Unacceptable

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Washington Capitals	55	26	24		5	57	160	172
Carolina Hurricanes	56	26	26		4	56	165	178
Atlanta Thrashers	56	26	26		4	56	154	183
Florida Panthers	55	25	25		5	55	145	153
Tampa Bay Lightning	54	22	27		5	49	158	182

1 point, dear readers. One. Damned. Point is all that is keeping us from 1st place. One. Damned Point is all that is keeping the Panthers down. Suddenly all our games are must-win. I... think I need a drink.

BTW, if you were a Capital, wouldn't you be pissed that they're always referred to as Ovechkin and the Caps? Alex and his 22 man posse? I know I would, I don't care how good he is. NO "I" IN TEAM!

I just had a glimpse of the rest of the season, and realised I will be obsessing over the standings until 5 April, or until we clinch. I think I need more than 1 drink.

Niitty's blurb about Lehts, and photos from last night

God, Jimmy ringing the post was like, well akin to that nightmare that you're at school with no clothes. Except it wasn't a nightmare, it was real.

Niittymaki finishes the job for Flyers

By ED MORAN
Philadelphia Daily News

ATLANTA - Antero Niittymaki would like the world to believe that he doesn't see anything all that special in playing against fellow Finnish goalie Kari Lehtonen.

"You guys keep asking me that after every game," Niittymaki said last night after the Flyers' 3-2 win over the Atlanta Thrasher in Philips Arena.

"I don't think if he's playing. There's just something about this building. I like to play here. And when you're playing some teams, you get the good bounces.

"You could see that after we scored the third goal, they hit the post right after, and that's the way it is. It's really hard to explain."

Maybe. But it was not hard to explain to Flyers coach John Stevens, who is aware enough of what happens when Niittymaki, a sixth-round pick in 1998, plays against Lehtonen, the second overall pick in the 2002 NHL draft.

Stevens knew it enough not to play Marty Biron, even though Biron had logged a shutout against Anaheim at home Saturday night.

Stevens has seen this since his Phantoms, backstopped by Niittymaki, swept the Chicago Wolves, with Lehtonen in the nets, in the 2005 Calder Cup finals.

When Niittymaki was preparing to face Lehtonen for the first time before that series, he said something similar to what he said last night.

"They say he's the best young goalie in the world," was the way Niittymaki put it then. "I don't know. We'll see."

Since coming to the NHL, Niittymaki is 8-0 against the Thrashers and has allowed only 13 goals.

Niittymaki, from Turku, Finland, only alludes to the fact that Lehtonen, from Helsinki, has been getting all the accolades and been more highly regarded throughout their careers.

Niittymaki was not picked for the 2006 Olympics until after Lehtonen was injured and unable to play. The Flyers goalie pooh-poohed that, too, even after winning the MVP of the tournament and a silver medal in Turin, Italy.

He's tried to downplay the rivalry ever since. But when pressed, he is forced into a grin and a tiny bit of honesty. Like this: "It's always nice to play against a Finnish goalie, a countryman. Maybe it gives you a little extra. You don't want to lose to a countryman."

He didn't last night, and he hasn't yet.

You know what? It was a tight game. And we came that close to tying it. It's not a win, but it was a good game, and at least we did not suffer the humiliation of the Leafs, who lost 8-0 to the Panthers. THE PANTHERS, PEOPLE!


ONE POINT SEPARATING THE CONTENDERS, BOYS. THIS IS NOT GOOD. IN FACT... IT'S SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF ME.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	56	26	26		4	56	165	178
Atlanta Thrashers	56	26	26		4	56	154	183
Washington Capitals	54	25	24		5	55	156	169
Florida Panthers	55	25	25		5	55	145	153
Tampa Bay Lightning	54	22	27		5	49	158	182

Photos from the weekend

I just want to say that there is little more gratifying than going into another team's house, wearing the opposition's jersey (while being one of approximately 9 fans wearing blue in the building, surrounded by a sea of red) and shutting them down. Especially when your team has half the SOG as the home team. Thank you, Thrashers.

I would give you better post gamers, but you've probably read plenty already. And it's kind of hard to see a game live, then write a good post-game review. Plus, Dish hates me, and recorded 3 hours of "satellite signal has been temporarily lost." Awesome. Although, how happy was I when Perrsy scored the shootout winner? Still pissed that Kari was benched for that one, but hopefully now Moose has his "retribution" (No "I" in team boys), and Kari can continue with the hot hand.

