posted: 05/20/2013 |
| What We Learned: Complaining about NHL officiating? Time to fine these sore losers (Puck Daddy) |
| Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
No one is ever going to be totally happy with the ways in which the NHL's referees or officials make their decisions. We can all agree on that.
If there's a game in which neither team is whistled for a penalty, both will likely complain that the refs missed calls on the other. If there's a game in which both teams receive 10 power plays, both will complain that the referees were overly harsh in doling out discipline. No one is ever especially happy with calls that go in between those two extremes, either, because unless you win, you aren't happy. And sometimes, even when you do win, you aren't happy.
It's tough to know what, exactly, brought all this to a head in these playoffs. Alex Ovechkin complaining about a league-wide conspiracy in Game 6 after the end of Game 7; Jonathan Toews stamping his feet when his team got clobbered on home ice by its archrival; Sidney Crosby saying the league needs to institute video review for puck-over-the-glass calls; Jonathan Quick abusing officials because the Kings gave the Sharks a two-man advantage in overtime.
Doesn't it strike anyone as being a bit much?
No one likes to lose in October, let alone in the second round of the playoffs, and you might even say that the refs have made a bit of a spectacle of themselves in the last few games. The best thing a ref can do, the old saying goes, is not be noticeable, and things have admittedly gotten a bit out of hand in some instances.
But nonetheless, can you imagine the eye-rolling or outright mockery in Chicago if Henrik Zetterberg had said the same things Toews did after they got creamed in Game 1? Or the uproar if Ryan Callahan of the lionized New York Rangers had complained about a conspiracy to push the series longer? Or the furor if Joe Thornton had done what Quick did after the Sharks gave up a similar late-game 5-on-3 advantage that allowed the Kings to tie Game 1?
What it boils down to is being a sore loser. |
| Posted: 05/20/2013 |
| Bruins 3, Rangers 2 (OT) (The SportsXchange) |
| BOSTON - Brad Marchand scored his first goal of the playoffs 15:40 into overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers in the first playoff game between the two old rivals in 40 years Thursday night. |
| Posted: 05/16/2013 |
| EA Sports NHL 14 cover vote down to 8; Pavel Datsyuk, Martin Brodeur alive (Puck Daddy) |
| One of these eight players will be the cover model for EA Sports’ NHL 14:
From EA Sports:
The Round of 16 featured some extraordinarily close matchups and included some notable upsets:
The Battle of Pennsylvania: For the second year in a row, Evgeni Malkin has been defeated by a Philadelphia Flyers player. Last year, Malkin lost to NHL 13 Cover Athlete Claude Giroux in the semifinals. This year, Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds unseeded Malkin.
As Close as they Come: At final tally, less than 100 votes separated winner Taylor Hall and his opponent Matt Duchene in this round.
Two Maple Leafs Advance: against Original SixTM Rivals: A strong Game Six performance may have helped Joffrey Lupul and James van Riemsdyk overcome their opponents, P.K. Subban and Tyler Seguin, respectively.
Voting for this round is now live and fans can vote an unlimited number of times at NHL.com/CoverVote . The round closes on May 19 at 11:59pm ET. |
| Posted: 05/13/2013 |
| What We Learned: Pittsburgh Penguins have to get rid of Marc-Andre Fleury (Puck Daddy) |
|
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
One of the things people said constantly throughout the Pittsburgh Penguins' six-game series victory over the New York Islanders was that their play was well below the expected level of quality.
In fact, the most common refrain was that this particular brand of awful play -- rife with defensive irresponsibility and baffling lack of execution for a team that was pretty much incredible from start to finish this year -- was probably only good enough to get them past a try-hard pretender like the Islanders.
Against a real team, it was generally agreed, this kind of play would result in them losing the series in short order, probably pretty badly.
But that kind of talk ignores two things. First, we were told repeatedly by just about everyone that if there was any team the Penguins, not exactly fleet-of-foot, didn't want to take on in the playoffs, it was these New York Islanders. And yeah, they had their hands full throughout, but still never really looked to be in all that much trouble; the scores were close, yes, but they still only needed six games to put these guys out of their misery.
Second, and more important, is that — lo and behold — the second they took Marc-Andre Fleury out of the crease, they won both games. That's not to say that Tomas Vokoun really won them either game, because he didn't. He posted a shutout in Game 5 because almost any goaltender in the world (with at least one notable exception) would have, but he was also victimized on occasion by the bad defensive work that didn't help Fleury much either.
But the fact of the matter is that if you have pretensions of winning a Stanley Cup, your goaltender has to at least be league-average. The Penguins, with their galaxy of stars and excellent coach and top-quality GM, have that goal. They do not have that goaltender. People will argue that Fleury is a winner, insofar as he won a Stanley Cup. Four years ago. Since that postseason, when he posted just a .908 save percentage and a not-good 2.61 GAA, his save percentage has crept above .899 precisely zero times. This year, when he gave up 14 goals on 128 shots in four games before Bylsma dead-bolted the door to the doghouse from the outside.
Or at least, he should; there's only so many times an entire team can roll its eyes and think, "Oh no, not again," like a pot of petunias, before it's the only reasonable course of action.
I don't know how much longer we need to suffer through the narrative that Fleury is any good at all before it crumbles to sand and is scattered by the wind. That is, if it hasn't done so already behind save attempts like this and this and most notably this .
I mean, look, the fact of the matter is that apart from one good playoff run five years ago in which he fell a game short of winning the Stanley Cup for that not-quite-ready Penguins team, he has always been sub-average, and now things are getting markedly worse .
|
| Posted: 05/13/2013 |
| Hart Trophy Finalists: Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin vs. John Tavares (Puck Daddy) |
| The NHL announced on Friday that center Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, right wing Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and center John Tavares of the New York Islanders are the three finalists for the 2012-13 Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.
