Archive for March 27th, 2010

Leafs come back against Rangers

Written by on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 in Latest News.

New York's Michal Rozsival, left, protects the puck from Toronto's Fredrik Sjostrom on Saturday. New York’s Michal Rozsival, left, protects the puck from Toronto’s Fredrik Sjostrom on Saturday. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to play the role of spoiler.

They knocked the wind out of the New York Rangers’ fleeting playoff hopes with a 3-2 win in overtime at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

Maple Leafs forward Nikolai Kulemin provided the game winner with a wraparound 39 seconds into the extra period. It was the Leafs’ seventh consecutive win in either overtime or a shootout late in the season.

The loss snapped the Rangers’ win streak at two. They are now are four points back of the eighth-place Philadelphia Flyers with seven games remaining.

Toronto trailed the entire game until defenceman Tomas Kaberle tied the game at 2-2 with 3:35 remaining in the third period. He fired a shot along the goal-line that squeezed past Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist because he failed to hug his left post.

Maple Leafs defenceman Dion Phaneuf and Rangers pest Sean Avery went at each other from the opening faceoff. The two don’t like each other.

Phaneuf’s girlfriend is Avery’s ex, Canadian actor Elisha Cuthbert, and Avery made a crude comment 16 months ago about the fact Phaneuf was dating her.

Avery departed midway through the second period after he injured his left knee in a battle for the puck in the end boards with Maple Leafs defenceman Luke Schenn.

The Rangers started quickly with a pair of first-period goals.

Toronto rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who entered the game with six wins in a row, didn’t look excellent on either P.A. Parenteau’s spin-around shot from the slot or Brandon Dubinsky’s wraparound goal in the dying seconds of the opening 20 minutes.

Toronto centre Tyler Bozak had a backhand off the post in the first period, but the Leafs finally scored 93 seconds into the second period when forward John Mitchell trailed on the play to slam in a pass from linemate Mikhail Grabovski.

Senators hold off Panthers

Written by on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 in Latest News.

Ottawa's Matt Carkner checks Florida's Rostislav Olesz during Saturday's game.Ottawa’s Matt Carkner checks Florida’s Rostislav Olesz during Saturday’s game. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Daniel Alfredsson’s goal 1:44 into the third period held up as the winner, as the Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday night at Scotiabank Place.

Matt Cullen and Peter Regin also scored for Ottawa.

Stephen Weiss and Steven Reinprecht had the goals for the Panthers, who pressed late for the equalizer but couldn’t beat goalie Brian Elliot, who stopped 19 of 21 shots.

Eric Karlson helped on all three Senators goals.

More to come

Changes likely for Flames: Hotstove

Written by on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 in Latest News.

The Calgary Flames, who have watched their playoff hopes evaporate after consecutive losses to the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins, could be in for a front office makeover, Hockey Night in Canada’s Scott Morrison told the Hotstove segment on Saturday night.

Following the 5-0 defeat on Saturday, Flames general manager Darryl Sutter was highly critical of his top players.

“Our top guys are not playing well enough to get through anyone’s system,” he said during scathing post-game remarks.

“Take the players, find a huge bus, and hurl,” HNIC analyst Mike Milbury said. “That’s what it looks like to me. That’s not a chinook, more like an arctic blast.

“Sounds somewhat dysfunctional to me.”

The Flames entered Saturday’s action trailing the Detroit Red Wings by six points for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

If Calgary misses the playoffs, Morrison said, changes are nearly certainly coming to Cowtown.

“For whatever reason, this team just doesn’t score goals,” he said. “And it’s not a new problem.”

Team president Ken King and Sutter could take the blame for failing to attract more offensive prowess to the lineup.

“It’s no surprise they don’t score goals,” HNIC analyst Glenn Healy said. “They spent so much money on defencemen and in net [on Miikka Kiprussof].”

The colossal trade with the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs, which brought Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and Niklas Hagman to Calgary, and saw the Flames ship bruising defenceman Dion Phaneuf out of town, failed to deliver a significant scoring punch.

“[Calgary] overpaid for some of these players, and Matt Stajan is not a No. 1 centre,” Healy said.

There are rumours that Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson could take over from King and Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman could become the Flames’ new GM, Morrison said.

While that is merely a possibility at this stage, a major shakeup seems to be in the cards for the Flames, who haven’t advanced past the first round of the playoffs since coming within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 2004.

“They’re done,” Milbury said. “They’ve got no momentum and a tough schedule. And, they’ve obviously got some inner turmoil going on there.”



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