As always, photos courtesy ModSquad. Click for 1024x768 versions.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	55	26	25		4	56	165	177
Atlanta Thrashers	55	26	25		4	56	152	180
Washington Capitals	53	24	24		5	53	152	166
Florida Panthers	54	24	25		5	53	137	153
Tampa Bay Lightning	53	21	27		5	47	153	178

As mildly satisfying as it is to be on top of the Caps now, they're tied with the Panthers, and we're still in 2nd, since the Canes have more GF and less GA. And seriously, what is up with the schedule this month? I don't begrudge the boys days off, but 3-5 days off each week? That kind of sucks, in terms of hockey-watching. But the Canes take on the Pens Tuesday night, and hopefully the Pens'll be looking for vengance from dropping the last 2 to us. Whatever, so long as the Canes lose, and the Caps, who take on the BJs Tuesday, also drop the next one. I think we'd all like a nice point cushion sequestering Blueland from the trailers.

Game Day Preview

Before I get into the game day, I have to point something absurd out. This is a humiliating stat for our game:

New York — Ratings for the NHL All-Star game increased from last year.

Sunday's game which was played in Atlanta's Philips Arena and aired on Versus drew a .8 rating, up 14 percent from the .7 last season.

The game drew 796,717 viewers.

The Ice Bowl put up a 2.6 rating, with a 5 share, meaning 5% of the people watching TV at that time were watching the game. Five percent. That's enormous. They don't even list the share for the All-Star game. It's starting to look like not even NHL fans care about the ASG anymore. Moving on.


In the magical world I live in, where the sky is pink, and we eat ice cream cones with kitties and puppies while riding unicorns over rainbows, the Thrash haven't had a game since 15th January, when they completely dominated the best team in the NHL. Since that game, they've been out played, embarrassed, and schooled. They've left Kari out to dry and gotten him benched, "just in case they don't show up again." To add insult to injury, Kovy didn't do much of anything in the All-Star game, except get stoned spectacularly by Nabby. Hoss quietly put up a goal few people have talked about in the shadow of Savvy's GWG.

Despite Bing being out with a high ankle sprain, the Pens have held on and gone 2-1-1 since he added the prestigious "IR" after his name. They've also put up 14 goals in that span, after only putting up 13 in the previous 4 with Bing playing.

Soooo... basically we're fucked. Unless, you know, the Thrashers decide they actually want to play hockey, which hasn't really seemed to be high on their list of priorities in the past 5 games. I'll be honest, I'm not holding my breath. But I'd love to be proven wrong. Who knows, maybe Lehts did punch all his teammates in the balls and get his point across. One can hope.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	53	25	24		4	54	161	171
Washington Capitals	51	23	23		5	51	147	160
Atlanta Thrashers	52	23	25		4	50	141	175
Florida Panthers	51	22	24		5	49	130	147
Tampa Bay Lightning	51	20	26		5	45	147	172

Rangers win. Snoop gets schooled. Caps in 2nd.

2-1
(S/O)
That might have been the most boring game I ever forced myself to sit through. The highlight for me was Mike Richter being mic'd up for the ceremony (I got the NYR feed, having been a New Yorker in their heyday, I was a huge Rangers fan back when they weren't FULL OF SUCK (Read: Avery, Gomez, Puffnuts)).

---

Hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg, his children and a few friends head down to Honda Center to receive a hockey lesson from the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks on this Sunday's episode of "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," entitled "Snow in da Hood," airing on E! at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Ducks captain Chris Pronger, All-Star center Ryan Getzlaf and right wing George Parros take Snoop and his sons Spank and Rook out on the ice or what Snoop calls "the snow." Snoop quickly learns that skating on the ice isn't quite as easy as his roller derby days.

In the episode, the group returns to Honda Center to cheer on the Ducks against the Vancouver Canucks, where Snoop meets up with hockey legend Willie O'Ree. O'Ree, who became the first black player in the NHL 50 years ago this January, chats with Snoop about exposing the sport of hockey to young players of diverse backgrounds. The two discuss starting a youth hockey league modeled after Snoop's youth football league.