This marks the first time the three Hart Finalists were first overall picks in the NHL Draft.
This is also an All-Eastern Conference Hart Trophy race, which will no doubt earn criticism from the West. But Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane likely split their vote; Ryan Getzlaf didn't get the buzz he deserved; and Sergei Bobrovsky missed the playoffs.
The award might come down to whether Crosby missing significant time at the end of the season is more important than Ovechkin’s iceberg-slow start for the Capitals.
Then again, voters might have decided that Tavares leading the Islanders to an unlikely playoff berth, their first since 2007, is more impressive than anything Sid and Ovie accomplished.
Who wins the Hart? |
| Posted: 05/10/2013 |
| Lokomotiv moves on from crash in Amish country (The Associated Press) |
| MANHEIM, Pa. (AP) -- Alex Kruchinin can step out the front door of his hotel and see nothing across the street but miles of farmland. Just down the road that weaves through the quiet countryside, there are farms and silos and enough wide-open spaces that it's almost impossible for a bunch of young hockey prospects thousands of miles from home to fall into trouble. |
| Posted: 05/09/2013 |
| Never trust a Norwegian with his stick between your legs (Video) (Puck Daddy) |
| Hey, remember Ole-Kristian Tollefsen? Former Grand Rapids Griffin, Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman? The dude who was ejected from an Olympic qualifying round game for an elbow to Lubos Bartecko’s head?
He’s playing for Norway in the IIHF World Championships. Norway and Sweden? Not exactly buddies. This was never more evident than when Tollefsen had his stick between the legs of Detroit Red Wings prospect Calle Jarnkrok and … ouch.
(You may need to run this full screen to see it well.)
Well, luckily the Swedish Men’s Chorus was in need of a soprano…
Norway would lose the game, 5-1, as Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals and successfully avoided an amateur circumcision from Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.
Hey, Jarnkrok, just be happy Tore Vikingstad retired; that stick would have butterfly filleted you. |
| Posted: 05/09/2013 |
| NHL-National Hockey League roundup (Reuters) |
| May 8 (The Sports Xchange) - Montreal Canadiens forward Brian Gionta has a torn left biceps and will miss the remainder of the playoffs, the team announced Wednesday. Gionta will have surgery on Friday to repair the damage. He underwent the same procedure on his right biceps last year. The 34-year-old Gionta played in only two of four games against the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and contributed one assist. The Canadiens trail 3-1 in the best-of-seven series after a 3-2 loss on Tuesday night. ... |
| Posted: 05/08/2013 |
| Vezina Trophy Finalists: Sergei Bobrovsky vs. Henrik Lundqvist vs. Antti Niemi (Puck Daddy) |
| The NHL announced on Wednesday that Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Antti Niemi of the San Jose Sharks are the three finalists for the 2012-13 Vezina Trophy, which is awarded “to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position,” as voted on by the League’s 30 general managers.
This is the first time all three Vezina finalists were born and trained in Europe, according to Adam Kimelman of NHL.com.
One imagines the first runner-up for the Vezina also was European: Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins, who had nearly identically numbers to Lundqvist save for games played, which is typically a vital number for the GMs in determining a Vezina candidate.
Also snubbed: Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks, who split too much time with Ray Emery for either to make the cut; Cory Schneider of the Vancouver Canucks; Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings; and Craig Anderson of the Ottawa Senators, who might have been the best goalie in the NHL this season but was limited to 24 games due to injury.
Who wins the Vezina? |
| Posted: 05/08/2013 |
Yahoo!Sports
|
| GAME STATS |
|
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
| HOME |
24 |
14 |
5 |
5 |
| AWAY |
24 |
10 |
12 |
2 |
| TOTAL |
48 |
24 |
17 |
7 |
| MAY STATS |
|
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
| HOME |
|
|
|
|
| AWAY |
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| CENTRAL DIVISION |
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
PTS |
GF |
GA |
| CHI |
48 |
36 |
7 |
5 |
77 |
155 |
102 |
| STL |
48 |
29 |
17 |
2 |
60 |
129 |
115 |
| DET |
48 |
24 |
16 |
8 |
56 |
124 |
115 |
| CBJ |
48 |
24 |
17 |
7 |
55 |
120 |
119 |
| NSH |
48 |
16 |
23 |
9 |
41 |
111 |
139 |
| WESTERN CONFERENCE |
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
DF |
PTS |
| 1. CHI* |
48 |
36 |
7 |
5 |
53 |
77 |
| 2. ANA* |
48 |
30 |
12 |
6 |
22 |
66 |
| 3. VAN* |
48 |
26 |
15 |
7 |
6 |
59 |
| 4. STL |
48 |
29 |
17 |
2 |
14 |
60 |
| 5. LAK |
48 |
27 |
16 |
5 |
15 |
59 |
| 6. SJS |
48 |
25 |
16 |
7 |
8 |
57 |
| 7. DET |
48 |
24 |
16 |
8 |
9 |
56 |
| 8. MIN |
48 |
26 |
19 |
3 |
-5 |
55 |
| 9. CBJ |
48 |
24 |
17 |
7 |
1 |
55 |
| 10. PHX |
48 |
21 |
18 |
9 |
-6 |
51 |
| 11. DAL |
48 |
22 |
22 |
4 |
-12 |
48 |
| 12. EDM |
48 |
19 |
22 |
7 |
-9 |
45 |
| 13. CGY |
48 |
19 |
25 |
4 |
-32 |
42 |
| 14. NSH |
48 |
16 |
23 |
9 |
-28 |
41 |
| 15. COL |
48 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
-36 |
39 |
|
