2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[Enter Blue Guy]

I went to play Xbox and when I came back it was 4-3. Then no less than 20 seconds later Stamkos scored. Fack. At least it was a nice shot.

Edited February 13, 2009 by Enter Blue Guy

[Reddaye]

Stempniak scores?! CuJo plays well?! Yikes. I was loving getting a chance to see CuJo closer to being on his game than any other point this season. I've still got a soft spot for the old guy.

Toskala's two previous good games have now both been washed away after another pretty abysmal performance. Also, Pavel Kubina is a waste of cap space.

The positive? Tampa are two points closer to surpassing us in the standings. No shitty OT point for us this time. If we're going to lose I'm glad we get nothing out of it honestly. Maybe I'm too harsh though.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Florida's radio announcer has an interesting way of calling goals.

[Enter Blue Guy]

It's Ovie, baby. 200 hundred goals in 200 seconds.

Very repetitive, but if anything it proves that Alex's wrister is second only to Kovalchuk death laser. I'd like to know where they teach these Russians to shoot.

EDIT: Jesus, his slapshot is fucking bonkers accurate too.

Edited February 14, 2009 by Enter Blue Guy

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Of course it's accurate, they're not showing you the ones where he misses

[Enter Blue Guy]

...Yeah, I got nothing. I fucked up.

So, Leafs and Pens tonight, eh? Sounds like a superb ice hockey match.

[Cactus Drags]

I like how Channel 5 waits until the Avs are absolute rock-bottom before putting us on TV. Fuckers. I haven't been keeping tabs on the Sens, are they beatable?

[Enter Blue Guy]

The tale of their season so far is that are very beatable, but they have been playing great over the last week. Elliot has been damn good in net.

[Reddaye]

Wow, what happened here tonight?

I was expecting a back breaker tonight...but I didn't expect the Leafs to be doing the breaking. Awesome game.

[SeanDMan]

Florida's radio announcer has an interesting way of calling goals.

Amazing what you can say when no one is listening.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Seriously, the best part of HNIC is the studio stuff.

With time to kill between the two games (and after throwing it to 'bonus coverage' from Minnesota only to discover that they were in intermission), Ron and Don talk about how Don was interviewed for an upcoming Fifth Estate story on fighting in hockey. They come back from commercial, and Ron corrects himself because he named the wrong interviewer for the Fifth Estate piece. They talk about fighting a bit, and Ron goes to throw it to Mark Lee and Marc Crawford (calling the PHO/CAL game), only for Don to get the last word and say "Ask Mark about fighting! Ask Mark about fighting!" Dead silence for a moment, then Lee turns to Crawford and says, completely deadpan, "you like fighting, Mark?".

[Toe]

Even if this season is a wash for the Leafs, at least it is fun to watch Jason Blake's comeback.

Also...Mike Green is the man.

[Enter Blue Guy]

At least they've been coming to play on the day of worship. 9-6 on HNIC this season so far and 4-1 in 2009.

They played great last night. Jason Blake is indeed very fun to watch right now. The belly slide, then seconds later puts home a beauty.

Just makes Fleury look silly.

Again, I have to go back to the alter and praise #2. He fucked up early, but he ended playing big minutes with a solid defensive game against Sidgeni Crosbin. And he had a great hit on Crosby to cap it off.

Ian White continues to be a hidden gem, he had a tremendous game last night. I wouldn't be surprised if he attracts some attention at the deadline as a piece of a multi-player deal, but I'd love for him to stay on the Leafs.

MATT STAJAN SCORED!

And I think most importantly, Antropov and Poni had multi-point games. Pad those stats, baby! It's been fun, but now it's time make you two more useful than you've ever been. As trade bait.

Edited February 15, 2009 by Enter Blue Guy

[Reddaye]

God I hope Burke doesn't trade away Moore or White unless he gets a blockbuster deal. Aside from Blake these two are just playing fantastically for us.

White had an assist and was PLUS FIVE. He jumps into the play to make things happen. Makes beautiful passes from the defensive end in deep, and get's physical when needed. The guy seriously has a fire lit under his ass since the start of the season, and he's only 25.

Moore plays with real heart and consistently wins more than 50% of his face offs night in and night out. Can work the powerplay, penalty kill, and seems to have great chemistry with Blake. For a third or fourth line guy he does very well on our first line.

Nice to see Mitchell pot one too.

[Plubby]

Oh Leopold, everything I ever said about you is forgiven!

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Ahh, fuck you John Tavares. You'd better end up a Leaf or Av or Panther so I can cheer for you next year.

[nufan]

Who do you think the best team in the league is at the moment?

Bias as it is i'm going to have to say the devils. I mean with no 'Crosby' or 'Ovechekin' in the team they are still flying. Not to mention their rock for.... well ever Brodeur hasn't been there. Clemesen and Weekes have done an outstanding job especially Clemensen who now has a few shutouts to his name.

Get Brodeur back in net and trouble is certainly brewing

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I know Windsor's still in first, but since picking up Tavares, I have to go with London.

Your own fault for being ambiguous.

[Clawson]

Any answer other than Boston=epic fail.

And last night was awesome, watched the game with a Pens fan and with Schenn erasing Crosby before The Blake Show took over, it was sweet material for the rest of the night.

Edited February 16, 2009 by Clawson

[Plubby]

Boston.

Also, holy crap the pens fired Therrien.