The episode featuring the Ducks and O'Ree will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and will re-air on Monday, Jan. 28 at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. ET/PT; Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 2:00 a.m. ET/PT; Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT; and Thursday, Jan. 31 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.

---

The Caps are 1 point out of 1st place in the division going into the break. We're 1 point behind them, the Panthers are 1 point behind us, and Tampa seems to have given up. Or become epic fail. Whichev.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	52	24	24		4	52	158	170
Washington Capitals	50	23	22		5	51	147	156
Atlanta Thrashers	52	23	25		4	50	141	175
Florida Panthers	51	22	24		5	49	130	147
Tampa Bay Lightning	50	20	25		5	45	145	168

As low as the points are in this division, unless we come out and win a metric assload of games after the break, or unless we win the division, we won't make playoffs. Period.

Not a sermon, just a thought.

Game Day Preview: We believe. Do they?

In my infinite wisdom, I put down 5 million on this game. Against my better judgment. If the Thrash lose, that's all my betting money down the toilet. Which, of course, no one but me cares about. But that should say something. I believe in this team enough to put everything I've got on the line in their favour. Do they believe in themselves as much as I do? Has the whole "Believe in Blueland" hype become rote to them? Become the picture in the frame they no longer see? Become that word that, said over and over again, has become meaningless?

The four guys on this team that I have absolute faith in, as of this moment in time, are Kari, Moose, Perrsy and Tobi. The rest? I have faith, but it's not blind faith. I know, without question, that those 4 guys will show up every single night, and do their best, and work their asses off for this team. Sometimes Kari and Moose will get dejected and lose focus, but mostly, they're on point.

There needs to be some accountability on this team, and there hasn't been.

(OK, PAUSE! I ned to be a 12 year old for a second. I was on nhl.com to check standings and stuff, and this headline just LEAPT off the page at me: Wang gets joy from giving Did I mention I'm mentally 12? MOVING ON)

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	52	24	24		4	52	158	170
Washington Capitals	49	22	22		5	49	145	155
Atlanta Thrashers	51	23	25		3	49	140	173
Florida Panthers	50	22	24		4	48	127	143
Tampa Bay Lightning	49	20	24		5	45	141	160

Are you kidding me? Seriously, are you effin' kidding me? The Panthers - THE PANTHERS, PEOPLE - are one point behind us with a game in hand. We need to win this game tonight, period. No ifs, no ands, no buts. We need to vault back into 2nd, pray we can shoot for and hold onto first to win the division, and never discuss how close the Panthers came to surpassing us again. We won't hit .500 by the break, but 1 below is close enough.

Get it done, boys. Get back your dignity and pride, stand up and be accountable, and be the damned team we all know you're capable of. Believe in yourselves. If you don't, why should we?

---

FWH's favourite defenceman-who's-been-shafted, Steve Eminger, is one game shy of the big 200 mark. Congrats, Emmy... we hope you won't have to wait too long for it.

If the NHL was a high school

Pretty funny stuff from Hockey Drunk: If the NHL was a high school. Example: Atlanta would be the slutty cheerleader everyone scores on. Frownie! Not true!

I'm not writing about the Edmonton game cause I didn't see it. Fuck you, dishNetwork.

I might write a pre-game about the Rags, but enh. Just stop asking Kari if he's nervous about playing in the Garden, okay? We're playing the Rags, we're in a losing skid that's in danger of spinning out of control, but the Rangers are 2-6-2 in their last 10 and last in the Atlantic Division. Now would be the time for the Thrash to step up and play like they did in December and early January. Remember boys - over .500 by the All-Star break and for the sweet bleeding love of Jesus don't let the Panthers get ahead of us in the standings. Wait, now I have to check the standings.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	51	24	23		4	52	155	164
Washington Capitals	48	22	21		5	49	143	152
Atlanta Thrashers	50	23	24		3	49	140	169
Florida Panthers	49	21	24		4	46	122	140
Tampa Bay Lightning	48	19	24		5	43	137	157

Um. We're #3? The Caps jumped us last night? Wow, that's.... wow. I'm going to go lay down and cry now. What the hell, Thrashers. You let the CAPS get ahead of you in the standings? THE FREAKIN' CAPS?! What next? THE PANTHERS?! Argh.

I'm glad I never ordered those #1 foam fingers in Thrash colours. Sob.

I blame myself...

10 - 1
I blame myself for being a dumbass and thinking the Thrash were playing the Oilers. I invested all my energy into figuring out how that would go, and talking to Tater about it and shit, I threw the karmic balance off. Because, you know, it's all about me. Or you. Whichever. But the Sabres were due, am I right? It just sucks their due came against us. Most goals the Thrashers have ever given up on the road, historically.

Anytime a team puts up a touchdown against you before the end of the second, why bother showing up for the third? God love football scores in hockey, although the Thrash coulda put up another 2 to make it a real football score.

Was it Rawhide or Ben who said the Thrash tend to run hot and cold? And good lord, do they. I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd wonder if it was actually OUR Thrasher team that showed up at HSBC, or a bunch of scrubs in our boys' unis. Cause Jesus Christ I haven't seen such bad hockey since the Caps beat the Kittens 12-2 (In... 03?). This was close! Does this go down in the annuls as worst. game. evar? I think so.

You can hit up Trizzy's blog if you want the Sabres' fan view of the game. I bet she's positively peeing her pants because her beloved Staffy put up a hatty.

So here's some pictures. You probably don't want to see them.

There was a lot of this

Followed by a lot of this

And even some of this....

Followed by more of this
(Is it just me or does Kovy look like
he's thinking of taking someone's head off?)

And even one of these.

So... if you're a Sabres fan, last night was your night. You're welcome? If you're a Thrashers fan, you're thinking what I'm thinking, and that's something along the lines of "bag skate!" Skate til you puke boys, the legs feed the wolves, and this type of play is wholly and completely unacceptable. Especially since we're in the race with Carolina, who has now leap-frogged us and is up by one. Granted, we've a game in hand still, which technically puts us ahead of them by 1, but that's technically, not in practice. We're #2 just doesn't have the same ring, does it? And as of right now, should playoffs start tomorrow, we're out.

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Carolina Hurricanes	50	23	23		4	50	152	162
Atlanta Thrashers	49	23	23		3	49	138	165
Florida Panthers	48	21	23		4	46	119	135
Washington Capitals	46	20	21		5	45	132	144
Tampa Bay Lightning	47	18	24		5	41	135	157

Eastern Conference
	EASTERN CONF.	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
1	Ottawa Senators*	46	30	12		4	64	162	128
2	New Jersey Devils*	46	26	17		3	55	112	106
3	Carolina Hurricanes*	50	23	23		4	50	152	162
4	Montréal Canadiens	46	24	14		8	56	142	129
5	Pittsburgh Penguins	46	26	17		3	55	133	123
6	Philadelphia Flyers	44	24	15		5	53	142	124
7	New York Islanders	46	23	18		5	51	112	126
8	Boston Bruins	45	22	18		5	49	116	120
9	New York Rangers	47	22	20		5	49	114	121
10	Atlanta Thrashers	49	23	23		3	49	138	165

Look, all I ask is that, come the All-Star break, we're atop the division with a comfortable lead of at least three points. That's not asking for too much. Is it?

Who's praying for a veteran, all-star defenceman (or four) come the trade deadline? I know I've got my hand raised and waving wildly.

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1! Now with more photos!

Divisional standings:

SOUTHEAST	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
Thrashers	47	23	22		2	48	135	152
Hurricanes	48	22	22		4	48	144	155
Panthers	46	20	22		4	44	114	129
Capitals	45	19	21		5	43	127	140
Lightning	46	17	24		5	39	132	157

Conference Standings:

	EASTERN	GP	W	L		OT	Pts	GF	GA
	Senators*	45	29	12		4	62	157	127
	Devils*	44	26	15		3	55	110	101
	Thrashers*	47	23	22		2	48	135	152
	Penguins	45	26	16		3	55	133	120
	Canadiens	45	23	14		8	54	139	127
	Flyers	43	23	15		5	51	137	121
	Islanders	45	22	18		5	49	109	125
	Bruins	44	22	18		4	48	114	117

Conference standings reflect the order in which teams would qualify for the playoffs. Division leaders (marked with a *) are automatically seeded first through third.


And here's a couple photos from last night that I didn't have before (or just bigger versions - the first two images are 1024x768ish once clicked). First two images courtesy CBS, last 6 courtesy Getty: